Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

Shot Put (Strength)
Bronze: 6.75 meters
Silver: 7.25 meters
Gold: 8.00 meters

Olympic Record: 23.30 meters by Ryan Crouser (USA) at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, August 5th, 2021.
World Record: 23.56 meters by Ryan Crouser (USA) at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold in Los Angeles, May 27th, 2023.

Harrier's distance: 8.04 meters

There were mostly older people competing today apart from me, and most of them were women too, so I was the only one who was using the standard 7.26 kg / 16 lb shots, the same ones that are used in the men's Olympic events. It will take until I am 50 until I can revert to the 6 kg ones.

I made a few practice throws somewhere around the mid 7 m range, which would be Silver territory. I then tried to improve my technique a little, though I didn't want to go too sophisticated yet as I imagined it would do more harm than good at my skill level. After adopting a simple quarter-spin motion from a slightly crouched positon, I got the slightly above 8 meter throw.

Honestly, we're not even bothering too much with the measurements anymore, with me being effectively out of contest by now, but some of my fellow athletes examined the crater caused by my shot, and we agreed that it was farther than 8 meters. Some guessed 8.10 m, it looked more like 8.04 m to me, so that's what we're going with. Either way, another Gold for Pokerstrategy's only contestant at this year's Trollympics.

It's a bit of a personal victory too... I remember the afternoons I spent after school on the athletic field across the street in 2006, desperately trying to improve my shot putting with those 6 kg shots in order to get a B grade in gym class. I was struggling a lot to even get to 5 meters, if I remember correctly, and I was getting very frustrated. In the end, I somehow barely made it to my desired grade after all - and with today's Gold, I can declare a full victory over these old days in my youth.

Standing Long Jump (Strength)
Bronze: 1.65 meters
Silver: 1.95 meters
Gold: 2.25 meters

Olympic Record: 3.47 meters by Ray Ewry (USA) at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, September 3rd, 1904.
World Record: 3.73 meters by Byron Jones (USA) at the NFL Combine, February 23rd, 2015.

Harrier's distance: 2.28 meters

Real quick - the other people were doing it after the shot put event, and I wanted to give it another try too, after getting really close to the Gold distance last week. We made a marking in the sand for the distance I had to clear, and I made it on my first try, with a few extra centimeters to spare. Another Gold for PS and the Trolls.

Long Jump (Coordination)
Bronze: 4.10 meters
Silver: 4.40 meters
Gold: 4.70 meters

Olympic Record:8.90m by Bob Beamon (USA) at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, October 18th, 1968.
World Record: 8.95m by Mike Powell (USA) at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo, August 30th, 1991.

Harrier's distance: 4.05 meters

Gave it another try, just because my previous distance was so bad. As it turns out, though, this is just not my event. My first attempt got abandoned after missing the jump completely, second attempt reached about 3.80 m, and my last one got to about 4.05 m. It could have been read as 4.10 m if you were feeling generous, but either way, no improvement to my previous barely Bronze distance.

This is something I may have to retry next year, with a new approach - I'm done for now.

New "Medal Table":
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): Bronze
800 Meter Freestyle (Stamina): Silver
Medicine Ball Throw (Strength): Gold
Standing Long Jump (Strength): Gold
100 Meter Dash (Speed): Gold
25 Meter Freestyle (Speed): Silver
Long Jump (Coordination): Bronze
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): Gold
Shot Put (Strength): Gold

Really good results this year. The only event I would still like to try is the 3,000 meter run, everything else is at a point where I am either satisfied or have accepted that there won't be any considerable improvements anymore.

There will be only two more meetups anyway. I plan to do the 3,000 meters next week, and then I'll see if I even want to show up the week after that too.

What's up, Trolls and friends? It has been a slow trolling week, for various reasons. Both Prim and I had a lot on our plates, and both of us had been pretty tired from sports and work and all. But what is a good way to vitalize some tired bodies? Tossing them into cold water, for instance. An even better way would be to do it outside.

It's what we did when we met up today. We went to an outdoor pool together for the first time ever, to say goodbye to the season of summer, which has returned for one final wave of warm sunny weather, there was not a cloud in sight today. It is not as hot as it used to be a few months earlier, of course, and we also arrived pretty early, so the water was freezing cold... but we loved the time we spent there.

