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So I just finished my initial noob challenge here on Nerd Fitness and after slowly getting into the flow of it and how things go I'm ready to jump head first into my next challenge. (And pray no rocks suddenly step in front of me as I jump with my head first. Because you know....rocks fall everyone dies.) I've been planning to go Ranger from the start as the Ranger lifestyle and ethos appeals to me the most. And whenever I make characters in my geek and nerd pursuits it's always a Ranger/Hunter. (All my friends I play Destiny with make fun of me for picking Hunter first since everyone there is ranged and shoots stuff. I can't convince them it's the lifestyle of Hunters...that and Cayde-6 as a mentor means I can indulge in my love for Nathan Fillion even after the soul crushing despair of no more Firefly.) I'm rambling I know but it's kind of like weird forum nerves instead of public speaking nerves. Once I start I just can't stop and my fingers keep going...anyways. Here is my plan for the next 6 weeks. Main Quest: To run and complete a Spartan Sprint race in 2016. I picked this as my main quest for many reasons. But it mostly boils down to....I have a PhD in History and love anything to do with History. Halo will always, always, always hold a place in my heart as best video game in the world. And 300 cause despite my inner historian cringing at the inaccuracies riddle throughout the movie it's still a good, mindless, enjoyable action where the underdog kicks the big guys ass and doesnt end happily ever after like a lot of Hollywood crap. My primary goal in all of this is life change to become more healthy and to become the me I used to be. When I was a teenager and in my early twenties I lived in England while working on my BA. I traveled through Europe and did a lot of hiking and exploring. I was in shape from working out, got to explore places I'd always wanted to and see more of life than I thought possible. And then I moved back to the States and this thing called Grad school and working towards my PhD got in the way. I started spending all my time studying, reading and working. (Which means I sat on my ass. Constantly.) My only source of entertainment was video games which just encouraged me to sit on my ass more. Thus the amazingly fit and healthy me said bye bye. That's going to change. I have plans to see more of the world and travel again. I have countries and places to see I've never seen. Mountains and ancient Incan cities to hike to. Wild Canadian bears to wrestle as I camp and to hang with wolves in Alaska. Or maybe that's just a dream Im confusing with reality but it works damn it. So ultimately this Spartan Sprint is training to get back into the me I once was. So thus it is my current Main Quest. I have 3 options I'm considering at the moment. March 5th in Atlanta near me and with a friend. April 9th in Charlotte even closer to me but by myself. And June 11th in Chicago again with a friend but I may be leaving for France the following week so that's kind of iffy. Challenge 1: To make and eat one Paleo/Primal meal every day for the duration of this challenge. As the focus of my challenges is not just to lose the weight I put on getting my Masters and PhD along with other life events but to become healthy this is my first step nutritionally towards that. I cook and make most of my meals already, I'm not much of a convenience food or fast food gal. But making and devouring meatloaf drowned in gravy with mashed potatoes and corn and biscuits and....Ahem. Pardon the drool. I intend to become more mindful of the food I put into my body and to try and eat healthy and be healthy. I suffer from anemia and already am run down a lot from that. Stuffing my face with caloric bombs of death just makes me feel worse. While there's nothing wrong with eating like tis, in moderation, I need to up my game and eat better. For myself and my future. So one meal a day every day for six weeks will be wholesome, healthy and not loaded with sugar and crap. I hope to develop a bank of recipes that grows and allows this to become more than just one meal a day. Grade A= 42 or more Paleo/Primal meals during the challenge. +3 Con Grade B= 36 or less Paleo/Primal meals during the challenge. +2 Con Grade C= 30 or less Paleo/Primal meals during the challenge +1 Con Grade D= 24 or less Paleo/Primal meals during the challenge +0.5 Con Grade F= 18 or less Paleo/Primal meals during the challenge 0 con Challenge 2: I will hike every weekday for a minimum of 2 miles a day Doing the Spartan and working on my health isnt just about running and being fast. I need to build up endurance and strength for the obstacles and to get my body used to more than just moving across pavement or the treadmill if I'm going to succeed. Especially as eventually I plan to be in good enough shape to hike the Andes mountains so this is part of that. I like to use my weekends for other activities and spontaneous events with buddies, and I still intend to play video games with friends because I can't just stop doing what I enjoy, so I think managing a hike every Monday through Friday and allowing my body to rest on weekends is a solid plan. The state park near me has a number of trails and one of them is an in