ChasingBoston heeds The Call

[ChasingBoston]

Our grace-fallen hero finds himself on hard times. His edges have rounded and softened and his tough is no longer enough. The wind no longer calls his name, the trees no longer beckon him on, and the earth no longer caresses his feet. Where once he would venture out with little cause, he has now found himself... Suburbanized.
But from the comfort of his warm abode a distant voice catches his ear. The voice pleads and cajoles. It prods and spurs. It lights a fire that first warms and the engulfs him until he rushes headlong from his cozy den into the froth of the wild. There is a foe that remains unconquered. A cry that begs to be answered and a trail that must be run.
The Hundred has woken and it calls...

Main Quest: Conquer The Hundred (100 mile run)

Quests:
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Quest 1: Short runs of 20-30 minutes at least 3 days a week. Long runs weekly, starting at 5 miles, increasing 10%/week with every fourth week a shorter run.

Measurement: A = 5+ runs/wk; B = 4-5 runs/wk, C = 3-4 runs/wk

Reward: A = +3 STA, +1 CON, +1 STR; B = +2 STA, +1 CON, C = +1 STA
-----
Quest 2: Cook Dinner at least once a week. Ordering pizza doesn't count.

Measurement: A = 2+x a week; B = 1-2x a week; C = <1x a week

Reward: A = +3 CHA, +2 CON; B = +2 CHA, +1 CON; C = +1 CHA
-----
Quest 3: Keep a food journal of everything eaten over 6 weeks.

Measurement: A = Log every day (42); B = Log 90% of days (36); C = 80% (30)

Reward: A = +5 WIS; B = +4 WIS; C = +3 WIS
-----

Life Quest:
Start flossing daily instead of average of every other day.

Motivation:
Because it's there.
Because I can.
Because I want to be a better role model for my wife and for my kid.

[lishvicious]

Welcome to NF and congratulations on starting your first challenge. Nice solid goals here - I hope you knock it out of the park!

[shaar]

I love to run, but I'm absolutely terribad at it. Running for 20 minutes without feeling like I was about to blow up would rock! Good luck with your goals and run like the wind!!

[Amdhiel]

I second what Lish said re the welcome, glad to have you on board! 

[Blaidd]

How many times a week do you normally cook?  Once a week still lends to eating out the est of the time.

 

I notice that you've added a Scouts' tag to your thread.  This isn't to pigeonhole you into particular guild, but rather to bring one of their ambassadors here to offer you encouragement, support or advice.  Your goals fit well with the overall spirit of their guild and you are more than welcome to pop into their Tavern and introduce yourself to them.  You are also more than welcome to pop me a message anytime. 

 

Good Luck

AB xx

[blkhole24601]

Run 100 miles straight through? Like, the ultimate ultra marathon? That's incredible! Any specific race you're looking at?

 

Cooking twice a week is a fantastic goal, especially if you haven't been, and I think you'll find that homecooked meals trump take-out and fast food always. Can't wait to see what recipes you try out! Best of luck to you!

[ChasingBoston]

How many times a week do you normally cook?  Once a week still lends to eating out the est of the time.

We eat out pretty sparingly, my wife does the cooking almost every night (she doesn't think much of my cooking skills), but I want to take at least some of that off of her. That's why I made it primarily a CHA quest.

[blkhole24601]

We eat out pretty sparingly, my wife does the cooking almost every night (she doesn't think much of my cooking skills), but I want to take at least some of that off of her. That's why I made it primarily a CHA quest.

 

I know I can't speak for your wife, but I find that a man who can cook to be very attractive, so CHA is very apt!!

[ChasingBoston]

Run 100 miles straight through? Like, the ultimate ultra marathon? That's incredible! Any specific race you're looking at?

Cooking twice a week is a fantastic goal, especially if you haven't been, and I think you'll find that homecooked meals trump take-out and fast food always. Can't wait to see what recipes you try out! Best of luck to you!

No particular race in mind, I may even skip the race brouhaha altogether and just map out my own run and solo it.

[manelsen]

Your description reminded me of this music:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Jv2vAauaA

[ChasingBoston]

Your description reminded me of this music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Jv2vAauaA

Good stuff. And an interesting cover of "Heaven is a Place on Earth" to boot. Have you ever heard of The Widow's Bane? http://youtu.be/iY1SDW3AB-4

[T2sarahconnor]

Welcome to the Rebellion!

Great goals. I was exhausted just reading about your running.

Great idea to help out in the kitchen!

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your success.

[Bonsai]

A 100 mile run? Do people do that?! I'm baffled! Good luck with your quest, and don't forget to crush some skulls!

[aeshnidae]

A 100 mile run? Do people do that?! I'm baffled! Good luck with your quest, and don't forget to crush some skulls!

 

Google "Leadville 100." I have 2 friends who completed it. I cannot even imagine! 

[shaar]

Google "Leadville 100." I have 2 friends who completed it. I cannot even imagine! 

 

 

100 miles AND it starts at 4 am?!?!  

 

I .... I just ....

 

[ChasingBoston]

When you're looking ahead to as much as 30 hours of running at high altitude, starting time is pretty irrelevant.

