Jarric's quest for productivity - against arch-villains Dr Sofa and Count Bed

[Jarric]

Yesterday was really fun. No very productive challenge wise, but really fun.

 

Left work early to go on a night out with some underwriters we deal with. Got the pub at half 3 and drank copious amounts of ale and porter all day, including the Dark Star pub, North Laine Brewery pub and Brew Dog pub. Went to a steakhouse for a very expensive, massive steak (400g, or ~14oz) with mac 'n' cheese, chips and garlic mushrooms. Then more drinking and saw a blues performer.

 

Was a great day and the guys are really awesome so it was good to catch up with them.

 

The one bit of productivity I did get done was to go swimming in the morning, so that's all my swims for week 3! Got up late again so wasn't a long one, but at least 'm getting in the habit.

 

400m x breaststroke
300m x freestyle

200m x fist swimming (for some reason my finger was hurting during freestyle, so I decided to throw this drill in)

Total 900m over 25 minutes

 

Duolingo, Darebee and any exercise had to miss out. Cleaned my teeth though (doing surprisingly well on that goal) which is good, because I particularly sruggle with doing it when I'm drunk (and after 8 or so pints and some wine and some whiskey I was drunk!).

 

Le petit-dejuner était pain au chocolat et une clémentine. Lunch was risotto with capers and black olives (the Mrs' leftovers from Wednesday night).

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 2

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 213/350 XP for week 2

Teeth: 4/7 for week 2

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All clear for week 2

 

Calories: 5,330 in vs 3,974 out = 1,356 surplus

Exercise: Swim 25mins

[Jarric]

CORRECTION (can't edit the last post).

 

I forgot the starter and desert from yesterday's dinner (Jacobs ladder, and espresso mousse with dark chocolate and sorbet). So my very rough calorie tracking should read as follows:

 

Calories: 6,428 in vs 3,974 out = 2,454 surplus

[Jarric]

[wrote this on the train on the way home tonight - just got in in time though]

 

Not sure if I'm going to get to post this on time, so thought I would at least write it (will explain the busy day tomorrow). If I get through it I'm counting it as keeping track though...

 

Yesterday was ok considering. Considering I got less than 4 hours sleep after Thursday's shenanigans, and considering the 8 pints, some wine and some whiskey that is.

 

Food stuff: Breakfast was pain au chocolat, lunch was a cheese and ham baguette from the van plus fruit. Dinner was chicken and chorizo jumbalaya made by the Mrs. I've never had jumbalaya, but it was awesome and I definitely will again. Also, throw in some Easter chocolate (it's bloody endless!) for good measure.

 

Didn't get up to swim, obviously. Wasn't going to anyway as I needed a lift in (left the car at work). Did go to the gym afterwards though. Went something like this:

 

Row warm-up x 1km

Cable lat pull downs - 85lbs x 2 x 8, 75lbs x 1 x 8

Cable chest fly - 35lbs x 3 x 8

Barbell lunges - 30kg x 4 x 12

Barbell row/twist/press - 10kg x 4 x 8

Bastards x 2 x 11

 

Gave up on the bastards as my shoulder started to hurt. Tried plank rotations for the Darebee PvP but that was far worse and really hurt.

 

Other than that a quiet day. Duolingo was done, teeth were done, no compromises, no swim or hike planned, and here I am keeping track!

 

[this I'm adding since I got home]

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 2

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 286/350 XP for week 2 (73 done today)

Teeth: 5/7 for week 2

Keep track: I'm here! (just barely today)

No compromises: All clear for week 2

 

Calories: 3,076 in vs 3,276 out = 200 deficit

Exercise: Gym 52mins

[FlyingJen]

Wow, looks like you're doing great!  

[Jarric]

 

Wow, looks like you're doing great!  

 

Yeah, not too bad at all, thank you!

 

Yesterday was fun; went up to London to watch the Rugby (Saracens vs Harlequins) with the Mrs and my mother. Really nice day out, and went on from there to a friend's birthday meal. Wasn't that up for going as it made it a long day, but glad I did to see him and catch up.

