ShadowLion - Becoming a Master Huntress

[ShadowLion]

This my new and improved, fiercely focused battle log, in which I stop dabbling, get tough, and pursue mastery.

 

This challenge is a continuation of the Major Quest I started at the beginning of 2014 - "Becoming the Shadow Lion" - and I expect to deliver noticeable progress in several specific areas by May 30th. This is my seventh challenge, and the third (of at least seven) this quest cycle.

 

My Commitment for 2014

is to participate in seven consecutive NF challenges with the following definite aim:
 

To overcome my current limitations and

(physical disability, bad habits, faulty beliefs and attitudes)

attain a high level of fitness and a healthy body weight,

through a strategic combination of healthy eating,

targeted physical activity, and systems design.

~ My Aim is Driven by My Motivation ~
I resolve to not die with my best dreams and work still inside me
For I can bring beauty, joy, and healing into the world through my art, music, and writing

~ To accomplish My Aim, I must pursue My Main Quest with drive, determination, and discipline ~
"I am as unstoppable as the Shadow Lion!"
This is my new battle cry when tempted to skip training, indulge in sugary foods, or slack on my practicing...

Day by day, I plan to gamify my challenge and draw inspiration

from the best qualities of my hero and literary creation,

Ariel ha' Cathach, the "Shadow Lion."

Note: Major rewriting has been occurring and my protagonist has a new moniker.

I plan to continue as ShadowLion for Nerd Fitness purposes,

for simplicity's sake, and just because I like it.

 

I will still be modeling my fitness, health and creative pursuits after my protagonist,

as she's still a "ranger's ranger" who's kickass fit, doesn't take "No" or "You can't" for an answer,

never gives up on her main objective, and always, always, always follows her heart.

She is utterly committed to her friends and family, and believes in herself and her mission.

[Beaucastle]

Subbed.  Looking forward to seeing you in action!

[ShadowLion]

"Preamble" removed from April 14 - May 30 challenge thread.

 

After years of living in a cage of my own making, is it any surprise that this cat became fat, depressed, and bored with her life? Last challenge, journaling about my moods and food cravings revealed a distinct pattern and its extent. I overeat when I am bored - and I am bored A LOT of the time. I've hidden from that fact by creating a busy, busy schedule, full of distractions and drama, spiced up with a lot of self-created stress, chaos, and clutter. That allowed me to avoid the discomfort of truly stretching myself creatively and of exchanging my chronic dilettantism for the rigors of mastery.

 

While I love teaching kids, it is not challenging to me as a musician. And, I often sacrifice my own musical development time to provide unpaid extras for students - special pieces and arrangements, musical games, etc. As an independent businesswoman, that is pretty stupid. As an older, childless woman who wanted kids, it is understandable, but still kind of stupid, because it is about my needs, not theirs. That is not being a good teacher and does neither my students, nor me, any favors. How much better an example would I be if I fully realized my own musical goals and served to inspire my students, rather than scattering my energies and just getting by on what I once played so well?

 

Oh, and my decision last challenge to complete my old fire science certificate/degree, raises some additional questions and dilemmas to confront, as does my renewed interest/work/progress in my art and writing. Time to get tough. Choices must be made and priorities determined.

[ShadowLion]

Subbed.  Looking forward to seeing you in action!

 

Thanks! Now let's go get this thing - yeah!

[Beaucastle]

in your honor I got down my old saxaphone, (actually it belongs to one of my kids but he doesnt play it anymore and its been in a closet for years.)  I need new reeds, but I think I'll try learning scales again.

 

I had 2 months of lessons back in the 80s.  Something to do for fun on a fluff day.

[SevenofSeven]

Hey SL,

Looking good. Hope you don't mind if I drop in every now and then.

[ShadowLion]

in your honor I got down my old saxaphone, (actually it belongs to one of my kids but he doesnt play it anymore and its been in a closet for years.)  I need new reeds, but I think I'll try learning scales again.

 

I had 2 months of lessons back in the 80s.  Something to do for fun on a fluff day.

 

Cool! I'm glad I inspired someone to practice their scales - can't tell a music teacher anything much better than that!

[ShadowLion]

Hey SL,

Looking good. Hope you don't mind if I drop in every now and then.

 

Heya, Seven - glad you stopped by!

 

Have you checked out the Cutlasses group for this challenge? Plenty of room in the crew, if'n yer so inclined...aargh.

[IslandGirl_Becks]

Subb'd! You got this You're making me remember that guitar gathering dust behind my couch...

[ShadowLion]

Subb'd! You got this You're making me remember that guitar gathering dust behind my couch...

 

Poor little thing...it needs some attention!

