Jarric

Race Report - Wolf Run After a bit of stress rushing to the start line as we were running late, MG and I lined up for the race warm-up and briefing. MG is a friend I've done a few races with, and I actually bought her ticket for this one for her birthday last year. It was a pretty rubbish, grey day, a lot of cloud and 8°C (46°F). Basically it was springtime in England. Anyway the warmup went off almost without a hitch, until MG managed to kick someone in the face doing burpees! Otherwise it was a good atmosphere and we were soon off and running. The race takes place in the Ashdown Forest, which has a lot of beautiful views and some fairly big hills to see them from. The start of the race had some tyres to run through and some nice walls to climb over, nothing to extreme but some nice bits to break up the running. Wolf Run describes itself as "wild running", which is somewhere between a trail run and an OCR, so there weren't many man-made obstacles in favour of there being ditches to jump, streams to ford and plenty of mud to trudge through. We made really good time to start with and at 6km in we were both feeling really positive about how well we were coping with the course. Then we came up to the first lake swim. We had to climb a wall with climbing holds on it, something we were both happy to do as we boulder every week, and then it was a slide down into the lake for a 50m swim to the other side. We're both strong swimmers and both love swimming, so we had no trepidation about going for that. There's an advert on British TV at the moment about cold water shock. It says that when you hit cold water you should stop and float on your back to acclimate to it before trying to swim, otherwise you can find yourself struggling for breath and taking on lungfuls of water. We've both seen this advert, just bear that in mind. So down the slide we went, straight into the very cold water at the bottom. I turned and checked that MG had surfaced and then we both had the same reaction "fuck this is cold, lets get out of here". We both broke into a quick feont crawl trying to get to the other side as soon as possible. I could feel my breath shortening and I was struggling to breath at all. Feeling like I might not make it I went to put my foot down, and at that point I realised I couldn't touch the bottom. I started to panic and my breath was getting even shorter, I felt like I was going to drown. We both switched to a slow breast stroke and managed to get ourselves across alive. (I should mention that there were several staff member in kayaks waiting to drag people out, so I suspect I would have been rescued had I actually started to drown!) Knowing that the worst thing we could do was stop we got moving, and pretty soon we'd warmed up again. The next major obstacle was a big set of monkey bars, and disappointingly between cold hands and lack of grip I only made it half way through. Then came the longer lake swim, this one 70m. MG went straight for it without looking back at me, and I'm seriously glad she did as I might have backed out of it had I been on my own. I've never been scared to swim before but that first swim really worried me. This time though we learned from our prior mistakes and stuck at a steady breast stroke across the lake, not trying to push to hard and allowing ourself time to breathe. We got across without incident, and even overtook another swimmer on the way. The rest of the run was pretty straightforward - some more lovely forest to run through, a couple more streams to ford (just about every time we started to get warm we ended up back in the water). We finished the 10k course in 2:01, which I'm pretty happy with, and had we not stopped to hug half of the marshalls on the way round we would have easily broken two hours! All in all a lovely run. The only thing we didn't realise was that there was a heated room we could have got changed in, so we both got out of our wet clothes in the freezing cold changing tents and ended up standing in the heated one afterwards. It was a nice touch to have a heated tent there at all though, and that and a cup of tea perked me up after a fairly heavy two hours.

As were you after a few hours stood there! You can skip the swims to be fair, and they're not that far, it was just the cold that got me. You too! And don't apologise, I thoroughly appreciated the hugs! Race report incoming - you should definitely consider coming to the next one.

Had a great day today. Completed Wolf Run and despite my best efforts I didn't drown. Will give a proper update tomorrow.

