Sunday once again and time for an update.
Got back into the resistance work this week and feel better for it. Also, despite missing a day and having to reduce mileage on another, I ran the furthest today that I've run in a couple months. Making good progress toward my goal for my half next month.
Not really a lot of change in life this week, workouts continue basically as planned, getting Lara into the spirit of exercise isn't easy but she's warming to it and will get there in her own time. Got a new pair of shoes to run through my rotation today. A pair of Vibram Komodo Sports. I'll put together a "review" when I have worn them a bit and have some useful things to say. Sometimes I feel like I'm running out of things to say in these posts, and then other times I have plenty to say, so I may start reducing the frequency of these posts to only happen when I have interesting things to say, we'll have to see how that goes.
So what does the scale have to say about my week? 210, same as last week. So not too bad. Hopefully next week will see it go back down a bit.Until then, keep being the you you want to be.
Showing posts with label Sunday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday. Show all posts
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 97)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Back into the swing of things with the running this week. If I can put up with a sprint session this week then things will be nice and back to normal. Eating stayed pretty well in line with things I'd like despite Thanksgiving. Had some good time with family and friends this week.
So what about the future? Lara's going to be starting up on some more working out now than she had been doing previously, which is good for her and means I can start having a local workout buddy for some of my workouts now. Start her off easy and then see where life takes us. Also going to be trying to further clean up our diets from what they are now by doing the majority of our food production at home. We've been doing better with that recently but there's still plenty of room for improvement over the longer scale. Liking where the future is heading in so many areas of our lives these days.
So what about my numbers? 210 this week. Same as last week. Holding steady is good but I'd like to be down a bit from where I am right now. We'll just have to see what happens as the future unfolds. Until next week, keeping striving to be the you you want to be.
Back into the swing of things with the running this week. If I can put up with a sprint session this week then things will be nice and back to normal. Eating stayed pretty well in line with things I'd like despite Thanksgiving. Had some good time with family and friends this week.
So what about the future? Lara's going to be starting up on some more working out now than she had been doing previously, which is good for her and means I can start having a local workout buddy for some of my workouts now. Start her off easy and then see where life takes us. Also going to be trying to further clean up our diets from what they are now by doing the majority of our food production at home. We've been doing better with that recently but there's still plenty of room for improvement over the longer scale. Liking where the future is heading in so many areas of our lives these days.
So what about my numbers? 210 this week. Same as last week. Holding steady is good but I'd like to be down a bit from where I am right now. We'll just have to see what happens as the future unfolds. Until next week, keeping striving to be the you you want to be.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 96)
Sunday once again and time for my weekly update.
Missed last weeks update, was busy with life and didn't get around to it. So this week here we are.
Finally back to running in my Vibrams after the toenail procedure. I'm definitely down a bit in terms of my overall fitness but I seem to be regaining it steadily. Hopefully within another week or two I should be back to full and working on increasing my fitness beyond it's recent peak. My sleep has been improving of late as well which is always a bonus. Hoping to increase the rate at which I'm complying with my planned resistance workouts by moving them from Monday and Friday to Sunday and Thursday, so that in coincides with as few other recurring events in my life as possible.
So what else have I been up to? Today it was cookery. Trying to find some replacement options for the smoothies we've been doing for breakfasts. Made up a batch of the Primal Energy Bars I've done a couple times before, playing around with things trying to find a good match. Also tried out two new recipes, some Primal sausage balls and some hash brown omelette "muffins". Both of them seem pretty decent so we'll have to see how things pan out. For the sweet tooth we whipped up something a bit odd, cookie stuffed brownies, chocolate chip cookies contained within fudge brownies. Those were indeed rather delicious.
So what does the scale have to say? 210, up a pound from last time. Gonna cut back a little and try to get that back down a bit. Bodyfat holding pretty steady. So until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Missed last weeks update, was busy with life and didn't get around to it. So this week here we are.
Finally back to running in my Vibrams after the toenail procedure. I'm definitely down a bit in terms of my overall fitness but I seem to be regaining it steadily. Hopefully within another week or two I should be back to full and working on increasing my fitness beyond it's recent peak. My sleep has been improving of late as well which is always a bonus. Hoping to increase the rate at which I'm complying with my planned resistance workouts by moving them from Monday and Friday to Sunday and Thursday, so that in coincides with as few other recurring events in my life as possible.
So what else have I been up to? Today it was cookery. Trying to find some replacement options for the smoothies we've been doing for breakfasts. Made up a batch of the Primal Energy Bars I've done a couple times before, playing around with things trying to find a good match. Also tried out two new recipes, some Primal sausage balls and some hash brown omelette "muffins". Both of them seem pretty decent so we'll have to see how things pan out. For the sweet tooth we whipped up something a bit odd, cookie stuffed brownies, chocolate chip cookies contained within fudge brownies. Those were indeed rather delicious.
So what does the scale have to say? 210, up a pound from last time. Gonna cut back a little and try to get that back down a bit. Bodyfat holding pretty steady. So until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Weekly Weigh-In (Week 94)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
For some reason it seems my update from last week didn't post. Nothing of real value missing though, mostly just a plan for recovery from the toenail repair I had done last week. Didn't quite stick to that plan but it was good to have had one. Wasn't able to do any real running last week, though I did get in some cycling and a couple walks instead. Hoping that by the middle of this week I'll be able to do some running in addition to some walking I plan to add to my routine. At least in part due to wanting to get into better condition for walking around the parks at Disneyland before and after my race. That and the walking is beneficial to my mental state I've found, in ways that are similar to if not the same as my running but some experimenting will help hammer that out.
