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Hey all, long time no see! Work went completely sideways on me, and I think I knew after last year I'd either have to wait to pick this back up until I either moved up in the company and got a normal M-F schedule, or left the company. The last 3+ years have been an educational experience - but it's time to leave the job that's been eating my life and making it difficult for me to develop routines in my life that didn't involve eating fast food. The experience I gained while there has opened a couple of doors for me, and I will be leaving my current company this Friday. Which is both really exciting, and really scary. I have learned a lot for my career, but my health (both mental and physical) has taken a hit - I am tired, stressed, and my breathing issues have gotten worse which I think is largely due to lack of exercise the last few years, but working in a powder production / chemical factory while also having a sensitive respiratory system to begin with probably also didn't help. I was getting my RHR lower most of last year but added stress currently have it hovering in the mid 80's, which... is not great. I'm giving myself a couple of weeks between ending this job and beginning the new one, for a couple of reasons - one is to give myself some time to decompress and process after leaving my current job, and the other is to give myself a chance to start developing some habits before getting to the new job. Main quest - reclaiming my health bar 1 - Flee the zoms: Picking back up with Zombies, Run! as a training program, going for walk/runs on a nearby trail when weather allows, and doing indoor training when it doesn't. Week 1 plan - Train today (Monday), Thursday and Saturday. 2 - Food planning - I'm actually doing a lot better on this than I had been when I still lived in nowheresville, but right now I'm having trouble with the actual food planning part - thankfully I have some back pocket recipes that are easy to throw together (I have some chicken noodle soup cooking in the Instant Pot right now due to lack of planning/executive disfunction issues) but I would like to get more to the point of actually having a set menu for the next week, get the list together, and get what I need for that. Mealime has been super helpful getting me partway there, so my goal is to get better at planning ahead for food. Week 1 plan - I have smoothie stuff for tomorrow morning, and ingredients for soup/salad lunches and shepherd's pie dinners Tue and Wed (work days), I'll have to go get groceries Thursday for the rest of the week. 3 - Unpack and reset apartment: I moved early last year, but never unpacked all the way - I would like to get the clutter dealt with, get some new shelves and other items I picked up put up, and generally just reset my home base to be a place that helps make my life easier and less stressful. I think step 1 of this is going to be making a list, since it's been too big of a thing to tackle on its own and needs to be broken down. Week 1 plan - take stock of what needs to be done, and write it down as a list. I'll reassess after the first week a bit and try to determine whether I need to adjust anything or not. I'll also try to post on here at least twice a week to help keep up motivation.

5 weeks 5 goals 1. “Five a day” freggies goal! Been listening to a podcast about gut health, as well as reading other info about how to get more real food in to push out the junk. The podcast gave a very specific 5/4/3/2/1 breakdown that seems challenging but doable: ⏹⏹⏹⏹⏹ Veggies ⏹⏹⏹⏹/week legumes ⏹⏹⏹ whole grains ⏹⏹ fruit ⏹ nuts/seeds 2. Runner 5, report. ⏹ 5,000 steps per day. That’s to the bridge and back, make Sam proud. 3. 5 Noom articles. Aka ⏹“do your homework”. 4. high-5 your friends. ⏹ check in on NF, preferably post on a friends challenge, but minimum here 5. 5hrs max on the phone screen. Last week was up to 7hrs/day according to screen time tracker. ⏹ less than 5hrs per day on iPhone “screen time” average.

Hi everyone! I've been hanging out with the Rebels for the last year or so, but I thought a change of scenery would do me good The line = 73.5kg. This is what I weighed when I picked out my wedding dress a week ago, so now the prime directive is to hold this line and not exceed the limit. It won't arrive until May, and the wedding is not until September, but if I can maintain good habits until then (and forever after that) there will be a lot less anxiety around alterations etc to deal with. Exercise 1) Do any exercise every day 2) Do a major exercise 3x a week (Zombies Run mission or full home workout) 3) Be stealthy Nutrition 4) Maximum of 25g of sugar each day 5) Earn your sugar allowance 6) Two bottles of water each day (and no liquid calories) So my main focus is to exercise more and to eat less chocolate (the basics of healthy living I seem to have been struggling with lately) It's a bit childish, but I'm going to bribe myself to get a better balance. Basically, for every 10 reps (of whatever exercise) I do, I can have 5g of sugar, up to a daily maximum of 25g, which is the recommended daily intake of added sugars. I know 10 squats is not enough work to offset a teaspoon of sugar, but this is all about enticing myself to just get in the habit of doing the squats in the first place. I'm also going to have to be stealthy, because this challenge also includes the first crazy work weeks of the year. My roster is just going to be bizarre for a couple of weeks, which makes it hard to get into a regular routine. So I'm going to encourage myself to seize opportunities for exercises as they turn up. Do some squats in a toilet cubicle. Do some pushups against the kitchen counter while waiting for rice to boil. Do something, dangit! Good luck everyone Also, this has been in my head since I thought up the title, so now it's in yours too