 

Bowl of cereal for breakfast before I left, and then a chicken burger and chips when I got up there before the match. The evening meal was of the pretentious variety; asparagus with prosciutto and a poached duck egg to start; pork chop with some vegetables I didn't recognise (maybe including baby garlic?) for the main, and rum baba for desert.

 

All eating out so calorie tracking is a bit of a stab in the dark for yesterday. Also add in 4 beers at the match, and 3 more with the meal.

 

Planned rest day so no exercise (although my Fitbit tracked all the walking around London), and no Duolingo either.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 2

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 286/350 XP for week 2

Teeth: 6/7 for week 2

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All clear for week 2

 

Calories: 2,874 in vs 3,527 out = 653 deficit

Exercise: No

[Jarric]

Yesterday was reasonably productive. Dad picked up a new washing machine for us on Saturday, so brought it over and we swapped the plumbing and dumped the old one. It's been about 3 weeks but now we can finally do washing!

 

Bacon and egg sandwich for breakfast, then off to the gym. Met with a trainer to put together a whole new routine, which looks something like this:

 

Squats (starting at 30kg) - 4 x 10

Incline Bench Press (starting at 25kg) - 4 x 10

Lat pull downs (machine) (can't remember weight, possibly 30kg?) - 4 x 10

Dumbell side raise, front raise, hammer curl, shoulder press (all together counts as 1 rep) (starting at 4kg) - 4 x 6

Weighted leg extensions, followed immediately with kettle bell trunk twists (is that what they're called?) - can't remember sets and reps

 

As you can see I'm having the issue that I keep my gym log at the gym, so can't remember exactly what I'm doing!

 

Will alternate the above with my existing workout, which is:

 

Lunges (currently 30kg) - 4 x 12

Cable chest fly (currently 35kg) - 3 x 8

Barbell row, twist, press (currently 10kg) - 4 x 8

Inverted row - 4 x 10

Bastards - 3 x 11

 

After that needed to go to the wholesalers for the club. Home for a ton of easter egg chocolate, dinner of slow cooked gammon with chips, then off to work at the club.

 

Stayed up late when I got home to sort out lunches for Monday and Tuesday, and to have a shower. In bed at 1am.

 

Much Duolingo was done throughout the day (154 XP in total).

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 2 - 2 weeks complete

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 440/350 XP for week 2 - 2 weeks complete

Teeth: 7/7 for week 2 - 2 weeks complete

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All clear for week 2, 1/2 for month

 

Calories: 2,025 in vs 3,999 out = 1,826 deficit

Exercise: Gym 30mins

[Jarric]

Forgot to weight myself yesterday, so did this morning a day late. Up to 10st11 which is hardly surprising given the week I've had. Still happy with that.

 

Got my first swim of the week, felt good to get a longer one in after the short ones last week. Marginally improved some of my times too.

 

400m Breaststroke

1,100m Freestyle

 

1,500m total in 37:21

 

Breakfast was biscuits, lunch was leftover gammon with couscous and raisins (prepared late Sunday night), plus some more fruit. Foolishly caved in to a lemon flapjack/cake/biscuit thing mid afternoon.

 

Got home to jacket potato with beans and cheese prepared by the Mrs. Quickly completed my Darebee for the PvP (120 mountain climbers, no EC) and then off to play snooker.

 

Snooker was the cup final, and we lost 3-1. I lost our final game, which was a bit gutting, but I felt I was playing the best I have in a while.

 

Had a few beers with the snooker, and some little sandwiches afterwards. For some reason when I got home I felt the need to have another drink, which i haven't done in ages and wish I hadn't then. Looking forward to a more sober week going forward!

 

Did some Duolingo and got to bed about 12:20.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 1/3 for week 3

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 55/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 1/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good

 

Calories: 3,600 in vs 2,998 out = 609 surplus

Exercise: Swim 37mins

[Jarric]

Long day today, so yesterday seems like a distant memory, but will try my best...

