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Guess who's back?! (No, not Slim Shady....) It's been at least 6 months since I last took part in a proper challenge (holy crap, it's been so long!). I realize this one is coming a few days late, but I've had all kinds of shit going down lately and I'm slowly catching up. There's a lot to fill you all in on, but I'll do my best to give you as brief of a synopsis as possible before moving forward with my challenge goals. For those who don't know or remember me - HI! I'm your friendly neighbourhood Ranger-Cyborg who has a hankering for adventure, crafting, video games, and overall badassness. Last you guys really saw from me was a month or two after my second ICL surgery, where I had my contact lens implants replaced (hence the cyborg bit). Thankfully, everything is going great on that front! At the time, I was getting back into the crossfit game, doing some urbexing, and had recently purchased my replacement car after hit and run totaled my previous one. My boyfriend and I were living on the Massachusetts coast line and trying to get our collective 'stuff' together - sorting our individual mental health problems, improving the living situation, and doing general growing up/adulting. The present... I am continuing to go to therapy for depression and anxiety after starting last spring; it has been incredibly helpful, but opened up a lot of old wounds that never properly healed. Long term, this is good, but it has made me question a lot of things in my life. I became (and still am to some degree) unsure of my surroundings, priorities, and, most disturbingly, myself. It's brought about A LOT of introspective thought and having to figure out what's really important to me. I'm still working on it, it's not a done deal, but pieces are coming into place. I have a better idea of what path I need to be on. As for my car, I'm still loving the hell out of it, and she runs and drives like a dream. Even with the snow, ice, and low temps we've had recently, she's been swell! Now, onto some major changes. For starters, my job has been sucking the life out of me, and I've been looking to move on for a few months now. It's gotten to the point where I am just so apathetic about my work and it takes all of my effort to even get out of bed in the morning (granted, depression doesn't help with that). Luckily, a friend knew of a position that was opening at her company and offered to pass on my resume. Long story short, I should be receiving an offer letter in my inbox any day now Received the offer today - JOB ACCEPTED!! Time for the next steps Secondly, Shaun and I are no longer together. I came to the realization during my introspection that I wasn't happy in my relationship and hadn’t been for a long time. There were a number of factors involved - some had been there since the beginning, and others had come up over the last year. Ultimately, I ended it, but it's turned into a bit of a nasty situation. In any case, I have moved in with my college friend for the foreseeable future. Even with this big bad thing slowly settling itself in the background, it's brought about some good things too - I'll be closer to my new job, I have unlimited access to my friend-turned-roommate's 3 kitties (Max, Momo, and Goober), and I've made new friends and am working on strengthening my pre-existing relationships. I've also started seeing someone else, which has been an adventure in and of itself (especially since I was not expecting to get into anything new for a while, nor was I looking for it. It just kinda...happened). Lastly, due to my move, I am no longer participating in crossfit. It’s not something I want to give up completely, but I’m going to have to hold off for a bit because of the way my finances are right now. I’m bummed about it, but I gotta do what I gotta do. I think that’s all the big, or at least the most prevalent, stuff that tends to show up in my posts. So, shall we move along to the goals?

I tried to prioritize ukulele practice last challenge, but it just didn't happen. I'm not ready, and I've got too much else on my plate. I still want to learn, and my younger kid wants to learn, too, but I don't have the spoons. So I want to focus on how to replenish my spoons in a sustainable way. Partly inspired by this blog post, which says: "The painful self-care I am doing now is coming to terms with the fact that I have built my life around performing only the best parts of myself for other people, or performing for myself to project an image of who I would like to be." This one's also great: "Every parent I know will jump through hoops of fire to ensure their kids get enough sleep, but it stops there. For themselves, they view sleep as an indulgence. They brag about how little they get. “I was up till midnight working.” “I got up at 5:30 a.m. to make muffins for the bake sale.” “I never get more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I have too much to do.”" A friend said to me on Facebook today that self care is like parenting yourself. I want to feel good more often than not; I'm tired all the time. I never feel like I have enough time to do anything. I'm not burnt out like I was in the spring, but things could still be better. So this challenge is to REALLY ACTUALLY DO SELF CARE, AND DO IT RIGHT. This challenge I will: Get at least seven hours of sleep five nights per week (which went decently last challenge!) Stretch, foam roll, and do physio on my knee on alternate days (really necessary) Keep my nails painted nicely and my hair colour vibrant (because having nice nails that aren't bitten and amazing hair helps me feel better) Clean or organize something around the house every weekday BONUS: Sledgehammering, meditation, or hula hooping gets me a gif party extravaganza. Here's my kanban board in the kitchen, which lists all of the cleaning/organising things to do around the house. Sorry it's sideways! Daily tracking will be in my battle log. Standard warning: I'm queer, genderqueer (they/them), poly, and kinky. I keep this pretty SFW, and anything otherwise will be tagged as such and put under a cut. The photos I share here will be safe, but if you follow any links to my Instagram page, some are a little less so! Enjoy!

So after about 6 weeks of sloth and vacation I need to get my act back together. I have since gained about 5-6 lbs so losing those and continuing to try to find visible abs is a goal. I have a GORUCK Light on 12/10 and then a back to back Light/Tough on 1/13-1/14. I really did not want to do these but they are the MLK themed ones and he was such a great man I figure I could endure the cold for him. I have IRONMAN Texas 4/22 and I just signed up for EAGLEMAN in June since it will be my sisters first half IRONMAN. So for this challenge I am really trying to focus on what I put in my body, as well as my daily training. For now I am sticking to 2,200 calories, low carb, paleo with dairy and no drinking. Unlike training for the last IRONMAN I am going to try to do less volume and get my body in better physical shape. I am focusing on strength and flexibility. I struggled a lot running longer distances with my body breaking down this past summer and I want to run more often with shorter distances now. I will be focusing 100% on stretching daily as well as appropriate foam rolling and Yoga two days a week.