I’ve never done a daily battle log thread, and I’m not sure if I’m going to use it “properly” as I’ll most likely be doing the bulk of my updates in my four week challenges. But I wanted to start a thread I could refer back to regarding my big picture, year long goals of what I want to achieve by the end of 2019, and updates of how I’m moving forward towards them. If I’m not doing a challenge (missed the start date, felt like too much pressure, Ect) I’ll try to keep updating in here to keep momentum going. The title is a reference to the fact that due to my synesthesia (associating colors and numbers) 2019 is a very nice bright shade of yellow. So I’m going to make it a good year. My big goals: Atain a B1 level in French I have many reasons for this, practical and personal. I live in an area that’s bilingual French/English. More than Half of the customers at my job speak French. My coworkers first languages are all French. I am able to get by because my small town is pretty anglophone and almost everyone ALSO speaks at least a little English (and I have about a two year olds ability in French and we get by) But there’s definitely like 15% of our customers that don’t speak any English and I struggle. I want to be able to really serve our full customer base in a complete way. I’m sick of having to ask coworkers to help me translate things. Since I’ve started working there, job descriptions have come to say “bilingual French/English mandatory” I’m not going to LOSE my job over this, but it’s telling to know that if I was reapplying to my job now, I wouldn’t get hired. I have one coworker who hates me, and one of the things she complains about is my lack of French. I want to prove her wrong (petty reasons count!) I have a friend who is francophone and although her English is fantastic, I want to talk with her in her FIRST language. Also her family only speaks French and her mom just seems SO NICE and I want to talk to her SO BADLY??! My area is pretty anglophone but the town nearby where ALL the fun things are is super francophone. I want to go take art classes and parkour classes and all this super fun classes and workshops but they are all in French. I set B1 as my level goal because it will be a comfortable level for conversing and functioning, and also because a B1 score is usually a requirement for college studies and if I decide to go take some courses at the CÉGEP I’ll need that level of proficiency. On a bigger picture note, I’ve always wanted to be fluent in at minimum five languages. French was never on that list, but given where I’m living now, it seems only logical that it become one of my five languages. So working on this goal is working towards my big picture life long “who I want to be as a person” goals. Improve my mental health I wish I had a better SMART goal for this, but I’m kind of new to the idea of my mental health and I don’t really know what specific things I can work towards. This wasn’t really something I’d realized I needed to work on until recently. I had a really, really bad last summer. One of my friends has been saying for the last two years that I should really consider therapy (one late, sleep deprived night she got me talking about stuff I don’t usually discuss. I told her like 2% of my history and she was like “sweetheart that’s some pretty serious trauma” and I was thinking lol yikes that’s nothing.) I finally caved and went to a psychologist and I found out I really do have a lot of things to work on (apparently having suicidal thoughts multiple times every day is not something everyone does?) I’ve been diagnosed with C-PTSD which is a subtype of ptsd, and the treatment is very long but there IS treatment. For years I’ve oscillated between “there’s nothing wrong with me” and “I’m so fundamentally flawed there’s not point in trying to fix it” but I’ve finally come to “there’s definitely stuff wrong, but I can do something about it” I don’t really have any specific goals, but it’s important to me that I keep working and making steps toward improving in this area. This past summer was very bad and I barely survived it. I don’t want to slide back to that again. Loose set of ongoing goals: Continue going to therapy regirally Stick with/improve my meditation habit Have regular, ideally daily, physical activity that involves skill-building Pursue potential medication (this is nearly always an early part of treatment to go on meds temporarily until the skills to cope are developed in therapy- I’ve hated the idea of meds but as part of a bigger picture treatment, I’m trying to be more open) Get a pet or volunteer with animals Cultivate my friendships Increase my cardio to be able to run for one hour straight This one isn’t really a running goal, but the running aspect is more of a benchmark to test. I do enjoy running, but I wouldn’t call myself a “runner” as my main sport. However, cardio is my weak area in everything I do (parkour, staff spinning, hockey) I hate having to stop my skill practice because I’m wheezing. I want to improve my stamina both by doing these sports more intensely and also by running, to the point where I can run for one hour straight without having to stop for a walk break. I know I can accomplish this easily in this year if I don’t slack, as when I finished zombies run 5k, I was running 50 minutes straight, and that’s an 8 week program. I haven’t run in like....months so I’m starting from scratch, but I can do it. Since I’ve moved to the frozen north, my outdoor sport has been basically zero for 9 months of the year, and that’s not enough to build stamina. I’ve now bought myself some solid winter outdoor gear and I’m ready to start just going out there anyway. Restart and complete zombies run 5k Do lots of stamina skate drills Basically if it’s warmer than -16 and the wind isn’t blowing, I GO. Develop some plan for when it IS colder than -16 and still doing SOMETHING inside to keep the habit flowing. Finally get my splits Getting full front splits (striving towards middle splits too, but I’m farther away in that one) is my specific and measurable goal. I’m about six inches off with my left leg and four inches off with my right. I think this is realistic and attainable in a year. Big picture reasons for this is that I need to stretch every day for injury prevention. I’m super, super tight in my entire body but mostly hips and shoulders. Because of this my body is not very resilient to issues in my sports and the slightest mishap can cause injury and it’s super frustrating. (Also, I learned that this muscle tightness is a symptom of my C-PTSD and regular stretching is part of my treatment plan so it’s also working on goal number 2. Multitasking for the win!) Envoyé de mon iPhone en utilisant Tapatalk

(tl:dr for those of just joining: I shoot really big bows and have a newly diagnosed connective tissue disorder) The last challenge had me exploring my CON stat, which is at least at -1, and boy, was it a challenge! It turned out that I blew my knees out weightlifting in my previous STR-focused challenged, and I've had to quit my gym and go into PT. Gym offered to rehab me, but after showing my PT the workouts they had planned, they recommended that I ... don't do them. B/c they're way too hard. After quitting and 10 days of PT, my knees have been feeling a ton better. So! I decided to go with the most convenient thing possible for my cardio and walk. The plan for this challenge is to walk for at least 30 minutes/day. To make it fun, I'll use the Zombies, Run! app on a timed, no chases setting (the missions are around 30 minutes long), my Fitbit, and the Charity Miles app. What I would like to work up to is what the author of Blue Zones recommends: an hour of walking, with 30-40 mins of cycling or swimming every other day & two hours on the weekends. My knees aren't cleared for biking at the moment, but I think I will find something else that can work. For example, the PT recommended pilates as a way to work on strength without injuring myself -- I've never done it before, but I'm willing to try. Regardless, I'm going through a bout of extreme fatigue at the moment, and the half hour of walking + PT exercises should be a good starting point.

