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You Wanna Get Nuts? Let's Get Nuts!! This might simply be an excuse to do a silly Batman themed challenge!! Why, cause Batman is awesome! No Superhero is quite as nuts as Batman, let's face it! Nuts! So this is what I've got to look forward to this challenge cycle: The Winter Nuts Challenge! Thanks to @Jarric being inconsiderate to have his birthday on this day both me an @Charlie_Quinn have been roped into this madness. The Nuts Challenge is meant to be one of the hardest winter OCRs in the country. I've got a little experience with Winter OCRs and I'm a little terrified. (In seriousness I'm really looking forward to the race season kicking off in March. Even if we picked one hell of a race to do that with!) On top of this I've also got one eye on the Half Marathon on March 18 and the Spartan Super on April and the larger goals of RRDW in May and a tiny little mountain Ultra marathon in July (28 miles is totally an ultra ) Though The Streets of Gotham So with the challenges in mind there is going to be lots of running! 4 Runs per week, 2 quality runs Stretch goala 100 Miles! It's a big round number but this shouldn't be too difficult to hit if I stick to my plan. Hills! 3000 feet of accent Who Never Misses Leg Day? My motivation has been low since I burned out at the end of last year and I've not really done any strength work since then. I know that I need to change that. I don't think I'm going to be able to do any kind of structured programming with my race calendar being what it is but so it'll be more along the lines of a WOD type structure. I plan on starting back at the gym on week 1 of the challenge as I finish out my current running plan, which peaks week 0. Hit the gym 3 days per week. The Joker! My arch enemy is food! The simple thing is I've set myself some huge endurance challenges and I need to drop as much weight and body fat as possible to make them easier on my body. Meal plan. Stick to 2600-2800 calories a day. I'm going to allow myself 1 variance a week but that does not count if it turns into a binge. Who Has the Coolest Gadgets! For the first time in a while I'm gong to tie a reward to this challenge. I am going to use a health bar to represent a 20/80 split of bad and good. If I keep the health bar above zero I succeed. If I beat the challenge I'm going to replace my Fitbit with a new Smart Watch. 15/15 |

I've been complaining for two years that I did not want to be "Luke Skywalker, Jedi Legend", and withdraw. And while the Jedi Master was redeemed in my eyes by his character arc in The Last Jedi, that didn't mean that, starting in December, I had to go join him in hermit-like seclusion until now. But I kind of did - except there was no awesome island monastery, just frozen-assed wintry Minnesota, and no straight-from-the-source liquid nutrition. I didn't completely collapse into my couch - I've been working out, although not consistently, and I'm not back to square one as a runner. However, if I expect to achieve my goals for the coming year, it's time to force-project myself back into the universe and get busy. Main Goal I'll be travelling to England in October to compete in the 2018 OCR World Championships for the second year in a row. In 2017, I qualified as an age group competitor twice during the season and competed in a group of similarly grey-bearded men. I'll be going again this year regardless of whether I qualify and will run as a journeyman if necessary, but it's my goal to qualify to race against other 50-and-over men again this year, and this time, I don't want to just show up and be happy I'm there. I want to go home with an additional souvenir from the weekend that can't be bought: With the exception of my first OCR love, Spartan Race, most obstacle race series expect pro and competitive racers to COMPLETE ALL THE OBSTACLES in order to reach the podium or at the very least land in the "podium eligible" column. Everyone else is an official finisher, but those of me in the other category are not eligible for podiums - overall or age group. To make sure officials can tell who falls into which category, racers get a band, which is removed when one cannot complete an obstacle, usually after multiple attempts. I'm pretty obstacle proficient, and have been for some time. This year, I'm aiming for 100% completion at the World Championships. I can't just decide "FITNESS!" and achieve my goals of qualifying for and competing in the World Championships (and, on the way, the North American OCR Championships); it's going to take months of training to get there. It's a good thing I know what works for me: SMART goals with plenty of checkpoint events to keep me motivated on my quest to qualifying. Goal: Strength I've struggled my entire life with upper body strength. I have bad family genetics and without consistent strength training, I turn back into a limp dishrag. Besides, I enjoy weight training. I need to supplement this with training that includes pull-ups and other raise-my-bodyweight exercises. The group classes I attend don't incorporate pull-ups basically because neither the instructors or many of the other attendees can't do them and are intimidated by them. I need them because arms, shoulders and back will help with obstacle proficiency and efficiency. Plan: Strength training 3x per week: Weight training Tuesday, Boot Camp Thursday/Saturday, Grease the Groove pull-up work every day. Goal: Speed I have gone from "I'm not a runner" to "I enjoy trail running." The problem is, it's aggressively winter here (my beard froze in seconds the morning I wrote this) and all the trails are frozen wakes of ice and terror. Also, the cold aggrivates my psoriatic arthritis. Also I just plain hate the cold. I'm running on the Dreadmill until conditions outside change. Pray for me. Last year I hired a running coach to give me a running improvement plan. It wasn't revolutionary and it was directly based on stuff that literally everyone is teaching: speed intervals, consistent mileage, weekend long run. He tailored the plan to my schedule and my starting baseline speed and I saw enough improvement that I put up OCRWC qualifying times in two separate events last year. It works. I'm working on getting back into this plan; right now I'm building up my mileage from a winter of not much running while mixing in intervals. "Long" runs are relative. I know this works. Consistency will get me there. Plan: Run a minimum of 3x per week, including 3-mile VO2 max interval training, 3-4 mile lactate threshold training, and weekend long run. Goal: Skill I've learned over the last four years of competing in Obstacle Course races that while one could probably power their way through many obstacles with sheer strength, there is a certain degree of skill necessary for things like rope climbing and rigs and Devil Steps and zip lines and whatnot. Plan: Weekly obstacle workout at Obstacle Academy. Have a specific training plan every time instead of just going in and goofing around on the toys. Goal: Sustenance Because "Nutrition" does not alliterate with all my other "S" goals. I lost a bunch of weight five years ago by tracking my nutritional macros and I've kept it off by doing the same. I've occasionally dropped five to ten pounds in between that has not stayed off because when I'm not tracking macros, I eat junk. I just got a brand new jersey for Christmas from my GF and her family and I want it to fit, but right now I'm looking more like Kung Fu Panda than I'd like. It's time to get serious about getting little in the middle. Plan: Log my food daily. Stick to my macros. Goal: Sanity I wish I could quantify this as a SMART goal, but I can't. Stuff has gone fully sideways at work for reasons completely out of my control and I'm working to stay afloat as best I can while balancing a busy non-work life. This is more a reminder for me to be mindful and spend some time in self-care daily. Hey Jedi man, what events are happening during your challenge? I try to always have at least one event per month to keep my motivation up and my training focused. January was a planned bust, as I have given up pavement running due to the pounding on my arthritic joints, but February will end with a busy weekend. I'll be leaving on 21 February to drive with my GF from our home in Minnesota to drop her off for three weeks near Orlando, Florida. That's over 22 hours of driving, one-way with a stop on Thursday just north of Nashville to visit my brother and his family. When we get there, I'll be running multiple laps at the Central Florida Terrain Race on Saturday... ... and then driving to Miami to run the Spartan Sprint on Sunday. Both will be good tests for me to gauge my early-season form and fitness, determine my weaknesses, and set goals for improvement. It will feel good to get back on the horse, but I'm going to need support to keep focused. I'm glad I've got this place to come to for that. Rangers, Rebels, Nerds, thanks for being here.

