[Jarric]

Jarric gaat naar Nederland 

(Jarric goes to the Netherlands)

 

This challenge is a bit of a placeholder right now. Zero Week has been mega busy as I worked on finishing stuff off in the 3 days before going on holiday. Now, on Thursday of Zero Week, I'm heading to The Netherlands with @Rhovaniel (I'm writing this on the train to the airport).

 

We're going to see some of Willy's old friends, and to run a race with them called Strong Viking. It looks like an absolute beast of a course - 19km (11.8 miles) of obstacles, with lots of water and plenty of mud - and I'm very much looking forward to it. After that we're spending a few days making a holiday of it, and I'll be home Thursday of week 1.

 

I don't yet have a plan for this challenge, other than that I'll write my goals up at the end of week 1 and then run a short challenge for weeks 2-5. So I guess that's my only goal for week 1. I do also plan to write a race report and check in here and stuff, whilst enjoying my holiday.

 

I do know a couple of things I'll be working on this challenge. Firstly, I'm going to start cutting weight. I've been bulking up for most of the year so far, I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I've gotten a lot stronger. Now though it's time to slim down, partly so that I'm carrying less weight when I run 22 miles up a mountain in September, and also because I'm starting to get more of a belly than I'd like. I don't want to cut too quickly as it'll affect my running training. There will be a spreadsheet.

 

Secondly, I'll be starting to experiment with creatine. I've never used it before, but the science seems pretty solid so I want to see how it works for me. If anyone has any experience of this I'd definitely be interested to hear it.

 

These two goals aren't a great combination, because a. creatine can initially cause a couple of pounds of weight gain, and b. it'll be hard to assess the efficacy of the creatine when I'm also expecting to be losing some performance in the gym from cutting calories. Unfortunately, there's not going to be a good time where I'm neither cutting nor bulking for a long while, so I will just have to make do. Possibly part of my goals this challenge should be trying to track both things effectively.

 

That's all from me for now - time you see how you're all getting on.

 

*    *    *

 

Edit 25/06/2023 - now with goals!

 

 

 Challenge goals

 

It's probably about time I wrote these, as I plan on starting them in week 2, and week 2 starts tomorrow. First off, a reminder of my 2023 road map:

  

On 12/29/2022 at 9:58 PM, Jarric said:

2023 road map

 

Last year I decided that, rather than post my road map for the year in a battle log and then forget about it, that I would put it at the top of my first challenge for the year, and then repeat it in every subsequent challenge. That worked fairly well, so I'm sticking with it.

 

I also decided last year to divide the things that are important to me into 5 pillars, and map each of those pillars onto a D&D stat. For how that went you can see my 2022 wrap up here, but the final result was as follows:

 

Level 17 Wood Elf Ranger

STR: 12  -  CON: 10  -  CHA: 3  -  SAN: 7  -  INT: 11

 

This year I'll be following a very similar format, trying to earn points to increase those stats as much as possible. I'll also be including some specific benchmarks within some of the pillars - not necessarily goals to hit (though I might well have challenge goals working towards them), but to see what I can tick off by the end of the year.

 

Exercise (Strength)

This pillar is all about the physical activities I do, be that OCR, climbing, crossfit, running, swimming, whatever. It also encompasses activity that enables those things, like yoga, physio, foam rolling etc. I don't separate between STR and DEX, because I don't really think that makes sense for the kind of things I do.

 

Specific benchmarks I'd like to hit:

• Complete Strong Viking in June Edit - June: done!  
• Complete Man vs Mountain in September
• Climb a font 7A
• Climb a font 6A outside
• Get reliable ring muscle ups
• Get reliable bar muscle ups
• Handwalk 12ft
• Learn to kip up
• Squatmas: 50 reps at 75% bodyweight, unbroken
• Deadliftmas: 50 reps at 100% bodyweight unbroken

 

I also need to plan out a few more OCRs, maybe a triathlon or aquathlon. I'd like to do a novice strongman competition too.

 

Nutrition (Constitution)

This is about putting the right things in my body (hey, if a joke ain't broke, don't fix it). That includes food, obviously, but also alcohol and caffeine, not smoking, basically whatever I consume. Currently I'm trying to bulk up a bit, and at the moment I anticipate cycling cutting and bulking for the year.