 

Swam before work. For the Ranger mini I'm doing butterfly; I didn't realise how bad I've become at that stroke! Was initially planning to do 400m, but really couldn't. Instead I did 200m butterfly, and then 100m butterfly kick with breaststroke pull, and 100m vice versa (all after 400m breaststroke warm-up).

 

My 200m butterfly time is now set at 08:25, which is only 9 seconds slower than my 400m breaststroke time!

 

Breakfast was biscuits, lunch was the rest of the gammon couscous and some fruit.

 

Got home, had some easter egg, did a tiny bit of Duolingo (12XP) and completed my daily dare (30 uneven press-ups, no EC). Then got in the car to drive up to Buckingham. stopped three times (once for some doughnuts) and took us 2.5 hours to get there.

 

Checked into our hotel, got dinner at the only place that was open past 10 (a kebab shop). So a nice greasy burger and chips was had in the hotel room, whilst watching trash TV. Reasonably night to be in good shape for the conference in the morning.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 2/3 for week 3

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 67/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 2/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,532 in vs 3,610 out = 1,078 deficit

Exercise: Swim 30mins

[Jarric]

Conference day yesterday. All a bit nerve-racking but I caught with some existing clients, met a few people who will hopefully become clients, and got through my speech without any issues. I don't know why I was so worried about the speech; I'm actually quite good at public speaking and it was only 10 minutes, just unnecessarily anxious for some reason.

 

After the conference picked up the Mrs and drove the 2.5 hour trip home. Beautiful sunny day for a longish drive actually. Did some Duolingo (56XP) and then had to transcribe the Mrs college work (we forgot to take her laptop away with us, so she hand-wrote all her work and I typed it up for her). Then just time to go on here for a bit and do my daily dare with EC (side plank crunches; they were...interesting).

 

Food wise the calorie tracking is complete guess work as it was eating out all day. Fry up in the hotel for breakfast, sandwich buffet and pastries at the conference for lunch, cakey things mid afternoon when the conference ended. Neither of us could be bothered to cook when we got home, so Chinese takeaway (ribs, beef, sweet and sour chicken and shrimp fried rice) for dinner. It looks quite good on the tracker, but the reality could be very different!

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 2/3 for week 3

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 123/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 3/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,870 in vs 3,556 out = 686 deficit

Exercise: No

[Jarric]

Quick one today as I'm running out of lunch break to write this.

 

Got up too late to go swimming yesterday, leaving me only one day to meet my challenge for the week. Got into work 30 mins early as a consequence, which was good as I was mega busy after my day off and still ended up staying 45 mins late.

 

Breakfast was biscuits, lunch was leftover Chinese from Wednesday night, plus a kiwi and a raw carrot. Had another kiwi as an afternoon snack.

 

No swimming made this an unintentional rest day. Got home and cooked pork shoulder steaks marinaded in honey, lemon juice and black pepper. Serves with roast carrots and roast potatoes. Was rather good if I do say so myself.

 

Did a load of Duolingo to try to catch up with the last couple of days (88XP). Daily dare was also done, with EEC (30 seconds jump lunges, did over 30 in the time for the second extra point).

 

Mrs needed help with putting together her floristry coursework (lots of cutting and sticking) so I stayed up late eating easter egg and doing that. Project's due in today so won't have to help her on another for a while.

 

Ended up getting to bed just before 1am again.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 2/3 for week 3

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 211/350 XP for week 3 (back on track now)

Teeth: 4/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,235 in vs 3,035 out = 800 deficit

Exercise: No

[Jarric]

Busy busy day yesterday. Got up late, and seriously considered not going swimming because I knew I was short on time. Went anyway. Think the motivation of the 4 week challenge and the Ranger mini really helped me there.

 

200m x Breaststroke

100m x breast arms/fly legs
100m x fly arms/breast legs
200m x butterfly (set a new PB of 07:41 for this, although most of that time was still catching my breath between lengths!).

