A Norseman's Neverending Journey.

[Aonghus]

The name is Aonghus and I do not have a 'Viking bod.' I don't expect to end up looking like something from a romance novel. I'm more likely to appear on the cover of The Very Voluble Viking than the Very Virile Viking.  But I am working towards regaining my health and a level of fitness I am happy with.

 

My hobbies are medieval re-enactment (mainly through the SCA,) archaeological experimentation, woodworking, writing, leatherworking, historical brewing, Scottish country dancing and pipe smoking. 

 

As part of the SCA I am just getting into heavy fighting and my arms are jelly three fights in. (Hard to defend yourself with a shield when you can keep the shield lifted up.) So it'd be really nice to be in better fighting shape as well as looking better.

 

I'm really just getting back into fitness after a rough couple of years. I moved from Scotland to the US and gained a load of weight.

I think I've finally found the Big Why I actually needed to push me forward. I'm just not happy when I look at myself in the mirror or pictures anymore. I just gained an amazing daughter, our first baby, and I want to be alive for a long time for her. Able to play with her and take care of her. The doctor told me I am on the verge of pre-diabetic and that was a big wake up call. But, honestly, the really big thing has been being so unhappy with how I look. And I am just... tired of it. 

 

So, I am going to go ahead and try a challenge. I'm working hard on the small changes so that I don't overwhelm myself.

 

Big quest - Actually achieve the 3 smart goals consistently.

 

Smart goal 1: Do my C25K run 3 times a week. No matter what. there are 7 days in the week for me to use for this.

 

Smart goal 2: Work on reducing my sugar intake. Just try to make better choices and keep tracking my food so that I can learn what has more sugar than I realised.

 

Smart Goal 3: START getting my gauntlets or helmet padded.  I don't have to complete either of these by February 1st. I just have to actually get out to the armouring workshop and get started on them.

 

It seems like I should be able to achieve these and measure them easily enough. They are also things that'll make me feel better about myself and help to build and maintain positive habits.

[Radost]

Congratulations on welcoming a new person into your family!  I don’t have kids myself but the sweet monsters I’ve been nanny to for the past several years have been a real inspiration to improve my diet and activity level. 

 

Good luck in your challenge!

[SailorV]

Hello!

 

Many congratulations on your baby girl! She will be a great motivator for you, and as she gets bigger you’ll naturally become

more active, too. It’s good to start now, I get so winded chasing my son!

 

I am also cutting sugar from my diet. I’m in the habit of reading the ingredient labels for added sugars- it’s so sneaky, I read a label on a box of crackers and there it was. I have also been checking things out on the glycemic index, and snacking on walnuts and apples instead of a pastry. What is your plan of attack? Are there any tools you’re using to track the sugar? (I use MyFitnessPal to track my foods, but I find the carbohydrates macro unreliable for this because it doesn’t separate which carbs come from sugar and wheat or fruits and veggies).

 

Best wishes,

V

 

 

[Stribs]

22 hours ago, Aonghus said:

Smart goal 2: Work on reducing my sugar intake. Just try to make better choices and keep tracking my food so that I can learn what has more sugar than I realised.

 

Hi there!  Following along.  For this goal here, it might be easier to track (and succeed) if you pick a particular thing (like soda or snacks) to cut down on because it makes it easier to measure.  

 

Good luck on your challenge!!

[RES]

Congrats on the little one! 

I do wonder what it is about the states that makes everyone gain (or by comparison, lose when traveling abroad) maybe someday I'll be able to leave and see what's so different out there  

Nice goals to begin with, good luck!

[Aonghus]

On 1/6/2018 at 8:03 AM, Stribs said:

 

Hi there!  Following along.  For this goal here, it might be easier to track (and succeed) if you pick a particular thing (like soda or snacks) to cut down on because it makes it easier to measure.  

 

Good luck on your challenge!!

 

I stopped eating as much random junk food which has really helped, but the big thing has just been scanning the labels into myfitness pal and seeing how many grams of sugar my usual portion of each thing has.
The 'healthy' yoghurt I was having for breakfast had more than my entire day's portion of sugar in it.

[Stribs]

5 minutes ago, Aonghus said:

 

I stopped eating as much random junk food which has really helped, but the big thing has just been scanning the labels into myfitness pal and seeing how many grams of sugar my usual portion of each thing has.
The 'healthy' yoghurt I was having for breakfast had more than my entire day's portion of sugar in it.

I love the oikos triple 0 Greek yogurt

[Aonghus]

Update after week 1. 

I managed to get all three of my runs in plus one day of free weights.

Already got run number 1 in for this week and today I'll try to get some free weights in today on my lunch break.

Continuing to work on making better choices food wise and definitely doing a decent job of checking into how much sugar each thing that I eat has. I've dropped the sugar a fair bit so that I am not over my total every day.

 

 

[Beginner.Berserker]

On 1/5/2018 at 8:50 AM, Aonghus said:

My hobbies are medieval re-enactment (mainly through the SCA,) archaeological experimentation, woodworking, writing, leatherworking, historical brewing, Scottish country dancing and pipe smoking. 

 

 

You are basically doing every hobby I've also wanted to try! What is historic brewing? My first attempt at mead making in currently in progress and I was wondering if that the same thing and if you had any pointers? 

 

Congrats on your new baby! I bet she's best motivation out there! I also like how you've kept your main goal really simple, it'll build a good foundation for future goals.

 

Good luck!

[Laghail]

Following mostly in hopes of seeing dope costume and hobby pictures from #SCAlife, but also the weight slinging and clean eating are exciting! What does your free weight program look like?

