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I pretty much gave up last challenge and ate So last challenge I did two GORUCKS and then really just sat around and ate. two years a go my pre IRONMAN Texas race weight was 163lbs. Up until a few months a go I have stayed down in the 165's or so. That has recently gone way off the charts though. This morning I was 175lbs. That being said I know a lot of it is sodium but I still have gained close to 10lbs I am guessing. It is not helping that my In Laws are here until Sunday and we are drinking and eating out every night. I can try to use that excuse but last nights burger and brownie sundae were my choice as opposed to a salad. The Delerium Red on draft was excellent though and I have never seen that. So for this challenge I would like to get under 163lbs, yes lose 12lbs in 5 weeks. Keep in mind though I should drop 3-5 quickly due to sodium. I also have two other minor goals, WOD daily, and eat paleo clean(this will be how I lose the weight). Lose 12 lbs WOD daily(includes stretching) Eat Paleo I do have a GORUCK heavy in 3 months so my WODs will be a 3 day rotation. Lift Recovery(swimming usually) Ruck, and possible light WOD That is about it for me. Kicking this off today 6/25.

Late to the party, whoops, but I did just return from vacation on Monday. I trailed off on the last challenge but don't feel terrible about it because it was insanely hectic - not the most stressed I've ever been, but definitely the most major events in a month. Plus at the beginning of the challenge I wasn't planning on the Italy work trip, and then that happened in the middle of everything. My healthy routines were thoroughly disrupted, but I still squeezed in a little exercise and some vegetables. I'm thrilled to be home, and in my own kitchen and bed again (not at the same time, obviously). After eating out most meals for three weeks, I am excited to cook balanced, delicious meals at home. Overall Goals My general life goals have changed a bit because, uh, I'm pregnant and all - so weight loss is no longer the primary aim. I weighed myself this morning and was unpleasantly surprised by the number on the scale, but the internet tells me it's normal to have gained 4-6lb at this point even though the baby is only the size of a raspberry, so I feel better about it now. I'm going to stop weighing myself at home because it makes more sense to focus on make healthy choices each day. I've cancelled my NF Coaching because I already feel a bit overwhelmed, and through work I'm going to be assigned an RN who will advise on healthy eating and exercise throughout my pregnancy. But I have even stronger reasons to eat healthy, and I won't be drinking ha, so I'm going to focus on paying attention to how I feel - more frequent, small meals seems to sit better with me these days. I am currently working to use up a lot of my pantry/freezer food which has been accumulating for...a while. I also want to declutter since we mayyy buy a house and move before the baby comes. Goal #1: Cook all the things Make (nearly) all our food at home, avoid relying on processed food. I'd like to get in a good pattern of meal prep and eating at home pre-baby. Document food here. Goal #2: Feel the burn Work out doing whatever feels good. Right now that's barre but I'd like to try to get running again if I can do it without chest pain. Aiming for working out 3x/week minimum, and walking on other days to aid digestion and circulation. Goal #3: Feed the fire Take extra kind care of myself. Give myself an 8-hour sleep window. Nap if needed. Meditate daily. I have FIVE WEEKS before our family vacation when we tell the family, and I have already told random coworkers in Italy (because finding out I was pregnant the week before the trip was anxiety-inducing), a couple coworkers I am closer to (because we were on vacation for a week and they wouldn't have figured it out from the not drinking anyways, and this way I was able to talk to a friend who had twins last year about it), and another friend (who I stayed with on the way to and from the Florida vacation, because we're close and it was nice to do it in person). Between now and the official family announcement at which point it will be public, I will probably tell a couple more friends because as an external processor keeping secrets is not my strong suit. It still feels completely surreal, but in the best way.

Dear Battle Log, I tried the 4-week challenge a couple of times, but I had a very hard time with it. I think maybe 4 challenges is too much for me, and I should start slower. So I am trying again, but this time with just one challenge. I saw this 8-week training program to run 5k, but the problem is it starts by running 1 mile on the first training day. Unfortunately I got even more out of shape recently (stupid finals), and I'm not sure I can safely run even just 1 mile at this point. I know I can walk it, and run about 1/4 of a mile, but really not sure about running a whole mile. I know, this is really sad, considering that I ran 5k a few years ago. Anyway, this program recommends a 4-week to 1 mile training program for beginners or those like me. When I saw it, I realized that maybe I need something like this. Not just for running, but for the 4-week challenge and maybe other things in my life too. Baby steps. Start slow. So here is my plan. I will start with the 4-week-to-1mi training. I can respawn if I fail. When (not if!!!) I complete step 1, I will run 1 mile about 3 times a week until I am ready to proceed to step 3. Then I move on to the 8-week-to-5k training. If something goes wrong I can go back to step 2. If all goes amazingly, I could spend 4 weeks on step 1, 2 weeks on step 2 (last week of step 1 is just running a mile 3 times a week, which is basically my step 2. Really it would be more like 3 weeks on step 1, then 3 weeks on step 2). Then 8 weeks on step 3, and I would complete this exactly by September,1. If all goes super amazingly I could even run in a local 5k race in the beginning of September! (and qualify for the Olympics lol). On the off chance that everything does not go super amazingly, I will give myself time until the end of the year, then reassess. Even if I end up completing only step 1 I will count it as a success.

