Jarric

Yesterday evening was snooker - had a fun evening and we won 4-1 in a match we really needed to win, so that's good. I drank many beer and went to bed quite late. I did not stretch, or brush, but I also managed to spend no money and I did not eat like a dickhead. This morning crossfit was 2 second paused bench - 50kg (100#) for 3 sets of 8. That was followed by a 1km row for time - I shaved 2 seconds off my previous best to get 3:43.8, but I could probably do better with more sleep and less beer. Tonight is our Rise of the Runelords D&D game, so tomorrow I can hopefully regale you with tales of giant-slaying.

I think it's good to flesh out more than you need - even if the background you have put together never actually comes up in the story. A character's background would inform their decisions, so knowing that background helps you write how they respond to things. I think the same applies to worldbuilding - authors like Tolkien wrote huge amounts of information that was never meant to be published, and even without reading any of that information the world feels more alive because of it. Games like Call of Duty certainly do, because they're basically online FPS games with a single player campaign tacked on at the end. The Fable games did a reasonable job of leading you through the story a little more gently, without having the full open-world freedom of an Elder Scrolls game or similar. I wouldn't worry too much about this. A lot of the time when we read stories we know that good will triumph/the hero will get the girl/they'll live happily ever after etc. etc. These stories are still fun to read though, even when we know where they're going. Depends on the genre and style, but plot twists aren't always necessary.

Yah, it's a good feeling. I'm not so good with todo lists; they tend to get longer rather than shorter and that stresses me out. By I like moving things off my desk and parking them somewhere else when I can, to mix a metaphor. ===== How week 3 finished Mobile updates: 2/7 Food - 6/2 variances. It's keeping me off work snacks, but that's about it! Rehab - 28/84. I think this might be the subject of its own challenge next month. Budget - £23.04 remaining. This is slightly ironic as I actually bought a new running jacket and some new leggings which all told came to nearly £100. Those purchases aren't part of the budget though, and they were things I needed. Sun salutations - 1/7 - I keep forgetting this. Week 4 so far Mobile updates: 2/3 if we include this one (which isn't on my mobile, but I'll count the update anyway). Food - 0/2 variances Rehab - 12/24 exercises (12/36 if you include today, but I do plan to get these in this evening) Budget - £45.76 remaining as of last night Sun salutations - 0/3 Yesterday morning at crossfit I got a new squat 5RM - 90kg (198#) for 3 sets of 5. Next one will break 200# Last night we had our Mummy's Mask D&D game. It was really fun, we somehow survived combat with an animated sarcophagus, and we are starting to wonder about the strange nature of this partially completed tomb. This morning I ran. Started out as some really good threshold intervals, but my legs were dead by about halfway through (probably the squats). I enjoyed it though.

"You know, I sometimes wonder if we create these things by believing in them, or if we're just so attuned to this place we know about the weirdness before it happens," muses Jarric, downing his beer. He straps on a buckler, puts a hand on the hilt of his sword, and heads out to see what all the commotion's about.

I should also mention that I took @The Hero of TimeTime's advice and cleared my phone tabs yesterday. I've gone from 22 down to 4, and it feels like a weight off my shoulders. Today has been good so far. Hit a new 5RM on bench at 65kg (143#), and then played around with handstand walks and handstand pushups. Work was fine. Now on my way home to eat pork chilli and watch Undeadwood.

Running in the cold and the wet is much more fun than the /thought/ of running in the cold and the wet. So i suggest you stop thinking and start doing. I'll be running in the cold Wednesday morning, would you like to (virtually) join me?

Hah, well I never realised that! That'll be something to try next time I go shopping then.

Yeah, because 9 foot carnivorous penguins don't sound like a problem at all. I hope it's veloceraptors. As in the real-life ones which were chicken sized; they sound cool.

Aww, you two look so cute together! I've never tried fresh pasta; I don't think I'd even know where to find any, but on your recommendation I feel I must.

I do quite like lying on the floor sometimes. Probably not best to do this instead of stretching, but it does feel nice. ===== I've had a good weekend. Went to Hopalong's house and drank weird beer Friday night, then went home and stayed up far too late watching First Dates (felt like an evening for mindless TV). Saturday we had a very chilled morning in bed, did a supermarket shop and then pretty much chilled the rest of the day. I decided against my long run as I'd left it too late, and did my interval run instead. Managed my hip rehab stretches, but not the exercises or rolling. Sunday morning I went climbing and had a nice time, even though I didn't actually top many climbs at all. Went home, ate, and went out on my long run. I was really not feeling it, and because of that was running a bit and walking a bit. And then the sun went down because I was being so slow, so I was forced to resort to walking through the woods with my phone torch. I did complete the 10 miles, but with more walking than running in the end. When I got back we watched High Rollers and the Strictly results with a roast dinner, and then I did all my hip rehab stuff before bed. I forgot, I realised this morning, to cook any eggs for breakfasts, but otherwise it was a successful day.

