Jarric

Challenge goals It's probably about time I wrote these, as I plan on starting them in week 2, and week 2 starts tomorrow. First off, a reminder of my 2023 road map: And now, goals for this (slightly short) challenge. The decisionist [+2 CON] Tomorrow brings the start of the cutting phase of the year for me, and I'll be looking to lose 0.75% of my total body weight each week. The plan is simple; I'll track calories every day, weigh myself weekly, and adjust my weekly calorie target based on the week's results. For week 2 I'll start aiming for 21,000 kcal for the week (average of 3,000 kcal per day) and see what that does to my weight. There will be a spreadsheet with expected weight from now until mid-August, when I plan to stop cutting for race season, and unless I get wildly out of sync with it I'll be aiming to follow that weight progression. Scoring for this goal will just be based on whether or not I tracked every day - I find it better to score myself based on adhering to the process rather than the final result. The muscle [+2 CON] 2 shakes per day, every day. Last challenge I did this to experiment with a recovery shake, which I think helped a bit? This challenge is a slightly different experiment; I'll be adding creatine to the recovery shake every day. I probably won't see any results from the creatine this challenge, because it takes a few weeks to achieve muscle saturation, but we'll see how it goes. There'll be some conflict between the improved performance I hope to get from the creatine and the drop in performance from cutting calories, so this requires a bit of introspection for me to consider if things are working or not. Remined me to talk about this please, so I remember to consider it! De vertaler [+1 INT] So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The first is to work on Dutch, using Duolingo, every day. In The Netherlands I tried to use a bit of Dutch, but I'm about the level where I can ask for something in a shop and then not understand the answer . On top of that, as soon as anyone heard my accent they immediately switched to speaking to me in English, because everyone in The Netherlands speaks excellent English as far as I can tell. After the race we went for a barbeque with the whole running group, some of their wives, and Willy's wife and children. It was really lovely, but they spoke to each other in Dutch a lot and I'd really have liked to be able to understand more of it. I'll probably be going back next year for another Strong Viking, or maybe an Iron Viking (a marathon-distance Strong Viking), and I think with a bit of work I can complete the Duolingo Dutch course by then. Worst case I should get a big chunk of the way through. It's worth saying that the Duolingo Dutch course is much shorter, and not as good as, other courses like French, which is the only reason I think it might be possible to get through it. Le traducteur [+1 INT] So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The second is to work on French, using Duolingo, every day. I've been doing ok at studying French by reading news articles and listening to podcasts and stuff, but I'd put French Duolingo on hold in the run up to the Dutch trip. Now that I'm back I want to make some progress on the Duolingo pathway, because I'm getting a little frustrated with not moving forward, and the only way to do that is to focus on it specifically. The face [+2 SAN] Brush my teeth, twice every day. This habit remains slipped, so I'm going to focus on it some more. And that's it. I've got a week off work in week 4, but that shouldn't affect my goals too much, so lets get on with it!

