Jarric

Oo, we're doing this again? Awesome! I wasn't going to do anything in week 0, but I really want to get started so guess I'll start tonight. Gonna push for Gold this time.

Looks like you've got some good motivation to keep going and are honing your goals down well. Good luck moving forward with it.

Well done on completing the challenge and your goals. Will look out for the next one!

Great job overall mate, and glad you're seeing some changes in yourself as a result (even if the scale hasn't noticed yet). Personally I reduce the XP I get from a challenge proportionally if I almost reach a goal, but I see what you mean about going for a perfect score to build consistency rather than pushing hard for one workout. I hope you get on ok with the calorie tracking. Personally I really enjoy doing it, and seeing everything I put into my body laid out helps keep me focused. I know some people hate doing it though!

Hiking trip update. Will update for the rest of the holiday later: Day 1 We drove to Okehampton to start our hike (after the essential pre-walk fry-up). Unfortunately we didn't plan the bit before the start of the hike, so we actually spent the first half hour of our day hiking around the town looking for the start of our route! When we got to the start the weather was beautiful, so much so I could walk in a t-shirt. Went through a lovely bit of woodland leaving town before we got out onto the moor. Once we were on the moor the wind got up; it's always windy there I think because it's so barren. Still we made good progress for a big part of the day. Navigation was easy too, even though there's often very little in the way of landmarks, because we essentially just had to head due south until we reached our overnight stay in Princetown. Things got bad mid-afternoon however. We hit marshland, which we hadn't picked up on when planning the route. To start with we thought it was just the one short hill, at the top of the hill we found a memorial stone. The memorial was to a gentleman that built the "peat pass" up the hill, so that the peat workers could climb the hill without walking through the marshy ground. Again, we found this memorial stone at the top of the hill, having already climbed up. The marsh didn't stop there though, it went on for hours and hours. Our pace slowed to a crawl, no to mention time spent detouring to find places to jump streams that ran throughout the area. By the time we got past that I had damp feet, all our joints were jarred from dropping in surprise soft bits of ground, and I'd had just about enough for one day. Back on the path we got back up to speed, and we could see Princetown appear in the distance from a few miles off. Another wrong turn took us an extra ~1.5mi our of our way along roads before we finally got into town. A quick break and a banana was needed to get our spirits up enough to push through the final half mile. Felt so good to reach the end of day one, and much food (which I ate much too fast) and a few beers were had before calling it a night. In total day 1 took us 7:45 to walk 19.26 miles (according to Fitbit). Day 2 Day 2 relied much more of footpaths and roads, so was a much easier jaunt. The weather got misty and we had a few rain showers, but that all kept us to a cool ideal walking temperature. The major stint was from Princetown to Widdecombe on the Moor, which took us about 5 hours. Lovely range of countryside from fields covered in gorse and dry stone walls, to barren moorland, to a walk along the river through a forest. Stopped in Widdicombe for a sausage and mash pub lunch and a pint, before the final push to Haytor. It's only about an hours walk, which consists of a big hill, followed by a steep down hill, followed by the hill that Haytor is on. As we got to the first hill we had a lovely road sign which just said "20%". That's a 1:5 incline, and it felt all that and more! The final push to Haytor was steep as well, but knowing it was the final hill we soared up it. The weather was really closing in, so the whole hill was covered in clouds, and we were well within the clouds by the time we climbed to the top of the tor. Felt so good to sit up there, looking out at...well, nothing we could see actually.. and knowing that we'd done it. Day 2 was 7 hours (including an hour's lunch break) for 15.53 miles (according to Fitbit)

