Jarric

I know, it's cool isn't it? I saw it the other week and just had to get some! ===== To round out yesterday - I did not do my rehab exercises yesterday. Again I got back late from D&D and didn't want to spend 30+ minutes doing them. I need a strategy for D&D nights I think. Today is going well so far. At Crossfit this morning we were doing squats with the yokes - setting the yoke low enough to start just above parallel and then picking it up in a squat. Got to 115kg for 2 sets of 4, which was nice (it is easier then normal squats though. Then we had a really gassy WOD. For time: 400m row 8 burpees over rower 300m row 6 burpees over rower 200m row 4 burpees over rower 100m row 2 burpees over rower I finished in 6:35, and happily managed not to throw up. Work was ok - I won't say I'm getting on top of things but the urgent stuff is out the way. Went home and did some rehab stuff - I'm on 9/12 exercises so far. Now off to meet the Captain for a few drinks, so not sure if I'll get the rest in, but at least I've done a big chunk of them. Tomorrow the MIL is coming over, so I need to clean and make space in the spare bedroom and things like that.

I love your idea of listing the little wins every day, that's a really positive way to run a challenge. Don'tbe afraid to vent when you have to as well though, as others have said you could never be /that friend/ and you will never push us away.

Today has been a good day. Crossfit this morning was paused bench press, and then shoulder to overhead sets every 2 minutes for 20 minutes. I did push jerks - it was good to have some practice on them. Work was busy - can't tell if I'm catching up or falling behind on it at the moment. This evening I cooked halloween carbonara: Honestly it was a little dry. Tasted nice though. D&D was cancelled this evening as our GM was ill, which was a shame. We still went and played board games though and had a generally fun evening. I also had my first variance of the week - a slice of the gaming cafe's Guinness chocolate cake

Pretty much! That's why I love D&D - the only place where trying to dropkick a party member to their death sounds normal Thank you! Recovery buddies FTW! ===== So this is my mobile update. It's late and I've had a couple of beers so it'll be a short one. - I ran this morning. Resisted getting out of bed until as late as possible but at least I got in and easy 5k - 12/12 for my rehab exercises/stretches - Got my sun salutation in this morning - Did not eat like a dickhead - no variances yet. Barring exceptional circumstances I'm planning to save both for Sunday, when I'm running a D&D game for some awesome nerds (tagging doesn't work on my phone, but you know who you are!) - Spent about £20 this evening, whilst playing snooker, on a few beers. It's been a nice night - All that's left is for me to brush my teeth before bed for a perfect day challenge wise. - I smoked this evening - something that happens after a few drinks that I need to nip in the bud.

Hope the anxiety buggers off sooner rather than later for you. Where can I get a turtle-duck?!?

November Challenge:

September challenge wrap: On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 1:03 PM, Jarric said: I'm not going to do a full rundown of last challenge, as I'm not 100% sure where I ended up, but I did want to acknowledge it. Cog - exercise was good. I need a new running plan to keep that focused, but generally I don't miss many workouts. Seven - rehab has been ok, but not great this challenge. Need to keep working on this as it's definitely working but it's slow going. Bender - I didn't hit this goal much, but I still think I ate better having a goal than not having one at all, so this helps. Data - didn't really stick to this, need to make the effort to take cash out at the start of the week for this to work. Kryton - didn't do badly, but will keep this up next challenge to really cement the habit. Other stuff - I ran the OCRWC and exceeded almost all of my expectations! So so happy. I'll talk about my week zero trip to NYC in my next challenge.

This is a beautiful goal/metric I have to say. Loving all the data, even with very little narrative it makes for a surprisingly interesting challenge. Is it bad to say I'm looking forward to the graphs?