Welcome Mud Lovers! This is a continuation of the Obstacle Racers, Assemble Group This is an open group for anyone who is interested, curious, or completely obsessed with all things OCR related! Feel free to ask questions, share tips on gear or obstacle technique, or just let us know about a recent or upcoming race. Nothing is off topic and everyone is welcome. In a slight change, we'll be adding trail running to the discussion too. For a lot of us, the obstacle racing season is winding down for the year, and trail running is a great way to train for OCR's in the quiet winter months.

Jon Firestar Gets The Ball Rolling 2017 was a big year for me. It was a year of firsts and a year that I discovered a love of running and OCR. I ran a slew of races and had a lot of fun. I met up with seveal nerds and ran races with @charlie_quinn, @iatetheyeti and @jarric and met @rhovenal (but she was injured and missed the race ) Unfortunately I did push a little too hard at the end of the year and kind of checked out over Christmas. I got sick and it took a long time to kick it and between time I was travelling for Christmas and the New Year. There isn’t really a theme for this challenge. I just want to get something down and get my momentum back! So I’m keeping things simple and concise. 2018 is going to be a bigger year! It’s going to be a year of adventure and awesomeness. I have a mass of events coming up this year. Many of them will be meetup events with other awesome nerds. I cannot wait for things to get started so I’m declaring the start of the 2018 hype! To get the ball rolling the first race will be the Nuts Challenge, one of the UKs toughest winter OCRs that I’ll be running with the awesome @charlie_quinn and @jarric. This’ll be our second race together and I’m really looking forward to seeing them again. The training for the massive year starts now! Run All the Miles! This is going to be a big running year for me. I’ve signed up to my first marathon in July! So that’s a thing on the horizon that needs to be trained for. In the lead up I’ve got a bunch of other races. Including a half marathon and a 20 mile OCR in May. My overall plan is to periodise the training between challenge blocks. This coming challenge is going to be an easy one. Just run 3 times per week slowly ramping up my miles and the quality runs during the period. Lift All the Things! To counter the easy runs my lifting is on the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m going to be lifting heavy with a focus power and strength gains. This will be phased into more bodyweight style of workouts as the OCR season begins but for the next two months we are looking at lifting lots of weights. Don’t Eat all the Things! In 2018 I’m determined to get myself under 200 lbs. I am currently sat stubbornly at 220lbs (10kg and 15 stone 10 lbs). To put things in perspective. About 18 months ago I weighed 330lbs. In 2016 I lost 80lbs but in 2017 I only lost 30. There are reasons for that but mainly it’s because I was unable to stick to my calorie restrictions. I'm going to try and take things a little easier this year by setting higher calorie targets and not try and put myself into a harsh deficit. I do a lot of activity so my numbers are going to be really high I’m going to begin this year with a calorie goal of 2700-2800 calories and see where things go from there. I’ll post workout plans later.

Ok, this is a draft that is subject to change because I am drinking the last of the egg nog .... well-laced with rum. I read over my previous challenges. Wow. We moved 5 times in 5 years. We lost my father-in-law, my brother, my mother, and our dog. My daughter and I both received our doctorates. My daughter got married. I had a string of jobs that were .... um .... not as advertised. The number of changes is mind boggling. I did make some gains. I lost 10 pounds. And I did get a bit stronger. Not as much as I had wanted, but any little bit is a win. And I never gave up. I may not have a lot going for me, but I have persistence. And I am beginning to nurture the flame within me that longs for further accomplishments, further adventures. I have more to do, more people to inspire, and lives to improve (including my own). As I read through the past few years' worth of challenges, the desire to do an OCR keep surfacing. I kept getting derailed by life changes and also by an endless cycle of getting sick. I seriously think that the illnesses were caused by the low-grade oral infection that already had my immune system on the ropes. Since the tooth was pulled, I've felt a lot better. And I mean ALOT. I have hope again. And I am ready to join the Rangers on the Hunt for the Hype. May the Force have mercy on the one who has stolen it!!!! Concretely ..... I will register for an OCR by the end of the challenge. Probably the Warrior Dash in LeSueur, MN in June, but I have to check with my daughter and husband. Daughter will be going to Japan for two weeks this summer for conferences (and we get to dog sit!). And I'd like hubby to be there so he can drive a muddy me home. To prepare: 1) Keep running. 6 days per week will either be a run or 10K steps by any other means. 2) Keep lifting. I have a basic plan for this month and will change it up again after the end of this challenge. Probably. I have some reading to do, and I know I will change workouts as I learn. 3) Get more protein. I can slip into eating a lot of carbs and sugar if I am not careful. So 5 high-quality protein sources per day. Eggs, protein shakes, beef, chicken, veggie full-protein combinations. Bacon does not count. Bacon is a condiment. 4) Get more freggies. 5 per day. I have loved my rainbow challenges in the past, and I'll try to do that again just to keep the selections interesting and cover a full range of helpful anti-oxidents. 5) Read up on OCR training ideas. I have a book and some blogs to follow. My intention is to restart (and finish) the OCR book I got 2 years ago, and get that done this month. But if folks have suggestions for blogs, podcasts, books, etc. I'll take 'em!! 6) Daily affirmations. In many ways, my mind is my greatest weakness, and I can talk myself out of nearly anything. I need to be brave. Tracking spreadsheet!!! Score??? In terms of stickiness. If I get 80% or better, then the change is on the way to becoming a habit.

2018 - Kestrel Builds A Temple - Part 1 (Foundations) My temple may be built in the clouds, but it is getting a solid foundation anyway 1. Prepare the ground for building Continue to plan my meals with MFP. Continue the ban on sugar/junk/processed foods. After week three I can have two items a week as long as I am between 1450-1600 calories and at least 100g protein per day. If I have lost less than 0.2% bodyfat for two weeks in a row, I add burpee tabatas 4x/week. 2. Build a strong (running) base Stick with easy runs + strides. 9 miles a week, adding one mile every week. Okay to scale back any time my foot aches for longer than that day. 3. Use my building materials (time and energy) wisely Daily mundane tasks are to be completed within an hour of waking, so I am not wasting valuable high-energy time on them (start laundry, shower, teeth and skincare, make my tea and enter the day's meals into MFP). Exercise daily at noon whenever possible to prevent the afternoon energy slump. Bird training, my most attention-demanding task, will be done immediately after exercising. Spend 5 minutes after dinner on whichever important task I have been avoiding the most. Minutiae These are the items that didn't make the cut for Challenge Goals, but are still things I plan on accomplishing: Daily walks outdoors Take my vitamins, especially Vitamin D Strength training 2-3x/week Daily stretching, mobility work, and physiotherapy exercises Spanish language practise

