Remembering The Lost Path

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Ok, I didn't do as well as I would have liked on the last challenge, but I passed.  I found my areas of weakness center around sleep, diet, and meditation.

 

So this challenge I'm going to work on the following goals:

 

- Improve my sleep quality 

- Meditate daily 

- Further cleanup my diet, min 2 freggies daily

- Exercise - 60 minutes a day of ANY exercise at least 30 minutes of which is something other than my normal walking.

 

I will be continuing on with my "Lazy Swordsman Workout," and Indian Clubs on M-W-F.  Tuesday and Thursday will continue to be Taiji and Yoga day.  Which leads to my next goal.

 

Taijiquan - add one posture posture to my form each Taiji/Yoga day until I am back to doing the full 37 posture form of my style.

 

Again I will be using a points system of 20 points daily for each completed task.  If a task was not fully completed then partial points may be awarded.  This does not apply to the sleep goal. Only, this challenge I will not be grading myself @Terah will be judging if I have achieved my goals or not.

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Ok, grading rubrik for this challenge

 

Points are to be assigned M-F with a total of 20 points available per task per day:

 

Tasks

 

Diet

-- Hydration, min 6 glasses - 1.5L

-- Coffee, < 4 mugs daily

-- Alcohol, < 12 beers weekly

-- Freggies, at least 2 servings

 

Workout

-- Lazy Swordsman Workout, full M-W-F

-- Taiji/Yoga,  Tu-Th + add new posture to my taiji form.

-- 60 minutes a day of ANY exercise at least 30 minutes of which is something other than my normal walking.

-- 60 active minutes, 10,000 steps

 

Meditation, min 5 minutes

 

Sleep, I would like to get to where I'm averaging 4 hours a night.  Bedtime is normally 22:30 - 23:00 (that's 10:30 - 11:00 pm for those who don't read military time) and wake up is 04:30  05:30.  This gives me 7-6.5 hours possible.  My issue is that despite normally going to bed on schedule, I don't actually get much restful sleep.  I am going to be experimenting various strategies to try and improve my sleep.

 

Grading Scale

100-92% = A

91-84% = B

83-76% = C

75-70% = D

Below 70% = F

 

Week 0 Summary:

 

Diet:  75/100

Workout:  61.5/100

Meditation:  80/100

Overall:  216.5/300 = 72% :. "D"

 

Week 1 Summary

 

Diet:  100/100

Workout:  79/100

Meditation:  100/100

Overall:  279/300 = 93% :. "A"

 

Week 2 Summary

 

Diet:  98/100

Workout:  62/100

Meditation:  100/100

Overall:  260/300 = 87% :. "B"

 

Week 3 Summary

 

Diet: 90/100

Workout:  82/100

Meditation:  80/100

Overall:  252/300 = 84% :. "B"

 

Week 4 Summary

 

Diet:  90/100

Workout:  100/100

Meditation:  100/100

Overall:  290/300 = 97% :. "A"

 

Wrap Up:

1081/1200 possible points for the four actual challenge weeks which gives me a score of 90% so a high "B."

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Week 0 / Day 1

 

Log for 18 Sep 2016


Sleep:  7 hr 43 min @ 95% efficiency - 7 hr 21 min actual sleep time

Active minutes:  59 minutes

Steps:  5656 - 4.61Km

Water: 10 glasses
Coffee:  2 mugs
Alcohol: none

Breakfast:  wild blueberry pop-tarts
Snack:  .5L Goslings ginger beer
Lunch:  Veggie Tray w/ apples snap peas & carrots, caesar dressing for dip.
Snack:  Great Value mountain trail mix, apple slices, almonds.
Dinner: 3 slices of pizza: 1 pepperoni, 2 bbq chicken bacon pineapple.

Meditation: missed

Challenge goals:  Sunday, not scored

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

And of course diet ends up going to hell when you walk into work and see this:

Sent from the dragon's lair

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Log for 19 Sep 2016


Sleep:  5 hr 23 min @ 95% efficiency - 5 hr 8 min actual sleep

Active minutes:  165

Steps:  11686 - 9.23 Km

Water:  9 glasses
Coffee:  4 mugs
Alcohol: 2 16oz Beck's

Breakfast:  Homebrew Protein Shake #1, "Wake up shake" (Soy protein, 1 tbsp fiber supplement, 4 oz 2% milk, 10 oz coffee), blueberries, Cliff builders bar
Snack:  apples slices, grapes, and some cheese
Stress eat #1: small piece of yellow cake. (Seriously we're talking a 1"x1" size piece of sheet cake)
Lunch:  leftover chicken & rice with vegetables
Snack:  baby carrots and snap peas w/ ranch dip
Dinner:  a lemon parmesan chicken, zucchini, and pasta throw together.

