Jarric

Yesterday was good: Forgot about my stretching, but remembered at quarter past 9 so I had time to get it done before a slightly late bedtime. Teeth were cared for. Exercise was done (Crossfit as mentioned before). Calories were tracked. Apparently I ate 3,267kcal, which is a bit excessive, but the goal is just to track right now. I also weighed myself yesterday - 12 stone 2 pounds (=170#, ~77.1kg). That's a fair bit more than I'd like (I don't really have a goal, but certainly closer to 11 stone). This morning I swapped my Crossfit for a run, as I had to catch an early train to a meeting. It was 4 miles, with 3 x 0.6 mile intervals in the middle. It felt really hard, but I guess that's what happens after a couple of weeks off (and a few weeks of inconsistency before that if I'm honest). This evening is D&D, so I'm going to get home, put some chips in the oven, and do my stretching whilst I wait for them to cook. There's gammon in the slow cooker already, and I'll heat up some baked beans to make a meal of it. Might even put a fried egg on top.

And that's not the only thing Enjoy your run later mate!

Also, whilst not a goal, my creative outlets this challenge will be D&D prep and art (in case you needed more similarities!). Good to have you, sister.

• That's an awesome goal; I'm planning for a Trifecta myself this year. • That would be awesome, we can definitely arrange a UK OCR if you come over! • You won't embarrass yourself I'm certain.

Aww, Maisie looks so cute! Well done on a good first day

Yesterday I got out for my long run - 10 miles of which I managed to run about the first 6 before walking the rest. I'm a bit worried about how long it's going to take to get back to running proper distances, but I just need to keep consistent and trust the process. Didn't really get much else done yesterday; I felt knackered from the run and also just in general. Was nice to chill out though, and High Rollers is back on Twitch which seriously improves my Sundays. And so the challenge begins! Ticked off my exercise goal this morning with Crossfit - 3 x 7 deadlifts at 120kg, followed by a WOD: 5 rounds for time of 20 single arm kettlebell swings and 10 burpees. Was fairly grim, but it didn't kill me so that's good. Calories were mostly tracked for the day before I left for work, as other than lunch I know roughly what I'm having. Teeth were brushed this morning and I did a couple of my hip stretches. Should have plenty of time to get the hip stretches done this evening, and I'll need to to get points for any of the other stuff. Both my hips are hurting today, which is a bit weird. I assume it's just a combination of getting back in to running and doing a lot of squats and deadlifts in the last few days, so hopefully it'll be better soon.

True dat!

Following along! Consistency is definitely a good goal to start the year. I think that type of hair style will look really good on you.

No joke, I was just about to post exactly this!

I feel you on this; I once accidentally didn't drink caffeine for a couple of days and it was agony. I think that's reasonable. I feel like a lot of people take medication far more than they ought to. You might be a bit far the other way, but I won't pretend to know where the right line is. Glad you're on the mend Yeti, you've got some good goals and I think they'll set a strong foundation for your year.

Well done on the box jumps! It's such a mental game, but now once you've got it you'll always be able to do them.

You had me at OCRs My 2¢: - Spartan Stadion will be a lot of running up and down stairs, and all running on concrete, so it isn't really my thing. It's also really short, so it suits people who want to push really hard for a really short time, but I find it hard to justify paying that much for races which are over so quickly. That said, I haven't run one and everyone I know who has said they had great fun. - I think a Spartan Sprint would be a great start to OCR for you - not too easy but very much achievable. - If I were you I'd probably get two races in before October, and then do the Zombie Mud Run as a bonus if you feel like it. - A lot of companies, including Spartan, will let you volunteer as a marshal in exchange for a free ticket. Works well for race weekends where you can volunteer one day and race the other, and I love the atmosphere of marshalling.

Went for my first run since 18th December yesterday, according to my phone. It was hard work, but having gone pretty hard on front squats and Romanian deadlifts this week, and having climbed yesterday morning, I'll call it a win. Speaking of climbing, that was also a lot of hard work as I've not been in about 6 weeks! It was really good to be back Challenge starts tomorrow (my week starts Monday, regardless of what the forums say), and I'm looking forward to it!

Good to have you man! And thanks for the note; you learn something new every day! Hi EG! Thank you! Haha, thanks! It'll be an interesting experiment if nothing else. I had to look that up, looks like a cool module. I really need to play/read more official D&D adventures.

You're D&D game sounds awesome, what level are you all at? I've never had the chance to do much plane-hopping, soul-trading crazy stuff. Hang on to that deck of illusions though, that thing's got a lot of possibilities. No matter what choices you make you DM isn't likely to throw you into an encounter that's a guaranteed TPK (though they might give you one where the only option is to flee), because a no-win scenario isn't really fun for anyone. There's a difficult balance between making a world feel real and making encounters level appropriate, but usually DMs come down on the side of letting the players stand a chance!

Hey CTJ, feels like I haven't seen you round here in ages! Awesome that you're getting into Crossfit, I'm sure you'll settle in and be going 3 times per week in no time.

