Z3. Oct 23, 2013. Day 23

Outbreak at New Ellis Island Quarantine Contained

By Anther Banghart - October 23, 2013 9:10 AM EDT. Online Edition

An outbreak at the New Ellis Island Quarantine Facility was contained Tuesday at 7:00 pm EST. The New Ellis Island facility is sectioned off by entry dates; the Day 14 section was affected. Officials have not released any official numbers, but approximately 20 individuals are believed to have survived; 200 are believed dead. Survivors have been placed in isolated quarantine.

The list of individuals affected will not be released until families have been notified.

This is the first outbreak in an American quarantine facility and the fifth in-quarantine outbreak internationally. Outbreaks in facilities in London, Madrid, Bombay and Tokyo have caused the deaths of 16,178 in last 5 days. This does not include the devastation along the equatorial region of Africa.  Early estimates of several million dead are considered low. 

An international state of emergency was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 19th during the first outbreak in quarantine (Madrid). All international travel to the continent of Africa has been halted except aide, medical advisers and peacekeeping forces.

Please note that this is another fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. Hey- you! Yes, you. Only 8 more days until the end of October. Several people have the zombie challenge done! Do you?

Montana Logger- Zombie Challenge Complete!

City people are going to be amazed we had more than one "chop a cord of wood" as the selected zombie challenge. Go team!

Legacy, Zombie Killer! Zombie Challenge Complete!

This photo is fantastic! Good preparedness to start killing zombies straight away!

Oct Fitness!!

Got my challenge done this am, I hope everyone else is getting it done as well!

z2. Oct 11, 2013. Day 11.

This morning you opened the news on the web and were not surprised to see budget discussions dominating. As you were about to close the news in disgust, this report crossed the wire and caught your attention:

 

Travel Quarantine and Delays for Parts of Western Africa

CDC Responds to Illness, Deaths in Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Anther Banghart - October 11, 2013 11:30 AM PT

At 10 am EDT Friday the U.S. State Department, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), initiated a full quarantine for the nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).   All international travel to the area has been halted. Neighboring countries, including Zambia and Tanzania, will have highly restricted travel.

Individuals planning to travel to West Africa should check the state department web page before attempting to enter or exit the region.  Extreme delays are anticipated and travelers should be prepared to provide detailed itineraries.  Individuals who cannot prove travel routes will be subject to quarantine prior to reentry to the United States.

Quarantine areas are being expanded at all international ports. Several thousand federal employees have been called back from furlough in order to assist with the efforts.

The illness may be related to the Ebola hemorrhagic virus, including a high mortality rate and bleeding from the eyes and mouth.  Unlike Ebola, the hemorrhaging is reported to occur while the infected person is still mobile.  Ebola first presents as flu-like symptoms, before affecting the nervous and respiratory systems. 

 

Aide efforts to the area have been severely limited by the ongoing civil unrest.  Air drops of food and other supplies have occurred in a few targeted areas.

The Ebola hemorrhagic fever was first discovered in the DRC in 1976, with an outbreak of what was later called the Zaire strain.  The Zaire strain has the highest fatality rate, 83% in small outbreaks, and 90% during epidemics.  The last outbreak was in 2008; however experts in the field believe that small unrecorded events occur frequently. 

Please note that this is a fake news story for the purpose of Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program, and any connection to any real people is imagined. However research was done to add an air of authenticity to this report, so some of the facts presented here may be accurate.

Z1. Oct 1, 2013. Day1.

Last night you had what had to be the worst dream of your life. Never have you been so gripped by terror. Never. You awoke in a cold sweat, frozen almost to the point of pain.  As your stomach relaxed and your jaw unclenched, you walked over to the bathroom and stared into the mirror at your own reflection. Haggard, burned by the exhaustion of work and not enough sleep, you want the dream- the nightmare- to do what all others do. Fade. But it does not. It hangs on you like an albatross.