Anyway, what's the numbers this week? Weight at 209, same as last week and the week before, BF down from previous two weeks, RHR up a little (but still only at around 50). Everything's going pretty well with my fitness, and that's just the way I want it going into the Fall. Until next time readers, keep being the you you want to be.
For some reason it seems my update from last week didn't post. Nothing of real value missing though, mostly just a plan for recovery from the toenail repair I had done last week. Didn't quite stick to that plan but it was good to have had one. Wasn't able to do any real running last week, though I did get in some cycling and a couple walks instead. Hoping that by the middle of this week I'll be able to do some running in addition to some walking I plan to add to my routine. At least in part due to wanting to get into better condition for walking around the parks at Disneyland before and after my race. That and the walking is beneficial to my mental state I've found, in ways that are similar to if not the same as my running but some experimenting will help hammer that out.
Anyway, what's the numbers this week? Weight at 209, same as last week and the week before, BF down from previous two weeks, RHR up a little (but still only at around 50). Everything's going pretty well with my fitness, and that's just the way I want it going into the Fall. Until next time readers, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 92)
Still Sunday, if only barely, and time for another update.
Good week on my feet this week. Logged the most miles I've yet logged in a week, crossed the threshold for most runs in a week, and most runs in a month, had my best average pace for a week, and just generally kept in good shape with my runs all throughout the week.
This week though I'm gonna talk about what I've been doing for resistance training. It's much reduced from what I was doing a month or two ago with the weights, but it's meshing rather well with my running and it's progressive so I can keep working at it until I manage to see the results I'm looking for or nothing happens.
So what is it? It's a progressive bodyweight program derived from the book Convict Conditioning. A strange name sure but it makes a lot of sense, in prison you don't have a lot of gym equipment to work with, and in many cases you get your body and your cell. Now I have no intention of going to prison but the kinds of lessons from people who have can help me with my own strength work in terms of keeping things simple and natural, and in terms of making sure that my workouts are not tied to any specific equipment or location.
The program consists of 6 basic movement progressions, pushups, pull-ups, squats, leg raises, bridging, and handstand pushups. Each of the 6 movements has 10 steps that go from complete beginner to things like 1 arm pushups, pull-ups, or handstand pushups, 1 legged squats, and hanging straight leg raises and stand-to-stand bridging. Each of the 10 steps has goals for beginner, intermediate and advancement ratings so the goals are always very clearly laid out. Right now I'm working on the pushup, pull-up, squat, and leg raise progressions, the bridging and handstand progressions are recommended against until you reach set levels of some of the other exercises and I'm going to work within that restriction for now to see what kind of results I get following the program as directed.
I'm not sure how this program is gonna work in the long run but so far it seems to be going rather well for me.
The other thing I've been trying out recently is trigger point therapy on my legs using a lacrosse ball. Essentially you just push the ball into areas of tightness in the muscles, ligaments, and fascia and activate the muscles. Doing so is supposed to help relieve the tension in the muscles and help loosen your joints and prevent injury. It's another situation where I don't yet have any proof of whether or not it doesn't what it is supposed to, but as with the resistance training, the best way to find out is to try it.
So what does the scale tell me whit sweet? 209, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat staying about the same. Al this is about what I expected, and I look forward to seeing where things go from here. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Good week on my feet this week. Logged the most miles I've yet logged in a week, crossed the threshold for most runs in a week, and most runs in a month, had my best average pace for a week, and just generally kept in good shape with my runs all throughout the week.
This week though I'm gonna talk about what I've been doing for resistance training. It's much reduced from what I was doing a month or two ago with the weights, but it's meshing rather well with my running and it's progressive so I can keep working at it until I manage to see the results I'm looking for or nothing happens.
So what is it? It's a progressive bodyweight program derived from the book Convict Conditioning. A strange name sure but it makes a lot of sense, in prison you don't have a lot of gym equipment to work with, and in many cases you get your body and your cell. Now I have no intention of going to prison but the kinds of lessons from people who have can help me with my own strength work in terms of keeping things simple and natural, and in terms of making sure that my workouts are not tied to any specific equipment or location.
The program consists of 6 basic movement progressions, pushups, pull-ups, squats, leg raises, bridging, and handstand pushups. Each of the 6 movements has 10 steps that go from complete beginner to things like 1 arm pushups, pull-ups, or handstand pushups, 1 legged squats, and hanging straight leg raises and stand-to-stand bridging. Each of the 10 steps has goals for beginner, intermediate and advancement ratings so the goals are always very clearly laid out. Right now I'm working on the pushup, pull-up, squat, and leg raise progressions, the bridging and handstand progressions are recommended against until you reach set levels of some of the other exercises and I'm going to work within that restriction for now to see what kind of results I get following the program as directed.
I'm not sure how this program is gonna work in the long run but so far it seems to be going rather well for me.
The other thing I've been trying out recently is trigger point therapy on my legs using a lacrosse ball. Essentially you just push the ball into areas of tightness in the muscles, ligaments, and fascia and activate the muscles. Doing so is supposed to help relieve the tension in the muscles and help loosen your joints and prevent injury. It's another situation where I don't yet have any proof of whether or not it doesn't what it is supposed to, but as with the resistance training, the best way to find out is to try it.
So what does the scale tell me whit sweet? 209, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat staying about the same. Al this is about what I expected, and I look forward to seeing where things go from here. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 91)
Another late update this week, sorry about that.
Increased the bar on my running yet again this week with increased paces, mileages, and days. Days will probably peak next week at 7, if all goes as planned, but mileage and pace will hopefully keep increasing for a while. Need to map out a hilly route in this area so that I can reintroduce my hill training. I've recently decided to add some mobility work based on things I've been picking up over at MobilityWOD and Strength Running. Increasing my mobility and working my joints daily should hopefully help keep me injury free as I increase my running to prepare for my race and beyond. I'm also increasing my strength training overall, though not really my lower body disproportionately to my upper, more on that next week. Sadly my stats will take a bit of a dip after I get this ingrown toenail taken care of, but that should only hinder me a few days.
