Jarric

Wednesday - W0D3 Physio: ❌ Creativity: ❌ Study: ❌ Teeth: ❌ Food tracking: ❌ Yesterday was a good day. It was also a difficult day, and I struggled quite a bit. Saw my physio first thing. She was really pleased with my progress, which is good. She wants me to keep doing the goblet squats, and to add weight to the split squats, so we'll see how that goes. She also cautioned me against running too often or too far too soon, so I'm going to be pretty conservative with the running plan for the next few weeks. Work was really busy. I've got to the stage where I can see the wood for the trees, but it's still tough. I told my manager that I was struggling, and she suggested that I ask the team for help. I did that on our group chat, and got responses that everyone else was also busy, and no-one has any capacity right now. I kind of expected as much, but it left me feeling a little extra deflated. At least everyone knows this is going on; the worst thing I could do would be to hide it until everything blew up. When I got home I was just about done with motivation for the day. I was just having a day where everything felt a bit empty, a bit pointless, and I wasn't coping very well. I had planned to watch Questing Time and drink beer all evening, but Questing Time was cancelled. I know it sounds like a minor thing that a Twitch stream I wanted to watch wasn't on, but those nerdy comedians helped me survive lockdown when the world all felt pretty bleak, and I felt a bit lost when I couldn't just sit and laugh at them for an evening. I managed to drag myself off the sofa long enough to cook some egg fried rice, which was going well until 5 minutes before it was done when I realised we don't have any eggs in the house. It was still really nice in the end, it just felt about par for the course yesterday. We stuck on some stand up comedy from the Soho comedy club and I drank a few beers and tried to relax. I didn't go too mad - I mean, I did drink all of the beer in the house, but that only worked out to about 4.5 pints - and I went to bed at midnight. I didn't want to do anything else, so I didn't. Not a good day for my goals. Challenge-wise, I'm still not sure what to do about the food goal. At the moment I'm thinking of either changing it to a simpler 'don't eat like a dickhead' goal, or cutting it out altogether. In it's current form I think it's too much work for too little return. A couple of weeks ago I'd thought about adding a music element to my challenge, but I forgot about that. Not sure if I'm going to add it in now, but in the meantime here's a song I discovered this morning. They're a cool band, and pretty surprising if you've not seen them before (you'll see what I mean). I hadn't come across this track until today, and it's an absolute banger.

I hadn't thought of that! You're right though, that's exactly the plan. The character (her name's Psyche) is partly an artist because it made sense for her as a cleric of aphrodite, and partly because I wanted to have a character that allowed me to do some more drawing. So far I'm loving her.

Have a great time in NYC Shaar! Loving all the hype in this thread!

Tuesday - W0D2 Physio: ✅ Creativity: ✅ Study: ✅ Teeth: ❌ Food tracking: ❌ Yesterday was a good day. Went for a proper training run, for the first time since about April! Was 4 miles (~6.4km), including 6 x 110yd (100m) strides. I could feel my knee a bit launching into the strides, but otherwise it was ok so hopefully it's on the mend. I had done physio in the morning as a warm-up. At work I continued to fight to get my head above the pile of e-mails that had accumulated whilst I was off. I ended up absolutely exhausted; my mind feels like it's processing a million things right now and I just don't have the brain space for them. It was also hot in my little office in the loft, which probably doesn't help. By the time I logged off I just about managed to drag myself downstairs to lay down on the sofa. Thankfully I had time during the working day set aside for study, so that was an easy win. In the evening we had Pathfinder; the Greek campaign. I was nearly so tired that I sacked it off, but I'm very glad we went; I had an amazing time and seeing my friends was exactly what I needed to energise me, even if I was so tired I couldn't remember my character's accent. Conveniently my character is an artist, so I always do a load of drawing in my notes. Another easy win. I was too tired to bother tracking food, and I collapsed into bed when we got home without brushing my teeth. I'm thinking about changing or removing the food goal - I'm not sure I have the energy for it right now and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. I'll have a think, and make a change at the end of week zero if I think I need it. What else is zero week for? I'm also changing my physio goal to be pass/fail. It would be ideal if I get 3 sets in every day, but talking to my physio the most important thing is that I do it regularly, even if that's just one set per day.