[Aonghus]

On 1/9/2018 at 11:17 AM, Beginner.Berserker said:

 

 

You are basically doing every hobby I've also wanted to try! What is historic brewing? My first attempt at mead making in currently in progress and I was wondering if that the same thing and if you had any pointers? 

 

Congrats on your new baby! I bet she's best motivation out there! I also like how you've kept your main goal really simple, it'll build a good foundation for future goals.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks! I really appreciate that. they are good hobbies and I have a lot of fun. You should definitely look into getting involved with your local group. I can help you find info if you need!

As far as the brewing, I try to research things heavily and then use that as a basis for how to actually do the brewing, including building the equipment.

I have a website at www.badwolfsca.com that goes over some of my stuff. I'm about to do a major update since there is loads of stuff I have done that I haven't put on there, yet.

 

 

[Aonghus]

On 1/9/2018 at 11:35 AM, Laghail said:

Following mostly in hopes of seeing dope costume and hobby pictures from #SCAlife, but also the weight slinging and clean eating are exciting! What does your free weight program look like?

 

 

Your wish is my command!

Pictured below - Me getting squired. Me after fording a river on an experimental medieval hike. (Fording a river in medieval shoes is a bitch!) Me actually fording the river with a friend. Some of my medieval brewing in the Kuurna I built by hand using period tools. Me testing out Norse winter gear.

 

As far as the weight program, it's a slow starter because I am trying to favour my tendonitis-y elbow.
Usually 2 days a week where I'll do bench presses, shoulder presses, bicep curls, shrugs and assisted chin-ups.  Three days a week I run.

Things will slowly switch up over time.

 

 

[Taddea Zhaan]

I'm slow and failed to notice the other thread was your intro not your challenge...

[Laghail]

Dang pictures batman, how'd the fording go?

[juliebarkley]

On 1/12/2018 at 7:37 AM, Taddea Zhaan said:

I'm slow and failed to notice the other thread was your intro not your challenge...

 You're not alone. I just stumbled across this thread and thought, "but I'm sure I'm already following Aongus...". Oh well, I'm following both now

 

[Aonghus]

On 1/12/2018 at 9:41 AM, Laghail said:

Dang pictures batman, how'd the fording go?

 

Honestly, it was rough. I'm only 5'4" so the water was sternum level at the deepest. On the way across it was hard and slow, but I managed it.

On the way back I took a spill and broke a toe. Learned a lot, though.

I did a blog post about the  whole weekend adventure.

www.badwolfsca.com/2017/08/14/an-experimental-medieval-hike/

 

 

[Aonghus]

Third run of the week taken care of today.

I was already tired from moving stuff from the  old craft room now baby room down to the new craft room

Then I stupidly ate a fair sized dinner twenty minutes before going for my run.

 

But I did it. I pushed myself through and didn't slow down or stop.

Tomorrow will be week 5 day 1.

 

Hopefully I can get some crafting in tomorrow, too. It'd be good for my mental health.

[Marianne]

May I say Aonghus, you sound cool!

 

When I was around 11-12 I was very (very, very) into a fantasy adventure book series with a female knight, and I was determined to be a female knight too, so I took up martial arts, gymnastics and archery. It was incredible for my confidence as well as my fitness. Maybe your Viking activities will give you the same push? Motivation like that, which captures your imagination, your intellect and your passion, is so powerful. 

 

I'll be following along with you!

 

 

[Aonghus]

On 1/15/2018 at 12:37 AM, Marianne said:

May I say Aonghus, you sound cool!

 

When I was around 11-12 I was very (very, very) into a fantasy adventure book series with a female knight, and I was determined to be a female knight too, so I took up martial arts, gymnastics and archery. It was incredible for my confidence as well as my fitness. Maybe your Viking activities will give you the same push? Motivation like that, which captures your imagination, your intellect and your passion, is so powerful. 

 

I'll be following along with you!

 

 

 

 

Would that be the Alana books by any chance?

 

I'm definitely trying to leverage some fitness activities out of the re-enactment stuff if I possibly can.

[Marianne]

20 hours ago, Aonghus said:

 

 

Would that be the Alana books by any chance?

 

I'm definitely trying to leverage some fitness activities out of the re-enactment stuff if I possibly can.

 

Yes! In the end I became an academic rather than a knight

[Aonghus]

6 hours ago, Marianne said:

 

Yes! In the end I became an academic rather than a knight

LOL. Nothing wrong with that.

Also, those books are fab kid's books. I plan to read them with my daughter once she's a wee bit bigger.

[Jazmin]

Greetings Aonghus! As another SCAdian here, I just wanted to say hi from Ealdormere. XD 

 

Part of my fitness goals (but one of those big nebulous why goals) is 'survive Pennsic' 

 

You got this! 

 

[Aonghus]

On 1/18/2018 at 9:49 AM, Jazmin said:

Greetings Aonghus! As another SCAdian here, I just wanted to say hi from Ealdormere. XD 

 

Part of my fitness goals (but one of those big nebulous why goals) is 'survive Pennsic' 

 

You got this! 

 

 

 

Hello to you, too.

You can totally did Pennsic. And it'll be so worth it.

 

 

[Aonghus]

Got week 5, day 2 of my C25K program done.

Run 5, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5.

I pushed myself to go to the gym even though I wasn't feeling it and earned my sweat wings.

I feel great.

 

[Aonghus]

Week 5, Day 3 of the C25K program I'm on was completed last night. It actually felt pretty easy, all things considered. 

I am toying with the idea of just trying a 20 minute run tomorrow and seeing if I can manage it, but we'll see.