The Rules of Acquisition

In an effort to be healthier i've stopped using skittles as a reward and started using episodes of Deep Space Nine (DS9).

For anyone not familiar with DS9 it contains the Ferengi a race obsessed with the acquisition of profit. They achieve profit by following the rules of acquisition. I'm beginning to feel a bit like they are my people

No, i haven't become obsessed with acquiring profit and this is not my house. I have however become a bit obsessed with my Fitbit and the acquisition of steps.

It's all in aid of those miles i need to cover in order to get my 500 extra this year and it has some good points. Cleaning the house provides a surprising amount of steps, so does putting out the bins individually and walking to the cinema.

However walking everywhere does cut down the amount of things i can do in a day since it takes 45 minutes to walk what would be a 15 minute cycle ride, longer if i'm carrying heavy things like food shopping. This also cuts down the amount of time i have for other fun activities like reading. 

The old one rule approach of more steps = better needs a little revising

1. Hobbies that involve activity e.g. badminton should be prioritised
2. Required tasks e.g. food shopping should be done as effectively as possible to maximise the time:step ratio.

And of course an update

Extra miles walked to date = 20.88

Still a way to go.

It's Okay to Wear Christmas Socks If..

Do you ever find you make odd little deals with yourself?

My deal of the day was "it's okay to wear christmas socks when it isn't christmas, as long as you don't match up the reindeer".

Okay, this one isn't particularly problematic but i've noticed this tendency spill out into other aspects of my life. Mostly in a tendency to overwork instead of prioritising things for myself like exercise. "Its okay to work late tonight i'll go to the gym tomorrow" and then repeat until its been a month since your last visit.

This is what i've been working on over the last week and i've been hitting my targets for steps and miles with much more regularity. 

Lets see if this makes an impact only totals

January:     10.24 miles extra walked
February:    5.31 miles extra walked (1-6 February)

Looking good so far :) watch this space.

A Walk in the Dark

Or not....

January

So after a storming first three days it went "wibble". 

I don't know about anyone else but i have hibernation problems.

Me 4pm (still light):

Wooo yeah! going to get out of work, go food shopping, hit the cinema, make a cake then sleep.

Me 5pm (now dark):

It's cold and i'm tired :( maybe i have the energy to make toast....

Sound familiar?


That said it's not too bad, however i'm thinking more of a racking up the steps in the daytime approach is going to be required here. This means leaving work at lunchtime, not something i'm good at or getting up earlier, not something i'm good at. 

So week 1 & 2

7.69 miles of 500 = 1.538%

Time to go for a walk, see you later 

500 Miles

Since i began 2016 in Scotland i thought it was only fitting this year's challenge had a Scottish tinge to it.

Do you know the Proclaimers song 500 miles? I do it's the song of my uni days, at the end of the night our local DJ used to split the dance floor down the middle and get us to yell " Da da lat da" at each other. You should try it :) it's good for the spirit if not the neighbours.

So this years challenge as titled above is to walk 500 miles.

Sounds a bit easy?

That's 500 miles in addition to the normal mileage i clock up in a day. Thanks to my trusty Fitbit i know thats about 10,000 steps or 4 miles.

So that's (365*4)+500 = 1960 miles in 2016 or 5.36 miles per day if you prefer.

There are no sick days if i come in under i have to make it up.

This should also help me out with my fitness which has rather fallen by the wayside, i'll be over on Nerd Fitness this year as well tracking progress on my Daily Battle Log.

That just leaves me with an introduction, please met my old shoes and my new shoes. As you can see thanks to my Fitbit encouraging me to walk more last year i walked right through the soles of my trusty old trainers. They had their last hurrah on NYE as i climbed Arthur's seat in them and now they have been consigned to the recycling bin and replaced by the rather pink pair on the right. 

 

 You will be seeing a lot more of my trainers so make friends.

A Healthy Disrespect For Deadlines

We said we would watch the fireworks over Edinburgh from the top of Arthur's Seat to see in 2016. We did not make it.

Some of us had consumed too much champagne already and some of us were wearing shoes that had less grip than they promised. Instead we watched the fireworks from the shoulder of Arthur's Seat and it didn't make any difference to the five people laughing in the dark and shouting Auld Lang Syne into the wind.

I had planned to have a challenge thought out for 2016 by the 1st of December so i could get a months planning or practice in. I did not, i didn't even have an idea until the 30th of December but thats the way it goes. 

This year i'm not having rigid deadlines, they seem to derail me faster than anything else as missing them saps my motivation. 

As for the challenge i'll explain that next time it's not ready yet ;)