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Bike Adventuring General Thread! Whether you're a bikepacker, gravel grinder, suburban cruiser, pavement pounder, triathlete, or urban commuter, if you ride on two human-powered wheels (E-Bikes welcome!) I want to hear from you! • What kind of bike do you ride? • Tell me about your favorite ride • What kind of riding are you interested in?

https://youtu.be/43FMVVTx8-I After two years of unappreciated work. The shadow wolf decides that she want to level up her life so she can not only get more out of her job/ career, but her life as well. So she decided that she wants to go back to basics so that she know what it takes to become a hero. So she devised up a plan to execute her quest. Read 10 pages of nonfiction to learn more in her field Healthy eating to provide her the energy she needs Drink water to stay hydrated on her quest. 15 min of self care A good night's rest Workout to build endurance and strength Bullet journal to document her quest Drink protein shakes https://youtu.be/mSlBpKieRxY She wants to be a hero, but 5 weeks is just the beginning of this lifelong quest for her

Hi all! I don't really have a theme for this challenge but I do have goals! (That's the important part I guess). Last challenge went really well, so I'm not changing things up too much. Just making them a bit harder / more time consuming. I also started using Zwift (online cycling / running virtual world MMO-type thing) and will be training primarily with that. 1) Build an exercise habit by following Zwift "Back to Fitness" training program How: 2 zwift workouts / week + 1 active recovery ride or yoga Goal: at least 3 days/week "Big Why": Keeping a consistent exercise routine helps me feel less stressed and anxious. I also want to improve my general fitness and run a half marathon again. Specifically this one: https://www.princetonhalfmarathon.com/ Eventually I want to race in a triathlon sprint (then see if i like it enough to do a full distance tri) 2) Save money by reducing alcohol consumption How: No alcohol Monday-Thursday. Have water, flavored seltzer and herbal tea available as alternate option. Goal: at least 4 dry days/week "Big Why": Continuing to save up to buy a house. (Honestly we have enough, just waiting to find the right house for the right price, but additional money saved is never a bad thing) 3) Improve sleep by improving evening routine How: Week0: In bed by 10:30 on work nights (exception is D&D night or days where my work schedule is altered for night shift, etc) — not the right time, will dial the difficulty back Week1: Eating dinner before 9pm Goal: ((Still figuring this out, just going to experiment with tracking and see how that goes)) "Big Why": Sleep is good and important in order to stay healthy / recover from workouts.

Enough screwing around. Like a lot of people, I've let COVID take over my life, and have slowly gone to seed <grimace emoji> I'm not overly thrilled with this, so I figured it would be time to return to my ancestral home and get back in the saddle again! This time though, it's going to be different. This time, I'm going to science the shit out of this thing! For this challenge, I'm going to track everything, test out some hypotheses, and generally start being accountable for my health and wellbeing. It's been a long time since I had any coherent exercise routine, so I'll be starting from scratch, building a base, then levelling up, 1 step at a time. So without further ado, here are my goals for this challenge: Set benchmarks: I'm still deciding on what exercises to do. The local gyms are flaky at best (opening and closing constantly) and the weather is horrible, so running and gyming aren't the most reliable options. For now, I'm planning on focusing on bodyweight exercises, since they can be done at home, and anything is better than nothing at this point. I'm going to start with the classics: pushups and squats. I'll benchmark these, and probably some other stuff like running and hopefully pullups if I can find a good place to do them. Build a routine: The cornerstone of any fitness program is to have a routine and stick to it. I'm going to set a daily routine to get me into the swing of things. Record Everything: I'm going to record everything...number of pushups, hours of sleep, distance run, etc. As much as I can. Data is king, and I'm going to need it to figure out what's working and what's not . I was going to add diet into the mix, but in the interest of science, I'm going to try to keep the variables simple. Lastly, I'm going to need some encouragement on this one guys, so I'm counting on you all to make some noise!