Race report - Strong Viking Saturday was a good day. @Rhovaniel and I were up fairly early, to be picked up by A for an hour's drive to the race. After a pretty heavy night on Thursday, where we'd stayed out until 1.30am and drank rather a lot, Friday had been altogether quieter - just a couple of beers with dinner and a relatively early night before the race. When we arrived we parked up and met up with the rest of the group - F, P, and E. We'd met A and F before, when they came over to the UK for Dirty Weekend with Willy last year, but were meeting the others for the first time. There wasn't much time for pleasantries though, as we got outselves ready, checked out bags in, and were coralled into the starting pen. It was immediately obvious how much fun this race was going to be before we'd even started. The MC (who also owns Strong Viking, I believe) was standing above us on the Walhalla Steps, calling out to welcome people from all over the world and get us hyped. There was a pledge to leave no viking behind, and a warmup with loud music while gouts of flame shot into the sky. In no time we were off, climbing over the Walhalla Walls to begin our race. This was Strong Viking: Water Edition, and it didn't disappoint on it's name, almost immediately having us run through the shallows of the large lake the course centered on. After a rope climb, where I forgot all of my technique, and a couple more basic obstacles, we were thrown back into the lake - this time for a full swim crossing. This was all very welcome, given the blazing sunshie with temperatures around 22°C when we started and about 28°C by the end (72°F and 82°F respectively). I made sure to dive fully under water while I had the chance. After climbing another set of walls we hit the first of many water stops. All credit to Strong Viking, they managed to put on extra stops due to the weather and managed to staff them fully without issue - it's clearly a well run event. The first stop had Red Bull as well as water, so after a discussion about never trying anything you haven't planned on race day, I went ahead and had the Red Bull anyway. Back on the course we were thrust into some surprisingly muddy trenches, showing that this wasn't just a water event, straight into a muddy crawl. We quickly washed that off in another river crossing, though we would soon re-apply it in an obstacle simply called Mud Mile. Before Mud Mile we had the spear throw - this may be an unpopular opinion but it was much better than the Spartan race spear throw. We had much smaller, wooden targets to hit, meaning that accuracy was key, but there was no need for the spear to actually stick in the target. In the Spartan spear throw the rope to retrieve the spear is usually so tangled that the spear doesn't reach the target - no such problems here and I hit the bullseye with my first attempt. The next obstacle was a heavy carry - appropriately we were each given a large wooden shield and Mjöllnir-style wooden hammer for a quick circuit. Then onto an obstacle which I wouldn't remember if it weren't for the name, which I asked F to explain to me. The obstacle itself was a simple traverse over a couple of poles that could move back and forth. It was called Fierljeppen. Once it was explained to me I realised that I had heard of Fierljeppen; in real life it's a sport that looks like this: Unfortunately, it was nowhere near as impressive as that. On we continued, past the very sad site of a flat bouncy castle that hadn't quite worked. Disappointment was short-lived however, as we moved on to some of the big-ticket obstacles. First was the Flying Ragnar - a leap of faith where we had to grab a swinging arm, fly out over a pit of water, ring a bell and drop into the pool. My hands barely grazed the bell, so I'm not sure if I could say it rung, but it was great fun. Here's a deeply unflattering photo of me mid fall: After that is was a short run across the lake to Fjord Dro -, a massive, vertical-drop slide. Two of our number were scared of heights, and I'm seriously impressed that everyone got up to the top and went for it. To be fair, once you're sat down you have little choice - you cross your arms, cross your legs, and let the marshals push you. It was terrifying and amazing. The final thing that I'd been worried about was Ice Man - an obstacle that plunges you into freezing ice water, and forces you to dive under walls to get out the other side. Thankfully it was so hot that a lot of the ice had melted, and although it was still bloody cold it was kind of refreshing. As we got out onto the section of the course designed for the 19km runners (the longest distance), the obstacles got a bit more technical. There were rigs that had you crawling across gymnastics rings (I failed that one), an inclined salmon ladder where you had to jump a pullup bar up steps to the end, and various other tricky rigs. The carries weren't too bad, first there was a farmer's walk of about 50ft, which was probably designed to be lifted with two hands but that I was able to pick up one handed to save waddling with the weight between my legs. Then there was a massive queue, the only really excessive queue in the whole race, when we spent about 20 minutes waiting for the sandbag carry. The problem was that they simply didn't have enough sandbags, so people were just stood around waiting for other to come back. Where we got there I grabbed a big ass log to avoid waiting, and spent the whole carry trying not to swing round and knock someone out, slapstick style. The carry went on, and on, and on, and took us up a dry ski slope which was really the only proper hill on course, and by the end I wished I'd waited for a sandbag The other obstacle of note on that section was the atlas stones. These were actually deadballs (so like atlas stones, but soft), weighing 40kg, 50kg, and 60kg respectively (88/110/132lbs). Each had to be lifted over a bar before moving on to the next, with the bars getting lower as the balls got heavier. Deadball cleans/loads are something we do in my gym every other week, so it was easy for me, which felt pretty nice. Finally, after a couple of little bits and a heavy chain carry, we returned to the Walhalla Steps. This was incredible, standing on top of the steps that we'd stood below in the starting corral. Another wave were starting as we arrived, so we stood on top of the steps and danced, and hugged each other, and generally partied for a couple of minutes before heading down to the finish. For some reason there was a tiny little bar traverse called the Glory Bars, which felt pretty pointless after we'd thought the race was finished. The final obstacle was genius though - pullups for beer. The beers were sat on top of a platform, so we had to grab the edge of the platform, do a pullup, and then snatch a beer off the top. It would have been better if the beer wasn't alcohol free, but it was a very cool idea, and a desperately needed refreshment. All that was left after that was to take our finisher photos.