then she tussles with muscles while learning to hustle So this challenge has two main components, and I am scoring them separately because it makes it harder for me to cheat on myself. Component 1 - Write. Compete. Actually finish a thing. I am, as my husband describes it, "great out of the gate, but not much for stamina." I'm a notorious STARTER, not so much of a finisher. From home-improvement projects to learning new skills to pre-programmed weightlifting programs, I am engaged and attentive and motivated and energized - until I'm not. Nowhere in my life is this more frustrating than in my writing. I LOVE to write. I'm good at it. This should be my ikigai.* But in all my years of NaNoWriMo and creative writing classes and reading books collecting underpants about writing - I have never once finished anything I would be willing to have published. Or, honestly, viewed by another human. I mean, I've finished a couple of flash fiction pieces - I have written and submitted to the monthly photo prompt on 100 Word Story a few times, and produced a few other pieces in response to other prompts that I am not embarrassed to share. And a group of my closest friends does a Christmas poetry/short fiction thing that I always produce something for. But anything long enough to be called a "short story" much less a "novel" - yeah, nope. I have a pile of unfinished stories and novels that would stuff The Grinch's sack to the bursting point. Conventional wisdom sez that if you give yourself a deadline and stakes, you will perform. Common example: want to stick to a running program? Sign yourself up and pay the entry fee for a 5k happening two months hence - then you "have to" stick with it or forfeit your money!! Yeah. I laugh in the face of conventional wisdom. I apparently have zero problem forfeiting a 5k entry fee. Or a writing contest entry fee. If I hit a roadblock, or a speedbump, or a headwind, or whatever, and I feel like quitting - well, yeah, I'm gonna quit. True fact. What seems more effective for me is these challenges and being accountable to you nerds, so I'm doing this here. Also, I've had some success with bribing rewarding myself for good behavior, so - LOOT! This challenge is simple. Not easy. Just simple. Step 1: Enter a writing contest. Specifically the Summer 2019 Writing Contest by "The Write Practice." 1500 word or less short fiction. Theme/constraint: One room. (Action of the story limited to a single room.) And I'm entering it at the "Premium" level, which means I will get feedback from the judges to help me improve. Because writing only for myself might help me get better - a little - slowly - maybe - but writing and receiving professional feedback is the actual time-tested best way to get really better. Entry deadline = May 28 Step 2: Actually write and submit the story for workshopping. Draft submission deadline = June 3 Step 3: Revise, edit, and submit final actually *completed* story. Submission deadline = June 10 Loot: If I see this story through to submission, my reward will be a Chronicles of Narnia hand-painted silk scarf from Etsy vendor EmeraldCloud. Component 2: Keep growing shoulders, add growing lung capacity. I've been working in and around hypertrophy set/rep schemes for a little over a month now (hat tip to @Grumble) and I am really enjoying it. But also - sigh - my cardiovascular endurance is CRAP. Really. Bad. I love to lift. I despise ... <insert 'cardio' activity of any variety here>. I'm sorta cool with short HIIT sessions, and work them in where I can make them fit (not often enough, but I do try) - but that's still only part of the puzzle. I need at least some element of LSD in my life. No, not like that!!! Long, slow distance cardio. Like ... the boring kind. I've downloaded a Couch-to-5k app to my phone. I don't for a second have any illusions that I will be ready, able, or motivated to run a 5k at the end of 8 weeks, but frankly if I could get back to the point of being able to pass a Navy Physical Readiness Test I'd be happy with it. I've stuck with it for two weeks now, which is longer than I've ever managed in the past, so that's a good sign I think. Also, I am lame and pathetic about mobility work, so I need to add some of that in somewhere. Step 1: My current battle rhythm Monday: Split Squats/OHP/Curls/Cable pulldown/Cable pushdown (additional shoulder accessories as time permits) Tuesday: C25k Wednesday: RDL/Bent-over row/bench/feet-elevated glute bridge/reverse crunch (additional pec/bicep/tricep accessories as time permits) Thursday: C25k Friday: Inverted row/push-ups/goblet squat/hammer curl/triceps extension (additional shoulder accessories as time permits) Saturday: C25k Sunday: Lay on couch Yoga/foamroll/stretch Two points for every day in which I execute the plan as planned. One additional point for every day with bonus accessory work added in. Total points possible: 68 Step 2: Take progress pics I did remember to take pictures of myself before I started trying to hypertrophy - about 7 weeks ago? I think? Subjectively I "feel" like my triceps and delts have grown and have more definition - but I can't see it in the mirror. I need to take pics to compare. I reeeeaalllyy don't want to, but it's the only way I'll know. 20 points, all or nothing, if I do it sometime during this challenge period. Loot: If I can accumulate a total of 75 points out of the possible 88, I am buying myself a new brooch. *ikigai = usually translated as "reason for being" or "reason for jumping out of bed each morning" - but I recently read a book in which it was described more descriptively as "the intersection between what you love to do and what you are good at," and that is the sense in which I mean it here.

Grandkai joins the Ranger Campfire I've been a Assassin for most of my NF Rebellion journey and with my current goals i thought it was a nice chance to see how the Rangers are. Let me give a quick introduction to who i am: Dutch guy from the Netherlands and i've been a few years now on the NF Rebellion forums. Did a bunch of challenges, had a break and been back for a few challenges now. I like reading, playing games and 100% them on Xbox. Lets get to the goals: Strength training 2-3x a week Since i started going back to the gym i have a LOT better focus & comitment to staying fit. I'll be doing Stronglifts 3x5 with Dips & Chin-ups added. I have a goal of hitting BW Shoulder press before switching to a new program (current BW is 87kg and my 3x5 right now is 50kg, so long way to go ) Run 1-2 times a week for 3-5 km I used to be a regular runner but after a 10K run last year i stopped, decided after the race to take a week break and after that i didnt run at all. The weather here in the Netherlands is oke right now, decent temperature and a bit cloudy but not so much rain. I have a few nice paths to run near my house so i got enough choices to run. Eat healthier Last challenge i payed more attention to sugars and drinking water. This challenge i want to improve it a bit more. This challenge i'm going to track every meal/drink/snack i consume, Drink 2 liters of water everyday, eat more fruits or consume them as a drink. 100% Gaming hobby In my free time i like to spend a few hours everyday working on getting all the achievements for games i own. With Borderlands 3 coming out in roughly 3 months i'm going to play through the first 3 games (Borderlands 1 & 2 and the Pre-Sequel) and try to 100% them. For the moment without all the included DLC's cause those also add 40-50 hours each and i dont have the time to do all of those aswell. So thats my challenge and i'm curious to see how the Rangers are.

So, I have signed up for things and need to actually do them. None of them are fitness related, but I will pretend they are, because i have been lazy as fuck. I'm going to a music festival in Atlanta in September, signed up to run a panel at my local con, and am vastly behind on getting my game's story arc set up so I can run. 1. Be active - to run around events :-) 1 run per week 2 KB sessions per week (pref more but my standards are low right now) 2. Be creative Set up my presentation for the panel Get my game arc planned Mine the new mission guide for NPC stats 3. Get shit done (may extend to next challenge) Get my new passport application submitted Book hotel rooms check flight estimates but plan on booking when there's a sale. I have time. 4. Be solarpunk Get my garden planted - Easter weekend Try mending - jeans or socks. Pref both. Hassle MP about some stuff. Read books and watch anime in prep for panel too. It's research :-D Current manga is Somali and the Forest Spirit. It's sweet.