The last challenge was a brilliant flame-out. I went in with the idea that I was going to leap directly into training for 2018, but due to work stress, illness and just lack of personal dedication, the entire challenge cycle was basically a bust. I feel like I'm turning into Luke Skywalker, retreating from the universe to basically hide on a personal sorrow planet of sulky solitude. Anyone who knows me knows that while the Master of the New Jedi Order may be the hero of that galaxy far, far away, he's not the man I want to be. I find him fragile, whiny, and sulky. A man who runs away to hide on Ahch-To after the fall of his Jedi Order to the Knights of Ren is not the kind of Jedi that I would want to be. Sadly, I've only run twice in the past month when my goal is at least three times per week, and I've gained eight pounds since Worlds due to poor fitness habits and eating like the fat man I used to be. Following that path won't allow me to reach my personal goals. Main Goal I am, in theory, training to qualify for the 2018 OCR World Championships, which will be held in England in October. I'll be going regardless - I should be able to register as a Journeyman qualifier by March - but just like 2017, I want to earn my spot through competition as an age-group competitor, and I'd love to post a better finish this coming year as well, now that I have an understanding of what it takes to qualify and what I'm up against when I get there. That said, I'm fighting a couple pretty imposing opponents: age and arthritis. This year, I became part of the "50 and over" age group. Advancing age does crappy things to recovery time, and I can't ignore this. But I can't use it as an excuse. I know several men in my OCR group over 50 who make me look absolutely sedentary. Also, in July of this year, the psoriatic arthritis that I've known was lurking around the corner decided to jump out and attack my knees with a vengeance. I'm at the point where I can tolerate the symptoms and still get in my work, but I will have to be smart, and take care of myself, in order to reach my goals. And while I want to take care of my body and train toward my goal and enjoy racing until I can't do it anymore, I need to remember that I am one 50-year-old man, and not a small army of people half my age. I am scheduled to the absolute max even on non-event weeks, and if I don't do something to take care of myself both mentally and physically, things tend to get very bad very quickly. Goal: Swifter I made a ton of progress here in 2017 and I hope it hasn't all been lost over the past three months. My gains were due to volume (mileage) and programming (speed work). My most obvious issue with remaining consistent here is due to knee pain. Pavement running is painful enough that I don't even want to think about it, and treadmill running is objectively horrible. I love running on trails - I enjoy the quiet and the chance it affords to get away from the rest of my world, and the softer ground hurts less - but now it's winter in Minnesota and I hate winter. I either need to suck it up and get on the treadmill, or I need to suck it up and get on a trail, and I need to do it four times per week, with an absolute minimum of 17 miles per week. Goal: Run four times per week per training plan. Goal: Stronger I attend three classes per week at my gym: two Boot Camp classes and one weightlifting class. This has continued to be a challenge goal as most races happen on Saturdays, and one of my boot camp classes happens on Saturday morning. It's easy to decide to drop While I would perhaps program each of the classes differently, the fact that it's out of my hands is a good thing. I wind up doing things that I wouldn't choose for myself (burpees, box step-ups, lunges, etc.) and so it remains a goal for this challenge. I will be on vacation starting the middle of Week Two, but I have a Personal Training background and can come up with a plan for the Thursday workout. Goal: Strength training three times per week. Goal: Smaller This is my battle against the Dark Side. I have struggled with my weight and my waistline for my entire adult life. Five years ago, I weighed 260 pounds at just under 5ft10in. Through exercise and proper nutrition, I lost between 60 and 70lbs, depending on where I am on a given day. I know what my macros are and I know what the good, whole foods are that make them up. I need to stay on this, every day, and to help with this, I'm going to really simplify things until I get into a groove I can handle. I've been stressing over daily micro-management of macros between run days, strength days and rest days for months, and I've been working at a calorie deficit for the majority of the past three years with very little to show for it around my waist. I'm going to take one stress item off my plate by standardizing my plate: KCal: 2,100 Protein: 125g Carbs: 175g Sodium: 2,800mG Goal: Stick to my macros. Log daily. Goal: Saner I need to keep this on the list for the foreseeable future. Meditation, prayer, alone time, whatever, but it needs to be 30 minutes per day, every day, and cannot be a workout or a run. I NEED this to keep myself centered and sane when my schedule gets overloaded and I get stressed-out and things go sideways. Goal: 30 minutes of quiet time per day. I've got two 10k road runs coming up during zero weekend that I am absolutely not looking forward to, and I've got a Spartan Beast in Florida after Week Two. The Spartan will close out my second Spartan Trifecta of 2017 and will be my 9th Trifecta in three years. For all the whinging I feel like I've done over the past month, I need to keep sight of the fact that I've changed myself from morbidly-obese, borderline hypertensive, borderline diabetic into something else entirely. Here's to a better challenge.

Hey y'all! I'm back after (another) hiatus. The short story: I had a year-long internship that was pretty rough in a lot of ways (you can read the sordid story of how I used my challenge back in January to help survive a bad several months' worth of depression), and went until I returned to my grad program this past August. I took a shot at getting another challenge going after that, but I didn't really have the mental or emotional steam to do another once my life had started to get more normal again. August, I made it back to school. I'd been exercising a bit throughout the year, although not staying in the greatest shape in the world - eating well most of the time, but generally just staying at basic running fitness, and going for pretty regular short hikes. Transitioning back into classes (and city life here in DC), I dropped most of that for about the first half of this semester. The damage of that inactivity added up pretty fast. I knew I needed to draw a line when I was feeling sore and uncomfortable literally just trying to sleep - I'd been sitting around for lectures and work so much that I was just that stiff. So I finally managed to slowly start some activity again - doing stretching and mobility a la Gymnastic Strength Training, and building my old running routine back in. Some weeks back, I think I hit a tipping point where, for whatever reason, I just decided I was tired of the mediocrity. I've had a lot of fun with athletics, and obstacle racing in particular, so I've decided to take that to the next level. In the past, I always did best when I could shoot for a milestone, and now the milestones are getting a bit scary... for example, in terms of straight-up mileage, the only main race length I haven't done yet is a full marathon (I did the Rock N Roll Half Marathon two years ago), and I've enjoyed two Tough Mudders. At this point, I'd rather seriously commit and see if I can survive something really intense, and get in really good shape for it, instead of just muddling along like I've been doing for months now. In sum, I have two major athletic goals that I legitimately intend to accomplish in 2018, barring serious injury or life crises: - Run the Rock N' Roll Marathon in March. - Complete a Spartan Race Trifecta (all three main lengths of their obstacle race series). I haven't done any of these yet, but I know they'll push me to a much higher level of overall fitness and strength. The one I've really got my eye on is the Colorado Rockies Beast, a half-marathon-length obstacle race at high elevation in the mountains. (Yikes!) The races I have in mind start in June. Basically, any challenges I do in the next year will probably be working toward these goals in different ways, but having the accountability of this community again would be awesome. Also, since this is going to take me out of the pure running world and into a lot of strength and crosstraining, who better to have along for the ride than the Rangers? (I thought of Iron Man for this challenge because he kind of reminds me of how I think of obstacles in general - with enough forethought, planning, and preparation, you don't have to have superpowers to overcome a difficult task!) All that being said, here are my main goals - keeping in mind that this month's challenge will be going right up through Christmas break: - Run! Run faster!: Running's a big part of my workout plan (really the main part right now). Goal is to get two short runs and one long training run done each week. No excuses. - Throwing my weight around: I'm just starting to work in some strength and bodyweight exercises as part of the exercise regime. Goal here will be two workouts of some kind in addition to the runs, always including a stretch/warmup and probably with a lot of Gymnastic Strength Training-type exercises. I might work in more Spartan-specific exercises as time goes on. - Diet: I'm really struggling with the food situation I'm in right now. I've got a mandatory meal plan as part of my program, and it's compounded by the fact that I have several mild allergies (and pretty serious gluten intolerance) that make it very hard to eat a balanced meal AND not get sick trying to eat the food here. Oh, and the dining hall people have zero clue about how allergen awareness actually works, so that isn't helping. My goal is to basically make it through five days a week having definitely avoided anything that would make me any sicker... This will probably be one of the hardest goals, honestly. - Pass my classes?: Oh yeah, and for half of this challenge I'll be doing final papers and exams. Yay? I guess I should try and make sure those get done... Here we go! (And thanks for stopping by.)

