For reference, here’s last week’s data. Curious what this post is about? Click here

Summary

I may have reinjured myself slightly running, so I’m resting my leg just in case (yes Susan, you were right L ). My 200 mile bike ride starts this Friday so that’s the focus this week. Separately, given the consistent feedback on my CA trip that I was scary thin, I got professionally measured for body fat percentage this week. I’m actually around 9% body-fat when measured correctly. That means, my goal of 10-12% by November has been hit, and it’s time to start increasing calories and adding more muscle.

Speaking of goals, we passed $11,000 in fundraising this week. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. You guys are awesome! But let’s keep going – anyone up for $15,000?

As promised J and I are matching the first $10,000 in donations with a $2,500 donation of our own.

Subjective Data

1. Back to swimming and lifting after my rest week. My swimming form continues to improve. My lifting continues to be fun.
2. The bad news is I did another run on Saturday, but wore the wrong pair of shoes (I have two pairs that look the same, one of which I meant to throw out). I appear to have bruised the top of my right foot, but hopefully that recovers in time for Friday’s ride.
3. I was traveling in California for most of the week, and saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in over a year. The consistent feedback I got was that I’m too thin.

Objective Data

Click here for a PDF version of my dashboard.

Assessment

Last week’s rest did me good, and most of my (non-leg) aches and pains are gone. I returned to the weight room as planned. Due to traveling in California, I didn’t get any bike rides in. My swimming was on track though, and my balance and kicking has improved a lot. My running is still problematic, and even though I ramped back to just 5 miles this week, I may have reinjured myself. We’ll see, but I’m staying off my feet until Friday (I’ll do a test ride on Wednesday to make sure my foot is ok). Friday is the start of my 200 mile ride to Providence, RI.

My trip to California was eye-opening. Everyone was shocked by how much weight I lost, and their perspective was valuable. J and I (and our NY friends) have seen the change gradually, so the shock value wasn’t as high for us, but I was at 155 this week from 185 when I left CA. Still, the comments of folks in California convinced me to get professionally measured for body-fat %, instead of relying on my scale. The result is I’m at 9% body fat, when my goal was 10-12% by November.

So I’m switching my diet to “maintain and gain” from “lose” mode. I’m starting to eat more, which means I need to make sure I do good work in the weight room to really take advantage of the extra calories. Nice to have the “feed bag” on again though J

This may mean I’m blowing my chances to win The Six Pack Charity Challenge, but I’m still optimistic.

As usual, if you have suggestions, leave a comment, or reach me at “art (at) abclarke.com”.

Plan

This week is all about making the ride to Providence. There is a slight chance I’ll be visible on the CBS Morning Show this Thursday morning (around 7-7:30am EST) if you want to see the group of us doing the Jack Brown Appeal ride (we’re doing a little PR to try to raise extra money). I’ll be riding with 40 British Cops for the appeal J

1. Stay off leg until Friday except for test ride on Wednesday. Do 80 mile bike ride on Friday, 80 mile bike ride on Saturday, 40 mile bike ride on Sunday, and collapse as an exhausted heap on Sunday afternoon.
2. Increase swimming to keep pressure off the leg.
3. Increase calories to 2,875-3,125 calories a day. Keep lifting to take advantage of this.
4. Keep smiling.

Presentation Notes

No changes to data presentation this week. As with last week, data is presented in SOAP Note format.

– Art

Help me raise money for people suffering from cancer

For reference, here’s last week’s data. Curious what this post is about? Click here

Summary

This was my first week of running since the injury, and it went well. I only did 10 miles instead of 17 because, well, read the assessment for why. My eating wasn’t good (despite best intentions) and so weight and body fat stayed constant. I still think I have a shot at the Sep 7-9 200 mile bike ride, and at the November 5^th marathon.

Subjective Data

1. This was a “rest week” and I did a good job on that. No lifting. And minimal swimming. On the swimming front, my balance continues to improve a lot with kicking.
2. Did my first run since my injury. I didn’t do the 17 miles I’d planned; I did 10 miles (see the Assessment for why), and stopped then even though I felt fine. The good news is I was walking the next day, but it definitely caused my tendonitis to flare up a little (not much), so it’s still touch and go for November.
3. My eating was not good this week (despite my plans). And I’m traveling on business this week, so it’ll be hard to stay on track. That said, I didn’t pig out during the week.