Okay then. November was . . . rough. There were some incredibly wonderful moments, but a lot of very difficult moments as well. I let go of things for a while just to keep my head on straight. I woke up this morning feeling ready to get back into a challenge, and am excited to see that one hast just begun! I'm keeping this one pretty simple. There are about a million things I want to do yet I know that picking a few essentials will be best. Here's a really great thing that I've realized about myself: I don't need to look at exercise as purely for weight loss, muscle building, getting in shape, etc. I can look at it as a form of staying healthy, regardless of whether I see noticeable physical changes. I recently turned 30. I want to set up a healthy lifestyle, which means building habits before worrying about what change will come from them. And as much as I look back and reflect on how many times I've started over with habits, I also know that the ones that work have stuck. I just need to keep moving forward one step at a time. Stretching: I plan to stretch for five minutes each day. I fully believe one of the reasons I've had a difficult fall/winter is because I'm no longer doing a regular yoga practice. I loved the studio that I found after the summer but it has become challenging (and expensive!) to get over to each class that I want to take. The bottom line is that my body desperately needs to stretch regularly, and I'd love to build a habit that I can easily do each day without making it a big deal. Bodyweight Exercise: I plan to start with ONE MINUTE of bodyweight exercise each day. I have a set of bodyweight FitDeck exercise cards -- I'll pick a random one each day and complete that exercise for 60 seconds. I know this won't do a whole lot for me in the grand scheme of health, but I need to gently start building this habit.

Same Bat-challenge! Kinda. This challenge I will: Get at least seven hours of sleep five nights per week Stretch five times per week Practice ukulele with kid #2 twice per week Daily tracking will be in my battle log, and by gosh I really need to start doing the weekly summaries again, to help me keep track of what I'm aiming for! Standard warning: I'm queer, genderqueer, poly, and kinky. I keep this pretty SFW, and anything otherwise will be tagged as such and put under a cut. The photos I share here are SFW, but if you follow any links to my Instagram page, some are a little less so! Enjoy!

Hi Druids! I've decided to challenge with you, and this will be my first druid challenge ever! I've had an extreme amount of difficulty figuring out how to find and maintain a balance with my life between my job, workouts, nutritional, and personal development goals. Despite my efforts to make my challenges increasingly simple, I'm unable to maintain a workout routine, and I'm struggling with getting the recuperative rest I need to remain functional mentally, physically, and emotionally... Actually I do find this rest, but it's chipping at my other goals. Here's my situation... Over a year ago, I quit working on my PhD and walked out of grad school with my master's because academic life was increasingly dissatisfying and the financial burdens of being an underpaid grad student with student loan and credit card debt was becoming too difficult. All of the lack of progress and fulfilment despite a lot of hard work made me stressed and depressed. Not able to afford a new place or stay in my old one, I moved back in with my parents, temporarily, until I could find a new job. I thought I would be able to get a pretty well-paying job quickly, and I even got an interview for a good job within a week of being home, but that fell through. So I started working in a warehouse for about the same amount of money as my grad stipend. And I've been there ever since. On the upside, things have stabilized in the past year. I'm caught up on bills, and have enough money in my pocket finally to survive. Earlier this week I applied for an apartment and should hear back in the next few days. If that goes through, and it should, I'll be moving out in the beginning of December. This challenge times out well for preparing for that transition. Basically, I'm treating this all as a reset, and I'm going to focus on rebuilding a solid and balanced foundation. Goal 1, Moving on: In the past hour or so I've been cleaning my room and starting to, or think about how to, pack up my things. As I go through I'll have to think about what should be thrown away, what should be kept, and what I'll need for my new place. I'm going to spend a day each weekend, at least, working on this. What I'll do for accountability's sake is jot down notes in here about the thought process. Mostly I just want to avoid procrastinating, then mindlessly packing everything up and dragging around a ton of useless clutter to my new place. I think everything,I have, need to get rid of, or want/need fits into three categories: Essentials: Things I need to take care of myself and be healthy. Comforts: Things I use to add comfort and convenience or entertainment. Capital: Things that I need to work, make a living, or advance in my career like my computer or books for learning new things. For everything, I need to identify which category it falls into, and figure out its overall value to that category. However, a more practical scaffold is to assemble my "five rooms:" Living Room -- where I live and entertain myself and others Kitchen -- where Noms are made Bedroom -- where I rest and sleep, then meet the day Workshop -- where I build, create, work, and tinker Bathroom -- where grooming and pooping happens Okay, goal: Assemble lists for five rooms based on 3 criteria. I think it's time for a spreadsheet. Goal 2, Nutrition and Food Budget: This is a combo of two goals from last challenge. My food and my money are always at odds with each other. (Damn you breadfast sammiches! Damn you! I love you! ). So I'm going to keep tracking noms on MFP and keep a weekly tab on food expenses so I can check on problems with both nutrition and overspending. Another spreadsheet. Goal 3, Get up at 4:00 am. I have to be at work by 6:30. Last challenge I had a goal of going to the gym every morning, which required I get up at 4 am. That crashed and burned. Now I just have to get up early enough. And maybe, just maybe I'll get to the damn gym at some point, but right now I'm just going to focus on getting up that early. Bonus: Do something for my health when I get up. So if I meditate (that's likely where I'll start), stretch, or go to the gym... boom +1 point. (Assuming I'll assign a point system to this challenge). Edit: I'm changing goal 3 because I know it's not gonna happen. I'll work on this one later. new! Goal 3: Fix my Achilles' heel: Literally, I'm having issues with Achilles' tendinitis in my left ankle, so I need to find some stretches and exercises to fix it, and do them everyday. This one's more important than getting up earlier. We are heading into the peak season at work which means I'm gonna be on my feet 50-60 hours/week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Currently, I limp out of my car at the end of the day because my feet/ankles, especially and mostly my left, bother me. That needs to be fixed and worked on so I can survive the Holiday season at work. LUYL: Novel making. As I mentioned in a post at the end of my last challenge, and have alluded to in several other posts, I have ideas for a novel. Well, actually, there's five or six ideas, and an entire slew of short stories. Devising characters and plots in my head is one of the ways I get myself through the day at the warehouse. Last weekend I read an article about the "Snowflake method" for constructing a novel. I played with it and I have some good notes on the plot and main characters for one novel. I want to keep going and try this with my other ideas and see what pans out, which one I really get into, and finally start writing something substantial soon. It wouldn't hurt to find my copy of Strunk and White while I'm packing either. I'm going to shoot for three outlines: Plot summary, character descriptions, and major scene descriptions... by the end of the challenge. Also, I downloaded a book/lecture series on Audible about writing fiction. So maybe finishing that for some bonus points.