 

Creativity (Charisma)

This is a stat I didn't hit much all year, so I'm really keen to boost this stat in 2023. I think being creative is really good for me, and it's something I want to do more of. In order to enable this I'll probably also need to redress my work/life balance, to give me some more creative energy. This includes drawing/art, music, and D&D stuff.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Publish some of my own D&D content online
• Be prepared (enough) for every session of my D&D campaign
• Complete Inktober this year
• If I reduce my working days, use the extra day creatively

May edit: I'm now confirmed to be working 4 days per week from September, so I'll need to find away to use those creatively  

 

Self-care (Sanity)

2022 was a trying year, and 2023 is definitely going to have its challenges (though fewer of them would be nice). With that in mind I need to keep on with the little things that keep my mind in check - brushing my teeth, keeping in touch with friends, tidying my house, getting out of work on time. I got most of my points in this last year from brushing my teeth, a habit I hope I may have finally cracked (at the age of 33!). This year I want to get more points in this stat, and get them from more different activities.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Sort out the outhouse, and run power down there
• Get a price for the porch
• Paint my office
• Go away with friends Edit - June: though it wasn't the trip I was thinking of, I did have a great time in The Netherlands with Rhovaniel

Learning (Intelligence)

I like learning stuff for pleasure, and I need to do it for work. This encompasses my professional qualifications, language learning (currently learning Dutch and French), and anything else I want to study.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Complete professional qualification completed in April  
• Achieve extra qualification status
• Converse in French with a francophone
• Converse in Dutch in The Netherlands went to The Netherlands in June - 'converse' might be a strong word but I used a bit of Dutch!

 

*    *    *

 

Under the hood

Each challenge goal will have stats assigned to it, which I earn on successful completion, and over the course of the year I want to get all of my stats as high as possible. My character level is determined by XP (and has been for possibly all of my years on NF) - each stat point is worth 5XP and I level up every 100XP. There's no requirement to hit all of the stats every month, I can mix and match depending on what I need at the time.

 

Each month I will budget £250* as a bet against my goals. On pay day I will split that money. For the percentage of success I've had on my goals since the previous pay day I get to keep the money in my savings or spend it on something nice. For the percentages of goals I fail I have to transfer that money as an extra payment off my mortgage. The idea is that if I'm not improving future Jarric by hitting my goals I'll improve things for him by reducing his debt instead. This runs payday to payday, rather than with the challenge cycle, because it ensures that I actually have the money to pay the bet when it's due.

 

*Edit - this number is necessarily changing over the course of the year, because I've changed how I do my savings to earn more interest, and because I'll be taking a pay cut to reduce my working hours. There is still an allocation for this though.

 

And now, goals for this (slightly short) challenge.

 

The decisionist [+2 CON]

 

 

Tomorrow brings the start of the cutting phase of the year for me, and I'll be looking to lose 0.75% of my total body weight each week. The plan is simple; I'll track calories every day, weigh myself weekly, and adjust my weekly calorie target based on the week's results. For week 2 I'll start aiming for 21,000 kcal for the week (average of 3,000 kcal per day) and see what that does to my weight.

 

There will be a spreadsheet with expected weight from now until mid-August, when I plan to stop cutting for race season, and unless I get wildly out of sync with it I'll be aiming to follow that weight progression.

 

Scoring for this goal will just be based on whether or not I tracked every day - I find it better to score myself based on adhering to the process rather than the final result.

 

The muscle [+2 CON]

2 shakes per day, every day.

 

Last challenge I did this to experiment with a recovery shake, which I think helped a bit? This challenge is a slightly different experiment; I'll be adding creatine to the recovery shake every day. I probably won't see any results from the creatine this challenge, because it takes a few weeks to achieve muscle saturation, but we'll see how it goes.

 

There'll be some conflict between the improved performance I hope to get from the creatine and the drop in performance from cutting calories, so this requires a bit of introspection for me to consider if things are working or not. Remined me to talk about this please, so I remember to consider it!

 

De vertaler [+1 INT]

 

So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The first is to work on Dutch, using Duolingo, every day.

 

In The Netherlands I tried to use a bit of Dutch, but I'm about the level where I can ask for something in a shop and then not understand the answer  . On top of that, as soon as anyone heard my accent they immediately switched to speaking to me in English, because everyone in The Netherlands speaks excellent English as far as I can tell. After the race we went for a barbeque with the whole running group, some of their wives, and Willy's wife and children. It was really lovely, but they spoke to each other in Dutch a lot and I'd really have liked to be able to understand more of it.