Jon Firestar: Challenge of the Living Dead On an inconspicuous day near the end of 2017 the dead started to rise from their graves. Nobody could explain why they had risen. Was it a disease, the effect of nuclear radiation or was hell simply too full? Whatever the answer to the question the human race wasn't prepared for their own dead to rise up. Within weeks civilization had collapsed with disparate bands of survivors eking out an existence in the wilds trying to keep away from the hordes of walking dead! Welcome to the Halloween challenge! I love zombie movies so that is going to be the theme for this one. With survival of the zombie apocalypse at stake there is a lot of work to be done! Rule #1. Cardio In order to keep abreast of the zombie masses one needs a good cardio engine! You need to keep running to keep ahead of the zombies. Outdistance the Zombies: The walking dead do not get tired. One must be able to keep ahead of them over large distances to keep the advantage! Simple milage goal of 150 miles in the next 5 weeks. This is worked out from the intended milage over the following few weeks. Who Thought Fast Zombies were a good idea!? It turns out that slow lumbering zombies are not the only threat! Someone also had to go ahead and develop fast zombies. Got to run fast to outrun a fast zombie! Two Quality Speed workouts per week! (Tuesday and Thursday) So my running plan hasn't really changed for a number of months. I'm starting to ramp up the milage again but that will be done very slowly from now until the new year. I'm going to be starting a dedicated marathon plan in January but until then I'll keep up with my current cycle because it is working quite nicely. Strong Enough To Battle the Horde! In order to survive sometimes one must battle the zombie horde. If you are strong and well conditioned that fight will go a lot better for you! I'm back into the gym after nursing a shoulder injury though my Spartan Race. The shoulder feels good and so I'm now I'm going to be rolling back into the Juggernaut Strength Program: Juggernaut 2 days per week (Monday and Wednesday) With my goal of running more, bigger and better OCR races I also want to focus on movements and exercises that will aid me directly in that goal. OCR conditioning workout once per week (Friday) Short OCR focused Tabata workouts during my other strength days. Supplies! Getting food during the zombie apocalypse is a challenging and dangerous endeavour! In order to maintain the strength and cardio strength one needs to scour the land for the best and most nutritious food available! Eat 2600-2700 calories per day. Record everything on MFP, record and post for accountability I'm trying to knuckle down and get on top of my eating. This one is really self explanatory but very important. The most important part is that I want to make sure I record and state all the things to try and maintain accountability! Handle the Fallout! There are two races in this challenge. At the end of Week 0 is the Maverick Trail Race. This is a local 15K Trail race and should be lots of fun The Second at the end of Week 3 and is Nuclear Fallout, a 7K OCR. That also should be a lot of fun to tackle. I'm looking forward to both but I've got no intention of going hard on either. I'm looking to have fun and enjoy the company of a few of the most awesome Rangers in the UK.

less of a secret, more just simple. i figured out some shit last challenge (pun intended) and i'm coming into this next challenge like but with life things stacking up, i'd like to keep fitness things pretty simple for now. do a solid 4 week challenge of goals instead of changing them every week like i did last challenge. Exercise. I have a 5K and spartan sprint in this challenge so i'll be following the Tough Mudder prep plan. I'll be adjusting some of them to get in heavy lifting. i've also upped my pull up bar play by a minute. 5 Tough Mudder workouts per week pull up bar play 6 min per week yoga 60 mins per week Food. let's get some consistency here. cooking new foods and getting back in the habit of breakfast casseroles (or oatmeal bakes). also with the onslaught of plans and holidays, i'll be trying out something new with my alcohol consumption. consume 30g fiber per day take Mg at least 6 days per week only drink alcohol one night per week life things. 10/20: friend’s board game night (plan to drink) 10/22: book club and family bday dinner (plan not to drink) 10/27: friends’s going away party (plan not to drink) 10/28: costume 5K and friend’s Halloween party (plan to drink) 11/4: Stadium Spartan (plan to drink) 11/11 – 11/12: visit bro in-law in Albany (might try not to drink all weekend...) 11/18: wedding outfit shopping; movies with Dad; friends bday (saa)

Main Goal On October 14, 2017, I participated as an Age Group competitor at the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships. It was an amazing experience, an emotional high, and the hardest thing I have ever done to date. The mountain climbs were excruciating, the descent in the rain treacherous, and the obstacles appropriately difficult for a world-championship event. While I'm generally pleased with how my run went, I'm not satisfied. I finished the course and attempted every obstacle. I failed several on the back third of the course due to both poor weather conditions and poor physical conditioning. I can do better. And I'm not waiting until 2018 to start. Next Year starts now. For the first time this year, I have no scheduled events during a challenge cycle. That means it's time to set specific, concrete training goals that will help me to perform better in 2018 than I did in 2017. I'm fighting against a couple pretty big and imposing opponents: age, and arthritis. This year, I advanced to the "50 and over" age group, and in July psoriatic arthritis decided to rear its ugly head by attacking my knees with a vengeance. I'm at the point where I can tolerate the symptoms and still get in my work, but I will have to be smart, and take care of myself, in order to implement my goals. Finally, I need to remember that I am one 50-year-old man, and not a small army of people half my age. I am scheduled to the absolute max even on non-event weeks, and if I don't do something to take care of myself both mentally and physically, things will get bad very quickly. Goal: Speed At 40 I had the cardio health scores of a dead man; now at 50, I have decent cardio health, but am still working on speed and endurance. Arthritis makes this hard, but it's still something I can do. Road running just flat-out hurts afterward - I am NOT looking forward to my two Thanksgiving weekend 10K runs - but trail running is much softer on the joints and I absolutely love the quiet and serenity. I have a training plan, given to me by my teammate and coach, Josh. We talked about it this last weekend riding the gondola to the top of the mountain at OCRWC. It works. It's made me faster than I ever have been. It's time to get back to focusing on the plan. Goal: Run three times per week per my training plan. Goal: Strength OCRWC showed me that while I am generally strong enough for most events, I still need work on grip strength, strength endurance, and upper-body strength. Fortunately, I love my strength classes at my gym, and getting back into the habit of maintaining a more consistent schedule will help me with the results I want to see. Goal: Strength training classes (weightlifting, boot camp) three times per week - Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Goal: Small I made progress here this year, but I've got a ways to go to get the body I want. Running consistently will help, but if there's a singular truth that applies to fitness and weight loss, it's this: I can't outrun my fork. I know my macros, and while macros are pretty accurate at getting me to where I want to be, I've been playing fast and loose with the composition of those macros, and it has shown. Cheap proteins and simple carbs make me bloat and get stored as fat by my body really easily. Aside from sticking to my macros, I need to make solid food choices as well: lean proteins, complex carbs, and plenty of steamed vegetables. Loosely-based on IIFYM calculator Goal: Log all food intake, and report daily Goal: Sanity I'm over-scheduled, Period, Full Stop. I use my gym routines and the running routine I want to establish to take back a bit of that sanity, but as a training regimen starts to form, it will just be one more thing on my plate. This means that every day, I will need to carve out 15 to 30 minutes of time for just me. Away from the work pager, away from my computer, social media, away from my phone, away from my gym shoes and my running shoes and my kids and my GF and the stupid cats and just everything else. That may be a short walk in the evening or a small meditation or something similar. Goal: 15-30 minutes of solitude daily I actually thought long and hard about just maintaining a Battle Log going forward since the last year was mostly what you see here as far as goals and the next year will be just a continuation of the same, but running a challenge at least keeps me moderately accountable to my amazing Rebels and if it's not broke, I'm not fixing it. Thanks for helping me stay the course.

OBSTACLE COURSE RACING (OCR) FANATICS Welcome! This group is for anyone who is training for an OCR, is interested in participating in an OCR in the future, or are just plain obsessed with obstacle racing! This is place for us to all talk incessantly about OCR, share tips on training, ask advice about gear obstacle technique, or even just let everyone know about your latest OCR or Mud Run. Pop your name and current challenge or battle log link on the sheet below so we can cheer each other on in our quest for OCR glory. Accountability Sheet

@The Most Loathed @Sloth the Enduring @EricMN @LadyShello Tagging the people I know are going in hopes of having a conversation about car pooling, etc. Let me know what people are thinking.

