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I have been planning on making a battle log for a while now. I have been in and out of the challenges for 3 or 4 years now. I have enjoyed them but I think for now I am done with them. I used to be bigger into lifting and rucking and then shifted into the world of IRONMAN. In 2017/2018 I finished two full IRONMANs struggled through a couple of GORUCK challenges and generally was not too happy with my fitness. This past year(2018) I have kind of been lazy and not focused much on a goal, I did a few sprint triathlons and a GORUCK light. For 2019 my new game plan is to hit the triathlon disciplines pretty hard while maintaining rucking and beginning a new linear lifting progression. In general I want to become stronger, fast, quicker, and improve my flexibility. I want to achieve a WOD daily with stretching. I have always followed a mostly 80/20 healthy eating regiment. I find this is not really good for me, I like to eat healthy during the week and then I would do an 80-100 mile bike ride on Saturday which would be followed by binge eating then usually a night of binge drinking. Sunday would be a "refeed" day. In order to really achieve what I am hoping for I need to follow a 100% healthy eating rule and maybe see it slip into the 99/1 range. I have a large amount of goal distances and weights I am shooting for. I won't post them until I achieve them. Same goes for other(mental)aspects of my year. For now I have a GORUCK light scheduled in two weeks, a tough/light in may, and a heavy in September. Tri's are just some sprints and a tune up half IRONMAN in march. I do want to get my "A" race sometime in the late fall for the half distance. I have no intentions of doing a full this year, that is for sure. I will post some book reviews as I finish them since I have reading goals as well as any other aspects of my hobbies that I feel like(gardening, cars, fishing, etc).

DRAKE, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN So after two years of training, 3 half IRONMANS and a full with a canceled swim I have finally completed all 140.6 miles(2.4 swim, 112 bike, 26.2 run). It feels good and I have no idea what I am going to do for this upcoming challenge. I am going to continue to swim and bike, take a break from running, and start linear progression lifting two days a week for now. I think I will start this Sunday. I have a half IRONMAN the second weekend of June and am doing it because it will be my sisters first. My wife is doing the run ion a relay and my cousin is doing the swim. It will pretty much just be a family fun weekend. The race was rough, I'll do a recap when I get a chance. I finished in 15 hours and 35 minutes and 50 seconds. Another main thing is I do not want to gain back 10 lbs like I did after the 2/3's IRONMAN this past fall. I am going to be switching to strict paleo and cut out dairy for a bit. I am curious to see how I feel doing this. I am finishing off the last of my cheese/bacon/cashews in the following weeks and won't be buying anymore. I am officially moving to Florida once I get my house on the market and sold. I will be doing a ton of domestic rangering in preparation for listing the house. Some more pics from the weekend: After I finished(diet cola not beer) We did it! Practice swim the day before I am an IRON LOBSTER! Post race meal at 12:30 in the evening Lunch two days after

So in my last challenge I noticed some interesting things about my habits. I have noticed whenever I over eat or drink, I do the other one. So if I would have a bad lunch at work, it was followed by drinking in the evening, or if I had a drink in the evening I would eat some shitty food and miss my calorie goals. It seems like I have a defeatist attitude for the day as soon as I mess one thing up. Now that I have identified this I am going to hopefully correct it. For this challenge I am going to attempt to continue to eat properly(2,000 calories and < 100 grams of carbs), really cut out drinking(I can think of one event this challenge where I will drink), and focus on having productive days. If I mess up at lunch or during the day, I need to suck it up and continue down doing what I need to do. Each day I will post what I did that day, what I am doing tomorrow, and what roadblocks/problems I had. I also hope to hit smaller weekly chore tasks I assign each week.

So after about 6 weeks of sloth and vacation I need to get my act back together. I have since gained about 5-6 lbs so losing those and continuing to try to find visible abs is a goal. I have a GORUCK Light on 12/10 and then a back to back Light/Tough on 1/13-1/14. I really did not want to do these but they are the MLK themed ones and he was such a great man I figure I could endure the cold for him. I have IRONMAN Texas 4/22 and I just signed up for EAGLEMAN in June since it will be my sisters first half IRONMAN. So for this challenge I am really trying to focus on what I put in my body, as well as my daily training. For now I am sticking to 2,200 calories, low carb, paleo with dairy and no drinking. Unlike training for the last IRONMAN I am going to try to do less volume and get my body in better physical shape. I am focusing on strength and flexibility. I struggled a lot running longer distances with my body breaking down this past summer and I want to run more often with shorter distances now. I will be focusing 100% on stretching daily as well as appropriate foam rolling and Yoga two days a week.