Well... he's not wrong. Thank you

It's a tough question. I think everyone processes loss differently, regardless of their relationship with the person they lost. There's no rulebook for it, so personally I think it's just important to remember that however you deal with grief, as long as you do at some point deal with it, that's ok. It feels like a ridiculous reference, but I'm always reminded of a line from the sitcom 8 Simple Rules, "It's ok to feel happy when you're happy, and it's ok to feel sad when you're sad".

Non-drinker is good. Or ex-drinker. When I quit smoking I read a book that said you should call yourself an ex-smoker; you will never be a non-smoker as even though you will never smoke again you will always have the addiction. Might sound a bit bleak, but it's intended as a reminder that you can't have 'just one', and that ultimately you're depriving yourself more by having one and stopping, waking up the addiction, rather than having none. Nicotine and alcohol addiction are very different in a lot of ways, so this isn't intended as advice, I just thought the choice of words in that book was interesting.

Teetotal? I don't know why, but that feels more positive and empowered as a word to me.

Re: the stuff in the spoiler, I'm sorry you're going through so much right now. I can't give better advice than has already been given (and the story Tank shared was really clever), but if you need someone to vent at let me know. No tips I'm afraid - I think it's just practice. As you play more you'll be able to get the notes without pressing so hard. That's not a bad drill to try occasionally to see where you're at - see how lightly you can press a string and still get a note. But also, your hand will get used to the shapes - I picked up my guitar a couple of months ago and my hand seized up after 15-20 minutes of bar chords because I'm so out of practice with them. When I was playing all the time it wouldn't start to ache until an hour or more in, and would never seize.

Nope, pretty sure it was women 30-39 And that does look fun. I'm really tempted to look at an adventure race at some time, but they're often a lot of money. Thank you! To be fair, I almost beat it, but still very pleased.

Following along of course! Great job on nailing day 1. It's all about 7/4 time though...

That dress looks lovely! Will be here supporting your challenge

Dude, welcome back! It's so good to see you here.

Monday - W0D1 Physio: 2/3 Creativity: ✅ Study: ✅ Teeth: ✅ Food tracking: ✅ - Early: milk. Breakfast: breakfast biscuits, banana, 2 scoop protein shake. Lunch: Greggs chicken and bacon baguette, 1/3 of a fennel, apple. 3 cups of tea. Day: 3 cups of tea, diet coke, several shortbread biscuits, 2 pints of Neck Oil, a single Menthol Kruisdrop, 4 pints squash. Dinner: pork chilli. Late: 1 can Oak Aged Vanillla and Chocolate Porter, milk. Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was deadlifts - I kept it fairly light after the triathlon and built up to 140kg (~308#) for 5 reps. The workout was 5 rounds for time - 8 deadlifts, 8 burpees over bar. I did the deadlifts at 100kg (~220#) and finished in 9'09". It was a short session, so that gave us time for some much needed foam rolling. Work was chaotic - after 11 days off I came in to 258 e-mails. I cleared what I could, but had a planning meeting all afternoon before I could get through everything. The meeting ended in the pub, where I had a couple of pints before heading home. When I got back I was pretty productive. I cooked a pork chilli, read 2 pages of my textbook for the study goal, boiled some eggs for breakfasts, put the washing out, and did some scribbling in my new art book for the creativity goal. I did only do one set of physio exercises (in addition to the ones I did before work), and by the time everything else was done I just wanted to crash in bed, which I did!

Thank you! Yeah, I think a rounded build is a nice way of putting it. I tend to want to do all of the things (you'll notice that as a common these amongst Rangers here), so finding a way to strike a balance between those things is important for me. Yeah, I hadn't looked at those two side-by-side until now, but you're right. It's a real shift. thank you mate Thanks!