There were plenty of opportunities for challenges there: A badminton net, a soccer goal, a beach volleyball field, a big chess board with oversized pieces, ping pong tables, some sort of arcade games, a foosball table... but Primrose is still recovering from her injury, and wisely decided not to take any chances with her leg. We definitely intend to be back at least one time next year, possibly more, which should give us plenty of opportunities for any of those challenges.

In fact, the pool itself gave us some opportunities with its diving boards and that weird giant pool toy thing in the middle of it... It's hard to describe, but it can be seen below:

It's basically some climbing thing for the kids. I remember climbing on it a few times in my teens, when I was a lot weaker, but also had much less body weight. Back then, it was achievable with some effort, though it may seem easier than it is to get on top of this thing straight out of the water. Today... we tried it again... ...and I imagine we got some of the other guests a good laugh.

Basically, Primrose hung on to the outside of one of those "arms", I dived down to help push her up, she pushed that arm down while still hanging halfway in the water, I threw myself over that arm to land with my face in the water on the other side, both of us were flailing on opposite sides in the water, I somehow re-adjusted my body to sit up, helped Primrose re-adjust hers... and there we were sitting on the arm of that pool toy that was now submerged almost a meter into the water, it seemed. I summarized while we were sitting there that this climbing toy was probably not meant for us, and that while the Trolls stayed mentally young, we didn't stay as lightweight as during our actual youth days.

Then it was off to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, which quickly turned into an all-Prim-has-left buffet. It's all good, though. Our sporty grindette takes good care of her nutrition and scheduled a "cheat day" for today, and she urgently needed some meat after this tough week, not to mention that swimming tends to make you extra hungry. Still, I noticed that the tray with the delicious beef and onions mostly just had onions left after Prim had her way with it...

Other than that, the only thing that came close to a Troll Challenge was the grindette taking another shot at our classic Mario Land drinking game. Another good try, though she did not quite manage to complete it without my help this time. Will she succeed this year? Maybe not, but we're having a blast with it all the same.

The Trolls are really looking forward to the season of fall, which should be in full swing by the time we meet up next, and today, we already got a little taste of some indoor chilling while still enjoying a final day of real summer fun. Meanwhile, we are starting to work on finally introducing new poker challenges, which should start getting underway as soon as our sports schedules lighten up, which should also happen soon.

Well, it was a long, fun and busy day, and I will go on another trip early tomorrow, so I think I will postpone the solution to this week's Troll Trivia until next evening once again. With no one having made a guess so far, this will also give you guys one more opportunity if you would like to play but didn't get to it yet.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

We heard about Harrier's first proper Hold'em game, but let's go even further back to the mid 90's, to Harrier's first real game of Five Card Draw.

I will tell you the location this time, it was during a camping trip at the Edersee, a reservoir in my home state of Hesse. But what were we gambling in our game?

1) Candy
2) Monopoly money
3) Rocks

Yes, our weights (both healthy, normal weight, but we´re grown-ups now) did not exactly help with climbing that octopus-toy (I think this is supposed to be an octopus), at least we entertained some other guests in the pool. :mdr::f_ugly: And we felt young again. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: Really too bad we could not do any sports challenges this summer due to my stupid injury, but torn muscle fibres are not exactly peanuts. At least I took a nice jump into the pool from the 1m-plattform, using just my healthy leg! That was funny! But as we´re going on vacation soon, I didn´t want to take any risks, I still have to play some tennis there. And swimming works fine already, no pain, no impairment, so we took a nice 40 minute swim!

As I had scheduled this extra cheat-day for yesterday, of course I indulged in all that good food. Preferred the beef though, because I have anemia. And swimming makes you extra hungry. :f_biggrin::f_tongue: Oh, how I was looking forward to that Chinese buffet!! Guess it was obvious? And after all that cool swimming and the good food came of course our beloved Mario-games .... and the booze

Yes, I think that pool toy is based on an octopus. And it is clearly mostly meant for kids and teenagers.