So how about my weight? 208, same as last week. Staying rather constant throughout is fine with me. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Increased the bar on my running yet again this week with increased paces, mileages, and days. Days will probably peak next week at 7, if all goes as planned, but mileage and pace will hopefully keep increasing for a while. Need to map out a hilly route in this area so that I can reintroduce my hill training. I've recently decided to add some mobility work based on things I've been picking up over at MobilityWOD and Strength Running. Increasing my mobility and working my joints daily should hopefully help keep me injury free as I increase my running to prepare for my race and beyond. I'm also increasing my strength training overall, though not really my lower body disproportionately to my upper, more on that next week. Sadly my stats will take a bit of a dip after I get this ingrown toenail taken care of, but that should only hinder me a few days.
So how about my weight? 208, same as last week. Staying rather constant throughout is fine with me. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 90)
Monday and time for a delayed update.
Set a new record for most activities on Runkeeper in a week last week with 5, my steady increases in mileage are continuing rather well. Been setting some pretty blazing paces on some of the more recent runs and I'm hoping I'm not overdoing it with tacking on the speed. In addition I've been tweaking my strength routine to help increase my overall strength and will be throwing in more running specific strength work as time goes on.
I'm really liking where I'm at with my fitness of late, and we've been making an effort to both cook at home more and try out more recipes we've never done so all in all I'm pretty happy with where my diet has been heading too. Right now I just have to take precautions to make sure that getting my toenail fixed in a week or two doesn't set me back too far, but I'm not too worried about that as my cardiac system seems to be improving steadily (resting heart rate is down to the low 50s now, making steady progress in the direction of the 40s), and my respiratory system seems to keep up pretty well to longer runs. That combined with my strength training should allow me to keep up a sufficient pace over the distance to meet my goals.
So how's the scale treating me this week? 208, same as last week. Body fat is down slightly but pretty much just holding steady, and that's fine by me. Until next time, keep on being the you you want to be.
Set a new record for most activities on Runkeeper in a week last week with 5, my steady increases in mileage are continuing rather well. Been setting some pretty blazing paces on some of the more recent runs and I'm hoping I'm not overdoing it with tacking on the speed. In addition I've been tweaking my strength routine to help increase my overall strength and will be throwing in more running specific strength work as time goes on.
I'm really liking where I'm at with my fitness of late, and we've been making an effort to both cook at home more and try out more recipes we've never done so all in all I'm pretty happy with where my diet has been heading too. Right now I just have to take precautions to make sure that getting my toenail fixed in a week or two doesn't set me back too far, but I'm not too worried about that as my cardiac system seems to be improving steadily (resting heart rate is down to the low 50s now, making steady progress in the direction of the 40s), and my respiratory system seems to keep up pretty well to longer runs. That combined with my strength training should allow me to keep up a sufficient pace over the distance to meet my goals.
So how's the scale treating me this week? 208, same as last week. Body fat is down slightly but pretty much just holding steady, and that's fine by me. Until next time, keep on being the you you want to be.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 89)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Been a really busy week this week. Due to careful planning we actually cooked most of our meals at home this week which is an improvement over recent weeks, and also a trend I hope to continue.
Didn't end up doing quite as much running this week as I'd planned, but I got a few good quality runs in. I also managed to get in a bodyweight routine every night for the last week, pushups, squats, vertical pulls (a precursor to pullups), and knee tucks (a precursor to hanging leg raises). Soon I'm hoping to add some bridging and handstand work to that routine as well. Making good progress so far on these workouts and hoping to continue doing so. Honestly not a lot of new developments this week otherwise.
So, what the scale got to say today? 208, same as last week. Even with that being the case I look better in a mirror now than I did two weeks ago, and that's worth more than any change on the scale right now as I'm fine with my weight, and to the stage of working on my Looking Good Naked factor. So far so good. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Been a really busy week this week. Due to careful planning we actually cooked most of our meals at home this week which is an improvement over recent weeks, and also a trend I hope to continue.
Didn't end up doing quite as much running this week as I'd planned, but I got a few good quality runs in. I also managed to get in a bodyweight routine every night for the last week, pushups, squats, vertical pulls (a precursor to pullups), and knee tucks (a precursor to hanging leg raises). Soon I'm hoping to add some bridging and handstand work to that routine as well. Making good progress so far on these workouts and hoping to continue doing so. Honestly not a lot of new developments this week otherwise.
So, what the scale got to say today? 208, same as last week. Even with that being the case I look better in a mirror now than I did two weeks ago, and that's worth more than any change on the scale right now as I'm fine with my weight, and to the stage of working on my Looking Good Naked factor. So far so good. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 88)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Big changes in my fitness plans this week that I'm really liking already.
Firstly, this weekend Lara needed some new jeans so like a good bored husband I went along to help. While out I realized I have only one pair of jeans so I might as well try some on. Turns out, I now wear a size 34. I cannot actually remember when I last wore a 34, the other pair I have is old, from a couple pants buying generations ago, and was a 38. I've dropped 8-10 inches from my waist size in these past 88 weeks, and I feel pretty good about that.