JAPAN! So for part of this adventure I will be traveling to Japan for a 12 day vacation(11/1 - 11/12). I plan on doing some fitness there and tracking all the walking I plan on doing with my garmin. I will also be posting heavy on here with photos. IRONMAN Maryland did not go well. The swim was cancelled and the bike was only 100 miles. The run was partially through water. Because of this we are now signed up for IRONMAN Texas on 4/22. I need to keep training the 3 disciplines of triathlon whether I would like to or not so that I can finish there. I do plan on not training nearly as hard since I felt Maryland was pretty easy. I did a GORUCK Light a few weeks ago and remembered how fun that was. I am thinking of doing the prohibition light on 12/2 and then the MLK back to back in January. End goal would be a heavy sometime this summer. Goals through the end of this Challenge: Miniatures(Tau Squad) Cut out legs Base legs Cut out missile arrays Base missile arrays Fish(12 gallon future reef) Assemble water filter Hang water filter Connect drain to waterline Connect filter to waterline Cut out egg crate Rinse rocks Test run rocks Aquarium on shelf Test all hardware Cars Clean EVO exterior Clean Mazda interior windshield Mazda oil change Mazda gear oil Miata inspected EVO cat change Deck Finish lower section framing Finish nailing beams Chalk line Cut beams Assemble outer ledger Frame stair area Clothes Clean out dresser Finish the corner of shelves area Magic Try to find a box of Kaladesh for $90(I know this is not in my control but I need to check pricing often) Reading Finish two current walking dead books Finish the two most current walking dead books Finish short story sci fi book Finish Dive book As far as Fitness and Food goes. I am going to start lifting again doing linear progression starting very light, Swimming mon-fri, and then throwing in a ruck on Saturdays and run/bike on tues/thurs. Food is going to be between 2,000 and 2,200 Calories daily, No drinking at home, and not eating like a pig in Japan. I do attempt to keep carbs low <100g and no sugar sources or grains. I have been on a non stop gorge since 10/1, gained easily 4-5 lbs and need to get back on track big time.

Not much going on this challenge in terms of nerd content and games. Sorry no zombies or neighbors to be saved. I took last challenge off and hit kind of a meh period, had a lovely bike wreck and luckily did not break anything(going 18 MPH and the wheel snapped all the way to the left suddenly) but suffered some nice road rash and some general poopy attitude about being so sore and missing workouts. 2 weeks afterwards I was pretty much pain free. I am now only 2 weeks out from my IRONMAN so number one focus is training/diet. I am going to continue my old method of posting daily habits and chores and just marking off what I do and grading myself based on the progress made. After 10/1 I am unsure where my challenge will head but there will be a recomp of goals and sort of a new challenge inside this challenge. I originally thought I was going to continue this long distance thing and go even further(double or triple IRONMAN next October) but recently I am deciding it is not really for me. I am likely going to do sprint Tri's and get much more back into lifting/rucking, I may even pick up rollerblading(tricks on rails and jumping stairs) again. One other big thing recently is I am down 25lbs just about. I have started bagging up my current clothing(style would be best described as Hobo) for donation and have purchased some really nice clothing that fits properly. First day at work I was asked where my interview is so I know I am looking good. I am starting to feel strongly about dressing nicely as a part of feeling good. I'll post crash pictures later.

Doctorake's Final Fantasy In coming off my last challenge I wanted to try something more weekly based as opposed to a daily list of stuff that had really been stressing me out. I want the ability to take a day where I ignore some stuff and not have a penalty because of it. So here I am needing to restore the four crystals and bring balance back into my world. I will have a daily battle and update the day after like I usually do. I will log my 4 areas of focus and see how high of a % I can renew each crystal. Earth Crystal The Earth Crystal will be recharged based on my workouts, lifting, body weight exercises, and my stretching. This is a 7 days a week deal for me and I would like to go 100%, I will not beat myself up though over injuries or anything else. Fire Crystal The Fire Crystal will be recharged based on working on my deck, yard, and house work. Hoping to get 5 days a week and no task is too small. Water Crystal The Water Crystal will be recharged based on my intake. This will be alcohol, food and pills(vitamins/creatine). This one also needs to be 7 days a week. I am currently on day 5 of no drinking for 30 days(Wife challenged me) and am likely going to continue it until IRONMAN Maryland(10/1). Air Crystal The Air Crystal will be recharged based on my hobbies. This will be any of my exciting hobbies I have been neglecting. This may include but is not limited to; aquariums, nerd room, woodworking, magic cards, ardiuno, welding, etc. I am hoping for 3 days a week on this one but could do even more if I manage my time better.