[ShadowLion]

Shadow Lion Scorecard

 

Fitness (60% of total score)

BODY COMPOSITION (15%)

Bodyweight ~150#, +/-5# as long as body fat % is at 20% or less using the U.S. Navy Body Fat Calculator. This tends to be a little under actual, so a DEXA scan would be even better, acceptable BF% < 24%.

POSTURE (5%)

Height of 5 feet 6.5 inches or better. Achieved in 2014, Challenge #2.

STR/STA/DEX (40%)

Endurance (20%)

Run 1.5 mi in < 11:30

Work Capacity Test of 45# pack carried 3 miles in under 45 mins @ under 1,000 ft. elevation or time-adjusted equivalent.

Jump rope continuously for more than 3 minutes (5 mins?), cadence to be determined

VO2Max of 42kg/L minimum, 45kg/L better

Strength (20%)

5 Pullups in less than one minute

25 Pushups in less than one minute

45 Situps in less than one minute. Achieved in 2014, Challenge #2.

1.5x bodyweight benchpress or bodyweight equivalent (one-arm pushup? handstand pushup? weighted pushup?)

 

Burpee Quest (10% of total score)

Phase 1 - 55 burpees in under 30 minutes

Phase 2 - 55 burpees in under 15 minutes

Phase 3 - 56 burpees in under 9 minutes

 

Other (30% of total score)

SKILLS, PREPARATION, AND KNOWLEDGE (20%)

Warrior Mindset (10%)

Affairs in order - Will made and notarized, kept up-to-date; digital assets accounted for; finances and business in order such that everything could be taken care of appropriately in case of my sudden demise

Effective and efficient systems in place for all aspects of daily life to increase productivity and allow time for my priority activities. Kanban board; Paperless office; Library scanned; converted to ebooks, and archived; computer backed up

Deal with the things I put off - House decluttered and regularly maintained; determine what to do about trailer and get a plan in place; clean out sheds; paint the deck

Outdoor and Emergency Skills, Preparation, and Knowledge (5%)

First Aid & Survival Skills, Disaster Preparedness - Knots, ropes; family disaster plan prepared, reviewed and practiced on regular basis, including animals; evacuation kits and shelter-in-place supplies and kits up-to-date; smoke detector and CO2 detector operational and tested regularly; kits in cars, at home and on person; keep track of weather, signed up for weather and emergency alerts; consider renewing ham license and getting a radio again

Camping and hiking, back-country driving - Tools, basic auto repair supplies, and winter/summer kits in vehicles; go through all camping and outdoor equipment and repair as needed, provide for emergency power needs for cell phones, radio; Hike! Plan some day trips and get out and enjoy the desert and the mountains - do at least three.

Martial Arts (5%)

Tai Chi - Form memorized and practiced on a regular basis

Tai Chi Saber - Exercises and Form memorized and practiced on a regular basis

Filipino Arnis - Stick work and open hand skills, forms memorized and practiced on a regular basis

Bonus - Baqua and/or Krav Maga classes, Tai Chi straight sword study

 

CREATIVITY, IMAGINATION, INTUITION, AND AWARENESS (10%)

Art - Maintain a sketchbook and complete at least three works of art

Music - Rebuild and maintain my performance repertoire for guitar and harp; build violin repertoire and get back to ensemble playing (orchestra or fiddling)

Writing - Finish the first novel of the series

Meditation/Awareness/Intuition - Daily quiet time, maintain personal journal which includes observations, awareness exercises, dreamwork, etc.

[Beaucastle]

WOW   that is some list.   I am so impressed!

[ShadowLion]

After being totally confused about how to structure things, I think I have finally figured out how to roll parts of this into my next challenge and make it all work with my "Forty Weeks to Fire Fit/Wildfire Academy" quest. The above is going to form the basis for my Epic Quest, and the Fire quest will be a subset. a big subset, but it makes sense for it to be just a part of the Epic Quest. Some of the above things will be years in the doing, I imagine. And I still haven't added in my other business, creative projects, and my goals for revamping my property near Flagstaff.

[SevenofSeven]

Forty Weeks to Fire Fitness?

Becoming a fire fighter? Sounds intriguing.

[ShadowLion]

Forty Weeks to Fire Fitness?

Becoming a fire fighter? Sounds intriguing.

 

Especially since I'm 55. But, I've done it before and I know what I'm getting myself into. I figure that I can at least get back onto a wildland engine crew, but I'm aiming to be fit enough to work on a hand crew, anyway. Going to be a bit strange starting out at the bottom again after having been an officer. I've been out of it for about eight years, but should be able to ramp back up pretty fast on skills and knowledge. Got a ways to go on the fitness, though!

[SevenofSeven]

Fantastic, I know our bushfire crews have people in their 60's manning the trucks and pumps, I am thankful they are doing a job I cannot. My hat off to you!