 

I'll probably be going back next year for another Strong Viking, or maybe an Iron Viking (a marathon-distance Strong Viking), and I think with a bit of work I can complete the Duolingo Dutch course by then. Worst case I should get a big chunk of the way through. It's worth saying that the Duolingo Dutch course is much shorter, and not as good as, other courses like French, which is the only reason I think it might be possible to get through it.

 

Le traducteur [+1 INT]

 

So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The second is to work on French, using Duolingo, every day.

 

I've been doing ok at studying French by reading news articles and listening to podcasts and stuff, but I'd put French Duolingo on hold in the run up to the Dutch trip. Now that I'm back I want to make some progress on the Duolingo pathway, because I'm getting a little frustrated with not moving forward, and the only way to do that is to focus on it specifically.

 

The face [+2 SAN]

 

Brush my teeth, twice every day.

 

This habit remains slipped, so I'm going to focus on it some more.

 

And that's it. I've got a week off work in week 4, but that shouldn't affect my goals too much, so lets get on with it!

 

[DarK_RaideR]

Looking forward to the photos and race report. Have lots and lots of fun!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following. 

[sylph]

IME and in my reading, creatine is one of the only supplements that has enough evidence behind it to actually do something beneficial. It is no magic bullet, but seems to help bridge the gap between that last rep just NOT going up and actually moving. Those little increments add up over time. YMMV, but there are almost zero side effects for healthy people so there's basically no down side to taking it, since it's relatively cheap (or has been historically...with inflationary weirdness, who knows what will happen in the future)

 

Some folks do retain water on it and so shoot up a few pounds, but some don't. It should stabilize to at least give you a 'new baseline' to work from when tracking weight/measurements, whatever.

 

For way more in-depth info than you probably want, SBS has good, solid info (as per usual for them) https://www.strongerbyscience.com/creatine/

[Jarric]

5 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Looking forward to the photos and race report. Have lots and lots of fun!

 

Thanks dude! I aim to do so

 

 

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following. 

 

Good to have you mate.

 

 

2 hours ago, sylph said:

IME and in my reading, creatine is one of the only supplements that has enough evidence behind it to actually do something beneficial. It is no magic bullet, but seems to help bridge the gap between that last rep just NOT going up and actually moving. Those little increments add up over time. YMMV, but there are almost zero side effects for healthy people so there's basically no down side to taking it, since it's relatively cheap (or has been historically...with inflationary weirdness, who knows what will happen in the future)

 

Some folks do retain water on it and so shoot up a few pounds, but some don't. It should stabilize to at least give you a 'new baseline' to work from when tracking weight/measurements, whatever.

 

For way more in-depth info than you probably want, SBS has good, solid info (as per usual for them) https://www.strongerbyscience.com/creatine/

 

That all sounds really positive, thank you. I've already read the SBS article (it's the thing that convinced me to give it a go, actually), but I'll probably end up going over it again a few times as there's so much info there!

[Sovalis]

I hope you have a great trip and an excellent race. Looking forward to your race report and then cheering you on for the rest of the challenge!

[Jarric]

20 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I hope you have a great trip and an excellent race. Looking forward to your race report and then cheering you on for the rest of the challenge!

 

Thank you! Good to have you here.

[Jarric]

The trip's going well so far. My first train was cancelled but I still managed to get to the airport at a decent time, and the flight and accomodation and stuff all went smoothly. As I said I would in the general chat thread, I had one of these...

 

 

...followed by, let's be fair, quite a few more dark beers of various types. Ended up chatting way into the night, and had a bit if a sore head this morning.

 

Today I went for a lovely walk in the local park, and saw a duck guarding a next of ducklings, as well as coots, magpies, crows, and all sorts of other little birds. The I met up with Rho at the best bookshop I've ever been in...

 

 

...and going for a spot of lunch...

 

 

I came back to the apartment for a bit and had an afternoon nap (it's 29°C here and I went to bed late, so it felt like a reasonable plan), and I'm just summoning the energy to go and explore the city a bit more. Tonight will be a more controlled affair than last night, because tomorrow's race day!

[Sovalis]

That bookstore looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your photos! Happy racing! 

[DarK_RaideR]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

...followed by, let's be fair, quite a few more dark beers of various types

I'm almost going to be disappointed in you run the race without at least a mild hangover

[TimovieMan]

The creatin stuff is interesting. Will have to look into that more closely too... 😇

 

I'm learning so much on these forums...

 

 

 

 

Have fun with my Neighbours from the North! 😎

[Jarric]

On 6/16/2023 at 6:10 PM, Sovalis said:

That bookstore looks amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your photos! Happy racing! 