Back at work after the hiking weekend. Will run it down as best I can here: Day 1 We drove to Okehampton to start our hike (after the essential pre-walk fry-up). Unfortunately we didn't plan the bit before the start of the hike, so we actually spent the first half hour of our day hiking around the town looking for the start of our route! When we got to the start the weather was beautiful, so much so I could walk in a t-shirt. Went through a lovely bit of woodland leaving town before we got out onto the moor. Once we were on the moor the wind got up; it's always windy there I think because it's so barren. Still we made good progress for a big part of the day. Navigation was easy too, even though there's often very little in the way of landmarks, because we essentially just had to head due south until we reached our overnight stay in Princetown. Things got bad mid-afternoon however. We hit marshland, which we hadn't picked up on when planning the route. To start with we thought it was just the one short hill, at the top of the hill we found a memorial stone. The memorial was to a gentleman that built the "peat pass" up the hill, so that the peat workers could climb the hill without walking through the marshy ground. Again, we found this memorial stone at the top of the hill, having already climbed up. The marsh didn't stop there though, it went on for hours and hours. Our pace slowed to a crawl, no to mention time spent detouring to find places to jump streams that ran throughout the area. By the time we got past that I had damp feet, all our joints were jarred from dropping in surprise soft bits of ground, and I'd had just about enough for one day. Back on the path we got back up to speed, and we could see Princetown appear in the distance from a few miles off. Another wrong turn took us an extra ~1.5mi our of our way along roads before we finally got into town. A quick break and a banana was needed to get our spirits up enough to push through the final half mile. Felt so good to reach the end of day one, and much food (which I ate much too fast) and a few beers were had before calling it a night. In total day 1 took us 7:45 to walk 19.26 miles (according to Fitbit). Day 2 Day 2 relied much more of footpaths and roads, so was a much easier jaunt. The weather got misty and we had a few rain showers, but that all kept us to a cool ideal walking temperature. The major stint was from Princetown to Widdecombe on the Moor, which took us about 5 hours. Lovely range of countryside from fields covered in gorse and dry stone walls, to barren moorland, to a walk along the river through a forest. Stopped in Widdicombe for a sausage and mash pub lunch and a pint, before the final push to Haytor. It's only about an hours walk, which consists of a big hill, followed by a steep down hill, followed by the hill that Haytor is on. As we got to the first hill we had a lovely road sign which just said "20%". That's a 1:5 incline, and it felt all that and more! The final push to Haytor was steep as well, but knowing it was the final hill we soared up it. The weather was really closing in, so the whole hill was covered in clouds, and we were well within the clouds by the time we climbed to the top of the tor. Felt so good to sit up there, looking out at...well, nothing we could see actually.. and knowing that we'd done it. Day 2 was 7 hours (including an hour's lunch break) for 15.53 miles (according to Fitbit). Will update how I did on the challenge overall later. Also need to catch up with everyone else's challenges! Side note; I want to put some pictures on this post, but it's saying I can only upload a total of 0.03MB? Any ideas because that's tiny?

First day of hiking done. Actually had beautiful weather for it. Best part of 20 miles (according to Fitbit) and took just under 8 hours. Will try and check in again tomorrow, phone signal permitting.

That pic is awesome, you look like you're having such a fantastic time! Out of interest how are you tracking your calorie burn for lifting? It's pretty difficult to do in general, and heart rate is apparently not a very reliable indicator of calorie burn for strength work (unlike cardio, which HR works great for). Part of it might be that as your muscles get more used to the movements they are not being stressed in the same way, as they can lift more efficiently (and therefore use less energy), but it might also be that your tracker is not telling you the whole story. I'm not an expert (although I'm sure you could find someone here who is) but I certainly wouldn't worry about it too much.

You can do it Flea, not long now until it's over and done with!

Calf raises done with EC. My arse started to tingle half way through this; it that supposed to happen? That will probably be my last one on this challenge (unless I unexpectedly have free time) as I'm going away tomorrow to go hiking for a couple of days. If I don't catch up with you guys again until after it's over then well done to everyone, and good luck with your final dares!

Well done on facing your driving fears!

Wanted to post yesterday but forums blah blah blah. Completely forgot to do the bounces on Tuesday. Quite annoying, because they looked kind of fun. Wide grip push-ups were done last night. Got to 24 and couldn't get any further in that set, so had to split off the last 6 and miss the EC . Will get the calf raises sorted tonight.

Thank you guys! Sleep so far: Tuesday in bed at 11:20, so 20 minutes late, Wednesday home at 00:57, in bed at 01:57, so spot on on time at a push. Haven't managed to get up the last two mornings though. I'm going to try and get up and swim tomorrow to complete this challenge, but given that I'm not working and I have to drive to Devon on Friday I'm not sure I want to be getting up early. I don't know what's best to do really. Other than that teeth on track, Duolingo on track. Won't make the gym tomorrow as I'm going to play snooker with my mate before going to Devon with him (to be honest I'm glad he made the decision for me, I'm not sure squats are the best thing to do before a 2 day hike!). Despite forum dodgyness I also kept track by e-mailing myself a battle log post yesterday and putting it up today. Side note; it's bloody snowing here!. Who the hell ordered snow in the last week of April? It better not do that at the weekend!

Unintentional rest day yesterday, as I woke up too late to go swimming. Annoyed at myself for that as it would have completed the goal for the month. Two omelette muffins for breakfast, lunch was a pâté sandwich and some fruit. Wanted an afternoon snack, but after the last few days I remembered to bring in a banana and had that instead of eating crap. Got home and tried my daily dare; 30 wide grip push-ups. Got to 24 before I collapsed, and had to rest before the final 6. So done with no EC. Made beef fajitas for dinner, then off out to play snooker. Beat my mate at snooker 4-3, and had a couple of (3) beers whilst I was there. Train home was delayed so didn't get back until 00:57. Got to bed exactly an hour later at 01:57, so technically within my sleep goal but pushing it to the max. Managed a bit of Duolingo between frames of snooker, and a bit more on the train home. Some of it will roll on to tomorrow's total as it was after midnight, but 53XP clocked for yesterday. Challenge goals so far: Swim: 2/3 for week 4 Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed French: 240/350 XP for week 4 Teeth: 3/7 for week 4 Keep track: I'm here! No compromises: All good Calories: 2,943 in vs 2,969 out = 26 deficit Exercise: No