So what else have I been changing this week? Well, last week I mentioned that I'd probably be picking up a pull-up bar, and Sunday afternoon I did. So this week I actually worked out every evening after work with some squats, pushups and pullups. My arms are not liking the pullups, probably because I tried to go straight into full pullups without much lead-in, so I'm going to be pulling back from that and working on progressing toward pullups a little more gradually. I've also been working on increasing the range of motion on my squats and improving my technique on my pushups. I'll likely be adding a couple more exercises into my newly rekindled bodyweight workout fixation in the coming weeks. Handstands and eventually handstand pushups come to mind, leg raises as well (enabled at some stage by the pullup bar). I've found some interesting reading material on progressive bodyweight training recently that I've been going through and hopefully I can start putting it in practice in my workouts and see what kind of results it will get me. I will say that my upper body seems to have gotten a lot of increased definition for a weeks worth of time, so I'm hopeful.
The other big change in my workouts this week was that I started getting up early pretty much every day and going for a run. Some of them had to be adjusted from my plans going into the week, and due to issues with my work-sleep interaction and the water at our apartment I had to skip two of my planned runs, but 5 of the last 7 days have seen me out for a run and that's an improvement I'm proud of. Hopefully I can improve on that in the coming weeks.
So what does the scale have to say this week? 208, down a pound from last week. It seems to be nearly equal measure fat and lean if my bodyfat readings are correct, which I'm never really all that sure of. One of these days I'm going to upgrade to the Withings scale and then I'll have a little more confidence in them. Anyway, until next week, be the you you want to be. No matter what you have you can make it happen.
Big changes in my fitness plans this week that I'm really liking already.
Firstly, this weekend Lara needed some new jeans so like a good bored husband I went along to help. While out I realized I have only one pair of jeans so I might as well try some on. Turns out, I now wear a size 34. I cannot actually remember when I last wore a 34, the other pair I have is old, from a couple pants buying generations ago, and was a 38. I've dropped 8-10 inches from my waist size in these past 88 weeks, and I feel pretty good about that.
So what else have I been changing this week? Well, last week I mentioned that I'd probably be picking up a pull-up bar, and Sunday afternoon I did. So this week I actually worked out every evening after work with some squats, pushups and pullups. My arms are not liking the pullups, probably because I tried to go straight into full pullups without much lead-in, so I'm going to be pulling back from that and working on progressing toward pullups a little more gradually. I've also been working on increasing the range of motion on my squats and improving my technique on my pushups. I'll likely be adding a couple more exercises into my newly rekindled bodyweight workout fixation in the coming weeks. Handstands and eventually handstand pushups come to mind, leg raises as well (enabled at some stage by the pullup bar). I've found some interesting reading material on progressive bodyweight training recently that I've been going through and hopefully I can start putting it in practice in my workouts and see what kind of results it will get me. I will say that my upper body seems to have gotten a lot of increased definition for a weeks worth of time, so I'm hopeful.
The other big change in my workouts this week was that I started getting up early pretty much every day and going for a run. Some of them had to be adjusted from my plans going into the week, and due to issues with my work-sleep interaction and the water at our apartment I had to skip two of my planned runs, but 5 of the last 7 days have seen me out for a run and that's an improvement I'm proud of. Hopefully I can improve on that in the coming weeks.
So what does the scale have to say this week? 208, down a pound from last week. It seems to be nearly equal measure fat and lean if my bodyfat readings are correct, which I'm never really all that sure of. One of these days I'm going to upgrade to the Withings scale and then I'll have a little more confidence in them. Anyway, until next week, be the you you want to be. No matter what you have you can make it happen.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Weekly Weigh-In (Week 87)
Sunday once again and time for my weekly update post.
Tough week this week. On my hill workout Tuesday I did something to my knee, and as a result when I tried to go out Wednesday for my next run I had to bail on it pretty quickly due to some pain. Been taking it easy on the running this week as a result, gonna get back into it starting tomorrow and work my way back up to a higher volume than I was at before to help accelerate my progress toward my half-marathon. Related to this I'm planning on trying to push myself toward more strength work to help prevent injuries like this in the future.
After having gotten a bit stir crazy Friday because I had to skip my run I decided I needed to do something active and so I hopped up off the couch and did some sets to failure of squats, pushups, and situps. Planning on turning that into a regular occurrence on my days off from work, though probably replacing the situps with pullups because I hate situps and want to get better at pullups. So good odds I may be picking up a pullup bar in the near future to add to our apartment.
Been experimenting with my new dehydrator, currently sitting on some apples I dehydrated and then pasteurized, some I didn't, and some I dipped in ascorbic acid, will have to see soon how the various treatments have impacted the apple rings.
That's about it for now, will report back soon with progress on how my changes are going. For now though, what's the scale have to say today? 209, down a pound from last week. Staying right around where I want to be for now. So until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Tough week this week. On my hill workout Tuesday I did something to my knee, and as a result when I tried to go out Wednesday for my next run I had to bail on it pretty quickly due to some pain. Been taking it easy on the running this week as a result, gonna get back into it starting tomorrow and work my way back up to a higher volume than I was at before to help accelerate my progress toward my half-marathon. Related to this I'm planning on trying to push myself toward more strength work to help prevent injuries like this in the future.
After having gotten a bit stir crazy Friday because I had to skip my run I decided I needed to do something active and so I hopped up off the couch and did some sets to failure of squats, pushups, and situps. Planning on turning that into a regular occurrence on my days off from work, though probably replacing the situps with pullups because I hate situps and want to get better at pullups. So good odds I may be picking up a pullup bar in the near future to add to our apartment.
Been experimenting with my new dehydrator, currently sitting on some apples I dehydrated and then pasteurized, some I didn't, and some I dipped in ascorbic acid, will have to see soon how the various treatments have impacted the apple rings.
That's about it for now, will report back soon with progress on how my changes are going. For now though, what's the scale have to say today? 209, down a pound from last week. Staying right around where I want to be for now. So until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 86)
It's that time again, time for another update.