So I totally dropped the ball on the last challenge. I love autumn, but I also tend to hit a big mental-health rut this time of year as it gets darker and colder. I've been awful about exercising and meditating regularly lately, which is unfortunate as those are things that help keep me feeling ok. This year it kind of crept up on me slowly so I didn't even realize I was getting progressively more and more miserable until I had a total meltdown yesterday. Goals this time around (keeping it really simple as I tend to be overly ambitious and then get frustrated/unmotivated) 1. STRETCH AND WATCH VIDEO TUTORIALS. One of my goals last month was to focus on stretching more, specifically my splits. I was horribly inconsistent with this. Another thing I've been meaning to do is spend more time watching online tutorials on Lynda.com since I have a subscription that I barely use. I realized that if I stretch while watching tutorials I'm more interested in both and it's super efficient to get two things done at once. 2. MEDITATE AND USE SUNLAMP EVERY DAY. I've been meditating fairly regularly for over a year, and when I do it consistently it noticeably improves my mental health. I am more able to stop myself from getting into negative thought loops and downward spirals and to realize that I can acknowledge a bad mood without feeding it. And since it's getting darker it's time to get out my bluelight sunlamp and use it as part of my meditation. I also need to start using my light alarm clock (it gradually starts getting light before the alarm goes off). 3. LESS NAPS. This has been a perpetual struggle for me. I work from home and often hit a big energy slump in the afternoon and take a nap, which always ends up being about 2 hours. I rarely wake up feeling better afterwards as my brain seems to reset to kind of depressed, which negates whatever exercise, etc. I've done in the morning to get myself in a good mood. I also am much more productive if I do stuff during those two hours and obviously sleep better at night. My goal is no more than one nap per week. Just for funsies, here is the video of my trapeze performance that was part of my last challenge! There were some serious weather challenges but I'm happy with it overall.

Been struggling with some mental stuff lately. Want to just have a simple challenge to try and get back into things. Didn't end up doing much with last challenge, and just need a win at the challenges right now. Need to figure out some more Kung Fu practice since I have a test next month, going to do at least 1 private lesson, but we'll see if that gets added. Kind of depends on how week 0 goes Quest 1: Do at least 5 mins of working out 6 days a week min Can be yoga, free weights, body weight, band work, core work. Some 5 minute workout ideas here here here here and here Quest 2: Stretching Need to stretch at least 5 days a week. At least 5 mins. Should but does not have to include foam rolling Quest 2: Sleep habbits Be in bed by 10 pm on work nights. Also get up with the first alarm. Used to be great at getting up in the mornings. It's been slipping lately. Will have a few trips during this challenge (mainly Thanksgiving) but shouldn't be too much of an issue. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person. -Og Mandino

Balsquith battles the passivity My last challenge did not go all that well. Or rather, it went well at times but as it was mostly just collecting information it felt like it was never going at all. This challenge I will actually utilise a little bit of the information collected in my goals: Goal 1: Nutrition – Batch cook 2x per week. I kept a food log briefly last challenge and the approximate findings were that: 1. I probably don’t eat enough generally 2. I make poor choices when I go food shopping at lunchtime Therefore this challenge I will be doing some batch cooking to prepare some breakfasts and some lunches. I don’t expect this to be perfect, but it will at least mean that on several days of the week I have a good (ish) food choice (I will be aiming to go vegetable-heavy) Goal 2: Exercise – Short run 2x per week. I used to enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee but have kind of lost touch with this over the past few years. As I don’t run at all anymore I will be starting my road back to Frisbee with a couple of short runs a week. Goal 3: Injury rehab – Stretching daily I have become somewhat injury prone of late (or maybe I am just noticing it more) and am convince that this is due, in part at least, to overall poor mobility causing problems to arise in other areas of the body. I will be addressing this by some targeted stretching using GMB’s focused flexibility. Goal 4: Learning – 30 minutes (or more) daily I am not dedicating any time to improving myself, which is a poor showing given how easy it would be to carve 30 minutes out of my day to do this. I have a few things that I want to work on in this time, but the goal will be purely for freeing up the time to learn.