A few weeks ago I started to play The Legend of Zelda - Breath Of the Wild again in Master Mode (i.e. in hard mode). I immediately fell in love again with this wonderful game. (Unfortunately, I lost my motivation to play after my vacation, mostly because it is much easier than expected.) And during the last few weeks while running through the woods I realised that Link is, more or less, my ideal fitness/health model. I want to be able to run, climb, carry stuff, fight, etc. Basically, I want to do be able to everything at least decently. Of course, with my back problems and my other health issues, that won't happen anytime soon. But I want to get a bit away from the training/exercise mindset and a bit more towards performing. In particular, I want to combine my callisthenics workouts (strength/stability) with my running training (endurance). At least, that's what I want to try during this challenge. Maybe I'll like it; maybe it's effective. Moreover, I want to continue a bit in the Thomas Frank mindset of three hobbies: one fitness related one, one entrepreneurial one and one skill-based one. I want to walk more (building up to hiking). Last challenge I tried to walk more often; this time I try to walk longer. I want to draw comics "seriously", but right now I do have neither the mental capacity nor the technical capabilities. So, I'll just try to do it at all. I want to get better at Go (ancient Chinese board game). And because of my recent obsession with Breath of the Wild, the theme of this challenge will be... Hyrule's Champions Link's Quest Working out every day I will split this in two: "Intense" workouts consisting of mostly upper body exercises and running; and "easy" workouts consisting of Yoga. (Well, Yoga is my shorthand for my combined warm-up and cool-down routine. It's more movement and less proper Yoga; but it's more of a Yoga mindset.) The goal is to do one of these each day; aiming for about 4 "intense" workouts per week. I'll track them separately, mostly to see when and how I move. If this works as planned, I'm in good shape for the 5k in June and maybe I can even start bouldering properly now that I can train with a pull-up bar. Daruk's Quest Going on an hour-long walk twice per week This should not only augment the more intense workouts but also serve as a way to clear my mind. Moreover, I want to listen to more podcasts and audiobook and walking is the perfect opportunity. I aim for at least 60 minutes, but I'll probably count 50-minutes walks, too, since I won't always find/walk sufficiently long routes. Urbosa's Quest Eating below 2000 kcal and below 130g of carbs Last challenges I lost about 1.3 kg, which is okay for a five-week period; especially considering I didn't eat as well as I wanted to. I'm in no hurry... So, I'll just continue what I did. Eat less calories and, addtionally, less carbs. (The latter for various reasons: additonal calorie control, concern about gluten, sucess in the past, etc.) 2000 kcal seems to be a nice bound. And with the carbs I want to go a little bit lower as last challenge. Not yet "low-carb" by any means, but an improvement. I aim to eat low-calorie daily, of course, but about 5 times per week is probably good enough. Revali's Quest Study/Play Go daily In order to improve at Go there are many different ways. Unfortunately, none is particularly enticing at this moment. I enjoy everything -- solving problemes, studying games, playing -- but nothing really hooks me at the moment. So, I'll just to do something for at least 15 minutes a day. No stress here, but actually doing it at least five times a week seems like a good goal. Mipha's Quest Drawing something As mentioned above, drawing is important to me, but I'm not good enough at the moment. So, I'll just try to do it at all. Side Quest Reading Finding a reasonable gaming routine Breathing Grip strength Some random things I want to keep in mind... Reading more "real" books... Finding a way to play video games without neglecting the challenge and without feeling guilt... Doing breathing exercises... Working on grip strength (both for pull-ups and for cracking nuts)... ------------------------- I'll plan to geet two rewards if I'm doing well in this challenge: The Breath of the Wild special edition artbook and a nice (expensive) bottle of whisky. Not sure about the exact goals I have to reach for this, but most likely whatever I mentioned above.

Disclaimer: I hate running and haven’t run for more than a bus in years! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A number of us (it might be 100%!) are sub-optimal in the running department. How about a couch-to-5k to rev the NF crew up? It’s a zero to hero, couch to 5K program, designed as it says to get you from the couch to a 5k run. 9 weeks of terrible dreadful pain and suffering in your time, then it’s over and you can get back to your pint! This is the app that outlines the program and guides you through it, there’s a small cost (less than $5): iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/couch-to-5k/id448474423?mt=8 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.active.aps.c25k Start next week on Saturday 30th March…..9 weeks later on Saturday 1st June at 8am(!) we’ll do a virtual team 5K using a local Park Run Lycra optional! Who’s in? OK back to my beer… @DarK_RaideR help me out bro...

Well, it finally happened - at the tender age of 35, I have finally decided to become a real adult. It was inevitable. I could see it coming years ago, but damn, I put it off as long as I was able. I'm proud of how long I held out... but now I'm excited to finally be wearing my big-girl panties, and exploring the wild expanses of genuine adulthood. To inaugurate my level-up, I am setting a 30-day challenge for myself. My goals are as follows: - Complete the move-in process to our new house (including unboxing and organizing all our shit) - Complete the move-out process from our old house (sign-off all the paperwork & turn in the keys) - Revamp my wardrobe, from the current mish-mash of accumulated crap, to a *purposeful* *functional* *events appropriate* one - ACTUALLY WEAR THE NEW WARDROBE - Update my financial budget - Resume healthy living (cooking at home, prioritizing my workouts, and maintaining self-care routines) I'm setting the challenge dates for 01 APR - 30 APR, simply because I want to do a "30 Days, Before & After" kind of photo collage [and a 1 month timeframe is easiest]. I'll get back in sync with the actual 4WC timeline after that.

After succeeding in a respawn challenge, Skywalker is determined to make this reboot last. It won't be easy, as one more intensive course week and several due dates for writing assignments are awaiting. So, the challenge will be realistic and simple. Keep successfully doing what works, and keep working on that which wasn't successfully done in the previous challenge. AND I'm adding a study-related one, just in case. Subquest 1: start the day with devotions (Scripture study, meditation and prayer) -> 1 WIS + 1 CHA Subquest 2: do at least >7000 steps/day -> 1 STA Subquest 3: completely cut all unintentional time on the internet (entertainment, news, social media, etc.) and spend it on research/writing instead -> 1 WIS Subquest 4: go to sleep before midnight -> 2 CON Subquest 5: run at least 2x/week (1x long run + 1x tempo run) -> 1 STA + 1 DEX Subquest 6: lift 2x/week -> 2 STR So... I'm ready to step into the larger world once again.