 

It was amazing! And thank you!

 

On 6/16/2023 at 6:50 PM, DarK_RaideR said:

I'm almost going to be disappointed in you run the race without at least a mild hangover

 

You'll just have to wait for my race report on that one

 

 

On 6/20/2023 at 4:27 PM, TimovieMan said:

The creatin stuff is interesting. Will have to look into that more closely too... 😇

 

I'm learning so much on these forums...

 

 

 

 

Have fun with my Neighbours from the North! 😎

 

Yeah, it's something that had totally bypassed me until now, which is surprising given how commonly accepted it seems to be.

 

And thank you! I've had a lot of fun

 

[Cheetah]

Have a great race!

[Jarric]

On 6/22/2023 at 5:27 PM, Cheetah said:

Have a great race!

 

Thank you mate - it was excellent!

[Jarric]

Race report - Strong Viking

 

Saturday was a good day. @Rhovaniel and I were up fairly early, to be picked up by A for an hour's drive to the race. After a pretty heavy night on Thursday, where we'd stayed out until 1.30am and drank rather a lot, Friday had been altogether quieter - just a couple of beers with dinner and a relatively early night before the race.

 

When we arrived we parked up and met up with the rest of the group - F, P, and E. We'd met A and F before, when they came over to the UK for Dirty Weekend with Willy last year, but were meeting the others for the first time. There wasn't much time for pleasantries though, as we got outselves ready, checked out bags in, and were coralled into the starting pen.

 

It was immediately obvious how much fun this race was going to be before we'd even started. The MC (who also owns Strong Viking, I believe) was standing above us on the Walhalla Steps, calling out to welcome people from all over the world and get us hyped. There was a pledge to leave no viking behind, and a warmup with loud music while gouts of flame shot into the sky. In no time we were off, climbing over the Walhalla Walls to begin our race.

 

This was Strong Viking: Water Edition, and it didn't disappoint on it's name, almost immediately having us run through the shallows of the large lake the course centered on. After a rope climb, where I forgot all of my technique, and a couple more basic obstacles, we were thrown back into the lake - this time for a full swim crossing. This was all very welcome, given the blazing sunshie with temperatures around 22°C when we started and about 28°C by the end (72°F and 82°F respectively). I made sure to dive fully under water while I had the chance.

 

After climbing another set of walls we hit the first of many water stops. All credit to Strong Viking, they managed to put on extra stops due to the weather and managed to staff them fully without issue - it's clearly a well run event. The first stop had Red Bull as well as water, so after a discussion about never trying anything you haven't planned on race day, I went ahead and had the Red Bull anyway.

 

Back on the course we were thrust into some surprisingly muddy trenches, showing that this wasn't just a water event, straight into a muddy crawl. We quickly washed that off in another river crossing, though we would soon re-apply it in an obstacle simply called Mud Mile.

 

Before Mud Mile we had the spear throw - this may be an unpopular opinion but it was much better than the Spartan race spear throw. We had much smaller, wooden targets to hit, meaning that accuracy was key, but there was no need for the spear to actually stick in the target. In the Spartan spear throw the rope to retrieve the spear is usually so tangled that the spear doesn't reach the target - no such problems here and I hit the bullseye with my first attempt.

 

The next obstacle was a heavy carry - appropriately we were each given a large wooden shield and Mjöllnir-style wooden hammer for a quick circuit. Then onto an obstacle which I wouldn't remember if it weren't for the name, which I asked F to explain to me. The obstacle itself was a simple traverse over a couple of poles that could move back and forth. It was called Fierljeppen. Once it was explained to me I realised that I had heard of Fierljeppen; in real life it's a sport that looks like this:

 

 

Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as impressive as that.

 

On we continued, past the very sad site of a flat bouncy castle that hadn't quite worked. Disappointment was short-lived however, as we moved on to some of the big-ticket obstacles. First was the Flying Ragnar - a leap of faith where we had to grab a swinging arm, fly out over a pit of water, ring a bell and drop into the pool. My hands barely grazed the bell, so I'm not sure if I could say it rung, but it was great fun. Here's a deeply unflattering photo of me mid fall:

 

 

After that is was a short run across the lake to Fjord Dro -, a massive, vertical-drop slide. Two of our number were scared of heights, and I'm seriously impressed that everyone got up to the top and went for it. To be fair, once you're sat down you have little choice - you cross your arms, cross your legs, and let the marshals push you. It was terrifying and amazing.