Hello everybody! My last (and first!) challenge was a success and I want to keep leveling up my life this way. I am still not sure about my goals for my next challenge, I'll edit this post later, but I think I will keep some of my last challenge's goals and try new ones. I liked how my challenge worked, with fixed goals that give me XP depending on how I perform and I want to stick to that. This challenge allows me to get a max of 100 XP (25 every week), and I though it would be funny to add some bonus stages to collect extra XP. Here are my goals: 1) A LANNISTER ALWAYS PAYS HIS DEBTS: I promised I would finish C25K and run 5K for the first time in my life, and, in this challenge, I'm going to keep progressing onto that. I'll run three days a week. Total points for this goal: 20 XP (5 XP per week) Running 3 times: 5 XP Running 2 times: 2 XP Running 1 times: 1 XP 2) MAKING MY COAT OF ARMS: Or, in this case, a blanket. And not with a lion on it, but a mushroom, a Mario mushroom. I started a pixel art blanket months ago but I've been lazy to continue with it. I want to make at least 10 granny squares a week. Total points for this goal: 12 XP (3 XP per week) 10 or more granny squares: 3 XP 5-9 granny squares: 2 XP 1-4 granny squares: 1 XP 3) POISON-FREE: There are poisons more dangerous than the Tears of Lys. Sure, tears of Lys kills you instantly without leaving a trace, but sugar kills you slowly and painfully craving for more. As I did in my past challenge, I am going to avoid chocolates and sweets as much as I can. I'm only allowed to cheat one day a week. Total points for this goal: 20 XP (5 XP per week) 1 Day of sugar: 5 XP 2 Days of sugar: 4 XP 3 Days of sugar: 3 XP 4 Days of sugar: 1 XP >4 Days of sugar: 0 XP 4) FEELING FLEXIBLE AND YOUNG: My flexibility is not what it used to be, and this old lion wants to feel like a cub again. I found a stretching routine on YouTube that helps you to gain some flexibility. I am going to stretch at least 3 times a week. Total points for this goal: 20 XP (5 XP per week) 3 Days of stretching: 5 XP 2 Days of stretching: 2 XP 1 Day of stretching: 1 XP 5) READING AND WRITING: My favourite Lannister is, of course, Tyrion. To be more like him, I need to read and write more. I want to read for 30 minutes at least 4 times a week. Writing is a bonus stage: I will get 5 extra XP if I write at least 5 posts on my blog. Total points for this goal: 16 XP (4 XP per week) One point for every day I read, with a maximum of 4 XP 6) YOGA: OK, I confess I don't know how to Lannisterize it, but I definitely want to try it. I've never done it before, so I'm not sure if I'm foing to like it or find it too difficult to me, so I'll only need to practice twice a week to get the max XP. Total points for this goal: 12 XP (3 XP per week) 2 days of yoga: 3 XP 1 days of yoga: 1 XP Bonus stages: 5 XP each - Writing 5 posts on my blog - Run in a ParkRun - Learn Reduced Fridrich for Rubik's Cube. - Visit a new city Cheers! Lady Gx

Ready to Hack... On the surface, this won't look that much different than my last challenge. (Don't let appearances fool you.) This challenge, I will still be stretching... Swimming... Getting enough Zzzzzz... Eating my vegetables... Coding... Meditating... Keeping my journal... and taroting. However, some major family dysfunction that went down last challenge has caused me to look far more deeply into my current life situation. This challenge will be about hacking my depression through the above methods and setting up a better system to get me through the rough times. There are some life events that are also be factored into this challenge. We have a new addition to the family - an injured stray tuxedo cat who is a delight and quite the character - but is causing some disruptions to life as we have known it. (Pictures soon!) And, I am studying for an exam to certify in a particular data visualization software the first part of November. It is going to be a real stretch to get ready in time, but I have a plan... Next couple of challenges - Some of the changes I have chosen to make will take a couple of challenges to put into place. Between now and the end of the year, I will: Revamp my Epic Quest Move my challenges back to my more gamified, storified, and creative model of yore Move to a more visual model of challenge tracking. My budding skills as a data analyst/engineer have bumped into to my previous nerdy, rangery desire to create the perfect spreadsheet. The result is a goal to "Viz All the Things!" That should keep me busy. I will be continuing to use an adaptive change model over the course of this challenge. It was a bit bumpy last time, but I think I have worked out a better tracking model and have learned where things went off the rails. More musings on that later...

