Guess who just got back today...

Lets just ignore the fact I've been away for a while.

While we're doing that- let's also change the idea/concept of this blog... (two birds - one blog post)

I've come to learn a lot about myself as a human being over the last year and one thing about me stands out more than others... I set unrealistic goals for myself. Trying to complete 52 challenges in 52 weeks was almost a near impossible undertaking... why? Well, not to bullet point it but;

* I didn't even have 52 challenges to do
* I would have to update the blog weekly and life has a way of not sticking to your schedule
* I was bound to get disheartened, exhausted and bored along the way
* I took a job abroad and didn't have proper internet access for the guts of a year
* Setting challenges with a deadline of 'one week' automatically limits what I can and can't do. Any 'one day' or 'two day' challenges become exempt. Same as any 'month' long challenges become neglected.

So I've decided to do a Britney Spears and reinvent myself. I'm declining to shave my head for the minute though... So with new enthusiasm and with considerable less pressure on myself, I'm coming back to begin my first MONTH challenge!!!

"Whhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttt?!" I hear you cry out. "Haven't you learned anything?!"

To answer simply...

Probably not.

So what's the new challenge? Well, I've a few friends that are well... they look like this... So I inquired as to the secret for their diet, as the idea of hitting the gym religiously day-in day-out was a completely unrealistic goal for me to set for myself, and they lead me to the work of Timothy Ferris and his book "The 4-Hour Body." I've read the first couple of chapters on weight loss and, suffice to say, I was fascinated with what was being proposed.

I took especial interest in the 'Slow-Carb Diet' which promotes 5 simple rules to GUARANTEE weight loss:

Rule 1: Avoid "white" carbohydrates (or anything that can be white). This includes potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breaded foods, etc.
Rule 2: Eat the same few meals over and over again. For protein you eat chicken, beef, eggs. For legumes (which are vital to keep the hunger off) you can eat lentils, Lima beans, black beans, pinto beans. For greens you can eat mixed vegetables, green beans, spinach, asparagus, broccoli (seemingly most 'green' foods).
Rule 3: Don't drink calories. This is to say no 'milk' in your tea or coffee. Avoid all sugary drinks and soft drinks (diet or otherwise). Drink a lot of water.
Rule 4: Don't eat fruit.
Rule 5: Take one day off per week and go nuts. This is to say that you pick a day a week (I'm going with Friday) and you can eat WHATEVER you want, AS MUCH as you want. That means ice-cream, crisps, danish pastries, a tub of butter, fruit... whatever you want. It is more commonly know as the 'cheat' day.

You may disagree with the whole of the above and I'm sure people may provide arguments against such a diet - but having read his arguments I can't help but be intrigued so I thought I would try it out for 4 weeks - 28 days.

My challenge is to follow the diet strictly (Starting Saturday 27th - tomorrow) and to keep on this strict diet for 4 weeks. I WILL NOT be changing my workout routines while I do this- merely just sticking to the diet. I will of course be exercising (love running) but no more than usual.

My intent is to "weight-in" every morning, before breakfast, and to record it daily. I'm also going to take a photo of myself at the start of each week (I'll decide later if I want to post em!) to see if there's any visual difference. Finally I'll be taking measurements on five locations of my body: both upper arms (mid-bicep), waist (horizontal at naval), hips (widest point between naval and legs), and both legs (mid-thigh). Totaling these numbers should give me my Total Inches (TI) and this should measurably change with the diet plan. I'll chart my data here later (maybe try update in-between to see how it's going) and see if I drop weight considerably/noticeably.

In terms of completing/finishing this blog? I've decided that I'm just gonna keep it and update it with random challenges as life goes on... Meanwhile... this is 'why' on should embrace any sort of diet...



Classic TV...

I can go the distance...

Challenge: To hike from Dublin to Galway in a week... 207km...

Difficulty: It's hiking from Dublin to Galway... how hard could it be?

Overview: While sitting over a delicious Indian meal with Conor Sweetman (above) I mentioned the whole 52 weeks - 52 challenges thing... I then let slip about the idea of hiking from Dublin to Galway. Conor, for reasons only known to himself, thought this sounded like a brilliant idea and asked if he could tag along. I was initially skeptical- surely I should attempt this challenges alone? Like a hermit? Or kermit? But then loneliness is tough, the toughest role I ever played, Hollywood created a superstar... sorry- got sidetracked...