So... Last challenge went reasonably well. I need to work out more and focus much more on my diet. Moreover, I need to find a way to spend my free time. Unfortunately, all my hobbies are so interesting!! And I always have a hard time deciding what to do. So, I want to tackle from a particular angle: I'm a big fan of Thomas Frank and his YouTube channel. He mostly talks about how to be a good and successful student. In his podcast, he once talked about how everyone should have three hobbies. One movement-/fitness-related hobby that should go beyond working out for the sake of working out. One entrepreneurial hobby that you took as serious as a second career. And a skill-based hobby. I want to spend the next challenges focussing on three hobbies that fit those categories in order to find out what I really want. I will most likely change in-between challenges depending on my experiences. So... Let's start! ------------------------- Moving Working out Running A new round of physical therapy started today in order to fix -- or at least manage -- my back pains. I hope I get a few pointers on how to work out better and then actually do it. I aim for two times a week of "intense" workouts. But I will try to do yoga or something similar as often as possible. Running helps my back pain and it is fun. And in June there's a 5k at my university and I think about participating. I want to go running twice a week. Dieting Low-Carb or low-calories So... Dieting is not going too well. I'm sitting firmly at 94kg. To be a bit more proactive I do not only want to track my food intake but aim for something. I had great success with going low-carb in the past and, obviously, low-calories is always a good idea. So, I'll try both: I want to stay below 150 grams of carbs or below 2000 kcal on as many days as possible. As both correlate -- at least the way I usually eat -- I expect to achieve both or neither each day. Hobbies Walking Drawing Studying/playing Go Practising the guitar So, my three hobbies. For the fitness-related one, I want to be much more active. But I'll start with walking. Last challenge I managed on average 8955 steps per day and maybe I can get that up to 10000. Moreover, I want to listen more to audiobooks and podcasts. Thus, I want to combine these two and aim for a 20-minute walk each day on which I listen to a podcast. Next, I want to get back into drawing. I don't have a particular goal in mind -- just sketching for now. The mid-/long-term goal is to draw and publish comics. Lastly, I want to play and study Go more again. I'll try to go to the local meet-ups and read a few books. Moreover, I'll add practising the guitar as an extra hobby. First of all, it's close to meditating for me and I can easily do it daily for a couple of minutes. Second, I want to propose to my girlfriend in April with singing a song to her. So, I have to practice. ------------------------- As always, I probably have too many too hard goals. But I'll adapt the challenge.

Mera, aka Runner 5, reporting for duty from her new base in Sweden... The Mission: Get ready for the Zombies Run 10K virtual race "The Train to Orban" taking place late April - early May The Action plan: Simple, follow the Zombies Run 10K beginner training The Obstacles to master: Make room for running and just go, even if I don't want to (or the weather is crap). Prevent knee pain through exercises and stretching. Take the dog along as much as possible, which might impact speed negatively. Remember that it's not about speed or losing weight, it's about running consistently and feeling better in mind and body. Don't get caught by Zombies. Open the gates!

So, it's been a minute. I've been trying to re-find my momentum for a while. It hasn't happened. There are a myriad of reasons and excuses, but the bottom line is that I need to protect my long-term health, and a sedentery lifestyle is what I've been successfully trying to avoid for the past six years, but it's what I've been pulled back to over the past few months. It's my Dark Side. A re-introduction, since I've been absent for a while: I grew up a skinny teenager but got fat in college through beer and bad habits. I stayed that way until my mid-Forties, tipping the scales at around 260lbs at 5ft10in. In 2012 I joined a gym and lost a whole bunch of that weight and began to gain some strength and regained some athleticism. I enjoyed working out but had few goals and was just kind of coasting along, gaining and losing the same five pounds and not really adding strength or endurance. And then, in 2014, I started Obstacle Racing, doing my first Spartan Race in September. I was hooked. In 2015 I completed two Spartan Trifectas, falling short of my third Trifecta on the last weekend of the year due to illness. I was irritated at not reaching that goal and completed 5x Trifecta in 2016 while completing a number of other events and some road races. In 2017, I realized I was getting good at this for an old man and qualified for OCR World Championships as an age group competitor in the Over-50 Men's group. It was by far my most successful year as a "competitive" racer and I was as fast as I have ever been, mostly due to consistency and work ethic. I traveled to Toronto, Ontario and competed with my peers for 9 miles up and down a ski hill in the rain. This was the height of my Jedi powers. I remained active for the first part of 2018, but gained weight, lost a little speed, and even though I qualified again for OCR World Championships this past year, could not attend. The combination of pain, injury and disappointment de-railed me. I let my scheduling issues get the best of me. I've lost a significant amount of muscle mass and nearly all of my cardio fitness. I've allowed some of my mental health issues - depression, anxiety - to re-surface and get the better of me. It's time to take the long road back. Main Goal During the last weekend of October and the first weekend of November I will be competing in Spartan Races on back-to-back weekends on different continents. That's a LOT of miles to rack up in an eight-day period for someone who has not run anywhere of any distance since December, and before that September. Thankfully, I have a tried-and-true training and nutrition plan. Also, for the first time in three years, I am going to be focusing on treating myself with kindness and not just "allowing" for goals that include self-care, but making it a priority. Nutrition Usually I put this as my "third" goal, but I'm putting this in the first slot because without proper nutrition, everything else may as well just go by the wayside. I know how to eat right - plenty of quality, lean protein (chicken, pork, fish) with real fruit and vegetables and quality carbohydrates. I normally have a training macro goal. For this challenge I'm going to start by logging my food - every bit that goes in my mouth - and start dialing in my nutritional goals based on my real activity. I'll add specific training macros as I go along, but only after this goes well. Goal: Track my food intake every day and report it here. Track total calories, protein, fiber and sodium as these are the biggest macro issues for me. Full-Body Strength When I started working out, I was going to the gym two to four times a week and mostly doing Boot Camp workouts. I eventually fell in love with free weights and enjoy strength training, but I also have arthritis and chronic tendinitis and my joints tend to fight against me because I'm a heavy guy for my size and they take a lot of pounding. I have a gym that I have belonged to for six years and I need to start getting my money's worth out of the membership. I will start slowly and ease back into what I know I'm capable of as not to injure myself and be done before I get started. Goal: Full-body strength workouts two to three times per week. Running I actually enjoy trail running, but there's not going to be any of that in Minnesota for me for a while as I just do not enjoy outdoor winter running. If I'm going to complete the Spartan Ultra in Glen Rose Texas in October, I'm going to have to be able to make specific time hacks or I will be removed from the course. I've never received a DNF in an Obstacle Course race. I'm not going to start now. I'm going to ease back in as I stated above with my strength goal. Goal: Start my distance running plan at the novice level: 3x per week, no more than 3 miles per day. Self-Care I'm socially awkward at best and struggle with social anxiety daily. I also have lived with depression and anxiety and in the past have been treated (medicated) for symptoms. I haven't needed that level of help in the past few years as I have successfully self-treated with nutrition, exercise and a healthy dose of service to others. However, the scales are waaaaay out of whack right now and I am dangerously close to some bad places. Fortunately, I also spent a lot of years paying a lot of professionals to help me develop healthy coping habits. It's time to exercise some of those, daily, to regain my equilibrium, and if I can't, it's time to seek out professionals to help. Goal: Practice one tanglble act of self-care daily and report on it. Challenge Obstacles I will be leaving Wednesday afternoon of Week 1 on a 1,500 mile road trip to Florida, to delivery my partner/GF and her vehicle to her month-long break from our Minnesota winter. She works remotely and this will be the second year in a row that we are doing this and I suspect it will become an annual tradition. I will fly back Saturday night, but there will be a couple long days in the car during the trip. I need to roll with this and not get anxiety over the fact that for two days at the beginning of this challenge I will not be able to meet my goals. Events I try to always have something on the docket to keep me focused. I will be attending the Central Florida Terrain Race on Saturday morning, partly because its' five minutes from where we are staying on our trip to Florida. I am in no way trained for this event. I am going to show up, run, get a gauge of what goes well and what doesn't, I'm going to be kind to myself if things go as badly as they could, and enjoy the experience regardless of how I perform. I'm going to be kind to myself above all else during this challenge, but I need this to get myself jump-started and back to being the best me that I have been as an adult. I know it's possible as I've done it, and recently. I'll likely need some accountability to keep my focus on my long-term goals. Above all, it's good to be home.

