phytomancer | Evil Minion Spy: The 6 Week-7 Kingdoms Challenge

[Phytomancer]

Phytomancer, the evil minion, had leveled up, and now his practical training has began in the Fantasy Realm.

 

The Minion is tasked from his masters to travel in 7 kingdoms within 7 weeks. He will wander the land, acquire information, and move to the next. The minion will be stripped of his kitchen and his exercise equipment. He will rely on the wind trail and his own body to help him get stronger.

 

The roads are plagued with danger, Chinese take out, McDonald, Sugary Drinks, and Driver's haze. Nonetheless, the minion must thrive and exercise. He will conquer all 7 kingdoms!!

 

Fitness Goal: Stay active and Eat Healthy (not much for six-week challenge, but it is what the minion can do.

 

   1. Work out three times a week in pushing, pulling, legs, and abs. (Hotel room workout/ gym)

 

   2. Run at least 3 miles on each kingdom. The kingdoms include: Champaign, IL; Chicago, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Washington, DC; Baltimore, MD; Taipei, Taiwan; and Bangkok, Thailand.

 

   3. Order salad/ greens as a meal at least 5 times a week.

 

   4. Allow one sugary drink a week.

 

Life Goal: Keep up with work, report, and creative writing

 

1. Finish at least one section of the both papers I am collaborating

 

2. Polish my research proposal

 

3. Write at least 10000 words-- of the same story!

 

Go Minion!

 

[Teirin]

Good grief, you are traveling a lot right now!  Hope you enjoy it.

 

That looks like a solid set of goals that work with the limitations you'll have on the road.  Do you have any travel exercise equipment you can use? 

[Phytomancer]

Good grief, you are traveling a lot right now!  Hope you enjoy it.

 

That looks like a solid set of goals that work with the limitations you'll have on the road.  Do you have any travel exercise equipment you can use? 

 

It's a part of my study. I guess I'll be having some fun.

 

I have a pair of running shoes. But no weight equipment. Some hotels might have a gym, and there is always the hotel room workout. I should be fine for now...

[Xena]

Good luck in this. Would love to hear if you come up with any particularly creative hotel/travel exercises.

[Teirin]

Ok, was thinking of these:  http://www.fitshop.ca/life-line-power-up-chin-up.html

 

I have a set for travel and they just go over a door.

[Phytomancer]

Good luck in this. Would love to hear if you come up with any particularly creative hotel/travel exercises.

I feel like I'll be doing a hell lot of push ups.

 

 

Ok, was thinking of these:  http://www.fitshop.ca/life-line-power-up-chin-up.html

 

I have a set for travel and they just go over a door.

 

I was actually struggling to find something to pull up to. That tool might be great!

[QuirkyDM]

Good luck with all the traveling. The first few times I did work trips, I enjoyed the takeout on the company budget. And after that, all I wanted every time I traveled was salads, wraps and normal foods. Well, and some wine, because work trips can be pretty stressful.

 

I'm always on the lookout for anything that looks like it'll support my weight for pull ups. Those chin up tools look pretty cool.

[Phytomancer]

First day: Urbana-Champaign

 

The Minion just kickstarted the race with some pre-training. He had run 11.8 miles on the day before. Now he had reached the spy facility and got to it. 

 

The first kingdom is a small town with a lovely grassland. Beware of the monsters in the grass! Birds as black as raven, painted with vivid orange circles on its shoulders will fly at you. Bees the size of your thumb will greet. And worse of all, the professors in exercise Lycra can appear from the bend of the grass to say hello and ask about your thesis progress any second!!

 

Food

Breakfast- Banana and Nectarine

Snack- Peanut, raisins, and chocolate chips

Lunch- Two boiled eggs, collard green+tomato+apple smoothie, banana

Dinner- Home baked Fish and Chips

 

Exercise

In his humble base, the Minion has a 30 lb weight and his body. The pull up device hasn't arrived.

His knee condition needs some rest, so there is no squat.

100 push ups

8x3 30 lb bicep curl

8x3 30 lb row

[Teirin]

Good, work with what you have and don't make the knee worse.

[Xena]

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Thanks for posting the pic, and beware of the profs in lycra!!

[Phytomancer]

My knee should recover enough for tomorrow's workout.