So the night before we were due to set out me and Conor met in his to discuss the route ('root' according to Conor- 'rowt' according to me... this would be a continuous disagreement throughout the trip) we'd be taking... I could discuss the ridiculousness of this route (root) but it would take too long to describe... suffice to say it was stupid as f**k.

Day 1 - The Spire to Kilcock (giggle)

Early morning train to Dublin Connelly. The hike was to begin at the Spire and finish at Eyre Square in Galway. Todays desitination was Kilcock (giggle) - which didn't get old at any point during the journey. We hiked through an old dilapidated part of Dublin I'd never seen before- we watched the markets getting set up by the scariest Dublin folk in existence. We then hiked through Phoenix Park where there was a 5mile run on- we also passed the house of the president and felt extremely patriotic...

We hiked out of Dublin, through Lucan and then onto the canal walk. 7 hours of hiking later we arrived in Kilcock (giggle).

We stayed in Ashford House B&B where there was a mistake in the booking and there wasn't a twin room available. So instead we got UPGRADED to a room each with ensuite and our own tea making facilities! After a chat with the lovely owner (whose sons names were also Conor and Steve) and a nap we decided to order in a sexy chinese (food- not an actual person). Our muscles were in a lot of pain and we were fairly wrecked- although we did stay up and watch The Fantastic Four... mmm... Jessica Alba...

Day 2 - Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegad

"IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!"

Up early for breakfast, the lovely owner Angela offered to make us sandwiches for our hike (we love this woman). So we began our hike from Kilcock (giggle) to Kinnegan- the sleep had cured our weary muscles and everything seemed grand. The canal offered a treasure trove of wonders- most importantly it gave us a boat...

After about 4 hours of hiking along the canal- and becoming truly sick of it- we stopped at Furey's Bar for a pot of tea and a break...

Back on the road- our intention to hike the N4 from Moyvalley to Kinnegad... at this point it began to rain... heavily... and it was ascertained that there was a serious flaw with my waterproofs...

This was one of the most miserable parts of the journey in my mind. Chaffing became a serious issue as the wet clothes stuck to my legs as I walked. I found that singing "I can go the distance" from Hercules was really the only thing that could lighten my mood. Eventually we arrived in Kinnegad and the irony of the poster upon our arrival was not lost...

We stayed with the O'Rourkes that night who provided us with shelter, food and a nice comfy bed where me and Conor slept head to tail... naughty bits still in the middle though... they also provided me with sexy new WORKING waterproofs... thanks guys...

Day 3 - Kinnegad to Kilbeggan

This was just roads and fields... but the weather was good... and so we took photos...

Arrived in Kilbeggan... sunburnt... had another chinese- delish...

Day 4 - Kilbeggan to Athlone

Left Kilbeggan nice and early. Weather today wasn't too bad except both myself and Conor were sun burnt from the day before. The hike today wasn't half as interesting as the night we had. We arrived in Mary's gaff in Athlone (friend of the fanily) We decided that we'd walk 65km the next day. In order to celebrate this massive undertaking we decided to have a glass of wine...

Three bottles of wine later we decided to walk to Aughrim the next day instead...  

Day 5 - Athlone to Aughrim

Hungover and feeling pretty rough we left the at about 2pm... we arrived in Aughrim at about 9pm. Not much to report except that our legs were definetly screwed up. Also we were hitting double digits, each, when it came to blisters (at the time of writing this- 2 weeks late [as usual] I still have 2 blisters remaining).

Day 6 - Aughrim to Galway

Today was the toughest and stupidest day of all. We got up at 3am, I made eggs and beans, and we left the lovely hostel around 4am. We then hiked, in agony, for kilometres... and kilometres... a cute dog came to greet us along the way... but he proved to be both annoying and stupid. He followed us for about 5km then we called his owner (it was now 8am) to come and collect him. We took a few Difene (best drug ever) and continued on our way.

