Jarric - Road to Oblivion part 1

[Jarric]

Road to Oblivion - Part 1

 

So I've just written up my 2019 road map, and the first 4 challenges of this year will be working towards my first big and scary goal - running 4 laps of Nuclear Oblivion in May. I'm going to need to be able to gain some serious endurance to keep doing that, both in running and in general fitness for the obstacles, so my physical goals will be based around that.

 

Nutrition - 20XP

This goal is split into three parts (hence the high XP). The first one is straight eating better - my Crossfit box posted a list of weekly nutrition habits a couple of years ago which I've unearthed on Facebook, so I'll be running through those. By coincidence (or just because they start with sensible things) I already do their first 3 weekly habits, but if you want to play along at home they are:

• Drink 1 pint of plain water daily
• Eat a healthy fat with breakfast
• Eat cooked vegetables in the evening

 

So I'll be starting straight at habit 4, which is:

• Eat a raw vegetable at lunch

 

I'll be tackling that in week 1 of the challenge, and then adding an additional habit from their list on each subsequent week.

 

The second part of nutrition is alcohol. Leading up to Christmas I was really stressed and not feeling great, and I attributed that to a lot of year end work stress and general Christmas/ohmyGodIhaven'tboughtanything stress. I started thinking the other week however that maybe the amount I was drinking had its part to play in this too. Well, there's only one way to find out if that is the case, and that's to stop drinking for a bit and see how I feel. The goal for this challenge will be to drink no alcohol at all. That'll start from Week 0 day 2 (because day 1 was New Year's Eve, come on!).

 

The final part of this is to track my mood - just a short sentence each day in my bujo is fine, but I'll only know if the above is working at all if I track it. Obviously there's lots of other factors to consider, and conclusions may be hard to draw, but I want to give it a go.

 

Running - 15XP

The goal here is simple (thought not necessarily easy) - run 140 miles this challenge. That includes week zero, and is the exact amount of mileage I should hit if I get all of my runs in. The plan is to run 4 times per week - Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday - with the long run either on Saturday or Sunday depending on when I'm climbing or doing other things.

 

Whilst the goal is simply the mileage, I'll put the full running plan in a spoiler for info:

Spoiler

0.1 - Tempo - 1 miles warm-up, 4 miles fast, 1 mile cooldown

0.2 - Intervals - 5 miles slow then 5 x 20 second intervals with 2 minute rests between

0.3 - Parkrun/5k

0.4 - Long run - 7 miles

 

1.1 - Tempo - 5 minute warm-up, 4 x 1 mile fast with 2 minutes breaks

1.2 - Intervals - 4 miles slow then 4 x 0.2 mile intervals with 0.3 mile rests

1.3 - Parkrun/5k

1.4 - Long run - 13 miles

 

2.1 - Tempo - 1 miles warm-up, 4 miles fast, 1 mile cooldown

2.2 - Intervals - 5 miles slow then 5 x 20 second intervals with 2 minute rests between

2.3 - Parkrun/5k

2.4 - Long run - 14 miles

 

3.1 - Tempo - half mile warm up, fast mile, slow mile, fast mile, slow mile, fast mile, half mile cooldown

3.2 - Intervals - 2 miles slow then 4 x 0.4 mile intervals with 0.6 mile rests

3.3 - Parkrun/5k

3.4 - Long run - 15 miles

 

4.1 - Tempo - 5 minute warm-up, 4 x 1 mile fast with 2 minutes breaks

4.2 - Intervals - 5 miles slow then 5 x 20 second intervals with 2 minute rests between

4.3 - Parkrun/5k

4.4 - Long run - 16 miles

 

Climbing - 10XP

I want to work on my climbing and my pullups in general, as these have massive transference to OCR, and I've got two parts to this plan in order to do it:

    a) Continue with GTG pullups - basically I have my pullup bar in my kitchen door and do one pullup every time I want to enter the kitchen. Minimum 10 per day. This starts week 0.

    b) Hangboarding - I have bought a hang board with some Christmas money, which will allow me to train hanging off very small edges instead of just a bar. The plan is to do hanging sessions MWF, but never on a day adjacent to a climbing day. As I usually climb every weekend this should mean that I usually do 2 sessions per week, but it could be 1 or 3 depending on how the climbing sessions work out. This starts when the hang board arrives.

 

Budget - 5XP

This is a difficult one this month as money and spending are a bit strange after Christmas. I probably wouldn't have a goal at all except that reducing debt and saving money is one of my main goals for the year. The goal here is to simply spend mindfully for the month, and write any comments about my spending in my bujo. This starts week 0.

