Sterre goes rangering!

[sterre]

Hi everyone! I've been with the druids lately, but last challenge I decided to sign up for a 10 km trail run which happens in November. It's been a while since I ran 10 km and this is going to be in the hills so it's going to be tough (hence the name of the race). So this challenge I'm going to be focusing a bit more on my running while still focusing on injury prevention because that's just as important as being able to run. I'm also going to continue to try to lose a bit of pudge, which should be pretty compatible with getting more exercise. 

 

Main Quest

Get down to 62 kg. Last challenge I lost nearly 1 kg, bringing me closer to 67 kg and while I will aim to lose 2 kg, I'll once again be happy if I lose anything at all. I'll use a three day weighted average to measure changes.

Measurement: Pass = decrease mass; Fail = mass stays the same or increases

Statistics Gain: +1 CHA

 

Quest 1: Run

My medium term goal with running is to prepare for this training schedule, which I should start in six weeks' time. So this challenge, I should increase my distance. At the end of last challenge, I got up to 13 km a week (then I fell so I haven't been running yet this week). So I'll do 14 km in the first week, then 15 km, then 16.5 km and hopefully get to 18 km by the end of the challenge (then it's just a hop and a skip to 20 km, which seems to be about where the schedule starts). I'll be aiming for three runs a week.

Measurement: A = 9+ runs; B = 7-8 runs; C = 5-6 runs

Statistics: +2 DEX, +2 STA

 

Quest 2: Injury Prevention

With more running comes a greater need to make sure that I don't get hurt (at least not in ways that can be easily prevented), so I'll be doing yoga five times a week again and I'll also shoot for two calisthenics sessions per week.

Measurement 1: A = 16+ yoga sessions; B = 12-15 yoga sessions; C = 8-11 yoga sessions

Statistics: +1 CON, +1 DEX

Measurement 2: A = 6+ calisthenics sessions; B = 5 calisthenics sessions; C = 3-4 calisthenics sessions

Statistics: +2 STR

 

Quest 3: Diet

I'll once again aim to track my food intake and eat within the calorie range recommended by Spark People six days a week because tracking helps keep me on track, but tracking every day is a downer.

Measurement: A = 19+ days tracked; B = 14-18 days tracked; C = 10-13 days tracked

Statistics: +2 CON, +1 WIS

 

Quest 4: Poi

Yes, more poi! I'm going to try to go out to a fire club that meets in the park on Mondays to practice in addition to practicing on my own. The fire club only really happens when it's not raining and obviously I can't know when that will happen in advance. I'll set a goal of doing 60 minutes of poi for weeks that the fire club happens and 30 minutes for weeks that it doesn't. I'll have a better idea of how many total minutes this means as the challenge goes on. I'm also going to set a goal of learning at least one new trick.

Measurement 1: TBD minutes of poi

Statistics: +1 CHA

Measurement 2: Pass = 1+ new trick learned; Fail = 0 new tricks learned

Statistics: +1 DEX

 

Life Quest: Drawing

I'll aim for 150 minutes of drawing a week again. This time, I will try to be a bit better about posting the results to Deviant Art since I sort of did one update last time and then no more. (oops)

Measurement: A = 480+ minutes of drawing; B = 360-479 minutes of drawing; C = 240-359 minutes of drawing

Statistics: +1 CHA

 

And that about wraps it up! I'll add my starting measurements on Day 1 and check out everyone else's threads.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome to the Ranger Corps! So glad to have you. You'll find this is a great guild where we don't suffer from insanity but thoroughly enjoy it! 

[Raxie]

Oooh poi how exciting! How long have you been doing it for?  Following :]

[sterre]

20 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Welcome to the Ranger Corps! So glad to have you. You'll find this is a great guild where we don't suffer from insanity but thoroughly enjoy it! 

 

Thanks!

 

17 minutes ago, Raxie said:

Oooh poi how exciting! How long have you been doing it for?  Following :]

 

I think it will be two years in late September/October or so since I started poi.

[Briniel]

Following!! This is going to be goooooood

[sterre]

4 hours ago, Briniel said:

Following!! This is going to be goooooood

 

Yay! Hopefully it will be!

[Rurik Harrgath]

Welcome to the Dark Ranger Side, sterre.  Glad to have you!

[sterre]

1 hour ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

Welcome to the Dark Ranger Side, sterre.  Glad to have you!

 

Thanks!

[sterre]

Okay, so I was thinking about my challenge schedule for week one and I remembered that I'm going to Manchester at the end of the week to meet some friends from another forum (I've also never been to England outside of Heathrow airport so why not) so Friday and Saturday (then Sunday in week 2) are going to be out for serious exercise (possibly fine for some yoga, poi and drawing, but maybe not).

 

Thus, this is the schedule I'm going with and there are a lot of maybes about what I'll do when I'm travelling.

 

Sunday

• Run 6 km
• Yoga: DSR and yoga for runners
• Track food
• Poi or draw for 30 minutes

Monday

• Yoga: DSR, sun salutations, standing poses, standing balances, seated stretches
• Calisthenics (aim for 2 sets)
• Track food
• Poi (possibly in the park, but forecast is not promising)
• Draw 30 minutes

Tuesday

• Run 3 km
• Yoga: DSR, yoga for runners
• Track food
• Draw: Life drawing

Wednesday

• Yoga: DSR, sun salutations, standing poses, yoga for arms, seated stretches
• Calisthenics (aim for 2 sets)
• Track food
• Poi
• Draw

Thursday

• Run 5 km
• Yoga: DSR, yoga for runners
• Track food
• Poi

Friday

• Yoga: DSR, sun salutations, standing poses, yoga for abs, seated stretches (maybe)
• Track food
• Drawing (maybe on the bus?)