I could see a Troll Challenge involving diving boards some time next year, either based on jumping from a certain height or doing certain moves during our dives.

We have been to that Chinese restaurant several times before, and it probably won't be our last time either. It is also a great spot for further dinners after meet-ups at that outdoor pool, since it is nearby, so I expect we will see the same combo again in the future. I was originally skeptical about Chinese food yesterday because I had some at that same place only a few weeks ago, but when we were standing at that buffet, I thought that Prim had made a good pick after all when she requested having lunch at that place.

I think we hit the sweet spot with the booze yesterday too. Not too much, but enough to have a boatload of fun. That Mario Land drinking game is a great way to get in the mood.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

We heard about Harrier's first proper Hold'em game, but let's go even further back to the mid 90's, to Harrier's first real game of Five Card Draw.

I will tell you the location this time, it was during a camping trip at the Edersee, a reservoir in my home state of Hesse. But what were we gambling in our game?

1) Candy
2) Monopoly money
3) Rocks

Solution:

It was time for my first day of lifeguard training, to follow up on the DLRG swimming badges that I collected this summer.

I first thought that those exercises would take place on Saturdays for a few months, but it turned out to be Sundays, which is actually more convenient to me. Another change, that was only announced on short notice, is that our venue for the first two units will be the well-visited "Ringallee" outdoor pool, not the "Westbad" as I mentioned in my previously linked post. Any subsequent lessons will take place there as planned, though.

While that outdoor pool seemed like a great spot for a meet-up with Primrose next summer - they even have miniature golf - we actually had our lessons in their indoor pool area instead, which was specifically reserved for us. Made me wonder why we would then switch to that location in the first place. Also, it turned out that we didn't even get into the water after all, so we might as well have done it all in my living room instead.

Fair enough, a lot of what we are learning is theory. This is less about delivering a solid swimming performance, it's about getting ready to save lives, and being a swift swimmer is only a small part of it. Most importantly, you need to know what to do when quick decisions matter. Today, we were practicing how to escape various kinds of strangleholds that a distressed swimmer may inflict on you. Sure, you may be there to rescue them, but when a person is drowning, they tend to panic. And when they are in a state of panic and their rescuer is approaching, their first instinct is often to grab on to them and push themselves upwards to stay above water - which means that you, as the rescuer, will be pushed underwater. You're not doing the victim any favor if you simply join them in their role.

Today, we learned the techniques for escaping those kinds of holds - on dry land, that is. In our next lessons, we will start doing it in shallow water, and then finally in deep water, together with all of the other stuff in our curriculum. It will take a while, the course is scheduled to last until mid-November.

By the way, I seem to be the oldest participant by far. Most of the other people in my course are aspiring school teachers who want to teach sports, still in the middle of their degrees, so they tend to be in their 20's. Only maybe two people besides me want to take the course as a personal challenge without it being a requirement for their job. We even have a brave 14-year-old boy among us who is in the same situation as me, having completed his Gold swimming badge not too long ago and now being eager to take things to the next level. He is lowering the average age in our group in a similar way as I am increasing it.

Once again, we are not lacking for any sports challenges on this blog to compensate for the missing versus challenges, including poker.

Troll Trivia of the Week

Summer is coming to a close, and Primrose is already making her gardening plans for next year.

What was her personal culinary highlight of this year's gardening season?

1) her tomatoes
2) her salad
3) her bush beans

3,000 Meter Run (Stamina)
Bronze: 19:50 minutes
Silver: 17:20 minutes
Gold: 15:00 minutes

Not an Olympic event.
World Record: 7:20.67 minutes by Daniel Komen (KEN) at Rieti, September 1st, 1996.

Harrier's time: 16:47 minutes

I went for another run, to improve on that pitiful Bronze time I ran during my last attempt, where I was dealing with some nasty side stitches. Can't say I took it too seriously, though, with me missing the start by a few seconds because we didn't do a proper signal. Also, there were a few children of some kind of athletics club doing their training at the same time, and they had set up some youth size hurdles on the home stretch which weren't in use at that point. I decided to jump one of them on my final 100 meters just to be a troll.