New Challenge! So I skipped the last challenge due to busyness and laziness. Since the IRONMAN New Orleans 70.3 I have been eating like Kirby from Nintendo and just inhaling everything. I need to get back on track starting this week, especially since Eagleman 70.3 is Sunday. I did PR my 5k last Monday with a 7:21 mile pace which as very nice since I had not PR'd for 6 years, and I beat it by about 1:30. The training is paying off! I have finally managed some good time management with training and life and I would like to invest some time into my hobbies. So I will be posting lots of image updates of me working on my new reef aquarium, cars, magic cards, building a deck, and gardening. Hopefully I can continue and really get some time in on these instead of watching TV in the evenings.

Me the last two weeks: So After IRONMAN 70.3 New Orleans I slacked and ate like Kirby. Last week I got my butt in gear and hit all my workouts. This challenge I am going to keep hitting my workouts, eat appropriately, get my house work done, and stay on target. Each day I will pick a Video game character to be my goal. No races during this challenge other than a Memorial Day 5k, I may sign up for a GORUCK over memorial day weekend as well, but it will be a last minute thing.

YARRRRRRR, A PIRATES LIFE FOR ME! So as my thread dictates I will be traveling to New Orleans for IRONMAN 70.3 New Orleans. This is actually a half IRONMAN(the 70.3 dictates half distance) and my first triathlon of the season. I figured a lovely pirate theme to travel to a port of call would be cool. Also I like dressing up as a pirate, so that works. Daily Tracking Batten down the hatches: My house and life are in somewhat of disarray. I need to do one chore daily to improve the situation. The rums all gone: For this challenge I am only going to drink when I am out and about in a social situation, also maybe on Saturday nights. Tales of the sea: As my title dictates I have a GORUCK AAR to write up for my past back to back, I would also like to write up one of my other events from the past to continue filling out my signature. X Marks the spot: I need to get to reading much more, consult the maps. Try to read every day/night. Stick to the code: Continue eating correctly and cleanly(fuel for training), and do my daily habits the best I can(time permitting) That is pretty much it, pretty simple but going to be tough to pull it all off. I am going to stick to trying to really put some work into the deck in my backyard and also making strides towards setting up a new 75 gallon fish tank to fulfill the house work. Cutting out most drinking should be simple. The GORUCK reviews are going to be fun, I am still waiting on a few pictures and videos from the recent one so I should have that up at the end of this week/early next week. Ughh, reading is something I want to make more time for. Hopefully I can get my face in a book a lot this challenge. Eating correctly is now simple for me, daily habits though some nights I just plain run out of time, I won't hold that against myself unless I am wasting time before hand. Also awesome pirate metal

YAY! Finally starting a battle log! So I have been signed up for IRONMAN Wisconsin on 9/11/16 now for a few motnhs. Time to start getting my training under way. A little history on this endeavor. Last year my wife and I decided to do a half IRONMAN in RAcine Wisconsin in July. She trained rather hard and did very well. My training was not the best due to injuries, video games, beer, and excuses. I managed to finish in just over 7 hours but was a little disappointed since I could have been faster. This year will be different as I am more focused than ever and actually have already been training for 11 days now. My training schedule looks like this: Monday: Squats, overhead press or bench. Then swim intervals. Tuesday: Long run. Wednesday: Over head Press or bench, power clean, and then bike intervals on the trainer. Thursday: Long swim(almost like a rest day) Friday: Overhead Press or bench, deadlifts, Run Sprints. Saturday: Long bike ride. Sunday: Tempo Run. Every day will also have stretching and occasionally I will Ruck and also I play Ice Hockey. I am focusing on 8 hours of sleep a night as a minimum, without drinking. Nutrition for now is 2,200 calories a day. I am getting a Resting Metabolic Rate test done in the coming week and may adjust based on that and as well as my workload increasing. I am also currently signed up for IRONMAN 70.3(half distance) in New Orleans in April. This will be my first big test to shave some serious time off my last event. I am considering signing up for Eagleman in June in MD, also a 70.3 And so it starts....