 

And the profs in general are everywhere. You meet them at the gym, in the park, out of the grass, and also at the seasonally deserted academic buildings. They always look so relaxed and happy. Sometimes you meet them performing live badasseries in a local bar. I guess there are no escapes from them if you live on campus during the summer.  

 

Some tells me I will turn into one of them after academia is over. *pfft* I don't know what they are talking about. My PhD program is going to take eternity.

[Phytomancer]

Day 2: Still in Cham-bana

 

Breakfast:  Banana

Lunch: Greens with Egg, nuked potato

Snack: Raisins, chocolate, peanuts

Dinner: Fish, Kimchi soup, brown rice

 

Exercise: Rest day.

 

Word count: 406/10000

 

Go minion!!

[Elastigirl]

Great start! I love minions, as a matter of fact I made my challenge minions this time, just cause they make me smile.

[Teros]

Chinese take out

My main weakness.  I don't know how anyone can't want lo mein, japanese cutlet, general tso's, beef teriyaki sticks, spring rolls, chicken and broccoli, pork fired rr.. ok I have to stop and eat breakfast.

[Teirin]

*poke*  update?

[Phytomancer]

Great start! I love minions, as a matter of fact I made my challenge minions this time, just cause they make me smile

 

They (we) are great!!

 

 My main weakness.  I don't know how anyone can't want lo mein, japanese cutlet, general tso's, beef teriyaki sticks, spring rolls, chicken and broccoli, pork fired rr.. ok I have to stop and eat breakfast.

 

 

Mine too, grease, salt, meat... what not to like?

 

*poke*  update?

 

 

Thank you Teirin, for a nudge. I need that!!

 

Day 3 and 4 are in Champaign. Busy work. I was rushing to meet work deadlines before the big trip, preparing work presentations, helping friends move, and saying good bye to parting friends.

 

Day 3: Breakfast: banana; Lunch: Fish and Kimchi Soup; Dinner: Tom Kha Chicken, Thai pork salsa, Chicken Panang, brown rice (party); Exercise: 100 push ups 50 burpees 100 squats 5 pullups. 

 

Day 4: Breakfast: Banana; Lunch; Thai Pork Salsa with 1/4 boiled cabbage; Dinner: White rice, stir-fried spinach, fried fish, pork belly. Exercise: Helping friend move the apartment for 3 hours.

 

Day 5: Day 5 is tricky-- I am on the place the whole time. I left my place at 6 am to travel to Taipei City.

 

Mostly, it's bus in the early morning, train in the afternoon, and plane for the evening and the rest of the night. During that time, I was hungry, stressed, and jet-lagged I ate anything that was served or offered to me. I think those, in the span of 30 hours, include:

 

Chicken wrap, Chicken teriyaki and rice, salad, brownie, ice-cream, ham sandwich, green tea, Yakisoba, peach jelly, Beef Bulgogi, salmon salad, coconut cake, croquet sandwich, chicken nugget, and sweetened red tea. I skipped the appitizer bread with was a GREAT help (notice the sarcastic tone.)

 

This is the first time I record the food I eat during transpacific travel. Whoa! It seems like a lot of junk! Now, if I cut all the dessert and skip maybe a snack meal, that would have cut a lot of unnecessary calories. I'll be making some trips like these soon, so I should come up with a strategy.

 

Of course, my physical activity include twitching in a roomy economic seat and walking to the restroom. A time like this I appreciate my stubby legs. They have a lot of room. 

[Phytomancer]

 

Day 6: The City of Taipei.

 

I know it's the end of the day in the US, but so far I have just been sleeping. Most things I ate during Saturday US time were included in the Day 5 record.

 

Exercise: 200 squats, 200 pushups.

 

I got the pull up pads, but my bag is too small for it to make this trip. (I tried to fit 8 days of clothings, laptop computer, and a pair of dress shoes in a school backpack) However, I got my body, so that should be enough weights for now.

 

Go Minions!

[Xena]

Travel is tough! Great job in getting some exercise done. I am personally hungry all the time and have a hard time on planes. I know I eat a lot, and on the plane I don't have much control over how much food I will get and when, so I tend to eat whatever they give me. The only solution I can think of is to bring more food with me. That's sometimes practical and sometimes not (especially with international travel and agricultural restrictions). If you think of any good strategies, I would love to hear them!

