Stevie, Time to Leavie...You in the Dust!

Last week, my pal Steven (also known as Panda) challenged me to the RAGBRAI Royalty Challenge. This fitness challenge requires a commitment of working out at least five times a week, and losing at least 4% of our body weight. Weeks start on Sunday and will come to a conclusion the Saturday night we meet in Sioux City, Iowa for the start of RAGBRAI: July 24th.

The winner get glory, and will look significantly better in her bike shorts. The loser will have to put up the tent of the winner for at least 3 nights of RAGBRAI and is also required to buy the first beer in each beer-stop town along the ride for two days. The loser will also face a heartbreaking amount of mocking and torment.

Steven, being just a bit of a nerd has worked out a complicated system of rules for the challenge. Here are her comments in full:

Dearest Norman:

Here are the proposed rules:

1. Each participant must engage (sounds dirty) in at least a 30 minute workout on 5 days of the week. I think it needs to be us using our judgment on what counts as a workout. For instance, for me, I think a hike does not count...but, if I jog parts of the hike and sweat like a maniac...then maybe it does. :) Also, biking always counts, but must be a minimum of 15 miles to be considered a workout (round trip if commuting). All weeks go from Sunday to Saturday.

2. Each participant must lose at least 4% of her body weight. This means that there new weight should be (at max) 0.96 * current weight.

3. The winner is determined using the following point scale: A) 1 point for every separate workout completed during the 4 weeks (this means that you should have a minimum of 20 points...but could earn extra with 2-a-days or by working out on "off" days) B) 3 points for every percent of weight loss (this means that you should have a min. of 12 points...but could earn extra by losing more) C) Tie breakers will be decided by whoever can shotgun a can of Keystone Light beer the fastest

4. All workouts must be documented on the blog. This doesn't mean that you have to have a separate post for each workout...you could just do a "summary" post at the end of the week. Okay, now...you must print this and sign it in blood. Heh. Just kidding! Anyway, I hope moving has gone well and I also hope that you get your butt moving...because I am going to kick your ass. That is all. Love, Stevie P.S. Stevie...it's time to Leavie!

Unfortunately for Steven, complicated math doesn't burn calories.

Here's my video response to Steven's throw down (what I lack in fancy editing, I make up for in my subtle acting abilities):



Now, prepare thyselves beloved blogophiles because this is going to be one hot, sweaty, and caloric-deficit July.