One post a day keeps the doc away - or how is it?

Yeah, i know, i know. It’s not really that of a challenge. But, as I’m pretty bad at keeping up a decent post stream, it’ll probably prove to be somehow challenging anyway.

Not that it has anything to do with this, but I thought a great comic strip from Wullfmorgenthaler could shoot this week off:

Those guys are awesome. Check them out yourself – clicky!

Well, for the whole next week, I’ll try and change that. Goal:

Do 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups a day.

I recently finished a book by Carsten Mørch called “Sådan!”. It’s about his and Bjarne Christiansen’s trip to the U.S. in 1978 to attend Ranger School - a course that by many is known as the toughest combat leadership course in the western world. Reading books is inspiring and this is not an exception. It’s a great book, describing the extreme conditions (both physically and mentally) in very revealing detail. And yes, even though it’s just as frightening as fascinating, you just can’t seem to neglect that it’s somehow appealing. It’s like watching 300 – you just can’t wait to get home to do those fight scenes over again with your brother

For the next week (Monday to Friday), I’ll face the primal fear of every teenagers mind: early mornings!

So, next weeks challenge:
Break of Dawn

Besides being a great pop-song by the king himself, It’ll be the first on my agenda each morning the next week to come (ignore the love-theme of the song – that’s not what this is about ). Plan is to get up at 5am (5:00) every morning – without exceptions. Whether it will lead to insomnia or a some kind of personal revolution I’m not sure. Hopefully the latter :-)

Update:

• Three days/nights in
  3 nights of way too little sleep - 4.5 hours averagely per night. Damn, I suck at going early to bed. Bad habit I think. Apart from that, It’s actually pretty nice to have plenty of time in the morning: with the Olympiad or The Simpsons running in the background and a nice warm shower for wake-up, I can live with the lack of sleep (guess it’ll be “insomnia” as predicted after all)..
• Last two
  Still, I really suck at sleeping early. Besides the late nights vs. early mornings relationship, it’s actually been great. Early mornings means alot of time in the morning > no rushing to catch the train > relaxed start of the day > nicy-ness
  I might consider getting up early on a regular basis. But, I definately need some more discipline in the evening first!

Padre, i have sinned..

It has been a long time since my last Confession. Last week, I, a misdeed.. I failed. I failed to perform my weekly ritual, to carry through the challenge of the week..
 

Felt a little theatrical in the moment of writing But, even though last week was without a challenge, this week I’m back. A little late, i know, but nonetheless, I present to you:

Second quest in “Challenge of the Week“:
The Dark Wandering

Even though it does sound pretty dramatic, it’s not gonna be as far as action-packed as it’s name-relative The Dark Knight (which is a great Batman movie by the way, best I’ve seen so far). I might need to explain:

For one night this weekend, I will walk the distance between Ringsted and Roskilde – at night. The motivational factor is coeval to the last challenge: set a goal and reach it, a simple act of self-discipline. Now, I am aware that the military has been doing this for years and so have I myself at Kilimanjaro actually (the final descent), but I still don’t think this can be considering something one does weekly. If so, you can consider yourself pretty badass

The distance is about 31 km all together (Google Maps is helpful). With an average walking speed of about 4.5 km/h (Wikipedia is helpful too), this gives us and 6.89 hours of walking and with some breaks and pitstops added: 7½ hour of walk. I plan to leave home at around 11-12pm which will get me to Roskilde at around 6-8am. I predict a loong night ahead

I’ve decided that the walk will take place either the night between Friday/Saturday or Saturday/Sunday (for obvious reasons). When i reach Roskilde safely, I’ll post an update in here.. Over and out for now

Update:

Job’s done.. One thing for the record: do NOT walk 30 kilometers with running shoes that’s a little too tight. The last 4 hours of the walk was a pure nightmare, due to the fact that blisters popped up everywhere on my feet. Besides that, it was a good walk – very exhausting for sure, but good.

