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JonFirestar Crosses the Forsaken Lands. The two rangers gazed out over the shattered landscape. Like a dream the forsaken lands spread out until they dipped below the horizon. Huge whirling storms hung static in the air across the space below flashing green and white with magic infused lightning. Even from a distance you could feel the power from this place. The sickening film of pure magic that seeped from the land. Twisted trees spread out below them. Their bark black and pink on warped and misshapen trunks. A creature ran between the trees. At first Jon thought it was a fox until he realised it’s skin was slick like a lizard but red-copper in colour. It wasn’t a lizard, or a fox. It was something wrong. This whole place was wrong. Few in the civilized lands had ever ventured this far past the great barrier yet Jon could see in the distance the distinct outline of a human settlement. “Why would anyone try to live here?” His companion looked up at him. The hood dropping from Sarad’s face revealing the travel worn face. Smears of mud and dirt clung to her skin. Jon suspected he looked worse for wear. She squinted against the glare of the sun and pulled the brim of her hood back up over her dirt matted hair. “Because nobody will tell them what to do,” she said. “People can really put up with anything.” “But what about that?” He motioned to thick patch of visible air. It twisted and curled in on itself spattering around with pure power. Occasionally a spectral hand would appear as if clawing to get out. Sarad pulled a face. The disgust visible. “That’s why most of the villages are on the outskirts. It get’s worse further in. Just don’t stare at anyone unusual.” Jon tried to swallow but his dry throat rebelled against the action and he coughed instead. Further in was where they were going. He stared back at the magical corruption. An arm had appeared flapping around disembodied. It had almost solidified. It was nothing really. Spirits or manifestations of will but weak and devoid of any real power. At least that is what the mage had said. The magical storms were extremely dangerous but they hung static over the landscape anchored in place by mystical forces. The real danger in the forsaken lands were the Varrd. Raiding bands of the bestial creatures would breach the barrier at times and lay havoc on the lands. The forsaken land was said to be teeming with them. Jon looked back down at the village. He’d been told they’d find it here. There were others too, according to their sources. “How do they survive the varrd?” Sarad shrugged. “They fight them or appease them. How would I know?” “How do you appease a varrd?” Sarad didn’t answer. She stared back down at the spectral visage. A skull like face peered through the tear in reality screaming in silent rage at the intruders. She scowled. “This is why magic is controlled,” she swept her hand across the horizon. Jon glared at her. She wanted to start this argument again? The mage had been gone almost a fortnight. His eyes left hers and locked onto her bow clutched in her hands. The runes blazed a dull black light. Her distaste for magic didn’t stop her from employing it. The argument was pointless now. Neither of them were mages. Their friend was likely dead. Gone making sure they got here alive. “What they do to the mages is wrong,” he said. She swept her hand in front of her. “This is what happens when it gets out of control. Do you even understand how many lives were lost. The shattered the world.” Jon looked at the cracked landscape below them. The fissures were ancient wounds cleaved into the rock. Stories said they all snaked into the centre of the forsaken lands. Like cracks in the world itself. “They are legends, they exaggerate.” He said. Sarad snorted and in a flash of hands so quick he could scarcely follow she drew an arrow from her quiver and fired it at the spectre. The blinding white flash shot from the bow and Jon gasped as he realised what she’d just done. His head whipped round to see the arrow strike the magical appreciation in a blinding flash and then both vanished. She’d shot the arrow out of reality. “Sarad,” he said. “Shut it,” she snapped. Her voice choked and he could see tears glistening in her eyes. Rage boiled on her face but he knew it was directed at herself. They couldn’t afford to waste those arrows. As far as either of them knew they were unique. The only ones in existence were sat in her quiver. Even Danith hadn’t been able to explain what they were, let alone recreate them. Where they were headed they were going to need them. “Come on, let’s hope they have water,” Jon nodded down at the village. “Let’s hope we can even drink it.” Sarad nodded. Her face hardened. “The village is going to be weird,” she said. “Don’t stare at them.” The pair of rangers turned and started down the steep hill and into the Forsaken lands. ----- Hype has forsaken these lands leaving us to trudge through the shattered remnants. Hype isn't all that it is cracked up to be. Momentum and determined perseverance are the qualities that are going to win through in the end. I've come to the end of my race season. I've got very little to keep me hyped for the near future. If I'm totally honest while the hype has given me a lot of motivation to stick to my workout plans my eating has suffered as a result. Since i have no performance goals to hit for now it is the perfect time to refocus my efforts onto losing more weight. I have still got a ton of weight to lose. Eat to Survive This should be simple. I have a calorie target of between 2600-2700 calories. When I hit this thing bang on I lose weight. If I go over too much and too often I don't, or I gain. So I will record everything that I eat. Report any infractions to my plan and stop adding that extra scoop or gulp or whatever to my food (cause that's one of the things that is out of control). There are no variances in this and weekends are not an exception. This is simple but it is the primary focus on my challenge. Daily pass/fail Fight to Survive I've been neglecting my strength workouts somewhat recently. I have reasons for this (injuries and races) but I want to double down. I've lost strength and I want to get it back. Keeping to a regular schedule will help. The basic template is this: Mon: Squat and OHP, basic OCR circuit. Wed: Deadlift and Bench, OCR circuit Friday: Long OCR circuit. The OCR circuits will be detailed in the updates but it's just basically a lot of bodyweight exercises with an eye to getting better at OCR races. Session pass/fail Run to Survive During week 0 I don't intend on doing any running and hopefully that'll be enough to banish the niggle in my calf. If that is not the case in week 1 I will swap the sessions for another kind of cardio and revise my plans. In my head this is how I'd like this to play out. Week 0: Resting Week 1: 3 runs, 20 miles. 