Thanks man; I'm pleased you're here.

Race report - Mid Sussex Triathlon Pre-race My alarm was set for 05:15, but I'd woken up a couple of times before that and had been up since about 04:45. Mostly I kept waking up thinking that I had to remember my goggles, because I'd forgotten to pack them the night before. I don't remember ever being this nervous for a race, which is mad really, because I was probably better prepared for this one than almost any race I've run. So I got dressed, had breakfast, made myself some tea and got going. I cycled to the race site, put my gear down, and milled around looking lost. I had a chat to a couple of other, much more experienced racers who were near me in transition. I had a lovely chat to the woman next to me who gave up running 8 years ago, had a baby 2 months ago, and had only run 4 times in preparation for the race. She would go on to finish first in her category. My gear in transition, including my Ranger tea flask. It turned out that we had to leave everything in transition before going to the race briefing. I'd worn all of my race gear to go there, and I don't own a tri suit, so that meant I was standing around in my swimming trunks for the briefing. Thank goodness it was a sunny day! Swim leg - 800m Time: 00:07:57 - Overall position: 47/176 - Category position: 12/30 - Gender position: 36/113 There was a long queue for the pool, as they were setting people off every 20-30 seconds. I knew that 800m up and down the pool wouldn't be an issue for me, but I was quite surprised to find that I was struggling with breathing. I think the lack of a warm-up may have been an issue, as there was no real opportunity to have one. Nonetheless, I scraped under 8 minutes, which might just about be a personal best for an 800m swim, even with having to slow down to wait to overtake people. Bike leg - 25km Time: 01:15:00 - Overall position: 166/176 - Category position: 29/30 - Gender position: 112/113 I ran into transition to get my shorts, t-shirt, shoes and socks on. I also took the opportunity to finish my flask of tea, a vital ingredient for any race. I had trained cycling, in the sense that I'd practiced enough in the last few weeks that I was reasonably confident I wouldn't fall off, but I wouldn't say I'm a good cyclist. That's borne out by my position for this leg, very much near the back! It was quite a pleasant ride, on a sunny day, up and down rolling hills on country roads, watching other racers fly past me. The exception was one woman whom I overtook fairly early on, only to have her take me back 10 minutes later. We leapfrogged each other the whole way round, and we finished at a dead heat at the end of the bike leg. Run leg - 5km Time: 00:25:42 - Overall position: 100/176 - Category position: 26/30 - Gender position: 80/113 Back into transition, and it became immediately apparent that I could barely walk, much less run. I downed an energy gel and took a swig of water, and tried to run anyway. The top of my left hamstring was agony, but I pushed on, hopefully that it would ease off when I got moving. It did... a bit. It hurt all of the way round, but the further I went the easier it got, and I knew it was only 5k so I just gritted my teeth and pushed through. It's a route that I've walked, cycled, and run a fair bit, so it was nice to have a very familiar end to the race. The time for this leg was 5 seconds shy of my 5km PB, so I'm really happy with how this went considering. Results: Total time: 01:55:11 Overall position: 154/176 Category position: 30/30 Gender position: 109/113 WW met me at the finish line, and after I had recovered from my 'sprint' finish, I got myself a beer. Sure, it was 10am, but I'd just finished a race and that's customary. I had two actually, and nabbed a third for the evening. There was a prize giving (I didn't win anything for almost last), which was a really friendly little group thing for what is very much a grassroots kind of race. Then we walked home, much more slowly than I had cycled to the start. Overall I had a fun morning. Most of the race time was the bike, which was the bit I was worst at by far, and that's reflected in my overall time. If I decide to do one of these again I'll have to spend a lot longer getting good at riding a bike, as I think for any length of triathlon that's going to be the majority of the race. Still, I didn't vomit, I didn't get run over, and I got to the end. All in all, a successful race.

Thanks! Good to have you mate. Thank you man! Cheers! It's working much better this year than it ever has; I think because I'm forced to read it when I put it in to each new challenge. Yeah, I've just started to mess about with it and it's been fun so far!