Saturday

• Poi (maybe)

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Looks like a good plan. I like your new avatar.

[Steaky]

But can you anti-spin it?  

[sterre]

19 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Looks like a good plan. I like your new avatar.

 

Thanks! Somewhere in the swirl of blue is me. My friend took the picture when we were at the Labyrinth music festival in Japan (I was playing with my poi).

 

2 hours ago, Steaky said:

But can you anti-spin it?  

 

No, I don't know how to do that yet.

 

 

Also, I'm slightly wishing that I hadn't taken week 0 off basically entirely. My measurements are good and my knees are basically better from my fall (still a bit bruised and scabbed), but I'm thinking about my run and slightly procrastinating about it.

[Steaky]

Sorry, I'll behave now and stop with the poi heckling.  It's awesome that you're doing it. Anti-spin isn't that difficult to get. It's easiest with flowers. But I've not span in a very long time. 

 

Now get out and run! 

[sterre]

26 minutes ago, Steaky said:

Sorry, I'll behave now and stop with the poi heckling.  It's awesome that you're doing it. Anti-spin isn't that difficult to get. It's easiest with flowers. But I've not span in a very long time. 

 

Now get out and run! 

 

Flowers are one of those things I'm sort of working on.

 

And I did run! And now I'm back and stretched out and showered and it was all great!

[Steaky]

That's great to hear, well done on the run.

 

The trick with flowers is when you move your arm. For regular, you move when the poi head is at the furthest point from your arm, so you go into a big circle for a quarter turn.  For antispin, you move when it is next to your arm, almost letting the poi head pull your arm to the next position. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Good job going for that run.

[bker1370]

Good job getting that run shipmate

[sterre]

Thanks everyone!

 

Here's my day 1 summary:

 

Week 1, Day 1

 

Quest 1: Run

I ran 6 km in 40 minutes flat. I started out on the trail, then did a loop onto the streets where I got some nice practice going up long hills (by the time I was approaching the observatory, I almost felt like I wasn't going anywhere). I'll try to do it faster next time, but it was definitely awesome to  be out running again. The first 100 m or so, I was almost skipping along (and then I had to contain myself because I scheduled a long run). Anyway, it was good.  (1/3 runs this week)

 

Quest 2: Injury Prevention

I got some good post-run yoga in consisting of a daily stretch routine and yoga for runners. (1/5 yoga sessions)

Run days are not for calisthenics. (0/2 calisthenics sessions)

 

Quest 3: Diet

I tracked my food and ate within the calorie range. (1/6 days tracked)

 

Quest 4: Poi

No poi, it was drizzling and raining all day. I decided I'm going to start working on the 5 beat weave and probably at least one type of fountain this challenge. I'll also probably try working on flowers. Anyway, I will know later today whether this will be a 30 minute poi week or a 60 minute poi week. (0/?0 minutes of poi)

 

Life Quest: Drawing

No drawing.  (0/150 minutes of drawing)

 

Now to check the mini challenge and everyone's threads! Wee!

[iatetheyeti]

Ahoy there, shipmate  

 

Fire poi sounds pretty awesome (and it seems I'm going to have to start Googling trick names!), looking forward to hearing about how that goes for you.

 

Sounds like overall you had a pretty solid first day  

[Raxie]

Awesome schedule you have planned there, and great first day too

[sterre]

Thanks!

 

I decided to do a bit of 5 beat weave practice before going out to fire poi. I think I'm probably about halfway there, but practicing a new and more complicated weave made me appreciate, once again, how happy I am that I'm not a dude (lots of poi to the crotch incidents).

 

Here's the video I was using to learn. I really enjoyed the beginner series this guy put up because this guy is pretty good at teaching how to do things, I think.

[Blonde-E]

As usual, an awesome challenge set up, and way to make me reminisce about the UK again. Looks like we are working on similar goals this time around so I will be here to cheer you on!

[Steaky]

7 hours ago, iatetheyeti said:

Ahoy there, shipmate  

 

Fire poi sounds pretty awesome (and it seems I'm going to have to start Googling trick names!), looking forward to hearing about how that goes for you.

 

Sounds like overall you had a pretty solid first day  

Many of the names come from how it looks to an observer. So a butterfly, for example looks like butterfly's wings beating. 

 

[Steaky]

19 minutes ago, sterre said:

Thanks!

 

I decided to do a bit of 5 beat weave practice before going out to fire poi. I think I'm probably about halfway there, but practicing a new and more complicated weave made me appreciate, once again, how happy I am that I'm not a dude (lots of poi to the crotch incidents).

 

Here's the video I was using to learn. I really enjoyed the beginner series this guy put up because this guy is pretty good at teaching how to do things, I think.

Ah, Nik Woosley, such a lovely guy, very clever with poi and an amazing teacher. 

I had the pleasure of meeting him quite a few years ago. 

Home of Poi is a great resource for learning a lot of moves. 

I never like the 5 and 7 beat weaves. When doing them with fire, only other spinners can tell the difference between them & 3 beat. 

[Thom Stépan]

Welcome aboard the Cutlass Sterre. Waving around fire sticks? I reckon we have our new gunnerry officer.