Objective Data

Click here for a PDF version of my dashboard.

Assessment

According to plan, this was a rest week with no lifting and minimal cardio. I stuck to that plan with a light swim on Tuesday and Thursday. The big event was a return to running.

My original plan had been do go from no running for 6 weeks to a 17-mile bruiser. I got lots of feedback from the Tubes that this was a, how to put it, spectacularly stupid idea™.

Wow.

I started publishing my progress to keep me motivated to work harder, but I wasn’t expecting to get the benefit of people letting me know when I was an idiot. And I’ll admit now it was a stupid idea. I discussed it with my trainers, and we’ve agreed to ramp me on a different plan with a more gradual ramp back, that hopefully still gets me to the marathon. Thank you to everyone!

So instead, I decided to try one 5.2 mile loop, and then only if I felt fine, potentially do a second. I ended up doing 10.4 miles at a 9.5 minute mile pace on Saturday. I had no pain in my leg, but I know with this injury the pain shows up the next day. The good news is by Sunday my leg felt a little sore, but not bad. I feel I might still have a shot at this.

I didn’t do well on the eating plan this week. I didn’t really pig out any day, but I was consistently 500 calories above target every day (except Saturday where I was spot on). This should lead to maintaining body fat, but not cutting. I’m not really going to be able to adjust much this week as I’m traveling on business most of the week. I’d love folk’s thoughts on what’s the best way to stay active while traveling (an increase in traveling was one of the reasons I let myself get out of shape originally).

For anyone who’s following, I’m also trying to compete in The Six Pack Charity Challenge to raise more money for charity. If you’re interested, go checkout that Facebook group.

As usual, if you have suggestions, leave a comment, or reach me at “art (at) abclarke.com”.

Plan

I’m making big changes in my plan this week.

1. I’m traveling this week, so it’s going to be hard to keep to my schedule. Still, I plan to lift at least 3 times this week, do 2-3 swims, 1-2 bike rides, and a long run on Saturday.
2. Keep 2,000-2,250 calories-per-day target to keep weight under control, especially next weekend. I’m going to shoot for staying within target all days except Saturday, but to be only off by 1,000-1,500 calories on Saturday assuming I get the 17 mile run in.
3. Keep smiling.

Presentation Notes

No changes to data presentation this week. As with last week, data is presented in SOAP Note format.

– Art

Help me raise money for people suffering from cancer

For reference, here’s last week’s data. Curious what this post is about? Click here

Summary

Time to face facts: I have bad tendonitis, not a stress fracture. This puts the marathon at great risk. And given the big risk, I’m going to take a big chance. I’m going to concentrate training on the marathon, and risk the bike ride. That means I’ll attempt a long run this Saturday. It’s a make-or-break it run.

The other big change this week is I reviewed progress on training, and adjusted targets moving forward (see the dashboard) to better reflect the post-injury world. I also decided to take this week out of the weight room to give my body time to rebuild from a hard 13 weeks of lifting.

Subjective Data

1. My leg handled a lot of New York walking, swimming, and a little biking this week. It’s slightly sore, but not worryingly so. However, the fact that it gets sore after swimming pretty much guarantees it’s tendonitis, not a stress fracture.
2. I learned how to kick while swimming this week, and as expected it’s much harder than with flotation devices. My yardage came down (again within expectations). Still, I think my progress here has been great (if I don’t say so myself).
3. Another great lifting week, but aches and pains are starting to appear. See assessment for how I’ll deal with that.
4. Weight and body fat headed in the right direction again. But yet again, I pig out on weekends. It was hard not to this week as I spent 8 hours at Giant’s Stadium on Saturday (seeing the NJ Red Bulls against David Bechkam’s LA Galaxy in a high-scoring but no-defense football game) and 8 hours sailing around Long Island Sound on Sunday. Still, I need to tackle this.

Objective Data

Click here for a PDF version of my dashboard.

Assessment

I have bad tendonitis, not a stress fracture – this is demonstrated by the fact that kicking in the pool aggravates my leg. This is definitely bad news for the marathon. The first long-run (17 miles) is this Saturday, and if I can’t make those, I have no hope for the marathon.