Thank you

Thank you ❤️. Recap should be up this evening! Glad to have you here, we can tackle all the things together. And you should take your advice, it's very good! Aww, thank you, that's really nice. I'll make sure to share some of my scribbles as I go through.

Wrap-up from last challenge under the spoiler:

Challenge wrap-up Physio Rx: 18⅔/40 = 46% - +1 STR Wasn't super consistent here, but my knee is feeling substantially better so I think I just about scraped enough to have some benefit. This will be ongoing next challenge. Life drawing: 2/6 = 33% - +1 CHA This goal was based on the idea that I'd be doing 2 hour long videos with WW. A couple of days into the challenge she changed her mind about wanting to do that, and I didn't find time to do them on my own. A different approach is needed I think - shorter sessions and more of them. The art of war: 4 + 0 + 4 + 1 + 2.5 + 7.75 = 19.25/24 = 80% - +2 INT I wasn't totally consistent with this as you can see (the numbers in the sum are the weekly breakdown), and week 5 did a lot of the heavy lifting, but I got my first essay out of the way. Just need to keep the momentum going and get ahead of the others. Tusks: 30.5/42 = 73% - +1 SAN Again not totally consistent, and week 5 was the worst here. Still, averaging 5 days per week is better than the 0 days per week I would have likely managed otherwise, so it's been a worthy goal. Ale: 17/10, lots/10, 12/10, 16/10, 10/10, 9/10 - +1 CON I didn't do great on this one, and only passed on 2 weeks. I'm giving myself half of the CON points though, as I do think this had merit. It would have been very easy to drink a lot more, and I did mostly keep this in mind as I went through the weeks. Overall this challenge has been dominated by one thing. On 6th May, I ran RRDW, and spent the weekend with Mr Willes. Despite the fact that I've played D&D with Willy for two years, and spoken to him every week (and often daily) for longer than that, this was only the second time I'd met him in person, and the first time since 2018. 3 weeks later, he passed away, and I'm still working out how to deal with that and adjust to not having him in my life. It hurts, but it's also reminded me that life is short and that if I want to achieve things I need to go out and grab them. I found this picture on page 1 of this challenge, and I can't think of a more fitting way to sign off. RIP Willy

Sunday - W5D7 Yesterday was a good day. Got up at the arse crack of dawn for the triathlon. I'll do a full race report in my next challenge thread, but in brief I did not vomit, I did not get run over, and I did finish, so basically it was a success. The rest of the day was pretty chill. I had a long soak in the bath, and then got a bit obsessed with looking at races. I've decided to aim for the Spartan European Championships as my big race for the year, and I've got a 17 week training/race plan to support that. I spent a bit chunk of the day working that out, alongside writing my new challenge thread. No physio - didn't want to do anything pre-race and didn't feel like doing anything post-race. I had a couple of celebratory cans of beer at 10am when the race finished, and a couple more in the evening, for a total of 2.5 pints. No drawing, but I did spend an hour reading my new textbook for my next study module. Missed teeth in the morning with the race throwing my routine, but did them in the evening for ½ a mark.

Thank you man. I appreciate it, on both counts.