 

Work was busy. Forgot my gym shoes annoyingly, so had to go home and then back out to the gym which wasted some time. First time on the new routine went like this:

 

5min row warm-up - 1110m (I'm doing this for time now to see if I can increase distance, with 3:30 slow and the last 1:30 fast)

Squats - 30kg x 4 x 10

Dumbell side raise/front raise/hammer curl/shoulder press - 4kg x 4 x 6

Leg extensions (5kg)/v-sit KB twists (8kg) - 2 x 10

Incline Bench - 25kg x 2 x 10, 20kg x 2 x 8

Lat pull down machine - 27kg x 4 x 10

Uneven plank (daily dare) - 2 mins with EC

 

Had a bit of a freak out half way through. Was just getting more and more agitated with worrying about getting in people's way and not knowing 100% what I was doing. Probably started when I couldn't get the clips on the barbell because I was being stupid. A lovely girl (who was deadlifting what looked like a huge amount at the time) help me out, which was nice of her. Then I couldn't get the bench set right for the incline bench and I very nearly just gave up and walked out out of sheer embarrassment. Got through it though, so next time I'll be more prepared and it will be better.

 

When I got back the Mrs was in bed as she hadn't been feeling great, so I showered, went to the supermarket alone and then came back and cooked her dinner. It was late by that point but decided to go and catch the end of a band at the local pub with my Dad.

 

In all the rushing, very little Duolingo was done (20XP)

 

Calorific day too; breakfast was biscuits, lunch was a big cheese and ham baguette plus fruit and veg. Caved in to a double chocolate muffin mid-afternoon telling myself "well... it is Friday". Dinner was pie and chips and beans. Then a couple of pints with Dad. Then when I got back some Easter egg seemed like an excellent idea (I've nearly run out thank goodness!).

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 3 - 3 weeks complete

Hiking: 1/2 for month

French: 231/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 5/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 3,919 in vs 4,162 out = 243 deficit

Exercise: Swim x 32mins, gym x 63mins

[Jarric]

Yesterday was reasonably productive, although I would have liked to have got more done. Having got to bed late on Friday night I slept in (well, I got up to move my car for the Mrs and then went back to bed and slept in).

 

Was supposed to go for my second challenge hike but by the time I got up I wanted to do other things instead and knew I'd lose the whole day otherwise. Also my legs hurt from Friday's squats. Also also I remember the last walk left my legs hurting for about a week, and I don't really want to prejudice the actual hike next weekend with a practice one this weekend!

 

Got up, Coco Pops for breakfast, put out the washing (that I'd put on when I got up to move the car earlier), then walked into town (so I could feel like I'd at least done some walking) and bought some hiking trousers and a washing sock holder thing.

 

Got home, tried on my trousers, and cooked a bacon and egg sandwich for lunch.

 

Cleaned my hiking boots and put on new laces. Did acrobat holds for my daily dare. A minimal amount of Duolingo was done, but I did at least put new batteries in all the clocks.

 

Was going to continue being productive, but I laid down on my bed whilst looking something up on my phone and promptly fell asleep. Woke up annoyed at myself for that when the Mrs got home, but I guess I must have needed it.

 

Mrs made a cheesy pasta bake for dinner, which was lovely. I ran up the shop while she was doing that and grabbed some more groceries and eggs for omelette muffins (which I still need to make).

 

Had to run a karaoke night in the evening, which was a shambles with very few people turning up. I had a skinful (well, 7 Guinness anyway) and got a cab home about 1am.

 

Stayed up when I got back (due to drunkenness) and had some diet coke. Watched TV until I dragged myself to bed at 4am. This may have affected my productivity today, but more on that tomorrow.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 3/3 for week 3 - 3 weeks complete

Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed

French: 256/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 6/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good

 

Calories: 3,473 in vs 4,366 out = 893 deficit

Exercise: No

[Jarric]

So having got to bed at 4am on Sunday morning, after several beers, Sunday was not likely to be the most active day.

 

Woke up late (obviously). Had Coco Pops for breakfast (well... brunch) and procrastinated thinking about doing some exercise or some cleaning rather than actually doing anything.

 

The plan was for this to be a gym day, and I woke up with just barely enough time to go before heading out to play snooker. Then looked at the train times down to Brighton and found out that there were no direct trains around that time, and with changes from my local station it would be 54 minutes instead of the usual 12. So I walked up into town to catch a better train, but that ruined any chance I had of gymming.