Jarric's Ziggurat of Goals Welcome to 2020 everybody! May all of your 20's be natural. So my hairbrained idea for this challenge is the Ziggurat of goals. I'll show you it first, and then I'll try to explain it. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx--Calories--xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx--Exercise--xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx--Tooth Care--xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--Hip Rehab--xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx So I had an idea to do things a bit differently this challenge. Rather than just having 4 goals this time round, I want to make earning points on each goal contingent upon earning points on a more important goal. So if I exercise I don't get any points for it unless I've also done tooth care, and I don't get points for anything unless I've done my hip rehab work. The logic behind it is that if I can do just one thing, I want that thing to be important. There's no point in investing all of my energy into counting calories if I'm limping around with a dodgy hip. It's kind of like a pyramid of needs, but in reverse as the hardest things are at the bottom instead of the most basic. Also it's a ziggurat, because that's much more fantasy (seriously I have never heard or seen the word ziggurat used outside of a D&D campaign). The Goals Hip Rehab - 15XP What: Do my stretches/exercises/foam rolling every day. Why: Because my hip hurts, and I would very much like it not to. This is important for a lot of goals I have this year and to enjoy a lot of the things I enjoy (OCR, climbing, running, lifting, sitting down!) How: I have a programme of 12 things per day. Aim to do a couple first thing in the morning, to get me off to a good start on a day. If I have stuff left in the evening, prioritise this goal over bedtime. Tooth Care - 15XP What: Care for my teeth! Why: Because I want to keep all my teeth for as long as possible without tooth pain, and avoid expensive dentist bills. How: Brush in the morning with a manual brush, in the evening with an electric brush, and clean between my teeth/floss in the evening. Exercise - 10XP What: Exercise every day. Why: Because I enjoy it, and I enjoy it more if I'm more consistent. Because I have goals this year that require me to be fit. And because I generally want to be a strong and healthy person. How: There are no rules on what I have to do on what day, and anything of 20 minutes or over will count. With that said, I plan to do CrossFit MTTF, Run WSS, and boulder at least once per week. Calories - 10XP What: Count calories every day. Why: Because I gained some fat over December/Christmas, and I'd like to lose that. This is both an aesthetic thing, and a efficiency thing - it's easier to run carrying less weight and I certainly won't get another muscle up for a while weighing what I do. How: Using My Fitness Pal. Take advantage of the fact that I eat the same things most days, and pre-fill the following day of an evening where possible. No particular calorie goal, just tracking is enough to keep me mindful. Other Stuff A few things that aren't goals, but that I should probably do (possibly this weekend): Wrap up my 2019 road map. Post a 2020 road map, with some solid goals for the year ahead. Do a bujo spread for tracking this challenge. Prep for D&D game with some awesome Rangers on the 12th Jan. Do my coursework for my industry qualification and hand it in (due 28th Jan). So that's it! I've started a lot of challenges in the last year and not finished them, but I fully intend to see this one through. And if not, to paraphrase a wise Tank, you don't fail by not completing challenges, you fail when you give up starting new ones.

Wow, your D&D group's a lot more organised than any of mine, check out that flowchart! That sounds like a great story. Generally I'd say if your choices lead to a great story, you /are/ winning at D&D

I love the focus on consistency over perfection, I think that approach will see you do really well this challenge mate.

I quite like her. That said the last series didn't catch my imagination enough for me to watch the whole thing, and I still haven't seen the New Year's Day episode. It's so obvious! And let us not forget The Bartender's quasi-telepathic powers, and his ability to solve just about any problem.

Love the new challenge goals - good luck accumulating luck!

Happy New Year everyone, lets make it a good one.

No stretches Wednesday, because I totally forgot about them. No stretches yesterday either. I'm on 5/12 so far today at least. It's a really strange interaction, good to know I'm not alone in this! I'll try to make more of an effort to get to know them; we've met up a few times to play board games instead of RPGs, but still you end up talking about the game rather than real life. ===== Work has been mad recently, but I finally have all my reports out for 1st January so I can start to relax a bit. My body is falling apart at the moment, and I think that's in no small part due to stress. Wednesday I did genuinely just forget about the stretching, and by the time I got back from snooker and remembered it was late and I was drunk. Yesterday morning Crossfit was good had 3-0-3 tempo squats and I took it easy building up to 85kg (~187#) for a double. Then took it less easy with a 90kg (198#) overhead yoke carry for 100ft. Yesterday evening I got in from work late and just vegged out. WW had made turkey and stuffing soup, which was delicious, and done a load of grocery shopping which I was very grateful for. I remembered the stretching, but the mental effort of actually doing it was too much. This morning at Crossfit we had heavy single power cleans, and I worked up to 70kg (~154#), which /might/ be a new max? Then we had a WOD of pullups and kettlebell swings. I started to get a bad headache again a couple of minutes in. It wasn't as bad as Monday but I was worried about it getting there, so I bailed on the workout and did some stretching instead (hence being on 5/12 now). Really embarrassing to have to back out of the workout, I'm hoping this is a stress thing and will go away now that I'm pretty much over the Christmas rush

Got 12/12 stretches in the end yesterday, mostly before I went out and the last two when I got back from the pub. It was really fun to meet up with the D&D guys for a drink last night. Strange to be talking about their real lives and not interacting with them playing hobgoblins, fey creatures and the like, but it was nice to do. Turns out I actually like them, not just their characters: This morning I ran. I procrastinated a lot and only got in 5 of my 7 miles, and it felt really hard, but I did at least go out I suppose. Tonight is snooker, just a friendly practice as the season has broken for Christmas so that'll be nice.

Don't you dare go blaming yourself for that mate. If you stolen from you are the victim, the blame is squarely with the shitty person who stole from you. Good luck with the job man, whatever you decide. It might be worth considering whether having a reliable, regular salary is worth the job and the pay for the time being (assuming you can live on that salary). If you take the job you can always keep looking for other things and can always quit, but not having to worry about when you'll next find a paying client might be a good weight off your mind right now. (Personally I couldn't be self-employed because of the amount of stress not having a regular income would bring me, even if I was earning more overall. Your mileage may vary.)