Love me some Jocko. I have no idea how that mutant of human being stays on such an attack on life, but he's motivating to say the least. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but nothing is, right? Anywho, as I stated in my respawn thread, it's been a minute since I've been here, and it's not been a good ride the last few years. I mean in some regards it's been fine. No one in my household has gotten COVID. No one in my extended family has died or had serious complications from COVID. My job allows me to work remotely full time without issue and I make a good salary doing it. That said, I'm lonely. I don't know where to turn to for relationships anymore. As a kid, I just made friends at school by being around people. Apparently, I dragged that habit to work, because now that I'm fully remote, I just don't talk with anyone. I need to start putting in some effort to do things with people, while at the same time, not pushing too hard for in person meet-ups as my wife still isn't super comfortable with the COVID numbers. Fitness wise, I've had spurts of solid fitness regimens, but I always fall of the bandwagon and get back to my lazy ways. 40 is coming up faster than I'd care for, and I need to find some sort of mindset or change some sort of meaning in my life to make it so I care about fitness and I will fight to keep it my life, rather than letting it be the first thing that drops. I'm attempting that partially by posting here. Nerd Fitness was a core part of my life when I was learning the ropes of powerlifting, so perhaps it can be again. Being honest, I stopped posting because it felt like the "glory days" of NF had passed. But given the place is still going, perhaps, it was just me being an old curmudgeon. So I'm back because this community was important to me at one point in time. Going to keep goals fairly simple. 4 Workouts per week. I want to run Brian Alsruhe's latest program, the Minimalist. 30-40 intense sessions 4x per week. I can fit that into my schedule easy assuming I just do it. 1 run per week. Only requirement is it needs to last longer than 10 minutes. I need to start running again as I want to do things like BJJ and softball and trail runs when my wife is comfortable with the world again. 3 days per week without alcohol. Seems super easy, but given my habits lately, I wouldn't be succeeding here. Hopefully this is just an easy win. Text or call 3 people that wouldn't normally be in my "rotation" per week.

Some may say I need to be committed, I say if it includes my own padded room that doesn't sound so bad! I have reached challenge number 70...not all of these challenges went the way I planned, not all of these challenges resulted in me leveling up, All of those challenges have resulted in learning something, even if it's what doesn't work for me. I'm a pretty typical type A, I prefer to do things myself, have a difficult time asking for help and sharing my feelings...the older I get the more I realize this is not always healthy. I work from home, so making sure I have enough movement in my day as well as not eating "all the unhealthy things" is important. Checking in to hold myself accountable is key to this being successful, I don't want to have to post bad news here. I struggle to get enough sleep so that shall remain on the list until it's no longer a struggle. I've been a workaholic as long as I can remember, mostly because of past experience and not wanting to have to count on anyone for things I need. D (my wife for those new here) and I have had many conversations about this. She understands my feelings because she's the same way, but we also know the importance to our relationship for us to be able to depend and count on each other. This is a very long winded way of saying that we need to remember to step away from work and have some fun, riding our motorcycles are a huge part of this for us for right now our every 4 week trips to FL also count towards this. The Plan... Cardio - 8,000 steps a day (includes 30 min on treadmill), and one kettlebell workout a week Update - Post in thread three times a week. Track - Sleep (7 hours a night) and Food (deficit per tracker) Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and life events go here Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️ I have a Terrain Race planned in May that I do not want to embarrass myself at, I'd also like to get rid of the 35 lbs. that I put on since the last race I did in Feb 2020.