Hey My name's Ben, I'm 40 years old living in Dorset, England. Married, two kids, I work in data sales and have had an on/off relationship with sport all my life! Last week, out on my bike (after three years of doing sprint and olympic triathlons) I decided to do a half IronMan next year. I'm blogging to share my training experience and experiments, and to have a record I can look back on that is slightly more interesting than my Garmin logs! Who knows, but hopefully I'll also write something that might be useful to other normal blokes trying to keep fit? Anyway, come over and please comment, like, follow, advise, contribute etc...! http://www.triathlondaddy.com Thanks! PS Having read the rules I dont know whether this is a promotion or not, it's my blog. I also will be on here as often as possible offering whatever help and advice I can...

Ba BAYUM. While I've always "wanted" to be healthier, physical fitness and clean eating always drops in lue of "the other thing." But today, rather than chasing this abstract goal, I've created a plan. I am going to do an Iron Man triathlon in Kona, and I am going to train my butt off to get there. I'll start with running and biking. I'm beginning on my mom's bike from Germany, meaning it's 20+ years old. On Tuesday I'm running with a local club to practice running with a crowd. So that's a 5k every Tuesday night. If I feel I'm ready, on October 18th I'll enter a duathlon. Once I've paid off my student loans in a few months, I'll do one of two things: buy a proper road bike (for competitions and practical travel) or buy a membership at the Y for ~$50 month to use a pool. One thing that always threw me off schedule is my constant back-and-forth between my house and my best friend's house. *Not a problem any more! When I sleep at my house, I'll go for a bike ride. When I sleep at his, I'll run. It'll be a pretty even distribution. I might just get a new pair of shoes so I have one at each place. Bonus: SInce I've been considering the Iron Man, it's been so much easier to turn down the crap food. Yay! I like feeling healthy. So, time to start making my Battle Logs.

IronMan ATX November 8, 2015 Fitness & Diet goals: Research Ironman training plan and IMPLEMENT! RUN - 40 miles per week (part of my 2015 miles in 2015) Bike- not sure how much yet- will edit STRENGTH TRAIN - 3x per week - will post workouts completed to be accountable DRINK MOAR WATER - minimum of 1 gal per day. (sub goal - drink LESS alcohol- empty calories make for a fluffy sleepy pixie!) Side Quest UPDATE BLOG - 2x per week - more =bonus points Keep up with Challenge thread Write Sponsorship request letters and distribute. IronMan training and entry is freakin' expensive!

Hey! My name is E. and I am a passionate dreamer. I'm a graduating HighSchool senior, making it trough my last month of exams. One of my most profound dreams is to compete in Ironman World Championship at Kona, Hawaii. I know there is a long road to get there, but I hope I can document my travels here with this marvelous community. I was going to start this challenge when the six weeks started but then just forgot about it. Better late than never. Here is my MiniChallenge: The superhero/Avengers hype is at its max right now, and as an avid and proud comic book reader, I decided to paint my Main Quest with Marvel and D.C lore. My superhero's name is Detrix. He will obtain his powers if I manage to complete this Main Quest, and then will proceed to venture on the road against Ultron (Ultra Distance). Detrix has run 5ks, 10ks, and 21ks. He is a pretty avid runner. He also did some Crossfit back in the day, but he slacked off a little and went astray in the path of Wellness. Now, a real challenge is posed before him. Defeating Ultron's right hand, Marathon Murdok, former SuperHero Daredevil (42k) He is a powerless man right now. He will need to first vanquish Tony's 30k to prove himself. He only has 20 days. To defeat Murdok he also need strength! A mixed strength training program will help him get there. Main Quest: Run 30k by May 25, in less than 3hrs 35 minutes. Log 10 gym strength training sessions. Side Quest: Read 1 book a week. Detrix has to grow intellectually too. Lez du diz -dtx

