Schaengel: How I met my better self

[Schaengel]

Wohoo, a real challenge again. I hope you’re as excited as me and welcome you to:

 

 

“Schaengel: How I met my better self”

 

And as you can see I will again try to do this challenge with a loose theme (because I like creative/funny writing but depending on what’s happening around me I give myself the chance to skip it )

 

 

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

 

 

 

Run at least twice per week

 

Prepare training-plan for the not running activities

 

Bonus: Read up and prepare diet plan (Low carb and marathon)

 

Measurement: A = 8 runs + planing done , B =  7 runs + planing done, C = 6-5 runs done, D = >5 runs done

 

 

 

Background:

 

I recognized that I was missing a goal in my running training for the last weeks. It has become a habit to go jogging at least ones a week but as the more experienced runners in our group said “I was running myself slow” because of running without a goal with a group that is in total still behind my tempo.

 

So I asked our “running master” if she would coach me for the half-marathon in cologne this year…and somehow it ended up with me signing up for the marathon (thanks to some pep-talks and my competitive side). So here we go, training starts now till October.

 

I will write a lot about it here because I will not talk about it in my nearer not-running groups until I have a feeling that I will actually be able to finish.

 

(Also I have the opportunity to “downgrade” to half-marathon till September, so I’m going to train for marathon and if I notice that I will not finish I hope to at least run a good half-marathon (which I can finish for sure :D)

 

 

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part 1

 

 

30 days “Yoga with Adriane”

 

Measurement: A = 30-28 sessions, B =  28-25 sessions, C = 25-20 sessions, D = >20 sessions

 

                                                                                                                                              

 

Background: When the girls and guys in How I met your mother want to get relaxed they “eat a sandwich”, of course that’s nothing that works in a training situation (and probably would be seen as doping XD) but nonetheless I need to get my body trained and relaxed more often. To be able to do the coming training without injurie I will have to do a lot more stretching than I’m used to. So I will try to start a yoga habit.

 

 

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

 

 

 

30 days of calm meditation. Meditation should be done before the evening!

 

Measurement: A = 30-28 sessions, B =  28-25 sessions, C = 25-20 sessions, D = >20 sessions

 

 

 

Background: A marathon is at least half run in your own head… so I need to learn to relax and that’s the perfect opportunity to try again to make meditation a habit. And this time I will aim for a time around midday (12:00 – 14:00) to do it, because meditation in the evening is nice but misses the point of the practice for me

 

 

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

 

 

 

- finish cleaning out the closet

 

- find 2 outfits that look classy but are still “punk” enough to wear

 

- do hair before leaving the house

 

Bonus: Learn how to “tailor” to save some t-shirts

 

Bonus: post pictures of new outfits

 

Measurement: A = 30-28 times hair done + quests, B =  28-25 times hair done + quests, C = 20 sessions + quests, D = >20 sessions

 

 

 

 

 

Background: I noticed that I look a lot better (of course with >65 pounds less) but can’t bring that across because my clothes are now all too big and I don’t feel good wearing them anymore. So I started to clean out my closet, bought some new pants and started reading fashion blogs and look for styles I like on pinterest.

 

The challenge is that I need to find clothes that fit my style, meaning classy enough to wear them in work context but not too conservative because I’m still a alternative person so I don’t want to wear a suit everyday ;).

 

Also I will try to save some t-shirts (manly the ones I got as a present while working as tour-manager/merchandiser because they keep me motivated to pursue my working-career in the event sector)

 

 

 

Bonus Quests: I'm stealing SnowOwls bonus section so that I can account for other projects and challenges that come up during this month because there’s always something that wasn’t planed.

 

 

 

 

 

[SnowOwl]

LOVE your challenge!

[AthenaMM]

A great sounding challenge! I totally understand the issues with your clothes being too big! And if you're still trying to lose weight (like me) you don't really want to spend a lot on stuff that might not fit for long.

[Polgara19]

How I Met Your Mother!  

 

[Schaengel]

7 hours ago, SnowOwl said:

LOVE your challenge!

 

Thanks. Glad your following along again. Already looking forward to your new adventure

 

6 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

A great sounding challenge! I totally understand the issues with your clothes being too big! And if you're still trying to lose weight (like me) you don't really want to spend a lot on stuff that might not fit for long.

 

Thanks. I stole the basic setup from your last challenge because that was awesome and I think it will fit my character better then the last thing I tried.

I hope I can lose some more weight since I'm still 15kg/~33pounds away from my weight goal. But I'm stuck on my 100kg at the moment (but on the plus side I have gained a lot of muscles so that's probably where some of the weight comes from).

 

6 hours ago, Polgara19 said:

How I Met Your Mother!  

 

[Schaengel]

Day -1

 

It's getting serious, I signed up for the cologne marathon yesterday (because it's cheaper when you do before the 31th march) and paid ~100€ so I think that's a good basic motivation.

[Hazard]

8 hours ago, Schaengel said:

I signed up for the cologne marathon yesterday

 

Sounds smelly.