Thank you mate - it was excellent!

Sounds like you've got a good plan weight-wise. I, too, like to look at my calories weekly rather than daily - it all evens out but allows for days which are naturally higher calorie than others.

You did amazingly on this race Rho - so impressed with you, particularly how you got through Fjord Drop and Ice Man.

It was amazing! And thank you! You'll just have to wait for my race report on that one Yeah, it's something that had totally bypassed me until now, which is surprising given how commonly accepted it seems to be. And thank you! I've had a lot of fun

Out of interest, what's your process for this? Are you counting calories in and out? Switching regular meals for less calorific versions? Cutting out snacks between meals? Great job on day 1, hope the rest of the week so far is going well.

The trip's going well so far. My first train was cancelled but I still managed to get to the airport at a decent time, and the flight and accomodation and stuff all went smoothly. As I said I would in the general chat thread, I had one of these... ...followed by, let's be fair, quite a few more dark beers of various types. Ended up chatting way into the night, and had a bit if a sore head this morning. Today I went for a lovely walk in the local park, and saw a duck guarding a next of ducklings, as well as coots, magpies, crows, and all sorts of other little birds. The I met up with Rho at the best bookshop I've ever been in... ...and going for a spot of lunch... I came back to the apartment for a bit and had an afternoon nap (it's 29°C here and I went to bed late, so it felt like a reasonable plan), and I'm just summoning the energy to go and explore the city a bit more. Tonight will be a more controlled affair than last night, because tomorrow's race day!

Thank you! Good to have you here.

You know, you're not wrong. One day, perhaps.

Oh wow, that's a lot of work! Good on you.

Congrats on the new belt notch!

This is too relatable. If you find a magic solution to it, please let me know! Welcome back

Thanks dude! I aim to do so Good to have you mate. That all sounds really positive, thank you. I've already read the SBS article (it's the thing that convinced me to give it a go, actually), but I'll probably end up going over it again a few times as there's so much info there!

Following along! Glad the medication is helping you.

Same, absolutely loved this game. I really need to give the third one some time and properly get into it, and then maybe eventually, look into the fourth? Food to see you keeping momentum off the back of last challenge mate, and I like the new update format. I'm considering stealing it.

That's great news, so glad to hear you've found somewhere! Also, a 2 month break in between sounds magnificent - good for you!

Mascara should definitely work for beard colouring - I've mascara's mine black before for fancy dress costumes and it looks surprisingly natural (assuming you've coloured your hair the same colour).

Yeah, it's possible, but man that sounds rough! Definitely not something for me anyway.

You know me so well ❤️

I missed the word 'out' in this quest, and was wondering how you were going to get through the challenge on 6 meals per week The D&D quest sounds like fun - I'm currently running Dragon Heist for my group. Are you using the same kind of plot ideas, or is it almost entirely new?

Love the setup! How does the random map work; do you randomly choose a direction and do that workout, or do you populate the map by doing the cardio you want to do? Also, 'swole into it' is my new favourite phrase, thanks!

A wood elf enters the inn, slowly stumbling his way towards a bar stool. Seemingly grateful to unburden himself of his heavy pack, a transformation comes over him, and he spins lightly to address the gathered throng. Welcome newcomers, returners and stalwarts all, it's good to see you here. Spinning back to the bar he smiles a broad smile at the drink laid before him, something slightly different from his usual selection, but still deeply dark in colour. Ah yes, he says quietly to the barkeep, something suitable for my travels.