Hi all. Callanthae here. I had a previous account on Nerd Fitness a long time ago, so I decided to skip the Level 1 Challenge and come straight to the Rangers. My challenge doesn't really have a theme, but it does have an inspiration. My favourite anime of all time, the reason I got into tennis, Baby Steps. For those who haven't seen it, Baby Steps is a tennis anime. What makes it so fantastic in my opinion is a host of factors: - Maruo Eiichiro, the protagonist, doesn't have impossible skills. He starts out as a complete beginner to the sport. While his eyesight and his studious nature are big strengths, they're strengths that need to be honed and trained to be of any real use. Because of this, we see his journey from the very beginning. - Maruo loses. Like...a lot. You really never know how any match, no matter how important or plot-crucial, is going to go. Maruo could easily lose at any time, and it makes it all the more thrilling when he wins. - The realism of the anime shines through in a thousand other small ways. The shots and feats of athleticism are almost never superhuman, they're very much achievable for skilled players. Maruo's a very analytical player, and you get to understand his thought process as he plays. When he ascends to a new level, it's never because of just "powering up" or "wanting it more"...it's always a result of some useful insight that occasionally even proves useful on the court in real life. You really feel like you're in a match, and you get an understanding of how strategic tennis really is. - Last but not least is the title of this challenge. "Baby steps to giant strides" sums up the mentality of this anime perfectly, and it's an expression that appears in Season 2. The protagonist doesn't have lofty goals...he just wants to get better at tennis, and over time, as he keeps working hard, he end up doing better and better in competitions. That's how I'd like to do as well. A series of baby steps that lead to giant strides as each one is steadily accomplished. Because of this, a week or two after I watched Baby Steps for the first time, I found a local tennis club and started playing. That was about six months ago. I now want to add in off-court training, getting back to running and lifting on a regular basis - and that's why I'm back. So, Baby Steps gets full credit for getting me active again, which is yet another reason I'm such a fan of it. Goal 1: Practice my serve twice a week. I don't think you're legally allowed to have a challenge here without at least one GIF. I already practice tennis with other people a couple of times a week, and on Fridays I compete with the juniors (12-14 years old). Being 5'4" and relatively new to tennis, I'm a pretty fair match for them despite being an adult. So that's 2-3 sessions a week already, and I need no motivation to keep attending them. However, sometimes you need to get some solo practice in and really drill something, and for me that's my serve. It lags significantly behind my groundstrokes, and I really need to dial in the new serve I learnt a few weeks ago - a solid pace on the first serve, and a spinning second serve that manages to be reliable without being easily attacked. My current first serve misses too much, and then I have a weak second serve with no spin or pace that's easily taken advantage of by better opponents. Goal 2: Lift weights at least twice a week. (Ideally 3x) For weights, I'll be following Phrakture's Greyskull LP variant. The Big 4 compound lifts, plus pulling added in as Pendlay Rows and Chin-Ups. (Assisted chin-ups for the time being.) I'll be tracking it using the Personal Training Coach app on Android, which has a bunch of workout templates, including the Greyskull variant I'm doing. I've started relatively light, but over the last couple of weeks the workouts have gotten harder. I'm still getting 10 reps on the last set for all the exercises except Chin-Ups though, so I've got plenty left in the tank. Over the next few weeks I expect that to change as the weights climb back up to my old levels of strength. Goal 3: Run at least twice a week. (Ideally 3x) For running, I'll be using Zombies, Run! to keep things interesting. For the first two weeks I'll be running 4 km (2.5 miles), and for the second two weeks, I'll be running 4.5 km (2.8 miles). At my peak I was running 5-6 km 4 times per week, but I went from 3 days a week to 4 too fast and got injured. I never really got back into it. The goal is to run at an Easy pace (Based on an estimated 27-minute 5k time from a recent max-effort run I performed) 2 days a week. On Saturdays, I'll be doing story runs, where I run faster. I allow the Zombies Run story to determine exactly how fast I do run, though I don't plan to run faster than Threshold pace (Comfortably hard) except at the very end of the challenge, where I'll be doing an all-out max-effort run if everything works out, probably a 5k time trial. I could fill plenty of words with various details, but I figured I'd leave it nice and short...and it'll give plenty of stuff to talk about throughout the challenge this way. Looking forward to the start of the challenge!

I have been MIA from here for around 18 months! The last time I took part in a challenge I had just become a pharmacist, so I was working 60 hours/week, plus trying to plan my wedding, my dad was having health scare after health scare and I'd just moved house. Since then my job has settled down, I'm comfortable at home and everything is okay with my family. I've also put on 10kg since my wedding. I'm ready to re-boot, and be accountable. I've been a part of Noom coaching for around 8 weeks now, so I'm half way through, I've also got a new gym buddy (though she's working at Glastonbury festival right now), and I'm rediscovering whole30 Going shopping tomorrow using my Whole30 list, then I'm going to post my meal plan for the week here! Also going to post about workouts I get in, and weekly weigh ins If I can keep up with this, then I might have a go at the next challenge after my holiday in July