From my previous challenge: As some of you know, this April I am becoming 40, so in full mid-life-crisis mode, I am training for a Half Ironman distance triathlon (that's 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run, in under 8:30 hrs), which I hope to accomplish in time for my birthday, I am running the RAGE Las Vegas Half, on April 12th. Based on free online plans, with some help from a coach, and some tweaking to allow for life to happen, I came up with this Awesome 70.3 plan, I'm currently on week 5, so this challenge should bring me right into the race, (one week after the end, hence the 7-week thing!). Challenge Goals: 1. Swim, Bike and Run, according to plan 2. Finish RAGE Half triathlon, goal is under 7 hours, but anything before cutout (8:30hrs) is still awesome. 3. Setup a plan for the trip, I'll be travelling with the whole monkey family (wife and two little monkeys), and it is going to be our "main vacation" for this year, so the race is just the beginning, in the past I've set up spreadsheets, found coupons and made reservations which resulted in great vacations, no reasons not to repeat that again. I will not add points this time again, it makes little sense to me and the main focus is to actually train and plan the trip!!

So, after some time away, I am back! and with a plan. As some of you know, this April I am becoming 40, so in full mid-life-crisis mode, I am training for a Half Ironman distance triathlon (that's 1.2-mile (1.9 km) swim, a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride, and a 13.1-mile (21.1 km) run, in under 8:30 hrs), which I hope to accomplish in time for my birthday, I am running the RAGE Las Vegas Half, on April 12th. Currently, I've only ran sprint distance triathlons, so it's a HUGE goal, I've trained continuosly for over a year now (!), but I could really use a plan to make sure I make it, so here it is: Awesome 70.3 plan I will not add points this time again, it makes little sense to me and the main focus is to actually train!

Hi all, I started running back in 2011 after years of believing that I couldn't. It turns out that I just wasn't patient enough. That year, I did several races including the Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon. Woohoo! In 2012, I did several runs including two triathlons. The Milton Triathlon and Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant. I was signed up for Mont-Tremblant again this year, along with the full Ironman but I was unable to train consistently for either race. I found out that the reason I had no motivation to train was because I had severe anemia. Yay! There goes about $1000 of entry fees! I am doing better now but I am not going to do an Ironman in 2014. I need to get a solid year of training done and then I will decide whether I am ready in 2015. I am on a ketogenic diet because I want to teach my body how to make use of fat as a fuel source during training and racing instead of relying on sugar for long workouts and races. Main Quest Maintain a ketogenic diet while preparing for my half-Ironman training in January.Specific Goals Swim at least three times a weekCycle according to the Sweet Spot Intermediate Base I & II plansRun at least three times a weekMaintain dietary ketosis, except on November 25th - 27thLife Quest Master a song on guitar or bass in RocksmithMotivation I am signed up for two half-Ironman races in 2014. I really want to finish close to the average time for my age group in both events. So basically, I want to not suck. Things can absolutely happen, but I don't want it to be a result of lack of training.

Well, here I am back for challenge number 6. I want to write a super cool one but I am in a hurry right now, and I am going camping with the kids this weekend, so I will come back and fix it. I have decided to run Ironman Texas in 2015, so I am almost two years away, but most of my training and goals will be somehow directed to this major goal. At the moment I have run two sprint triathlons, (and a super sprint), so there is a long way to go. Also, the camping this weekend is with my triathlon coach (we call him Yoda), so I may or may not change my goals depending on his opinion and plans for me. Goals 1. Train. make a training plan and follow it, I need to start increasing my mileage, add some intensity / speed work, and in general train more. (+2STA +1CON) 2. Lift. For real, this time, I have been avoiding strength training almost since challenge #1, and now it's REALLY important to change that. Plan to follow. (+5 STR) 3. Push Limits. So far, I've run 7.5k at most, and my longest race has been a 5k, or 5ks at triathlon, but Ironman is 42km, so, the bar must be raised ASAP, during this challenge I shall run 10k, preferably an organized race, and in less than 90 minutes. (+3STA +1DEX) 4. Life. I have to promote the firm I am currently an Associate of, so I must reorganize the dossier, and contact a lot of prospects, goal is to dedicate at least 4 hours a week, for the 6 weeks. (+4WIS) Starting Numbers: STR 12 DEX 3 STA 20 CON 13.8 WIS 15.6 CHA 7.8 Weight: 87k Edit: Added points and starting numbers.