Zombies, RUN!

[minutemix]

Okay here goes for my first challenge.

 

 

Me: Gary               Weight: 193               Height: 72"            Body Fat %: (Waiting for my body fat caliper to come in the mail.)

 

 

 

Goal 1 - 3 sets of 130lb bench press 15 reps each (5 STR) 45 pts.

 

I was going to do 100lbs because I have only done body weight training for the past 5 years, but when I got set up with my bench it was too easy.

 

Goal 2 - 5k in 24 minutes. (2 DEX 1 STA) 24 pts.

 

I'll be using my music and the Zombies, Run! app to track this one and for a bit of fun running from zombies and looking like a fool in my neighborhood. XD

 

Goal 3 - PALEO PALEO PALEO (2 CHA 2 CON 1 WIS) 42 pts.

 

Paleo, that is all.

 

Goal 4 - No more Dr. Pepper. (2 CON) 42 pts.

 

Yea, it does go with the no paleo thing, but honestly this could have been the WHOLE challenge for me. I literally chain drink Dr. Pepper all day (like 4 liters I'm not hyperbowling over here {Woah, hyperbowling! That'd be a good name for a really plain bowling alley! Where my grammar heads at? Ah, but I digress.})  

 

Ok, so this is my first challenge. I will try to update often, seeing as I work nights and has interwebs.

 

 

 

[minutemix]

Day 1

 

3 sets of 100 lbs bench press 10 reps each and a half hour run.

Mission 1 of Zombies, run! was pretty fun, but for some reason it didn't track my pace or distance my guess is about 2.5 miles.

 

I'm only eating raw foods except for 1 meal a day. Tonight we had paleo style spaghetti with spaghetti squash for noodles. It was really good!

I don't think I'll ever eat actual noodles with spaghetti again. Tomorrow night I'm making honey sesame chicken with cauliflower rice. (Hopefully not cauliflower mush.)

[faille]

Oh man, caulirice is SO GOOD you will love it! I downloaded the Zombies, Run! App but haven't tried it yet myself. Sounds like you are off to a good start!

[minutemix]

Oh man, caulirice is SO GOOD you will love it! I downloaded the Zombies, Run! App but haven't tried it yet myself. Sounds like you are off to a good start!

 

Thanks faille! The app is pretty fun I'll be sad when I finish all the missions since there aren't enough to last the span of the 6 weeks, but there are some repeatable ones. Stoked about the caulirice too! I've been wanting to try it for a while just been lazy.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Okay here goes for my first challenge.

 

 

Me: Gary               Weight: 193               Height: 72"            Body Fat %: (Waiting for my body fat caliper to come in the mail.)

 

 

 

Goal 1 - 3 sets of 130lb bench press 15 reps each (5 STR) 45 pts.

 

I was going to do 100lbs because I have only done body weight training for the past 5 years, but when I got set up with my bench it was too easy.

 

Goal 2 - 5k in 24 minutes. (2 DEX 1 STA) 24 pts.

 

I'll be using my music and the Zombies, Run! app to track this one and for a bit of fun running from zombies and looking like a fool in my neighborhood. XD

 

Goal 3 - PALEO PALEO PALEO (2 CHA 2 CON 1 WIS) 42 pts.

 

Paleo, that is all.

 

Goal 4 - No more Dr. Pepper. (2 CON) 42 pts.

 

Yea, it does go with the no paleo thing, but honestly this could have been the WHOLE challenge for me. I literally chain drink Dr. Pepper all day (like 4 liters I'm not hyperbowling over here {Woah, hyperbowling! That'd be a good name for a really plain bowling alley! Where my grammar heads at? Ah, but I digress.})  

 

Ok, so this is my first challenge. I will try to update often, seeing as I work nights and has interwebs.

 

Nice!  Zombies, Run! is the best app - kept me very engaged and even was the motivation for running on many days.  I'm liking their 5K training app as well.

 

Good luck!!

[minutemix]

Day 2

 

 

Workout - Rest day (my poor GD legs...) Will be doing 4 sets 100 lbs 10 reps each on the bench and mission 2 of Zombies, Run! tomorrow.

 

Diet - Sesame chicken with cauliflower rice (more like cauliflower mush) wasn't bad. I made bacon spinach fritatta for my dinner. So good. Then I had two bananas and a kiwi at work.

 

I stretched for a good 20 minutes instead of a workout. Hopefully I will stop getting sore from my workouts soon.