 

The final thing that I'd been worried about was Ice Man - an obstacle that plunges you into freezing ice water, and forces you to dive under walls to get out the other side. Thankfully it was so hot that a lot of the ice had melted, and although it was still bloody cold it was kind of refreshing.

 

As we got out onto the section of the course designed for the 19km runners (the longest distance), the obstacles got a bit more technical. There were rigs that had you crawling across gymnastics rings (I failed that one), an inclined salmon ladder where you had to jump a pullup bar up steps to the end, and various other tricky rigs. The carries weren't too bad, first there was a farmer's walk of about 50ft, which was probably designed to be lifted with two hands but that I was able to pick up one handed to save waddling with the weight between my legs. Then there was a massive queue, the only really excessive queue in the whole race, when we spent about 20 minutes waiting for the sandbag carry. The problem was that they simply didn't have enough sandbags, so people were just stood around waiting for other to come back. Where we got there I grabbed a big ass log to avoid waiting, and spent the whole carry trying not to swing round and knock someone out, slapstick style. The carry went on, and on, and on, and took us up a dry ski slope which was really the only proper hill on course, and by the end I wished I'd waited for a sandbag

 

The other obstacle of note on that section was the atlas stones. These were actually deadballs (so like atlas stones, but soft), weighing 40kg, 50kg, and 60kg respectively (88/110/132lbs). Each had to be lifted over a bar before moving on to the next, with the bars getting lower as the balls got heavier. Deadball cleans/loads are something we do in my gym every other week, so it was easy for me, which felt pretty nice.

 

Finally, after a couple of little bits and a heavy chain carry, we returned to the Walhalla Steps. This was incredible, standing on top of the steps that we'd stood below in the starting corral. Another wave were starting as we arrived, so we stood on top of the steps and danced, and hugged each other, and generally partied for a couple of minutes before heading down to the finish. For some reason there was a tiny little bar traverse called the Glory Bars, which felt pretty pointless after we'd thought the race was finished.

 

The final obstacle was genius though - pullups for beer. The beers were sat on top of a platform, so we had to grab the edge of the platform, do a pullup, and then snatch a beer off the top. It would have been better if the beer wasn't alcohol free, but it was a very cool idea, and a desperately needed refreshment.

 

All that was left after that was to take our finisher photos.

 

 

[Jarric]

Challenge goals

 

It's probably about time I wrote these, as I plan on starting them in week 2, and week 2 starts tomorrow. First off, a reminder of my 2023 road map:

  

On 12/29/2022 at 9:58 PM, Jarric said:

2023 road map

 

Last year I decided that, rather than post my road map for the year in a battle log and then forget about it, that I would put it at the top of my first challenge for the year, and then repeat it in every subsequent challenge. That worked fairly well, so I'm sticking with it.

 

I also decided last year to divide the things that are important to me into 5 pillars, and map each of those pillars onto a D&D stat. For how that went you can see my 2022 wrap up here, but the final result was as follows:

 

Level 17 Wood Elf Ranger

STR: 12  -  CON: 10  -  CHA: 3  -  SAN: 7  -  INT: 11

 

This year I'll be following a very similar format, trying to earn points to increase those stats as much as possible. I'll also be including some specific benchmarks within some of the pillars - not necessarily goals to hit (though I might well have challenge goals working towards them), but to see what I can tick off by the end of the year.

 

Exercise (Strength)

This pillar is all about the physical activities I do, be that OCR, climbing, crossfit, running, swimming, whatever. It also encompasses activity that enables those things, like yoga, physio, foam rolling etc. I don't separate between STR and DEX, because I don't really think that makes sense for the kind of things I do.

 

Specific benchmarks I'd like to hit:

• Complete Strong Viking in June Edit - June: done!  
• Complete Man vs Mountain in September
• Climb a font 7A
• Climb a font 6A outside
• Get reliable ring muscle ups
• Get reliable bar muscle ups
• Handwalk 12ft
• Learn to kip up
• Squatmas: 50 reps at 75% bodyweight, unbroken
• Deadliftmas: 50 reps at 100% bodyweight unbroken

 

I also need to plan out a few more OCRs, maybe a triathlon or aquathlon. I'd like to do a novice strongman competition too.

 

Nutrition (Constitution)

This is about putting the right things in my body (hey, if a joke ain't broke, don't fix it). That includes food, obviously, but also alcohol and caffeine, not smoking, basically whatever I consume. Currently I'm trying to bulk up a bit, and at the moment I anticipate cycling cutting and bulking for the year.

