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This is a new day, a new beginning- Ashoka Tano There was something different about this day. This new place held promise held hope. Mountains rising up along her path, the desert in the distance. No more fear, it was left behind on the valley floor. Something still calling her onward, upward. Unsure of what she seeks, she continues. to seek something is to believe in its possibility~Clone wars Ep. 3 I actually feel like (even though i horribly failed at tracking) i made some progress last challenge. Looking to build on that. I will be testing for my orange belt on either the 5th Overall goals for this challenge: be under 165 lbs by the end of the challenge (Starting weight Nov 2, 2015- 171.2 Lbs) test/obtain orange belt in Kung Fu. quest 1 Yoga: stretching/meditation do wonders for me. I need to make this a priority. Doing at least 1 of the water/fire/star sessions a week.the ohter 2 can be either the mini sessions or the longer ones. 18 Sessions A 16--17 sessions B 14-15 sessions C 13 or less D Quest 2: Practice daily On non class days do at least 1 set of kung fu vitamins, and at least 10 minuets of forms. Can be going through several forms, or focusing the entire time on one. 22-24 days A 19-23 days B 15-18 days C 14 or less D Kung Fu Vitamins set 1: Kung Fu Vitamins set 2: Kung Fu Vitamins set 3: Kung Fu Vitamins set 4: Clean sink & laundry put away every night (if the dishwasher is running, or dryer is actively running then it can wait until morning to put away) 40-42 A 35-39 B 30-34 C less than 30 D Things that I am just doing anyway (not putting as quest because I feel like these are under control): Food: basing my meals on green stuff and protein has been working well. Going to continue Kung Fu class: I enjoy it and I need to get classes in to be able to test...

Spartan Challenge Time! I'm pretty excited for this challenge! It's time to start training up for the Fenway Spartan Sprint. My goals for it are pretty modest. Don't dieFinish in < 2 hours (last year's time was ~2:04)I would also like to minimize burpees, but there's only so much a girl can do Burpees are (sadly) inevitable. So, the Sprint is going to a lot of stairs, arm stuff, and general fitness stuff (e.g.- able to do bear crawls and burpees). I need to prepare as best I can in the next 8.5 weeks. I also need to figure out where I'm staying and how I'm getting there at some point. It's gonna be a busy challenge. Mission 1: Protein I suck at eating enough protein. There, I said it. If I'm not consciously thinking about it, I'm lucky to eat ~50g/day. That;s not enough for my muscles to recover from what I'll be doing to them. Last week, I proved to myself that it is possible to eat ~90-100g of protein and not be miserable. It also helps me stay full and eat less calories. Strategy: >75g protein/day Mission 2: Running Cardio is a big part of the Spartan. There's a lot of running up and down stairs that has to happen on top of the obstacles. I don't want to get worn out from that when I need to be prepared to haul myself over walls and stuff. I'd feel good about being able to comfortably run 4-5 miles by the race, but I'll settle for ~3.5 miles. Strategy: Find a running plan and run 2-3x/week Mission 3: General Fitness The other half of the Spartan is the obstacles. Last year showed me exactly where I was when it comes to hauling myself over walls, up a cargo net, etc. I will do better this year. Bonus points if I actually go over the 8ft wall instead of chickening out It would also be nice to not feel so limited overall. This mission is the tough one. I'm going to be constrained by rest/recovery time, especially at first. I have karate on Mon/Wed (until after the 26th, then it's Tu/Th). What I can do the next day depends on the intensity of the class. I also have limited access to the pull up bar at work (during the work week). Ideally, I'd be able to join my coworkers on Tu/Th mornings for an awesome, Spartan-y workout, but it's pushing it with having karate the night before. I would get no down time for my muscles. If anyone has thoughts here, I'd love to hear them. Strategy: Figure out a plan covering burpees, rowing, pull ups, etc. Ultimately, the best thing I can do to prepare for this race is lose weight. The less I have to haul around, the easier it is to haul myself around. I'm still going to prep with running & conditioning, but weight loss (esp. ~10 lbs) is going to be the best thing I can do for myself. Something awesome to keep in mind is that if I get down to ~192 (an 11 lb loss in 9 weeks), I'll be 25 lbs lighter than at last year's Spartan. Fun stuff: I'm testing for my green belt/7th kyu on the 26th!!!I will be in Onederland by the end of the challengeGetting a tattoo for getting to Onederland! Let's get this party started!

