The Lonestar - A Challenge 35 Years in the Making

[The_Lonestar]

First...completely horrible pictures:

I know...yeeick.

For my *ahem* FULL bio...check out my profile. Here's the quickie back cover edition:

My name's Chris. I'm a full-time User Interface Engineer, a published novelist (my first novel, Dragonfaerie, is available from Amazon and B&N.com in both hardback and eBook formats), a professional photographer, a beginning jeweler and, as you can see by the photos above, a full-time marshmallow. I've been slowly building up to a full-time routine, but because the code release schedule that I have to adhere to has been assembled by demented lemmings, it has been uphill work. Today I say: no more. I have enlisted the help of a co-worker to say, "Chris? Chris who?" whenever upper management searches for my while I do my workout. I have eaten, burnt, or otherwise disposed of all the "suicide treats" (AKA Girl Scout Cookies, etc) that have been collecting in my cupboard. I have healed after a very inconvenient broken big toe on my left foot which prevented me from running (I run in Vibrams). I am ready to push forward with extreme prejudice.

Character Stats:

Human Ranger/Assassin (focusing on Assassin skills this go-round).

STR 2

DEX 2

STA 2

CON 3

WIS 3

CHA 3

Goals for the challenge:

1. Finish my 11/11/11 workout (description to follow) in less than 22 minutes. Right now I finish at around 45 minutes. [sTR 2, STA 3]

2. Keep my net caloric intake to 1300 or less daily (not impossible if I actually get my butt up off the chair). [CON 3]

3. Run a mile in 8 minutes (hey...I'm old and out of shape. Eight minutes is a challenge). [sTA 2, DEX 2]

4. Finish AND edit my second novel (the sequel to Dragonfaerie) before the end of the challenge. I'm at 22,000 words of what will probably be 130,000. Not impossible, but I've certainly got to get a move on. [WIS 3]

My plan for all of this is to:

A) Do the 11/11/11 workout Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays weekly. The workout is a blend of 11 body-weight exercises. It is called the 11/11/11 workout because you perform 11 reps of each of the 11 exercises and shoot for finishing in 11 minutes. I am currently finishing in 45 minutes, but have not honestly been hard at it. This changes TODAY. The exercises are:

• Squat Leaps
  
• Pushup Burpees
  
• Bench Single Leg Squats
  
• Pushup Burpees
  
• Split Squat Leaps
  
• Pushup Burpees
  
• Plyometric Pushups
  
• Pushup Burpees
  
• Handstand Pushups
  
• Pushup Burpees
  
• Plank Walkouts
  

Performing a High-Intensity Interval Training routine every Tuesday and Thursday for twenty minutes.

C) Performing a timed mile run every Sunday on a flat track (or equivalent).

D) Keeping a food diary and logging my calories with LiveStrong.com and sparkpeople.com food trackers.

E) Setting aside at least an hour a night to write (and actually writing!).

"It's never too late to become what you might have been". -George Elliot

[Denny]

HIIT is a great choice and the circuit looks great, I see you have handstand pushups in there, those are killer! Good luck in the challenge.

[cavemom]

Dude, an 8 minute mile sounds great to me, but then, I hate running. I have to pretend zombies or people with knives are chasing me.

[Elastigirl]

Tough workout circuit=win

[tigersheart]

Great to see you jumping in...and no 'yeeick'....that only goes for people who do absolutely nothing!

you will be happy to have before and after photos. Good luck and take it one step at a time!

[The_Lonestar]

Thanks, all. It's good to have a guild.

[rix]

You got tough plans there, which is absolutely cool.

Plus - I love your Avatar. It reminds me of Bill from Kill Bill and his flute.

[The_Lonestar]

Thanks, rix. It's actually me at Franklin Pond, NY in the Adirondacks.

[drsloomis]

Awesome goals, including the set aside writing time. That's hard to do if you don't schedule it. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[The_Lonestar]

drsloomis: It is tough. Last time I finished it while unemployed.

[Morrigainz]

So...you've got some tough goals there. I think they are great, but I do wonder if they are reasonable. What is your current mile time? Is it reasonable to run a mile in 8 minutes? The fastest I ever ran a mile was around 9. Of course, I am short, I have stumpy legs, and I never trained to run a fast mile - I always trained for endurance. Also, I don't see any other running training for the running goal. My feeling has always been that to improve running, generally, you have to run. HIIT is awesome but depending on what you're doing, I don't know if it's going to condition you to run a faster mile.