Well I am back for another 4WC(5WC)!! I decided to have a little fun with the theme and go with Sonic this time Each goal will earn me rings to give me power to fight Doctor Eggman. So here's the goals: STRENGTH:X30 a week Sonic has to be strong in order to power through all of Dr. Robotnik's robots! (Need at least 100 rings to pass) Week 1: Week 2: WEEK 3: WEEK 4: SPEED: X12 a week What Sonic challenge would be complete without sprinting?! I will be doing sprinting drill 6 times a week (Need at least 40 rings to pass) Week 1: Week 2: Week 3: Week 4: MOBILITY: X10 a week Sonic needs to be able to jump, spin and move all at the speed of light. In order to accomplish this I need to get back in to using my foam roller 5x a week. I also need to do at least 10 minutes of yoga or stretching. (Need at least 40 rings to pass) AAAAAANNNNDDD thats it Side quest: Complete whatever craziness goes on in the Ranger mini:

After 4 months with NerdFitness, the motivation is failing and I do not want to fall off this wagon. I begin University for a part-time post graduate diploma on Monday, while continuing to work full-time, and managing my own and my husband's mental health. And looking after a house, bills, two rescue kitties with anxiety & whatever life throws at us. Scaling the challenge right back, because some days waking up feels like too much of a challenge, but I'm also keeping enough goals to give me a sense of achievement in my life. Weeks 14-19: :: Workout 7x a fortnight - NFA Modified Level 2 (3 sets): A - 10 Squats, 10 Knee Pushups, 10 Rows (per arm). End Set 2: Add 5x Lunge. Set 4 = Farmers Walk - 3 x 30 seconds - NFA Modified Level 2 (3 sets): B - 5 Lunges, 5 Inch Worms, 10 Wall Slides. End Set 2: 12s One Leg Balance. Set 4 = 1x 10s Side Plank :: Mindful eating via two questions: - “is this hunger? / which option is healthiest? :: Meditate & stretch on rest days - Something to 'achieve' on rest days, and a remedy for all this pain from bad posture/not doing my physio exercises. Alongside something helpful from my therapy. :: Drink one glass of plain water a day. :: (Added later) Write fiction. Let's do this.

Last challenge I concentrated on starting to lift, stretch and log my walking/swimming/biking miles and was moderately successful. This challenge I'm sticking with the lifting as I want to focus on some consistent goals between now and the end of the year (plus the lifting is just starting to get noticeably harder), I've joined a yoga class so will build on the foundation that is giving me (1 class per week) to try and stretch more everyday. I'm still logging my miles for my walk to Mordor, too, but I'm also adding in that I'm going to learn to play Bass guitar properly. I last played Bass 10 years ago after gigging in local bands with mates for years...but I never once took a lesson, or played a scale or read a book on how to play. I've decided to take lessons, possibly even sit exams (!) and learn to play 'properly'

Hello and welcome to my attempt to finally reengage myself with fitness and health. It worked pretty well to have sub goals for my points each week this winter when I was Ashe battling for the Freljord, so let’s battle to save the planet, shall we? This challenge will be a quest to save the world from certain destruction. Based on my accumulated points week by week, I will unlock each of the five elements. If they can’t all be unlocked, the world is doomed. Aren’t you glad you put the fate of the entire plant in my hands? Aziz! Light! I need to shed some light on my eating habits (see what I did there?). I have been allowing myself quick fixes like stopping at Starbucks for coffee and a breakfast sandwich FAR too often. In this section I will get a point for each day I don’t eat out at all. I am looking for an average of 5 days a week with no eating out, so I will gain a point for each day I don’t take up fast food or a non-home cooked meal. Week Zero: 5/5 Week One: 5/5 Week Two: 0/5 Week Three: 0/5 Week Four: 0/5 Total: 0/25 I am a meat popsicle. I want to work on upper body strength this go. I’m looking to take 3 days a week to do anything upper body related. I’m planning to work in push-ups, kettlebell presses, more punchy workouts… anything that works the upper body deliberately. Week Zero: 3/3 Week One: 3/3 Week Two: 0/3 Week Three: 0/3 Week Four: 0/3 Total: 0/15 Multipass! Here we go again on the half-marathon training wagon. We’re just shy of 6 weeks out, so those runs are more and more important – especially the long runs. Doing my damndest to get all three runs in for the remaining time in training. Week Zero: 2/3 Week One: 3/3 Week Two: 0/3 Week Three: 0/3 Week Four: 0/3 Total: 0/15 All Positions Since the hip tendonitis has been an ongoing thing, we are going to work on the PT exercises I found for it. Let’s make things better, not worse… am I right? So I need to complete the circuit 3 times a week. Doesn’t matter what day of the week, just get the stretches/strength in three times a week. Week Zero: 1/3 Week One: 2/3 Week Two: 0/3 Week Three: 0/3 Week Four: 0/3 Total: 0/15 WEEK ZERO 10 points Unlocks Fire 11/14 WEEK ONE 10 points Unlocks Water 13/14 WEEK TWO 11 points Unlocks Earth 0/14 WEEK THREE 12 points Unlocks Air 0/14 WEEK FOUR 13 points Unlocks Humanity 0/14 SIDE GOAL: If I get that damned KDB video edited, I get to use it to help pass a week if I'm struggling. All right, challenge. Let’s do this shit.

Hi all! New Druid here. Been with NF for awhile but new to the forums. Realizing I need to practice some self care these days and incorporate some Druidic love Rest, rest, rest I need to improve my sleep quality so I can wake up with some energy!! But baby steps - get regular sleep! So: 8 hours of sleep a night Bend and not break I am slowly getting back into regular exercise but I want to make sure I keep my flexibility too So: 10mins of stretching / fluid movement a day Breathe deep I am under a lot of stress at work so I definitely want to learn stress reducing techniques! So: meditate daily wish me luck! I look forward to meeting fellow druids along the way xxx