As shocking as this might be, for those of you in the know, I’ve never done a Farscape challenge. *GASP*. Zotoh Zhaan is a delvian from the TV series Farscape and my NF character is Delvian Nomad (Warrior). Delvians are a plant-based species. Every character race test I’ve taken usually puts me as one of the elementals, and as such decided I wanted to be a plant last January. So I've been low key a plant for over a year now. Interpret that how you will. Underpinning this Delvian challenge is that many Delvians are deeply spiritual and this will serve as a reminder to me to remain calm and forge ahead. I died last challenge in the form of a 3 day physical and metal breakdown of sorts from various stressors. Delvian Daily mobility (at least 5 min, up from 3 stretches per day in the last two challenges) 3 bottles of water per day (minimum) NEW (but did appear in 2016, mine are 22oz bottles) 30 minutes of gardening per week NEW (because it’s gardening season you guys, includes houseplant care) Nomad One Zombie 5K training session per week (I ummm, signed up for a 5k in October) One hike per week (can be replaced by a second Zombie 5K session if the weather is ugly) Warrior 20 min of glute/core work per week (up from 15 min last challenge) 15 min away from my desk each work day to refocus and energize, 30 min of work per day on the grant I have due this fall (work goals are under warrior because warriors get shit done) As a recap for you all, for 2017, I repeat a challenge goal until I think it is an ingrained habit. These goals are mostly repeats to help me achieve my 2017 goals. This may seem like many goals, but several of these are close to being a habit and being moved out of the challenge and into the fiber of my being. Hence why lifting is not a goal, I will do that regardless. As always, message me for my Instagram handle if you would like to follow along for hiking and gardening pics as well as squat videos. My sincerest apologies in advance that Farscape is old enough that there is not a deep well of outstanding, stellar even, gifs. Edited to add: I'm currently on a reverse diet, after 3 months of cutting, that runs through the end of this challenge perhaps longer.

Another challenge, another chance to conquer. Let's do this! I'm super stoked for this challenge! I'll be doing a five-week challenge this time around, but I will be evaluating me quests on a week by week basis and edit, change, swap, or remove any quests as necessary MAIN QUEST Land a new job and get fit doing it WEEK 0 QUESTS QUEST ONE: badland training (WEEK 0) alternate between strength training and running in the mornings and do x4 per week (I'll be using the superhero app from six to start for strength and a C25K app for running) QUEST TWO: saving food rations (WEEK 0) meal prep breakfast, snacks, and dinners (lunch will be dinner leftovers) find out the family's schedule so meal portions are enough find recipes for meal prepping hunt down the food cook the food QUEST THREE: bunkering down (WEEK 0) read a book +30 minutes before bed/ go to bed before 11 pm and wake up early/ get+7 hrs of sleep LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE QUEST: badland bounty hunting (WEEK 0) sit down after morning routine and send out at least 3 applications WEEK 1 QUESTS QUEST ONE: badland training (WEEK 1) alternate between strength training and yoga in the mornings and do x4 per week superhero app from six to start for strength and a youtube yoga videos) QUEST TWO: saving food rations (WEEK 1) Count calories and input water into MFP at least x5 per week QUEST THREE: bunkering down (WEEK 1) Shut off all electronics before 10:30 pm, read a book +30 minutes before bed/ go to bed before 11 pm and wake up early/ get+7 hrs of sleep LEVEL UP YOUR LIFE QUEST: badland bounty hunting (WEEK 1) sit down after morning routine and send out at least 3 applications

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Episode V A NEW HOPE It is a dark time for Starstuff. Seduced by the call of Dark Side, she has spent many months away from the REBELLION and her Jedi training. After a fearful encounter with the dark lord Darth Complacency, Starstuff realized the true price of the Dark Side of the Force and vowed to rid herself of its influence. Accompanied by her new companion, the canine FN-2187, Starstuff leaves the remote ice world of Sloth in search of her Rebel friends... It's been a while, but I'm back! Since I was last here, I acquired a new puppy (yes, we really did name him FN-2187, but he mostly goes by Finn), ran my first full marathon, and then used finishing my first marathon as an excuse to slack off on, well, basically everything for the past four months. Needless to say, I have not been progressing much toward my goals, health or otherwise, and in some cases I've made some serious negative progress. But the time for slacking has passed, and I'm ready to rejoin the ranks of the Rebellion. Goal 1: Attend Rebel mission briefings I decided to bite the bullet and try out Rising Heroes, so this goal is simply to complete all of my Rising Heroes missions every week during the challenge. Full credit for missions completed on time, 75% credit for missions completed after they expire. Goal 2: Perimeter patrol If you're going to have a successful rebellion, it's important to patrol your base for Imperial probe droids...or zombies. To that end, I will run three Zombies, Run! missions every week. Goal 3: Ration supplies Running a rebellion means using what few supplies you have to the greatest effect. I don't tend to make the best food choices in the moment, either health-wise or budget-wise, so my goal is to prep my lunches for the week every weekend, and then actually eat what I've prepped to take in-the-moment decision making out of the equation for the meal that gives me the most trouble in that regard. Life goal: Forge a holocron Holocrons are used to store information and Jedi teachings. They take a great deal of time and work to forge properly. Much like writing a novel! It will no doubt take me many challenges to complete my "holocron," but my goal for this challenge is to add 500 words to my novel every day. _____________________________________________________________ Updated with goals, but I'm keeping the picture of my pup because I love looking at his cute, fuzzy face.