Not only that, but also on my final 100 meters, one kid's mum was on the track to go to her son, and while I swerved to the side to avoid a collision, she ended up dodging to the same side and we collided anyway. Not the most effective final sprint, but yeah, it was all just for fun at that point either way.

A woman in her early 40's was running the 3,000 meters together with me, and while I was the one setting the pace early on, she ended up even lapping me towards the end. While that may seem humiliating, she turned out to finish her run in sub-15 minutes, which would have been Gold even in my category, so clearly she is way ahead of the pack when it comes to stamina. There is no shame in getting lapped by someone of her caliber, in the same way that there is no shame in getting lapped by Primrose in swimming - she is also head and shoulders ahead of her peers.

My time of 16:47 minutes wasn't great, but it was good enough for Silver - and that is a satisfactory result for me. In fact, I decided that I will let it rest at that point, I don't see any significant improvement to be made by next week. It is time to wrap up the Trollympics 2023...

Closing Ceremony

Misha and Trimmy say 'Thank You' for a great Trollympics 2023. What an exciting run it has been...

I certainly exceeded my initial expectations and then some. Originally, I considered any kind of qualifying result a big success, but after some of the early events went well, I just had to aim higher and higher. In the end, we not only got the Gold in the overall ranking, we not only secured Gold in all four areas that will be counted, we even overachieved and got some additional Golds and Silvers in events that won't even count for the overall ranking anymore. My performance in some events may not have been that great, but I think we have shown some real spirit right here, and that's what matters.

Strength went especially well, with Gold in all events that were available to me. My Coordination event, which was the sling ball throw, was also to a large degree strength-based, the rest left a lot to be desired, though I didn't get to participate in too many of those events. Speed was okay, I could barely fight my way to Gold in the 100 meter dash after several weeks of trying, but I couldn't crack the 25 meter freestyle swimming Gold time. Stamina was worse, where I could only get my Gold by getting that DLRG swimming badge. I think this is the area where I need to improve the most.

Trollympics 2023 Result: Gold

Stamina: Gold (DLRG Swimming Gold Badge) - 3 points
Strength: Gold (Medicine Ball Throw) - 3 points
Speed: Gold (100m Dash) - 3 points
Coordination: Gold (Sling Ball Throw) - 3 points

12 points in total, 11 points are required for Gold.

Final "Medal Table":
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): Silver
800 Meter Freestyle (Stamina): Silver
Medicine Ball Throw (Strength): Gold
Standing Long Jump (Strength): Gold
Shot Put (Strength): Gold
100 Meter Dash (Speed): Gold
25 Meter Freestyle (Speed): Silver
Long Jump (Coordination): Bronze
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): Gold

Trollympic Records:
3,000 Meter Run (Stamina): 16:47 minutes on September 11th, 2023.
800 Meter Freestyle (Stamina): 20:30 minutes on June 29th, 2023.
Medicine Ball Throw (Strength): 12.3 meters on June 26th, 2023.
Standing Long Jump (Strength): 2.28 meters on September 4th, 2023.
Shot Put (Strength): 8.04 meters on September 4th, 2023.
100 Meter Dash (Speed): 13.8 seconds on July 24th, 2023.
25 Meter Freestyle (Speed): 21.45 seconds on June 27th, 2023.
Long Jump (Coordination): 4.10 meters on July 3rd, 2023.
Sling Ball Throw (Coordination): 39.10 meters on July 10th, 2023.

And just for fun, the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games character that most closely matches my performance in the Trollympics 2023 seems to be Knuckles:

Speed and Stamina should be swapped and both a little lower, while Skill should be slightly higher, but still possibly in last place or comparable to Stamina - but it's the closest match we have among the game's characters.

Anyway, it has been a lot of fun and with some great results too. Let's return in 2024 for the games of the 2nd Trollympiad, hopefully with some improved stamina - I can start working on it already. And ideally, we will be joined by Primrose next year as well. I'm looking forward to it.

Well, summer- and sports-season come slowly to an end. I think it´s about time for off-season And even though I was injured, I did a lot of sports, just not as much as usually during summer. Guess we feel now a bit like:

Apologies for being late again. As I explained on my own blog, my laptop battery was almost empty by the time I finished my long poker session due to a faulty charging cable, so I had to cut things short. I have now borrowed another cable while I am looking to buy a replacement.