For this challenge, one thing I’m going to implement is baseline/gold star aspects for each goal. Baseline has to do with making sure something happens: a certain number of workouts per week, meeting goals around the house. Gold stars are for the stuff I want to be aiming for every time but that might sometimes be out of reach. Gold stars get a gold star here! I like stars so that will be motivating! Maybe I will even do something in physical space with my gold star total at the end! Fitness Running: Baseline - 2 runs/week 🌟 - don’t be lazy! There are a lot of ways I can push myself: add distance, improve average speed, improve fastest km, improve number of km at/below average, run different courses…probably some other stuff, too. I can get multiple gold stars per run, even! Here are my starting averages to compare against: Other workouts: Baseline - 2 per week 🌟 - if not all of the workouts I choose are yoga. Body weight routine is cool. Dumbbells is cool. Uh, probably there are other options? But I’m not going to the gym so maybe not. Max one star per week. Home Gardening: Baseline - 300 minutes over the course of the challenge. Includes maintenance (e.g. mowing). 🌟 - actual plants in ground; before and after photos taken of areas I’m working on Housework: Baseline - 500 minutes over the course of the challenge. Does not include meal prep. Any other cleaning/tidying/organizing/handypersoning task is fair game. 🌟 - specific challenges include Laundry folded within 3 days of washing Unpack a box/bin A round of canning ??? I feel like something else goes here Hobbies: 🌟 (no baseline expectations): Paint and photograph a mini Photo catalogue 15 unpainted minis Vocal ensemble practice or meetup Finish and/or block a handknit

I got myself into a bit of a rut last time and I'm trying to twang myself out of it by setting specific goals each day But basically the aim remains more-or-less the same as ever; Exercise 6 days per week at least, including at least one long run. Track calories and stay in deficit Do one substantive chore from my to do list.

Main quests Workout Read 10 pages daily One hour learning a skill Focus on healthy eating Bullet journal daily Track meals

I'm searching for a Theme no no not a silly topic theme for this challenge but a theME ... I'll just let CPG Grey explain as it is his idea afterall So here I am - I've got the Oakland Marathon on March 20, 2022 - so that's consuming the first quarter of the new year (plus or minus a week) I even picked up a couple of fancy journals the lower one with the stickers is my currently journal So THEME what will be mine for 2022? A Year of Joy A Year of Self A Year of Exploration so many options! I shall ponder and update this as I come to a conclusion

Hey all happy almost new year. I've become more consistently inconsistent with my routines and want to get back to a healthier one. May will mark my 10 year anniversary on these forums too, so that's fun. So here's my plan for the first challenge. Going to keep it very basic with the goal of building on each of these items as the year progresses. 1) Build a morning exercise habit by using stationary bike for at least 5 minutes daily How: Wake up, start coffee, hop on bike, shower Goal: at least 5 days/week "Big Why": Keeping a consistent exercise routine helps me feel less stressed and anxious. Working out first thing after waking up is ideal to help me feel successful and avoid guilt of missing workouts because "something came up" during the day. 2) Save money by reducing alcohol consumption How: No drinking alcohol at home. Okay to have 1 with dinner if we go out or a special occasion at home (anniversary), but this allowance is limited to Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. How part 2: Having water, flavored seltzer and herbal tea available as alternate option. Goal: at least 4 dry days/week "Big Why": Continuing to save up to buy a house. (Honestly we have enough, just waiting to find the right house for the right price, but additional money saved is never a bad thing) 3) Prepare for eventual move by decluttering How: Dedicate 15 mins to declutter / clean a specific area of the house (ex: Kitchen table, specific dresser drawer, specific shelf on bookcase, etc.) Goal: at least two 15 min sessions/week "Big Why": Preparing for future house. Just because we haven't found one yet doesn't mean we need to wait until last minute to clean our current home. Week 1 Results Week 2 Results Week 3 Results Week 4 Results

Just realized I reached my birth year in challenges, not in a place I thought I would be at this point 🤔 Can't really control pandemics, life challenges, moves, and changes in schedule...I can't stop having to return to FL every four weeks, so lets work with that. I can control what I do and how I handle these things. Not much has changed with my challenges over the last few years, when I do it how I plan, it works, when I don't, I get where I am now 😕 The Plan... Cardio - 8,000 steps a day (includes 30 min on treadmill), and one kettlebell workout a week Update - Post in thread three times a week. Track - Sleep (7 hours a night) and Food (hunger cues, tracking) Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and life events go here Done - 🌈 Not Done - ❄️ My biggest issue is making excuses for myself to not do these things, justifying overdoing things like food and alcohol, and letting stress overwhelm me so I lay awake and let the squirrels run amok. 2022 is going to be more about recognizing when I'm sabotaging my efforts and work on getting back to where I was.