Howdy Rangers! This will be my third challenge with the Rangers. For those of you who didn't follow my first challenge, this challenge will be written a little differently than most. The majority of the posts in this challenge comprise a story, written in-character by Ranger Five. In character posts will be in green. These posts make up the story. I'll be writing about a zombie apocalypse setting, with a lot of inspiration from Zombies, Run! the app, but my own plotline. So don't worry about spoilers outside the first mission. If I've done my job, you won't be able to tell what's from the app and what's not unless you go through the app's story yourself. Most of what I use from Zombies, Run! will be characters and the basic premise, not the story itself.The story began in Chapter 1: Rebel Five Outruns Zombies, continued in Chapter 2: Rebel Five Seeks Answers, and this is the third chapter. However, the previous challenges have a lot of words in them, so for people who weren't following along with it, I've written the story so far for you.The Story So Far: Cast of Characters: Ranger Five: Our protagonist. Hails from Mullins Military Base. Major de Santa: Leader of Abel Township. Samuel Yao: Radio operator. Runner Seven: Head of Runners. Ranger Nine: Head of Rangers. Monk Two: Head of Monks. Has been giving Five fighting lessons. Emily: Head of IT. Janine Myers: Formerly Abel's doctor. Turned traitor at the end of Chapter 2. Currently at large. Louis: Works for Janine's mysterious employer or colleague. Henchman. Now that we know the narrative, let's look at the goals for this month: Goal 1: Lift weights at the gym up to thrice per week, using the Stronglifts program. (Exception in Week 1, where I can only make it to the gym once) Minimum: 6 workouts. Solid: 8 workouts. Great: 9 workouts. Excellent: 10 workouts. Goal 2: Run up to three times per week. Minimum: 6 runs. Solid: 8 runs. Great: 10 runs. Excellent: 12 runs. Nothing new here. I'm dialing my running back to thrice a week to prevent further injury. I'll run 5 km thrice a week (two slow, one fast) for Week 0-2, then I'll up the slow runs to 6 km for the remainder of the challenge. Goal 1 remains unchanged except for my scheduling issue; why mess with something that's working. Goal 3: Stretch up to three times per week. Minimum: 6 sessions. Solid: 8 sessions. Great: 10 sessions. Excellent: 12 sessions. I've been neglecting my stretching recently, and there's no excuse for that. If I can't do it at the gym due to time constraints, I can do it before I run, after I run, or at any other point in the day. Three sessions a week is a good start. Goal 4: Write up to three story posts per week. Minimum: 6 posts. Solid: 8 posts. Great: 10 posts. Excellent: 12 posts. Due to my injury, I got out of the habit of a solid Tues/Thurs/Sat schedule for writing story posts last challenge. I'd like to get back to it; there's quite a bit I'd like to write about this month. The plot's continuing to heat up, so I need to keep the posts coming! Scoring system: Minimum = 1 point. Solid = 2 points. Great = 3 points. Excellent = 4 points. 8 points or higher, all minimums met: Minor reward, worth up to $30. 12 points or higher, all minimums met: Major reward, worth up to $100. The first story post, explaining Chapter 3's title, should be up tomorrow.

Last challenge: I lost about 4 pounds, finished recovering from an issue that put me in the hospital in July, and fitness wise worked my way back up to where I was at the beginning of July. I also had a car accident with no injuries during that last challenge that totaled my car. It's been a stressful summer, and I'm hoping that will be 100% behind me by next week (I thought it was, but now I'm getting bills that should have been covered by insurance). So I've been very, very stressed over bills, insurance, and events. I want that to all stop. The single biggest accomplishment of last challenge was running a 5k. I did it in a little over 38 minutes with a mix of walking and running, but mostly running. That was on 4 weeks of run practice. I'm now on week 7 of Zombies Run 5K, so I'm looking for another race, which I want to run 100% of. This challenge: 1) Diet: I've lost 18 pounds so far since the end of June, with 20 or 30 to go. I'm 5 pounds away from a non-overweight BMI, which is my first major milestone. I've also been at this weight now for 2 weeks, and I only had PMS for one of those weeks, so I need to get more consistent about eating at a deficit. - Write down what I eat. - Eat at a deficit. - Bonus: write down my meals for the day in the morning, and stick to them. 2) Exercise: I'm continuing with two kettlebell strength and conditioning classes a week, which I've been doing since February (except in July/August when I was recovering from a medical problem). - 2x a week: Strength and conditioning classes. - 2x-3x a week: Zombies Run 5K! (I'm on week 7) - Find another 5K to run after I finish Zombies Run 5k, and run the full distance. Bonus: Beat a time of 36 minutes. 3) Career: I've been unhappy with my job lately, and the person who I shared a lot of workload with just left. I need a change. The possibilities are: new job, grad school for a slight shift in career focus, or get a promotion at my current job. - Set up a daily job search task (update linked in, search for jobs, apply for jobs, reach out to contacts). I'll be posting these here. - Ask about a promotion. - Find 3-5 ecology programs to apply for. The question here is do I want to stay in New England, or move someplace warmer. From past experience, shorter winters lead to less depression, but I don't get to see my family as often. It's a serious tradeoff.