I still have a new burger version I want to post some time, but first, let's get to this week's Troll Trivia:

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

Summer is coming to a close, and Primrose is already making her gardening plans for next year.

What was her personal culinary highlight of this year's gardening season?

1) her tomatoes
2) her salad
3) her bush beans

Solution:

Last meetup at the big "Ringallee" aquatic center, we practiced right here in this pool:

And this time, we actually did some swimming there, if you can believe it. We were reviewing the techniques for escaping strangleholds on dry land again, then it was time to get wet. Some short swimming, then it was mostly deep diving to take advantage of our location. This one has a pool which is about 3.80 meters deep at one end - a little over twice my height.

Honestly, it's not that easy to get that deep... we were taught two techniques, one feet first and one head first. The head first one went okay for me, I was able to get that 5 kg ring that our instructor put there back above water. Feet first didn't go so well. On my first attempt, I hardly managed to dive down at all, I was surprised when I tried to get back up and saw the surface not far above my head. After asking for some pointers, I manged to get a lot deeper, almost down to ground level, but not quite.

There is a cool technique for getting back up too, where you stretch out one arm towards the surface and paddle back up while spinning your body, all while looking upwards. The purpose of this is to be aware of your surroundings when you are not diving in an empty pool, but a busy lake or even the sea. I was a bit worried when I got back up after my successful head first dive - it's a long way up, and you don't always know right away if you are making progress, especially with that 5 kg ring wearing you down.

This was another important thing that was taught, you need to clear your ears when you are diving at a certain depth. Otherwise, you run the risk of damaging your eardrums, which not only hurts a lot, but may also throw off your equilibrium sense. In the worst case, you may try to surface and end up diving even further down. Best to train everything right now before things get serious. Oh, and no swimming goggles either, they may damage your eyes too at certain depths.

So yes, it wasn't all that easy, but starting next week, we will train at what's more of a standard swimming pool, where 2.50 meters of depth will be all there is to master - which is also the minimum depth we need to clear in order to pass our exams. So no need to stress out about those 3.90 meters today, but it was good to practice under those conditions once.

We will be back next Sunday at a different location, one step closer to our goal.

Originally posted by Harrier88
So yes, it wasn't all that easy, but starting next week, we will train at what's more of a standard swimming pool, where 2.50 meters of depth will be all there is to master - which is also the minimum depth we need to clear in order to pass our exams. So no need to stress out about those 3.90 meters today, but it was good to practice under those conditions once.

Actually, I just checked the exam requirements once again. For Bronze, you are required to do two deep dives (one head first, one feet first) at a depth of 2 to 3 meters, retrieving two of those 5 kg rings within a time limit of three minutes. So the 2.50 meters or whatever we have at that other pool will be well within the range, but you could possibly dive in even shallower water in order to pass. No need to handle 3.90 meters of depth yet, in any case.

However, it can be considered practice for the next lifeguard badge, should I attempt to go for it. For Silver, you need to do three dives (two head first, one feet first) at a depth of 3 to 5 meters, otherwise under the same conditions. For Gold, you need to do the same with your clothes on, and also do a head first diving jump from the edge of the pool for one of your dives.

I have serious doubts that Gold is even within grasp for me, but one step at a time - I expect it would take at least one year until I would even get a chance anyway, possibly two. Maybe Silver will be possible, but yeah, let's get that Bronze first.

I hope you guys are still reading. I will keep things going while Primrose is on her well-deserved vacation, though I will only have burgers and maybe some other cooking to offer during this time, also the Trollwatch series on Sundays where I will keep you updated on my progress throughout my new lifeguard training, which is another challenge I'm currently on.

We have plans for a new cooking and a new sports series in October, and also finally some poker challenges again. I am aware that we had plenty of Troll Challenges, but not a lot of Primrose vs Harrier here recently. It is high time to fix that.

Troll Trivia of the Week

Did you know that Harrier briefly took up equestrians during his university days? What was the name of his noble steed?