It's good to be back in the Rebellion! I got some pretty ok results in the first three challenges (#1, #2, #3), then unexpectedly moved to UK for postgraduate studies (take-it-or-leave-it scholarship thing) and coped with the adaptation, work, study and family balance during the autumn term, running and lifting only very occasionally, while ditching my daily walks altogether. In Nov, I failed a respawn challenge. In sum, I let Darth Paunch punch me too much (fueled by the Galactic Writing Assignments Empire). All in all, I threw that lightsaber behind way too many times. It comes to an end. In the latter part of January (original time of the year when I left the Mordor realm of inactivity in 2018), I resumed my running and lifting routine, though I'm still in the process of gearing up. I got myself a new fitness tracker (Huawei Band 3 Pro - for £58 on Amazon Warehouse) with GPS and swimming mode, which adds to motivation (I detest carrying my phone on runs - and this band tracks runs with GPS, showing the pace, distance ran and heart BPM on its own screen in real time, which I always wanted; also, I plan to subscribe to a swimming pool as soon as my academic year ends). Here's the new beauty: And here are some pictures from today's walk around Binfield (finally found some kinda hilly paths which resemble the hills of Maruševec in Croatia that I quite miss): So at this point, I'm pretty optimistic. However, I need to temper it with realism. First, the challenge reports will have to be Twitter-style - nowhere near like this introductory post (took me over an hour!). I made an Accountabilities Twitter-style thread during the failed respawn challenge, but there weren't any posters beside me, so I will not double it, but instead am branding this challenge as an "abridged-posting mode" one. Thus, both my goals and posts will be simple. Also, the following two weeks I have an intensive course, which means my goals during that time will be a smaller bite. So here it is: Subquest 1: walk >4000 daily steps during first two weeks and >8000 daily steps during second two weeks -> 2 STA Subquest 2: run 1x/week during first two weeks and 2x/week during second two weeks -> 1 STA + 1 DEX Subquest 3: lift 1x/week during first two weeks and 2x/week during second two weeks -> 2 STR Subquest 4: go to sleep before midnight -> 2 CON Subquest 5: start the day with devotions (Scripture study, meditation and prayer) -> 1 WIS + 1 CHA Give me that lightsaber alright! P.S. looking forward to the end of the academic year, when I'll be able to hang out with you much more! Wishing all of you a rocking 4WC!

It's been a few challenges since I was here on Nerd Fitness so now it’s time I got back into my fitness routine. For my next challenge, I’m going with a 10th Kingdom theme. I did this one before, a few years ago, but since it’s soon International 10th Kingdom Watch Week, I thought it would be appropriate to do this again. And since I still don’t particularly enjoy the 4 week style challenges, I’m going to do another double challenge at 8 weeks like I did back in 2016 and 2018. That should put me at February 11-April 14, with a week in the middle for a brief rest, I think. The 10th Kingdom is my favorite movie (technically it’s a mini series) and book of all time. It’s about a young woman named Virginia who is seeking to find herself and escape from her boring life. She ends up being transported, along with her screw-up father Tony, to a magical land where fairy tales are real. And they’re not the golden fluff from Disney either! Along the way she is rescued, repeatedly, by Wolf, a reformed convict whose sole mission in life is to woo her. He is half-wolf and must fight his own animal instincts along their journey. The adventure takes them on a whirlwind tour throughout the nine kingdoms where they encounter Trolls and dwarves, a magic gold river fish, the Kissing Town, an Evil Queen, elves and fairies, poisonous mushrooms and Prince Wendell who has been turned into dog. They must help Prince regain his throne and thwart the most evil woman alive; all while simply trying to go home. My goals are properly kingdom themed too, mostly with a focus on Wolf since he’s my all-time favorite character! 3 smaller Quests 1.“Baste it, roast it, toast it, nibble it, chew it, bite right through it, wobble it, gobble it, wrap it round a couple of chickens and am I ravenous!” -Wolf Don’t Eat the Magic Mushrooms (or in my case, the magic sugary snacks!) I need to cut down on processed junk food. Ideally, I would kick the fake sugar habit completely, but that goal hasn’t ever stuck for long, so I’m going to simply be limiting my sugary snacks to only on the weekends with my blow meal and on my birthday. During the week, I want to stick to snacks like fresh fruit, popcorn and nuts. Food features as a sub-theme throughout The 10th Kingdom from the mushroom omelettes in the swamp, to the fizzy stuff in Kissingtown, to the poisoned champagne at Prince Wendell’s coronation, to the apples from the Merry Pips Apple Orchard, to the fine food from the Peeps. I know I would love one of Wolf’s bacon sandwiches! Scoring: x/40 days of no sweet treats (M-F, accept on my birthday) Reward: +4 to CON & +4 to CHA 2. “Oh cripes, they’ve found us!...Run, run!” -Wolf Walking/Running I’ve successfully added walking into my workout but I need to do better at challenging my cardio. I want to really challenge myself this time, and since it’s a double challenge, I think 60 miles in 2 months/40 days is reasonable. I’m going to walk for most of this challenge, but I also want to add in some running. Maybe run 2 times per week at the gym for 15 minutes. Miles will be added towards my total. Walking through the 9 Kingdoms was the easiest way to get around and to remain undetected from the Queen. And while I don’t plan on walking the entire length of the Disenchanted Forest (1,000 miles!), walking quickly with my heart rate up should keep me safe enough from the Huntsman to survive! Scoring: x/60 miles Reward: +3 to DEX (+1 for every 20 miles reached) 3. “You may not get hurt, but huff puff, you won’t get loved either.” -Wolf Darebee’s “Foundation” workout My husband wants to try to exercise together in the mornings, so I thought we’d give another Darebee workout a try. This time though, since it’s been awhile since we did hardcore exercises, we’re going a bit lighter with the “Foundations” workout. Even though “Foundations” is only for 30 days, I will likely repeat it for the second half of my double challenge. Or else maybe try another, 30 day workout from Darebee, we’ll see. To get around in the 9 Kingdoms, you have to be quick on your feet and ready to go old school with transportation, which can include anything from riding horses, to carriages, to simply walking everywhere. You also need to be able to think on your feet and make good choices. So healthy and fit overall. All the characters, but particularly Wolf and Prince, are decently physically active and it helps them get around more easily. Scoring: x/60 days of Foundations Reward: +4 to STA Huff puff let's do this!