 

Side note: this does mean I get to gym after work today instead, so I'm not losing a day out of my routine and not counting it as a compromise.

 

Did do the daily dare for the PvP (sitting punches) but no EC due to crap abs and hangover.

 

Got the train down to Brighton and played snooker for a couple of hours. Lost 3-2 due to not having my head in the game, but had good fun all the same.

 

Went home and made a beef chilli for me and Mrs; it was rather excellent but a bit short on chipotle paste.

 

Then off to work at the club for a very very quiet night there.

 

For Duolingo I had a LOT to do, so a couple before I left for snooker, more between frames at snooker I was doing individual lessons, then more on the train back home. Hit 113XP which completes the weekly goal . 

 

Challenge goals so far (end of week 3):

Swim: 3/3 for week 3 - 3 weeks complete

Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed

French: 369/350 XP for week 3

Teeth: 7/7 for week 3

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 1,800 in vs 4,416 out = 2,143 deficit

Exercise: No

Weight at 24/04/16: 10st8 (-3lbs on last week)

[Jarric]

Week 4 has begun!

 

Got in my swim in the morning yesterday. Was in late, then spent ages faffing with my goggles, so was a short swim and to honest I felt a bit rubbish as well. Did get a new PR for 400m breaststroke at 08:30, so happy with that.

 

450m x breaststroke

350m x front crawl

800m total in 20:29

 

Work was ok, busy but not overwhelming. Had biscuits for breakfast and a banana. Leftover cheesy pasta bake for lunch with some fruit. I did get hungry mid-afternoon and gave in to a big round of shortbread. I'm really bad at snacking in the day at the moment; may have to bring in healthy snacks or bulk up my other meals.

 

Gym after work. It was horribly, horribly busy and I was still feeling a bit rubbish. Really wish I had gone on Sunday now. Went like this:

 

5min Row warm-up - 1,150m

Row/rotate/press - 12.5kg x 4 x 8

Inverted row  - Substituted lat pull downs (machine) - 27kg x 4 x 10

Cable chest fly - 35lbs x 3 x 8

Bastards

 

Row/rotate/press was hard, will be sticking to this weight for a while before I head back towards where I was pre-shoulder ping. Couldn't find anywhere to do bastard for the hour I was there, and couldn't think of a substitute, so had to just give up and leave in the end.

 

Went home, did sausage, chips and beans for dinner (lazy cooking). Finally made omelette muffins though, so have got proper breakfast for the rest of the week.

 

Duolingo was done more than adaquately with 106XP.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 1/3 for week 4

Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed

French: 106/350 XP for week 4

Teeth: 1/7 for week 4

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,439 in vs 3,374 out = 935 deficit

Exercise: Swim x 20mins, Gym x 49 mins

[Jarric]

Ok, can't post anything on the forums at the moment, so I'm making a note and will add this as and when. It's 27/04/16, so I'll be talking about yesterday; week 4 day 2.

 

Swam in the morning. Decided to try and break through the 8 minute barrier in my freestyle 400m, and I absolutely smashed it with a time of 07:37. Rest of the swim was not as good, as I was knackered from the sprint.

 

Did manage to get a second PB however, due to the sprint, total average pace of 123.8 sec/100m  including the warm-up.

 

400m Breaststroke

400m Front Crawl

400m Breaststroke

Total: 1.2km in 33 mins

 

Breakfast was two omelette muffins (so glad I made these finally), lunch was the rest of the cheesy pasta plus fruit.

 

Gave in to another afternoon snack; a double chocolate muffin. I've decided to bring extra fruit to work to try and fulfil these cravings.

 

Badminton after work, and I actually won for once! 3-1 to me :).

 

Got home, did a yoga video with the Mrs for the ranger mini. It was nice to do it together so looking forward to the next one on Thursday. Would like to make exercising with her a regular thing.

 

Dinner was butternut squash risotto made by Mrs, which was very nice and much welcomed.