 

I am really enjoying finding new ways to prepare my favorite foods. I'm looking forward to having pizza with an almond meal crust maybe friday. And tomorrow we are having hamburger steaks with mashed cauliflower and grean beans!

 

No Dr. Pepper (but I have been looking for some sort of organic alternative for after the challenge XD)

 

 

Nice!  Zombies, Run! is the best app - kept me very engaged and even was the motivation for running on many days.  I'm liking their 5K training app as well.

 

Good luck!!

 

Sweet! I was thinking about trying out the 5k one too. Is it pretty intense like telling you to sprint and keeping you running or is it kind of set your own pace? And thanks for the support!

[minutemix]

Day 3

 

Workout - 4 sets 10 reps 100lb bench press, 70 squats, 3 mile run 30 minutes. Stretched for 5 minutes before and 15 minutes after.

 

Diet - Lunch: Hamburger steak lightly coated in gravy (My wife "Gravy's not paleo?" lol), green beans, and carrots.

        

         Snack: Handful of pecans and a cup of almond milk.

        

         Dinner: Leftover bacon spinach fritatta and 3 small oranges.

        

         Snack for work: 2-3 bananas.

 

         Second dinner (Lunch happens when I get up and I work from 1030 p.m. to 630 a.m.): Chicken, egg, and bacon on top of romaine, carrots, and a couple cherry tomatoes witha little all natural raspberry vinaigrette.

 

Mission 2 was fun and I was suprised that I was able to run as much as I did seeing how sore I still am. While I was out running I had the thought that it might be cool to keep a log of my Zombie missions in the form of a story basing it on how I actually felt during the run and what I accomplished. Here goes.

 

 

Runner 5's log.

 

After barely making it out alive from that run to the base, the town has welcomed me with open arms, and I've been given the designator "Runner 5". Abel is a small settlement with a tightknit community led by some major. Hopefully I'll be meeting him soon in the near future. Maybe he can shed some light as to why I am here in the first place.

 

I went on a run today with Runner 7. He's the lead runner and right away I could tell why. He is fast and you can tell he's had more than his fair share of run-ins with the zeds. We did a perimeter run so that I could get the lay of the land, and so he could test my ability with a few running excersizes. We came across a package hanging in a tree and quickly realized it was a supply drop that had missed its target. There were a couple zombies nearby, but 7 told me that if I pulled the release tab on the package, grabbed it, and put on a burst on speed I could get in and out with no problem. I went for it and sure enough, got away clean. I remember thinking, "Hey maybe this won't be so hard." Then, a few more zombies showed up. I heard a warning over my headset. Time to run. We got to sprinting and 7 quickly pulled ahead of me. He yelled back that I needed to hurry, and I quickly realized why. There was a zombie right on my heels! I picked up the pace, but not before the damn thing got ahold of my pack and ripped it. I didn't notice the rip soon enough and lost some of the supplies. When we got back to base, I expected to hear about it from 7, but instead he showed genuine concern for whether or not I was ok. This only added to the disappointment I felt towards myself for not being fast enough. I will train harder...

[faille]

While I was out running I had the thought that it might be cool to keep a log of my Zombie missions in the form of a story basing it on how I actually felt during the run and what I accomplished. Here goes.

 

I love the idea, but I feel like I can't read it because it will spoil me for my runs, lol!

Bacon spinach fritata sounds amazing.  Sorry you didn't have such a great experience with the cauli-rice.  How did you prepare it?  I make mine by roughly chopping it in the blender, then cooking it up with some coconut oil and cilantro.  It doesn't come out mushy.  Maybe more like a risotto than a longer grain rice in size.

[minutemix]

I love the idea, but I feel like I can't read it because it will spoil me for my runs, lol!

Bacon spinach fritata sounds amazing.  Sorry you didn't have such a great experience with the cauli-rice.  How did you prepare it?  I make mine by roughly chopping it in the blender, then cooking it up with some coconut oil and cilantro.  It doesn't come out mushy.  Maybe more like a risotto than a longer grain rice in size.

 

Oops! Sorry about the spoilers. Didn't even think about that. The fritata was delicious. I think I may have chopped the cauli too much. So, that plus the sauce it just kind of turned to mush. Ah well. Tis a learning process and I enjoy cooking food in new ways.

[minutemix]

Day 4

 

Workout -

 

Rest day.

 

Diet -

• Lunch: Stuffed eggplant and a cup of green juice.
• Snack: Apple.
• Dinner: Stuffed eggplant and a cup of green juice.
• Snack: So I got into to work today and was assualted with carbs. There was a small potluck feast of pizza, fajitas, fresh deer sausage, brisket, cake, pie, etc. ANYWHO I had a couple small pieces of sausage and a little brisket along with an apple.
• Work dinner: Carrots, romaine, strawberries and grilled chicken breast with a little vinaigrette.