Meditation:  5 minutes - seated, formal

Workout: 

Taiji CMC/ZMQ 37 posture form: Short half @ 3:00 minutes

Strength Circuit Training w/ 5 lb clubs (did it forgot to count reps)

1st circuit:
    Indian Club Prisoner Squats - 1:00 minute
    Pushups - 1:00 minute
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 1:00 minute
    Indian Club Lunges  (forward) - 1:00 minute
    Elbow Plank - 1:00 minute
   
2nd circuit: 
    Indian Club Squats - 45 seconds
    Pushups - 45 seconds
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 45 seconds
    Indian Club Lunges - 45 seconds
    Plank - 45 seconds
   
3rd circuit: 
    Indian Club Squats - 30 secondd
    Pushups - 30 seconds
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 30 seconds
    Indian Club Lunges - 30 seconds
    Plank - 30 seconds

Indian clubs 5lb Iron:  skipped

Yoga:  10 minutes

Did 15 min of seated office yoga during my lunch break.

Darebee daily dare:  60 sec back arch balance hold - completed.

 

@Terah you get to award the score.
 

[Terah]

5 hours ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

Log for 19 Sep 2016


Sleep:  5 hr 23 min @ 95% efficiency - 5 hr 8 min actual sleep

Active minutes:  165

Steps:  11686 - 9.23 Km

Water:  9 glasses
Coffee:  4 mugs
Alcohol: 2 16oz Beck's Not sure what you see as a serving? A beer here is about 8 oz per serving, but in the US everything is bigger  

Breakfast:  Homebrew Protein Shake #1, "Wake up shake" (Soy protein, 1 tbsp fiber supplement, 4 oz 2% milk, 10 oz coffee), blueberries, Cliff builders bar
Snack:  apples slices, grapes, and some cheese
Stress eat #1: small piece of yellow cake. (Seriously we're talking a 1"x1" size piece of sheet cake)
Lunch:  leftover chicken & rice with vegetables
Snack:  baby carrots and snap peas w/ ranch dip
Dinner:  a lemon parmesan chicken, zucchini, and pasta throw together.

Meditation:  5 minutes - seated, formal

Workout: 

Taiji CMC/ZMQ 37 posture form: Short half @ 3:00 minutes

Strength Circuit Training w/ 5 lb clubs (did it forgot to count reps)

1st circuit:
    Indian Club Prisoner Squats - 1:00 minute
    Pushups - 1:00 minute
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 1:00 minute
    Indian Club Lunges  (forward) - 1:00 minute
    Elbow Plank - 1:00 minute
   
2nd circuit: 
    Indian Club Squats - 45 seconds
    Pushups - 45 seconds
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 45 seconds
    Indian Club Lunges - 45 seconds
    Plank - 45 seconds
   
3rd circuit: 
    Indian Club Squats - 30 secondd
    Pushups - 30 seconds
    Club Weighted Sit-ups - 30 seconds
    Indian Club Lunges - 30 seconds
    Plank - 30 seconds

Indian clubs 5lb Iron:  skipped

Yoga:  10 minutes

Did 15 min of seated office yoga during my lunch break.

Darebee daily dare:  60 sec back arch balance hold - completed.

 

@Terah you get to award the score.
 

Diet: 20 points 

Workout: 20 points (not sure from your description, but I'm assuming you did all the work you planned to do?)

Meditation: 20 points

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

2 hours ago, Terah said:

Diet: 20 points 

Workout: 20 points (not sure from your description, but I'm assuming you did all the work you planned to do?)

Meditation: 20 points

Actually no I didn't get all my planned workout in, I missed the Indian club training.  A standard serving of beer in the US is 12 oz. Time for Yoga.

[Terah]

12 minutes ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

Actually no I didn't get all my planned workout in, I missed the Indian club training.

Okay. Workout is 15 points than.

 

14 minutes ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

A standard serving of beer in the US is 12 oz.

So your goal is max 144 oz in a week. Got it  

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Tuesdays and Thursdays are easier to judge ;-) min 20 minutes of yoga and a round of taiji form (with additional movement added).

[jonfirestar]

21 hours ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

And of course diet ends up going to hell when you walk into work and see this:

Sent from the dragon's lair

Basically the same thing for me to day. Ugh. Good luck with your challenge!

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

Basically the same thing for me to day. Ugh. Good luck with your challenge!

Thanks, there's the "cake day" every month for all the birthdays and work anniversaries for that month.  Bagel day Tuesdays, the vending machine, and the snack cart.  Not to mention we're surrounded by fast food joints.

[jonfirestar]

1 hour ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

Thanks, there's the "cake day" every month for all the birthdays and work anniversaries for that month.  Bagel day Tuesdays, the vending machine, and the snack cart.  Not to mention we're surrounded by fast food joints.