For the next days I’ll probably be limping around, in sandals, looking real stupid. Still, it was worth it in the long run (walk?) :)

First experiment in the “Challenge of the Week“:
Rice, rice, rice!

For the next week (starting Monday morning > Sunday evening), I will live only by eating rice + 1 optional ingredient/supplement for the sake of nutrition. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner will all consist of rice with either Ketchup, Chicken, sauce, a vegetable or something alike. In average, one probably eats around 2 dl1½ dl of rice per meal. Multiplying this by 3 meals a day in 7 days, i will eat 42 dl (= 4.2 litres) 31.5 dl of rice the following week. Major parts of the world live by these means, where rice is the only affordable option. Rice Congee – a porridge made of rice spiced up with chicken or alike – is the most common recipe in great deals of Asia, especially China (learn more about it). If they are able to live a healthy life based on this simple meal, why can’t we?

I will keep a diary of how it progresses here so you will know how my appetite shrinks each day

1. Monday 14th of July
   First day’s over. Think it’s gonna take some days to get used to it, but i could also imagine getting reaaally tired of rice within the end of the week!
   • Breakfast: 1½ dl of rice with fresh apple slices (a little weird, but pretty nice actually)
   • Lunch: About 1½ dl of rice and fish (decent, but fine)
   • Dinner: 2 dl of rice and a whole lot of Ketchup!
      
2. Tuesday, 15th of July
   Still going strong, but my fellow colleagues tempted me with Nachos today… hmmm..
   • Breakfast: Rice with creme fraiche (ughh, rice in the morning isn’t good with anything!)
   • Lunch: Rice and mackerel is actually quite good! Thanks Jens
   • Dinner: Rice + the classic: Heinz Ketchup once again
      
3. Wednesday, 16th of July +
   Thursday, 17th of July
   I wish i could remember, but these days just seem to have melted together in my remembrance. I guess it’s because of the fact, that the three meals a day only serve the purpose of survival now – it doesn’t matter what i eat together with the rice, as long as it ends in my stomach. Anyhow, i do remember eating threeparticular things: mackerel (again), king-size shrimps (a little dry without any sauce) and Hoisin sauce (thanks for the tip once again Jens and/or wife - good stuff). God, monday still seems so far away
    
4. Friday, 18th of July
   • Breakfast: Rice and tuna isn’t that bad actually (as long as there’s plenty of the oil included in the can)
   • Lunch: I actually skipped it today – a lack of appetite suppressed my hungry stomach. The others at work ate awfully delicious open face sandwiches + Nachos today…..
   • Dinner: To make up for no lunch, i had two china boxes this evening – one at around 6 pm and one later at 9 pm. The sweet & sour sauce is awesome – i just wish i could have coupled it with some chicken! Just a few pieces, please? No? Ughh…
      
5. Saturday, 19th of July
   Wohoo – only two days to go! What I’ve experienced so far, is that rice (at least the parboiled white rice i eat) keeps you satiated no matter how much you eat! Not once the whole week have i felt full – i might rename this challenge to “the rice famine”..
   • Breakfast: Some late breakfast resulted in 2 dl of rice and Ketchup.
   • Lunch: When you’re eating your first meal at 2pm – is that breakfast or lunch? Hmm..
   • Dinner: Uhh, inspiration struck me this evening: Uncle Ben’s Tikka Masala! Eating right now as i write actually, yum.
      
6. Sunday, 20th of July (last day)
   • Breakfast: Same as yesterday – late breakfast with Ketchup (booring)
   • Lunch: See above..
   • Dinner: Finished off the day with some rice in the microwave topped with Tikka Masala again – too lazy to come up with anything else

Challenge’sover. After a week full of rice, I’ve had the chance to get a peek into the everyday of an average Chinese man – at least nutrition-wise. Rice makes a good solid meal, but it gets boring real quick. It’s been fun though - challenging admittedly, but fun  I made it through the whole week resisting all the temptations (delicious chocolate bars, chips, fresh fruit etc.) so tomorrow mornings agenda will include a long-awaited craving: fresh milk and chocolate müsli.. Yum!