thegreybison

Week 2/3: Work was crazy last and most of this week. I have been exhausted and the grumps. -Bodyweight routine: went out the window middle of last week. I was too blasted tied to do much of anything aside from work and sleep. Gotten a couple of good runs in outside, then the weather turned wintry again. -I had my weekly Agents of Shield viewing with my besties, but that was mostly it. -I've had to work earlier this last week, so while I do get my one-a-day photos, they've been mostly sunsets out my back window. Usually, I send a "sunrise report" via Snapchat for my daily and I miss it. Same with journaling: going to work too early to have adequate time. -My new seed starting setup is going so well, though. I have learned an important lesson: plant seeds in similar starter beds according to growth rate not type of plant. A little worried for some of my vegetables getting leggy, but I have weekend plans to remedy this (fingers crossed). Part of this week's issue has been covering for a coworker while she's out on a trip. She's back next week, so my schedule should be back to normal, I hope. Hoping this post doesn't sound too whiny (not that anyone is reading this), things have been going a bit awry of late. My morale has been a bit low, but chugging along has been happening nonetheless.

Week 1: Makes more sense to post as weeks, rather than days, I'm thinking. -Bodyweight routine: making some okay progress towards doing a pull up. Going to add farmer's carries and rows to my gym routine (which consists only of sweet, sweet treadmill running currently) so I don't have to buy any weights or have to find a place to shove them in my hot mess of an apartment. -Journaling has been going well and I feel like it is a good way to take a breath and center before my day really starts. -Social time was a great success especially yesterday. A friend has people over at her place for Waffle Sunday every other week for good food and conversation. Branched out and talked with people I don't know especially well and things went well. -I've been taking photos every day this last week. Mostly they have been sunrises or sunsets, but they've been so dang pretty lately! Been focusing on paying attention to framing in terms of what I want the focus of the photo to be. Have also focused on just being aware and on the lookout for something cool or interesting or unusual, like the dog footprints in the cement of the sidewalk I found yesterday. -Yesterday was full of adventure, and I topped it off with buying the final pieces of my new seed starting setup. I now have a wire shelving unit with a couple of shop lights that also holds all of my supplies as well. I'm stoked about buying it and setting it up. Even though I was not so excited about spending the money, I am so, so happy I did. Goals for this week include getting to bed on time so I can get up on time, starting some seeds and repotting a couple of plants, going to the gym at least twice, and plotting out a new workout schedule moving in to spring. Hope everyone has a great week!

So I have a few active goals I'm working towards: 1) Bodyweight exercises or go for a run before breakfast 2) journal every week day with breakfast 3) do more social things with friends and make new connections 4) further my gardening and photography skills Battle log day 1. - Bodyweight routine? Check! - Journaling? Check! - Social goal? Rejoining my martial arts school next month to reconnect with friends (and hey, cross training) and writing this post, so check! - Gardening? Starting seeds this weekend, so also check! - Photography? Daily snap taken, check! Today is a good day and is off to a good start. I have a lot of things I want to achieve this year (yes it's March, I'm just now getting around to posting, gah!) and I feel my momentum is good. Not sure how often I want to update here, but probably a few times a week. I'll also likely jump in on the next 4 week challenge at the end of the month. Go team, and such!

4/18-21 and 24-29 - 2 mile walk around the block or (occasionally!) to Starbucks. 4/22 - 2.38 miles in 35 minutes at the gym. 4/23 - 2.79 miles in 40 minutes, again on the treadmill. 4/30 - 2.78 miles in 40 minutes. The gym got all new treadmills! Some of the old ones would vibrate weirdly when you ran on them, but the new ones are smooth as buttah! I am super freakin' excited and I must do a happy dance. I did a bunch of walking days to give my shins a much needed break while still getting out there. It seems to have helped because they hurt a lot less when I ran on the treadmill for the past few weeks. I'm going to get a year pass to a local park and toodle around in there for now as well as hit up a local school track to shuffle things up. Thanks again for the advice, Terinatum! At the end of week 5 (I am *so* bad about posing T.T), I have a B in quests 1+2 (missed a few days of running/walking and cooking oops) an A in quest 3, and going for a C in life quest.