Short one this week, not much going on. Got a dehydrator and put it to some apples so now I have delicious homemade apple rings. Have to see if they go bad or get eaten first, I'm betting on get eaten. Probably try and get up a post this week with pictures of the dehydrator and the process of making the rings, and possibly fruit leather if I end up making any of that this week as well.
Well, that's about all I've got for this week, so what about the numbers? 210, up a pound from last week. Body fat is down, and I'm feeling good. Need to get back on the wagon with my workouts though, both the runs and the weights. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Short one this week, not much going on. Got a dehydrator and put it to some apples so now I have delicious homemade apple rings. Have to see if they go bad or get eaten first, I'm betting on get eaten. Probably try and get up a post this week with pictures of the dehydrator and the process of making the rings, and possibly fruit leather if I end up making any of that this week as well.
Well, that's about all I've got for this week, so what about the numbers? 210, up a pound from last week. Body fat is down, and I'm feeling good. Need to get back on the wagon with my workouts though, both the runs and the weights. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Weekly Weigh-In (Week 85)
Sunday once again and time for the weekly update.
Not much to tell this week. Kept eating about as normal, the benefits I've attributed to the flaxseed oil have kept up, as has my supplementation with it.
My weight has been trending slightly higher this week, but my body fat has been trending lower so I'm not concerned. Haven't done quite at much running as could be hoped, but what I did was good quality runs. Picked up a dehydrator online that should show up later this week which will help with the 50+ pounds of apples I got yesterday. Dried apple rings and apple leather are in my future, and plenty of other wonderful dried fruit options as well. Not to mention the jerky related potential.
Well, that's honestly most of the update I have this week, I won't bore you by rambling further. So what does the scale tell me this week? 209, which is where I've been shooting for the past month or so. Body fat down as well, meaning most of that weight I gained was muscle just as I've been shooting for. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Not much to tell this week. Kept eating about as normal, the benefits I've attributed to the flaxseed oil have kept up, as has my supplementation with it.
My weight has been trending slightly higher this week, but my body fat has been trending lower so I'm not concerned. Haven't done quite at much running as could be hoped, but what I did was good quality runs. Picked up a dehydrator online that should show up later this week which will help with the 50+ pounds of apples I got yesterday. Dried apple rings and apple leather are in my future, and plenty of other wonderful dried fruit options as well. Not to mention the jerky related potential.
Well, that's honestly most of the update I have this week, I won't bore you by rambling further. So what does the scale tell me this week? 209, which is where I've been shooting for the past month or so. Body fat down as well, meaning most of that weight I gained was muscle just as I've been shooting for. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 84)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Simple week this week, work continued along it's chosen path, my diet choices were slightly less good than they might have been but still good overall. So what are the lessons this week showed me?
Firstly, my flaxseed test has been going better than expected. By Wednesday my lower back pain, which has bothered me for large portions of the past year plus, has disappeared almost completely. Previously it had improved with changes in my work/non-work split, which is as much as I can tell related to how much time I spend in regular shoes vs barefoot/vibrams, and when I had switched mattresses to one both bigger and made of memory foam. This is the first time I can recall that my back pain cleared up so completely. I attribute it to the flaxseed oil, because the flaxseed is high in Omega-3s which help reduce systemic inflammation, which is likely one of the root causes of my backpain. Since the only major change I made to my diet in the past week was the introduction of the flaxseed I think it's safe to say that is highly likely to be a major contribution. In addition to that my gums have improved in color and tenderness, and my toe is both less swollen and in less pain. It's enough that I'm going to continue with the flaxseed for the foreseeable future.
The other thing that I've decided this week is that I need to focus more on my speedwork if I'm going to get to my goals for my race in January. As a result my training for my long runs is going to shift, instead of being strictly based on mileage I'm going to be working on increasing my speed and distance in tandem each week until I hit my target pace, and then focus on making sure I get where I need to be in terms of distance. Which is not to say that I am in doubt about my ability to complete the distance, the doubt is that I can finish it in a time that I'm not ashamed of. That and the continuation of my weight training are the goals for my fitness for the near term. Long term I'm hoping strongly to be able to get back to doing some martial arts in the future, we'll have to see what I can find for that though.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 208, same as last week. Staying nice and steady, and I'm ok with that. I'm feeling better now than I have in a very long time, and that's the most important thing. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Simple week this week, work continued along it's chosen path, my diet choices were slightly less good than they might have been but still good overall. So what are the lessons this week showed me?
Firstly, my flaxseed test has been going better than expected. By Wednesday my lower back pain, which has bothered me for large portions of the past year plus, has disappeared almost completely. Previously it had improved with changes in my work/non-work split, which is as much as I can tell related to how much time I spend in regular shoes vs barefoot/vibrams, and when I had switched mattresses to one both bigger and made of memory foam. This is the first time I can recall that my back pain cleared up so completely. I attribute it to the flaxseed oil, because the flaxseed is high in Omega-3s which help reduce systemic inflammation, which is likely one of the root causes of my backpain. Since the only major change I made to my diet in the past week was the introduction of the flaxseed I think it's safe to say that is highly likely to be a major contribution. In addition to that my gums have improved in color and tenderness, and my toe is both less swollen and in less pain. It's enough that I'm going to continue with the flaxseed for the foreseeable future.