Ok, can't post anything on the forums at the moment, so I'm making a note and will add this as and when. It's 27/04/16, so I'll be talking about yesterday; week 4 day 2. Swam in the morning. Decided to try and break through the 8 minute barrier in my freestyle 400m, and I absolutely smashed it with a time of 07:37. Rest of the swim was not as good, as I was knackered from the sprint. Did manage to get a second PB however, due to the sprint, total average pace of 123.8 sec/100m including the warm-up. 400m Breaststroke 400m Front Crawl 400m Breaststroke Total: 1.2km in 33 mins Breakfast was two omelette muffins (so glad I made these finally), lunch was the rest of the cheesy pasta plus fruit. Gave in to another afternoon snack; a double chocolate muffin. I've decided to bring extra fruit to work to try and fulfil these cravings. Badminton after work, and I actually won for once! 3-1 to me :). Got home, did a yoga video with the Mrs for the ranger mini. It was nice to do it together so looking forward to the next one on Thursday. Would like to make exercising with her a regular thing. Dinner was butternut squash risotto made by Mrs, which was very nice and much welcomed. Just about managed to get through my Duolingo over the course of the evening for 81XP. Daily dare was not done, purely because I forgot about it until right before bed. Annoyed about that because it looked like a good one. Missed my target bedtime of 11pm too, but was in bed at 23:20 which is an improvement. Challenge goals so far: Swim: 2/3 for week 4 Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed French: 187/350 XP for week 4 Teeth: 2/7 for week 4 Keep track: I'm here! No compromises: All good Calories: 2,240 in vs 3,574 out = 1,334 deficit Exercise: Swim x 33 mins, Badminton x 1 hour, yoga x 20 mins

Congratulations on the engagement dude!

Meant to post this earlier but...well...you know. First yoga completed for the glory of house Martell last night. Second one to come tomorrow.

Well done on getting up and going. I find the hardest part of exercising early is getting from your bed to going out the front door! 5am is a horrendous time of day though.

I personally really like this challenge format. If nothing else, feeling that I'm letting others down if I don't complete my goals is great motivation.

Almost forgot; at swimming today I decided to do a 400m freestyle race, to see if I could edge my time under 8mins. Absolutely smashed that with 07:37! Felt awful for the rest of the swim, but was well worth it when I looked up my time and saw that!

Week 4 has begun! Got in my swim in the morning yesterday. Was in late, then spent ages faffing with my goggles, so was a short swim and to honest I felt a bit rubbish as well. Did get a new PR for 400m breaststroke at 08:30, so happy with that. 450m x breaststroke 350m x front crawl 800m total in 20:29 Work was ok, busy but not overwhelming. Had biscuits for breakfast and a banana. Leftover cheesy pasta bake for lunch with some fruit. I did get hungry mid-afternoon and gave in to a big round of shortbread. I'm really bad at snacking in the day at the moment; may have to bring in healthy snacks or bulk up my other meals. Gym after work. It was horribly, horribly busy and I was still feeling a bit rubbish. Really wish I had gone on Sunday now. Went like this: 5min Row warm-up - 1,150m Row/rotate/press - 12.5kg x 4 x 8 Inverted row - Substituted lat pull downs (machine) - 27kg x 4 x 10 Cable chest fly - 35lbs x 3 x 8 Bastards Row/rotate/press was hard, will be sticking to this weight for a while before I head back towards where I was pre-shoulder ping. Couldn't find anywhere to do bastard for the hour I was there, and couldn't think of a substitute, so had to just give up and leave in the end. Went home, did sausage, chips and beans for dinner (lazy cooking). Finally made omelette muffins though, so have got proper breakfast for the rest of the week. Duolingo was done more than adaquately with 106XP. Challenge goals so far: Swim: 1/3 for week 4 Hiking: 1/2 for month - failed French: 106/350 XP for week 4 Teeth: 1/7 for week 4 Keep track: I'm here! No compromises: All good Calories: 2,439 in vs 3,374 out = 935 deficit Exercise: Swim x 20mins, Gym x 49 mins

New mini goal for the next three days: Get Some Sleep I've been getting less than 6 hours sleep a night recently (sometimes less than 5), which can't be good for my fitness or my mind, so I'm going to trial the plan I was thinking of running in the next 4WC. Every night in bed by 11pm or within one hour of getting home (whichever later). For this week Tonight and Thursday will be bed by 11pm, tomorrow will be within an hour of getting home from snooker. Aside from low sleep all's well. Omelette muffins were made last night (finally!), done two swims so far, duolingo is on track. Gym last night was horribly horribly busy (I really shouldn't have missed going on Sunday), but I did get in a reasonable workout. Nearly hit my goal for the Darebee PvP too!

Cheers for the recommendation; I'll give it a try

Awesome job, well done guys

Awesome job on your todo list! I feel guilty now about my pitiful attempt at mine. Colour run sounds cool; am thinking of doing one later in the year with my sister. Hope you enjoy it! Also, still loving your story.