Hello again to all my Ranger friends! I started my journey here a while ago but then went over to the assassins for a while. I have decided to come back to the ranger fold for my current goals. I just completed my first Spartan Super this past weekend. I beat my Spartan Sprint time from 2015 by almost an hour! Also 0 obstacles failed this time, so I was super pumped about that! This challenge is mostly going to be focusing on my half marathon coming up. I got 2 weeks to finish my recovery and then run the half. So while that will be mid-challenge, it is still an important marker to measure the progress. I feel good with making it through the 8+ miles of the Super but legs were shaky at the end. Granted there were a few obstacles that will not be in the half marathon. I did have a slight knee issue before the Spartan that I used some KT tape during the race and I didn't have any issues with it. I am thinking that my lunch training at work is going to shift a little more from body weight back to weighted workouts. We are also thinking of using the tabata style format just to change things up as well. I typically workout with a co-worker or 2 so there is a good accountability system in place there. Goal 1: Run for Fun - Goal here is to run 3x per week Goal 2: Weighted Tabata - Goal is 5 lifting sessions per week. As long as there are 5 work days each week, then this shouldn't be too hard. Goal 3: Eat Real Stuff - I have been doing better in terms of diet but it is not there yet. I am down to 180 lbs but would like to get a little leaner. Exercise is definitely not the issue and I have proven that to myself. I need to make a better effort on eating all the real foods. Goal: 2 meals per day with healthy choices.

I've broken this year down to 3 big chunks of long challenges leading up to major fitness events. Chapter 1 was about preparing for the Crossfit Open 2017, Chapter 2 was about preparing to run a Tough Mudder in Ireland next to @Jarric and now Chapter 3 is about getting ready to run the Spartan Super in Sparta on November 5th. I've also kept up a wrestling narrative, where I’m playing Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 and doing the Road to Glory challenge, essentially creating a newbie 18 year old alter ego in some backyard wrestling promotion as I try to headline the Main Event of a big promotion’s Pay Per View event. Technical details and rules can be found here. I am using the game’s database of characters, but set in 1997. Considering the first TEW was set in 2005, it's pretty early in that universe and if played well, I should have the chance to rise together with the game's most famous characters. While so far I've used my Guild Leader powers to move the same thread across challenge forums until each chapter was complete, I've realized it makes it hard for people to keep up with the narrative if they've missed the start. Also, since I will be tweaking my goals for every challenge cycle anyway, I decided I might as well set up a new thread to continue where the old one left off and help people get back in track with where me and my storytelling is. Nutrition: Quantity over quality I feel like I've been focusing on the tree and missing the forest. While my overall eating habits aren't perfect (far from it) I do know what's good to eat and what not. I no longer indulge myself or go overboard with ultra junk food, nor do I really carve such things. You could say that more or less I have my eating in line and have been focusing on trimming the details to perfect it. Given my current life parameters, that is too much effort for too little detail that will result in too minor a difference. While I've been focusing there, I let the fact slide that I am consuming massive quantities of food and most of it is completely senseless and irrational because I'm not that hungry. That said, my nutrition goal for this challenge cycle will be to cut down on the quantity of my meals. Pretty cloudy goal, even if I'll know when I've hit or missed it, but just to make it a bit more SMART I'll put it out as a "mindful eating" goal. Take a moment to consider what and why I'm eating before I eat it, as well as give myself some time to feel full before I decide to have some more. Crossfit: Focused work on eliminating weaknesses When I did the Tough Mudder, I was at my worst physical shape ever for a race and fully expected it to be a trainwreck. Surprise surprise, not only it went great, I even rocked stuff that's been troubling me since day one such as rings and hangs. My biggest weakness was conditioning and that also becomes apparent pretty much on every crossfit workout I do. The lessons from the Mudder, coupled with the fact that going to the box 3 times a week to train is no longer a challenge but an established habit, mean I need to rethink my training. For every week of training, my goal is to spend some extra time working on one of three things: Metabolic Conditioning, Grip Strength and Climbing skills, Upper Body Strength. Things that count as Metabolic Conditioning: Running, Rowing, Assault Bike, Ski Machine, Double Unders, Burpees, Box Jumps, Wall Balls Things that count as Grip Strength and Climbing Skills: Dead Hangs, Pull ups, Muscle ups and pretty much anything involving rings or a pull up bar Things that count as Upper Body Strength: Shoulder Presses, Standard or Handstand Pushups, Bench Press Ideally, at the end of the week I want to have 3 workouts down and one of these three practiced in each Bullet Journalling I keep a simple journal, just dots of things I have to do that I strike out after I've done them. None of the fancy schmancy stuff, simple but it works for me. I've noticed I tend to slip and forget this, which destroys any pretense of organization, so I need to track my progress and make sure I keep doing it until it's an ingrained habit. Domestic Rangering My new job is much closer to home and lets me be back a lot earlier, before the SRLF is there even. My goal is to take advantage of that time to get the house in order instead of goofing around and then sluggishly doing whatever I can be assed to (usually just dishes, laundry and the occasional cooking or ironing).

Ok, so. After the total disaster that was last month's challenge and then completely falling off the wagon this week due to grief (a friend of mine died, found out Monday. Since Monday, I've watched a season and a half of Community, eaten a good 20,000 calories of junk food and fast food, done exactly 3km of walking and that's it for anything physical, stopped setting daily goals and checklists at work, and had like two servings of vegetables spread across four days. I am grieving, yes, but this is not a healthy way to go about it. I need to get my shit together again.), I need to respawn. My goal this month is simple: Each day, set three healthy goals. Can be whatever the fuck I feel like doing that morning. Check them off completed by end of day. That's it, that's all. Full stop. EDIT: Sorry for the cursing. I was brought up an army brat, stress brings it out (along with bringing out my stutter in meat space). I'm not sure what the language rules are here, and I've tried to keep it to a minimum, but I'll try to tone it down more if it needs more toning down.