[ShadowLion]

A lot of that with the brush trucks here, too, plus a very few on hand crews. I'll aim for the highest level of fitness. If it turns out that I can't cut line with the whippersnappers anymore, I can still be an "engine slug."

[Beaucastle]

its awesome that you can do this, and you CAN do this.  So proud of you.  I'm currently searching for a goal like yours... something that is of consequence, nothing so far that jumps out at me.  Watching you gives me inspiration!

[ShadowLion]

Doing my best - I have a long way to go yet.

 

Aw, shucks. You're making me blush...

[ShadowLion]

Shadow Lion Scorecard (above) will be stripped of scoring and form the backbone of my epic quest. My bucket list, my Renaissance Rebel creative quests, and any other items will be appended to it as "modules" that will form the basis of future challenge goals. Scoring will be moved to the "Fire Fit in Forty Weeks" Main Quest.

[ShadowLion]

Got the general Battle Plan for my Fire Fit in Forty Weeks Main Quest posted over on the Epic Quest thread and am pasting it in here to use as the basis of my detailed Battle Plan. That will be fully developed between now and the start of the next challenge. I've done a lot of research and have a fairly good idea of the training progressions, just have to do a little road testing to see where my actual start point will be on walk speed, heart rates, and estimated VO2Max. I may have to wait another couple of weeks before I can resume some of my upper body strength training again, too, as my elbow is better, but there are still some tender spots when handling weight or palpated.

 

BATTLE PLAN

There are five main components to my plan:

 

Fitness

Most of the endurance and strength numbers are recommended minimums for various positions. I will be shooting for higher levels and supplementing with strenuous hiking, interval runs, heat conditioning, and tool handling/line cutting drills (chain saw, shovel, pulaski, etc.) the closer I get to the beginning of the season. I plan pay particular attention to periodization of training and only increase volume gradually, as injuries have been an issue for me at my age. My muscles tend to respond faster to training than my connective tissue.

 

Endurance

Work Capacity Test of 45# pack carried 3 miles in under 45 mins @ under 1,000 ft. elevation or time-adjusted equivalent.

Jump rope continuously for more than 3 minutes (5 mins?), cadence to be determined

VO2Max of 42kg/L minimum, 45kg/L better

Run 1.5 mi in < 11:30, 10:35 better

 

Strength

5 Pullups in less than one minute

25 Pushups in less than one minute

45 Situps in less than one minute.

1.5x bodyweight benchpress or bodyweight equivalent (one-arm pushup? handstand pushup? weighted pushup?)

 

Durability

Posture work for head, neck and spinal alignment, strength, and to maintain my height at 5 feet 6.5 inches or better. 

Stability and mobility as needed to "prehab" any structural or alignment flaws, and flexibility issues, particular attention to hip flexors, ankle strength, rotator cuffs, injured elbow, knees and hips, as I work up to running, adding pack weight, and heavier lifting, while still being overweight. And an old fartlette.

 

Nutrition

High-quality, nutrient dense foods with an eye to maintaining endurance and muscle, while trimming off excess weight. I will learn to tailor my macros to the particular phase of training.

 

Body Composition

Bodyweight ~150#, +/-5# as long as body fat % is at 20% or less using the U.S. Navy Body Fat Calculator. This tends to be a little under actual, so a DEXA scan would be even better, acceptable BF% < 24%.

 

Rest, Recovery & Stress Management

Adequate rest will be critical to my success, as will managing stress and providing for relaxation.

 

Skills, Drills, Knowledge & Training

These will supplement and coordinate with my physical training according to my periodization schedule, shifting to more skill based workouts as fire season approaches and spending more time on skill and knowledge review and applications.

 

Attitude

Cultivate the inner strength and resilience I need to face fighting fire and the various other work demands, and to progress in responsibility and rank.

 

 

The above is planned to culminate in my attendance at the Arizona Wildfire Academy in mid-March of 2015, and to successfully complete the requisite training and testing to obtain my IQS "Red Card" as a wildland firefighter for the 2015 fire season.

 

The specifics of all of the above will be detailed here, on my Battle Log, and broken into specific goals, quests and missions as appropriate to the next 6+ challenges.

 

Longer term goals include:

Become certified as an EMT-B in Arizona again
Renew my HazMat certification and additional certs related to EMS and structural firefighting
Become a company officer, able to assume a leadership role and the responsibilities of incident command again

[Beaucastle]

OH WOW.   You are so very organized.  I'm impressed beyond words.

[ShadowLion]

Gotta be! I am attempting the nearly impossible...

 

Now I just have to turn all that organized thinking into organized ACTION!

[ShadowLion]

Rounded off my stat points just because all those extra numbers were bugging me. Lost a half point in the process, but this makes me happier.

[SevenofSeven]

Still looking good though!