1) Riccardo
2) Lantano
3) Bavieca

Let's finally get to those burgers from last week. Charge up your Teslas, we're going to South Africa.

I found this recipe for chakalaka, though I will have to take some liberties with it. Let's start by frying some onions.

Then add bell peppers and some ground ginger...

...and then some carrots, which were supposed to be grated.

The recipe calls for some tomato paste. Also a can of tomatoes later, and some baked beans, which also come with tomato sauce. That's a bit much, isn't it? Of course, it is meant for a much bigger amount. Still, I decided to leave out the tomato paste... and realized right after opening the can that leaving out the canned tomatoes instead would have been a much better idea. Oh well, too late now.

We also add cayenne pepper, thyme, paprika, curry powder, black pepper, salt and sugar. And finally the baked beans too.

I guess that's it, so we can start with our standard burger patty...

...and then find a way to add this, somehow...

A bit messy, I guess, but it will have to do.

Finally, add some bacon of hope...

...and our South Africa burger is ready.

Boom Chakalaka! Well, honestly, those were not very good. Primrose had no hope for the burger from the Cape of Good Hope to begin with, bacon or not, but I didn't like them too much either. I was worried about the tomatoes being too dominant, but I think the carrots ended up being a bigger offender. Either way, my chakalaka attempt tasted like every dish I ever had at a vegetarian student's apartment, mostly just a bland veggie mush, and it drowned out most of the other flavors.

It wasn't terrible, but if one version has to be in last place, it would be this one so far. The Dutch version, which previously was in last place, at least was good in theory, but poorly executed. This one was just not a very great idea in the first place, I think. However, the website where I found the recipe at least gave me ideas for future versions, so it's all good.

Still, one of them has to be last.

1st Switzerland
2nd Cyprus
3rd Israel
4th Greece
5th Mongolia
6th China
7th Denmark
8th Korea
9th Spain
10th Germany
11th Russia
12th Madagascar
13th Alsace
14th Italy
15th Texas
16th California
17th Mexico
18th Morocco
19th Brazil
20th Arabia
21st Turkey
22nd Australia
23rd England
24th France
25th Colombia
26th Cuba
27th Canada
28th Hungary
29th The Netherlands
30th South Africa

And you know what? I still had loads of chakalaka left. This much:

What to do with it? Luckily, I expected this, and planned ahead. I got myself some chicken, and seasoned it with my homemade "Jerusalem Mix" seasoning that I used for my Israel burgers a few months ago. Also some extra spices.

Then I simply added some of that leftover chakalaka, which I had stored in the fridge...

...and in the end, it made a pretty decent tortilla filling.

I think it worked a lot better that way.

This one is just TERRIBLE! :wtf::spit:
There´s no bacon of hope for that one. :coolface::f_ugly:

Originally posted by Primrose6789
This one is just TERRIBLE! :wtf::spit:
There´s no bacon of hope for that one. :coolface::f_ugly:

there's a good reason to say it, even if I would eat it anyway... but maybe it's more a question of stomach than taste

Originally posted by Harrier88
I hope you guys are still reading. I will keep things going while Primrose is on her well-deserved vacation, though I will only have burgers and maybe some other cooking to offer during this time, also the Trollwatch series on Sundays where I will keep you updated on my progress throughout my new lifeguard training, which is another challenge I'm currently on.

We have plans for a new cooking and a new sports series in October, and also finally some poker challenges again. I am aware that we had plenty of Troll Challenges, but not a lot of Primrose vs Harrier here recently. It is high time to fix that.

Troll Trivia of the Week

Did you know that Harrier briefly took up equestrians during his university days? What was the name of his noble steed?

1) Riccardo
2) Lantano
3) Bavieca

I like the name, so I choose 1
It's not for everyone but maybe it's suitable for a horse:D

Originally posted by Saffo7

Originally posted by Primrose6789
This one is just TERRIBLE! :wtf::spit:
There´s no bacon of hope for that one. :coolface::f_ugly:

there's a good reason to say it, even if I would eat it anyway... but maybe it's more a question of stomach than taste

Luckily, I had nowhere else to go that day.