Misery is the word than only begins to describe how we felt... we found a garden to sleep in around noon for an hour. We also realised a very funny dynamic to our duo; when we were walking I was miserable and unhappy, but Conor was grand. When we stopped though- Conor became miserable because he got the feeling that "oh dear god we have to start again"... thus Conor spent the time 'walking' cheering me up and I spent the time 'resting' cheering Conor up... also- these geese cheered us both up...

We decided to avoid moaning or complaining on the last day so instead we had to turn everything into a postitive statement... this lead to statements like: "Stephen- I have a blister on my right little toe that feels so f**king good..." and "Conor- Mmmhmm... gotta love this stabbing sensation in my leg..."

We walked a minor section on the motorway... and got stopped by the guards where he explained to us that 'blue' signs are for motorways... to which Conor responded: "Well- next time we hike from Dublin to Galway we'll keep that in mind..."

15 hours later- a couple of kilometers outside Galway city- well over 200km of hiking we realized the following... we hadn't drank anything in the last 5 hours, we were in agony and we were walking so slowly that by the time we'd arrive in Galway (only about 4km at this stage) it'd be getting dark. We mutually agreed that we'd walked the distance from Dublin to Galway and proceeded to dial a taxi to take us the remainder of the journey. 

I would go into the epicness of Galway and how it was legendary... but what happens in Galway stays in Galway....

And yeah... we got the bus home... screw walking...

Conclusion: One of the hardest, yet rewarding, things I've ever done. If you ever need to 'find yourself' or 'get in touch with your inner chi' then I recommend hiking from Dublin to Galway. I also recommend that you hike with someone who is a legend as it will make the journey that much more worthwhile. I recommend bringing vaseline (for chaffing), waterproofs and GPS. Also- make sure you're bag doesn't weight 18kg like mine did... that was just stupid.

Special Thanks: Brendan O'Rourke and family for their hospitality. All the hostels and B&B's where we stayed- the service was brilliant. Thanks to Mary in Athlone for putting us up and making us breakfast! Thanks to Conor for being a fucking legend.

And most importantly... thanks to these guys who always kept a lookout for us along the way...

Breathe deep

Challenge: To learn Tai-Chi (Tai-Chi-Chuan) in a week.

Rating: 3/5

Skills developed: A small sense of enlightenment and calm.

Overview/Rant: My only knowledge of Tai-Chi prior to trying this challenge was that Angel used it as a very seductive (and successful) move to score Buffy in the ever infamous 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer.' This seemed as good a reason as any to learn Tai-Chi. Also- the name literally translates to 'Supreme Ultimate Fist' which is another awesome reason to learn this martial art.

I feel I picked the perfect time to undertake this martial art as it is renowned for its calming techniques and tranquil methodologies... this coincided with me taking a piano grade 3 exam (see previous posts) and my driving exam... and passing both! Was the art responsible for helping me pass the exams? Who knows? Will we ever know? If life mimics LOST in any way- then the simple answer is most likely no...



Tai-Chi involves channeling your energy into simple, slow, very controlled movements. Your breathing must match your actions and ever action is deliberate and significant. I found a very good instructor online which helps capture the essence of Tai-Chi (see above). Obviously there's only so much you can do in a week (actually I did it for two) but I definitely felt a sense of calm while I undertook the exercises. While youtube is a brilliant resource for learning new skills (or watching cats do funny things...) I can tell that an actual instructor would really help in getting one to understand the heart of Tai-Chi.

Conclusion: Very enjoyable, non-exhausting (then again, I may have been doing it wrong) but very calming. Give it a go. If it's good enough for Buffy then its good enough for you...

Next week: Learn some tricks on the 'diablo.'

Random thoughts: Just watched the finale of LOST today... thankful that I had Tai-Chi-Chuan to calm me.

ALSO- jumping out of an airplane on Friday- first Skydive ever- I'll let yaz know how that goes!
    

Being A Reflective Practitioner...

Right so- it's been a while... My sincerest apologies for the delay- this annoying 'Postgraduate Diploma' was a bit of a hindrance over the last few weeks... but now... I'm.... FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!! And what helped my through it? 





And I would be remiss in not thanking all my family and friends too- thanks xxx


But enough of that... here's the last 5 weeks condensed into ONE post- it's like your getting more bang for your buck.