I have a confession to make: Jean-Claude Van Damme was my first celebrity crush. (Okay, okay it may have been Harrison Ford as Han Solo, but... for the sake of this post, it was Van Damme). I think it was Universal Soldier that got my little 'tween heart all aflutter. It was long forgotten until recently I saw Bloodsport for the first time... And I remembered what all the fuss is about. If you haven't seen Bloodsport, it is basically a film dedicated to Jean-Claude Van Damme's ability to do the splits... ...and make ridiculous yelling faces... (This is me on Monday morning, ready to crush it (yeah, sure)) And there was a little of this... Now I'm just getting distracted.... My challenge is to stretch EVERY DAY, no skips, no excuses. (while channeling Jean-Claude as my inspiration) The goal is to work towards my front splits. I started on Sunday, I just didn't have a chance to post until now. I am 2 for 2 so far. I am going to use my crotch-to-floor distance as a metric for progress (with the help of my other half, cause I can't manage that measurement alone), and measure every week. I'm hoping I'll get a measurable change by the end of the challenge. Starting crotch-to-floor measurements: 15 cm with right leg forward 15.5 cm with left leg forward (assumed accuracy is +/-0.5 cm) And away we go!!!

I'm back... ...after a bout of depression caught me off guard and derailed all but my most basic activities. I've been clawing my way back, using the old "SISU" routines from a year ago. That got me back on track, though it has taken almost three months to get things together enough that I feel like I can be active here again. This challenge, I will be stretching... Swimming... Getting enough Zzzzzz... Eating my vegetables... Coding... Meditating... Keeping my journal... and taroting. I will be adjusting my goals on a weekly basis in the four posts immediately below this one. I am wary of setting out too much for myself at this point; I also know that all of these things contribute to recovery and staying physically and mentally healthy. Right now, I need to keep flexibility and accountability, and to set myself up for a string of successes with as few setbacks as possible. Thus, a string of very short challenges set in the context of one larger one.

The real mystery this time is going to be dealing with uncertainties of life. I don't know what my means and opportunities will be for most of the coming weeks, so I am going to plan my goals carefully and conservatively. Run 60 miles. Here's why this one is tricky – I'd like to start planning some races for the fall, because I should have time this year. As those plans come together, I'll be evaluating my fitness and my training needs so I can craft a training plan. I'm sure whatever I settle on will include at least 60 miles, so I'm setting the goal conservatively there, understanding that the final plan may be quite different. Bonus points all around once I actually make that plan. Push-ups 400 total. I really want to keep doing these, but I haven't been doing so well the last few challenges so I'm reducing the goal. I can always hope for more. Feel free to hurl (good-natured) insults and degrading remarks my way if you see me slacking. Stretch 18 points total, awarded 2 points each for a solid yoga, back or extra stretching routine. 1 point if it's half-ass. Bonus points all around if I can get back into my former post-run stretching – I've really got out of this habit. Oh, the shame! Strength 16 points total, 2 points each for a solid workout. I won't have my favorite adjustable dumbbells around this time (aack!), so bodyweight or whatever I can come up with counts. Apologies for the late start. There's a good excuse, I'm sure. See you out there!!

Yo, I'm back. So I'm literally back from the wilderness. I just spent a month living in Guatemala, with a few weeks on both ends that got swallowed up in exams, preparations for the trip, and working at a couple summer camp things. Guatemala was kinda crazy, partly because I was living in a different country with crazy food and madhouse traffic, and partly because I was there to learn Spanish in four weeks (?), with absolutely zero background in the language. It actually went really well; I had tutoring five hours a day with a teacher who spoke no English whatsoever, so I had to learn fast if I wanted to have any sort of conversation. Anyway, now I'm back (yay for American plumbing!) and looking forward to getting back into regular workouts, cooking, all that good stuff. I'm interning in central VA for the year, so I have to adjust to a new speed of life, and not having university classes for the first time in ever. I also have to drive to a gym now, as opposed to having it right next to where I live - yes, I was spoiled - so this challenge will mostly be me trying to get into a new sort of weekly routine. One of the great things about my life and location now is that I can return with a vengeance to one of my favorite athletic pursuits: obstacle racing! This challenge will be focused on rebuilding my base and conditioning. Then, in late September, the fun really begins... Ze Goals: "It's not my fault being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise." - Make it out to the gym at least two, preferably three times per week. Actively joining a gym is actually a new thing for me. I've always been part of some kind of university community with an athletic center, so finding, signing up for, and attending a proper gym is a slightly different experience. Right now, I just need to actually show up to the place and get used to the new environment. My runs are a normal enough part of my daily routine that they should hopefully happen naturally. "They always grow louder when they're about to feed..." - Cook at least two new recipes per week. This shouldn't be too hard. I'm happily working through a couple of my cookbooks, and the results have been excellent; I just need to keep consistently working on expanding my repertoire. Since this is already a big hobby, I expect good results. I may even post photos for bonus points. "Why won't my arms move?" "You've been mostly dead all day." - Stretch, at least for a couple minutes, daily. I've been feeling a bit creaky lately, probably from the weird mix of sitting around and rare high-intensity exercise that's been thrown at me this summer. I want to try to build in a stretching routine into my mornings to deal with some of this. "And yet he gains!" - Run a race. Any race. Don't die. This will probably be a 5k in the neighborhood or something. I think I need to psychologically adjust to the idea of races and runs with other people again, after not doing anything of the sort since March. Oh, and it's great to see y'all again. It's good to be back. "That doesn't leave much time for dilly-dallying..."