 

Study - 5XP

This is something I have been neglecting, but I really need to continue my qualifications for work. There is a time limit on these, and having missed the initial deadline it's going to be tricky to catch up so I need to put in the work. The goal here is to do 2 pomodoros of study (or 4 hours, if you prefer) per week. Bonus 5XP if I get my next assignment submitted before the end of the challenge.

 

This starts week 0.

 

Forum Cardio - Mobile Edition™ - 5XP

I don't spend enough time on here and I miss catching up with people and knowing what's going on. A big reason I don't get on is that I usually only sit in front of a computer at work, and so my lunch break is the only time I have to be here. I don't always get a lunch break, and I use the time to catch up on other things as well when I do so that gives me minimal forum time. The goal therefore is to use my phone to visit the forums every day. Even if I don't post anything just being here and catching up is a start.

 

Well I think that's everything. It's loads of XP so i could do realll well out of this challenge if I ace it. I have to dash, so anything I've missed I'm sure will come up later!

[Maggie-Miau]

*sneaks in and shakes pompoms* Go Director Jarric! So much cool stuff going on!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following

[Rurik Harrgath]

4 hours ago, Jarric said:

    b) Hangboarding - I have bought a hang board with some Christmas money, which will allow me to train hanging off very small edges instead of just a bar. The plan is to do hanging sessions MWF, but never on a day adjacent to a climbing day.

 

This is something I want to pick up so badly!  Been kicking myself all year for not getting a large garage where I could build a rock climbing well but I feel like a hangboard could be a small compromise at least.

[Kestrel Grey]

Following! I don't often wander into the Battle Log section, but there is so much amazing going on there right now.  You'll do great!

[DarK_RaideR]

Here to cheer you on, mate. Go crush this challenge!

[jonfirestar]

13 hours ago, Jarric said:

Hangboarding - I have bought a hang board with some Christmas money, which will allow me to train hanging off very small edges instead of just a bar. The plan is to do hanging sessions MWF, but never on a day adjacent to a climbing day. As I usually climb every weekend this should mean that I usually do 2 sessions per week, but it could be 1 or 3 depending on how the climbing sessions work out. This starts when the hang board arrives.

Oh that's really interesting. what does the hanging session consist of? 

[deftona]

Following! 

[Charlie_Quinn]

Following. I've got some of these Rock Rings (spoilered for size):

Spoiler

 

I haven't used them much, I really need to start! I don't trust the walls in my place to hold a hangboard but it's something I want to get once we move. 

[Mr_Willes]

Good to see you my friend!

 

I think your forum cardio is an excellent way to get more involved. I'm following everyone by email notifications. So i can spread it out over the day. For now it works pretty good.

 

Sweet running plan! (just found out you get a whole other plan if you're right hand is typing just a tad too much to the right)  

 

Great start to 2019 N!

 

 

[Jarric]

21 hours ago, Miaulin said:

*sneaks in and shakes pompoms* Go Director Jarric! So much cool stuff going on!

 

Woo, thank you! No need to sneak in, you're more than welcome!

 

21 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following

 

Good to have you dude.

 

20 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

This is something I want to pick up so badly!  Been kicking myself all year for not getting a large garage where I could build a rock climbing well but I feel like a hangboard could be a small compromise at least.

 

Ah I'd love a private climbing wall! Short of having that or being able to climb several times per week I think a hang board is a good shout.

 

I went for this one if you're interested: https://www.problemsolver.rocks/shop/problemsolver-xl-training-hangboard mostly for a combination of finding a reasonable price on it and that it can be hung on my pullup bar as I can't put holes in the walls here. Also with the inserts it's got quite a bit of versitility in hold sizes.

 

 

13 hours ago, Kestrel Grey said:

Following! I don't often wander into the Battle Log section, but there is so much amazing going on there right now.  You'll do great!

 

Thank you, good to have you!

 

12 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Here to cheer you on, mate. Go crush this challenge!

 

Yes sir, will do!

 

11 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

Oh that's really interesting. what does the hanging session consist of? 

 

That's a good question. A friend of mine recommend warming up, then 7 sets of 7 second hangs with 7 second rests between, then 3 minutes rest, then moving on to a smaller hold size and repeating. I've looked at a couple of bits online and they all seem to be variations on that theme, so that's what I'll be going with to start with.