Week 12 - Learn Spanish for a week


Difficulty: 3/5 
Overview/Rant: Spanish is awesome. I had a lot of fun learning it at this brilliant website found here. It a teaching website that is completely free and has really helpful tutorials. I spent about 15 hours learning the language, which over a week is considerable I think. Completed 5 online lessons and feel I got a good understanding of creating day-to-day verbs and sentences. In terms of getting in touch with my Spanish speaking friend(s), I totally screwed that up with the whole 'life' getting in the way. So yeah- you can give this challenge the olde 'Epic Fail' stamp if you like- personally- I think Senor Juevo more than made up for the lack of success.


Oh- Senor Juevo died after he tried to make a run for it... yeah.. sorry about that... he did survive another 2 weeks though...




Week 14 - Record a song in a week


Okay- originally I was supposed to WRITE and record a song in a week... but yeah- life was busy. I DID write a chorus and verse which were both quite good- but totally didn't relate to each other... so that was scrapped. Instead I recorded a song I wrote about two years ago. Anything which sounds remotely good is all thanks to a certain Mr. Keith Burke with his awesome recording skills and even awesomer hair.


Here's the song- feel free to abuse it to no end. I know it's not perfect- but anything that sounds remotely good is down to Keith's editing skills. 


Special Thanks: Keith Burke for giving up his time to edit the track. Check out his own stuff here. (check out the hair while you're there) Also thanks to Laura for attempting to help me write lyrics. 


*** Note: For some reason youtube is being douche- I'll repost the link once it's working. Apologies for delay.




Week 15 - Buy the Lotto for a Week

I spent a total of €24 on the lotto this week (€4 quick picks in every store I walked into that week). Zero winners. My personal hatred of the lotto comes from the fact that it gives you this false belief that you're holding on to the winning ticket. You're sitting on the bus and you're looking around at strangers thinking "Sh*t, that dude knows I'm holding the winning ticket... okay... just be cool, get off at the next stop and wait for another bus..." 



In future I'm going to spend the €24 on pints, get drunk and imagine how awesome it would be to win the lottery... I might also buy myself a panini with the remaining euros... 


It could be me? It IS me... living the dream...




Week 16 - No Caffenine for a week

Difficulty: 4/5
Overview/Rant: Anyone who knows me knows 3 things... 1.) I can be grumpy, 2.) I can be tired and 3.) points 1.)and 2.) are dictated purely by what degree of caffeine is present in my system. No amount of loving family or friends can replace the caffeine fix I so need. I found this out the hard way... 


Monday - Wake up at 6:00am... "Feeling okay- wouldn't 'mind' a cuppa tea, but sure- I'll drink some hot water." 11:00am... "Man, is it me or have the students got more annoying..." 2:34pm... "Wow, what do non-tea drinkers do with themselves?" 


Tuesday - "No feelings of wanting tea... ha... maybe it's easy to give up tea. I CAN DO THIS! Maybe I should give up tea and coffee for good, I mean- who needs em?"


Wednesday - "Oh my god... what is this feeling in my brain? It feels like someone is cracking open my skull with a jackhammer... I feel ants behind my eyeballs and there's definitely a leprechaun making an appearance in my peripheral vision..."


Thursday - "MUST RESIST URGE TO KILL EVERYBODY!"


Friday -  (Steve sits huddled in a corner) "I'm a little tea-pot short and stout..."


Suffice to say- no caffeine had two major noticeable effects...
1.) I got incredibly bad headaches...
2.) I slept like a baby... (that's to say "I slept well" as opposed to "I cried all night and wet myself")


But... *dilemma*... is a good night sleep worth giving up caffeine... science would say "Oh god yes..." but what do I say... (Steve downs his tea, some of it dribbles onto his chin) ... the short answer is 'no.' The long answer is best said by... 







Week 15 & 16 - Finishe PGDE and get Blog up to date...


DONE... quite challenging. I finished my Postgraduate Dimploma in Education- I'm going to be a fully qualified teacher in a month or so.... uh... god help the children... well guess that's another 2 weeks challenges done... *cough cough*


"But wait one second!!!" (I hear you say with anger and confusion) "We were promised 52 challenges?! Surely finishing your course doesn't count? And updating your blog is a bit of a cop-out?!" 