Hello! I'm Severine. I've been here for just over a year. I've had both successes and failures, and lately I've started to feel like they're cancelling each other out and the result is stagnation. It's why I took last challenge off and just did a battle log instead: I was messing up most of the challenges in a repeating pattern, stuck in a rut. I'm basically working on all the same fitness/health stuff I was working on last year. I don't like it and it's frustrating. And let me be honest: the problem is not lack of knowledge. The problem is not lack of time or equipment. The problem is follow-through, adherence, discipline, and persistence. The problem is me repeatedly making excuses and finding reasons not to do the stuff I know I need to do. The time away from challenges was helpful and I feel ready to tackle a challenge again. And the theme came to mind sort of by accident: something that keeps coming up in my threads is the fact that my grandma is a badass who I really love and respect despite her flaws, and many of my problems would be solved by listening to the things she used to tell me when I was a kid. A recent picture of my mum and grandma. At the time they were 54 and 82: My grandmother and I are extremely close - she basically raised me, and I lived with her instead of my mother for a long time. My childhood was complicated and the details aren't relevant here, but suffice it to say my grandmother was more like a mother to me, and my mother was more like an irresponsible older sister. So what's the advice I need to follow? Well, my situation is that I know what I need to do and the problem is just bloody doing it. And here's what my grandma would say about that: 1. Cultivate Self-Command Grandma is a big fan of what she calls self-command: "doing what needs to be done without stopping to think about whether you want to do it or not." My grandma had many years in her life when the question of what she wanted was not something she had the luxury of considering. It made her miserable sometimes, and she had some terrible coping mechanisms, but she always did what needed to be done. And I should be able to avoid misery and other bad side-effects, because my situation right now is so much more fortunate than hers was back then. More than anything else right now, I need to cultivate self-command. I have found in the past that it's self-perpetuating, and various scientific studies have shown the same: we have a finite amount of willpower in a given day, but over time our pool of available willpower is something that increases with use. This means doing the things I know I need to do every day: Exercise every day, even if it's just a half hour walk (1 POINT) Morning routine (glass of water, stretching, Hobonichi) (1 POINT) Track my food (1 POINT) It also means tackling procrastination: every day I need to cross one thing off my to-do list. I get 1 POINT for doing anything on the list and 1 BONUS POINT if the thing I do is something I really don't feel like doing. 2. Reject the Victim Mentality I remember so vividly when I was 13 and something really bad had just happened to the family, and I was pretty distraught. And my grandmother was consoling me in a very loving way. But then when she started to talk about me going back to school the next day I started to cry and said I couldn't. I said I could get a note and everyone would understand because of what had happened. And she said, "Oh yes, everyone would understand. But many times in your life you will have to choose whether you want to be someone whose failures are understandable given what you've been through, or someone whose successes are surprising given what you've been through." I have never forgotten that, and although I do believe in having compassion for yourself, I think that sometimes the strongest expression of self-love is expecting the best of ourselves, believing that we're capable of carrying on despite difficulties, and pushing ourselves to be better than anyone would expect given the circumstances. This part of the challenge is mostly about anxiety. I have it, and it's a problem. But I don't want to let it define me or limit me. I don't want to become less capable or more fragile. And currently it is affecting my health adversely, because I have emotional eating issues and a lot of why I'm overweight is that when I'm stressed or anxious or sad, my impulse is to eat for comfort. I'm in therapy, which is helping, and I just started meditating a couple weeks ago and I am finding that useful too. So here's how this will work: Going to therapy once per week is worth 5 POINTS (except the one week I'll be on vacation, which doesn't count) Meditating is worth 1 POINT every day Every day I am tempted by emotional eating and I do something else to cope instead (music, tea, walking, writing, etc.) I get 1 BONUS POINT. 3. Face Up To My Mistakes If past challenges have taught me anything, it's that I am going to have days when I screw up. My past pattern is a lot like this: things start off well. I feel awesome and I'm engaged in the challenge and my enthusiasm is high. Then something happens and I miss a day or two of goals, and then I feel guilty because I am no longer perfect. (Perfectionism is a real problem for me). So I decide I'll just not post until I get myself back on track and can report success instead of failures...but being absent from the boards and having lost my streak of perfection makes it easier for me to feel like it's okay to make exceptions and fail some more. And then I avoid the forums more because of the guilt. Sometimes by the end of the challenge I'm posting on everyone else's thread but not my own. My grandmother made a lot of mistakes in her life. Serious ones that, in some cases, really hurt people. I remember as I grew up and found out stuff about her past, I really struggled with integrating it into my image of the woman I knew, who was very different. She was ashamed, but she never hid it or denied it or tried to get people not to talk about it. She believed it was important to face it, to bear the discomfort of confronting it and the pay the price for her previous actions by letting people know about what she had done. She also had an immense amount of compassion for people who had screwed up: she believed in second chances and helping people make amends. She volunteered in prisons, and she took homeless acquaintances and friends-of-friends who were detoxing into her home for weeks or months at a time, to help get them back on their feet. She understands fallibility and she understands that people are complex and that you can't completely judge a person based on a single moment or action. So the final requirement is that I post every day, no matter what is happening, and report on how that day went. 1 POINT per day and, although this may sound counter-intuitive, I get 1 BONUS POINT for reporting in on any day when I have met less than 50% of my goals. Okay! So that's the challenge. I'm going to make another post with details of my grandma's life for those who are curious. Also I will continue to update my battle log if there are details specific to OCR training - I'm working to get ready to run the Fenway Spartan Spring in November!

Main Goal I'm still training toward my 2017 goal. I'm going to Blue Mountain, Ontario, 12 October to 15 October for the 2017 OCR World Championships. I qualified as an Age Group competitor during the Spartan Sprint in Illinois in June, and will be competing in the 50-and-over Age Group. I've been waiting since the beginning of November 2016 to say I'm one of them. I will have eight weeks between the start of this challenge cycle and my date with Blue Mountain. That's about the right amount of time for me to be able to concentrate on a goal, and follow through. As part of my training, on August 12, I am running my first-ever Half Marathon. I would like to not finish last. I am still slow as a road runner and suck at distances. These are weaknesses that I can train in tangible ways. This is more or less the training that has got me here, so in order to continue 2017's successes, I'm pretty much keeping the same goals as always: Run Lift Heavy Things Don't Eat Stupid Adding in a fourth that makes sense: Self Care That's going to cover not only things like "Don't abuse those knees and take a break if you need it when I'm working out" to "Take a day to myself and avoid literally everyone if I feel like I'm crashing." I'll add in important stuff like my weekly workout schedule and my specific macros later. Still moving forward toward the goal. Can't wait for the reveal on this year's bling.

Jon Firestar Runs a Lot, and Preps for Sparta I don’t really have a theme for this one, nor an original title but here we go: This is going to be a 2 part challenge although both are going to focus on my two race goals. On September 3 I run my first half marathon race! On September 30 I go and run my first Spartan Beast! Very little is changing in my overall plan. It is, however where everything starts to come together and I get to see exactly how much strength, speed and mettle I’ve forged into my body over the last year! My training is going to be focused on the lead up and taper towards these two goals. Luckily they are both the same distance so my running training is very applicable to both. The half marathon is going to be the harder run by a long way but having the miles under my legs is going to help for the Spartan too! Running! Miles: 100 - stretch goal 120 A simple milage goal of 120 miles over the next 5 weeks. I have a plan and if I hit that plan dead on I’ll run 120 miles. I’ll be happy if I break 100 though. Week 0: 30 miles Week 1: 30 miles Week 2: 20 miles Week 3: 20 miles Week 4: 20 miles (I'm going to play this one by ear. It really depends on how much recovery is needed) Training: The training plan is identical to what it has been leading to this point. Things will look different weeks 2 and 3 because of the taper. I’m also going to shuffle things around week 2 give myself a good quality tempo workout on Saturday. My intention is to go to Parkrun and set a new 5k PR (my long run will happen Tuesday that week and will be around 7 - 8 miles) 5 runs per week. Monday: Easy Run Tuesday: Threshold (20 minutes at T Pace or 6x5 minute cruise intervals) Wednesday: Easy Run Thursday: Speed intervals/hill repeats Saturday: Long Run Taper: 2 weeks prior to the half marathon. Speed Goals: These are goals that I’d like to achieve this cycle. They are very much just aspirations and I’m not defining success or failure based on them but I’m going to put them out there to show what I’m aiming for. 5k PR sub 28 minutes. Half Marathon: 2:08 This is Sparta! So here is where things are actually going to change. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I’m going to handle my strength training over the next couple of months. Here is the deal. I’ve been running the Juggernaut Program since the new year. It has been going great and I’ve been making serious and steady progress the entire time. The problem is that I am just not going to be able to put together a full training block until probably after November 11. My next 4 ( maybe 5) races are so tightly packed together. I really don’t want to be at all sore for when I go into an event even if the Spartan and Half Marathon are the only ones I really care about being well rested for. My plan, is simple. I will finish out my current wave of Juggernaut next week, deload and then start some focused Spartan specific training. These will most likely be circuit based with a lot of emphasis on body weight work, grip and heavy carries. I’m going to be taking inspiration from @EricMN's wow workouts but shaping them up as I come to them. So my workouts are going to be much more WOD like and a little more adhoc but expect plenty of burpees! I want to try and keep plugging away at the big lifts but probably not at the same volume as I am currently doing. When I finally get back to a more traditional lifting program (which might be November) I’ll test my 1RM and, with any luck, set new PRs to play with. Then I’ll go ahead and start back on Juggernaut. At least through the Winter until next race season! The challenge is to make sure I hit all 3 strength and conditioning workouts per week and spend time each weekend to set out exactly what I’m doing in the coming week. So I’ll post my workouts for the coming week on my Sunday update for a little bit of accountability. Food! 2600-2700 calories per day. Just because weight loss is still a thing! A modest deficit maintained by eating below 2700 calories per day. On the week leading to my half marathon I will increase that to 3000 calories, which is just above maintenance, and will probably introduce the extra calories in the form of carbs.