 

Just about managed to get through my Duolingo over the course of the evening for 81XP. Daily dare was not done, purely because I forgot about it until right before bed. Annoyed about that because it looked like a good one. Missed my target bedtime of 11pm too, but was in bed at 23:20 which is an improvement.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 2/3 for week 4

Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed

French: 187/350 XP for week 4

Teeth: 2/7 for week 4

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,240 in vs 3,574 out =  1,334 deficit

Exercise: Swim x 33 mins, Badminton x 1 hour, yoga x 20 mins

[Jarric]

Unintentional rest day yesterday, as I woke up too late to go swimming. Annoyed at myself for that as it would have completed the goal for the month.

 

Two omelette muffins for breakfast, lunch was a pâté sandwich and some fruit. Wanted an afternoon snack, but after the last few days I remembered to bring in a banana and had that instead of eating crap.

 

Got home and tried my daily dare; 30 wide grip push-ups. Got to 24 before I collapsed, and had to rest before the final 6. So done with no EC.

 

Made beef fajitas for dinner, then off out to play snooker.

 

Beat my mate at snooker 4-3, and had a couple of (3) beers whilst I was there. Train home was delayed so didn't get back until 00:57. Got to bed exactly an hour later at 01:57, so technically within my sleep goal but pushing it to the max.

 

Managed a bit of Duolingo between frames of snooker, and a bit more on the train home. Some of it will roll on to tomorrow's total as it was after midnight, but 53XP clocked for yesterday.

 

Challenge goals so far:

Swim: 2/3 for week 4

Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed

French: 240/350 XP for week 4

Teeth: 3/7 for week 4

Keep track: I'm here!

No compromises: All good 

 

Calories: 2,943 in vs 2,969 out = 26 deficit

Exercise: No

[Jarric]

Hiking trip update. Will update for the rest of the holiday later:

 

Day 1

We drove to Okehampton to start our hike (after the essential pre-walk fry-up). Unfortunately we didn't plan the bit before the start of the hike, so we actually spent the first half hour of our day hiking around the town looking for the start of our route!

 

When we got to the start the weather was beautiful, so much so I could walk in a t-shirt. Went through a lovely bit of woodland leaving town before we got out onto the moor.

 

Once we were on the moor the wind got up; it's always windy there I think because it's so barren. Still we made good progress for a big part of the day. Navigation was easy too, even though there's often very little in the way of landmarks, because we essentially just had to head due south until we reached our overnight stay in Princetown.

 

Things got bad mid-afternoon however. We hit marshland, which we hadn't picked up on when planning the route. To start with we thought it was just the one short hill, at the top of the hill we found a memorial stone. The memorial was to a gentleman that built the "peat pass" up the hill, so that the peat workers could climb the hill without walking through the marshy ground. Again, we found this memorial stone at the top of the hill, having already climbed up.

 

The marsh didn't stop there though, it went on for hours and hours. Our pace slowed to a crawl, no to mention time spent detouring to find places to jump streams that ran throughout the area. By the time we got past that I had damp feet, all our joints were jarred from dropping in surprise soft bits of ground, and I'd had just about enough for one day.

 

Back on the path we got back up to speed, and we could see Princetown appear in the distance from a few miles off. Another wrong turn took us an extra ~1.5mi our of our way along roads before we finally got into town. A quick break and a banana was needed to get our spirits up enough to push through the final half mile.

 

Felt so good to reach the end of day one, and much food (which I ate much too fast) and a few beers were had before calling it a night.

 

In total day 1 took us 7:45 to walk 19.26 miles (according to Fitbit).

 

 

Day 2

Day 2 relied much more of footpaths and roads, so was a much easier jaunt. The weather got misty and we had a few rain showers, but that all kept us to a cool ideal walking temperature. The major stint was from Princetown to Widdecombe on the Moor, which took us about 5 hours. Lovely range of countryside from fields covered in gorse and dry stone walls, to barren moorland, to a walk along the river through a forest.

 

Stopped in Widdicombe for a sausage and mash pub lunch and a pint, before the final push to Haytor. It's only about an hours walk, which consists of a big hill, followed by a steep down hill, followed by the hill that Haytor is on. As we got to the first hill we had a lovely road sign which just said "20%". That's a 1:5 incline, and it felt all that and more!