 

 

[Schaengel]

2 hours ago, Hazard said:

 

Sounds smelly.

 

 

I hope not because I don't like the "kölsche Wasser" ;D

[Schaengel]

Second Day -1 update

 

I tried the low-carb pizza recipe today and when I cut back on the salt when I try again (tomorrow) it's perfect. Also one Pizza feeds me for two meals . That + running 10,5km today (with an time of 78minutes so still a lot of room to improve) lead to me being way under al my macro goals today...that's a first. Also it leads to me feeling okay to eat some chocolate (70% of course) while watching ice-hockey.

[AthenaMM]

On 3/30/2016 at 2:39 AM, Schaengel said:

Thanks. I stole the basic setup from your last challenge because that was awesome and I think it will fit my character better then the last thing I tried.

I hope I can lose some more weight since I'm still 15kg/~33pounds away from my weight goal. But I'm stuck on my 100kg at the moment (but on the plus side I have gained a lot of muscles so that's probably where some of the weight comes from).

Happy to help! I'm sure gaining muscle is big part of it. I'm not totally stuck, but I'm losing REALLY slowly right now. As long as I'm exercising and eating pretty healthy I'm not going to worry about it too much. 

 

Great job finding a good low-carb pizza recipe!

[Schaengel]

18 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

Happy to help! I'm sure gaining muscle is big part of it. I'm not totally stuck, but I'm losing REALLY slowly right now. As long as I'm exercising and eating pretty healthy I'm not going to worry about it too much. 

 

Great job finding a good low-carb pizza recipe!

I'm not worrying...yet. But losing again would be nice.

 

I'm gonna try some more pizza recipes...the one I have is nice but takes quite some times....I would like to find something quick and easy for the lazy days...

[Schaengel]

Day 0 (Thursday)

Last preparation day was spend with university work, cooking and a yoga for runners video. I will get back to that ones I'm more used to yoga training.

Also I went to Frankfurt to meet a friend that I haven't seen for 2 years and we went to an awesome concert: Saltatio Mortis, a band that mixes rock, punk with medieval instruments and sometimes texts. I really like that kind of music and there are 4 big bands of that genre in Germany but it was the first headline concert if seen of Saltatio Mortis. But definitely not the last. Also hanging out with my friend was awesome and we were both smiling all the time so I will try to visit her again and this time not after 2+ years.

 

Also a video of the band, because they are awesome

 

Day 1 (Friday and I know, that I'm starting early but everything is set so let's go :D)

Got up early (yay) but had to skip breakfast (booh) because I had a dentist appointment in the morning. I hate going to the dentist... After that I meet with my student council team. We finished preparing the welcome bags that we're giving out to our new students on Monday and after that I bought new clothes because I will be moderating the official event on Monday, so good opportunity to work on that "dress up" Quest . After that some family time and then running. Finishing the day with NF and an Mafia movie.

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

Did a 6,3km run along the river rhine (39,15 min so an average of 6,13min/km which is okay) so I'm putting this down as tempo training. Also first run of the challenge done.

Side note: I may have started a spreadsheet to keep my running and timing checked and I'd maybe has a counter counting down how many KM I still need until if run 500 miles ;D

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part

Did Yoga with Adriene Day 1 after running. Was nice but challenging. I noticed I'm really sensible in my right knee, not really flexible there and hurting quite fast so I'll keep an eye on that.

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

Did a 10 minutes of calm meditation in the middle of the day. It's harder to concentrate and keep in the moment when doing it in the middle of the day I noticed.

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

Did my hair today and also went and bought a west so I can "finish" my first business-outfit tomorrow.

 

Bonus Quests: Nothing worth being are Bonus Quest today

[Jayniana Jones]

Following along. I'm just going to toss this out there, but you don't really think your virtual buddies will let you drop from a full marathon commitment to a half without protest, do you?  I think signing up for the marathon is a great way to keep yourself focused on your daily routines. 

 

So for hair quests, can we throw out color suggestions? 

[SnowOwl]

Ooo! colors! I've been toying with hot pink myself...just a streak. Perhaps everyone in The League of Epicness will be required to add a color at the end of this challenge?  (should that be a consequence of failure or a reward for success? lol)

[Schaengel]

12 minutes ago, Jayniana Jones said:

Following along. I'm just going to toss this out there, but you don't really think your virtual buddies will let you drop from a full marathon commitment to a half without protest, do you?  I think signing up for the marathon is a great way to keep yourself focused on your daily routines. 

 

So for hair quests, can we throw out color suggestions? 