Hello Monks! After taking over a year off from Nerd Fitness, I realized that I need support as I face my greatest challenge yet: the Krav Maga level 2 test. My gym takes belt tests quite seriously. I wasn't ready for the most recent test in February, but that may have been a good thing. It was five hours long and the final drill was to bear-crawl through the snow while being attacked by Disturbers. What are Disturbers you might ask? Hang tight, I'll explain in due time. Back story: You may have heard about Krav Maga. It may have been something like this: Regardless of what you might think, it's an awesome workout and tons of fun. If you want to know more, we made a pretty sweet video (I'm the biker chick in the black jacket) demonstrating the awesomeness of Krav Maga last year. I feel like I can safely say 'awesomeness' since The Awesomer featured it... Over a year and a half ago, I completed my first NF challenge that was geared towards passing the Krav level 1 test. I blew it away, met my goals, and tested up successfully. Then life happened... graduate school got crazy and I started working 10-12 hour days rather than staying sane and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Consequently, NF and I grew apart. Since I tested up in Nov. 2013, I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't made any progress towards leveling up. Instead, I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water with my health and fitness goals; no where near the badass that I would like to be. Well, I will tread water no more! It's well past time that I leveled up. Join me as I prepare for to test up on May 30th. The Test: 3-5 hours total of good-natured hell with no more than the occasional 30-60 second break. Hour 1-2: Being driven to exhaustion with some combination of constant drills (hammer-fists as fast and hard as you can for 60 seconds, etc.), burpees, pushups, combative sit ups, sprints, holding plank position while being kicked in the abs, etc. Hour 2-4: Technique demonstrations, working through entire level 2 curriculum Hour 5: Final Drill... this always changes and is ALWAYS insane. One year, it was carry your partner while you swim/paddle across the Cape Fear river. As I mentioned for the most recent test, it was bear-crawling through snow while fending off attackers. You can't really prepare for this, you just have to keep moving and survive. I should also mention... at any time during the test, you can be attacked by Disturbers. These are senior students (at least one belt/rank higher than you) wearing masks (I prefer a purple lucha libre mask when I disturb for the level 1 tests) who can make you do situps/pushups/etc. and generally make your life hell at any moment. The bonus for the level 2 test is that they can try to black bag you, attack you, and/or pull you into an extended sparring session which you have to be able to fight off. The Challenge: After much thought, I've decided that to prepare for this boss battle, I really need to target 3 major areas: technique refinement, strength, and endurance. Goal #1: Technique Refinement Attend Krav classes 3x a week I know the entire level 2 curriculum, I just need to perfect things here and there. Goal #2: Strength 100 pushups, situps, or burpees every day I have no idea what crazy physical feats of strength will be required, but if I can bang out 100 pushups in a row I would definitely be in good shape for the test. I'll be starting out with 4 sets of 25 and ramp up the size of each set throughout the challenge. Goal #3: Endurance Run 4 miles a week I hate running. With a passion. Therefore, I should probably work on it a bit. I envision this as being a goal of running 4 miles total, so I could do 2 2 mile runs or a giant 4 mile run. If you'd like to follow along, I made a spreadsheet to track my progress.

Round 2: Snow vs. Krav Maga Belt Test Having successfully defeated her first battle (Snow vs. Graduate School), Snow has moved on to her next foe: the upcoming belt test. Now also dropping third person pronouns... Hey gang! As I described in my previous challenge, my gym is on the hardcore spectrum of Krav Gyms. During the last challenge I watched a level 1 belt test to see what I was signing myself up for and the result? I'm terrified. Between the 400+ burpees, countless squats, mud, the Disturbers, and being tased, it looked brutal. Motivation: This challenge is all about preparation. My belt test is on November 16th and I want to survive it with pride and sanity intact. Goal 1: Hit the Krav Gym 3x a week. As with my last challenge, you will be treated to amusing stories of my antics in the gym but with a BONUS: I'll be going not 2x but 3x a week! That's one extra story of hilarity and krav a week! 1 pt per class, total of 18 pts A: 18+ pts B: 13-17 pts C: 9-12 pts D: 4-8 pts F: <3 pts +3 DEX (as I will be working on reaction time and form, DEX seems appropriate) +2 STR (as I will my own body weight, some STR is warranted) Goal 2: Weekly burpee run. Part of what made the test so brutal was the constant muscle confusion that the test-takers were put through. For 3 hours they switched between strikes, burpees, sprints, more burpees, etc. and you could visibly see the constant switching breaking them down. To prepare, I will start organizing a weekly burpee run wherein you sprint/jog/run for about .2 mi then drop and do 10-20 burpees. Repeat this pattern for 2 miles. 1 pt per run, total of 6 pts A: 6+ pts B: 5+ pts C: 3+ pts D: 2+ pts F: <1 pt +2 STA (running 2 miles + ~150 burpees = stamina) +2 CHA (as I will take the lead in organizing this weekly adventure, I get to test out my leadership skillz) Goal 3: Burpees!!! 2500 total by the end of the challenge. This works out to roughly 59 per day but this won't be a daily challenge; I just have to finish 2500 by the end via whatever means necessary. A: 2500+ B: 1875-2499 C: 1250-1874 D: 625-1249 F: <624 +2 STR (shit, that's a lot of burpees!) +1 STA (so many burpees...) Life Goal: Read 4 papers a week/be at work before 8:30 4x a week. Last challenge I worked on my sleep habits and work schedule and definitely succeeded in improving my sleep habits permanently. It's now a habit to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. However, getting into work by 8:30 was still a challenge and I'd like to get to the point where it is automatic. I also need to read more papers (science journal papers) for work (PhD student). 1 pt per paper/work day before 8:30, 48 pts total A: 48+ pts B: 36-47 pts C: 24-35 pts D: 12-23 pts F: <11 pts +3 WIS ('cause I'm gaining smarts by reading papers and such) To keep me accountable, here's the excel spreadsheet where I'm tracking it all.