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~Day 2~
1. Practice: Total practice time 5hr 0 min. Same as yesterday, just a busy day and couldn't quite get to 7 hours. Still played a good number of games (approx 10, + 5 in BW) and read through the creatorprime guide as well as watching some PvT VODS. Comfort with the game and macro is improving but still not comfortable enough to have any speed (150apm/90-100eapm currently). That will come with familiarity though. FF quality is improving, but still don't always notice where gaps are and some tendency to overlap or excessive FF.
2. Exercise:
AM - 4M very easy in roughly 31:30, legs didn't really want to move so I was fine to run easy
PM - 6M progression in 43:00, started first mile very slow, second mile slow, then gradually up to 6:30-6:40 pace (roughly MP) for the last two.
Misc: 1.5M walk to class and 1.5M walk back from class
3. Diet
Breakfast: Cup of cheerios, moderate size pancake, small slice apple coffee cake
Lunch: PB&Nutella sandwich, Half of a PB&J sandwich, small slice of pizza, small serving of doritos chips, banana, Dr. Pepper (8oz)
Dinner: Cup of Cheerios, some grapes, small bowl mixed vegatables
Misc: Approx 20 cups water
4. Mood
Start: READY!
FINISH: Satisfied, Tired (mental)
5. Game Number: 10 games ish SC2, 5 in BW and some studying VOD/liquipedia/CreatorPrime PvT
6. Daily Goal - Learn some about PvP, more PvT study, continue refining builds and look for transitions to 3 base play (PvT/PvZ)
I know my mental state right now is affecting my play, but there isn't anything I can do about it, all I know I need to keep practicing...things are either not getting done, or I'm watching myself make mistakes I know are bad. It's like watching myself play in third person in a way as my mind automatically does stuff I do not want it to do.
Be careful about this. Yes, you want to practice but practicing when you aren't there and properly focused mentally is a recipe to get worse. You'll end up ingraining bad habits and actually undoing any progress you made.
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NOTE:Okay, so tomorrow I am here most of the day. I think it would be sweet if we all got together and put down some good practice together. Everyone can give advice and help everyone stay on top of weak points. Let me know what times work for you all!
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~Day 5~
Instead of gsl i watched gstl today. My practice session was the usual 6 hours 25 minutes. I spent some time working on purely macro, and then watching kas's stream for a short while. Also re-read the "How to improve at Starcraft II efficiently" guide by Randy (Cecilskunkure) Gaul, which i would defintely recommend to any of you.
Today was spent mostly in customs, i played a bunch of games against diamonds, which was lots and lots more difficult than the people i face on ladder. Only played 2 ladder games today (both wins), as i focused purely on customs today. So current ladderscore stands at: 20 wins 4 losses. Tomorrow im looking to hold a pure ladder day, and also an isolation day. Im also very excited to watch some dreamhack, and im guessing my time spent in the starcraft 2 world tomorrow will be +10 hours just like every other day.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/YIhY2.jpg)
Time to ladder Empire style.
Exercise: I went for a bikeride again, visited the store and bought some CC for dreamhack. (Chips and Coca cola Zero) I didin't just go to the store though, i biked around a bit so the full hour requirement was made.
Diet:
Breakfast: Whole grain cereal with fat free milk and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice
Lunch: Salmon, potatoes and Salad with fat free milk
Dinner: Wholegrain tortillwraps with guacamole, salsa dip, leftover salad and mince meat
Note: Also ate the rest of the candy today (130g) and drank some of the cola zero.
Mood: In the morning quite yawny, suprised by how small the doms was compared to Day 2, however i am not complaining and will lift weights again tomorrow. After the practice session, satisfied and relaxed.
Number of games today was 18. 2-0 ladder. Still rank 2 with 259 points.
Todays Goal: To perfect the bomer build so i can do it efficiently and without a notepad. I feel like this was achieved very well, and my earliest maxout was at 13:30, beating my earlier record of 14:50.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/c1YTp.jpg)
By the power of macro i shall consume you.
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Due to real life obligations (like work) and fathers day. I won't be practicing as much as i would like. To make up for this I will continue to update you on the days practice, but extend it into monday/tuesday of next week.
Just remember guys, Family, work, and your prior obligations come before games. Cheers!
Anyways on the the juicy stuff
Day 5:
Exercise:
25 mile bike ride.
Diet:
Breakfast: nothing
Lunch: chicken w/ rice
Dinner: Pot roast
Mood:
Start: Unmotivated
End: Excellent, almost rejuvenated and feeling like my old self again.
Crash count: 0 (YEAH!)
Goals: focus on macro
Number of games: 6-0 ( crash)
practice games: 0
Isolation Day: n
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Day 5
Exercise: Usual 4mile run/ab routine
Diet: Lots of watermelon and strawberries. Didnt write the rest down and I forgot 
Mood: Content, but bored. No change
Goals: Return to Muta play vs Terran. Worked out quite well
Day 6
Out of town all day, so didn't even log on. Ahhh well.
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Same situation for me. Yesterday was work + 27 mile hike of Pikes Peak and evening 5 miler so I just didn't have the time. With today being Father's Day I doubt I'll get in a ton either. Will be a little extended for me as well.
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~Day 6~
Dreamhack Day 1. Of course there are alot of lesser known players, so the matches arent as exciting yet. So i ended playing some Starcraft 2, also as dreamhack has some looong breaks between games, i got my 6 ½ hours easily while watching dreamhack.
Exercise: Lifted weights again
Diet:
Breakfast: Healthshake
lunch: Reindeer casserole with potatoes and salad
Snack: quark and sandwhich
Dinner: Whole wheat tortea, rest of mince meat and leftover salad. (also quacamole and salsa)
Mood
Beginning: feeling reluctant to play
End: Feeling great, after a couple of games i got the excitement to play back.