After missing out on a full 6 weeks of training while babysitting an injured foot, I am ready to get back in the game. I've lost strength and cardio fitness over the past few weeks and I need to retrain my foot on how to withstand OCR-type impacts, so we are basically starting from a blank slate and rebuilding an OCR warrior. On the plus side that means I can make sure some things, like mobility and proper running gait, are developed along side fitness, instead of trying to adapt to them later. I will start this challenge on Monday for a 5 week challenge cycle. Assembly Instructions 1. Nutrition for energy and efficient body mass The plan: 1600-1700 calories a day, with a minimum of 100 grams of protein. No more than one serving of processed food a day (including sweets, convenience food, or anything in a package). Take a daily vitamin. The target: lose 1" from waist measurement. Stretch goal: lose 2" 2. Strength for crushing obstacles The plan: strength training 3 days a week, using Functional Training for Sports (altered to remove jumping for now). The target: proper form push-ups and a full length of the monkey bars. Stretch goal: one pull-up 3. Invincibility (aka injury prevention) The plan: physio exercises 6 days a week, before every run or alongside workouts. Prescribed stretches plus a yoga mini session 6 days a week. The target: no relapses or further injuries. Stretch goal: get both feet flat on the floor for downward dog 4. Speed and endurance for soaring past the finish line The plan: run three times a week (one long/slow run, one tempo run, and one hills run). Start at 2k/1k/4x200m respectively and add 1k or 1 rep to each run each week. The target: run a 5k trail in 30 minutes. Stretch goal: run a 10k in 60 minutes 5. Steely-eyed determination to get shit done The plan: crochet 3 rows of my sister's baby blanket every week The target: have the blanket finished by August 5th (when she is due). Stretch goal: also finish intermediate Spanish 6. Seek help and inspiration from my amazing fellow Rangers whenever needed

Continuing from Chapter 1 where I did the Crossfit Open and Chapter 2 where I did a Tough Mudder in Ireland, this third Chapter will be about doing the Spartan race in ancient Sparta on November 5th. In the words of a wise Jedi Master: Eyes on the prize The Tough Mudder experience was a useful test in that sense and taught me that I need to keep doing what I do, plus eat better to feel lighter and work on my conditioning. This means I need to Eat lighter, eat healthier Sugar and processed carbs contribute to weight gain and that bloated feeling. Avoid them, simple as that. Keep working out It's not like I'll suddenly stop Crossfitting, but I don't want to suddenly put up specialist goals like running and grip strength. Instead, I'm keeping this flexible with a program that'll change with every challenge cycle. For starters, I'm sticking with 3 CF workouts per week until the end of this cycle (August 5) and brainstorming what's next. Unrelated to the race but tracked nonetheless are life quests to keep Bullet Journalling and at long last get a plumber to fix the damn toilet. The wrestling narrative will continue as well. For those who haven't been following this, I’m playing Total Extreme Wrestling 2016 and doing the Road to Glory challenge, essentially creating a newbie 18 year old alter ego in some backyard wrestling promotion as I try to headline the Main Event of a big promotion’s Pay Per View event. Technical details and rules can be found here. I am using the game’s database of characters, but set in 1997. Considering the first TEW was set in 2005, it's pretty early in that universe and if played well, I should have the chance to rise together with the game's most famous characters. This challenge will run from July 15th until the end of the Spartan weekend on November 5th.

Main Goal I'm going to Blue Mountain, Ontario, 12 October to 15 October for the 2017 OCR World Championships. During the last challenge, I qualified as an Age Group competitor through competition, and will be competing in the 50-and-over Age Group. I've been waiting since the beginning of November 2016 to say I'm one of them. Now that it's happened, I need a new training goal. "Do well at OCRWC" isn't a specific enough training goal for me; I have no frame of reference for this competition. Also, I know I cannot podium in my age group (I know damn well who is in my group and I cannot make that leap in the next four months). I need a realistic training goal to keep me moving forward. Fortunately, I've got a couple in mind. First and foremost, I aim to repeat my OCRWC Qualifier Finish from the Chicago Spartan Sprint in consecutive weekends at the end of this challenge. Just because I don't NEED to qualify for OCRWC at Savage Race in Chicago on July 29, or Conquer the Gauntlet in Iowa on August 5, doesn't mean I shouldn't show up and push some other old guy to do his best at those same races. Right? I've been posting these two images since last November, it would be weird to stop now... Second, on August 12, I am running my first-ever Half Marathon. I would like to not finish last. I am still slow as a road runner and suck at distances. These are weaknesses that I can train in tangible ways. (Almost like I had planned this when setting up my 2017 calendar or something). All that means that, like the Jedi Knights of old, I need to re-focus on my training. The Jedi Trials According to Jedi tradition, every initiate needed to pass five Trials to become a Jedi Knight: Skill, Courage, Spirit, Flesh and Insight. I'll be using these five areas to continue to build on what I started so far in 2017 and fulfill my main goal during competition at OCRWC. Trial of Skill I'm fairly obstacle-proficient in a Spartan Race, but whether that will transfer to this level is pretty hard to quantify as I'm going to see lots of obstacles in Toronto that I've never seen before on a course. I'm going to need to consistently work on obstacles to keep that skill level up. Goal: At least one hour of obstacle skills training at Obstacle Academy every week Trial of Courage No lie, I'm a bit freaked out by the competition, now that I've qualified. The last thing I want to do is be the last man on the hill. Time to up my game. To do this, I have to build on the improvements I've made as a runner this year, and that can only happen if I stick to my training plan. My running coach, Josh, has given me a plan that works and that has produced tangible results. I need to stick to it, and I can't skip my weekly long runs. Goal: Stick to my weekly running schedule and do not skip my weekend long runs. Trial of the Spirit I've been racing fairly flat this year and while the Montana mountains didn't kill me and my home Minnesota Sprint did not steal my soul per usual, hills are still a weak spot. OCRWC is 15K at a ski resort and my intel says I should kiss my legs goodbye, unless I start getting serious about my hill training. Goal: 2x hill workouts per week. Trial of the Flesh Just because Spartan Race ignores OCRWC doesn't mean OCRWC ignores Spartan Race staples, like heavy carries. They don't skimp on the heavy stuff, and I can't, either. However, this is a modified goal from what I've been working on for most of the year: I am not eschewing strength training, I just want to keep what I've got, while continuing to become leaner. It's a delicate balancing act, but I've got the general know-how to program myself for this. I'm going to supplement Tuesday's Weightlifting class and Thursday's Boot Camp class by continuing the Grease the Groove Pull-up work I've been doing, while also doing accumulation work. Goal: Strength Training group classes 2x per week. Goal: Accumulate 12 pull-ups or more per day. Goal: Accumulate 100 push-ups or more per day on non-group training days. Trial of Insight None of this all will mean a damned thing if I don't continue to take care of myself, and taking care of myself starts with nutrition and ends with rest. I'm going to give myself a small break from strict nutrition between 6 July and 9 July, as I will be in TX for a certain Chaplain's wedding, and also where I will eat In-n-Out and Whataburger because those are things I can't do here in the Midwest. I also may or may not eat all of the tacos. Otherwise, I know my macros, and it's time to try to stick to them on a daily micro-managed basis. Goal: Stick to my macros. Goal: 6 or more hours of sleep per night. Training Summary Modified schedule for the week ending 7/8 accounts for the Chaplain's nuptials. I'm going to be hungry after 10 miles, folks, plan a good breakfast. Training goals will help keep my eyes on the next prize... It's still the black one.