Mobile update for the day: - No eating like a dickhead, which is good. - No stretching/rehab work, which is bad. It's ten past eleven now and I've just got back in from D&D, so not going to happen tonight. I meant to do it when I was cooking dinner but time got the better of me. - Haven't spent any money today, so still £44.85 in the coffers - Teeth will be brushed before bed - Sun salutation was done first thing ===== D&D tonight was awesome. We're starting a new adventure called The Mummy's Mask. It's basically a tomb raiding game set in the fantasy equivalent of Egypt. I'mplaying a posh tiefling rogue - the leader of the group and less-than-able trapfinder. We have a tiefling ranger, who weilds a scythe and favours fighting undead, a dwarf wizard with a Bristol accent, a desert druid who is our only (rather inept) healer, a 12 year old orc barbarian with no brain to speak of, and the final character being played by a brand new player is known only as "Fighter". So far the barbarian got angry that he couldn't open a door and knocked out the druid, I ran away from some scorpions, the fighter tried to dropkick the barbarian down a 60ft shaft, we all got filled with darts from a trap I failed to look for, and we've found a substantial amount of loot in the forst couple of chambers of a tomb. I really do love this game.

Yeah, it's a tough one. I'm adding this as a way to clear my head first thing, rather than for physical reasons, but I feel like I won't know if it's having a good or bad effect for quite a while. Hi dude! And thanks, wish I could make it look as easy as that little panda! Absolutely. I'm a bit hit and miss with it, but it still makes me more conscious of my spending. Any leftover change I have at the end of the week I stick in a jar, and I'm saving that to buy running/gym/fitness gear in the future.

Nerd meetups are the best! Thanks again for introducing me to NYC. I'll be following along for the narrative, D&D and general madness, of course.

Hey Puck, hope your stomach's feeling better today. Try not to stress on the house stuff - it's a lot to deal with but you'll get it sorted and have your own space soon enough.

Thank you guys, I'm very pleased to finally get one! ===== This is not a mobile update, but whilst I'm at my computer: Everything done yesterday - all the rehab exercises, no variances, teeth done, £44.85 left in the budget Also watched Critical Role last night - half way through the latest episode and oh my god it's tense! Did my sun salutations this morning. I'm wondering if adding another thing to my mornings will de-stress me or just increase stress - only time will tell. Crossfit this morning was good - 3x5 squats at 85kg (187#), which is my current 5RM, and 100ft yoke carries in sub-18 seconds. I managed 150kg (330#) in 16 seconds. Tonight is D&D, and we're starting a new campaign called Mummy's Mask. I'll be playing a very posh tiefling rogue, so excited for a new character!

Hope you feel better soon Sky

I did a thing this morning I got 4 in total Other than that it's so far, so good - did my sun salutations (despite it being far before sunrise), no variances, got cash out for the budgeting, and this is my mobile update for day 1.

A very happy unchallenge to you! Sounds like a very good idea.

Jarric stumbles in to the bar, looking tired and distinctly worse for wear. Pint of the black stuff barkeep, he intones, oblivious of the fact that his hair of the dog it already sitting on the bar. (more ruby than black, but it is Halloween)

Last challenge I dropped off the boards a bit towards the end. In an effort to avoid that this time I'm writing this challenge on my phone, and I'll be updating it on my phone to be more accessible. I've also just come back from a week in New York City. I had an amazing time, got to meet @raxie (who is the most lovely person in the world if you didn't know), saw all the sights and did some interesting work related things. I also drank to massive excess, slept very little, and smoked a lot when I was drinking. So I need a bit of a reset on most things. I also only exercised twoce in NYC - a brilliant run around Central Park, and a reasonable workout in a hotel gym. To be honest that's all I expected to get though, and I'm not worried about my chances of falling back into my Crossfit and running routine. So, lets have some goals then! Mobile Updates - 10XP To keep me on here and keep momentum going I'm going to update, from my phone, every day. I can also come on here from a computer, but when work gets busy I stop doing that so I'm enforcing the mobile thing. Scored out of 7 each week. Rehab Exercises - 15XP I've had a dodgy hip for a long time, but I'm making progress with exercising it regularly. I have 12 exercises/stretches/rolls to do, and I need to do all of them every day. And to do that I need to plan my time to do it. Scored out of 84 each week. Don't eat like a dickhead - 10XP Simple enough - eat real food, allowing up to 2 variances per week. Planning those variances will help me. Scored as variances remaining each week - 0 is target score. Budget - 10XP I take out £50 in cash at the start of the week, and that's what I have as spending money (excluding bills, fuel and that kind of stuff). Again, planning my spending ahead will help here. Scored as money left out of the £50 each week. Brushing - 5XP I started this last challenge and I just want to cement the habit - use my new electric toothbrush every evening. Scored out of 7 each week. Sun Salutations - 5XP Something else I wanted to mess with. Last challenge I did a lot of yoga in preparation for races and it really set me up for the day. So I'm going to do a quick sun salutation every morning and see how that makes me feel. Scored out of 7 each week.

