Category Archives: Training

Nude Numbers 32

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

Summary

Week 10 of the winter plan and, despite a minor cold, I’m still broadly on track.

Subjective Data

I continued to increase calories this week, although I found it harder than I expected. I’ve trained myself to not eat unless I’m hungry, and to eat small meals, wait 10 minutes, and then only eat if I still feel hungry. To hit 3,000+ a day calories I have to eat even when I’m not hungry. I did ok, but most days I only ate around 2,500 to 2,750 calories. It’s amazing how much of a habit light eating has become for me.

This week my swimming improved quite a bit. I’ve been getting aerobically exhausted really quickly while swimming, but on Thursday my coach watched me and suggested I try something odd – not expelling water in my mouth by blowing out. Instead, he said just leave my mouth open when I turn my head under water. Voila, the water just flows out, and I don’t waste oxygen expelling it. For some reason, this really seemed to help me control my breathing and increase the # of laps I need to take before resting.

On Thursday afternoon I finally caught a cold my wife had been incubating for a week. Getting the cold was annoying, but I was good and rested through it. That meant no Thursday run, no lifting on Friday, and no spin class on Saturday. I did sneak in a swim Saturday afternoon that I probably should have cut out, but I wanted to see if the breathing technique I found on Thursday still worked. The answer is yes 🙂

Objective Data

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

Assessment

This week, despite the cold, was another good week. And the cold symptoms were pretty mild and they’re gone now. I still feel broadly on track, and feel excited that my swimming is markedly better now.

Plan

I made a few adjustments to the plan moving forward this week. Next week is a HEAVY lifting week, and so I’m going to cut back on spinning during that week to focus on lifting instead. I’m going to try to do 5 lifting days of 45-minute sessions instead of 3 days of 90 minute sessions. I also pushed my running ramp-up out another 3 weeks; I don’t need to really ramp running until after March to be able to do the 10k tri-distance easily, and I have enough things going on right now between this and work to keep me more than busy. But apart from that, just another week to try to forge ahead with gaining weight, gaining strength, and increasing swimming endurance (i.e. the winter goals).

Reminders

I’m still undecided between running a marathon in New York (November 2) or in Dublin Ireland (October 27). If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June 21) 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.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 31

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

Summary

Week 9 of the winter plan. Coming off a rest week things were a lot harder than I expected. But mid-week I decided to increase how much I ate and then things got much much better. Looks like it’s back to big-eating again.

Subjective Data

After the week off last week, and the fact that this was a light-ish lifting week (50% of my 1-rep max weight), I expected things to be easy. But starting off on Monday, my first day back, I found the lifting to be exhausting. By Wednesday it was clear I hadn’t recovered as much as I thought. So I tried something wacky; I increased how much I was eating.

As you can see from the weight data, my weight had been stabilizing and actually decreasing. But with the intensity of my current program, I was wearing down quickly. So I upped to about a 3,000 calorie diet on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday my lifting session was awesome – I got all the lifts done, spent almost 2 hours at the gym, and only left because I had a salsa-dancing event I had to go to that night. And Saturday, I absolutely rocked all over my spin and short-run.

Lastly, I didn’t get as many swimming drills as I wanted to get in on Saturday due to a little sleep-in, but salsa was fun so that was worth it.

Objective Data

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

Assessment

With the exception of swimming, I hit all my goals for the week. But only because I decided it was time to eat more.

I think the moral of this week was I need to prioritize my goals and allow some constraint to relax; and that constraint is going to be my diet.

My big goals are to by March 31st: gain weight to 168; swim 1,000 yards without stopping; and keep my waist in check. For now, I’m going to relax the last constraint, and figure I’ll cut-calories after March if things get out of control.

Plan

This week is an even lower lifting week: 40% of my 1-rep maximum weight, and the week after is a hard 90% week. I’m going to continue the basic plan, keep my spinning workouts light (not too heavy on the climbing), and increase my calories to gear up my body for the 90% week. Hopefully I’ll end up next Sunday less tired than I feel right now, and ready to rock all over a 90% week (yikes).

Reminders

I’m still undecided between running a marathon in New York (November) or in Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) 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.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 30

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

Summary

Week 8 of the winter plan. Given some knee pain, and a general feeling of aches all over my body, I decided to take a week off working out. Read on for why.

Subjective Data

By last Sunday evening, my normal rest day, the pain in my knee was still there, and I felt aches all over. I was also feeling rather cranky and having some trouble sleeping for the days before then. Based on that, I made the call to take a week off training, since they’re all classic over-training symptoms.

My eating stayed ok for the week, but because I wasn’t working out as much (but didn’t change the amount I ate) my weight as expected crept up a little.

Objective Data

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

Assessment

My plan from last week had been to take it easier so really I just modified it slightly.

But I really think I made the right call to cut out a week. Did I mention I’m trying to listen to my body more? (OK, admittedly it’s a little depressing to see all my blue lines above go to zero.)

At this stage, there is no pain in my knee, and most of the aches are gone. My right adductors and glutes are still a little sore though.

Plan

Now, I’m going to ramp back up slowly this week. That means light spinning (no climbs), 45-50% of resting-max lifting, and swimming drills. Basically what I said I’d do last week before I took the week off 🙂

My swimming plan is currently: Tuesday – long swim; Thursday – swim lesson; Saturday – Kicking drills.