 

So I was reading a bit on intermitent fasting and I think I'll give it a try. I started the day before the challenge with a juice fast so it shouldn't be too hard. I'll just fast on a non workout day once a week.

 

Also, I had to buy new pants a few weeks ago because I didn't fit any of my pants. Well now I don't fit those, but in a much better way. They were a bit big to begin with (a 36 waist when I should have been rocking the 35's) but now I could for sure get back into a 34.

[minutemix]

Day 5

 

Workout

 

Had a bit of a hectic day today. I had to bring my wife to the dentist during my sleep cycle, and my 3 year old was constipated all afternoon and crying. Add that to random errands I had to run and the day ended pretty quickly. However, I did get a good run in after my daughter went to bed and I'm pretty happy about it.

 

RUN: 5k in 29:04!

 

Diet

• Breakfast: Apple
• Lunch: Leftover fritata (not much) and an orange.
• Dinner: Chiken, spinach, and cheese omelet.
• Night dinner: I realized I hadn't really eaten enough for dinner since I'm gonna fast tomorrow. So, I ate a bit of ground beef and carrots.

Mission 3 was fun but I won't post the next Runner 5's Log until Sunday. I think I'll do 2 missions per log from now on.

 

Ugh its been a long day. I missed my bench press today but I'll get some tomorrow to make up for it. Going to bed now.

 

For the Horde! (of zombies)

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

 

 

Sweet! I was thinking about trying out the 5k one too. Is it pretty intense like telling you to sprint and keeping you running or is it kind of set your own pace? And thanks for the support!

 

The 5K training program starts out very gentle and has you doing short intervals of slow running.  It's gentle enough that I'm using it on my "rest" days to just do some short pickup intervals.  A lot like the C25K programs out there, but with the story line that they are getting "runner 5" in shape for the hard work to come.  It is between missions 1 and 2 (?) of season 1.  Lots of fun.  The writers and voice actors deserve some sort of award for this one. 

[minutemix]

LATE

 

Day 6

 

Wokout

 

Off Day

 

Diet

 

Today was my fast day.  Nothing till dinner.

 

Dinner: I ate some sticky chicken and a spinach ground beef and cheese omelet.

 

Snack: Apple, slice of watermelon.

 

Night dinner: Another omelet.

 

Fasting got me wanting sugar REALLY bad. Apple and watermelon handled it though.

[minutemix]

Day 7

 

Happy end of week 1 everybody!

 

It's been a great first week and its time to chart some progress.

 

Starting

 

Name: Gary                     Height: 72"                Weight: 193 lbs                     Body Fat %: ...

 

Current

 

Name: Gary                     Height: 72"                 Weight: 187.6 lbs                  Body Fat %: Still no fat caliper!

 

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but that looks like I lost 5.4 lbs in a week. Also, I bought 2 new pairs of jeans as my old ones were falling off and I got em on sale. Did I mention that my shirts are fitting better now? Anyways...

 

Workout

 

4x10 100lb bench press and an extra set of 7. More is more XD. Great week for the weight training although I did miss a day.

 

Mission 4 was great I actually outpaced the Zoms for the first time. I was walking and sprinting and came in at 30 minutes for 5k. After my run it took about 8 minutes to get my heartrate down and I didn't stop sweating for what felt like an hour. I really ran hard.

 

So, I don't know if its this diet or dropping the Dr. Pepper, but I am feeling great. I feel like I'm progressing in my workouts much quicker than I have in the past. It reminds me of how quickly I progressed in bootcamp without all of the yelling and fighting.

 

Diet

 

Snack: Pineapple chunks

 

Lunch: Beef stew (carrots, radishes, a little sweet potato, and beef)

 

Dinner: BEEF STEW!!!!! OM NOM

 

Night Dinner: Pear, banana, an orange, and... BEEEEEEEF STEEEEEW!

 

I really like beef stew.

 

 

SPOILER ALERT FOR ZOMBIES, RUN APP!