Found a really interesting sounding meditation track last night, that talks about acknowledging wandering thoughts and then coming back from them rather than blocking them. I've not had a chance to listen to it yet, but I'm looking forward to it. This morning my alarm didn't go off, and yet I was still up at 04:50 to get myself sorted and out the door for tough mudder. Which goes to show that I'm quite capable of getting up on 6 hours sleep when I've got something important to do. Anyway, had a great day cheering people on at Tough Mudder, teaching them their left from right (I was marshalling at a split in the course, which apparently is a very confusing thing!). I got to meet @Rhovaniel for the first time, and got to see @jonfirestar too - it was definitely a good day. Now I am tired and watching Shield of Tomorrow. Bed soon before Wolf Run tomorrow, looking forward to a good (if cold) run!

I always found it really hard to tell the difference between being hungry and wanting a cigarette. For that matter I also can't tell the difference between those things, nerves and having done a core workout recently...

And what's wrong with that? Oh I didn't discover that until much later.

Yeah, did you see they released the course map this morning? Now I'm seriously terrified! I'll drop you a line on Facebook Messenger when I know what obstacle I'm at.

I didn't run last night (though I definitely could have), and I didn't go to the gym this morning, so tonight I run! Maybe not that far, but I need to get in something ahead of Wolf Run on Sunday. Otherwise things are going ok - meditation and checking in are still at 100% (though I don't think I'm getting any better at meditating yet, I need to just trust that I will get there). WW bought a shoe rack yesterday, so we just need to sort our shoes out (by which I mean her shoes) and that's another thing off the list. This weekend I've got Tought Mudder volunteering on Saturday and Wolf Run on Sunday, and I'll make sure to get in some research or some study (or better still both).

If you're anything like me, that's because you circled every single item on every single page!

Your work stuff:

Sounds like you're pretty busy to me, spending 9 hours+ each day at work and working out every day. There's only time for so much else, and if you're spending a lot of time in the gym you need a lot of recovery to go with it. It's easy to look at other people and think they've got everything together, but unless you get a full breakdown of their week like you've given here you never actually know what else they've got on their plate, or where they have time that you don't. It sounds to me like you have actually got things pretty together, in a pretty busy lifestyle.

I love every bit of this, look at all of the cool things you're going to do! Also, you should definitely try rock climbing, it's amazingly good fun.

Didn't get the other half of my research done last night, as we went straight out for dinner with WW's mother. Had a great tapas meal and split a bottle of red, twas very nice. Spent the rest of the evening chilling on the sofa for a few hours, then mediated before bed. Did not run this morning, I stayed in bed instead. May see if I have time to do it tonight, as I have a race coming up on Sunday and I could really do with stretching my legs between now and then!

A lot of checks there, looks like a solid start

Yesterday went pretty well. Got home, got an hour of research done (so that's half a pomodoro, half way there!), did my meditation as my 5-minute break between two 25-minute research sessions, which was really effective. And then I made a massive beef chilli and watched some Critical Role with WW. WW's mother came over later in the evening, and she'll be staying with us for a couple of days. Had a horrible nightmare last night, but this morning I did get up and hit the gym ! Worked up to 3x8 at 60kg (132#) on squats, then 3x3 OHP at 30kg, 35kg, 40kg (66#, 77#, 88#). Got in some leg press as well and then I had to cut the workout short as I'd arrived later than planned. Tonight I may do the other half of my research work depending on when I'm going out for dinner with WW and her mother. Tomorrow morning I will run, the plan is 5 minute warm-up, 4 sets of 1 mile followed by 2 minutes rest, and a 5 minute cool down.

Wow, that sounds like a really decent workout. Also, I now have drumming song by Florence stuck in my head, which is pretty impressive given that I only read the title and didn't listen to it (there's no speakers on my work computer ).