Last challenge went so-so for me. I have been doing really well in terms of continuing on with what habits I have built up for a while now, but I can't help but feel like I am coasting. I have 5 weeks to finish (i.e. start and finish) real training for the PL comp at CAAAAAAAMMMPPP! I've been powerlifting for almost 2 years now, but due to some unrelated injuries, some emotion stuffs, and a bit of just general slacking I have not progressed nearly as far as I would want to by now. I regularly deload or don't increase my weights when I'm feeling meh and just don't really push myself, in addition to cutting back from lifting 3x/week to 2x/week since I started a rowing program. I tried to ramp it back up to 3x/week last challenge but it just didn't work out because reasons. I also have been eating TERRIBLY. Well OK, not really that bad, but it most definitely cannot be classified as "eating clean" and I think this has been making my attempts at kicking more butt harder since my fuel source has been subpar. I even had a short moment of whininess where I tried to convince myself there wasn't enough time to train for the PL comp and I should just not do it. But that was brief, and I quickly convinced myself of otherwise. If it gets to be time for camp and I'm not feeling it, I'll assess the situation then. But for now I'm going to train HARD up until the last minute! How am I going to train hard you ask? I'm going to become a robot! Due to some budget constraints at work (which is paying for my PhD) I am not taking any classes this semester. I'm sad about it but I'm not going to let this extra time go to waste! I'll be using the bonus time during the day and weekends to hunker down and do what must be done like a well oiled machine. I will stop coasting, I will lift 3x/week again, I will increase my weights per my programming, I will not debate whether or not I will do these things on any given day because I am a robot and a robot doesn't question it's programming. I will eat clean food, because it is fuel, and that's what I need to keep it going. In short, I will get things done because I'm a Ranger and that's what we do. So, on to my specific goals. 1. Lift More & Lift More Often. Objective: Stronglifts 3x/week with prescribed weight increases (currently set to 5lb/workout but I do reserve the right to lower this to 2.5lb/workout at any point) Threshold: Stronglifts 2x/week with prescribed weight increases OR Stronglifts 3x/week but without the correct weight increase 2. Continue to be Rower 5 and Escape Those Swamp Zombies. Objective: Row 2x/week on the erg using the Zombies, Run 5k program Threshold: Row 2x/week on the erg, but one of the two times not being a ZR5K workout. 3. Go Hard Every Day. Objective: In addition to the 5 real workouts/week laid out above, have active rest days. This can be rucking, hiking, vinyasa yoga, ballet, swimming, a long walk, seriously anything that isn't just sitting on my butt. Only one of the two days can be restorative yoga/yin yoga. Threshold: Same as objective but both active rest workouts are restorative/yin yoga or something like it in terms of being not really that active. 4. Oil the Machine. Objective: Wake up with a yoga flow every morning. Anything more than 5 minutes counts. Also do a 15+ minute mobility routine every day before working out (i.e. immediately upon getting home from work). Mobility routines can be a long foam rolling session, a free ROMWOD workout (which I am debating subscribing to!), or something from Fit for Real Life. Threshold: Still yoga every day, but mobility sessions 5x/week only before "real" workouts and not on active rest days. 5. Fuel the Machine. Objective: Batch cook every week. 1 variance allowed per week. Also eat 100+ grams of protein per day. Threshold: Batch cook every week. 2 variances allowed per week. I'll be starting TODAY and making this a 5 week challenge. The only caveat to this is next weekend I am almost certainly going on a long weekend trip to NH to climb Mt. Washington. A lot of these goals won't be attainable on the trail or in camp, but as long as I don't eat terribly I'm preemptively giving myself a pass for those 3-4 days.

Hello Rangers! I still need to post the recap to my first challenge, but the new challenge went up faster than I expected, so I decided to put mine up sooner rather than later. This will be my second challenge with the Rangers. For those of you who didn't follow my first challenge, this challenge will be written a little differently than most. The majority of the posts in this challenge comprise a story, written in-character by Ranger Five. In character posts will be in green. These posts make up the story. I'll be writing about a zombie apocalypse setting, with a lot of inspiration from Zombies, Run! the app, but my own plotline. So don't worry about spoilers outside the first mission. If I've done my job, you won't be able to tell what's from the app and what's not unless you go through the app's story yourself. Most of what I use from Zombies, Run! will be characters and the basic premise, not the story itself. The story began in Chapter 1: Rebel Five Outruns Zombies, and this is the second chapter. However, the previous challenge has a lot of words in it, so for people who weren't following along with it, I've written the story so far for you. The Story So Far: Now that we know the narrative, let's look at the goals for this month: Goal 1: Lift weights at the gym up to thrice per week, using the Stronglifts program. Minimum: 6 workouts. Solid: 8 workouts. Great: 10 workouts. Excellent: 12 workouts. Goal 2: Run up to four times per week, according to my schedule. Minimum: 9 runs. Solid: 11 runs. Great: 13 runs. Excellent: 15 runs. Goal 3: Keep up with my uni schedule. Minimum and above: All assignments done on time, all marked assignments passed. Solid: All work caught up at the end of the challenge. Great: All work caught up on at the end of each week. Excellent: All work caught up on at the end of each day. (1 off day per week permitted) Minimum: 1 point. Solid: 2 points. Great: 3 points. Excellent: 4 points. 6 points (Solid average), all minimums met: Minor reward, worth up to $30. 9 points (Great average), all minimums met: Major reward, worth up to $100. I also have some objectives, in terms of what I want to achieve physically during the challenge. These won't be graded, since I'm grading myself on process rather than results. But they will give me an idea of how well my training's increased my strength at the end of the month. 5x5 Squat goal: 57.5 kg -> 70 kg 5x5 Bench goal: 40 kg -> 50 kg 5x5 Row goal: 37.5 kg -> 45 kg 5x5 OHP goal: 32.5 kg -> 37.5 kg 1x5 Deadlift: 75 kg -> 90 kg Bodyweight: 63 kg -> 65 kg (+/- 0.5 kg) I'll be keeping my running goals for the month secret, since those goals will end up defining Ranger Five's mission at the end of the challenge. For those who weren't following along with my first challenge, at the end of each challenge, I assign a mission to Ranger Five. Last challenge, it was to rescue a survivor from the red zom. The catch is that success in this mission is tied to my real-world running performance. I set a goal for myself (26:00 5k last challenge) and Ranger Five only succeeds if I do. If I fail, so does Five, and the story goes in a different direction. I'd say that just about sums it up! Ranger Five's first story post should go up tomorrow.

Greetings, Runner 5! Grab a seat, have a meal, take a load off! No zoms here! Welcome to the support group for all Runners 5. There are a lot of us, and a lot of first time challengers doing Zombies 5k. So let's support each other. Ask each other questions -- Maybe about that W2D2 glitch? All runners welcome here!! (Credit goes to Traxex for this introduction post)

Greetings, Runner 5! Grab a seat, have a meal, take a load off! No zoms here! Welcome to the support group for all Runners 5. There are a lot of us, and a lot of first time challengers doing Zombies 5k. So let's support each other. Ask each other questions -- Maybe about that W2D2 glitch? All runners welcome here!!

