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This challenge is falling at a weird time. It starts the day after I run a very long hard trail race. Week 2-4 will see me traveling into remote places (for work) and I’m not really sure how much freedom/opportunity I will have for exercise. Weeks 5-6 will see me back at home and scrambling to get ramped up for a marathon ~two weeks after the challenge ends. I’ve known this trip was coming and I worked hard last challenge to get in the best shape I could in advance of the trip (that’s why I signed up for the crazy hard trail race right before my trip). It’s not ideal to have a couple weeks of de-training, but I’m just going to keep up my fitness as best I can. I might need to modify some of the Week 2-4 goals…I just have to see how it plays out a bit. So I’m imagining the trip as a voyage on Serenity: And the crazy nature of this challenge as something straight out of Seinfeld: So my goals…. Running – Weeks 1, 5 and 6 – Total of 80 miles*. Weeks 2, 3 and 4 – At least 3 runs per week totaling at least 10 miles. *This might be pretty hard…week 1 will be recovery, and I’ll start travel at the end of it. Weeks 5 and 6 might be hard to ramp back up this fast. I’ll just have to do what I can safely do. Push-ups!!! 500 pushups (scaled) – Negatives count as one. Full pushups count as 3. (Benchmark, last challenge I managed 307 negatives and 7 full. My biggest full pushup sets were 2/2). Rangerly skills (1) Knots: Practice bowline and trucker’s hitch at least 3 weeks...this one will be useful on my trip! (2) Stars: Look for a different constellation each week...this will fit well with travel (and I'll be working night shift) (3) Cyber-Sorcery: Work through 6 chapters of R book...picked R because I have it on my laptop and my internet access will be spotty. Keep the Brain from Rotting Two non-trashy books. I've had this goal the last two challenges and it's working well for me. Stretch and Strengthen Weeks 1, 5 and 6- Yoga or strength training at least 30 min, twice per week. Weeks 2, 3 and 4…TBA probably chin/pull-ups several times per week and a brief stretching routine.

Wasn't really sure what section to put this in, hopefully here is ok. Anyone got any thoughts on the above? I've recently been having a bit of trouble with my forearm and my shoulder. After lots of reading, scaling back my training and finally asking my mum it seems i'm riddled with muscle knots/trigger points (i'm not sure if they are the same thing or not). Are foam rollers the best thing for these? Using a tennis ball and the wall i've deduced i've got knots/points on my infraspinatus, as i get pain referral to the front of my shoulder and down my arm when i put pressure there. I've also got a biggy on my forearm (its actually caused a visible lump) that i'm having trouble getting rid of. I can get it to go down using pressure but after a while it just comes back. Any suggestions? Would active recovery help me prevent getting these again in the future? I've been toying with the idea of going back to swimming on my off days anyway, if that would also help this problem then i'd deffo do it. Thanks all