 

If you don't let me than it seems like I just have to do that d*mn marathon

 

Hahaha my father would ga batsh*t-crazy if I would add color to my hair I think

 

1 minute ago, SnowOwl said:

Ooo! colors! I've been toying with hot pink myself...just a streak. Perhaps everyone in The League of Epicness will be required to add a color at the end of this challenge?  (should that be a consequence of failure or a reward for success? lol)

 

Somehow I like that Idea XD

[SnowOwl]

 

[Schaengel]

Day 2 (Saturday)

Went to the hairdresser in the morning to get my undercut (no I'm not going to use that other name for it even though I'm German ) renewed (spoiler: my father does not like it) and to get some protein powder to continue my cooking experiments. Than at home tried my "costume" for the event on Monday. After that went to watch the Away-Game from my football team in Mainz, went for a short run. Cooked, ate like an a**hole (copyright by starsapart) and tried to watch the second maze-runner movie (why are the films that bad when the books were sooo good )

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

Did a 3,5km run along the river rhine (average of 6,3min/km which is okay). Wanted to do 5km but after 3km I was out of power and since tomorrow will be a long run and today was just out of the "I want to do something" feeling I just let it go and walked back home.

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part

Did Yoga with Adriene Day 2 after running. I'm never gonna make fun of yoga again. Knee was good.

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

Did a 10 minutes of calm/body scan meditation in the afternoon.

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

Went to the hairdresser so, got my hair done

Also finished outfit 1 for serious events and I think it's good enough.

 

Bonus Quests: Nothing worth being are Bonus Quest today

[SnowOwl]

Looking good!!!

[AthenaMM]

7 hours ago, SnowOwl said:

Looking good!!!

Definitely!

[Platzhalter]

Looks good so far... and great to hear we have another SaMo-fan here

 

[Schaengel]

23 hours ago, SnowOwl said:

Looking good!!!

Thanks

15 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

Definitely!

and Thanks

4 hours ago, Platzhalter said:

Looks good so far... and great to hear we have another SaMo-fan here

 

Thank you. Yeah cool. I have seen them so many times now but must admit that I only turned fan the last 2 albums because they are awesome

[Schaengel]

Day 3 (Sunday)

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

Did a 8,5km with my running group (average of 7,5min/km and ~185m altitude). Decided to modify the challenge and focus on not running small distances nearly everyday but do long runs (distance 8+km and or time 45+mins) instead because that's what our experts say works best.

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part

Did Yoga with Adriene Day 3 in the evening and found out that I have no

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

Did a 10 minutes of calm meditation after yoga.

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

Did my hair before running and later again and it's much faster thanks to the new haircut.

 

Bonus Quests: Nothing worth being are Bonus Quest today

 

Added a price to my challenge so when I successfully and this challenge I'm going to get myself this:

https://www.storenvy.com/products/11219103-hardcore-taylor-tee

[AthenaMM]

Good job! I like your reward shirt!

[Schaengel]

Day 4 (Monday)

Big day at the university today. We welcomed our new students and I was moderating the whole event (for the last time as I'm quitting the position at the end of the month) and it went as smooth as I hoped it would be...also I looked amazing

After that went to work and then did my challenge-chores and some housework and cooking. Will go to bed to late but I want to keep up to date with NF. Also already hyped for the new mini :D. Last but not least eating like a small ass today :/

Had a little general drop in motivation in the evening because felt like I still need to do so much more in so little time...but that will go by I think.

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

No running today, was tempted to do some training with focus on running "right" but had to finish university stuff :/ (also I already did 3 runs so I'm good for the first week anyway ).

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part

Did Yoga with Adriene Day 3 in the evening

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

Did a 10 minutes of calm meditation after yoga.

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

Oh yes I did!!

 

Bonus Quests: Nothing worth being are Bonus Quest today

[Schaengel]

Day 5 (Tuesday)

Awful start in the day, slept to long didn't had time to eat breakfast, came late to university anyway and then spend the first two lessons learning...nothing. i hate it when I have to spend time in the university and know that it will be wasted because (even though it sounds arrogant) I'm not as slow thinking as many of the people that are studying with me plus the lessons today are in English and a lot of students here are just awful in English. The professor knows that so it's just a waste of time. Also I had to do a talk today with a friend in that lesson with the theme "saving the planet" talking about the economic theories of malthus and sorow. I like giving talks...I don't like to have to give them in teams with someone that's not good in talking because it normally crashes any good presentation (and liking to present and being good at it is a Big USP in Germany I would say) so yeah annoying.

 

After that I took part in an "how to get employed" workshop that was awesome. It just feels good to have people give you tips but more important showing really sincerely that students are wanted in companies...one can forget that easily being stuck in the university...

 

After that sport (boxing and bodyweight) and some pushups for the mini. Yoga, Meditation and now I will give the rest of my evening to the forums and some more reading

 

Quest 1: “And I will walk 500miles Part 1”

No running today. Tomorrow a 90min run!!

 

Quest 2: “Eating a Sandwich Part

Did Yoga with Adriene Day 5 in the evening

 

Quest 3: “Eating a Sandwich Part 2”

Did a 10 minutes of calm meditation after yoga.

 

Quest 4: “Suit up”

Even though oversleeping YES

 

Bonus Quests: Was eating like an a**hole again so first bonus quest will start next week and will be: Plan meals ahead for the week on fridays! Prepare meals for days at the university (Tuesday and Thursday) the day before!