Run, run, run Late again. But it's nothing new this time around, just trying to clean up my diet further and and in more positive habits. I have a 20-mile and a 23-mile training run during this challenge, so I'm trying to not hyperventilate at the thought. I call it 'running' even though I do run/walk intervals. I may be going to France for 2 weeks during this challenge, and would have to adjust the training plan accordingly. A major mini-goal is to avoid deviating from the plan as much as possible, because I tend to get distracted/seduced by other plans easily. Overarching Goals: Body fat 25%. Making very slow progress. Marathon 11/5. Just aiming to finish. Be happier and more energetic This is mesmerizing to me Goal #1: THE FOOD 1a. Meal prep weekly - make breakfasts, and lunches including protein and veggies 1b. Limit alcohol - 3 days/wk max worked well for me last challenge 1c. Veggies at dinner - this is the area I want to clean up. I'm fine with some dairy/carbs, but want to at least get produce into every meal. hahahhaha nope Goal #2: THE WORKOUTS 2a. Run 3x/week per Jeff Galloway marathon training plan 2b. Lift or strength workout 2x/week 2c. Foam roll + stretch 3x/week Looking at sleeping puppy pictures = guaranteed mood boost Goal #3: THE BRAIN 3a. Sleep 8 hrs/night or as much as my body will allow me. I struggled with this last challenge 3b. Meditate. If I get through the free Headspace sessions I may subscribe, or just use calm.com 3c. No solo TV. I can watch with bf or other people (social-ish activity), but stick to music (for background) or reading on my own. If I succeed at this then I will upgrade my Spotify to the commercial-free version for a month.

Balsquith - Dragon Slayer reloaded My last challenge was a themed dragon-slaying challenge and was great fun and went well for the first 2 weeks until I went on holiday and let it fizzle out. This challenge will be almost identical (except for the fizzling-out part) with a few minor modifications to keep things interesting. I will start this challenge on a Monday as I found the change to a Sunday start didn’t work for me at all. This challenge bases itself thematically on the book I am reading ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ by Markus Heitz, which is set in 1925 in a world just like ours with the big difference being that dragons have survived and are not very likeable. The book follows the dragon slayer Silena, a descendent of Saint George, who works for the church to hunt dragons. For this challenge I will once again be Balsquith Dragonslayer, from the line of Saint George, dedicated to hunting down the terrorising beasts and bringing peace and harmony to the land. I will be facing the same four dragons in this challenge as in the last challenge, as they all escaped with only relatively minor injuries and have had time to recover and return at full strength to terrorise the land. Dragons 1. Sirath the somnolent – Getting up to my alarm (Health = 50pts) 2. Bredolth, bane of the Morning – Morning routine (existing routine + daily MITs) (Health =30pts) 3. Tavorth the unbending – Evening routine (existing routine + stretching) (Health = 30pts) 4. Cenolth the abeyant – Exercise/injury rehab (Health =40pts) Hero Balsquith Dragonslayer – Starting health = 10pts Rules I will fight all dragons daily with the following combat rules: Success – Dragon loses 1 health point Partial success – Parry, no change in health points Fail – Balsquith Dragonslayer loses 1 health point and dragon regenerates 1 health point Bonuses for chains Chain (7 day+) => Success = 1.5 points Chain (14 day+) => Success = 2 points Chain (21 day+) => Success = 2.5 points Bonuses for completing all daily tasks Frenzy (4 tasks/day) => Success = 1.5 points Wrath of the Gods (4 chain tasks/day) = 3 points Apothecary Earning gold crowns Reading ‘Die Mächte des Feuers’ = maximum 1 gold crown earned daily In dire need I have a list of unpleasant tasks (only when health falls below 5points) = 5 gold crowns Shopping list Healing potion = 2 gold crowns (recovers 1 health point) Dragon’s Bane = +1 hit points on dragon (1 day expiry date, use must be announced day before) (3 gold crowns)

Intro: I had a productive first year in NF, and then the wheels came off. Amidst the perfect storm of mental and physical burnout, injuries and illness, family and work stresses, I went into a bit of a dark place. I went back to bad habits of eating like crap, making excuses not to exercise and isolating myself from everyone. It took longer than it should have for me to recognise and confront those issues, but I started to do that last challenge. This is somewhat of an extension of that as I continue to rehab my body, mind and spirit. QUEST 1: See a Grown Man Cry Try to re-establish some kind of fitness routine, whilst continuing to rehab my shoulder and neck. Make sure I do the daily stretches my doctor gave me. Try to get three light cardio sessions per week done at the gym. Walk more, regardless of the weather. It’s rain, not acid. I won’t die. Points available: +3 DEX, +1 STA QUEST 2: Black Coffee Blues Don’t Eat and Drink Like a DickheadTM. No more than one chocolate bar per week. No energy drinks. If you need caffeine, have some damn coffee. There’s a perfectly good coffee machine in the kitchen, you don’t need Rockstar. Drink water. It’s plentiful. Points available: +4 CON QUEST 3: Solipsist A healthy body must work in tandem with a healthy mind. Look after what’s upstairs, by any means necessary. Sleep, meditate, ASMR, sit under a tree, stroke a pet, cook, read a book, take a bath. I’ll try to finish Ken Costa’s “Know Your Why” during this challenge, but no pressure to do so. I’ll read if I feel like reading, but not going to force it. One “must do” task, is take a leaf out of Spooky’s book and list three things I’m grateful for on a daily basis. Points available: +4 WIS QUEST 4: Art to Choke Hearts Inspired in part by binge watching Bob Ross on Netflix, I decided to have a go at painting during the last challenge, and discovered that I really enjoy it. Keep at it, and share the results, good, bad or indifferent, on here. There’s also a tumblr here for the things I’ve done. Points available: +3 CHA