 

I'm not expecting to be able to do very much to start with, and I'm not really sure how quickly tendon strength builds, so it's all a bit of an experiment.

 

10 hours ago, deftona said:

Following! 

 

Hi! Thanks for coming.

 

8 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Following. I've got some of these Rock Rings (spoilered for size):

  Hide contents

 

I haven't used them much, I really need to start! I don't trust the walls in my place to hold a hangboard but it's something I want to get once we move. 

 

Yeah, I've got a similar problem so I've gone for a hangboard that I can suspend from my pullup bar. I was going to buy rock rings at some point but never got round to it - they look good.

 

7 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

Good to see you my friend!

 

I think your forum cardio is an excellent way to get more involved. I'm following everyone by email notifications. So i can spread it out over the day. For now it works pretty good.

 

Sweet running plan! (just found out you get a whole other plan if you're right hand is typing just a tad too much to the right)  

 

Great start to 2019 N!

 

 

 

Good to see you too! I get weekly e-mails I think, but they end up being too much to read in one go!

 

I'm not entirely sure what you mean about the running plan, but thanks anyway :p 

[Rurik Harrgath]

19 minutes ago, Jarric said:

I went for this one if you're interested: https://www.problemsolver.rocks/shop/problemsolver-xl-training-hangboard mostly for a combination of finding a reasonable price on it and that it can be hung on my pullup bar as I can't put holes in the walls here. Also with the inserts it's got quite a bit of versitility in hold sizes.

 

The Kraken is my dream but it's also over $300 CAD.  So I'll go with one of the cheaper wall mount ones maybe with my February tax return... I want to put it above the doorway in my bedroom and make myself do X pull-ups every time I enter/exit.

[jonfirestar]

7 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

I'm following everyone by email notifications.

 

6 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Good to see you too! I get weekly e-mails I think, but they end up being too much to read in one go!

 

I find that email notifications are the fastest way for me to feel overwhelmed with the content on the forum. That's got a lot to do with ambassadoring (I follow a lot of threads). I find it far easier to just browse through a few of the threads I'm following each day. 

 

12 minutes ago, Jarric said:

 

That's a good question. A friend of mine recommend warming up, then 7 sets of 7 second hangs with 7 second rests between, then 3 minutes rest, then moving on to a smaller hold size and repeating. I've looked at a couple of bits online and they all seem to be variations on that theme, so that's what I'll be going with to start with.

  

I'm not expecting to be able to do very much to start with, and I'm not really sure how quickly tendon strength builds, so it's all a bit of an experiment.

 

Thanks! I'm probably not going to think about a hang board any time soon but RangerBrain always tempts me with all the things. 

[Jarric]

Update - Week 0 Day 3

 

So far so good (not that we're that far yet).

 

Monday I was off work, and Crossfit shedule was weird so I ended up going for a longer session mid-morning. We had squats, and to give some context to my numbers my working 5RM is 77.5kg (high bar), and the most I've ever squatted was 85kg (low bar). On Monday I worked up to the following heavy singles:

 

Overhead Squat: 42.5kg (~94#)

Front Squat: 77.5kg (~171#)

Back Squat: 100kg (~220#)

 

So happy to hit a 100kg squat! I've made a load of form adjustments since I started Crossfit and I finally feel like I've made a real breakthrough with it.

 

Monday night was New Years Eve, so WW and I drank a boatload of beer, ate a ton of takeaway pizza, and watched Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Ant Man and the Wasp. Went to bed about 2am. Might be the best NYE I've ever had!

 

Tuesday we slept in pretty late, unsurprisingly. I went out for my run late afternoon, felt pretty good surprisingly but I ran out of steam about 4 miles into the 6. Otherwise a chilled day mainly spent wrapping up my last challenge and 2018 road map, and writing up the new ones!

 

Today I was back at work - it's still really busy but manageable. Before work though was Crossfit:

 

Warmup: 3 rounds of 5 KB squat openers, 5 glute bridges and 5+5 halos

 

Strength: Sandbag loads (think atlas stones, but sandbags instead of stones). I loaded 75kg on the lowest box (30" I think) and 62kg on the middle box (possibly 36"). Didn't get a chance to try the 48" box.

 

WOD: 5 rounds (not timed) of 100ft farmers walks and 1+1 Turkish getups

Worked the farmers walks up to 62kg each hane (124 kg or 273# total). I've never done Turkish getups before so that was a bit of a learning curve, only working at 16kg but it felt stronger every round.