Thanks Terinatum! I have a life goal, it's been a bit tough to quantify it for the 6 week challenge. Workouts for the rest of the week: 4/15 - 2.03 miles for 26:14, shins want to boycott this whole pavement thing 4/16 - 2.45 miles for 35 minutes, love my treadmill days. I've noticed a big difference in how much I feel I can achieve since I started running on the pavement even though my poor shins hate it! Going to try a grassy path next time I run the outside runs! 4/17 - 2-ish miles leisurely walking to Starbucks and back. Not the best thing for my fitness levels, but I didn't drive there and after a really crappity day at work I was willing to take the hit (for the team!) and I needed at least one walk day for those pesky shins to get some much needed rest. Question for you lovely people of the forums: I run with Vibrams and I'm new to running on pavement. I traded out the concrete of the sidewalk for the asphault of the road (made possible by the nice people who drive slowly and carefully in this area), but my shins still hurt. Never really had shin splints on the treadmill, so this is a new one for me. Have been icing the affected area to no real change while running. I'm not willing to give up the barefoot shoes for several reasons. Any ideas/suggestions?

Allllrighty! Yesterday I went on a group run on our 2 mile route. We paced off of another member of the group who is working on his endurance. When we run outside, I use the app called "RunKeeper" to keep track of my distance and time. Ended up with a time of 34:19 (17:08 min/mile) which was a bit slow for me, but I felt really good because I wasn't really winded after our intervals of running.

Since I sucked so bad at posting my last challenge, I obviously need to do this some more and get better at this, right? Yup. Main quest: I want to get down to 160 lbs by the end of June. To this end, a few friends and I have begun to train for a 1/2 marathon later this year. I also love the idea of the Walking to Mordor quest, so I'm adding up my distances for that as well I did okay with follow through last time and I am definitely more active than in January, so let's try some step 2! I need to run more to step up my 1/2 marathon training, keep cooking meals instead of lazy-ing out, and burn them calories with some non-cardio things. Quest 1: Run/walk every day in April (this has been something I've been working on already, hee) Measure - A = 30 days, B = 27 days, C = 24 days Reward - A = +3 STA, B = +2 STA, C = +1 STA Quest 2: Cook all meals each week (minus two for slosh), going to average these because my life is so exciting and unpredictable Measure - A = 19 meals/week from food I prepared, B = 18 meals/week, C = 17 meals/week Reward - A = +3 CON, B = +2 CON, C = +1 CON Quest 3: Shield circles and body weight circuit at least once per week each Measure - A = 6 completed of each, B = 6 of one/5 of the other, C = 5 completed of each Reward - A = +3 STR, B = +2 STR, C = +1 STR Life quest: I'm starting my own business and have been barely taking baby steps with getting g any actual progress done because of reasons. I need to complete one definite forward step a week to get this. Measure - A = 6 steps (at least), B = 5 steps, C = 4 steps Reward - A = +1 CON, B = +1 something or other?, C = +1 pat on the back I'm hoping that raising the bar and building on the momentum I have been building already this month will help me to have more success this time around. I'm still chewing over whether I want to report each of my workouts as I do them or not. I think I may want to do so as most of my cons list consists of "meh". Planning to edit this post a bit formatting-wise later, as my tablet won't let me and I can't be arsed to look up the HTML to do it manually.

Herpy derpy reply. Moved this thread over here

Herp derp, posted this in daily battle logs instead of the 6 week challenge thread!

Welp, I suck at posting apparently and I've been struggling with some life things that put me in a bad place for a while. I'm in a better state now and I would like to finish this thread, even though it is very late. Week 5/6 check-in: Still rockin' the bonus quest. I didn't walk outside at all, so I've failed that quest (boo), but I've gone running at the gym at least twice each week (yay). Also completed the body weight circut quest and the life quest. Now that things are warming up, it will be a bit easier to motivate to go outside. I will open up a thread a bit later for new goals and tracking. I don't think I'll go for the 6 week challenges for now, as I have a different goal schedule in mind. Thank you again everyone who posted their encouragement!

Woah attack of life! Last week was my last week of classes before graduation and it was crazy! Thank you Companion for the post I'm keepin' on keepin' on. Week 3 check-in: Bonus quest was just the kick in the pants I needed to cut out my work-candy habit. I completed everything in my quests except my walks around the block. Brr! I'm so bad at walking outside in winter this year! Perhaps should have saved this particular quest for my next challenge, but I still have two more weeks to push through. I may just recycle it anyway, hehe. Week 4 check-in: Sweet! I managed to do everything in my quests *and* made it an extra day at the gym. Another thing to think about for the next challenge is eating out... I've sucked the last couple of weeks at cooking food. I even went grocery shopping, then went "nyoooope!" and went for pizza. Baby steps! Current life quest and bonus quest still going strong though. These weeks were pretty difficult for me: I alternated between super stressed and super pumped about life in general. Had some massage done this weekend and I'm planning on gym time after work today, let's root for that posterior tibialis to finally be back in the game. These weeks weren't exactly wins, morale-wise, but they weren't losses. *stamp!* Woo week 5!

