_ashhill

Week 1 Mini Quest: Here are some questions to put your goals to the test: Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? I think it is absolutely reasonable. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? My subquests are very straight forward, do or die if you will. One is contributing to bettering my diet, one to improving my cardiovascular health, the other to improving my stature. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? I think that my main goal is pretty scaled back already, I had some trouble in the past with taking on too much, and so I started out small here. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? ​My goals are easily tracked, its all either I've done this, or I haven't. I will be tracking them on here. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? They are mostly pass/fail, but with a little "wiggle room" if you will. The strictest one is my running schedule, but I worked in days that I can skip if it comes to that. I'm also allowing myself a little bit more slack as I begin this challenge, and that will get more strict as the 6 weeks continues. I'm focusing on building up to success, not berating myself for failure. My reward (If I choose an actual "reward") will be given for completing my subquests. If I don't achieve my main quest, I'll keep working at it. That's the reason its my main quest. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? I don't want to think about it lol. However, if I get hurt, subquests 2 and 3 would remain largely the same, with maybe a little more focus on yoga. (Unless I'm in a full body cast or something, but in that situation, I think my NerdFittness challenge will be the last thing on my mind.) Running will need some altercations, time off. The good news is that most of my running is working toward a marathon in January, and I've given myself 8 weeks "off" through the year. This isn't to take 8 weeks of rest time, its so that if I miss a workout or two, I definitely have time to make it up. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? ​The only two things that are coming up during my challenge is my birthday, which I probably won't be celebrating, and my best friend coming to town, which I've taken days off running for. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? No. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? I have the time, I'm just bad a committing to using it. That is one of my main challenges for the next 6 weeks. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? Multiple habits, all of which will contribute to the main quest. For completing this mini quest you will receive an additional +1WIS at the end of the 6 weeks.

So far, this has been the most amazing part of my challenge. I finally got my room clean! (Basically its been messy since December..) And now it looks like a disaster again, but thats because I've been reorganizing all my drawers and my closet. Which, for me, means taking everything out, throwing it on the floor, and finding a new home for it! I hated running until I found reasons to run. Even during high school when I was, by every definition of the word, an athlete, I HATED running. I then started running sporadically because I heard it was good for you. I still hated it. But then it was definitely because I wasn't good at it. (Not to be confused, I'm still not good at it. I average 12 minute miles.) Then I found out (by working them) that races are amazing. It doesn't really matter how slow you are, and everyone is there to do their best and have fun. The best part is training though. Each week I add a mile and I think to myself, "last week I wasn't good enough for that, and this week I am. And when I finish all of my runs next week I'll be even better." And that feeling eventually led to me enjoying running. It was a process. I went from hating it, to tolerating it, to accepting it, to dreading it but enjoying it during, to actually enjoying it. But it also isn't for everyone. Zombies run also saved me. Without it I doubt that I would be able to run a mile right now.

Holy multiple posts. Sorry!!

Holy multiple posts. Sorry!!

I hope everything is going well for you, good luck with your challenge.

I hope your challenge is going well thus far! Good luck!

Your first two days look good. I too am trying to walk more, even though its not one of my quests. Good luck with the rest of your challenge.

I love how awesome your challenge is set up, can't wait to see more! Might I suggest Erin Motz for yoga videos if your DVDs get stale, she's my personal favorite!

I'm so interested in Crossfit, I'll be following along to see how you like it!

Looks like an awesome challenge, I'll be following along!

This looks awesome, totally following along. Good luck with your challenge.

Awesome that you have a pup to run with you! I've always wanted someone to run with me, but I don't particularly like to talk when I run so a dog sounds perfect. Also I know the struggle of "hiking" in Florida. I miss the hills (which would be called mountains here) from home. But not the weather. I definitely do not miss the weather.

Hey there, for my Prechallenge update I'd like to say that I'm doing well. I'm on vacation in California right now, (my first time to Disneyland!) and while I'm not adjusting to the time well, I'm waking up at 5 on my own so I'm able to go running! I had plans on running my first day here, but it wasn't in the cards. Due to a VERY short (read: last ones on the plane after jogging through DFW) layover I wasn't able to get lunch, and then ate a large dinner as soon as we got to Cali, leaving me too full to go for a run. But I made it up the next morning, now I'll just have some catching up to do. I haven't done yoga at all, but I assumed thats how that'd be. I'm officially counting my 3 days a week when the challenge starts so it'll get better. I (just barely) drank all my water on Friday and Saturday, but thats another positive checkmark! I'm so ready for this challenge to officially begin!

Yeah, I actually work for Disney, so that helps too. My roommate (who is awesome! She ran Boston last year, and wanted to again this year but couldn't get the time off) is running the Princess half this weekend. She's also doing the Glass Slipper challenge which includes a 10k tomorrow. One of my ultimate goals is the Goofy/Dopey challenge, but lets see how I feel about marathons first.

Awesome structure for this challenge, I look forward to seeing how well you do.