I spoke with my trainers and we’re going to try a new (but high risk) approach. I’m going to restrict running to once a week – on the long runs. I’m going to slow my bike riding to the minimum needed for the Sep 7, 8 and 9^th ride (which should just be Central Park loops). And I’m going to spend the remaining time in the weight room and the pool where the stress on my lower leg is minimized.

I’m admittedly quite worried about the long runs, and this upcoming Saturday will be a major test.

I learned to kick while swimming was hard this week, but fun. I can now keep my hips level with the top of the water as I traverse the pool and my overall coordination is a lot better. As I thought, my yardage had to drop. Just doing 250 yards was really difficult (I can do 2x that easily with floats). If I keep this up, maybe I’ll start doing tri’s next season. Lots of thanks to Space for recommending Total Immersion, which gave me a solid set of drills and a good understanding of why I’m doing them.

My lifting continues to be a blast, but I have lots of aches appearing. My lower back and deltoids feel sore in the morning. Thinking about it, I went through my logs and realized I hadn’t taken a break from lifting since May 13^th (13 weeks, but there were two light weeks in July).

As I mentioned, I pigged out last weekend and you can see it in my early week numbers. But some great eating habits got me in range again by the next weekend. WHERE I PIGGED OUT AGAIN. Clearly I need to work on this weekend eating stuff.

For anyone who’s following, I’m also trying to compete in The Six Pack Charity Challenge to raise more money for charity. If you’re interested, go checkout that Facebook group.

As usual, if you have suggestions, leave a comment, or reach me at “art (at) abclarke.com”.

Plan

I’m making big changes in my plan this week.

1. Time to recognize that my targets for running, biking, spinning, and body fat are off course and I need new ones. I adjusted them all for my new plan to get to the marathon. You can see the new numbers in the “gray” areas of my dashboard.
2. This week is going to be a rest week, expect for Saturday where I’ll try a 17 mile run. I run a high risk of injury on that run, but if I don’t do it, the marathon is completely shot. Essentially I’m risking the ride to still have a shot at the run.
3. Do light biking this week, if weather permits, but I’m not going to worry if I miss it.
4. Do light swimming (20-40 yards) this week just to keep mobile
5. Stay out of the weight room for one week. Believe it or not, this is harder for me to accept than you’d think.
6. Keep 2,000-2,250 calories-per-day target to keep weight under control, especially next weekend. I’m going to shoot for staying within target all days except Saturday, but to be only off by 1,000-1,500 calories on Saturday assuming I get the 17 mile run in.
7. Keep smiling.

Presentation Notes

No changes to data presentation this week. As with last week, data is presented in SOAP Note format.

– Art

Help me raise over $10,000 to help people suffering from cancer

For reference, here’s last week’s data. Curious what this post is about? Click here.

Summary

As mentioned earlier, I may have a stress fracture or tendonitis in my lower right leg. Things are feeling better, but the pace of recovery is making my coaches think it might be tendonitis (NOT GOOD). I did my first (very short) bike ride since the injury on Sunday without any follow-on pain. Swimming, lifting and eating are all going very well. The marathon and bike-ride plans are still in danger, but I’m optimistic on the bike ride. The marathon is a long shot now, but I’m going to still ramp up slowly. Never give up J

Also, I signed up for another silly fitness challenge: Read the Assessment below for details on the “Six Pack Charity Challenge”.

Subjective Data

1. My leg feels better, but the fact that I reinjured it last week swimming (which is non-impact) suggests tendonitis not a stress fracture. That’s not good news.
2. Swimming felt good this week, and on Sunday I got my first bike ride since the injury in. It felt very good, and there was no pain.
3. I had a fantastic lifting week. Good lifts, good intensity, and measurable progress from prior weeks.
4. Weight and body fat headed in the right direction again.

Objective Data

Click here for a PDF version of my dashboard.

Assessment

I am definitely but slowly getting better. I’m starting to ramp up leg work. I did a short (13 mile) bike ride on Sunday at a relaxed pace (16mph average) and I felt fine. That said my coaches think (given the fact that kicking while swimming last week aggravated my injury) I am probably dealing with tendonitis. I’m choosing to not believe that. I’m focusing on the bike ride in 4 weeks for training right now since that minimizes the impact on my injured area, and I’m optimistic I can do that. I hope to try light running in 2-3 weeks.