I guess it’s been almost three years since I was around here, whoops. But I signed up for a trail race series this year (using credit from 2020…hoping it doesn’t get canceled *again*) and I need some structure and accountability to make sure I get the most out of it! Intro??? Call me Radost, my pronouns are she/her. I’m a scout at heart but I hung with the Rangers a lot in the past because I love their convivial atmosphere and I’m always up for trying a bit of everything. But really what fitness is about for me is whatever I can do to enhance my trail runs, long bike rides, hikes, and combinations of the three. So I dabble in yoga and do a little strength training, but really I just love to throw on some headphones and GO FOREVER. When I’m not running or posting about running, I work as an Educational Assistant providing learning and behavioural support to a primary student, as well as doing out of school care for a couple almost-middle-schoolers I’ve been nannying for for a whole damn decade now. I’ve been super into ttrpgs the past several years, currently running Fate and 5e and playing in Changeling: The Lost. I also like to paint minis, because I am a stereotype. 😅 I sing folk music (check out my vocal ensemble: The Balkan Babes) and love fibercrafts, baking, cats, and board games. Goals Fitness: Run 2x/week What it says on the tin. This is probably the toughest item on the list, but also the most important. It’s been years now since I was super consistent about running and both my mental health and my fitness suffer for it. I’ll start working on speed/distance challenges once I get the consistency up - I’ve been doing pretty well at 1/week since September, but I work later now, getting home at 5:30-5:45, so it can be really tough to get a midweek run in. Fitness: one additional workout per week Could be yoga or strength training. Mr. Radost makes most of our dinners, so I have plenty of opportunity to fit in a :15-30 home workout while he cooks Life: 70 minutes/week of unpacking, organizing, or cleaning/tidying We moved in August and…it’s a long story, but didn’t have access to half our space (and half our stuff) until December. There’s a lot of unpacking still to be done, and things need to be re-organized now that we have our stuff from storage. I also have a senior cat who is peeing on the floor daily, so there’s a lot of cleaning to be done. Stretch goal: finish canning! The new house has two huge apple trees that produced several hundred *usable* apples this year (and at least as many that fell before we could pick them and got gross enough to just compost). There are still two bins in “cold storage” on the deck that need to be processed, and a couple canning recipes’ worth of already-processed apples in the freezer waiting to be turned into applesauce or whatever. At this point I have enough chutney, jam, apple butter, and barbecue sauce to get through to next fall, but I hate the idea of them going to waste!

Right, it's 2022 and I've pressed my rest button to turn myself off an on again According to the various diagnostic checks that run, I can see that I have gained a bit of weight over Christmas and lost some stamina but nothing terrible. I haven't drunk too much and I have been exercising periodically. The nagging pain in my knees is still there though And I have a sore back today, which is annoying. So i don't think I'll be doing anything too challenging. 1. Yoga. Yes yoga. Like the meditation I experimented with last year, this is definitely under the heading of things I am predisposed to recoil from but there's a core of something useful there so I'm going to overcome my natural tendency to run away and just go with it. Mrs 18ck has suggested a thirty day course led by a super-spiritual America lady who says Namaste at the end of her videos. It's going to be a long month. 2. Exercise 6 days a week, using a combination of upper-body strength and knee friendly cardio. Rowing, cycling, swimming, but maybe giving running a bit of a rest for a while. 3. Starting on Monday, not tomorrow, go back to calorie counting since that's quite helpful. We're eating "vegan" in January. Pretty heavy quotes there since although we won't be eating meat, the definition of what counts as dairy is pretty fluid. And I will not be drinking booze either. 4. Continue knocking out one to-do list item per day The aim is to restore order and be generally healthy (not in pain, and back to the weight I had before Christmas) at the end of this and then start on something more ambitious. I haven't really got a clear idea of what I want to achieve in the year. Maybe more speed at 10k, maybe longer distances, maybe focus on rowing instead. One thing I definitely do need to do though is make a follow-up appointment for my health checkup. I had one in early 2020 and was supposed to go back for a progress check but then the world ended. I'd like to do that but probably not in this challenge since I feel like I am in a rubbish place, so I am doing the health equivalent of... Well... You know when people who have cleaners but they are ashamed to show what a state their house is so they run around tidying up before they arrive? That.