Well my angry and confused friend.... 52 challenges you shall GET... although I'm gonna have to double them up during the summer (heck- maybe even triple those bad boys) because I'm finding it incredibly difficult to balance them with the rest of my life at the moment- so I'm EAGER to do them- but I want to do them justice! Worry not though- challenges will be undertaken down the line... with gusto (and possibly pesto... dunno why)... and 52 challenges will be COMPLETED... or so help me god- I'll kill somebody...


That's my cue to get some caffeine...


Cheers for reading. Thanks to people who've read so far and please keep sending me on challenges! Mucho gracious! 


Oh- this weeks challenge is to learn tai-chi... 


Steve out.

I don't know what I been told...

... running in frost is mighty cold...

But these guys are taking the...

Challenge: To train and complete the necessary fitness requirements for the Irish Army.

Difficulty: 4/5 to pass. 5/5 to ace it.

Skills Developed: Self loathing... if that's a skill...

Overview/Rant: Right, so this challenge is clearly explained here. (Also- just learned how to do that here thing... as opposed to that there thing...) But for those too lazy to click on the link(s)- here's a simple breakdown of what's involved...

* A one minute sit-up assessment

* A one minute push-up assessment

* A 3.2km run

* A 10km hike with a weighted rucksack

If you check the site- you'll see that each part of the assessment has gradings 1-6. You HAVE to complete the 10km hike in 1hr 33minutes and you must get an average grade of 4 to pass. So you add up your grades and divide by three to get your final grade.

So how did I do....

54 push-ups in a minute

42 sit-ups in a minute

17minutes 54 seconds to complete 3.2km run

1hr 28minutes to complete 10km hike

That translates to 1 + 1 + 6 = 8... which leave me with a grade 3 overall... so I'm ARMY FIT... apparently... 

Hardest Part: Getting up at 7am to go for a 10km hike through FROST... seriously ridiculous... also- my pack weighted 15kg which was a bit of a b**ch... and had I been found dead in the forest they would have opened my bag to find the following... 

Recommendation: Do this if you a.) want to work out what level of fitness you're at or b.) hate yourself.

Conclusion: Respect to the Irish Army- they have to do this test every year to ensure they keep high levels of fitness. I don't see why this isn't introduced into the Gardai force as it's a fairly simple test to arrange and it only takes about 2 hours... I don't know if you've ever seen the Gardai training fitness requirements but its fairly hilarious by comparison...

Special Thanks: Laura Rooney for her sound advice the day before: "Steve, shouldn't you like train for it before just going out and doing it?" Yes Laura, yes I probably should...

Next Challenge: Since I haven't had a great suggestion for fitness in a while I've decided to make learning my piano pieces for my grade 3 exam my next challenge. The 'judge' of my success shall be one Susan Bourke, who is known to her students as 'The Destroyer...' 

... I'm going to be in trouble for that... :-)

Random Thoughts: Watch this if you get the chance- it's brilliant.

Skip me with your best shot...

Okay... so I took some artistic license there...

Challenge: To learn to skip like a boxer in one week.

Difficulty: 3/5

Skills Developed: Basic skip techniques, the double skip, the criss-cross and the matador. This video below highlights the main ones. I attempted the cradle and the backwards criss-cross... but... yeah... epic fail...

Overview/Rant: Firstly- I'm two days late due to Valentines Day, laziness and procrastination (in reverse order of actual reasons for lateness...) Anyway- apologies for the delay... Back to the review... SKIPPING is awesome... wait, let me try that again.... skipping is AWESOME!!! Within 3 minutes you can work up a sweat, you can choose to go for an hour or a minute and all it requires is a rope and room to do it. It requires a lot of practice though. I only for the criss-cross in the final days and I didn't really get the matador at all. The simple single hop on one foot (see video) took me a few nights of practice to perfect. Really though- there's not much to say about it apart from that... here's a break down of the techniques learned- at different points...

8 seconds - double hop on both feet

14 seconds - double hop on one foot alternating

20 seconds - single hop on both feet

24 seconds - single hop walking forward

27 seconds - single hop walking backwards

30 seconds - the skier hop

34 seconds - the double skip

44 seconds  - the criss-cross

52 seconds - attempts the matador

1 min 9 seconds - epic giving up....