Stats for Week 1 0 Study - nada Research - nope (got in maybe 25 minutes at work, but I should be doing this in my own time) Check in daily: 7/7 Meditate daily: 7/7 Todo list: X Clear spare room stuff · Clear sofas and keep them clear · Buy shoe rack · Mow front lawn X Mow back lawn · Clothing cull · Clean bedroom stuff X Sort computer desk and permanent printer set-up · E-mail Steve · Start gathering stuff for Irish passport · Book optician appointment As a challenge reward I'm making a decision, if I hit 100% on my checking in and meditation goals I'm buying those critical success/fail coins I mentioned. Not that I need them, but I really want them and I'm sure I'll find excuses to use them. So I pretty much recapped Monday above, just wanted to add that I did get my meditation in. It's a track I want to do again, because it's for a lot of space where nothing happens which kept making me wonder if it's already finished or not. Now I know that the finish is clearly announced I won't have to worry about that the second time. This morning I slept in again - I thought I had snoozed my alarm but apparently I turned it off. I'm still trying to work out how to get on board with this, but in the meantime I'm making a commitment. Tomorrow I will get up and go to the gym, no matter what happens I want to be there before work.

Another brief update (I'll try and get on here in my lunch tomorrow so I have a bit more time to spend): Meditation last night felt bad and I gave up fairly quickly. I think I just left it too late and was too tired. Slept in again today, so no gym. It's understandable given how little sleep I got at the weekend, but I need to turn this around. I've got races coming up and I can't be rusty for them. Felt knackered and weord at work today - really spaced out and fidgety. Don't know what that's all about. Finished levelling up my monk today, which still took a while but now it's done that's one less distraction. Don't actually get to play it until next week unfortunately. Time now for me to meditate and go to bed!

Quick ipdate, because I've foolishly left it really late: Meditation was done yesterday when I had a chance - only for about 2 minutes but at least I got it in l. Will do todays when I've posted this. Cleaning the house was done today and WW did some gardening, so I can tick the first few bits off the list Study and research did not get done - need to move these forward Food is prepared for tomorrow, and I'm feeling both prepared for the week and looking forward to having relatively few commitments after work this week too. Spent far too much of my day choosing items for my monk character, as we just leveled up and got a boat load of cash. Still, I've actually picked them now, which is good.

After posting yesterday I realised that I would be going straight from work to the pub and wouldn't have a chance to meditate, so I took the last 15 minutes of my lunch break to leave the office and sit in the local park to meditate. Felt really nice, even with the noise from the road, so I may well do that again next time the weather's nice. I usually take my whole lunch break at my desk, but I think it did me good to get out of the office, even for just a few minutes. Last night was a leaving do for a couple of people I work with that are leaving for Canada. Many drinks were had, and a few cigarettes, and no food. Karaoke was sung and toot was talked. All in all a really great night. Ok, it's not good for me fitness wise and getting back after 5am meant I lost some of my morning being in bed, but it was great fun and I have no regrets. No workout on today, but I'm helping The Captain rip out his garden so that'll keep me plenty active. Don't know how I'm going to find time to meditate as I'm staying here - may have to be in bed tonight. Tomorrow is bouldering, Critical Role and taking care of some of the todo list.

My game yesterday was excellent. DnD stuff (and maybe mild spoilers for Rise of the Runelords, though I feel like our GM changes the setting a lot): Did my meditation before bed, again it felt pretty good and I got through it nicely. This morning I over slept again. I don't know how to combat this at the moment, but I need more gym time and I need more running in my life so somehow I need to sort this out. Next week I have no plans after work, so we'll see if a series of early nights re-sets me into getting up to go to the gym. Edit: Just had an idea that I might do a reward for myself if I do well this challenge. I've never done that before, but I really want some of these:

Yeah, I will do. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for in meditation yet so it's hard to say what's good. For the last few days I've been doing short sessions from Peter Fernando, but that's as much because I find his voice relaxing as it is actually about the content. Heeey! I'm definitely staying in Pyrah - I'd always choose Fire Ashari given the option. It's going wellish so far, I think it's a good plan

Not so big any more mate . If I'm near the end you might be more brown than yellow too!

Hey dude, thought I'd posted already but I haven't, so now I have, so following along! Hope the back improves.

Thanks . It's good to be around these parts.