 

Creativity (Charisma)

This is a stat I didn't hit much all year, so I'm really keen to boost this stat in 2023. I think being creative is really good for me, and it's something I want to do more of. In order to enable this I'll probably also need to redress my work/life balance, to give me some more creative energy. This includes drawing/art, music, and D&D stuff.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Publish some of my own D&D content online
• Be prepared (enough) for every session of my D&D campaign
• Complete Inktober this year
• If I reduce my working days, use the extra day creatively

May edit: I'm now confirmed to be working 4 days per week from September, so I'll need to find away to use those creatively  

 

Self-care (Sanity)

2022 was a trying year, and 2023 is definitely going to have its challenges (though fewer of them would be nice). With that in mind I need to keep on with the little things that keep my mind in check - brushing my teeth, keeping in touch with friends, tidying my house, getting out of work on time. I got most of my points in this last year from brushing my teeth, a habit I hope I may have finally cracked (at the age of 33!). This year I want to get more points in this stat, and get them from more different activities.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Sort out the outhouse, and run power down there
• Get a price for the porch
• Paint my office
• Go away with friends Edit - June: though it wasn't the trip I was thinking of, I did have a great time in The Netherlands with Rhovaniel

Learning (Intelligence)

I like learning stuff for pleasure, and I need to do it for work. This encompasses my professional qualifications, language learning (currently learning Dutch and French), and anything else I want to study.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Complete professional qualification completed in April  
• Achieve extra qualification status
• Converse in French with a francophone
• Converse in Dutch in The Netherlands went to The Netherlands in June - 'converse' might be a strong word but I used a bit of Dutch!

 

*    *    *

 

Under the hood

Each challenge goal will have stats assigned to it, which I earn on successful completion, and over the course of the year I want to get all of my stats as high as possible. My character level is determined by XP (and has been for possibly all of my years on NF) - each stat point is worth 5XP and I level up every 100XP. There's no requirement to hit all of the stats every month, I can mix and match depending on what I need at the time.

 

Each month I will budget £250* as a bet against my goals. On pay day I will split that money. For the percentage of success I've had on my goals since the previous pay day I get to keep the money in my savings or spend it on something nice. For the percentages of goals I fail I have to transfer that money as an extra payment off my mortgage. The idea is that if I'm not improving future Jarric by hitting my goals I'll improve things for him by reducing his debt instead. This runs payday to payday, rather than with the challenge cycle, because it ensures that I actually have the money to pay the bet when it's due.

 

*Edit - this number is necessarily changing over the course of the year, because I've changed how I do my savings to earn more interest, and because I'll be taking a pay cut to reduce my working hours. There is still an allocation for this though.

 

And now, goals for this (slightly short) challenge.

 

The decisionist [+2 CON]

 

 

Tomorrow brings the start of the cutting phase of the year for me, and I'll be looking to lose 0.75% of my total body weight each week. The plan is simple; I'll track calories every day, weigh myself weekly, and adjust my weekly calorie target based on the week's results. For week 2 I'll start aiming for 21,000 kcal for the week (average of 3,000 kcal per day) and see what that does to my weight.

 

There will be a spreadsheet with expected weight from now until mid-August, when I plan to stop cutting for race season, and unless I get wildly out of sync with it I'll be aiming to follow that weight progression.

 

Scoring for this goal will just be based on whether or not I tracked every day - I find it better to score myself based on adhering to the process rather than the final result.

 

The muscle [+2 CON]

2 shakes per day, every day.

 

Last challenge I did this to experiment with a recovery shake, which I think helped a bit? This challenge is a slightly different experiment; I'll be adding creatine to the recovery shake every day. I probably won't see any results from the creatine this challenge, because it takes a few weeks to achieve muscle saturation, but we'll see how it goes.

 

There'll be some conflict between the improved performance I hope to get from the creatine and the drop in performance from cutting calories, so this requires a bit of introspection for me to consider if things are working or not. Remined me to talk about this please, so I remember to consider it!

 

De vertaler [+1 INT]

 

So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The first is to work on Dutch, using Duolingo, every day.

 

In The Netherlands I tried to use a bit of Dutch, but I'm about the level where I can ask for something in a shop and then not understand the answer  . On top of that, as soon as anyone heard my accent they immediately switched to speaking to me in English, because everyone in The Netherlands speaks excellent English as far as I can tell. After the race we went for a barbeque with the whole running group, some of their wives, and Willy's wife and children. It was really lovely, but they spoke to each other in Dutch a lot and I'd really have liked to be able to understand more of it.