The other thing that I've decided this week is that I need to focus more on my speedwork if I'm going to get to my goals for my race in January. As a result my training for my long runs is going to shift, instead of being strictly based on mileage I'm going to be working on increasing my speed and distance in tandem each week until I hit my target pace, and then focus on making sure I get where I need to be in terms of distance. Which is not to say that I am in doubt about my ability to complete the distance, the doubt is that I can finish it in a time that I'm not ashamed of. That and the continuation of my weight training are the goals for my fitness for the near term. Long term I'm hoping strongly to be able to get back to doing some martial arts in the future, we'll have to see what I can find for that though.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 208, same as last week. Staying nice and steady, and I'm ok with that. I'm feeling better now than I have in a very long time, and that's the most important thing. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 83)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
This week has been a nice one for me diet wise. Did some shopping last weekend and as a result didn't eat out at all over the course of the week except for ordering pizza friday night. That was even mostly because it was getting late and I just didn't feel like going to the trouble of cooking at the time. So with all the homemade food I've been feeling better, cleaned up my diet of the processed sugars and carbs. With the exception of some slight hunger between meals, which I am confident I can clear up with some changes in meal volume and macronutrient ratio, I've been more energetic and satiated throughout the day.
Been sleeping pretty well, though a couple days this week I didn't get much sleep due to scheduling. My workouts are the thing that really slipped this week. I started off the week well with a couple runs, and some good resistance workouts. Thursday onward I basically fell off the wagon with my workouts due in part to said scheduling and a diminished recovery from my resistance workout on Wednesday as a result.
Today I decided to start using flaxseed oil to supplement my dietary Omega-3 intake, and to see which of the reported other benefits actually played out. The first tablespoon went down alright with a slight aftertaste, but the second didn't behave so nicely. I'm going to try mixing it into my morning smoothie this week and see how it works out that way.
So, what do the numbers have to say this week. 208, same as last week, but my body fat is down nearly a percent, so things are moving in the right direction. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
This week has been a nice one for me diet wise. Did some shopping last weekend and as a result didn't eat out at all over the course of the week except for ordering pizza friday night. That was even mostly because it was getting late and I just didn't feel like going to the trouble of cooking at the time. So with all the homemade food I've been feeling better, cleaned up my diet of the processed sugars and carbs. With the exception of some slight hunger between meals, which I am confident I can clear up with some changes in meal volume and macronutrient ratio, I've been more energetic and satiated throughout the day.
Been sleeping pretty well, though a couple days this week I didn't get much sleep due to scheduling. My workouts are the thing that really slipped this week. I started off the week well with a couple runs, and some good resistance workouts. Thursday onward I basically fell off the wagon with my workouts due in part to said scheduling and a diminished recovery from my resistance workout on Wednesday as a result.
Today I decided to start using flaxseed oil to supplement my dietary Omega-3 intake, and to see which of the reported other benefits actually played out. The first tablespoon went down alright with a slight aftertaste, but the second didn't behave so nicely. I'm going to try mixing it into my morning smoothie this week and see how it works out that way.
So, what do the numbers have to say this week. 208, same as last week, but my body fat is down nearly a percent, so things are moving in the right direction. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 82)
Sunday once again, and time for an update.
Not all that much to update with this week, though a couple observations will of course be shared.
My Zeo sleep training program the past week or so has been working on relaxation to try and get to sleep faster, strangely enough it's made my time to sleep higher on every time I've tried using the audio tracks they suggest. This result seems a bit surprising on it's face, but really I don't have too much trouble getting to sleep generally.
Started supplementing Omega-3s again, and my overall health seems to be improving as a result. Once my chewables run out I'm probably going to switch to Flaxseed Oil, as it's a good source of Omega-3, and a reasonable amount of data from the self-experimenting community suggests that Flaxseed oil specifically improves balance, inflammation (which Omega-3 generally is great for), and possibly even reaction time. I'm not sure how much improvement I'm likely to see in most of those categories, but that's the point of testing theories on yourself right? Always testing new things means an ever expanding knowledge base on the way to the ultimate expression of myself.
In that vein I started tracking water consumption and mood this week using a couple of iPhone apps I found. The mood app is nice because it will randomly ping me for input 4 times a day, so that I don't only have readings from times when I feel extremely one thing or another. It's also nice because it will attach a location and tags to my updates so I can track surroundings influence on my mood. The fluid tracker is nice because not only can I track water consumed, but also soda, alcohol, and caffeine. The combination of those makes for a nice tracking app to make sure I'm not dehydrated, or drunk as the case may be. More data for a more complete picture of me.
So what about the weight? 208 this week, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat stayed the same, so that suggests things are moving in the right direction. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Not all that much to update with this week, though a couple observations will of course be shared.
My Zeo sleep training program the past week or so has been working on relaxation to try and get to sleep faster, strangely enough it's made my time to sleep higher on every time I've tried using the audio tracks they suggest. This result seems a bit surprising on it's face, but really I don't have too much trouble getting to sleep generally.
Started supplementing Omega-3s again, and my overall health seems to be improving as a result. Once my chewables run out I'm probably going to switch to Flaxseed Oil, as it's a good source of Omega-3, and a reasonable amount of data from the self-experimenting community suggests that Flaxseed oil specifically improves balance, inflammation (which Omega-3 generally is great for), and possibly even reaction time. I'm not sure how much improvement I'm likely to see in most of those categories, but that's the point of testing theories on yourself right? Always testing new things means an ever expanding knowledge base on the way to the ultimate expression of myself.
In that vein I started tracking water consumption and mood this week using a couple of iPhone apps I found. The mood app is nice because it will randomly ping me for input 4 times a day, so that I don't only have readings from times when I feel extremely one thing or another. It's also nice because it will attach a location and tags to my updates so I can track surroundings influence on my mood. The fluid tracker is nice because not only can I track water consumed, but also soda, alcohol, and caffeine. The combination of those makes for a nice tracking app to make sure I'm not dehydrated, or drunk as the case may be. More data for a more complete picture of me.