In almost exactly eight weeks I'm going to be running my first OCR: the New England Warrior Dash in CT. Right now I am pretty damn unfit, and I want to use these eight weeks to improve my fitness and endurance as much as I can. I love the idea of OCRs and I hope this will be the first of many. It's okay if I don't do objectively well the first time; what will make me proud is knowing that I prepared as well as I could and did my best on race day. Half the idea behind doing this OCR is it's something I've dreamed of doing, and I'm hoping it'll give me an added push of motivation to embrace the exercise/nutrition/self-care routine I need to embrace for my general well-being, but have been failing at recently. Six months ago I left a physically active job and I did not adjust well: I went from super active to instant potato. My fitness has fallen off dramatically and I haven't been taking good care of myself. For years, I had exercise built in to my job and now I don't, so I have become almost totally sedentary. I have anxiety issues (for which I'm in therapy) and a few related problems that either exacerbate or stem from the anxiety: insomnia, stress eating, caffeine dependency, and jaw clenching that causes headaches and a lot of neck/facial pain. All of which are things that, for me, have historically responded really well to regular exercise and good nutrition. So the good news is I know exactly what I need to do. And I know how much more awesome I'll feel once I'm doing it. But so far I've been struggling to find my groove. I've whiffed on the last few challenges, and that's why I'm switching to a battle log. A challenge is a thing you can fail, and I've been getting weirdly anxious and avoidant about them recently. You can't fail a battle log, though. My goal is just to keep track of what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. I'm nervous and excited, and I hope I don't screw this up

There is so much cool stuff going on this challenge but I'm basing my theme around one thing that I'm really looking forward to. During the first week of this challenge, I'm going to Wales and will be walking up Snowdon with my husband, my brother, his fiancée and their dog. With that in mind, my theme is based on the Simpsons episode King Of The Hill, where Homer attempts to climb Mount Springfield or "The Murderhorn". I've wanted to do a Simpsons themed challenge for a while so this is just perfect. I've also got a NF meetup at Barrel of Laps with the awesome Rangers @Jarric and @jonfirestar at the end of July which I'm so excited about! Lots of miles will be done and lots of beer consumed. It's going to be fun. On with the Challenge! Goal 1: Climb The Highest Mountain in Springfield Wales The only real goal here is getting to the top of the mountain! There are a few things I need to do to prep for this. I need to decide with the others which route we take. There are some easy paths that I think are going to be too easy considering we're a pretty fit bunch, but we don't want to pick one of the harder routes and then have us either struggle or have to carry the dog if she panics! There is a path called The Ranger Path......... I also need to write a check list of all the things I need to take and I need to buy some stuff for the trip. I'll keep a to-do / check list here and tick things off as they are done. Goal 2: Running Running is going to be my main focus this challenge. A few days ago I was sorting through some stuff and found the first ever running medal I ever got. It was for a 5km and I was shocked when I read the date on the ribbon: 2008. That means I've been running for 9 years, and to be honest, I haven't made much progress in all that time. As much as i love to run, I'm not one of those dedicated people who gets up and runs 4-5 days a week. I need to commit to running regularly to make some solid improvements in both my time and distance. I've seen a few people have put a challenge goal of running 100 miles, so I'm pinching that idea! My bare minimum will be 3 runs a week, but all things being well, there is no reason why I can't do 4 runs a week. Barrel of Laps is in a little over 4 weeks, I think we have a team goal of at least 5 laps (10 miles), so I'd like to be able to do every lap if we hit that target. I've set up a distance based PvP for anyone that wants to join in the fun. Runners and walkers welcome How Far Can You Go? PvP Goal 3: "Step over to the abdominator and I will shout slogans at you" Part I: Juggernaut Training - 2-3 workouts a week I started this program recently and I've just hit the 8's phase. I'll have to take a break from this when we go away, but other than that, I need to be lifting 2-3 times a week Part II: Grip Climb once a week and do rope hangs, deadhangs, farmer carries etc at least once a week Part III: Core I've been neglecting my core so I'm aiming to do two core sessions per week. A session means doing circuits of planks (normal and side), flutter kicks and hanging knee raises on a strength day. Additional Side Goals (to be added as we go): Get up early - Keep working on getting up earlier in the morning. I sucked at this last challenge, so I'm continuing it here

Jon Firestar Channels the Speed Force! My Name is Jon Firestar and I am not the fastest man alive! Actually I am pretty darn slow but I am getting faster and I am gaining more endurance. So my new challenge is going to focus a little more on running goals. There is still going to be lifting and I'm still trying to lose weight but I am really motivated to focus on running a the moment and I want to take full advantage of that! Why am I Running? It is worth mentioning my immediate and mid term goals that my training is focusing on. In the immediate term I've got an beer festival OCR coming up on Week 3 of the challenge Barrel of Laps with totally awesome @Jarric and the OCR Hero @Charlie_Quinn. I cannot wait! In the longer term I've got a Half Marathon Race coming up in the beginning of September so this can be considered as the first part of training for that race. A few weeks later I've got a Spartan Beast, which is about the same distance albeit a lot of Spartany. I will be switching my training to be more focuses on the Spartan towards middle of August but for now my main focus is the half marathon. Run All The Miles: Run 100 Miles. Simple mileage goal for the 6 weeks of the challenge. Averaging about 17 miles per week. I've got a stretch goal of 120 miles. To CQ, this is me throwing down the gauntlet Run With Intent: Two 'quality' runs per week. I went into detail about this last challenge but it boils down to this. My two longer mid week runs on Tuesday and Thursday will be quility runs. The intention is to have Tuesday be for a Threshold workout. Either a 20 minute tempo run as part of a longer easy run or as four five minute threshold intervals with minute breaks between. Thursday will be an interval day. I'm going to continue my current rotation of hill repeats and 400 meter intervals, one week hills the next 400 meter intervals with some easy warm up and cool down miles. There will also be a long run at the weekend for 2 to 2.5 hours (about 10-12 miles). Be Strong! I'm going to continue to work on my lifting. I've not cleaned up my spreadsheet yet but I will do over the next few days. I am paring down my lifting routine a little bit. This is partly to allow more time to run and partly because I don't think all of it is useful. I'm focusing down a little more. Lift 3 days per week. Eat Sensibly Mainly just a continuation of my 2600-2700 calorie goal which should lead to continued weight loss. Gotchas! There a couple of things that are lurking around the corner that will increase the challenge of this challenge somewhat. One I've already mentioned. Barrel of Laps is an OCR, it is also a beer festival. I'm going to say right now I don't intend on being 'good' over that weekend. Beer will be consumed in abundance and food will probably not be great either. I'm comfortable with that decision. A week Friday I've also got another big party. Next week is going to be very challenging for the goals I've set myself. Friday is going to involve travelling, a work conference. Free food, an open bar, a late night out with the boss and others. The next day I'm going to be much worse for wear and I've then got to travel back home. Sunday I'm going to see Spider-Man with some friends and somewhere in all that I need to find the time and energy for a 10 mile run. I'll work out some kind of scoring mechanism later