Hi everyone! It's been a while! I am starting back in with a simple (but not easy) challenge: Eat Healthy For me that means just two things: 1. Limit foods on my "bad for me" list to 4 times this challenge, and only if I take a pill before eating. 2. Eat at least 4 servings of freggies a day (except for anything on my "bad for me" list). And all the tedious details:

It is offically the Year of Taking Action for me. This is pretty much the theme of most of my challenges as one thing that I struggle with is overcoming inertia. I've developed some tools to overcome this in the past - so I've got a good handle on what I can do to build some momentum but I'm declaring this the 'Year of Taking Action'. Just assigning more actionable tasks will only take you so far as time will become the limiting factor so there is a need to prioritise the actions that will get me to where I want to go. Fitness: I know that a big driver for me is an upcoming activity that will prove the incentive. Problem is that 2022 is a big unknown due to the obvious travel restrictions as well as some financial restraints. I do have a hike booked for August (covid willing) which will be my first focus but while it would be optimal to be fitter than I currently am for this hike, I also know that I could do it now - so the incentive isn't as strong. With this in mind I am offically declaring to the NF universe that I will train for a half marathon for the Melbourne Marathon in October - which is well out of my comfort zone (consistently 5k - at a stretch 10k right now). Action: Cardio: 3 x week (mostly running but could include decent hike or anything on the bike) Yoga/Meditation: 3 x week Strength: to be determined once I get back to using the work gym Outdoors: Look for opportunities to develop my outdoor activities and in particular skills. I've got my eye on some volunteer work around track maintenance - which is something I'd love to get into. I've also just purchased the book on the http://www.john.chapman.name/pub-aawt.html which is making it onto my radar. This track involves a lot more navigation skills than previous hikes I've done. Action: Investigate and report on any activities that will extend my skills in this area - navigation, other overnight/multi day hikes and volunteering in this area of my state. Building routine: This is just about prioritising the things that I want to Take Action on and developing some sort of routine to make these begining ideas a basis of what to buld on. Action: Still to be determined - will report back either weekly or at the end of this challenge. A really vague challenge but I figured it was worth getting something down and flesh it out as we go on. Bring on The Year of Taking Action

Critical Role: Campaign 3 starts tonight!! So it's fitting that this challenge is inspired by Critical Role related media. I often play lofi or jazz videos on our TV. It's a good compromise when Pumpkin wants to 'watch something.' He likes the music but after a couple minutes, he starts playing with his toys because there's nothing happening on the TV. He calls this one "purple music." Critters who haven't seen Campaign 2: I don't think there are specific spoilers here but it does feature a character from Campaign 2. The character says random things throughout the video so you can probably deduce who plays the character and a little about the character's personality. You've been warned. 😊 Maintenance Goals Run 3x a week (pursuing a 30 minute 5k) I'm signed up for a Turkey Trot! I don't think a 30 minute 5k is achievable just yet, but I'm shooting for 35 minutes, which is about 5 minutes faster than my last official 5k. NF Bodyweight Workout 2x a week (pursuing quality standard pushups and eventual pullup) Why mess with a good thing? I need to update my bullet journal progression chart. Nourishment Goals At Least One Vegetable with Lunch and Dinner *Bonus Points for breakfast too.* I try to do this for dinner already, but consistently adding veggies to lunch will be a new thing for me. I got some great recs at the end of my last challenge for new recipes to try. Weekend Meal Planning Session To help goal 1 succeed (and to help curb our grocery spending...) I'm going to try meal planning again. Mediate 3x a week Maybe this time it will stick? 🤷‍♀️ Things are busy but I'm also getting into some good routines in other areas of life, so maybe it's time to set a specific meditation time in my day. Week 1 I'm going to make an effort to do it before I start my work day and see if that works. I've got some other time slots in mind, but that seems like the best one. That's enough for one challenge, yeah? I'll post the journal spread for the challenge as soon as I do it. I'm excited for it.