 

 

 

 

 

Runner 5's Log

 

 

I was heading out for a perimeter run today, and the gate locked up. They called in another runner and set us up as decoys to lure away the zoms while they fixed the gate. So, myself and runner 8 took off trying to lure all the zoms in the area towards us... great. Runner 8 moved about as quickly as me and she seemed to have a cough. The radio operator raised questions about it and she acted almost defensive about the inquiry and shut off our radio. We were running for a while and one of the zoms got close. She called out for me to duck down and shot it. Runners don't get guns. She said that the town provided it to help out the runners. Theres strike two. First she shuts off our radio and now this? And then came the final straw. She starts going on about how there's no way to know if I was even on the helicopter I rode in that got shot down. She went so far as to say that maybe I shot it down and looted a uniform! Obviously I'll have to watch my back around 8. So we kept running and she turned back on our radio. The operator gave her an earfull and warned us that we were surrounded on all sides, except for the north. She thought it to be a good opportunity to send the zoms towards another settlement that supposedly did the same to them not long ago. I didn't figure we had much choice being surrounded and all. Once the guards at the other settlement started firing on the horde behind us we looped back and made our way into town. The gate was repaired and I continued my run to give myself some time to process all that had happened.

 

While I was out, I received a transmission from Abel. A child was seen lost in the nearby zombie infested woods and they wanted me to try and save her. I went back into town, rehydrated and had a short rest. Then, I took off full speed towards the woods. As I got near to the child the operator warned me that someone was running up behind me. The man shouted for me to get away from the girl. I held my ground until the child identified this man as her father. He started telling me their backstory but we had to take off running when 5 zoms caught a wiff of us. He pointed me in the direction of a fuel point so that we could gas up his motorbike, and since he offered me some fuel in return for help; no choice. We ran out and filled our gas cans all while carrying his daughter Molly. Once we got back to the bike, he asked if he could join the settlement and made claim to being a mechanic. The operator heard and after he watched this man kill 2 zoms from his motorcycle with ease, he was jumping to let him in. Bringing in this guy plus the fuel and supplies I found made me a bit more popular in town as well. While we were out there, the man told me about a uniformed group of people who recently moved into the area. And we found the rocket launcher that was used to bring down my chopper. I hope to find out more details on the group later for now I'll just keep running.

[dolphan12]

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but that looks like I lost 5.4 lbs in a week. Also, I bought 2 new pairs of jeans as my old ones were falling off and I got em on sale. Did I mention that my shirts are fitting better now? Anyways...

 

 

 

Clothes that are too big?  Great progress!

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Katinka]

Keep up the great work! I'm also using Zombies, Run to help me get to one of my goals (5 miles or 1 hour of running) - it gets addicting!

[minutemix]

Keep up the great work! I'm also using Zombies, Run to help me get to one of my goals (5 miles or 1 hour of running) - it gets addicting!

 

Thanks for the support. I am really enjoying the story.

 

 

Now I'm no rocket surgeon, but that looks like I lost 5.4 lbs in a week. Also, I bought 2 new pairs of jeans as my old ones were falling off and I got em on sale. Did I mention that my shirts are fitting better now? Anyways...

 

Clothes that are too big?  Great progress!

 

Thanks! I checked out your post as well. Air Force huh? I'm Army myself. Bout to ETS in June. Good luck to you on your PT test.

[minutemix]

Week 2, Day 1

 

Workout

 

Off day

 

Diet

 

Lunch: 2 bacon strips, a handful of raw pecans, and a big glass of almond milk.

 

Snack: Watermelon and a banana

 

Dinner: Beef stew (we had a lot of leftovers)

 

Snack: Two bananas, an orange, and a grilled chicken salad.

 

(So I typed the below paragraph and realized that, apart from me, it wouldn't make sense to anyone. So here's a little backstory on minutemix. In 2007 an Army recruiter came to a young ranger's high school and told his class how great it would be to be in the Army. The young ranger agreed that it sounded like a fair deal and decided to enlist hoping to jumpstart his life after highschool with a real career {or at least a free ticket through college}. He signed a 5 year commitment with the Army and went on to do great things for his country. Fast forward a few years and our ranger is now a father and homesick. So, in order to bring up his daughter in the same the same environment that he was, the ranger decides to part ways with his Army family and return to his home. {Next month! XD})

 

So I took my wife and daughter to a park. We walked up to this creek that runs through the park to see some flowers, and the was a big snake gliding across the water. So, being the awesome dad that I am, I picked up Lucy (my daughter) and walked along the creek while we watched the snake. Lucy loves snakes. Later I found some blackberries growing near the creek and I had a snack. It reminded me of when my wife and I were dating how we used to go out walking for miles picking blackberries. I'll be glad when we finally move back home next month. Five years seems like a lifetime.

