Parsnip Conquers Mt Doom

[Parsnip]

In recognition of the wacky new year's challenge dates, I have decided to do an epic 6-week challenge starting tomorrow!

 

And yes, the Mt. Doom part is meant literally, I will spend the second half of my challenge on holiday in New Zealand

 

Details to follow....

 

[bker1370]

Following along.  I want to hear about this Mount Doom!

[Parsnip]

2 hours ago, bker1370 said:

Following along.  I want to hear about this Mount Doom!

 

Welcome!

 

Mount Doom in the films is Mt Tongariro - there's a huge day walk called the Mt Tongariro Crossing that I was a bit hesitant about doing because it will be pretty difficult for us. So I decided it's the perfect quest for this challenge

 

As long as it doesn't look like this on the day....

 

[bker1370]

Sounds awesome...  Something to add to "one day" list LOL

[Parsnip]

Alrighty! Here are my quests...

 

The First Quest: Train for Mount Doom by going for walks with Fojin. Either up our local hill, or hikes in New Zealand

4pts each, 24pts max

 

Conquering Mt. Doom by completing the Tongariro Crossing is a +6pt bonus!

 

The Second Quest: Generate a meal plan weekly using Eat This Much and go shopping with the grocery list twice a week. Yes, even while travelling - we will enjoy the fresh food we can't get at home

3pts per meal plan, 1pt per shop

 

The Third Quest: Follow my training plan and train 3x per week

1pt per session, bonus 2pts each week I complete all sessions

 

The Fourth Quest: Logistics!

5pts each for completing-

- Pack list for hikes

- Pack list for training in NZ (mostly for bodyweight stuff)

- Figure out how to modify training so it can be done anywhere

- Put together info about potential gyms to visit

- Organise an oly lifting lesson

- Organise transport & accom for Mt Doom... I don't want my plans foiled because I didn't get around to it!

 

Max points = 120

[bker1370]

Looks good.  

[Elastigirl]

How exciting! New Zealand is on my dream list. So cool that you actually are going to climb Mt Doom in real life

[Parsnip]

Thanks for the comments guys

 

Anyone got any nerdy travel stories they want to share? I think most of us are always thinking about cool places to go, but then life gets in the way... Planned this trip 2+ years ago haha

 

Rewards

60pts = App purchase "yoga studio" (Recommended by a friend)

80pts = Month of remote coaching in olympic lifting

100pts = Pair of 20kg bumper plates

[T2sarahconnor]

So excited to hear about your upcoming trip!  Just added Mt Doom to my bucket list!  I hope if I start planning now NZ will happen in 2 years!

[Parsnip]

In a crappy start to the challenge I have managed to catch some kind of stomach bug

 

Still forced myself to eat plenty of good food yesterday anyway, hopefully it will go away quickly!

 

At least I have already managed to earn 3pts for generating next week's meal plan and 1pt for shopping.

 

45C (113F) expected today, so i guess it's a good day to be stuck home sick from work

[T2sarahconnor]

21 hours ago, Parsnip said:

In a crappy start to the challenge I have managed to catch some kind of stomach bug

 

Still forced myself to eat plenty of good food yesterday anyway, hopefully it will go away quickly!

 

At least I have already managed to earn 3pts for generating next week's meal plan and 1pt for shopping.

 

45C (113F) expected today, so i guess it's a good day to be stuck home sick from work

Hope you feel better.  When I went to work this morning it was -11 F here.  I will take some of that heat!

[Parsnip]

Bit of a miserable week, but I have been persevering! Still waiting for my bumpers to turn up!!! Really looking forward to it. I will have to film some lifting when they eventually get here.

 

Gone on a couple of walks, but all on flat ground so far. 1pt for another grocery run, and last night I was well enough to do a gym session, so 1pt there.

 

We are thinking of going on a camping trip this weekend, will try to do a challenging walk somewhere then...

[T2sarahconnor]

I hope you get to go camping and can't wait to hear about it!

[Elastigirl]

Did you go camping? How has the challenge gone?

[Parsnip]

Sorry I never finished posting about this challenge. It really was a challenge!!!!

 

Even though this is well and truly over now, I thought it would be good to write about. I often focus just on the positives when I do these challenges, but I think it's important to be reminded sometimes that life throws everyone curve-balls and it's not just you...

 

So the bad -

First week of the challenge I ended up with an infected cyst on my chest. Had a stomach bug as mentioned above, and my immune system must have been compromised. Went on antibiotics, then ended up having to have an unplanned operation, my first time under general anesthetic. It all went fine, but really knocked me around as you'd expect. And the packing and dressing of the wound meant I had pretty limited upper body mobility for the first week or so. It finally finished closing over a couple of days before returning from my NZ trip! So no lifting for more than a month!! I also lost 4kg while I was on holiday from all the hiking, so no doubt I have lost a fair bit of my hard earned muscle mass from last year

 

The good -

Well I can officially say I have climbed Mt Doom. It was less like the pretty pictures and more like a scene from LOTR - the whole thing was wind and mist, rained most of the time and you couldn't see anything beyond about 50m in front of you. The whole time we stayed in the region, we never actually saw the volcano cone, the clouds were always too low. But we did the crossing in less than 8hrs, and although a little sore the next day, coped fine with the distances. The downhill bit at the end was what gave us all the problems. So I guess, quest complete? The rest of the trip went very well, we had a great time

 

 

My attempt to count up points for the challenge:

1st Quest - Hiking - I didn't count them, so I'm going to go with 4 walks plus successful Tongariro Crossing 16+6 = 22pts

2nd Quest - Meal Planning - Gave up on it the last week of the challenge, but did it the rest of the time. 5 meal plans + 10 shopping trips = 25pts

3rd Quest - Lifting - 1pt? I think I got one in on the first day of the challenge?

4th Quest - Logistics - I actually worked through all this except the gym/oly lifting lessons stuff, since I couldn't do it anyway while I was away...20pts

 

So I guess 68pts isn't too bad. The yoga app is a monthly subscription now, I've signed up for that. I want to start doing 10min yoga in the mornings before work. And I decided to pay for the remote coaching even though I knew I wouldn't have hit that reward, since I really need the help to get back into lifting properly now that I'm back home. Plus really, the challenge went fine for the stuff I could control. It starts tomorrow

[Elastigirl]

Oh no sorry you had such a rough go of sickness.Climbing Mt Doom sounds cool, if a bit disappointing because you couldn't see the volcano. You may have lost some muscle, but I doubt all of it. And it should come back fairly easy

[Parsnip]

On 2/18/2018 at 5:02 PM, Elastigirl said:

Oh no sorry you had such a rough go of sickness.Climbing Mt Doom sounds cool, if a bit disappointing because you couldn't see the volcano. You may have lost some muscle, but I doubt all of it. And it should come back fairly easy

 

Thanks for the comments

 

I'm already feeling better about it now that I've started the oly training - I've never had someone programming for me and coaching me before, it's got me really pumped to get back into it. Which is good, because the DOMS from not lifting for more than a month have been ridiculous!!