Running.  You were running in the high desert. Your lungs burned and stomach clenched to vomit but you couldn't stop running long enough to gag. The driving thirst. In the dream the word 'water’ had a solidity that you had never understood before. Your knee, your other ankle, they wanted to fail. They screamed at you. But you wanted to live more.  You focused. You ran to the large rock 100 feet away.  You reached it. You saw a post ahead. You reached it. And so it was, for miles.  A run measured in moments of survival. A stubby root seems to reach up to trip you. You fell, gagging out yellow, dry bile.  You ran again.

You realized that the dream made you feel that you didn't have a single skill that mattered. Not today. And the feeling of doom.  A sick, unshakeable feeling. You look at yourself in the mirror. You shake yourself. God you feel like an ass. It's just a dream, right? Wake up, you tell yourself.  What, I get the heebie jeebies from a dream?

You start getting ready for work. But you know. In the deepest part of your heart, you know it’s coming. Today you re-dedicate yourself to your health and fitness.  Your instincts are screaming at you that you are going to need it to survive.

You decide to test yourself. You complete any one of the following (no injuries!):

·         One max work out (push yourself to your limit)

·         Chop one cord of wood and stack

·         Hike a steep trail of at least 1000 foot elevation gain in 2 miles with extra weight in your pack, or stair-step the equivalent. Elko area participants, think Island Lake trail. Oregon participants think Coffin Mountain lookout trail near Detroit Lake. (***Elko open invite Oct. 19 at Island Lake, weather dependent)

·         Start a campfire without matches or a lighter. If you have done this before, do a different method than your previous experience.

Z. Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program

Survival Fitness

You are invited to embark on a survival fitness program for the winter.  It is designed to provide you training to survive in apocalypse conditions. If you are already in good condition and have a training regime, this should dovetail nicely.  If you are a bit out of shape, time to start training to avoid tasting good to zombies.

Because they want your brains, man.

I, nor anyone else involved, are physical trainers, doctors, etc.  You participate in this program at your own risk.  It is also not sponsored in any way by any business organization; we are just doing this for fun. Go to the doctor as needed (ie: you should consult a physician before starting this or any exercise program).

Bottom line: I'm not your momma, whine to someone else about it.

Take some time to design your personalized baseline fitness program. Aim to push yourself and yet make it do-able in a workweek. IE Cardio (3X30 min? or 6 hr per week min?), strength work (weight machines, bells, calisthenics), and stretching work (yoga?). 
Self evaluate, weekly:

Best: Met all goals and really pushed yourself &/or went above and beyond. (Or, goals too easy?)

Good. Met all goals. (For me, this is doing great!)

Poor: Time to rethink goals to better help build a base for health.

Sick/Didn’t play this week: Two of these for the year, then you are a zombie.  You can restart the program in a modified form, to recover. This is about being healthy overall over winter! Not punishing those who get sick.

At the beginning of the month I will post the zombie survival activities you have to complete by the end of that month.  The intent is to give options that do not aggravate injuries etc., so if I fail to give you enough options, please make suggestions and we can work out new alternatives.
 

There will be a “z” at the start of the subject line.

It is recommended that you get some gear for outdoor winter exercise, and a pack that will carry weight. For example, last year a good option might have been 'walk outside today' (in -30F).  For me, that would have been an effort! My instinct was certainly to curl up in a ball and pray the power wouldn't go out, which is precisely what I did!! But obviously if you don’t have gear for that, you shouldn’t select it. In better weather, a mile with weight in your pack might be another option. You will want shoes that won't slip in ice and snow, and enough cushion that the shoe is taking the impact, not your knees.

You know, Unis!  Be prepared, be healthy!

There are an inordinate number of engineers in this program (I’m sorry everyone else.) If you really, really, really just have to engineer your way through a survival option, and not do it manually, ok. Just remember this is supposed to be a fitness program, so you need to offset that with a fitness activity.  No, drinking beer does not count.

Thank you & enjoy. First day is October 1.

PS: I realize that grammatically ”Zombie Apocalypse Survival Fitness Program” implies that we are helping Zombies survive. (Although, maybe we are zombies from work!) ‘Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse: A Fitness Program’ just doesn’t flow well. 

PSS: . If you feel an obsessive need to track your diet/ fitness in great detail- myfitnesspal is a good option. It seems to have a greater selection of foods and exercise options than many programs.