and out trail thats a little over two miles. So I can do it all and come back or do half and come back and I should be good. The more the better but I can build up every week. Grade A= 30 hikes or more of a minimum of two miles. +2 Dex, +2 Con Grade B= 25 hikes or less of a minimum of two miles. +1 Dex, +2 Con Grade C= 20 hikes or less of a minimum of two miles. +1 Dex, +1 Con Grade D= 15 hikes or less of a minimum of two miles. +0 Dex, +1 Con Grade F= 10 hikes or less of a minimum of two miles. + 0 Dex, +0 Con Challenge 3: I will do body weight workouts a minimum of three times a week. I used to lift. I used to be a badass at Crossfit and could squat like I was trying to crab walk under a limbo pole. And then life....I haven't truly touched weights or did Cross Fit in a few years. This needs to change. I love how fit I felt when I lifted and did Cross Fit. I loved how I looked, not ashamed to admit some vanity there, but more than anything I love how strong I felt. Alot has happened in my life to make me feel as though I'm not strong. I want to change that. I WILL change that. But I can just go back to throwing some weights on a bar and dropping low. I'm going to start with bodyweight exercises from the Nerd Fitness web site. I'm hoping that at the end of the challenge I'll be back to where I'm comfortable enough to head down to my local box and sign my big ass right back up into Cross Fit. I'd find a gym where I could lift but I live in college and doctor land. Planet Fitness reigns supreme. Sigh. But this will be a start and will help with the Spartan when it comes to being able to throw my body over walls or around things. Grade A= 18 workouts or more during the next six weeks. +3 Str Grade B= 15 workouts or less during the next six weeks. +2 Str Grade C= 12 workouts or less during the next six weeks. +1 Str Grade D= 9 workouts or less during the next six weeks. +0.5 Str Grade F= 6 workouts or less during the next six weeks. +0 Str Life Challenge: I'm not sure what to put here. For my noob challenge it was to write every week a minimum of three hours. I burned myself out writing my doctoral dissertation. As in I hadn't typed a thing or picked up a pen outside of work. And I had all these ideas in my head so I needed to get them out. But thats a habit I made last challenge. I want to try and expand my horizons. For right now this is blank. I'll think of something over the weekend after some time reflecting and brainstorming. I will add it. Until then this is just my ramblings. Okay so updating this on Saturday night after much thought. I've decided my life/personal challenge for all of this will be to....sleep. Yes, that's right. Sleep. I'm one of those get by on three hours and coffee kind of people. I'm lucky to grab more than a few hours between four and seven am every day. It makes me unpleasant to be around until 10am and makes concentrating after lunch hard. I can't maximize my health and welfare and expect to do well hiking and working out unless I'm well rested. So I resolve that for this challenge I increase the amount I sleep by half an hour every week. This will add 3 hours to my sleep every night by the end of the challenge. While six hours still isn't the best amount for what all I plan to do and do do (never did like sentences like do do and to to etc etc) it's better than the three I manage. So to that end...I will sleep. I will go to bed half an hour earlier every week for six weeks and hopefully be in bed by 1am instead of 4am by the time this is all done. While sleep is it's own reward if I manage this then I plan to give myself a nice treat of a massage at my favorite therapist. I thought of grading this like my other challenges but think this is just an overall goal I'll aim for and not one to grade myself on. If I manage this I will also grant myself a one time +2 to my CON. So there's the life goal this time around. One more healthy habit to build upon. I've seen alot of you with awesome themes. I love seeing all of the different ways Rangers express themselves. I hope to transition into that. Unfortunately I'm a major nerdgeekdork so anytime I try to think of a theme or way to streamline this process for my brain and anyone reading all I get is Yeah. Thats just the way my brain works. Sigh. Until then...it's been great reading through all your posts and challenges and I look forward to watching and seeing the progress all you awesome Rangers make. I can't wait to see all the stuff you guys do.

So I saw several others doing this and realized some personal accountability will be handy for me. I'll keep up to date in my challenge post of course but I will use this for all other things plus the challenge activities I participate in. This will be sort of a centralized spot for myself to follow my thoughts and progress and critique my own progress or lack thereof. For today it's just this initial post as my Sunday is being spent planning my food for the next week, my exercise schedule and getting prepared for the next week ahead as this all kicks off. Plus still need to keep the holidays in mind as I making Turkey Day dinner for myself and my friends who are coming to my place since they have nowhere else to go. Still, here we go. My 2nd challenge and my first log. Do it to it and all the things!