So what about the weight? 208 this week, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat stayed the same, so that suggests things are moving in the right direction. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 81)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Smooth week this week, nothing really to report overall.
There was one thing that struck me today while I was at work that I felt deserves mention here. I realized today that I've managed to succeed in retraining myself in terms of my food cravings. I can't recall the last time I had a craving for soda or chips or various other junk food, instead I have cravings for a steak, or fish, or last night when we went out to pick up food so I could get a salad. Sure Lara gave me some crap for going out on a lateish at night food run so I could get salad, but you know what? I'm happy with that choice, though I do wish we actually had what I needed at home to have made it and not gone out at all, but baby steps I suppose.
It's a big sign of progress to me that I have cravings for healthy, primal even, foods rather than junk food or processed stuff, similarly it's nice that when I think of things to do to fill time at work practicing pistol squats comes to mind. I've come a long way on my journey so far, and I've got plenty of places to go yet before I've uncovered the ultimate expression of myself, but I'm excited to see where my exploration takes me.
So what does the scale say this week? 207, same as last week, though my bodyfat is apparently down a half a percent. Progress is progress, no matter what form it takes. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Smooth week this week, nothing really to report overall.
There was one thing that struck me today while I was at work that I felt deserves mention here. I realized today that I've managed to succeed in retraining myself in terms of my food cravings. I can't recall the last time I had a craving for soda or chips or various other junk food, instead I have cravings for a steak, or fish, or last night when we went out to pick up food so I could get a salad. Sure Lara gave me some crap for going out on a lateish at night food run so I could get salad, but you know what? I'm happy with that choice, though I do wish we actually had what I needed at home to have made it and not gone out at all, but baby steps I suppose.
It's a big sign of progress to me that I have cravings for healthy, primal even, foods rather than junk food or processed stuff, similarly it's nice that when I think of things to do to fill time at work practicing pistol squats comes to mind. I've come a long way on my journey so far, and I've got plenty of places to go yet before I've uncovered the ultimate expression of myself, but I'm excited to see where my exploration takes me.
So what does the scale say this week? 207, same as last week, though my bodyfat is apparently down a half a percent. Progress is progress, no matter what form it takes. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 80)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Pretty smooth sailing this week. Hit the gym for some weights a few times throughout the week, which I hadn't done the previous two weeks, so feeling the wonderful soreness that happens as a result of that. Not been quite at my calorie goals sadly, but I'm managing to make at least some progress on cleaning up what I'm eating.
Light on the content this week as well I'm afraid. I've really not had all that much new stuff to talk about for a while so they may stay short for the foreseeable future. What I do have to say is that my mileage seems to have stalled a bit. My long runs haven't been getting much longer the past few weeks because I've been having to cut them short due to concerns of injury. Working on slowly but surely pushing the distance up to where I want it, thankfully I've got plenty of time before my race date to get into shape.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 207, down a pound from last week. Not good in the short term, but in the long term I'm holding pretty steady really so I'm ok with that. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Pretty smooth sailing this week. Hit the gym for some weights a few times throughout the week, which I hadn't done the previous two weeks, so feeling the wonderful soreness that happens as a result of that. Not been quite at my calorie goals sadly, but I'm managing to make at least some progress on cleaning up what I'm eating.
Light on the content this week as well I'm afraid. I've really not had all that much new stuff to talk about for a while so they may stay short for the foreseeable future. What I do have to say is that my mileage seems to have stalled a bit. My long runs haven't been getting much longer the past few weeks because I've been having to cut them short due to concerns of injury. Working on slowly but surely pushing the distance up to where I want it, thankfully I've got plenty of time before my race date to get into shape.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 207, down a pound from last week. Not good in the short term, but in the long term I'm holding pretty steady really so I'm ok with that. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 79)
Sunday once again and time for the weekly update.
Not much to say this week really, all been going pretty smoothly.
Got a new piece of tracking tech this weekend, the Zeo Sleep Coach I'd been after for a while. Tried it out last night and it seemed to work pretty well, though it'll be a few days at least before I have any sort of truly useful data on habits. I've also been looking at the data from my daily measurements of my resting heart rate and noticing a few patterns I'm going to try to monitor more closely. Namely, when I go more than a couple days without exercising my resting heart rate goes up, a beat or two the first couple days and then a larger jump on about the third or fourth day. When I go for another run, it drops back down by most of the difference again. I was expecting to see a downward trend in the measurement over time as a training effect, but I wasn't expecting the variation to be that noticeable on a scale of days rather than weeks. Always good to see things working better than I'd expected. I'll keep posting updates on some of my non-weight measurements as I find interesting things to post.
So, speaking of my weight, this week the scale tells me 208, the same as last week, body fat has stayed the same as well. Steady as she goes I suppose. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Not much to say this week really, all been going pretty smoothly.
Got a new piece of tracking tech this weekend, the Zeo Sleep Coach I'd been after for a while. Tried it out last night and it seemed to work pretty well, though it'll be a few days at least before I have any sort of truly useful data on habits. I've also been looking at the data from my daily measurements of my resting heart rate and noticing a few patterns I'm going to try to monitor more closely. Namely, when I go more than a couple days without exercising my resting heart rate goes up, a beat or two the first couple days and then a larger jump on about the third or fourth day. When I go for another run, it drops back down by most of the difference again. I was expecting to see a downward trend in the measurement over time as a training effect, but I wasn't expecting the variation to be that noticeable on a scale of days rather than weeks. Always good to see things working better than I'd expected. I'll keep posting updates on some of my non-weight measurements as I find interesting things to post.
So, speaking of my weight, this week the scale tells me 208, the same as last week, body fat has stayed the same as well. Steady as she goes I suppose. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 78)
Sunday yet again and time for a brief update.