Hello So my last challenge went so well I'm almost nervous to start a new one because that's a hard act to follow. So let's keep it simple 1. Exercise 6 times per week including 3 runs 2 log all food and stay at or below target calories 7 days a week 3 I think the Portuguese habit I was trying to establish last time is pretty solid so I'm not going to track that here. Instead, goal 3 will be to cross off one substantial to-do list task per day - so that's sonething like a tedious admin chore, a blog post idea or a job that needs doing at the allotment. Daily. Here's what day 1 looked like Exercise goals (6/7) 🏋🏼‍♀️🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 Food goals (7/7) 🫒🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 To-do list (7/7) 🪓🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚🌚 Im not really wild about the challenge title but worrying about coming up with a good idea seems like a distraction so... *runs away*

Rule #2 - When you join, you're in for life. I joined NerdFitness over 10 years ago. While my interaction with the NF Community has waxed and waned over the years, it's always something I've carried with me, and have been happy to return to. Now I find myself at the end of one journey and the beginning of another, and I know that the habits and lifestyle I build here at the start will shape the next chapter of my life. I just finished a 4,500 mile self-supported bike tour of the United States. From May to August of 2021, I rode my bicycle from my home in Central Virginia to the Pacific Coast. On my bike, I carried all of my camping gear, all of the clothes I wore, all of my food, and everything I would need to take care of my bike and my body. The trip took me through eleven states, most of which I had never been to. I spent time in small towns, big cities, and National Parks; I rode dirt roads, paved bike paths, and Interstate Highways; I got chased by feral dogs and threatened by truck drivers in 18-wheelers; I learned to accept the kindness of strangers, and made lifelong friends. That journey is over now. I will always carry its lessons with me. It is time to take those lessons and look forward. In order to go on that journey, I had to quit my job. This, to me, was no great sacrifice. I was ready to move on from my position, and my frugal lifestyle allowed me to accrue a significant financial buffer. Now the job hunt is on again, and in addition to a new job, I'm moving to a new city. I recognize this in-between time as a perfect opportunity to build new habits, and form a lifestyle I'm happy with and proud of. To pursue that, I'm going to explore what Level 50 looks like for me to define some long term goals, and formulate some shorter term goals that will make good 6-week challenges.

I didn't get around to a wrap up last challenge and I'm not going back. *pretend I found the Edna Mode gif " I never look back darling, it distracts from the now"* Zero Week was rough. Kids and I all had allergy attacks and mine turned into a sinus infection/bronchitis. Luckily kids bounced back fast, the COVID test was negative, and I'm quickly improving with antibiotics. Run Run 3x a week, working towards a 30 minute 5k. Saturday mornings are reserved for long runs (1 hour or more). We're trying to decide where we'll be for Thanksgiving but either way I'm planning on running a Turkey Trot as my next real race. I don't know if I can shave a full 10 minutes off my current best (39:45 ish), but I do think I can meet or beat my all-time PR (34:45 right before I got pregnant with #2). Work Out Last challenge I did the NF Bodyweight Workout 3x a week. With the running I'm doing, this is not sustainable for my legs. So the new plan is: NF Bodyweight Workout 2x a week 30 minutes of Pa Qua once a week Pa Qua (or Ba Gua depending on how you want to westernize the term) is something I learned in Tai Chi classes. It's a circular form and I remember it well, so it's a good starting point for getting back into my Tai Chi practice. Meditation Meditate 3x a week (Headspace) I mean really this should be daily. But I'm not going to put that kind of pressure on myself. Working on mindfulness and forcing myself to slow down helps me be a more patient partner and parent. That should be reason enough to do it but I get in such a rush... That's enough for this challenge. I'm also trying to keep going with my other habits (Chores and Bullet Journaling) but maintenance is not fun to report or read about. Happy Fall, Y'all! (It's under 90 degrees. Amazing...)