My swimming is getting much better, and I’m hoping to start integrating kicking this week. I’m getting much more efficient and the breathing is becoming natural. Assuming I remove the floats this week I expect my yardage to drop a bit while I learn kicking. We’ll see.

My lifting was so much fun this week. I mentioned last week that I switched programs to a more intense but shorter program. It’s fun, and I’m amazed at how tired I feel afterwards but how much more power I’m getting. For the record, I’m not doing it to add tons of weight; I’m doing it to improve muscle power. On Saturday I worked my right leg again for the first time in 4 weeks and as I write this, my right quad is very angry with me. But wow, it was so much fun!

I had another great eating week, and my weight got down to 153.5 pounds with 15% BF. However, my father in law is visiting this week, and I allowed myself to way overeat on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll see that reflected in the numbers this week, so my challenge is to be excellent the rest of the week. Why?

Well, I have a new fund-raising-goal / stupid-egomaniacal-challenge that I’ve signed up for with some friends: The Six Pack Charity Challenge. The idea is each entrant puts up $250 and names a charity they’ll donate to. Then all contestants (you can enter at any time provided you do not have a six-pack when you enter) work hard to get a six-pack. On the week of November 5^th, we all take and post photos online for the Internet community. Whoever collects the most votes by December 5^th gets to donate not only their own money, but the money of all other contestants, to the charity they signed up for. And I aim to win.

As usual, if you have suggestions, leave a comment, or reach me at “art (at) abclarke.com”.

Plan

I’m tweaking the plan slightly as I start adding in leg work again:

1. Start slowly ramping up work on my right leg. I’ll hopefully get some spinning and biking in this week.
2. Keep swimming and start adding kicking work. Target is 3 times this week (to make room for biking).
3. Keep doing the upper-body and core lifting, and start ramping leg work back up.
4. Keep 2,000-2,250 calories-per-day target to keep weight under control.
5. Keep smiling.

Presentation Notes

No changes to data presentation this week. As with last week, data is presented in SOAP Note format.

– Art

Help me raise over $10,000 to help people suffering from cancer

For reference, here’s last week’s data. Curious what this post is about? Click here.

Summary

As mentioned earlier, I may have a stress fracture in my lower right leg. This week continued my rehab with swimming and lifting. My recovery is taking longer than I want, and I was (stupidly) overly aggressive this week – I can still feel pain in my right leg. My weight control is back in place, and all metrics are (slowly) moving in the right direction. The marathon and bike-ride plans are still in danger, but if the injury is a stress fracture (hopefully), I can be back on the training plan in about 2 weeks.

Subjective Data

1. My leg continues to be sore, and healing is not as fast as I’d like. I overdid it with swimming last Wednesday (tried some kicking) and the leg felt a lot sorer on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I’m swearing off kicking for a while.
2. Missed swimming session on Thursday due to heavy work day (and sore leg).
3. Weight and body fat headed (slowly) in right directions again.

Objective Data

Click here for a PDF version of my dashboard.

Assessment

It’s all about the healing – or the lack of speed there-of. Still, apart from stupidity on Wednesday, things are going in the right directions. I’m still hopeful that I can begin biking next week, and make the September 7-9 170 mile bike ride. The marathon training will take priority after that – and it will be tight, but I’m still going for it.

My swimming stroke and form has improved, but once I remove the floats (which I have because I can’t kick) it gets much harder. Yardage therefore is misleadingly high.

Weight lifting worked well this week. I switched programs to a more-intensive but shorter duration workout (45 mins as opposed to an hour), alternating muscle groups every day, and only repeating a group after at least 5 days. I’ve been ‘good’ sore all week, and the change-up has been really fun.

My eating habits were awesome all week (if I don’t say so myself), with one cheat meal on Saturday. But it was a doozy, at L’Ecole in NYC. I recommend the place if you’re an adventurous eater.

As usual, if you have suggestions, leave a comment, or reach me at “art (at) abclarke.com”.

Plan

Basically more of the same:

1. Continue rest, rest, resting the leg.
2. Keep swimming. Target is 4 times per week.
3. Keep doing the upper-body and core lifting, and keep with light leg work.
4. Keep 2,000-2,250 calories-per-day target to keep weight under control.
5. Keep smiling.

Presentation Notes

No changes to data presentation this week. As with last week, data is presented in SOAP Note format.

– Art

Help me raise over $10,000 to help people suffering from cancer