Hello. My Name is Charlie, and I am a I started CrossFit in December. My head has been dunked in the barrel of Kool-Aid and I've taken a giant gulp. I've not gone 'full wanker' yet, I'm only going twice a week and I currently don't start all sentences in a conversation with 'at my box...' or 'when I was at CrossFit the other day...' But you know, early days. This challenge is more of a battle log for CrossFit. I've been running the same goals forever, because my long term goals haven't changed. I'm still training for OCR's and looking to qualify for the OCR world championships.This means as well as CrossFit, I'll be running three times a week and bouldering once a week. EMOM, AMRAP It's getting a little dull and it's pointless to put my running and bouldering as challenge goals, as they are now pretty much part of my routine. So this challenge is just going to be a little fun place for me to write crap, post pics of WOD white boards CrossFit and talk nonsense WOD, Metcon. Feel free to join in with the crap talk and post dumb memes and gifs. CrossFit

More of the same. Despite dropping off here, I continued with middling success through the end of the last challenge, but don't yet feel like I'm making real progress. The goals aren't much different this time 'round, I'm still making my way along this long road. Goal 1 ~ Run 3x/week. 2.4k route at least 1x/week and 4.1k route at least 1x/week, with an eye to increasing distance. Bonus goal: map out and run a route of at least 5k. Goal 2 ~ Physio and Stretching Simply do it daily. I'm going to finally have some more space to do this in, hopefully by the end of week 1. Bonus goal: Try out the first week of GMB Elements, with the intention to fully integrate this into my routine at some point Goal 3 ~ FitPin Test Components Pushups and back extensions, at least 3x/week. Testing the actual FitPin counts towards both of these (though I do need to do multiple sets of pushups to really be able to call it training). I'm not sure I'll be able to make the back extensions work, I don't currently have the space to do them in, I'm hoping I'll be able to make something work once I have more space in the basement. If I can't, I'll need to figure out an alternative for this. Goal 4 ~ Bedtime Different times on different nights, depending on how early a day I have the next day. Before an early morning: 10pm; before a normal morning: 11pm; before a day off: 12am. Goal 5 ~ Meal Prep At least twice a week. I still need to do a better job of planning ahead on this, but I definitely do a good job of eating what I've prepare instead of takeout, for example, when it's there for me to eat. Goal 6 ~ FitPin Test I've decided that I'll do the other components of the FitPin Test every time I run my 2.4k route, since I have to test it at least weekly for the OPP's fitness logs. They don't actually take very long to do, so there's no reason not to, and more is better than less on this. Other Things I've got my journal set up, it needs a little tweaking for next time but it'll do for now. I'm hoping having a hard copy right there in front of me will help me keep on track (and help me when I report on here, since I often don't remember how things went after a couple of days). I'll post pics once I figure out how to do so. I also want to figure out how to be more active here, I dropped off because I barely had time to update my own thread, let alone keep caught up on others' threads. I've come to realize that I have to sacrifice bedtime in order to keep properly caught up around here, which is obviously less than ideal. I need to pull some extra time out of a hat somewhere, I think.... Some other one-off's I'd like to get done in the near future (for some of them, not necessarily before the end of the challenge, but I should get them done sooner rather than later): ~ Request an ROE from the government ~ Sign up for a course on CPKN (and actually do it) ~ Clean my room (this needs to be done soonish, ideally by the end of Week 1) ~ Purge books etc (they're in a box, I just need to get them out the door) ~ Purge papers etc (it's really a whole bunch of accumulated detritus from nearly 38 years of life, and a serious purge is long over due)

So, I handed in my dissertation. Yay! There is still a lot of bureaucracy to work through and, in a few months, my defence. But! It's time to focus on improving myself again. Right now I'm too hung over and unmotivated to come up with a clever theme, so I'll just stick to the basics: movement, dieting and learning. Moving: Tracking steps Working out Running The goal here is to move every day in some way or another. In particular, I want to walk a bit more overall. Last challenge I managed about 8000 steps per day on average and I want to get that up to 9000. Should be relatively simple by going to the grocery store more often. Next: my bodyweight workout routine is very scalable and I want to try to do it as often as possible with lowered intensity. Additionally, I want to go running about twice a week. But depending on the weather I might substitute a longer walk. Dieting: Tracking food Tracking weight At the moment I sit at 94kg. A year ago I was at 83kg... Well... In order to get back down, I won't follow any specific heuristics. I will track my food intake and try to reduce my calories a bit. But in this challenge, it's more about learning to be conscious about what I eat. In particular, I want to reduce my carbs a bit. I'll aim for under 200 grams per day, but, as mentioned, it's more about being conscious. Learning: Studying Practising the guitar I have to learn to use my new free time. In order to do that in a productive way, I will try to sit down every day for 15 minutes and learn/study something. That'll most likely be Polish, Japanese, Go or C++. Hopefully, I'll cycle through all of them regularly. And to have something more focussed, I'll try to practise the guitar for a few minutes every day.