 

Yeah I know how you feel. There is cake almost every other week. I'm getting better at not partaking but some days I find myself eating it before I've even thought about it. Then you add every other bad food choice around at it makes for a challenging time.

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

14 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

 

Yeah I know how you feel. There is cake almost every other week. I'm getting better at not partaking but some days I find myself eating it before I've even thought about it. Then you add every other bad food choice around at it makes for a challenging time.

No kidding - add in stress and then there's no wonder why everybody's desk looks like a giant pile of Snickers wrappers.

[Hyrulian Yogi]

I don't think I could say no to cake... Cake is so delicious. 

 

I'm really interested in following your challenge as we have some similar goals (sleeping will be the next thing I tackle, in a month haha). 

 

Good luck!

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

@Hyrulian Yogi, feel free - there may be embarrassing pictures of a 40+ year old with a serious "liquid grain storage facility" involved, so you can't say you weren't warned ;-)

[Hyrulian Yogi]

9 minutes ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

@Hyrulian Yogi, feel free - there may be embarrassing pictures of a 40+ year old with a serious "liquid grain storage facility" involved, so you can't say you weren't warned ;-)

 

Haha, that's not embarrassing at all! My obsession with the moon is embarrassing. =P 

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

52 minutes ago, Hyrulian Yogi said:

 

Haha, that's not embarrassing at all! My obsession with the moon is embarrassing. =P 

No it isn't ....

[Shello]

On 9/19/2016 at 8:54 AM, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

And of course diet ends up going to hell when you walk into work and see this:

Sent from the dragon's lair

 

Store bought cookies and cake are not as tempting as the real thing.  Just keep telling yourself it's not worth it.  

 

But you did a good job having such a tiny piece.  Just don't do it everything there is cake.  seriously, my place has 'food days' all the time... But luckily they are by department and I am my own department so I can avoid them pretty easily.  

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

26 minutes ago, LadyShello said:

 

Store bought cookies and cake are not as tempting as the real thing.  Just keep telling yourself it's not worth it.  

 

But you did a good job having such a tiny piece.  Just don't do it everything there is cake.  seriously, my place has 'food days' all the time... But luckily they are by department and I am my own department so I can avoid them pretty easily.  

No store bought are nowhere near as good as the stuff I get from SWMBO.  I'll have to find some pictures.

 

I'm effectively the head of my department so I'm expected to show up for everything.  :-|

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Log for 20 Sep 2016

Sleep:  5 hr 31 min @ 93% efficiency - 5hr 8 min actual sleep time.

Active minutes:  168 minutes

Steps:  13253 - 10.34 Km


Water:  6 glasses (apparently I didn't need much water today, judging by the number of trips to the men's room)
Coffee:  2 mugs
Alcohol:  None
Soda: 1 500mL bottle Dr. Pepper

 

Breakfast: Homebrew Protein Shake #3 (1 serving plain Greek yogurt, Soy Protein, 1 tbls fiber supplement, 8 oz 2% milk, 1 tbls Nutella), Cliff Builder's Bar
Snack:  pro2snax baby carrots & sriracha jack
Lunch:  Fresh Selections veggie tray: carrots, snap peas, broccoli, and ranch dip.
Snack:  jack link's beef jerky 1 oz (I was feeling a bit peckish and didn't have anything packed)
Dinner:  Homemade Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes from scratch made with baby red potatoes, and green beans.

 

Meditation:  5 minutes seated, formal


Workout: 
-- Yoga:  30 minutes
-- Taijiquan:  Short Half of form plus " Embrace Tiger and Return to Mountain"

 

Extras:
-- Walked all the way to work (8.5 Km)
-- Darebee daily dare

[Terah]

That sounds like a really succesful day!

20 points for all your goals

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

6 hours ago, Terah said:

That sounds like a really succesful day!

20 points for all your goals

I felt so when I posted this.  However, later on .... (this will all be in today's logs, or if you're rushed check "The Sleeping Quarters" over in the monks' area.)

[Twilight]

There's a sleep thread? I need this lol

[Draegon (Liam P Boyle)]

Yes, "The Sleeping Quarters" over with the monks and @sarakingdom's current challenge is sleep based.  Come on over and join for your black ribbon.

 

[sarakingdom]

1 hour ago, Draegon (Liam P Boyle) said:

Yes, "The Sleeping Quarters" over with the monks and @sarakingdom's current challenge is sleep based.  Come on over and join for your black ribbon.

 

 

My vord, yes, the more the merrier.  Ve Black Ribboners meet in the Sleeping Quarters.  Discvorld spoilers vill be kept to a minimum, for those who haven't started reading Pratchett yet.  (There are vampires.  Who have a Temperance League.)