 

The final push to Haytor was steep as well, but knowing it was the final hill we soared up it. The weather was really closing in, so the whole hill was covered in clouds, and we were well within the clouds by the time we climbed to the top of the tor. Felt so good to sit up there, looking out at...well, nothing we could see actually.. and knowing that we'd done it.

 

Day 2 was 7 hours (including an hour's lunch break) for 15.53 miles (according to Fitbit)

[Jarric]

Challenge Round-Up

 

Swim More, Swim Better (15XP) - Made it spot on through the first 3 weeks, and then only got two swims in on week 4! No excuses though, I had enough days to do it and just didn't get up on time. 3/4 weeks, 11/12 swims. Reward (goggles) not being given. 10XP

 

Get Hiking (10XP) I got only one of my two practice hikes in, so a big failure. The first one was worthwhile for checking my gear worked, but still can't give myself any XP for this one. So ironically I fail my hiking challenge even though I ended the month with a 35 mile hike! 1/2 hikes. 0XP

 

Parle plus en français (15XP) - Perfectly on the money with this one, and definitely will repeat next month. Not going to subscribe to a magazine, although that was supposed to be a reward, as I don't think I'm quite there yet. Will put some online reading in the next challenge though I think. 4/4 weeks. 15XP

 

Take care of your teeth! (10XP) - I'm amazed at how the simple act of posting on here made it so easy for me to brush my teeth every day. Well, I'm actually amazed at the fact I couldn't do this before now was, but still. Will step this one up a notch for the next challenge. 28/28 days. 10XP

 

Keep track (10XP) - Updated my battle log every day during the challenge, except for when I was away hiking due to time, signal and battery issues. Even when I couldn't get to a computer or the forums weren't working I wrote out the log on my phone and uploaded it later. I'd built in an exception for the hiking, so a pass. 4/4 weeks, 26/28days. 10XP

 

No compromises (10XP) - Failed in week one from sheer lack of motivation, but otherwise kept up with my gym and badminton schedule all month. 3/4 weeks. 5XP

 

Have also put this in on my Epic Quest, and I've finally made it to level 2. A big goal for this year was the Dartmoor hike, so I'm actually almost at level 3. Huzzah!

[Jarric]

Quick run-down of the post hike days. I'll start updating more fully again when I get to the start of the next 4WC, but calories weren't tracked over the holiday anyway and not a lot of exercise post-hike,

 

A few beers Sunday night post hike and recovery time. Monday we went to a historical village, including a trip into an old copper mine on a mine train, chocolate making and rope making. Finished up by messing about in the park (with the excuse of my friends' 6yo son being there, although we did start without him...).

 

Monday evening was many beers, some pool and watching the snooker final.

 

Tuesday morning we spent almost 2 hours in the swimming pool (mainly playing catch rather than swimming). Then it was the 4:40 drive home, including a half hour MacDonald's stop. Made creamy bacon pasta for dinner and was in bed by 11.

[Jarric]

Yesterday got up for a nice swim:

 

400m Breaststroke - 08:33

800m Freestyle - 17:27 (not a great pace now that I look at it)

Total: 1,200m in 29:56 (including rest/stretch)

 

Work was pretty busy catching up for the holiday, but manageable.

 

Biscuits for breakfast, sandwich and fruit for lunch. Caved into a muffin mid-afternoon as I felt starving. After work and picking my dad up from a garage went home and had curried salmon with broccoli and rice.

 

Then off to the supermarket to buy loads of fruit and veg to go with all the meat that's sitting around in the freezer. Also got a pack of jam doughnuts, so I had them before bed.

 

House is getting tidier; Mrs did a lovely job of cleaning and washing yesterday for which I am most grateful. I'll have to return the favour and do some cleaning at the weekend.

 

Late night in the end last night though, ended up sitting on here until my computer crashed and didn't go to bed until 1am. It's mad that I didn't used to feel like that was very late a couple of years ago.