 

I'll probably be going back next year for another Strong Viking, or maybe an Iron Viking (a marathon-distance Strong Viking), and I think with a bit of work I can complete the Duolingo Dutch course by then. Worst case I should get a big chunk of the way through. It's worth saying that the Duolingo Dutch course is much shorter, and not as good as, other courses like French, which is the only reason I think it might be possible to get through it.

 

Le traducteur [+1 INT]

 

So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The second is to work on French, using Duolingo, every day.

 

I've been doing ok at studying French by reading news articles and listening to podcasts and stuff, but I'd put French Duolingo on hold in the run up to the Dutch trip. Now that I'm back I want to make some progress on the Duolingo pathway, because I'm getting a little frustrated with not moving forward, and the only way to do that is to focus on it specifically.

 

The face [+2 SAN]

 

Brush my teeth, twice every day.

 

This habit remains slipped, so I'm going to focus on it some more.

 

And that's it. I've got a week off work in week 4, but that shouldn't affect my goals too much, so lets get on with it!

 

[Jarric]

Sorry for the wall of posts, but I also finally got round to scoring my last challenge, so that's here too:

 

  

1 minute ago, Jarric said:

Challenge wrap-up

 

Never got round to wrapping up this challenge, and I'm not going to spend a ton of time on it, but I did realise that this whole thing can be a spreadsheet

 

 

	The decisionist	The muscle	The second storey specialist	The cartographer	The camp-maker	The face
Week 0	6	7	7	7	1	6
Week 1	6	5	4	3	2	6
Week 2	6	5	3	5	1	5.5
Week 3	4	4	0	0	0	2
Week 4	5	7	3	5	4	3
Week 5	2	5	3	1	1	3
Total	29	33	20	21	9	25.5
Percentage	82.86%	94.29%	57.14%	60.00%	25.71%	72.86%
Stats	+2 CON	+1 CON	+1 STR	+2 CHA	No increase	+1 SAN

 

I forgot to track the last 2/3 days of week 5, so I might have done slightly better at the end, but I can't get points for what I haven't tracked. 

 

Honestly, I thought this challenge had been a bit of a flop, but actually those scores aren't too bad. Stretching will undoubtedly need a better strategy when that goal returns, and cleaning the house definitely needs a totally different tack, but overall I'm not too disappointed.

 

[Elastigirl]

The race and time with friends sounds amazing. Thanks for the race update and cool pic's! 

[Janus Echo]

What a Race Report! Your enthusiasm for the event is inspiring. It's always great to hear about fun, challenging, and well-run events like this!

[Jarric]

21 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

The race and time with friends sounds amazing. Thanks for the race update and cool pic's! 

 

Yeah, it was really good fun - definitely keen to do it again.

 

17 hours ago, Janus Echo said:

What a Race Report! Your enthusiasm for the event is inspiring. It's always great to hear about fun, challenging, and well-run events like this!

 

Thanks! It really was a good event - one of the best run I've been to I think.

[Jarric]

Today is day 1 of the challenge for me, so not much to report yet, but I did weigh in this morning at a nice, round, 180lbs (12 stone 12, about 82kg). Plugging that into my spreadsheet, this will be the plan for the next few weeks:

 

26/06/2023 - 180lbs

03/07/2023 - 178,65lbs

10/07/2023 - 177,31lbs

17/07/2023 - 175,98lbs

24/07/2023 - 174,66lbs

31/07/2023 - 173,35lbs

07/08/2023 - 172,05lbs

14/08/2023 - 170,75lbs

 

After that I'll be looking to maintain at about 170lbs (12 stone 2, about 78kg) until early November (when race season finishes), and then cut down to about 160lbs (11 stone 6, about 72.5kg) but the end of the calendar year.

 

Now, I have no way of weighing myself accurate to one decimal place, let alone 2, and I expect to fluctuate round these numbers a fair bit, but that's the framework. All I really need to know is if I'm ahead or behind of the plan.

[juliebarkley]

  Such an awesome race, and it sounds like the rest of your trip was wonderful too!.

 

On 6/15/2023 at 12:59 AM, Jarric said:

I've been doing ok at studying French by reading news articles and listening to podcasts and stuff, but I'd put French Duolingo on hold in the run up to the Dutch trip. Now that I'm back I want to make some progress on the Duolingo pathway, because I'm getting a little frustrated with not moving forward, and the only way to do that is to focus on it specifically.