 

Hm that went on longer than I expected, and got a bit personal. Well it was nice reflecting on my day anyway. I'm thinking I may continue summarizing my days after this challenge ends.

[minutemix]

Week 2, Day 2

 

Workout

 

3x10 100lb bench press, 2x10 50lb barbell curls, 2x10 50lb barbell tricep extensions.

 

Mission 5 of Zombies, Run! app. I ran nonstop, sped up to a sprint for the zombie chases, and (once I had evaded the zoms) walked for a little less than a minute then repeated till I got back. 5k in 27:00 minutes!

 

Diet

 

Snack: Apple

 

Lunch: The top half of a chicken!

 

Snack: A big glass of green juice.

 

Dinner: The bottom half of the chicken!

 

Snack: A banana, a small orange, and some honeydew melon.

 

Night Dinner: Not sure if I want to eat the banana orange and carrots I brought with me for dinner or go to Wal Mart for a salad instead, but one of those.

 

 

So some things...

 

I am moving back home to Louisiana in less than a month and I thought of something. All this amazing food is going to be gone! I love my hometown and we've got some great cajun restaurants. What we don't have is the stuff I'm going to miss about living in San Antonio like burritos and tamales and awesome burger joints and pizza that isn't chain restaurant pizza. So, before I leave SA town I'm gonna have the MOST GLORIOUS cheat day. It really will be a spectacle to behold. I don't know when and I don't know where but soon. I know its counterproductive and I will deduct points from myself accordingly, but after having lived here for three years I know that my favorite things about this city are its skateparks and its food.

 

Aside from that I feel like I'm on track to meet or exceed my goals. I'm kind of worried about my bench, but I'm cruising towards destroying my 24 minute 5k goal and I haven't wavered in the paleo and Dr. Pepper department.

 

All in all I'm feeling good and having fun while becoming stronger and faster. GG

[Katinka]

Great job on the 5k time! I'm jealous!

[IKE]

A very impressive 5K time. Keep up the good work!

[minutemix]

Week 2, Day 3

 

Workout

 

Off Day (But I actually really wanted to go run.)

 

Diet

 

Lunch: Cheeseburger with a big pineapple slice (no bun), roasted carrots, and an apple, pecan, and spinach salad.

 

Dinner: 2 burgers and a banana.

 

Snack: Carrots and watermelon

 

Night Dinner: Brocolli egg and cheese omelette, and a huge (190 calorie) salad.

 

 

Nothing to report today, pretty boring except for the food. But the foods always great. Can't wait to go run.

[minutemix]

Great job on the 5k time! I'm jealous!

 

 

A very impressive 5K time. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks guys! Hopefully I can bring it down some more tonight. XD

[minutemix]

Alright! Time for some serious catching up.

 

Long story short, injuries, moving and work getting in the way of me having the time or will to come type updates on here.

 

I was out for a week from running due to a couple of injuries that turned out to be not that bad just slow healing.

 

I got back to running Zombie missions and running in the cold against some serious 30-40mph winds I managed to keep my time under 28 minutes for 5k. Not an improvement but not bad.

 

Week 3 recap!

 

 

Height: 72"                Weight: 184.8

 

Goals:

 

• I've been slacking on my strength training gonna try to get back on that grind.
• I'm still Dr. Pepper free and I don't even crave it specifically anymore. Though I do feel like I'm starving for sugar sometimes. Dried fruits saving me there.
• I'm running and skateboarding pretty regularly since the doc said I was good to go.
• Still on point with my diet and I'm looking leaner every day!

 

All in all not as strong as before, but I'm picking back up momentum. It doesn't look like I'll be posting as often now that my work schedule has changed. And I have a big move ahead of me so I'll be extra busy in the coming weeks.

[minutemix]

Week 4, Day 1

 

Workout

 

I didn't do strength training again. Sad face.

 

Major day for running though! 5k in 24:51! I did my sprints to get away from the zombies and I decided instead of walking to catch my breath I just kept on running. I still caught my breath with a bit of controlled breathing and I was able to shave almost two minutes and nine seconds off of my best run time! Only 51 seconds left before I meet my goal. Uber happy.

 

Diet

 

Being Dr. Pepper free is really nice.

 

Orange juice for breakfast, a lettuce wrap for lunch, a banana and a protein drink for a snack, and baked chicken and green beans for dinner.

 

 

So I need to get back on track with my strength training, but overall I feel great, getting leaner and lighter, and my run times are improving far quicker than I had anticipated. Nine working days until I get separate from the military and go back home. Fun times ahead.