Number of games today: 20
Goal was to find time between dreamhack to play, and try out what the pros did, overall fun day.
~Day 7~
Dreamhack day 2. Alot more awesome games (sad about puma though), i spent +6h hours playing, im not exactly sure how long since i kept watching dreamhack and playing and watching dreamhack and playing.
Exercise: only a light walk since i wanted to take a resting day.
Diet:
Breakfast: woke up so late that lunch was prepared.
Lunch: Poatatoes, sausage and pork beef
Snack: Sandwhich and quark
Dinner: Healthshake
Snack: Healthshake
Mood
Beginning: Neutral, got excited and ready to play after watching dreamhack for a bit
End: Great, was a really fun day again just watching and playing starcraft 2 all day long
Number of games today: 33
I played some marine split challenge, made my own lategame TvP and TvZ challenges, as i felt my engagements sucked and cost me alot of games when i was ahead by economy and supply with a fair bit, only to lose the game due to really bad engagements. At the end of the day i was quite happy with my splitting, alot alot better than it was before i started.
End of challenge thoughts:
So here we are, 1 week later, 153 games later. An average of ~22 games a day. Youd think id be exhausted and ready to give up Starcraft 2 and exercise for a while. Quite the opposite, i have never been this excited to get back online and play some starcraft 2 again, and watching starcraft 2 is as enjoyable as ever. The change of diet and exercise part i like alot too, its easyer to sleep when your more tired, my mood is even more happy than before. I even lost a couple kgs of weight. The morning of Day 1 it was 2,5kg more than The morning of day 8.
So what has this week done? Well, it makes me want to continue along this path, play more and exercise more aswell as eat healthyer. I would definetly suggest to anyone to try this, it has its ups&downs, but in the end you're happy you did it. There were a few moments when i was ready to give up, however i decided to stick it out to the end. It was enjoyable keeping a diary type progress log, aswell as read all the other ones. Im looking forward to what the rest of you think after your week of practice. But now if youll excuse me, im off to watch more gsl and then play some Starcraft 2.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wcybq.jpg)
(MVP fighting!)
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Day 6-7
Cause of it being fathers day, (and actually spending time with my father) And working 3 8 hour shifts durring the weekend. I didn't get full (traditional) days in.
But overall here we go.
Exercise: Lifted weights, went on a bike ride (~18 miles), and went swimming for a bit.
Games: No idea on the total amount, allot of practice games, allot of ladder games, some 2v2's and defiantly some crashes.
Mood:
Start of each day: Excited
End of Each day: Relieved and Ready to go
Conclusion of the PltPW:
Overall I had a rough start. Losing games, getting demoted, and worst of all crashing out of games I have nearly won. But once I came to the conclusion that each ladder game wasn't a battle that I had to have an epic struggle with each time, but a new solution and a new chance to make myself better. I completely got over my ladder anxiety. The crashing still sucks but overall I don't have the fear of logging on and losing anymore. A loss is just one more experience to look at. Learning new situations, and overall a new gameplan for the games i played.
As for inspiration, you guys that actually did the challenge with us really kept me motivated to continue on and try my hardest to push through and have the perseverance to get through cause of it.
As for the exercise and diet, they are great. Not that I was ever overweight, as most of my friends would tell you if i turned sideways i would disappear. But getting back in shape has been one of my goals since graduating from high school. Now that I have got over the first week of hell, I feel I can keep up with the goals, rides, and runs to keep pushing to better myself not only physically but mentally.
Once again I want to give a big thanks to lloydp, nafa, L-master, and callmeLukas for actually recording and playing along with my little experiment. Hopefully in the near future I will have some video up documenting it, as well as telling others about it. This is just one out of the many more steps it is actually going to take to get to masters, but I am confident with a little practice, allot of determination, and maybe a little luck, each one of us can get there.
Guys keep up the good work!
Also ps: find a way to watch Symbol vs MKP from last nights gsl. I might be a protoss player but his zerg play is sexy.
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Days 7
On Saturday I was out of town literally all day, so no chance of getting substantial practice time in.
I combined Sunday and Monday as my 7th day, due to being busy on Sunday as well.
Exercise: Went to the gym, 8 miles of running and ab workout.
Diet consisted of a large slew of leftover steak, chicken, and potatoes. Had a lot of fruit and water as well.
I also splurged on a hefty bowl of ice cream.
My goals for the two days were geared towards effective mutalisk play and off-racing. It is pretty rare that I play any other race but Zerg, so I played about 15 games with Terran.
Total games for the two days was about 28 (there were a few I forgot to add to the tally).
Conclusions:
Phew!
Overall, I found the experience taxing as well as rewarding.
In the early stages of the challenge I found myself more eager to start the day, and I often ended the day fairly satisfied. About the 4th and 5th day was when I started to just feel tired, and more obliged to play instead of eager. I figured that was normal.
My changes in lifestyle didn't change very much (besides the obvious excessive Starcraft playing). I'm already fairly active in a physical sense, and my diet didn't change at all (though I am more conscience of it now). I think the biggest affect the challenge had on me was mental. I became more easily irritated when other obligations came up. Now I conclude that a person cannot both lead a traditional lifestyle and that of a progamer (as if I needed to do the challenge to tell me that). It could be possible if sleeping wasn't necessary, but unfortunately it is. :p
I also feel I could have done a lot more with the practice time. I could tell I got lazy towards the end.
Total game tally: 132
Total game time: Unsure of the actual number, but I barely scratched 40 hours. I feel as if I did not try hard enough, but maybe thats just me.
I look forward to attempting this challenge again sometime. Also, I'm glad to see we got a couple of community members involved as well. Props to Nafa and LucidDream! Hope you guys are well!
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EPT