The eating plan will continue for at least one more weeks, and then I’ll revisit to see if I should eat more to gain faster.

Reminders

I’m still undecided between running a marathon in New York (November) or in Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) 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.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 29

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

Summary

Week 7 of the winter plan. I’m broadly on track, but nagging pains are telling me to cut back for a week or two. And so that’s the plan. Read on for more if you care.

Subjective Data

It was a heavy (85% RM) lifting week, and I’m exhausted writing this. I took an extra rest day at the start of the week (Monday) but then kept working hard through the rest of the week. On Friday, I cut out of work a little early (5:30pm) and went nuts (see the data if you’re really curious). Still, it was a fun week.

I have a weird pain in my left knee (after Yoga yesterday) which hopefully will go away soon, and a tightness/soreness in my right hamstring/adductor area that is annoying me a little (nothing too serious though). My one run this week was in Central Park (the weather in New York was unseasonably pleasant) and I was reminded that hard-street running is harder on my foot than the thread-mill.

My swimming kick isn’t as strong as I thought it was, and my long-swim on Tuesday really exhausted my upper body (which is pulling most of the weight). So Saturday I restricted my swim to just the kickboard, and I’ll keep trying that for a few more Saturdays to get the feel.

My eating stayed good all week – that eating 6-times-a-day thing is really working for me right now.

Objective Data

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

Assessment

The appearance of some pain is not very surprising (I’m not that young anymore), and does mean I should cut back a little. On the bright side, the plan calls for that anyway, so it’s good timing. I have to be careful to not let good weather make me run outside for now, so shame on me for doing that this week.

Eating is going well, and the data is starting to show that. I need to make sure I don’t lose weight – just stabilize.

But all in, I’m actually quite happy with progress. Swimming is slowly getting better, and I am gaining more muscle than fat.

Plan

I’m going to adjust the plan to be lighter on my legs for the next two weeks, to see if I can get the nagging soreness to abate a little. Specifically it means reduced weights for glutes, hamstrings and adductors, and holding back on climbs in spinning classes. I’ll do no more than 45-50% max-RM during my lifting. I’m going to keep spinning though as it’s the only real cardio work I’ve got going at the moment.

My swimming plan is currently: Tuesday – long swim; Thursday – swim lesson; Saturday – Kicking drills.

The eating plan will continue for at least two more weeks, and then I’ll revisit to see if I should eat more to gain faster.

Reminders

I’m still undecided between running a marathon in New York (November) or in Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) 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.

Thanks for reading.

– Art

Nude Numbers 28

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Summary

Week 6 of the winter plan. In this update I return to the gym, go back on a controlled-diet, change my running plan because I’m worried my old injury is resurfacing, and see my numbers reflect the fact that I ate like a pig over the holidays. But despite all that, I think I’m still mostly on-track for the winter goals. Fun fun… read on for more.

I’ve also changed my blog to make it easy to see all Nude Numbers updates in one page. Click here to see all 28 updates so far.

Subjective Data

I definitely feel the return of the problem in my foot; not pain yet but the beginning of irritation. Also I’m finishing each week more tired than the week before – even with a rest week.

I missed my spinning and swimming goals this week because my pool was closed on New Year’s Day, and on Saturday my back, shoulders and glutes were still sore so I skipped my morning workout.

This was also my first week back on a calorie-controlled (maintenance) diet plan, which was easier than I expected.

Objective Data

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

Assessment

The pain in my foot is a little concerning, but thankfully I don’t have to be running a lot right now to meet my later goals in the year. I’m going to adjust my running plan to back off for now, and do more stretching to try to get flexibility in my ankle (which my physical therapist thinks is the root cause of the issue).

I was extremely tired come Saturday this week, even with a rest week. It could also be because this was a high-rep (12) with a highish-weight week (65% of 1-rep-max), so my lifting was really exhausting. Since I need to gain weight, I’m going to keep with the plan for now though.

I’m not worried about the blip in swimming numbers this week – it really was schedule related as my long swim day tends to be on Tuesday and I missed it this week.

You can definitely see the results of the 4-week holiday eating binge in my data (and the mirror). Take a look at the Abdomen measurements to see the jump. Starting New Year’s Day I went back on a calorie-controlled diet, and the weight results reflect that. The first week of a diet switch always brings a big change in scale numbers because of the water loss, so I know I need to keep this up for 3-4 weeks to eliminate real fat and get back in range. Hopefully I’ll start to see my abdomen shrink a little between now and February, but this week was a good start as weight gain leveled off.

Plan

I made a major change to plan this week – my running plans has been pushed back at least 4 weeks (here’s the old version if you care), and I’m going to stick to 1-3 miles a week between now and then, treadmill only, with lots of ankle-stretches. I’m also going to change from 3-sport-brick workouts (swim-spin-run) to 3-day alternating 2-sport workouts (swim-spin, run-swim, spin-run) on the advice of my coach.

My lifting plan for next week is 85% of 1-rep-max, 4-rep, 4-set, 60 second rest, which is harder than it sounds 🙂

And I’m continuing on my measured calorie plan: 2,250 to 2,750 calories a week.

Reminders

My aunt will not be able to run the Dublin marathon in October, so I’m still undecided between New York (November) and Dublin Ireland. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. I’m not going to decide until around April. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) 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.

Thanks for reading.

– Art