Also, are you scaling the 11/11/11 workout? I know you are doing it already but if you're adding in all this other stuff I don't want you to get burned out or hurt yourself.

Not trying to be a downer...just giving another perspective. I think your challenges are AWESOME and there's nothing like doing SOMETHING after doing NOTHING to make you feel great

[The_Lonestar]

MirGSS: I currently run a mile in about 10 minutes. It's going to take dedication, which is why I chose it. With the 11/11/11, I'm just actually training with it and pushing myself to finish sooner than I have been. What I've been doing it taking about a two minute second breather between sets. I'm going to be trying to build up my stamina.

We'll see how well I do. I'm aiming to destroy the goals, though.

[Morrigainz]

Okay cool I think you can totes do it then! Go you! Woot! *cheerleads*

[klaybae]

Hey Lonestar how are things coming? You have such awesome goals and as a fellow member of BEAST SQUAD I feel it is my duty to make sure you are still rocking out!

[drsloomis]

How's the writing coming along?

[Hugh]

Hi there.

I'm Hugh and I'm and Adventurer.

Part of the Adventurer Week 4 Challenge is to broaden our horizons by visiting other threads, in other classes, pick someone and take one of their goals for our own.

I've been trawling through trying to find a goal which is challenging but, with hard work, achievable.

I've found many, many, many which are utterly beyond my current fitness level and a few which are a little too easy for me (and to "claim" them could be disrespectful to the person for whom it is a real challenge).

Which brings me to you...

You, Lonestar, have a goal to run a mile in 8 minutes (I hope you're making good progress, by the way). A challenge which suits me very well!

Good luck with your goals and with the writing.

[Bekah]

I'm a bit late to this party, but I just gotta say... Jesus f-ing Christ...that workout would kill me in about 30 seconds (and I really hope you arent the offendable type and got your panties in a twist by that....Im pretty bad at NOT offending people that are easily offended) Not to mention the guts it took to post your photos like that...I took mine today and they are NOT pretty, but I couldn't ever post them for the world to see, because well, I dont even want to look at them. and FYI, your photos are not that bad (not that what I think makes a bit of difference really, because your thoughts about yourself are paramount to any others obviously)

Needless to say, I like where you are going and your dedication to get there. I can't wait to see it happen.

[The_Lonestar]

Bekah: Thanks. I've actually moved to a different program now. The other one was good, and certainly made me sweat. I realized, though, that I needed something to keep my interest more than just "more reps".

Go ahead and post pics. They cannot be as bad as mine. And even if they are, imagine the pride you will feel when you post new ones six months down the road.

[Bekah]

this is true (about the photos) I lost about 75 lbs a couple of years ago and have photos of all along that journey, but then life got in the way (read: I let a relationship trigger my issues and gained weight) , and well...yeah...we are similar in the been there done that category. However, my photos are pretty bad, I was actually kind of shocked (apparently I dont look at myself in the mirror), not to mention my horribly unflattering current hairdo, but that's just vanity! LOL!

I will take some new ones and post them...I cant post the ones I took yesterday because well...even if Im feeling ballsy Im still not posting pics of me in my undies! LOL! So I suppose this means I will have to take 2 sets. Not a bad idea really.

So what's the new program? I just did Day 1 of Steve's beginner workout and it was very eye opening! LOL! Apparently, Im much less fit than I thought I was. I am going to try to run in my Vibram's today, and see what happens...

[The_Lonestar]

Let me know when they're up! I still maintain that your pics can't be as bad as mine.

[Bekah]

will do, and thats because you havent seen them yet! LOL!

[The_Lonestar]

I challenge you then.

Now THERE'S an idea for this site: a wet nerd photo contest.

[Bekah]

crap!!!! Those are the magic words...I cannot turn down a challenge! LOLOLOLOL!

Ok, the photos are taken...but since I have no idea why my kid's wifi is not woring on her Ipod (which is where the photos are) I cant upload them yet

and LMAO @ Wet Nerd Photos!!! HIlarious

[The_Lonestar]

I'll await the wifi fairy's visit....

Re: Wet Nerd Contest...I think Steve might have an aneurysm.

[Bekah]

LOL Steve and most of the rest of us too!!!