Doctorake's Final Fantasy In coming off my last challenge I wanted to try something more weekly based as opposed to a daily list of stuff that had really been stressing me out. I want the ability to take a day where I ignore some stuff and not have a penalty because of it. So here I am needing to restore the four crystals and bring balance back into my world. I will have a daily battle and update the day after like I usually do. I will log my 4 areas of focus and see how high of a % I can renew each crystal. Earth Crystal The Earth Crystal will be recharged based on my workouts, lifting, body weight exercises, and my stretching. This is a 7 days a week deal for me and I would like to go 100%, I will not beat myself up though over injuries or anything else. Fire Crystal The Fire Crystal will be recharged based on working on my deck, yard, and house work. Hoping to get 5 days a week and no task is too small. Water Crystal The Water Crystal will be recharged based on my intake. This will be alcohol, food and pills(vitamins/creatine). This one also needs to be 7 days a week. I am currently on day 5 of no drinking for 30 days(Wife challenged me) and am likely going to continue it until IRONMAN Maryland(10/1). Air Crystal The Air Crystal will be recharged based on my hobbies. This will be any of my exciting hobbies I have been neglecting. This may include but is not limited to; aquariums, nerd room, woodworking, magic cards, ardiuno, welding, etc. I am hoping for 3 days a week on this one but could do even more if I manage my time better.

HAI GUISE! A quick introduction: I've been multi-classing this, that, and the other thing all my life, but I've been more of a druid at heart on the NF forums so far. Or at least I've been trying to be, in order to 1) turn my mind into something that isn't a pack of cats on PCP, and 2) to generally improve my mental health. 1 is an ongoing failure, but 2 has improved tremendously over the last year and a half. tl;dr, my physical health/habits were/are pretty good, but my mind ones were shitty, and I was doing Druid-ish challenges in order to fix the imbalance. So, why am I here now? Okay, it's story time. Some time ago, I decided to try a weekend pole dancing Boot Camp weekend class. It was incredibly fun, and I considered joining the studio where these classes took place on a part-time, one class per week basis. There was absolutely no way that I would register with the full-time package, though, because I had very little free time and wanted to save money. The upcoming pole competition was even more out of the question, for the same reasons. And then... Pole coach: "You did really well at the boot camp! You should compete at _____ :D" Me: "Ok!" Then that competition happened, and the pole classes (full-time, because why not) continued. I'm also a member at another gym where the owner and coaches will design your workout plan and help you get better at whatever you want to. The training is in a small group setting, which is essentially not-1-on-1 personal training. Since they can tailor your workout to whatever sport or activity you want to focus on, I figured "why don't I ask them to tailor my workout to the pole fitness/art classes so that I can get better, faster?" And I did, so now I'm seeing results and progress a bit faster. This is in addition to the coach at the pole studio having competed professionally for a long time. She knows the ins and outs of the sport, such as which moves should be taught first in order to make learning any future moves easier, and which competitions are worth going to, etc. Long story short is that I'll be competing at a fairly high-level competition at the end of March. If pole fitness/art was a MMORPG, one could say that I've been getting power leveled like fucking crazy. Anyway. The big thing holding back my progress in this sport/art right now is flexibility. My flexibility isn't too bad, but it needs to be better. Like, full splits (both forward and sideways) by November. NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING, RIGHT? But now that I've signed up for this, I have no choice but to do it. November is quite a while before March, but there also needs to be time for choreographing, practicing, making a costume...yes, costume, because this shit is like cosplay, gymnastics, and dancing all mashed into one sport and IT IS FUCKING WONDERFUL. I figured that, since my goals are specific to a more Assassin-y sport, I should do my challenge here this time around. Also, the mini-challenges look like an absolute blast. Goals: 1. Stretch every morning and night. (After my workouts, too, but I'm not counting that since it's already a habit.) Splits flexibility is going well. Shoulder flexibility is fucking shitty. Need to work on both. 2. Hydrate. I won't fuss about specific volumes and measurements because that shit's annoying, but I will make it a point to have 6 average-sized cups of water while I'm at work. 3 . Stop being stressed. Saying this is as fucking useless as telling someone who's depressed to "Just cheer up :D" though, so instead I'll de-stress by getting three massages during the course of this challenge. I was only going to have one challenge (stretching) and if items 2 and 3 fall by the wayside then so be it. Hydrating and stressing less both help increase flexibility according to some articles, so attempting them can't hurt. These things will also help with general well-being. Only the stretching goal will be graded. WEEK 1: X X / X X / _ X / _ X / _ X / _ _ / X _ (X/14) WEEK 2: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ (X/14) WEEK 3: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ (X/14) WEEK 4: _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ / _ _ (X/14) TOTAL: XX/56 Misc. bullshit below: - The original class I wanted to pick on NF was Wizard or Sorcerer, but those didn't exist, so instead here I am! All the things! - I use the word "fuck" a lot, among others - This thread will likely be cluttered with trivial (but entertaining) bullshit - ...and workout-related complaining - ...and cosplay-related complaining - I will try my best to post images and videos of pole art/dance shenanigans - There will be 5 or 6 days of dead time (Aug 31 to Sept 6?) in this challenge thread while I'm away at FanExpo, but I'll still stretch during those days - Items may be added to or removed from this list at any point