I'm not going to do a full rundown of last challenge, as I'm not 100% sure where I ended up, but I did want to acknowledge it. Cog - exercise was good. I need a new running plan to keep that focused, but generally I don't miss many workouts. Seven - rehab has been ok, but not great this challenge. Need to keep working on this as it's definitely working but it's slow going. Bender - I didn't hit this goal much, but I still think I ate better having a goal than not having one at all, so this helps. Data - didn't really stick to this, need to make the effort to take cash out at the start of the week for this to work. Kryton - didn't do badly, but will keep this up next challenge to really cement the habit. Other stuff - I ran the OCRWC and exceeded almost all of my expectations! So so happy. I'll talk about my week zero trip to NYC in my next challenge.

Things are going well for the final week of this challenge. I hit a new 5RM on my deadlift on Tuesday at 130kg (286#). I've also promised @jonfirestar and @Mr_Willes that I'll get over 300# in the next month, so there's a goal! Hopefully I can find a hotel gym next week with a deadlift platform to keep this up (unlikely). This morning at Crossfit I did yoke carry (100ft in under 20 seconds), and I managed to hit 165kg without pain! It was the yoke carry that properly busted my hip back in January, so it's nice to see some evidence that it's actually healing up . On that note I do need to focus on my stretching more, that's going to be a goal for a long time. Food continues to be ok, brushing is hit and miss but I'm working on it. Next week I'm going to take a full on zero week as I'm in the states. Will try and get some exercise in over the week, but I'm sure food will be bad and beer will be plentiful. Super excited to go though, and to meet @Raxie in NYC!

Thanks man. I'm flying out to New York City, will have a couple of days there, a couple in Hartford, CT, and then back to NYC at the end. It's a work training course kinda thing, so probably quite a busy one!

OCRWC Race Report Well where do I start? Friday I got up at half 4 to get to the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships (OCRWC) for the literal crack of dawn. I was seriously nervous the day before and that morning, but I had plenty of time to calm my nerves and get registered. The first race was the 3k race, and I was in the first wave of the day at 9am. The 3k race went really well. On all of the races you get an obstacle completion wristband, and you have to complete every obstacle to keep your band. If you lose your band you're allowed to complete the course, but designated "did not complete" in the official results. For the 3k race, I kept my band. Really really happy with that, it's something I didn't think I could achieve, but I got through every rig, monkey bar, ninja ring and everything else on that course. My favourite was "Gibbons", which requires you to make your own monkey rings by putting rods into hanging slots and then swinging between them. It must have taken me 15 attempts to find a technique that worked for me, but once I smashed it! Of course I took a horrendously long time completing it (think 5 times as long as the top pros), and I came 218th out of 243, but I got the 100% completion and that's what matters! Saturday I got a lie in until 5am, and didn't have to arrive until sunrise! Saturday was the 15k race and that was just brutal. My grip was already worn down after the 3k and it just got harder and harder as the race went on. I got nearly to the end with the band, with the help of cheering from @Charlie_Quinn, @jonfirestar and @Rhovaniel, but a few obstacles from the end fatigue got the better of me and I gave up the band. All the remaining obstacles I had done the day before so I knew I could do them, but I just had no energy and no arms less. Sunday I was able to sleep in to half 6, and arrive at the venue just before 9. I had a rather clumsy attempt at the 100m course - wish I'd been able to do it fresh on the Friday as I know I could have done a lot better. It was a fun course though; wish I had the opportunity to practice it. Then we set out for the team race, with Rho on the speed leg, Jon on the strength section, and me running the technical section before we all took on the team section at the end. This was a really fun race, but really tough (especially after the previous couple of days of runs). I kept my band through the technical section, but there was no way the three of us were getting up the final wall so I had to give it up at the last hurdle. Still, we finished a very respectable 33rd in a category of 79, and we had a lot of fun doing it, so no complaints there. I was also due to do the charity fun race on Saturday, but I was knackered, and I whilst I could have dragged myself round I wouldn't have enjoyed it, so I opted to give that a miss. Challenge wise goals are going ok, food over the weekend was "eat as much as possible" to just try and stay fuelled for all of the activity, and money went a bit out of the window but nothing too bad. I took yesterday off work to recover and did lots of stretching. Back to normal today for 4 days, and then on Saturday I fly to the USA!

