Building Plan: Week 20 Complete

This week concluded my building plan after I had gotten physical therapy for my stress fracture and knee injuries. My base level of strength, flexibility, mobility, and cardiovascular level are all at levels I am happy with. I had hoped for a little better, but I also did miss a lot of workouts due to the impending move. I got in two runs this week, and although I was dead after each, it felt good to exercise.

Swimming
Did not have a chance to even be near a pool. Hope this will change soon.

Cycling
As with swimming, I didn't really have a period of time where I was home long enough and not busy enough to hop on my trainer.

Running
I got in two runs! If it wasn't for the gym temperature, I am certain I could have completed both runs without stopping briefly to walk. My cadence was a little lower than I would like, but with the weather starting to warm up, I need to be outside and starting to work on hills. I will also continue to work on increasing my speed. With the soon shift from treadmill to outside, I am expecting my runs to be much more difficult.

I have found that the treadmill does an amazing job at helping with kick-back, so my form and pace have been pretty solid. I am hoping that I have enough cardiovascular endurance and strength to handle the outside SPM and pace.

Strength
I didn't get any strength sessions in, but I was lifting over 1000 lbs each day, Thursday through Sunday, because of getting ready to move. I am so sore right now.

Nutrition
Eating healthier and better was the theme of this week. I had moderate success and lost a little over a pound thanks to it. I will be trying to keep this going.

Final Thoughts
As I mentioned, this was my last week of my building plan. Since I don't see myself having much time the next two weeks to workout much due to the move, I will just exercise when I feel I have enough energy and won't injure myself. I cannot wait to start cycling training, which is up next after this 2 week taper!!

Building Plan: Week 19 Complete

Another hectic week. I started off the week with time to exercise, but that quickly changed. Massive snow storm with wet and heavy snow over 12" killed me. Then lots of moving and staging stuff for getting ready for home sale. I was happy I got in the workouts I did though. They were really good sessions.

Swimming
I got in a relaxing swim this week. I was feeling pretty tight and it did wonders loosing me up. Surprisingly I got only 50 yards under my last swim that I was doing a larger effort on. This tells me that something is wrong with my form when I am doing regular swim sessions. I'll have to see if I can get someone to film me one of these times.

Cycling
No cycling this week. I didn't have time.

Running
I got in a warm-up run and one run session. I am transitioning off of my cadence training after next week and so I tried doing a 30 minute run without stopping. Although my cadence was around 170, I felt pretty good overall, and I wasn't have crazy HR spikes. I am ready to get back into full running training!

Strength
I only got in one session this week. However, My entire Thursday through Sunday was lots of lifting of furniture for moving and home staging. Still tons to do.

Nutrition
From a caloric standpoint, I did pretty well this week. I also did much better with my macros. However, overall nutrition wasn't that great.

Final Thoughts
I have one more week left of my building plan. I have achieved a lot and although I didn't hit every goal, I have come a long way and am set for all of the training I have coming up.

Building Plan: Week 18 Complete

This week started out really well, but tapered off quickly. All of my workouts went really well though and I felt great. However, with getting ready to list my house and move, that took priority over working out. Then again, I got a pretty insane workout over the weekend from all of the cleaning, repairs, lifting and hauling I did.

Swimming
Finally got a swim in and it felt awesome. I definitely could have pushed myself harder, but it was purely to make sure I could still go 30 minutes without stopping and to loosen up from my prior workouts.

Cycling
Got 2 warm-up rides in. They felt fine as always and I am looking forward to the upcoming week to get in actual rides; trainer rides, but still going to be longer sessions.

Running
I got in one running session, a week 7/8 cadence run. It was really tough. The heat in the gym did not help, but it wasn't just that. I have found that I have really hit a plateau with running. My average cadence is actually going down lately. It doesn't matter if it's a 10 min warm-up or an actual session. Granted, my running consistency in the past few weeks has been sub-par, but I didn't expect to drop cadence this much. I am considering stopping the cadence training and focusing on endurance training while still trying to keep a higher cadence. With my move coming up soon, I am not sure I will get much better at workout consistency over the next 3-4 weeks. But I will try.

Strength
Got 2/4 sessions in and they were awesome. I definitely like the new challenging workouts. I am looking forward to next 3 upcoming sessions.

Nutrition
I am still overeating like crazy, and I don't expect things to get dramatically better until I move, as I will be trying to get rid of as much food in my house as possible before the move.

Final Thoughts
Even though my amount of workouts was low, the quality was really good and I am still seeing great benefits from my workouts, especially my strength sessions. Again, with my impending move and home sale things are rather chaotic and my goal over the next few weeks is to really get as many workouts in as I can, with a focus on strength.

Building Plan: Week 17 Complete

This was a really strange week. I started off perfectly Monday through Wednesday. Then life struck like a hammer, missed Thursday workout, got my Friday workout, got super sick during the beginning of my trainer ride Saturday, and struggled through my run Sunday. I can definitely say my quality of sleep was complete garbage and my nutrition was terrible. I am still happy I got a good amount of workouts though, but disappointed I got sick and couldn't get all of my strength sessions in.

Swimming
I really wanted to swim Sunday, but I felt like I was going to pass out after my run, so I decided drowning was not an effective training workout.

Cycling
I got in one full trainer session. I did really well! I maintained my close to my cadence at the new resistance for almost the full 45 minutes. Sadly, for my second trainer ride, I started off feeling a bit off. As I started, my heart rate spiked up quickly and I within 5 minutes I had huge headache. I tried to keep going, but the pain got so bad that my vision went blurry and then I stopped. I felt severely ill the rest of the night. I currently have no clue what happened or brought it on, but I was fine by Sunday late morning.

Running
I got in one warm-up run and 2/3 cadence runs. The warm-up run was amazing and I had good hopes for the week. My Week 6/7 run on Wednesday was pretty awful. The humidity in the gym was stifling and it was a real challenge to complete the run. With how the temperatures have been in the gym lately, I might be forced to start running outside just to have a steady and reliable temperature, even if it is freezing. My next run on Sunday was no better. The gym was insanely hot and my heart rate spiked up very early, causing the whole run to be very challenging, and not in a good way. I am going back to Week 7/8 training and will be starting out a little slower and building. I am not sure this will help things though since the real issue seems to be the extreme temperature / humidity / lack of air flow in the gym lately. It's almost like running on a 90 degree day with super high humidity.

Strength
I got 2/3 sessions completed. I had no way to complete the 3rd session because I got sick. However, as is the usual trend lately, I keep seeing more and more improvement in my functional strength, which is making my recovery for my cardio workouts much quicker. For example, even though my Wednesday run was awful, I felt fine the following day. Usually a run like that would sideline me for 2-3 days. I am going to be bumping up strength training to start really focusing on the gains I need, as I am now at the base level I wanted to get to.

Nutrition
Not much to discuss here; I ate terrible. I had lots of snacks and overate a ton. Hoping that weekend slow cooker meals will allow for more manageable dinners this upcoming week.

Final Thoughts
Despite everything, I still got in a good amount of workouts. I am also finding I am craving workouts more and more, which is a great sign. I used to love working out and it was a way to cope with stress. As I get more excited for working out, I'll hopefully rely less on food and more on exercise.