1 quality workout Week 2: 4 runs 25 miles 2 quality workouts week 3: 5 runs, 30 miles 2 quality workouts week 4: 5 runs, 30 miles. 2 quality workouts This constitutes an overall reduction in both number of runs and overall mileage. pass/fail for each run and pass/fail for q sessions. Scoring To keep myself accountable I'm reimplementing the health bar. The concept is simple. The pass/fail for the challenge is based on the 80/20 concept. There is a total of 74 points available. 20% of that is 15 so I have 15 health points. If I drop to zero I 'die'. I like this system because it provides a good visual indication of how you are doing and really shows that a few bad days isn't the end of the world. HP 14/15 |

"Back to the Grind" Prologue: Vacation is over. Horizon is looking calm, except for some wee bumps. Last few weeks were hard on the part of me that wants to get fit(ter) and lean(er). Going on vacation with the bike was just a very bad combination in regards to maintaining strict about a lot of things. Being around a group of bikers that drinks heavily every evening, combine that with a person who loves to have a beer, and you get the picture. Not being able to workout due to a number of things (daily schedule and the heat over there being the most important factors). Back home i was still in vacation mode, not working out much (thank god for the StrongViking and the 12K at work). The wife returned last night from here short trip to Mallorca which closes this chapter of holidays. And i'm ready for the next step. I want to get back to the Challenge! Planning ahead i want to use the end of this year to prep myself for trading in Fitness for Crossfit starting next year. So i'm gonna make lifting my primary goal. Maximizing my strength to be able to handle heavy weights when it comes to the WOD from Crossfit. I've chosen Starting Strength (SS) as a base for this, i want to add some upper body work to this as this is the part i'm lacking... I need to (can) make the most progress in this part, and from the things i understand SS is not specifically meant (optimal) for this part. I'm still on the lookout for an answer to this question. For now i have made a start with a deload and restarting SS. Welcome To "THE GRIND" (sidequest: watch this video at the start of every lifting session, and preferably at the start of every day) The Challenge: This challenge will center around lifting and all goals will work towards maximizing progression.The goals will all be beneficiary to this cause. Except for the lifequest. There are a few things i'm postponing because i'm lacking courage of setting these gears in motion. I need to make a list about this and prioritize it. This will be first weeks goal and subsequent goals will be derived off of this. #1. "The Grind": Lifting 3 times a week. Monday Wednesday Friday. Start with a deload, work my way back up and beyond my PR's atm. No exceptions, make planning accordingly, work out possible schedule problems in advance. Allow for only one missed workout throughout the challenge (allowing for that one catastrophe to hit). Using Starting Strength as a base to get started. Looking for a good upper body plan to mix with SS. #2. "Sensible Fuelling": Eat to grow as a healthy Oak. Do.not.check.the.scale. I will get fatter, i will get heavier, i hopefully also will gain muscles in this process! The "sensible" part means two things. 1. Eat sensible in as healthy as possible. 2. Be sensible in the way that growing bigger will also mean gaining BF and become heavier. Last couple of challenges has shown it's impossible for me to gain strength without gaining weight/BF and keep this up for long time. Looking at the scales will make me give up for sure and go back to cutting, but i needz the muscles. Battleplan is to bulk till the end of the year, and when CrossFit is introduced (next year) revise the plan. #3. "Protein is Whey Cool": Keep up with the protein. Combining meat and whey as the primary sources of protein. Morning shake (combination of 6 types of protein) combined with Creatine at breakfast. Meat-leftovers for lunch A decent amount of meat (and make sure to leave some leftovers for the next day) Post-workout shake (Whey isolate) Protein shake before bedtime (Micellar Casein) #4. "Lose the booze": NO Drinking of beer, i have done this before, i can do this again. Stuff get's out of hand quickly when this is not a specific goal. Reporting back to you guys i have been acing this goal really gets me to stick to it! I allowed for 2 exceptions: one bottle of beer on my birthday-party (next saturday) and my actual birthday (sept. 28). Which makes a total of 2 bottles of beer throughout this 6WC. Next to this i try to drink as clean as possible, drinking mostly tea and water. When i really need a change-up it will probably be a diet-Lipton, but certainly not more than 2 glasses a day and certainly not every day (more like 2 times a week max). #5. "Sleep, i must": Last few weeks i have had seriously too little sleep. Going to bed later and later. Now going back to work (and having the alarm clock going at 06:00 am to drag my ass out of bed by 06:10 am) i have to make sure i get enough sleep. When i have to get to work the next day i need to be in bed before 11:00 p.m. The other days i have to be in bed before 12:00 a.m. Exceptions to these rules, when i'm away for the evening. This usually means being at a party or playing cards at a friends house. This doesn't happen all that much, and i generally don't make it very late, usually home between 01:00 am and 02:00 am. #### LifeQuest ###: There is some stuff that needs to get done which i'm constantly postponing. First week's part of this "lifequest" will be: make a list of 5 things that have to be done that keep getting postponed AND prioritize it. This quest will be changed in the weekend of week 1. DISCLAIMER: There is a small chance another OCR will be planned for somewhere in October, this challenge has to be seriously revised if this happens.

It turns out I'm quite awful at keeping up with forums consistently. But I'm back until further notice, with a mission and a vengeance. EDIT 1/5/2014: Still bad at keeping up with forums. But, I'm back again. Original early 2013 post in the spoiler, but for current 2014 nonsense, start here.