Hi. I want and need to lose weight (while at least maintaining, if not improving, fitness). I was kicking ass the first few months of 2018 and then started traveling and everything fell apart for the rest of the year (although at least I largely maintained rather than gaining significantly). January 2019 was also a bit messy. I don't have any travel planned for February or March, though, so I'm ready to dig back in. I've got a lot of goals, small and large, but right now and right here, I'd like to focus on four daily S's that seem somewhat small and simple but will combine into a healthier lifestyle: Sugar. As in, minimal added sugar. I can have something small (a square or two of chocolate, for example) after dinner each day, but nothing during the day. Exceptions allowed for special occasions (dates with my partner, birthday parties, etc.), but I can't get too loosey-goosey about what constitutes a special occasion. Snacks. No snacks between meals. I'm often a hardcore grazer, especially when I'm working from home, and that needs to stop. Sleep. In bed by 11 pm each night. I have so much I want to get done at night once my daughter is in bed, but sleep is important, too. I've been running low on sleep for far too long. It'd be nice to remember what "well rested" feels like. Sweat. Some kind of workout at least five days a week. Right now I'm focusing on running and Street Parking SHIFT workouts. These are very flexible things that I can easily fit into my day even when I don't have a lot of time. Going to try to check in here once a day. Okay. That's all. Let's do this.

I wanted to start on date but as always, Monday came and went... and here I am, at least not a week late xD! First of all, hope you're having a great start of the year. South here we were having great summer, beach days until a polar front passed over. So we went from over 30ºC to almost 10ºC. Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own. – Bruce Lee My mantra this month. Losing weight. I can't count calories, I've tried... but I've failed. So I'm sticking with dish sizes, portion and not having seconds. No alcohol on week days and checking my cravings, having healthier alternatives for those late night sugar wishes. Run, run, run. Once a week I'll go sprinting. Most likely hill sprints to make it easier on my knees. (Having run two 10k I know long ones make me bored so, fast and hard). Preferably, on Wednesday. Lift KTB workouts thrice a week (Is that how it's called three times?). Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. Yoga and mobility Having to deal with a pubalgia I'm having lots of mobility and strengthening exercises that I'll pair up with my personal yoga sessions. That will be every day. Write I want to write every day, and I've found many resources. I'm aiming high, I'm aiming big. I'll try journaling at night, to reflect on day. And writing 500-750 words during the day. The more the merrier. So... let's begin. This afternoon I'll make the first checking in.

Joining late and fist week is not as good as I would like but here it is. My Goal = Improve fitness, reduce % body fat and get stronger Each day has tasks worth points each week I give myself a score out of a possible total of daily points. Week days = Early AM workouts; Nutrition tracking; 10,000 steps; martial arts training; Drink water Weekends = Nutrition tracking; drink water; 10,000 steps; Long distance run; cleaning Just to make life easier for me I am counting Sunday to Saturday as a week.

Walk to Mordor and Back Again (2019) Whether you have been trekking to Mordor for years or just looking to get started, you are welcome to join us at anytime. All miles/kilometers count. You decide how you want to accumulate distance. This is your adventure! (ex. my journey has included walking/steps, hiking, running, biking (distance/3), and swimming (distance*3)) Begin Your Journey Now! SPREADSHEET Open the spreadsheet, click on the 'Sign Up' tab at the bottom of the page, fill in all fields labeled in yellow, and begin tracking and logging your distance in the appropriate monthly tab. “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - Bilbo Baggins

I'm trying to look at these challenges as parts of a larger journey, rather than discrete units of success or failure, so despite falling off the wagon a bit in my last challenge, I'm still moving along the same long road heading towards the same distant goal. I've climbed out of the ditch where I lazed about for a while, and am moseying along once again. The Long Road continues, and so will I. Goal #1 ~ Running Run 3x/week. At least one run per week should be 2.4k, and be part of a FitPin test (more on that later). Bonus goal: map out a few routes that won't suck too much in the hill department but will allow me to increase distance. Pick one route of 5k or longer and run it at least once during the challenge. Goal #2 ~ Pushups and Other Things So, the OPP has changed their fitness requirements. I no longer have to do the PREP test (though I still need to if I want to apply anywhere other than the OPP), but I do have to pass the FitPin test within 1 week of being hired, so I want to know I can pass it relatively easily before I even apply (and, if I can pass the FitPin easily, I should have the fitness to pass the PREP with just a bit of practice, so it helps if I decide I want to branch out at all). There are 4 components: pushups, a forward fold stretch, a 2.4k run, and a weird posterior chain/core thing that I can't adequately describe. The running is being taken care of in Goal #1, and the stretch in Goal #4. That means this goal is about the pushups and the Other Thing (which is what I'm calling it now, I think the OPP call it the trunk extension). So I will work on pushups every other day. One session of pushups will be a single max set, and will be part of a FitPin test (more on that later). Bonus goal: figure out some way to practice the Other Thing on the regular....... it's an awkward thing to do (I mean, the exercise itself is awkward to perform), but I may have to summon up my 20 seconds of courage and ask the coaches at the gym, they were all more than happy to help with the shuttle run, so... Goal #3 ~ Meal Prep This is an on again/off again thing with me. Partly it's because I don't think ahead quite as much as I should, and run out of food with no real plan to make more, and partly because I get tired and/or lazy and put it off to the next day, and then the next day I get tired and/or lazy and put it off to the next day, and on and on until I have nothing in my fridge but 30g of moldy cheese, a couple wrinkly apples, and a single stale tortilla. This isn't the most concrete of goals, at least not at the moment. I think for now I'm going to tackle this by making a plan for my next meal prep as soon as the current one is done (eg. if I cook on a Sunday, once the cooking is done, I'll sit down and think about what I want to make next, make a grocery list, estimate how long my food will last, and then pick a day to shop that will give me some overlap, but not lead to spoiled food). Obviously the shopping day is flexible, if I badly over- or underestimate how long my current batch of meals will last me, I'll have to shop sooner or later, but I'd like to have an idea in my head of when I next need to head to the store. I think having a plan about what I want to make and what I need to get to make it will go a long way by itself, so that's my main focus for now. Bonus goal: simple crockpot recipes will be helpful here, I think, since I can just chop some things, throw it in the pot, and then go to bed/to the gym/to work/to whatever, and come back to a tasty meal. Even if I don't have time/energy to do a full meal prep, at least I'll have a crockpot full of food for the next day to give me some wiggle room. So I will find some new crock pot recipes, and try at least one during the challenge (suggestions welcome). Goal #4 ~ Stretching and Other Things My perpetual goal of physio and stretching. Daily, because if I give myself an inch and say 5/7 days per week or something, I'll take a mile and do it once and never again. Bare minimum: 4x physio exercises (3 for my posterior chain, 1 for my thoracic spine), plus quad stretch and calf stretch. In a perfect world it will also include butt/hips, hip flexors, extra hamstrings, feet and pecs. Bonus goal: find a way to work GMB's Elements program into things. It's not logistically possible at the moment, and getting this done during the challenge is a very long shot due to things out of my control, but I want to work towards this (more on this later). Goal #5 ~ Bedtime I often watch TV to wind down before bed, and occasionally play video games, and often come on here. This won't change, when I say bedtime I mean TV/computer off and I start reading a magazine. Usually I'm off to sleep within less than a page. So, on nights when I have to get up early, I'll do this by 10pm. On nights when I have to work but not until later, it'll be 11pm, and on nights when I have the day off, it'll be midnight. Most often this will mean Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will be 10pm; Sunday and Wednesday will be 11pm; and Saturday will be midnight. Goal #6 ~ The FitPin Test As part of the new fitness requirements, I should be practicing the entire FitPin Test at least once per week. I asked the recruiters if I could practice each element separately (an ideal situation), but alas, they told me I should not (they didn't say 'cannot', but I want to try my best to do as they suggest). So, I need to figure out how to do this. Three of the elements are easy enough to do, I go for a run, then do a stretch, then do some pushups. It's the Other Thing that will be the difficult thing to fit in. I have an idea of for how to do it (ie. I have worked out the theoretical logistics), but it requires a helper, and I will not always have access to a helper on the day I will be doing this test. The most logical day to do this test would be my full day off, which is almost always a Sunday, but Tuesday afternoon would work as well, depending on appointments/other commitments, so we'll see how this one goes... No bonus goal for this one, just doing it is going to be hard enough. Other Things ~ Move forward with preparing the basement for my Imminent Arrival (my mom wants to make my current room a spare room for her to go to when she has a bad night, and I want to move to the basement so I have more room to contain me and my life). If I can get this done it's a win/win, but I might have to be the motivator on this one, which means I may have to learn how to paint a wall, since I don't think my parents will pay for that but want it done before I move down there, as well as the carpet being redone, but I think that one is beyond me. Being in the basement will also give me the space to practice the Elements program whenever I want and in privacy, which will make the bonus part of Goal #4 a lot easier to achieve. ~ Explore options for courses to take to help make my resume look better than it does. This could be in person or online. One resource is CPKN, which is a site that offers police-related online courses (sadly, none are free), but another thing to look at is improving my mental health intervention skills, or conflict resolution, or something like that. ~ Clean my g-d room! I've stopped making this a goal, obviously, but it'll need to be done if I'm going to move to the basement, so a head start on that wouldn't be a bad idea. At the very least, I can try to purge some old magazines and other junk that's accumulated here and there.

