Monthly Archives: April 2008

Nude Numbers 44

Nude Numbers are my weekly progress reports on my fitness goals. See About Running Naked for the philosophies involved.

Summary

Week 4 of the tri plan. The pain in my leg is now gone, but I’m staying off running for 2 more weeks. Swimming gets better, but I need more time in the week; anyone know how to solve that problem?

Subjective Data

I’m recovering well from the latest leg injury, and don’t feel it anymore. I picked up the weight training a little this week, and got one long pool workout in. My balance was better, but I still tire relatively quickly.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’. I’m officially punting on fixing this for a while.

Assessment

Work is really starting to creep into training time (I know… startup and all). But my swimming is getting better. I need to spend more time in the pool and prioritize time a little better (I spent 3 hours on Monday failing to track down a bug instead of swimming, and once I took 60 minutes off to relax, the fix came to me quickly. I should know better). I’ll work on that this week.

Plan

Continue with light leg work, more swimming, and better prioritization of work vs. workout.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Other

I’m way behind in other blog-updates. Why? Well, as you can see from my training numbers, work is eating into a lot of other areas in my life. For those who worry about that, don’t worry yet. I’m having so much fun doing what I’m doing right now, but had to cut back on something. If I stop updating my training log, I give you permission to hit me over the head with a big stick and remind me that balance is important. Of course, my wife gets ultimate “hitting me over the head” authority, and even as we speak is glaring over me with a big stick telling me to stop typing…

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 43

Summary

Week 3 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. The plan was to recover from the pull in my left-calf this week, and now, a week past it, I can still feel some pain. I begin to suspect distance running is not my sport. On the bright side, swimming is starting to be fun.

Subjective Data

To refresh your memory, I pulled (or tore) my calf muscle pretty badly last Tuesday. I couldn’t limp more than a block or two until Saturday. I stayed away from activity until Sunday when I started doing swimming and some upper body lifting work for the rest of the week. My leg is taking longer to recover than I’d like.

On Tuesday I was really compressed with time due to work and only had 20 minutes it the pool. But someone I stayed focused and whipped off 500 yards quickly (for me). My stroke and balance is improving.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Assessment

I don’t know what happened on my Tuesday run, but it’s definitely worrying. I seem to get lots of injuries with this running thing, and perhaps, maybe, there’s a thing or two I could learn about it. If anyone reads this, your assessment and advice are mucho appreciated.

Dan, your advice on swimming was spot on. I’m swimming slower, but magically I’m starting to complete more yards in less time. Me like-ee.

Plan

I’m continuing with the light treatment on the legs. That means swimming and upper body lifting only. I’m not going to run again for at least 3-4 more weeks. If I feel ok, I might do a recovery bike ride at the end of this upcoming week.

Reminders

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 42

Summary

Week 2 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. And right at the start, problem: I either pulled a muscle in my left-calf on a run yesterday or I tore something (likely somewhere in between). Yikes. Rest planned for next week to recover.

Subjective Data

I missed Saturday and Sunday’s workouts due to guests being in town, but otherwise got back on the horse on Monday. On Tuesday on my long-run, I got a sharp sudden pain in my left-calf. I’m limping today and on rest and no-running for at least a week.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Assessment

Well, apart from the pull/tear, things were looking good. Alas, one step forwards, two steps back. I hope to resume swimming pretty soon, but I’m going to lay off the bike and run for a few weeks at least.

Plan

Rest until I have no more pain in calf. Then carefully resume swimming and upper-body weight work. Wait at least 2 weeks before running again, and then go slowly. If I can recover, I can still do the tri, as my bike/run endurance is pretty good. In a way, this is a nice signal to focus on swimming J

Reminders

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Running Naked 41

1 Reply

Nude Numbers are my weekly progress reports on my fitness goals. See About Running Naked for the philosophies involved.

Summary

Week 1 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. The plan switches focus from weight lifting and swimming to endurance in swimming, biking and running. Also, in a sop to my wife who generally gets out of work at a reasonable hour on Wednesday, my new plan will be tracking Wednesday to Tuesday, with Wednesday being my day off training.

Subjective Data

It was strange to do a week almost totally devoted to cardio training, but I did a lot of swimming, biking and running this week. I’m still following Dan’s advice on swimming slowly, and also finagled the use of a 25-yard pool this week. I discovered that a longer pool really helps me develop a sense of rhythm, so I’m going to try to keep going there.

By end of week, my legs (in particular) and my arms are quite tired, but in a good way.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’ so I need to rebuild my spreadsheet for the new plan. Grumble. I’ll try for next week, but I’m still tracking actual correctly. If someone knows some good software that tracks both future plans and actual, let me know.

Assessment

Overall I’m happy with the work this week. My foot, in particular my right foot (the injury that knocked me out of the marathon) is feeling a little squirrelly, but not sore. I’ll keep monitoring that closely.

My increase in cardio time meant I had little time for yoga and weights this week. I’m going to think a little about that and see how to best readjust.

Plan

Two key goals for this upcoming week: Maintain cardio workout; Find a way to work in Yoga and 45-90 minutes of weight lifting as well.

Reminders

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Running Naked 40

Summary

Week 18, and the last week, of the winter plan. The results: I hit my strength goals, I kept my waistline where I wanted it, I gained about 6 lbs, and I missed my swimming goal. I have created my spring plan, but it’s not ready to be posted yet as I work on some formatting issues, so that’ll be in next week’s update.

Subjective Data

I worked hard for the last week. The weather bordered on Spring on Sunday, so I got my first bike ride of the season in. I kept my weight workouts short, but with little rest between sets so it was more intense than the graphs show. And my weight crept down a little, and I was OK with that.

By Saturday I was really tired, and ended up sleeping-in on my last spin/swim/run combo, but I felt that was OK.

My swim workouts continue to be drill focused.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Assessment

I felt good on the week, and felt OK about my winter plan. Overall, I’d say a B-. I’m sad that I missed the swimming target, but gaining 6lbs while keeping the waist at 32 inches is pretty good.

Dan’s suggestion on the swimming drills really does seem like the way to go, so I’m going to do some self-teaching on that. I’m planning to head to a triathlon store in New York (yes, we have a store just for triathlons) and get some fins to help on some of the drills.

Plan

I have created the spring plan, which focuses on one and only one goal: Finish the Philly Triathlon. I don’t have it in an easy to parse form yet, but I’ll try to have that for next week’s output.

My weight room goal is going to be maintain muscle, keep body fat between 8.5% and 11.5%, and not worry about overall weight gain or loss beyond that. And I plan to keep up at least one yoga session a week.

Reminders

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

– Art