I'll definitely have to poke my head in and say hi to the Scouts. Blaidd, thank for the advice and support! It really means a lot to me that anyone has posted anything on this thread. Week 2 check-in: I've been stretching daily before I go to bed to help my leggles and they're nearly back. Posterior tibialis is taking some extra "me" time, though. I only went to the gym once last week so I wouldn't break myself. Went on both of my walks, made all of my positivity chain links, and did my bodyweight circuit. I've gained 1.5lbs this week (pout), but I've also been eating a lot of candy/sweets during my work breaks. I was going to add this to my next challenge, but I really need to change that behaviour before the habit gets me into more trouble. Bonus quest: No candy at work, substitute a healthier snack (apple, handful of crackers, yogurt, etc). I can't reward myself with stat points according to the rules, but that's alright. Measure - A = 39 days w/o candy, B = 37 days, C = 35 days (I have 39 work days left in this challenge) Reward - Every day of no candy = $0.25 in a reward jar, A = extra $2 in the jar, B = extra $1, C = extra $0.25 Monies in the jar will be saved for future challenges and I'll determine a nice (non-food) thing to buy for myself at the end of the year. I'm feeling pretty good again this week. My mood is definitely more positive lately, even though work has been cray cray. Kinda sad that my legs borked on me, but I focused on my stride quality during the one gym day I was able to do and I felt really good about it. I'll call this week another win. Go me! *stamp!*

Thanks for the support Aegle! I really like the quote in your signature, also. I'm trying to set myself up for success in the short term to help myself achieve more in the long term. Week 1 check-in: I was able to go to the gym both times, did one complete bodyweight circuit, and made a link for my positivity chain all 7 days last week. However, I was deterred from my walkies by the cold and only went once. I also minorly strained my right peroneus longus (and/or brevis) and left posterior tibialis (probably not the anterior, given where the pain is) on my second run day. I've been resting and stretching them, so I should be good for another run on Wednesday. I'll try not to break myself further, though I am a professional derp (but seriously, I'll be careful, Mom, jeeze). Still, this is a good start. As of the end of today, I'm still at 173 lbs, but I'm in a better headspace today than I was a week ago, so this week was a win. *stamp!*

Greetings all! I finally decided to take the plunge and make an account for my first challenge! Where do I start without blathering on? Hm. Current job = crap; trade school = 95% done. Yey! I'm about 173 lbs of blobby shape. Two summers ago, when I got a gym membership and worked up to being able to run around nearly non-stop for several hours in my martial arts's grand melee, it was exhilarating. Juggling work/school/mental health last year didn't leave much room for running, so I'm back to square 1. With classes winding down, I have more time and mental fortitude to go running and doing the things! Main quest: I want to get down to 160 lbs by the end of June. To this end, a few friends and I have begun to train for a 1/2 marathon later this year. I also love the idea of the Walking to Mordor quest, so I'm adding up my distances for that as well. First step to losing weight: getting active, so let's focus on that this round. Quest 1: Gym twice a week for at least 30 min, but ideally 60min. Measure - A = 12 sessions, B = 10 sessions, C = 8 sessions Reward - A = +3 STA, B = +2 STA, C = +1 STA Quest 2: Body weight circuit at least once per week. Measure - A = 6 sessions, B = 5 sessions, C = 4 sessions Reward - A = +3 STR, B = +2 STR, C = +1 STR Quest 3: Walk around the block at least twice a week (2 miles each). Measure - A = 12 walkies, B = 10 walkies, C = 8 walkies Reward - A = +3 CON, B = +2 CON, C = +1 CON (because sun is good for morale and staves off SAD) Life quest: 365 days of positivity! I made strips of construction paper and I'm writing one positive thing a day about what I did or how I feel about myself, then taping them into links and making a chain of positivity to hang in my apartment. Measure - A = don't miss a day, B = need to make up 2 days, C = need to make up 4 days Reward - A = +3 SAN, B = +2 SAN, C = +1 SAN (woo promoting mental health!) Motivation: I love the feeling of my body having the energy and ability to do the things I ask of it, for as long as I ask it to do them. This pace might seem a little slow, compared to other posts, but I'm trying to be realistic as to how much I'll be able to complete consistently at this point. There will be plenty of challenges this year to stretch myself with and lots of things I want to work on. Let's Go!