That's a sounds plan actually. Maybe I'll take some time over the weekend to go through them and either favourite them or bin them off. Week 3 stats so far Mobile updates: 2/5 including today Food - 2/2 variances. Will probably be a couple more over the weekend but I'll try to keep it low. Rehab - 9/60. Wow it sounds bad when I say it like that. If I get all of mine in this evening I can at least make 18/60. Budget - £24.13 remaining Sun salutations - 1/5 Monday I hit 135kg (297#) for 5 reps on deadlift. Next lift will see me breaking 300# if all goes to plan. Tuesday I had D&D in the evening and a curry at our GM's house. It was great fun, even if the night was basically one long dick joke. Wednesday I had a posh lunch in London with work, and then snooker in the evening which gave me some time to catch up with my digital life between frames. Yesterday I cooked buffalo chicken with sweet potato fries and ranch dip, did some drawing, and chilled out in front of Critical Role. I got down on the floor to do my stretches at one point, and then laid on the floor, not stretching, until it was time for bed.

Thank you! You're right, a win's a win. ===== Well it's Friday and I'm getting to my first update of week 3! I think part of the problem is that I'm going full Rangerbrain™ at the moment. On top of the usual Crossfit/running/working/D&D/snooker/bouldering that is my life: • I'm in an amazing play by post D&D game with some lovely NF nerds via discord • I'm running a live game every couple of months for some more lovely NF nerd, and I want to put more time into worldbuilding for that • I've been really enjoying drawing recently, so I've been watching a few online art lessons and practising that quite a bit • Yesterday I had a crack at Duolingo again for learning French - we'll see if that gets me sucked in • I want to read the Pathfinder players' guide in full - I never read it when I started playing and I really feel like I could stand to understand the system a bit better • I have a million tabs open on my phone of interesting things I must read/do at some point It's all great stuff, but it means I'm not prioritising coming on here or some of my goals as much as I otherwise should. That's not an excuse, just a commentary on where I am right now. Will do another post with actual goal updates at some point soon!

Hope your PT goes well! (Or went well, I'm not sure where you are timezone wise!) Looking at these beautiful cards is making me want to take up tarot.

I hate to say it, but it does seem like calorie tracking really works well for you. As dull as doing it is, I think you'll get good results with it again.

I've tried this before - a workout only counts if you stretch after. That requires you to be tracking number of workouts, but it's worked well for me in the past. It sounds it; well done sir!

I asked the question (for the Tough Mudder we ran in Ireland actually), and yeah the e-mail I got back was that if we wanted to run as Team Nerd Fitness that was fine, and if we wanted to print our own t-shirts that was fine. It came with a warning not to use sites like Redbubble to print them, as then you could be making money off the NF logo. This was a couple of years ago though, and when I asked a similar question for the OCR World Championships I didn't get a response, so if anyone's thinking of printing t-shirts/using the name it would probably be better to ask in each case.

Sounds like you're doing amazingly man, glad you're enjoying running and lifting and playing about.

...well that plan went well Anyway, last week was ok-ish challenge wise. Only got one update, which is bad. Had 6 variances, which is also bad but I was at least mindful of avoiding the snack table at work. Got 37/84 got my rehab exercises, 2/7 for brushing and 3/7 for sun salutations. Actually now that I look at it it was really quite bad goal wise. Only thing I really smashed was my budget, with a surplus of £19.43 for the week. In other news, I started a new running plan last week written by the amazing @jonfirestar. It's really given me a buzz to go out running, even though it's getting towards thermal gear and headtorch weather. Had a rather boozy Wednesday with work where I totally forgot to eat, leading to a rather snacky Thursday, but other than that quite a quiet week. Also got to play a session of our Rise of the Runelords D&D campaign, which we haven't had in ages and which I've really missed. I will update on how this week's going soon.

Yeah, that's true, thanks Nic. At the moment I just need to get myself out of bed early enough to do them! A bit of effort now and I'm sure I can make it routine. ===== So I haven't given you all an update in about a week. I will endeavour to give you one later today.

And where would the fun in that be? As for 20.5, you did incredibly! That's so many damn wallballs! And really any workout where you use almost the full timecap and has almost made you puke has probably done it's job at making you fitter.

You just wait until I stop smiling... *laughs maniacally*

Quick recap of week 1: Mobile updates: 6/7 - not bad, just missed Sunday Don't eat like a dickhead: 7/2 variances - not great; kind of fell apart towards the end of the week. Avoided all the work snacks though, which is something. Rehab: 33/84 - and I wonder why my hip hurts! Budget: spent money on my card and totally lost track. Brushing: 5/7 - this habit will take a while to build. Sun salutations: 7/7 - though I haven't decided if they're helping yet.

It was pretty tough! But thankfully short at least Sorry, I was your side of the pond for zero week And thank you! You should work on one - your pullups are better than mine so I bet you have it in you!

Last night I finished without doing my last couple of stretches, but as I said yesterday 9/12 isn't bad. I also spent a fair bit of money on my card so I've lost track of my budget for the week. Today's been a fairly lazy day. Went and got rid of an old mattress first thing to reclaim our spare bedroom and give MIL somewhere to sleep. Went to lunch with WW and MIL, then came back and did some prep for running my D&D game tomorrow for WW, C_Q, Jon and Rho. Went out for a lovely tapas dinner, and now I'm relaxing some more and watching Strictly. Need to do my stretches at some point.

Love the goal of doing another Spartan, sounds like a really good thing to focus on. I would be interested in seeing pictures of your tarot readings, for the artwork if nothing else! Glad you had a good week, and well done on the goals so far.