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Challenge #9 is here! So in this challenge, I am heading back to Spartan Race. This time I am going to the San Francisco Spartan Sprint on August 9th. It is a part of their stadium series, so it takes place at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants play baseball there. Not a fan of the team, but it sounds like it will be awesome to run around in the stadium. So only 2 weeks to go till the race! Yikes! Last challenge I did successfully run my first 5k. So I am feeling much better with running. Since I ran one Spartan Sprint in Malibu last year though, I know it is no easy task. So that is part of my motivation this challenge. The other part, and next real goal is for me to hit that 250lb barrier. I've been going back and forth on my weight for awhile now. Hopefully, my goals this challenge really help me start getting there. It would be awesome to get there by the end of this challenge, but that is not a real goal. Goal #1: Exercise I am going to take on the 100 push up and 200 squats challenge, plus continue to to run on the off days. So Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I will do the workouts. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday will be for running. For running, I will finish the last day of C25k in the first week. The plan for the rest of the running is to run timed runs on Tuesday and Thursday. Then my Saturday run will be a further distance. So maybe I run for 3 miles the first time. Then maybe increase the a .25 or ½ mile each week. My Spartan Race will hit at the end of Week 2, so that will count for my run that day. As a side bonus, I am adding in burpees. At least until the Spartan race. I need to get use to doing as many as I can. Who knows, I might keep this up after the race Goal #2: Sleep Making yet another return to my goals is sleep. Recently, I really have not been getting very good sleep. Maybe I am becoming more of a lighter sleeper, I am not sure. So this time I am going to have a couple of additions to the sleep goal. First, when I wake up in the morning, I am not to sit there checking my phone for an hour or two. I want to wake up, then get out of bed, and right into exercises. Second, I want to try to get more of a wind down period before heading to bed. I think jumping right off from the computer into bed isn’t always helping me to get to sleep quickly. So I’ll start off with 15 minutes before bed. Goal #3: Portion Control Eating seems like it will be the one place I will always need to keep a constant focus on. I know that eating healthier does make a difference in my mental and physical health. One thing I want to work on this challenge is limiting my portion sizes. To make sure this goal is the focus of my eating, I am not going to go and be strict paleo, or whole 30 etc. I will eat healthy, home made foods. I am going to give myself one meal or food a week that could be out of the bounds of what I might consider to be healthy foods. For instance pizza, or burger. Not just some average crappy food, but something quality. For the most part, I am going to avoid sugars as if I was on Whole 30 still. I am going with the portions based off the hand measurement. So meat will be like the palm of the hand. When I cook with an oil, I will use like the thumb tip. Veggies I am going to have as much as I want though. I figure its one area I can get away with having a larger portion if I like. I am also going to make an effort to eat slower. Give a little time for the signals from my stomach to hit the brain Goal #4: Food and exercise log I want to get better at tracking my food and exercise. To start, I want to keep it simple. For food, I want to track what I eat. I’m not worried about calorie numbers right now. I do want to try to keep track of the portions if I can. Exercise is easy enough to track. Just want to mark down each workout with numbers and times/distances for the running and walking. Goal #5: Draw a little Well, I was seeing KingLeeroy is getting back into her artwork. Since it seemed pretty cool, I thought I would give it a go too. I haven't done any serious artwork since I was in high school. So nothing serious here. I don't have to complete a certain number of drawings or anything. Just take some time each day to work on it. I'm thinking to start off, I will start getting off the computer and drawling a little before I head to bed. that might give me a little wind down from all the games on internet browsing Not long ago, I bought a small sketch pad and a couple of pencils. So now I just need to put them to use. Grading: 1 point each day for each goal. So a max of 5 points a day. I can average it out at the end of the week, then assign a grade based on the percentage. Measurements: 07/28/14 - Date - 09-08-14 15.35 in - L. Bicep - 15.47 in - R. Bicep - 12.20 in - L. Forearm - 12.28 in - R. Forearm - 48.11 in - Chest - 51.61 in - Waist - 17.71 in - Neck - 26.96 in - L. Thigh - 26.37 in - R. Thigh - 19.09 in - L. Calf - 18.11 in - R. Calf - 269 lbs - Weight - Height is 5 ft 9 in Week 1 summary - B Week 2 summary - B Week 3 summary - D CHALLENGE RECAP