Hi nerds I haven't really sorted out in my head how this challenge is going to work. For a start, my next race is in 3 days time, before the challenge starts, so I am just trying to keep calm and crosstrain between now and then, and for the next 5 weeks, I guess I'll just do whatever the husband is doing in this book I'm reading. How come Steve never tells us about this good stuff? Probably subscriber-only content I suppose. No wait, there has to be a better plan than that. Um... So between now and Saturday, rest legs, do arm and core related exercise instead (I've been doing this the last few days since I got back from my epic bike ride anyway). To include at least one river row, because the weather is right for it, read Gaelic children's books, generally tie up loose ends of Gaelic learning. Saturday: Kew Gardens 10k run. Beat one hour or die trying (I am actually feeling pretty good about my chances of at least one of these outcomes) Sunday: rest, weigh myself, drink beer in the allotment, fall asleep in the greenhouse, wake up lightly grilled. Monday onwards, challenge proper: 6 days moving per week to include one long run, two short Dont eat like a dickhead Revamp my morning routine and start building a daily Portuguese session (I've planned this out separately here so I won't go into detail but it'll be quite time consuming so will crowd out a lot of other things from previous challenges like Gaelic, meditation, dancing etc. I still have some poetry though because learning Portuguese poetry is part of the plan. I was so surprised at how well my memory coped with learning that way that it seemed like something I should incorporate into my study. OK, mark it on my map and let's do this

Hello, fellow challenge-goers! In this challenge, I’m again working on my bedtime routine and sleep habits. I have a long-ingrained habit of trying to squeeze extra time out of every day, and in fact, of imagining that I can somehow make time magically appear by ignoring the clock. I am such the Hermione Granger in this way! Unlike Hermione, however, I don't have a magical grandfatherly wizard to give me a time-turner. In reality, my attempts at time-turning have led to sleep deprivation and schedule disruptions, and that, in turn, causes problems for me in terms of fitness, brainpower, mood regulation, interpersonal relationships - you name it. But these bad habits go all the way back to childhood, so they’ve been particularly hard to break. In my last challenge, I made some progress in discovering a workable bedtime routine and getting more consistent at it. But I’m still pretty inconsistent, and right now I really want to challenge myself to build a more solid foundation. So, this time, my goals are: Start my bedtime routine on time each evening . Turn out my lights on time each evening . Get up on time each morning. I’m also going to be tracking on PAPER, since logging in to the forums isn’t my strong suit. On the side -- but not officially a part of my challenge goals -- I’m going to be trying to build up to some longer distances in my weekly runs. I’m hoping to do a half-marathon this winter, but summer heat has made running almost unbearable in central Texas, so my mileage has gone way down. So you may hear me occasionally reporting on running. We’ll see. Running is one of the things I often can’t fit into the day if I don’t follow my sleep routine, so the two are closely related. I’ll be following others who are working on sleep and habit formation, so I’d love to support your journeys, too! Andromeda

I'm jumping back on the bandwagon after a third child and the pandemic (dads gain weight with kids too!). I'm trying to write some kind of character to represent myself into this quest so thing stay fresh. It's my first time trying any roleplaying story/ fan fiction so I'm looking forward to it! 1. Nutrition-Eat clean as much as possible. I'll do my best to keep a log here. 2. Fitness-10k steps and at least one challenge from NF 3. Mindset-Remind myself each day that perfect is the enemy of good by working up to a full 1-2 pull ups from a dead hang by the end of this challenge by using the pull up workout on NF. These have always been a challenge for me. I've been able to do around 4-5 in the past and I'd like to work up to that in the future.