Jarric gaat naar Nederland (Jarric goes to the Netherlands) This challenge is a bit of a placeholder right now. Zero Week has been mega busy as I worked on finishing stuff off in the 3 days before going on holiday. Now, on Thursday of Zero Week, I'm heading to The Netherlands with @Rhovaniel (I'm writing this on the train to the airport). We're going to see some of Willy's old friends, and to run a race with them called Strong Viking. It looks like an absolute beast of a course - 19km (11.8 miles) of obstacles, with lots of water and plenty of mud - and I'm very much looking forward to it. After that we're spending a few days making a holiday of it, and I'll be home Thursday of week 1. I don't yet have a plan for this challenge, other than that I'll write my goals up at the end of week 1 and then run a short challenge for weeks 2-5. So I guess that's my only goal for week 1. I do also plan to write a race report and check in here and stuff, whilst enjoying my holiday. I do know a couple of things I'll be working on this challenge. Firstly, I'm going to start cutting weight. I've been bulking up for most of the year so far, I'm the heaviest I've ever been and I've gotten a lot stronger. Now though it's time to slim down, partly so that I'm carrying less weight when I run 22 miles up a mountain in September, and also because I'm starting to get more of a belly than I'd like. I don't want to cut too quickly as it'll affect my running training. There will be a spreadsheet. Secondly, I'll be starting to experiment with creatine. I've never used it before, but the science seems pretty solid so I want to see how it works for me. If anyone has any experience of this I'd definitely be interested to hear it. These two goals aren't a great combination, because a. creatine can initially cause a couple of pounds of weight gain, and b. it'll be hard to assess the efficacy of the creatine when I'm also expecting to be losing some performance in the gym from cutting calories. Unfortunately, there's not going to be a good time where I'm neither cutting nor bulking for a long while, so I will just have to make do. Possibly part of my goals this challenge should be trying to track both things effectively. That's all from me for now - time you see how you're all getting on. * * * Edit 25/06/2023 - now with goals! Challenge goals It's probably about time I wrote these, as I plan on starting them in week 2, and week 2 starts tomorrow. First off, a reminder of my 2023 road map: And now, goals for this (slightly short) challenge. The decisionist [+2 CON] Tomorrow brings the start of the cutting phase of the year for me, and I'll be looking to lose 0.75% of my total body weight each week. The plan is simple; I'll track calories every day, weigh myself weekly, and adjust my weekly calorie target based on the week's results. For week 2 I'll start aiming for 21,000 kcal for the week (average of 3,000 kcal per day) and see what that does to my weight. There will be a spreadsheet with expected weight from now until mid-August, when I plan to stop cutting for race season, and unless I get wildly out of sync with it I'll be aiming to follow that weight progression. Scoring for this goal will just be based on whether or not I tracked every day - I find it better to score myself based on adhering to the process rather than the final result. The muscle [+2 CON] 2 shakes per day, every day. Last challenge I did this to experiment with a recovery shake, which I think helped a bit? This challenge is a slightly different experiment; I'll be adding creatine to the recovery shake every day. I probably won't see any results from the creatine this challenge, because it takes a few weeks to achieve muscle saturation, but we'll see how it goes. There'll be some conflict between the improved performance I hope to get from the creatine and the drop in performance from cutting calories, so this requires a bit of introspection for me to consider if things are working or not. Remined me to talk about this please, so I remember to consider it! De vertaler [+1 INT] So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The first is to work on Dutch, using Duolingo, every day. In The Netherlands I tried to use a bit of Dutch, but I'm about the level where I can ask for something in a shop and then not understand the answer . On top of that, as soon as anyone heard my accent they immediately switched to speaking to me in English, because everyone in The Netherlands speaks excellent English as far as I can tell. After the race we went for a barbeque with the whole running group, some of their wives, and Willy's wife and children. It was really lovely, but they spoke to each other in Dutch a lot and I'd really have liked to be able to understand more of it. I'll probably be going back next year for another Strong Viking, or maybe an Iron Viking (a marathon-distance Strong Viking), and I think with a bit of work I can complete the Duolingo Dutch course by then. Worst case I should get a big chunk of the way through. It's worth saying that the Duolingo Dutch course is much shorter, and not as good as, other courses like French, which is the only reason I think it might be possible to get through it. Le traducteur [+1 INT] So I'm cloning the translator this challenge, and splitting him into two goals. The second is to work on French, using Duolingo, every day. I've been doing ok at studying French by reading news articles and listening to podcasts and stuff, but I'd put French Duolingo on hold in the run up to the Dutch trip. Now that I'm back I want to make some progress on the Duolingo pathway, because I'm getting a little frustrated with not moving forward, and the only way to do that is to focus on it specifically. The face [+2 SAN] Brush my teeth, twice every day. This habit remains slipped, so I'm going to focus on it some more. And that's it. I've got a week off work in week 4, but that shouldn't affect my goals too much, so lets get on with it!