 

After work I got half a pomodoro of studying done, cooked chicken thighs and orzotto, and now I'm watching Time Team and writing this.

[Jarric]

10 minutes ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

 

The Kraken is my dream but it's also over $300 CAD.  So I'll go with one of the cheaper wall mount ones maybe with my February tax return... I want to put it above the doorway in my bedroom and make myself do X pull-ups every time I enter/exit.

 

Wow, that's really cool looking. It amazes me how expensive these things are though - particularly when a lot of them are just wooden boards with holes routered out.

 

7 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

 

 

I find that email notifications are the fastest way for me to feel overwhelmed with the content on the forum. That's got a lot to do with ambassadoring (I follow a lot of threads). I find it far easier to just browse through a few of the threads I'm following each day. 

 

 

Thanks! I'm probably not going to think about a hang board any time soon but RangerBrain always tempts me with all the things. 

 

Yeah, until you're climbing stuff that requires you to use tiny edges there's no real reason to train finger strength. It's not necessary for overall grip strength in the same way, so it doesn't have a lot of transference outside of rock climbing either.

[starpuck]

Following following!  My favorite Pond Hopper!

You've set some mega goals here Jarric, but I know you can crush them!

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Well done busting through to 100kg squats!

[T2sarahconnor]

Can't wait to see you kill those goals!

[Terra]

6 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Following following!  My favorite Pond Hopper!

You've set some mega goals here Jarric, but I know you can crush them!

 

  ^^^Totally agree with Starbuck^^^  Huge goals man, WOW!  

[Salinger]

Hey Jarric, looks like you are off to a flying  start!!! x

[Jarric]

On 1/2/2019 at 9:29 PM, Starpuck said:

Following following!  My favorite Pond Hopper!

You've set some mega goals here Jarric, but I know you can crush them!

 

 

You make me sounds like a frog  . Thanks though!

 

On 1/2/2019 at 10:42 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Well done busting through to 100kg squats!

 

Cheers dude, really happy with that.

 

On 1/3/2019 at 12:46 AM, T2sarahconnor said:

Can't wait to see you kill those goals!

 

Hey T2SC, good to see you! And thanks!

 

On 1/3/2019 at 3:39 AM, Terra said:

  ^^^Totally agree with Starbuck^^^  Huge goals man, WOW!  

 

Thanks, I hope I can do them justice!

 

3 hours ago, Salinger said:

Hey Jarric, looks like you are off to a flying  start!!! x

 

So far so good  

[Jarric]

Yesterday was a good day. Morning run felt pretty good, 5 easy miles plus 5 sprint intervals. The sprints were slow as hell though, more effort needed next time! Up to 12.56/140 miles.

 

Lunch was a huge salad I made for myself of roast pork, carrot, celery and spring onion. Dinner was butternut squash soup courtesy of WW.

 

And then yesterday evening was D&D - realluy glad to be back after Christmas and we had a fun roleplay-oriented evening with our wisdom damaged (and insane at the best of times) hobgoblin. Our witch also exploded a raven by healing it, because she's totally oblivious and didn't notice it was in fact an undead raven (and because her player wasn't paying attention the the fact the hobgoblin had killed a cupboard full of ravens and raised one from the dead). Tis a silly game, but I love it!

[Salinger]

Just now, Jarric said:

 

Lunch was a huge salad I made for myself of roast pork, carrot, celery and spring onion. Dinner was butternut squash soup courtesy of WW.

 

 

mmmmmmmm

 

[Rhovaniel]

2 minutes ago, Jarric said:

 

And then yesterday evening was D&D - realluy glad to be back after Christmas and we had a fun roleplay-oriented evening with our wisdom damaged (and insane at the best of times) hobgoblin. Our witch also exploded a raven by healing it, because she's totally oblivious and didn't notice it was in fact an undead raven (and because her player wasn't paying attention the the fact the hobgoblin had killed a cupboard full of ravens and raised one from the dead). Tis a silly game, but I love it!

That sounds epic! I get to play D&D after a break tomorrow too! Though annoyingly without the player we left unconscious in a 4 poster bed cuddled up to the two dead orcs we killed for company... they'll have to be decomposed corpses by the time he gets back to playing!

[iatetheyeti]

Love this, following along for sure

 

...I might actually borrow the eat a raw vegetable for lunch thing. This would meant that first I would be having a lunch every day (it's the meal that suffers from most neglect due to my wonky work schedule), and second that it would persuade me into making a good lunch rather than buying a bad one.