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).

Road to Oblivion - Part 1 So I've just written up my 2019 road map, and the first 4 challenges of this year will be working towards my first big and scary goal - running 4 laps of Nuclear Oblivion in May. I'm going to need to be able to gain some serious endurance to keep doing that, both in running and in general fitness for the obstacles, so my physical goals will be based around that. Nutrition - 20XP This goal is split into three parts (hence the high XP). The first one is straight eating better - my Crossfit box posted a list of weekly nutrition habits a couple of years ago which I've unearthed on Facebook, so I'll be running through those. By coincidence (or just because they start with sensible things) I already do their first 3 weekly habits, but if you want to play along at home they are: Drink 1 pint of plain water daily Eat a healthy fat with breakfast Eat cooked vegetables in the evening So I'll be starting straight at habit 4, which is: Eat a raw vegetable at lunch I'll be tackling that in week 1 of the challenge, and then adding an additional habit from their list on each subsequent week. The second part of nutrition is alcohol. Leading up to Christmas I was really stressed and not feeling great, and I attributed that to a lot of year end work stress and general Christmas/ohmyGodIhaven'tboughtanything stress. I started thinking the other week however that maybe the amount I was drinking had its part to play in this too. Well, there's only one way to find out if that is the case, and that's to stop drinking for a bit and see how I feel. The goal for this challenge will be to drink no alcohol at all. That'll start from Week 0 day 2 (because day 1 was New Year's Eve, come on!). The final part of this is to track my mood - just a short sentence each day in my bujo is fine, but I'll only know if the above is working at all if I track it. Obviously there's lots of other factors to consider, and conclusions may be hard to draw, but I want to give it a go. Running - 15XP The goal here is simple (thought not necessarily easy) - run 140 miles this challenge. That includes week zero, and is the exact amount of mileage I should hit if I get all of my runs in. The plan is to run 4 times per week - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday - with the long run either on Saturday or Sunday depending on when I'm climbing or doing other things. Whilst the goal is simply the mileage, I'll put the full running plan in a spoiler for info: Climbing - 10XP I want to work on my climbing and my pullups in general, as these have massive transference to OCR, and I've got two parts to this plan in order to do it: a) Continue with GTG pullups - basically I have my pullup bar in my kitchen door and do one pullup every time I want to enter the kitchen. Minimum 10 per day. This starts week 0. b) Hangboarding - I have bought a hang board with some Christmas money, which will allow me to train hanging off very small edges instead of just a bar. The plan is to do hanging sessions MWF, but never on a day adjacent to a climbing day. As I usually climb every weekend this should mean that I usually do 2 sessions per week, but it could be 1 or 3 depending on how the climbing sessions work out. This starts when the hang board arrives. Budget - 5XP This is a difficult one this month as money and spending are a bit strange after Christmas. I probably wouldn't have a goal at all except that reducing debt and saving money is one of my main goals for the year. The goal here is to simply spend mindfully for the month, and write any comments about my spending in my bujo. This starts week 0. Study - 5XP This is something I have been neglecting, but I really need to continue my qualifications for work. There is a time limit on these, and having missed the initial deadline it's going to be tricky to catch up so I need to put in the work. The goal here is to do 2 pomodoros of study (or 4 hours, if you prefer) per week. Bonus 5XP if I get my next assignment submitted before the end of the challenge. This starts week 0. Forum Cardio - Mobile Edition™ - 5XP I don't spend enough time on here and I miss catching up with people and knowing what's going on. A big reason I don't get on is that I usually only sit in front of a computer at work, and so my lunch break is the only time I have to be here. I don't always get a lunch break, and I use the time to catch up on other things as well when I do so that gives me minimal forum time. The goal therefore is to use my phone to visit the forums every day. Even if I don't post anything just being here and catching up is a start. Well I think that's everything. It's loads of XP so i could do realll well out of this challenge if I ace it. I have to dash, so anything I've missed I'm sure will come up later!