My best friend and I are running to Mordor together. It's awesome because when either of us stops running the other harasses the lazy one back into it! We're around halfway to Rivendell, and I've definitely got to go for a run today because she's 3 miles ahead of me! Yikes!

Good luck with your challenge! I'll definitely be following along, tri training has always intrigued me!

I currently live in central Florida, so that definitely helps. The half I'm definitely running is the Wine and Dine half. I finished it previously, and I loved it so much. I may or may not do the Avengers half. It depends a lot on how my training goes. As far as Zombies Run, I just finished season 2 last week. I love it so muchhhh. Hahah Thank you!

Hey there! I'm Ash. I'm almost 24 years old, and its time I get my butt (and life) in shape. I enjoy running, and I'm a wannabe RunDisney addict. I have plans to run at least one half marathon this fall, possibly two, and most likely a full marathon next January. I need to start being more consistent with my workouts, and eating better to fuel them. I'd also like to lose some weight, I stepped on the scale yesterday and weighed in at 185, and ideally I'd like to be at least 140. More importantly than numbers however, I'd like my body to look as awesome as I know it can. I know to do that I need to clean up my diet, but I'm going to be on a vacation for the first week of this challenge, and so I'm going to start slowly with diet. So without further ado, I present my first 6 week challenge: Main Quest: I just moved to Florida around 5 months ago, and I'm returning home in May, so I'd like to look better than when I left. I'd also like to not only finish the races I mentioned above, but finish them strongly. Subquest 1: Finish Zombies Run 5K. I'm on week 6, workout 2. Then, start half marathon training. I want to be comfortable running 10 miles or longer before I start training for my marathon, that way I can focus on speed more than distance. Below is what my running schedule is going to look like from today until the end of this challenge. To succeed in this area I need to complete every of the italicized runs on my list. I can push them back a day depending on how sore I am, but one of my major weaknesses is not making time to run, so scheduling is not a reason to skip a run. At the end of the day though, as long as I get all 23 runs in I'll pass. (3 STR, 3 STA) Subquest 2: Practice yoga. At least 3 times a week. I'd like to commit to daily practice, however I'm going to start small. (3 DXT) Subquest 3: ​Drink water. Sometimes I drink way more than I need to, sometimes I don't drink at all. The first food related thing I'd like to accomplish is to drink 8 glasses (4 water bottles) a day, every day. (2 CON) Running Schedule: 2/20: Week 6, Workout 2. (moved to 2/21 due to travel)2/21: Easy Run. (just to keep me loose, add some miles to my weekly count) (2/22)2/22: Week 6, Workout 3. (2/24)2/23: Easy Run. (2/25)2/24: Week 7, Workout 1. (2/26)2/25: Easy Run. (skipped)2/26: Week 7, Workout 2.2/27: Easy Run. 2/28: Week 7, Workout 3. 3/1: Easy Run.3/2: Week 8, Workout 1. 3/3: Easy Run.3/4: Week 8, Workout 2.3/5: Easy Run. 3/6: Week 8, Workout 3. (AKA 5K)3/7: Easy Run.3/8: Easy Run.3/9: Rest.3/10: 3 Miles.3/11: 3 Miles. 3/12: Rest.3/13: 3 Miles. 3/14: Rest.3/15: 3 Miles. 3/16: Rest.3/17: 3 Miles.3/18: 3 Miles.3/19: Rest.3/20: 3 Miles.3/21: Rest.3/22: 4 Miles.3/23: Rest.3/24: 3 Miles.3/25: 3 Miles.3/26: Rest.3/27: 3 Miles.3/28: Rest.3/29: 4 Miles.3/30-4/2: My best friend is in town, I won't be running at all. 4/3: 3 Miles.4/4: 3 Miles.4/5: 4 Miles. Side Quest: Tidy up something in the house for 5 minutes a day. My room is incredibly messy (as is the rest of the house) and I feel like that really needs to change. (1 CHA) Week One Updates: Subquest 1: I'm 2 days behind on my running schedule, one day due to traveling problems (see below) and one day due to improper planning. Monday I should have gone in the morning, but I didn't know what the plan for the day was, and by the time we figured it out, I had to get ready to go. I said I was going to run at night, but we didn't get back to the hotel until around 9, and after several 4 am mornings in a row, I didn't have it in me. I also missed my run on Friday. I had time for it, but I just wasn't feeling it. It wasn't a training run though so I'm allowed to miss a couple. Looking at my schedule, I really can not miss any more training days. Subquest 2: I've only done yoga on Saturday, I did a 20 minute hamstring flow, so even when I practice tomorrow I'll be a day short. I'm not taking it as the end of the world though, that's still a pretty strong start. (As long as I actually do it tomorrow!) Subquest 3: I've drank so much water! Thursday I think I was at 7 glasses instead of 8, but that's the only day I've been short. Sidequest: I've been cleaning so much! That's actually one of the reasons I didn't practice yoga on Thursday, because I had to clean up a spot in my room. I'm getting there though. Since I got back from Cali I've cleaned for around an hour a day. That includes reorganizing my closet and dressers, and it is a huge feat! But when my room is impeccable its going to make me so happy!