I'm still new and people don't really know me but we're getting there. Here's a tidibit about me: I'm a high school teacher. (cue: Ohhhhhhh *that's* why she has so much time to futz around this forum). My 10 week summer break ends August 12th. I will not squander the last days of my break. I lost 6 pounds the first 5 weeks of summer vacation, and then I backslid and I've gained back a few this past week after visiting my parents/grandparents. No, no no. So here we go with my first official challenge! Challenges: Diet Stick to 21DF 4x a week [++++|++++|++++|++++] (4 = Poor; 8 = Fair; 12 = Good; 16+ = Excellent) Fitness Lift 2x a week [++|++|++|++] Run 2x a week [++|++|++|++] (2 = Poor; 4 = Fair; 6 = Good; 8+ = Excellent) Level up life Meditate 3x a week (this is the hard one) Yoga 3x a week -- I did yoga today while sore from lifting and realized how badly I need it. [+++|+++|+++|+++] ( 3 = Poor; 6 = Fair; 8 = Good; 12+ = Excellent) LOOT I've got some benchmarks above, but I think I'll run this on a weighted percentage. 90%+ completion: A! You get... a BRAND NEW Lululemon Sports Bra! 80%+ completion: B! You get... The Magic Blue Leggings that took the internet by storm! 75%+ completion: C! You get... This Physics Charm Bracelet to spruce up your teacher wardrobe! (if it's not fitness related, it's nerd related ) 70%+ completion: D! You get one of those $10 Ozarka water cups from walmart! <69% completion: you get nothing!! Boooooo. Oh yeah... 100%+? Go ahead and pick any two, baby. You earned it!

Placeholder because Hawaii. I'm in it. Be back next Monday! Goals: Powerlifting something something Zombies Row and stuff NF daily (when not on vacation) Adult Ranger minis Catch y'all later nerds! sent from the depths of the Ionian Nebula EDIT: So here are my goals!

Respawning, Rowing, and Rangering The last challenge (and frankly the two before that as well) have pittered out rather pathetically for me. Some family drama I've been dealing with somehow morphed into my spiraling into a super-down-on-myself-really-dark-time, the likes of which I haven't had to deal with since high school. I've been treating myself so poorly, eating awful foods, not sleeping, not cleaning, not meditating, etc etc. Though somehow I've managed to continue lifting through this (I guess that habits locked in haha) which is a positive. I physically and mentally feel awful. Over the weekend I caught myself. I knew I was not doing well but I hadn't realized how much time had gone by since I started letting myself have "a break" from my routines. Then I ate 3 White Chocolate Linder Truffles (I HATE WHITE CHOCOLATE I THINK IT'S VOMIT WORTHY DISGUSTING WTF) just because they were there and I kind of saw what I was doing to myself and had a reality check moment. I realized how much I missed my nerds and how much I missed my routines and how I was totally making up my anxiety that you guys would judge me for falling off the wagon. So, I did an overhaul of my routine and my goals and instead of trying to distract myself from my problems (which is what I've been doing for the past couple of challenges causing me to ghost out) I'm going to use this challenge to gently ease back into things with super simple and straight forward goals, the number one goal being accountability and brainspace check-ins daily. So be warned, there might be a lot headspace stuffs going on here over the next five weeks! And then onto the fun goal! I have been trying to get through Zombies, Run! 5k for over 2 years. I just can't freakin' do it. I HATE running. I've gone through this a few times where I think once I'm fitter I'll try again, and maybe I won't hate it so much, and hit some in-better-shape bench mark and try again, and I just can't. I dread it. It makes me hate going to the gym or going outside depending on where I'm running. But over the last week I've discovered rowing! I know a bunch of rangers do it and I can't believe I haven't tried it before now but I LOVE IT! The main reason for me trying to get into running is because of how much I love the Zombies, Run! plot. Solution? RANGER THAT SH*T AND TURN IT INTO ZOMBIES ROW! I'm basically envisioning that the entire plot of Zombies Run is happening in a swamp, where I have to row away from zombies treading through the water, instead of running away from them. Kinda like this: but more rowing less poking with sticks. I'm going to start out with a 3 minute split time for "walking" and a 2:40 split time for "running" on a 4.5 resistance and see where it takes me. Maybe by the end of the program I'll have a halfway decent 5k race time! Right now I am slowwwwwwwwwwwww so I know even those speeds will be a challenge. I also want to make it a point to go outside with intention every day. It can be anywhere from 30 seconds and up, but I have to be outside with the intent of being outside, not darting between meetings, or running out to the grocery store. I will acknowledge that I am outside for a reason, because that is where humans are really meant to be, I will breathe the air, and I will take the time to enjoy it. I can expand this into a walk, a hike, reading a book outside, choosing to walk to a meeting instead of driving, whatever. Just something that isn't otherwise necessary and will bring me the happiness that being outdoors brings. TL;DR - GOALZ 1) Accountability: Post on this thread every damn day. EVERY DAMN DAY! Address what I've done (or haven't done) that day and my current headspace. This can be a quick "things are good" on tapatalk or a verbose essay about how I feel about my dinner (this probably won't happen). Maybe even a screen shot of my Google Fit profile from the day. I don't care, just something, every day. 2) Zombies, Row: Use the Zombies, Run app with the erg! 2x/week at minimum. 3) Find Joy Outside: Go outside with intent every day. Any amount of time will do, it's the intent that matters. I'll be continuing with my strong lifts, but I don't think I need to track that specifically. I'll probably mention it in my daily updates but beyond that I'm pretty locked in on that habit... considering it was the ONLY one I managed to maintain during the last few months of spiraling off the wagon. Also, as I am pretty excited about this and I'm SO READY to get the momentum going, I'll be starting this challenge during zero week and continuing on through to the end of the next challenge. Tally ho! Swamp zombies, here I come!