Sent from my Moto X

[ChasingBoston]

Here are some questions to put your goals to the test:

1. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable?

Over a long period of time, yes, a hundred-miler is achievable. Probably a one year timeframe.

2. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on?

Yes, consistency in training is highly critical for an ultradistance run. Building healthy, conscious habits around food is also very helpful for my overall goal as well as being a good overall lifestyle skill.

3. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them?

Each of my goals was set with a mind towards achievability as well as potential for exceeding them.

4. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them?

Yes, they are all trackable and measurable. I will be tracking them in an excel spreadsheet which I will post a link to later.

5. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€?

All of my goals are along a gradient, with full points for meeting the goal (such as an 'everyday') or for exceeding them (more than 4 times/week) and fewer points for lower rates of achievement.

6. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured?

That depends on the nature or timing of the injury or illness. Fortunately I am rarely ill or injured but if it should happen other goals can be incorporated.

7. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those?

There are no special occasions within this challenge timeframe for me.

8. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another?

No, they should all be well balanced.

9. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them?

Yes, I have the time.

10. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest?

These all feed into my main quest, however they involve the development of multiple habits.

+1 WIS

Sent from my Moto X

[ChasingBoston]

I'm two days in and so far I'm doing okay. I had a very solid 2 mile, 20 minute run today and have kept up with logging all my food, even though so far it's mostly driving home how crappy I eat. I'll post my challenge log link to my profile once I'm off of mobile.

While eating crappy isn't the point, being more conscious IS and will hopefully lead to making better conscious decisions.

I haven't made dinner for my wife yet, although I have made her peanut butter sandwiches to bring to work, which is a start. Neither of us has had time to cook so far this week, which is a downer.

For my life challenge, flossing proceeds apace.

These are all small steps. As someone who want to run a 100 miler, something that could easily be 300,000+ steps, I know the value of small steps.

Sent from my Moto X

[Amdhiel]

Every step forward is a step in the right direction. The changes that stick are the ones that take time and you've planned carefully. Keep on crushing your quests!

[ChasingBoston]

Easy 28 minute run last night. I was feeling a little tight from the Tuesday run so I went a little longer and a lot easier. I have that satisfied feeling in my legs this morning.

Sent from my Moto X

[lishvicious]

I'm two days in and so far I'm doing okay. I had a very solid 2 mile, 20 minute run today and have kept up with logging all my food, even though so far it's mostly driving home how crappy I eat. I'll post my challenge log link to my profile once I'm off of mobile.

While eating crappy isn't the point, being more conscious IS and will hopefully lead to making better conscious decisions.

I haven't made dinner for my wife yet, although I have made her peanut butter sandwiches to bring to work, which is a start. Neither of us has had time to cook so far this week, which is a downer.

For my life challenge, flossing proceeds apace.

These are all small steps. As someone who want to run a 100 miler, something that could easily be 300,000+ steps, I know the value of small steps.

Sent from my Moto X

 

I think logging everything and finding out where you need to make changes is a great first step to eating better. 

 

Easy 28 minute run last night. I was feeling a little tight from the Tuesday run so I went a little longer and a lot easier. I have that satisfied feeling in my legs this morning.

Sent from my Moto X

 

Glad to hear you had a good run - and great job on keeping up with your challenge so far

[lishvicious]

How are you going? Did you have a successful first week to the challenge?

[ChasingBoston]

First week was a pretty mixed bag.

On the running side, I did my 3 20-30 minute runs, all at my target paces. Sunday I got in 5.5 miles at just under a 12:00 mile pace (11:44) and it was a heck of a beautiful morning. I even snuck in some Ingress while I ran.

My food logging went well, I don't think I missed anything. That said, the content was less than stellar. I had exactly two servings of fruit/veggies that weren't part of a pizza and had 5 cokes. Lots of processed carbs, not nearly enough lean meat.

Flossing, 5/7. Short of my goal. Not awful, but not good enough.

Cooking healthy meals didn't happen at all.

As a personal mini-quest, I'm going to try to focus on my lunches this week and improve the quality of those. I want to change a lot of things, but I'm trying to keep it simple and not try to change too much all at once. While hitting my running goals is target #1, I know general health and fitness improvement will help with that.

Outside the quests, it was a good week overall. I got a lot done at work, got my wife set up with our new doctor (fairly new job/insurance), finally got the windows and doors ordered (and delivered) for replacing our crappy old ones, had a great time at DnD and got to spend a fun night with one of my closest friends. So all told, things are going well.

Sent from my Moto X

[lishvicious]

Progress! And I think that it is very wise to make a series of small changes rather than trying to overhaul everything at once - this way it won't be all too overwhelming and you have a much better chance of all of those good habits that you are forming to stick.

 

Keep fighting the good fight!

[Terinatum]

I agree with lishvicious. You are working at getting consistent. It's okay that it will take 6 weeks. Or more. You are doing the work, and that is the best thing to be happening right now. So work SMART and re-energize yourself whenever possible and you will continue to kill this challenge!

Cheers!