My own one-month challenge - Live-fire training!

[Thrillho]

On November 17th, I will (almost certainly) be taking part in an all-day live-fire training exercise with my firehall. When I say live-fire, I don't mean bullets... I mean they light stuff on fire. Over and over again. Plus propane burners, mock gas leak fires, car fires, and so forth. I spend all day in my bunker gear, SCBA, and do kick-ass training.

And the last time I did mock-up training at my own hall, I nearly passed out from exertion with a room-temperature smoke simulation just doing the crab-crawl and searching for civilians. I sweated so much my mask actually slipped off a bit and I got smoke in my facemask.

And I don't want to do that in a house that's on fire.

I work best when I have short, reachable, ass-kicking goals. This is my One Month Goal. My next one month goal will be something involving Christmas, I haven't thought of it yet, but right now, it's November 17th: actually pass my first live-fire training.

I'll outline more in a little bit, but I wanted to start this off!

Any suggestions?

[LRB]

No thoughts or suggestions, other than just "wow, you are badass!" Good luck with it. And enjoy the adrenalin rush (I've heard from a friend who used to be a firefighter that going into a burning building is one of the greatest feelings in the world - not sure it would do it for me, but hey . . . to each his/her own, eh?)

[Thrillho]

Yeah, hearing Marty say that his facemask partially melted last time he did it actually made me want to do it more!

[Gobnait]

The world is better off for having people like you.

December goal: be able to carry Santa's entire bag of toys for him. Or be able to drag an unconscious Santa across the room.... something in that theme. Is there roast beast, perhaps starting with being able to carry that is good enough.

[Thrillho]

Ok, going hard for ONE MONTH. Super hard. I can see the finish line, it's just 37 days away. I can do 37 days.

Diet

I've been eating like crap for a month. Today I went to Wholesale Club and purchased two cases of tasty beans, a can opener, and some microwaveable bowls, and stocked all of it in my desk. Lunches at work are now taken care of: protein, fibre, no fat. Awesome. With food IN MY DESK (at 80 cents a serving) no more Burger King for me.

Breakfasts are generally fine, usually coffee and either two eggs or just my protein powder.

Dinners are good, now that I am working full-time again my wife is back to cooking, and as the farmer's market manager and a vegetarian, they're usually pretty delicious and healthy (unless she's in a cheese-fiend pizza mode... then it's just awesome).

The lunches were the big drawback. My office is within sight of EVERY FAST FOOD JOINT IN TOWN. I am dead-center in crapfoodland.

Working Out

I really need to focus on the working out, since all of my equipment is outside, I'm in Canada, and it's October. Snow's gonna fly soon.

Although I would really like to work on the running for my cardio, I am trying to build muscle and power right now, so I will be focusing on interval sprints for now, and even then not that much. I will be focusing on: squats (5x5 with final set to exhaustion), bench press and overhead press, working on the major groups right now. I need to really improve my upper body strength, as well as my leg-lifting and kicking power. For cardio, I will be doing interval heavybag workouts, 1 minute on and 1 minute off.

Goals

Over the next 5 weeks I want to shed 10 pounds, as well as seriously improve my ability to cope in heavy-ass bunker gear and SCBA.

Obstacles

I have to finish a CRAPLOAD of university before October 31st, I work full-time, and I have three kids. I have really bitten off more than I can chew... but I'm still gonna chew it.

I can't get up early in the morning. I am up until midnight every night doing homework, and I am not sleeping well. I am trying to avoid taking Motrin (dunno why it helps me sleep) since it interferes with muscle development, and I need to experiment with my melatonin and valerian to find what will actually help me sleep. The only real time to work out is in the mornings, and it's SOO HARD. AUGH. I am going to try and work out at night after I get the kids to bed. Set up a lamp or something outside.

-----

So! There it all is!

Ideas and suggestions? Comments?

[Gobnait]

I hate to burst your bubble, but read the ingredient label on your canned beans and then decide what to do about it. (I'm not sure what they're equal to, I'm just afraid of HFCS. Canned kidneys for chili and a can of diced tomato, microwaved twice as long with a packet of spice from home, slightly better.)

Not sure about the Motrin either. I've about mastered the art of letting my body rest while my mind spends about four out of eight hours hating the world, but I suspect that is not restful enough for a positive attitude.

[Thrillho]

Checked the ingredients. Thank you, Canadian food laws No HFCS.

[Thrillho]

Ok, the food thing is taking a bit of a running start. Yesterday was good, hard boiled eggs, but I got some tasty chinese takeout at lunch with my co-workers. Hopefully the hot sauce burned off a few calories (hot sauce does that, right?)

Dinner was another hard-boiled egg, since I spent the whole time studying and trying to get my kids fed before we had to head into town. Afterwards I justfied a plate of nachos at home because I spent the next four hours canning about a gallon and a half of salsa, and I needed to taste-test (I now have 26 jars of salsa. Woo!)

Today has so far been all about the coffee, and avoiding the nachos. I mean, the bag is RIGHT THERE! It's not like I don't have enough stuff to go WITH the nachos. But I am trying to be good.

Working out hasn't been in the cards much, as soon as I go outside both girls follow me, and it's REALLY hard to whale on a heavybag when you have two toddlers trying to do the same, and not understanding the words "Please go back inside, and maybe put clothes on". I know, it's a lame excuse. I should go work out before I have to go to the farmer's market. Something to get me into gear for the day.

<Skeleton Jack> And that's exactly what I'll do! </Skellington>

[Thrillho]

Slight drawback: I have been deemed "not ready" for live-burn training.

...

Next year!

[andygates]

Dang. Get some poi instead

[Relic]

you could still go foward with your 1 month challenge. Set a date close to the 17th to do a particularly hard workout instead of the live fire test. I would be happy to fix up a good workout for you . I could even wait to let you know what you will be doing until that day.