If you ever want to practice your speaking skills, hit me up. As long as you are good with a Canadian accent. No pressure of course, merely an offer.

 

On 6/25/2023 at 11:04 AM, Jarric said:

The other obstacle of note on that section was the atlas stones. These were actually deadballs (so like atlas stones, but soft), weighing 40kg, 50kg, and 60kg respectively (88/110/132lbs). Each had to be lifted over a bar before moving on to the next, with the bars getting lower as the balls got heavier.

I've never done any races like this and they sound like a lot of fun, but things like this have me a little concerned. The final weight weighs more than I do and I am not tall, so naturally it would be a lot harder to lift it over a set height than it would for someone taller and heavier, and the potential for injury higher. Do they have variations of the obstacles at all for different-sized people in most races? Or is it the kind of thing where a smaller person would have an advantage at some other kind of obstacle, so it balances out?

[Jarric]

7 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

  Such an awesome race, and it sounds like the rest of your trip was wonderful too!.

 

If you ever want to practice your speaking skills, hit me up. As long as you are good with a Canadian accent. No pressure of course, merely an offer.

 

Thank you, I may well take you up on that (possibly later this year if that's ok, when my French is a little better and my work hours are a little shorter).

 

7 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

 

I've never done any races like this and they sound like a lot of fun, but things like this have me a little concerned. The final weight weighs more than I do and I am not tall, so naturally it would be a lot harder to lift it over a set height than it would for someone taller and heavier, and the potential for injury higher. Do they have variations of the obstacles at all for different-sized people in most races? Or is it the kind of thing where a smaller person would have an advantage at some other kind of obstacle, so it balances out?

 

Obstacles with weights have gender splits in some races, but it varies. At Strong Viking I'm pretty sure the deadballs were lighter on the women's side than the men's side, but I think the sandbag carry was the same for everyone? Whereas I'm pretty sure the Spartan sandbag carry has different weights for men and women. I think Strong Viking also had 3 different heights for the rope climb, and often wall climbs will have a step on one side for shorter runners.

 

The more gymnastic elements of races (rings/monkey bars/rigs etc.) probably favour someone with a climber's build over someone built like a power lifter. And the distance running element is better suited to lighter competitors, so there is a bit of balance for different body types. The balance also depends on the race - the OCR world championships like a lot of rigs, whereas Spartan really love their heavy carries.

 

The other thing to remember is that you can always skip an obstacle if you don't fancy it. It's in the spirit of the event to give stuff a try, but unless you're competing you can always walk around an obstacle if something is beyond your ability or doesn't feel safe. Strong Viking and Tough Mudder don't even give you timing chips in the public waves, so you really have no idea how you finished compared to others; it's more of a personal challenge.

 

All of which is to say - I think you should try a race like this.

[Rhovaniel]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

Obstacles with weights have gender splits in some races, but it varies. At Strong Viking I'm pretty sure the deadballs were lighter on the women's side than the men's side, but I think the sandbag carry was the same for everyone? Whereas I'm pretty sure the Spartan sandbag carry has different weights for men and women. I think Strong Viking also had 3 different heights for the rope climb, and often wall climbs will have a step on one side for shorter runners.

Agreed. I can't remember exactly what the weights of the deadballs were on the women's side, but ours were definitely lighter. Enough to be heavy AF, but I definitely did not pick up 60kgs. Sandbag carry was either the same or the bags were in such short supply you just grabbed whatever came round first (like a log!) Also, you are very rarely alone for these things, even if you enter solo. Things like walls and such, nearly always someone will give you a boost, or a hand. I'm fairly sure someone gave me a boost so hard at one UK race I all but fell over the other side!  

 

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

All of which is to say - I think you should try a race like this.

I agree with Jarric. You should definitely try one. 

 

 

 

[Jarric]

23 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Agreed. I can't remember exactly what the weights of the deadballs were on the women's side, but ours were definitely lighter. Enough to be heavy AF, but I definitely did not pick up 60kgs. Sandbag carry was either the same or the bags were in such short supply you just grabbed whatever came round first (like a log!) Also, you are very rarely alone for these things, even if you enter solo. Things like walls and such, nearly always someone will give you a boost, or a hand. I'm fairly sure someone gave me a boost so hard at one UK race I all but fell over the other side!  

 

I agree with Jarric. You should definitely try one.