I've been rewatching Scrubs, and just enjoying myself immensely. So, to indulge my love for the silly gif's, here we go! Scrubs theme challenge! I will be doing a 5 week challenge, starting today, and my biggest focus will be on my very first Sprint Triathlon taking place at the end of official week 2, June 25th! Interns Survive the triathlon (Bonus - time 1:50) At the beginning of the series, J.D., Turk, and Elliot are interns - learning the ropes, going through hazing, trying to fit in and survive. I will be channelling the interns to survive and thrive in the new triathlon environment! Hopefully not me at my triathlon! Residents Follow the training plan for the triathlon As the series progresses, the residents survive endless paperwork, doing all the groundwork for their superiors, and endless routine. This is going to be me for the next three weeks. Overarching goal is to swim, run, and bike 2X/week. This is unrealistic though, so I will aim to do 5 workouts/week over a range of activities. I will be following a plan I modified based on one I can't find anymore online... Nurses Stretching and foam rolling Nurses take care of people behind the scenes, responsible for the care and comfort of patients. I need to take care of my body in order to survive the triathlon, so will be stretching after every workout and foam rolling 3X/week. Nurses are the best! Janitor Clean and maintain my home While the Janitor in Scrubs doesn't actually clean the hospital very much, I will hopefully do a better job than him. I will clean the bathrooms 1X/week Well let's do this!

Hello again lovely rangers, I have been starting new challenges, and then falling off the boards as life gets busy. So this time, I'm going to simplify things, and go theme free. Hopefully this will keep me posting later in the challenge by making it easier! So, the things. Running. Keep running, 3 times a week. After my 10K last challenge, I had some foot problems, so I backed off completely. I have picked it back up, but am still easing back into it. So, the challenge is simple. Run. Not too much or too far. Domestic Rangering Meal plan and shop. Do it, it makes life easier. I have some other things I would like to do, bodyweight, stretching, foam rolling, but I am trying to keep this super simple and laziness-proof. So I'm going to leave it here. Please, leave me lots of fun pictures and gifs to keep me coming back!! I need you Rangers, you're my only hope! (Yes, we showed the kids Star Wars for the first time this weekend, why do you ask?)

Yesterday, I battled lack of training, snow, my comfy comfy bed, and completed the Zombies, Run! Virtual Race 10 k! I have never run more that 5km before, and am just so pleased with myself that I finished the race! My app crashed, so my time didn't upload to the site properly, but I finished in 1:14! Yay me!

I re-started Zombies Run 5 K training after an embarrassingly long hiatus (Zombielink had my last workout as last July.....ooof) I stopped C25K over the summer/fall and switched to hiking 1-2 times a week and not really running. Then I took pretty much the whole winter off. Today, I started back at the beginning of the week I left off and found I was able to jog for 3 minutes without stopping during the 10-minute freeform run at the end of the workout, and I didn't trigger my asthma. Wooo!

I HAVE ALLOWED MY BASIC HUMAN VEHICLE TO EXPERIENCE THE EMOTIONAL HIGHS EARNED IN THE LAST CHALLENGE. READ ABOUT IT HERE. THE BEST BLACKBOARD MONITORS ARE NOT EFFICIENT - THEY ARE EFFECTIVE. THEY DO NOT WIPE WELL, THEY WIPE THE CORRECT THING AT THE CORRECT TIME. SO I SHALL TRACK MY DIET VIA THE MEDIUM OF PHOTOGRAPH. I SHALL NOT LOG RUTHLESSLY AND EFFICIENTLY - I MERELY NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS ON THE PLATE, BEFORE IT ENTERS MY ORAL CAVITY. ALL WISE BEINGS PLAN. AS IN SELF-HELP BOOKS, SO SHALL IT BE UPON ENGLAND. I WILL PLAN ALL EVENING MEALS ON EACH SUNDAY, AND I WILL PLAN AT LEAST 2 OTHER MEALS PER WEEK (SNACKS CAN COUNT AS MEALS). I ENJOYED TRAINING ONCE PER WEEK FOR THE PREVIOUS CHALLENGE. I TRAINED 3 TIMES MORE OFTEN THAN PLANNED. SO THIS CHALLENGE I WILL TRAIN AT LEAST TWICE PER WEEK. FINALLY, I WILL AIM TO GAIN 100XP PER WEEK FOR DUOLINGO SPANISH. THAT IS ONCE PER DAY, PLUS THREE EXTRA SECTIONS. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF, PLEASANT CHEMICAL REACTION IN THE SIMPLISTIC ANIMAL BRAIN OF THE FIRST HUMAN THAT GUESSES THE MYSTERY BONUS TASK I HAVE SET FOR MYSELF.

So I should probably start up a battle journal huh? So without any further ado. My stats Age 35 Height: 5'6" Current Weight: 250 Goal Weight: 140 My plan of action so far has been running, or more accurately trundling and wheezing. I've been trying to get out for a run at least 6 days a week. I've been using the 10K trainer by Zen Labs, as well as the Zombies Run app. Today I'm going to use the zombies run app. For today I've set up an interval training program which, to be quite honest, might be a little too much. But if it doesn't work, then I'll reconfigure it for next time. I've set up one of the jog intervals to include a 5 minute jog, which at my (shitty) fitness level will be pretty rough. But I have been improving. I still can't make a complete lap on the track I run on, but I can get past my initial landmark when I started two months ago. So my short term goal IS to make a full circuit. Maybe, MAYBE, it will happen today to a degree if I can manage the 5 minutes. But by then it will be less of a jog and resemble more like Frankenstein having a seizure. My long term goal is to compete in the Ohio Swiss Festival Cheese Chase 10k run. It feels so unobtainable to me right, so I need to find a way to keep motivated. My diet the last week or so hasn't been the best. I'm not actually working right now, so I'm relying off of a food pantry and my food card to eat. I do take surveys online for extra money as well. But everything is up in the air if my case manager can find me a job or get me on unemployment, one or the other. I'll report back later if I can manage the run or not.