Search the Community

This week I am starting a new challenge for myself: walk 397 miles from Bag End to Rivendell by the 1st of December. When I reach Rivendell, hopefully ahead of schedule, I will begin the walk from Rivendell to the Lonely Mountain (570 miles) by April 1st, and from the Lonely Mountain back to Bag End (967 miles!) by the 1st of September 2016, just in time for the Hogwarts Express. By my calculations, the first segment should only be about 3 miles a day, which is not so much of a challenge, but I will need to create the hobbit habit of walking every day, so its a reasonable goal to set. The following 2 segments should be harder, over 5.5 miles a day, every day. But if Bilbo and the Dwarves can do it on their little hobbit/dwarf legs, then so can I. When it's all over, maybe I will reward myself with a gold ring, or a sword, or a tattoo in commemoration of my accomplishment. Or, if you have other ideas, let me know! PLEASE spam me with support, ask for an update on my progress, etc. I'll try to post about the important landmarks I pass and the adventures I have (trolls, anyone?) as I make this massive journey across Middle Earth. If there are any dwarves who would like to join me on this quest, you are more than welcome to join the company!

So I was checking out some new challenge threads and I came upon IslandGirl_Becks' thread "Becks goes There and Back Again with the Hobbit", which appears to be the first in a series of Hobbit/LotR themed challenges she is planning on doing. I am a big fan of LotR and the Hobbit, I have even read the Silmarillion (it is a hard read do not attempt unless you are a total nerd). I have seen several Middle Earth based challenges and workouts but most of them are walking/running based, something I have no interest in participating in. But as I read Becks' post it occurred to me, there is certainly a ton of walking in the books, but there is also a lot of epic battles. One of my hobbies being reenactment/swordplay, that is exactly the sort of thing I am interested in. So that leads me here, to plan a set of challenges, each based on a Battle of the Third Age. I haven't decided whether to do them chronologically or from easiest to hardest yet but the first step will be to make a list of the battles I want to cover. Then I will set up a basic template to follow before building unique challenges for each battle. I already have a challenge set up for this round so I am hoping to have this together for the next challenge. The first three I know I want to be more ranger themed but then I want to switch to warrior/bulking mode for the fall and winter. If I can't make that work, I may just take a break from my themed challenges until next spring. Anyway, I'm not just here to talk, I want your input! What kind of exercises belong in a battle workout? What equipment should I use? How many dwarves should I throw? If you like you can even play along and set up your own Battles of Middle Earth challenge. Lets have some fun together.....FOR FRODO!

*** “I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it's very difficult to find anyone.' It’s been a while since I’ve done a challenge. I’m back this time and I hope that I’m back for good! I’ve missed NerdFitness! I had to take a break from the challenges for several months to address some of my personal demons. While I’ve not vanquished all my foes, I’ve managed to scatter them so I can address them one at a time. My challenges from here on will be crafted with the goal of taking out said demons one by one. This challenge is to help me get back in the habit of the challenges and hone my will power. This challenge will be getting me ready for my journey… But unlike Biblo’s journey, mine will not be coming back again. It’s time for an adventure! *** Goal 1 “This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, and found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours’ respect, but he gained—well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.†Work out 5 times a week- After joining NerdFitness last year, I started a C25K program. It took me some definite work, but I got through it. Had you told me this time last year that I would be an actual runner, I would have laughed till I cried. Now I run every other day. I joined the Academy as a way to keep me doing something while I took a break from the challenges. I’ve since joined a gym and I’ve gotten addicted to weight lifting (Thank you, Steve and Staci!). For this challenge my workouts will consist of strength training workouts from the NerdFitness Academy combined with my runs. I have three strength workouts a week and three runs a week. I am trying to get myself switched over to running in the mornings. The goal is to be working out 5 or more times a week. With those two combined for most workouts, my general scoring will be 3 points STR and 2 points STA. Goal 2 “Go back?" he thought. "No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!" Some kind of flexibility work every day- This is pretty self explanatory. I am working towards the ultimate goal of being fit and flexible enough to go straight into acrobatics lessons when I am somewhere that I have access to such things. I have a long ways to go still, but I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made so far. The flexibility work will include some basic contortion training and a lot of yoga. Very long, strenuous rounds of yoga may be counted as workouts depending on how exhausted I am after. I am also setting myself some mini goals of progressing in several challenging yoga poses. (I’ve just got to decide on which ones I want to work on first.) Accomplishing this goal will give me 4 DEX by the end of the challenge. Goal 3 “Sorry! I don't want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea -any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!†Sleep at least 7 hours a night 5 days a week- I am TERRIBLE at getting rest in general. I’m even worse at getting enough rest for my body to recover. I'm also terrible about saying no to various adventures in order to get more sleep. While adventures are good, rest is highly important. I have one of the worst sleeping schedules ever. Getting more of it will really help me in my recovery and with my focus in life in general. With the work that I will have to do in the coming challenges, I really need to make a habit of getting enough sleep so it’s time to make it a regular part of my life. This year is going to require all of my productive capacities and those capacities are never at 100% if I don’t get enough sleep. If I manage to get 30 days of 7+ hours of sleep this challenge, I will consider it a roaring success which will get me 4 CON. Goal 4 “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.†Send out 3 applications for internships per week- Last year marked a huge turning point in my life. I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t marked by several breakdowns and a rather major round of depression. I have always been the “girl with the plans†but last year, I found out that my plans didn’t work. I had to start over from the beginning. Part of starting over involved going back to school for a different degree, which I will be finishing over the summer semester. Things have been working much better for me in this new degree, but it is time for me to start getting experience in the field. With this in mind, I’m trying to find at least one internship for this summer and the coming fall. With that goal, I’m going to be sending out 3 applications a week for various internships. I’ve been meaning to work on it all this semester, but my course load has been too heavy to give me a chance until now. Three applications a week for 6 weeks will get me 1 WIS and 1 CHA at the end of the challenge. Here is the link to my spreadsheets for the next 6 weeks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1D-il4_cG1N13UjxbukZsD3_Nusys3aBBuz38tqulXoY/edit#gid=0 (Also yes, the whole challenge is going to be Hobbit themed. BECAUSE I CAN! )