Well where do I start? Friday I got up at half 4 to get to the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships (OCRWC) for the literal crack of dawn. I was seriously nervous the day before and that morning, but I had plenty of time to calm my nerves and get registered. The first race was the 3k race, and I was in the first wave of the day at 9am. The 3k race went really well. On all of the races you get an obstacle completion wristband, and you have to complete every obstacle to keep your band. If you lose your band you're allowed to complete the course, but designated "did not complete" in the official results. For the 3k race, I kept my band. Really really happy with that, it's something I didn't think I could achieve, but I got through every rig, monkey bar, ninja ring and everything else on that course. My favourite was "Gibbons", which requires you to make your own monkey rings by putting rods into hanging slots and then swinging between them. It must have taken me 15 attempts to find a technique that worked for me, but once I smashed it! Of course I took a horrendously long time completing it (think 5 times as long as the top pros), and I came 218th out of 243, but I got the 100% completion and that's what matters! Saturday I got a lie in until 5am, and didn't have to arrive until sunrise! Saturday was the 15k race and that was just brutal. My grip was already worn down after the 3k and it just got harder and harder as the race went on. I got nearly to the end with the band, with the help of cheering from @Charlie_Quinn, @jonfirestar and @Rhovaniel, but a few obstacles from the end fatigue got the better of me and I gave up the band. All the remaining obstacles I had done the day before so I knew I could do them, but I just had no energy and no arms less. Sunday I was able to sleep in to half 6, and arrive at the venue just before 9. I had a rather clumsy attempt at the 100m course - wish I'd been able to do it fresh on the Friday as I know I could have done a lot better. It was a fun course though; wish I had the opportunity to practice it. Then we set out for the team race, with Rho on the speed leg, Jon on the strength section, and me running the technical section before we all took on the team section at the end. This was a really fun race, but really tough (especially after the previous couple of days of runs). I kept my band through the technical section, but there was no way the three of us were getting up the final wall so I had to give it up at the last hurdle. Still, we finished a very respectable 33rd in a category of 79, and we had a lot of fun doing it, so no complaints there. I was also due to do the charity fun race on Saturday, but I was knackered, and I whilst I could have dragged myself round I wouldn't have enjoyed it, so I opted to give that a miss. Challenge wise goals are going ok, food over the weekend was "eat as much as possible" to just try and stay fuelled for all of the activity, and money went a bit out of the window but nothing too bad. I took yesterday off work to recover and did lots of stretching. Back to normal today for 4 days, and then on Saturday I fly to the USA!

Thank you! It was amazing! Post incoming.

Week 4 - Tuesday Alice Cooper was awesome! Had a really great time. He's not not hitting the high notes any more, but at 71 his voice is still seriously strong and he's an incredible performer. I did get back mega late, didn't do my last rehab exercises, as went to bed about half 1 in the morning. Teeth not brushed. Week 4 - Wednesday I hit snooze a couple of times on Wednesday, and eventually dragged myself out of bed for a run at 6:45. Did a very slow 5k, stretched and went to work. In the evening I did my rehab exercises that I hadn't done the day before whilst dinner was in the oven. Then had to dash off for a snooker match, which we comfortably won 4-1. I was knackered when I got back, so didn't do the rebab stretching, didn't brush, and got to bed late. This morning I've done my yoga and some rehab stretches to Black Sabbath again. OCRWC starts tomorrow! *screams internally*