[Teirin]

Ugh, travel.The boredom alone would probably have you eating whatever was available, and you've got no control over what they have.  Your plan sounds good, trying to skip the deserts. 

 

Otherwise, you're doing great with food and exercise, especially considering all of the travel you're working around.  The sales guys I work with claim that the only available exercise while traveling is running.  Nope!

[Teros]

 

.A time like this I appreciate my stubby legs. They have a lot of room. 

Yeah, I'm all torso-tall.  When I had bronchitis, they needed to take 2 pictures just to get all my lungs. Legs though? Stubby.

[Phytomancer]

Travel is tough! Great job in getting some exercise done. I am personally hungry all the time and have a hard time on planes. I know I eat a lot, and on the plane I don't have much control over how much food I will get and when, so I tend to eat whatever they give me. The only solution I can think of is to bring more food with me. That's sometimes practical and sometimes not (especially with international travel and agricultural restrictions). If you think of any good strategies, I would love to hear them!

I feel I want to eat the local food when I travel, too, since it's nice to try new things... but some of those food might not be the healthiest. 

 

 

Ugh, travel.The boredom alone would probably have you eating whatever was available, and you've got no control over what they have.  Your plan sounds good, trying to skip the deserts. 

 

Otherwise, you're doing great with food and exercise, especially considering all of the travel you're working around.  The sales guys I work with claim that the only available exercise while traveling is running.  Nope!

You can do a lot, but running is still nice, though. You get to explore a lot that way.

 

 

Yeah, I'm all torso-tall.  When I had bronchitis, they needed to take 2 pictures just to get all my lungs. Legs though? Stubby.

I am stubby all the way. Hah! Glad that you recovered from bronchitis. It can get nasty sometimes.

 

Day 7:

 

Food: Breakfast: Two Chive buns, Noodle with eggs, blood, and potato greens, some kind of sticky rice in ginger syrup, Pork bowl with fermented veggies, and some kind of strange bakery I don't know how to describe.

 

Exercise: 7.5 k run. (About 4.5 mi) The Da-an forest park is really big. After seeing how elders of Taipei exercise, I will never mess with them. (The did a real Earth bending, sword dancing, fan dancing, Taichi, and also dancing to

.(The last one is admittedly more awesome than the rest)) 

 

Go Minion!!

[Teirin]

Oh, there's nothing wrong with running!  It's just not the ONLY thing available.

[Xena]

One thing I LOVED when I was in Taiwan (and a friend had a similar experience in mainland China) is that outdoor stretching and calisthetics and other exercise (more "eastern" style things) is part of the culture. So a tall American girl running and doing pushups in the park isn't any stranger than a tall American girl walking down the street, or going to a museum or anything else.

[Phytomancer]

Day 8: Lots of travel, Hiked for a few hours in a geopark, so I counted it as a rest day. 

 

Breakfast: pork buns, squash greens, smoked salmon, tomatoes. 

Lunch: Papaya salad, watercrest stirfry, tofu hotpot, chicken curry. (It's family style, so I have a few bites here and there.) White rice.

Dinner: My American colleagues missed American food after being here for a while, so we went to McD. I kind of understand, so I went with him. I gave my fries to him and ordered juice instead of soda to minimize to collateral damage. 

 

 

Day 9: I was in a conference from 9 til 6. Then I went out to dinner with the professors and colleagues. However, sometimes for excercise!

Breakfast: Banana, blood pudding, sausages, unsweetened soy milk.

Lunch: Conference box lunch-- Taiwanese food I can't name, but with some fried shrimp, salad, sea kelp, braised beef, pork ribs, white rice

Dinner: Celebration-- A LOT of red wine. Taiwanese food I can't named, family style. I tried at least a bite of everything. I only had one small cup of rice and stopped after I finished my rice to limit the damage. Nobody noticed (they're too drunk )

 

Exercise: 210 push ups. 210 squats. 1.30 min still squat. 1 min plank.

 

Go minions!!

[Xena]

Sounds like you are taking advantage of interesting opportunities, eating as healthy as reasonable and doing a great job fitting in some exercise. You haven't been complaining about the time change, so either you've adapted pretty well or you're just not a big complainer. Either is a pretty good trait :-)