I originally planned on recording the techniques with backing music- but I couldn't continuously skip for several minutes without making a mistake... I think my matador days will have to wait... don't want to end up like this guy...

Hardest Part: The matador... 

Recommendation: Totally recommend this. Take the time to learn the techniques and hon them. I'm going to try maintain skipping as it can be done anytime and is a fantastic cardio workout. Honestly- not much to say except DO IT...

Conclusion: Great challenge- well worth the week and something I will probably continue to research to find more challenging techniques. 

Special Thanks: Luke Walsh for providing the new leather skipping rope.  

Next Challenge: Complete the fitness requirements for the Irish Army. There's a one minute press-up assessment, a one minute sit-up assessment, a 3.2km Run Assessment and a 10km loaded march. Check it out at:  http://www.62infantry.com/Annual_Fitness_Test.shtml

Random Thoughts: Maybe someday...

Push it to the limit...

Challenge: I'm going to dub this as the 'breaking the limit' challenge... and thus explaining the use of another Final Fantasy VII image. My objective was to do the following...

1.) As many push-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by guy-whose-legs-are-not-consistent...

2.) As many sit-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by creepy no-skin man...

3.) As many pull-ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by the failed entry for the Aha's "Take on Me" video...

4.) As many tri-ceps ups as possible in a minute followed by 1 minute rest... as portrayed by 'Look-at-me-exercising-at-the-beach-how-cool-am-I?' woman...

5.) Hold a 'bridge' for as long as possible.. as portrayed by... uh.... this dude...

I did a base amount on the Monday of the week- then I trained whatever way I wanted (obviously working the same techniques as much as possible) and then I had to significantly increase my total come Sunday.

Difficulty: 3/5

Skills developed: Eh... I properly looked up how to do the techniques... and how to fix statistics so you look awesome...

Overview/Rant: Right so here's how it went on the Monday night..

Push-ups: 42

Sit-ups: 26

Pull-ups: 9

Tri-cep ups: 22

Bridge: 55 seconds

Not a terrible start considering I can't remember the last time I exercised... so I went to bed and promised to get up and workout the next morning...

That was a broken promise.

But after that failed Tuesday I was driven to work harder- which I did.... kinda. Now in my defense I should note that I'm currently on antibiotics because I'm sick... again... so I'm gonna use that to excuse SOME laziness... the rest can be put down to work, college, tea and the return of LOST (omg! - Locke's a friggin ROBOT... or something to that effect...) ALSO- there was the knitting last week- which apparently screwed my immune system completely... who'd have thunk it?

But then I returned on Sunday to complete this challenge and see if I could break my limit... or achieve my 'limit-break' if you will... (Steve looks eagerly around for other fellow FF7-nerds to chime in for support... he is greeted by silence...)

Push-ups: 46

Sit-ups: 30

Pull-ups: 16

Tri-cep ups: 31

Bridge: 1 minute 10 secs


So- statistically speaking... that translates to... (Steve- the maths teacher- runs to grab a calculator...) And I'm rounding up... cus screw it... I want the extra credit...


Push-ups: 10% increase
Sit-ups: 15% increase
Pull-ups: 78% increase
Tri-cep ups: 41% increase
Bridge: 27% increase

Making an overall increase of approx 34%... assuming that you rate every technique as equal... which I will fully admit is completely unscientific result in ANY situation... but HEY- did you increase anything by 34% this week?!

Hardest parts: Finding the time to do the exercise. Also the realization that you are uber-unfit... bit of a ball buster really...

Recommendation: Really good for establishing your 'base' fitness level. Also I could see it as a really encouraging method of training over a few weeks as you can easily record and establish your improvement over time.


Conclusion: I hate tri-cep lifts. Fitness February is possibly the worst idea I've ever had...

Special Thanks: Colm Hanratty from work for the suggestion. Rebecca for not reporting all the times I should have been exercising but wasn't...

Next challenge: Learn to skip like a boxer or a little girl- whichever is more challenging...

Random thoughts: Just think of the word 'Jump-Rope' before watching this... 

And of course...