I am now officially post-hike and post-holidays after my awesome hiking (and campervan) holiday (see my Progress Woot thread). A tricky time here as we are back in lockdown and will be for more weeks and I am conscious of how post-hike blues can put me in a hole. So I need to focus on the 'things I learnt on the trail' and try and keep just a bit of that trail fitness. So what is it that is so enjoyable about an extended hike? The simplicity of each day. You know what you have to do (get to the next campsite) even if you may have obsticles in the way - that ridge walk, those very large boulders that you have to haul yourself and pack up and over etc). Also, always being a little out of your comfort zone (see aforementioned boulder field with no clear path to progress) So it is really a 'back to basics' type challenge. Fitness - running. I noticed that my running was much improved after 3 weeks on the trail - so I figure that I should take advantage of this and increase the amount and distance that I'm running. I am kind of thinking of doing a half marathon next year. I haven't really put it out in the world until now. I need to progress from 10k on my 'long run' days. 3 x 5k runs during the week 10k+ run on the weekend Food - I have officially reached my goal weight (whoo hoo) - the hike got me down those pesky last 2kg so I am now offically only just not overweight (ie the top of the normal weight). My real aim is to not put any back on with post-holiday eating, but since we are back in lockdown I have had a 'no junk food lockdown' policy. I'd love to drop another 5kg in the next 12 months, so not bothered about doing anything radical. I am going to log food for at least this challenge (maybe for 3 months) which is an interesting decision as I barely logged when I lost the weight. (I went as low carb as I could - maybe sometimes keto and did a small amount of fasting). i do feel that logging will be good from a maintenance perspective. Log food daily - if miss a day - add in an estimation. Environment - Another lockdown 'habit' is to improve my environment. You wouldn't think so as I am sitting in a room full of miscellanious extra furniture etc, but the real sanity project is in the garden. I've started a gardening journal in Evernote, have a stack of projects I'd like to complete but the goal will just be: 10 Minutes of gardening a day (more if in the mood / have the time (who am i kidding, I always have time) Life outside the comfort zone this is a little more challenging while in lockdown - some ideas that I have need a little more freedom of movement. I guess at this stage I'm just looking for things that are outside of the zone. Here are a few that I am thinking of: Before work run - make two of those weekday runs before work. This doesn't sound very challenging but I am sooo not a morning person. Of course on the trail I could get up around 5 each day becuase we needed to get going at daybreak due to distances/terrain/heat considerations and I did it each day with no issue. I also had accountability from my hiking buddy. Learn something - I was really big into the 'life long learning' thing, but I've dropped off completely. Find something that I can do online and commit some time to doing it. Really vague. Basically consider if there is someting that could form part of my next challenge. Watch out for uncomfortable opportunities - and report back here.

Goals Level 5 (reach 185lbs or less for a week) Second gym day each week Run day each week My goals line up with living a more active life for the winter months. I want to ingrain my workout habits at my new gym so I can easily keep them up when it’s harder to get outside. I am also paying more attention to how long meals last me—and sometimes find I am not getting hungry for dinner at all (but usually eating a little anyway). I want to be hungry again for dinner time, so that just means stopping my meals a little earlier or cutting out anxious snacking. I think those small changes should lead to movement on the scale. Since I won’t be using snacking to buffer from boredom or anxiety, I made a list of other things I like doing (movies, coloring, gardening, walks, deep clean shower, etc) because the goal is not weight loss, it is creating a life I enjoy more. I currently workout with a trainer every Wednesday but I want to add in a workout on Friday’s at my local park gym which is super close and not very populated. I found Friday’s sometimes have as many as 3 other people at the gym, but when I went on Saturday it was empty. I might switch to weekends if Fridays are too popular, but I will decide that after this challenge. I can catch up on podcasts and get my head ready for the weekend using a Friday workout. I made a Pinterest board called “IDFK What To Do @ The Gym!” for easy ideas. Finally, I have a love/hate relationship with running. It feels great for my body and is super good for my pelvic floor after having a baby. I love running races and love feeing like a “runner”. But damn that first mile always sucks!! It is easy to talk myself out. I have a running buddy who might join me but she’s been flaky, and she doesn’t run in winter. But I love running in winter because it is a way to finally properly warm up when it’s cold. I am reserving the weekend for running with my friend, but adding opportunities to sprint when I can find them (like when I run alongside my toddler’s bike, or if I change my work commute home from a walk to a jog). By having more variety and spontaneity in my short runs, I hope to change the story in my head about the first mile. Maybe the first mile is the best because it is the one where I get to settle into myself.