This week was pretty packed due to Harry Potter week so not much to talk about.
What brilliant revelations do I have this week? Eating popcorn in large amounts for as one of your primary meals of the day is not good for your nutrition, 4 hours of sleep a night is not really enough, a week of no training leaves you not fully equipped for your long run to be longer at the end than it was at the beginning.
Not all that revelatory, but whatever, I needed something to fill the space with.
So what do the numbers tell me this week? 208, up a pound from last week. So despite my terrible food this week I didn't do too bad, and my body fat stayed about the same as well so I'm really not too much worse off for wear. This week I'll do better. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
This week was pretty packed due to Harry Potter week so not much to talk about.
What brilliant revelations do I have this week? Eating popcorn in large amounts for as one of your primary meals of the day is not good for your nutrition, 4 hours of sleep a night is not really enough, a week of no training leaves you not fully equipped for your long run to be longer at the end than it was at the beginning.
Not all that revelatory, but whatever, I needed something to fill the space with.
So what do the numbers tell me this week? 208, up a pound from last week. So despite my terrible food this week I didn't do too bad, and my body fat stayed about the same as well so I'm really not too much worse off for wear. This week I'll do better. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 77)
Sunday once again and time for the weekly update.
Not much to talk about this week so it should stay pretty brief.
Was pretty bad about doing any cooking this week sadly, and next week won't be much better since every night I'm going to be at the movies instead of home. Picked up some protein powder at the store today so that should at least improve the fractionation of my diet a bit.
Decided to do my long run on the treadmill this week. This had a few consequences. I lost more to sweat this week in absolute terms than I have before, despite being inside, which was to be expected really. The treadmill offers me a few nice benefits over running outside. For one, my run ends at the right place every time, no guess work to make sure that I finish my desired distance when I'm back at the apartment instead of half a mile off. As a result of that I also have more freedom to decide while I'm on the run that I feel good and can do another mile or some such, as happened today. It also allows me to focus more on my heartrate than on my pace. Once I find a pace that I can hold for the duration at about the right heart rate I'm set and I can just do my run and hit the zone. Runkeeper does not yet have truly robust support for heart rate sadly, I'd love to see them add better audio cues for heart rate, and the ability to key coaching off of it. The treadmill also let's me take the time to calculate my turnover, which is a number I like tracking to help keep my form in good shape among other things but which is hard to get on an outdoor run without a cadence sensor I don't have.
Treadmill runs do have a couple limitations though. Firstly, The treadmill can only go for so long it would seem. Today my run lasted so long the treadmill stopped being able to track the time and thus shut itself off. Luckily there is a second treadmill I was able to make the migration to and finish my run. The other benefit that outdoor runs have over treadmill running is moving air. As you run outside you get a lot of air moving past you that helps with your cooling and keeps your clothing that little bit drier. That little bit can be important sometimes, and long runs are one of them. (The squeamish should consider to skip this segment) About 7 miles into this run I ran into some problems with jogger's nipple, leading to a small amount of blood loss. Nothing serious of course, just annoying and unexpected. Picked up some roll-on anti-chafing product from RoadRunner down the street and hopefully that should prevent any further issues.
So anyway, what about the numbers? 207, down a pound from last week. Bodyfat about constant so no worries there, no worries just facts of life. Hopefully in a week or two when I can actually get back to my weight training that'll improve more, sadly due to an injury my training partner wasn't able to make it so I stayed content with my running this week to help her recuperate from her burn. Until next week keep being the you you want to be.
Not much to talk about this week so it should stay pretty brief.
Was pretty bad about doing any cooking this week sadly, and next week won't be much better since every night I'm going to be at the movies instead of home. Picked up some protein powder at the store today so that should at least improve the fractionation of my diet a bit.
Decided to do my long run on the treadmill this week. This had a few consequences. I lost more to sweat this week in absolute terms than I have before, despite being inside, which was to be expected really. The treadmill offers me a few nice benefits over running outside. For one, my run ends at the right place every time, no guess work to make sure that I finish my desired distance when I'm back at the apartment instead of half a mile off. As a result of that I also have more freedom to decide while I'm on the run that I feel good and can do another mile or some such, as happened today. It also allows me to focus more on my heartrate than on my pace. Once I find a pace that I can hold for the duration at about the right heart rate I'm set and I can just do my run and hit the zone. Runkeeper does not yet have truly robust support for heart rate sadly, I'd love to see them add better audio cues for heart rate, and the ability to key coaching off of it. The treadmill also let's me take the time to calculate my turnover, which is a number I like tracking to help keep my form in good shape among other things but which is hard to get on an outdoor run without a cadence sensor I don't have.
Treadmill runs do have a couple limitations though. Firstly, The treadmill can only go for so long it would seem. Today my run lasted so long the treadmill stopped being able to track the time and thus shut itself off. Luckily there is a second treadmill I was able to make the migration to and finish my run. The other benefit that outdoor runs have over treadmill running is moving air. As you run outside you get a lot of air moving past you that helps with your cooling and keeps your clothing that little bit drier. That little bit can be important sometimes, and long runs are one of them. (The squeamish should consider to skip this segment) About 7 miles into this run I ran into some problems with jogger's nipple, leading to a small amount of blood loss. Nothing serious of course, just annoying and unexpected. Picked up some roll-on anti-chafing product from RoadRunner down the street and hopefully that should prevent any further issues.
So anyway, what about the numbers? 207, down a pound from last week. Bodyfat about constant so no worries there, no worries just facts of life. Hopefully in a week or two when I can actually get back to my weight training that'll improve more, sadly due to an injury my training partner wasn't able to make it so I stayed content with my running this week to help her recuperate from her burn. Until next week keep being the you you want to be.
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