Little and Often Last challenge, @starpuck inspired me when she said this in her challenge: I think this is something that I could stand to remember, and something that I can apply to a lot of aspects in my life. A lot of my goals are things I enjoy, and even the ones that aren’t might be better little and often rather than trying to think in weeks at a time. So the plan is that all of my goals will be daily tasks, with no minimum commitment other than to just do them, and then every day I can very easily have a yes/no list. After the triathlon today (which I will do a race report for soon), I got inspired to target some big OCRs at the end of the year. My main goal will be the Spartan European Championships in October. I won’t have time to qualify for it, but I can still run as an open competitor, and so the goal is just to put in a damn good showing on the Beast (21km/13.1 miles/half marathon). I may well do the Super and the Sprint the following day, to get the Trifecta, but the Beast is the goal. I’ve put together a training plan for the 17 weeks to Spartan. It’s also 12 weeks to Nuts Challenge, so that’ll be my other ‘A’ race for the year and a good run-in to the Spartan, with a Nuclear race and a Tough Mudder in the gap for good measure. I’ll be sticking to the training plan alongside the challenge, but it won’t be a challenge goal itself as I’m not too worried that I won’t train. Physio – +3 STR I injured my knee a couple of months ago, and I have physio exercises to try and resolve that. At the moment the knee does feel a lot better, but I need it to be absolutely fighting fit for all of the running I have planned over the next few months. If I get to a stage where I don’t need the physio exercises then this goal will be daily assistance exercises or stretching for whatever I need. The goal is to do the prescribed thing, every day. Creativity – +2 CHA, +1 SAN I enjoy drawing, and I think it’s good for my mental health to have some creativity in my life. This element of my last challenge massively failed because it was built around 2-hour instructional videos and I couldn’t fit them in. I’d still like to do some, but it was the wrong approach with the time and brain space I have right now. I bought a book the other day, this one: It’s mostly aimed at children, but it’s a light-hearted way to get in some regular drawing practice and practice makes perfect. Also, Quentin Blake illustrated Roald Dahl's books, so his scrappy drawings were a big part of my childhood reading. The goal is any drawing, even a couple of minutes, every day. Alternatively, if I pick up my guitar and play for a bit that will count for creativity too. Study – +3 INT I’ve just submitted my first of 3, 3,500-word essays, for one module I’m studying for work. At the same time I’m just starting the reading on my final module, which will eventually require another 3, 3,500-word essays. This means I need to split my time between reading my new textbook and writing the essays for the first module. The goal is to do any amount of study, every day. Even if I just write 100 words or read one page. I have a couple of hours per week of study time during the working week, so on the days I study at work a pass will be automatic. On all other days I want to get something in, ideally including a couple of hours’ additional essay writing each week. Teeth – +1 SAN I won’t bore you all again with my feelings on this. Brush twice per day. ‘Nuff said. Food tracking – +1 CON I’m not really sure how to approach nutrition at present. I can’t be bothered to do full-on calorie tracking, so for now I’m just going to write down everything I eat and drink each day. That way I can at least have an idea of what I’m eating, and get a little bit of accountability. --edit-- Waistline tracking - +1 CON I'm not tracking food, and I don't think I'm likely to, so I'm not going to flog a dead horse for the next 5 weeks. I've been thinking about a replacement goal, and a couple of things came to mind. Firstly, Mr Willes used to have a cool spreadsheet for tracking his weight with a 7 point moving average. I loved the level of data, but there are two problems. First, I can't be bothered to weigh in every morning. And second, I don't actually know if I want my weight to go up or down at any given moment. And then I thought about @deftona's way of not making her goals about weight, by instead focussing on maintaining the best arse in Britain. Now I wouldn't dare to challenge her for that title, but it got me thinking about what I would like to change. The one thing I don't like when my weight goes up is my belly, and it's a good indication of how much fat I'm carrying (as opposed to say, my chest, which might get bigger if I gain muscle or fat). So, a simple daily goal - measure my waist every day, and stick the number in my spreadsheet. Hopefully tracking that will keep me mindful with what I eat and drink, and if not it will at least give me some data to start from. I also like @Cheetah's idea of having some basic nutrition rules that are easy to remember. I don't want to institute them right now, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about what's worked for me in the past and what might be useful in the future. So I plan to come up with rules that work for me, and stick them in my tracking spreadsheet so I see them every day. So far I have: No caffeine after 4pm No fizzy drinks on normal working days Don't drink beer you don't enjoy No more than 300kcal snacks per day Raw veg at lunchtime Bring lunch to work Daily protein shake --end edit-- And that's it. I'm super motivated at the moment, through a combination of triathlon hype and an existential fear of how short life can be, so I'm starting in week 0 and going all of the way through.