Disney Training - Week 9 and 10

Week 9 was a rough week. My ankle and foot have been acting up, so I had to take some extra rest days. However, I was able to complete my 18-mile long run, which was a really great accomplishment. As usual, I had no time to fit in strength and cross training like I need, which isn't helping my recovery. Week 10 was even worse. Now another one of my cats just got diagnosed with kidney failure, and we spend most of the week at the vet hospital. I at least got two moderate distance runs back-to-back days for the weekend. Although my foot and ankle feel fine now, my legs are extremely sore because I need new shoes. Hopefully they arrive before my next long run, but probably not.

Swimming
I didn't get any swims in.

Cycling
I didn't get any rides in.

Running
Week 9 was plagued with ankle and foot issues. As I noted, I was feeling better towards the end of the week and was able to get in my 18-mile long run. It was pretty tough and I was extremely exhausted afterwards, but I still did pretty well. In addition, even with my foot and ankle giving me trouble, I still managed to get in a 7-mile run with a 3 x 1-mile repeats baked in, as well as a 9-mile run with 5-miles at marathon pace.

Week 10 was spent making trips back and forth from our house to the vet hospital. I just wasn't around enough to have any time to run. Fortunately, I got in back-to-back runs on the weekend, which was really great! I did an 8-mile easy run on Saturday, followed by a 14-mile run Sunday. This is one of the first weekends I have successfully gotten back-to-back runs in. My 14-miler was extremely tough, but I felt good overall and was really excited that when I was done, I knew I could have easily pushed out another 4-5 miles with no problem.

Strength
I didn't get any strength sessions in, but I was able to get a handful of stretching sessions done, which did help a lot.

Nutrition
Despite everything going on, I have been doing a lot better at watching what I eat and cutting out excessive snacking. An interesting thing I noticed is that even though my wife and I did a lot of baking and seemed to eat a lot of that stuff, like brownies, pie and pepperoni bread, by cutting out the typical snacking we do I lost some weight. I am not completely sure why, since I know they are higher calories than what we usually snack on. I'll hack to investigate to figure this out.

Final Thoughts
Overall a very rough two weeks and this week is going to be just as bad. I am not ready for Disney, but I have a 20-miler this weekend and if I can survive that, I will be lined up to do another 20 the following weekend. That should have me ready enough to complete the four races. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Interim Plan: Week 3 - Complete

And another insanely busy week done! My wife got severely sick, so I stepped up my game and was able to finish everything up at the house. Despite her being so sick, she was still able to help out a bunch, which along with the help of my mom, was crucial to get everything done. I had many days of non-structured strength training again. I also managed to get myself severely sick at the end of the week. Oh well, I knew it would it would happen. So, again, no structured workouts for the week plus getting sick, but I still got everything done! Woohoo!



Swimming
I had planned on going to swim to help loosen up, but my ear issues from getting sick would have probably worsened.

Cycling
My bike is in storage right now, so although there was awesome weather, it wouldn't have mattered since I was getting hit with near-flu symptoms plus intense allergies.

Running
Well, I ran up-and-down stairs a few thousand times over the course of the week, so I guess that counts for something, haha!

Strength
The usual box and furniture moving. Although, I lifted a filing cabinet which slipped, bruising the heck out of my leg. However, my legs have been super tough thanks to all of my prior strength training and it didn't slow me down at all. Hurrah for strength training!

Nutrition
Since I got sick and couldn't taste or smell anything, my eating was really good because there was no need or desire for anything unhealthy. Trying to decide if not being able to taste or smell is actually a good thing. Nah, I really like smelling and tasting.

Final Thoughts
I am recovering still today, but I think tomorrow I will have enough strength to get back into things. I am hoping to go for a run and mow the lawn. I am also hoping to figure out a good strength routine to add to things. I will have to push back the start of cycling training a week or so, but it will be worth it.

Building Plan: Week 13 Complete

This week ended up being a recovery week, as my foot was really aggravated and I will do anything to prevent getting injured again, especially my foot. I did not do as much stretching as I should have though, which really bothers me. I need to get back into my stretches. Overall, by the end of the week, my foot was finally feeling better and I am hoping to run during Week 14.

Swimming

I got in three swims, all of which felt amazing! With only swimming once per week typically, I forgot how refreshed and loose my body feels after a swim. I definitely need to increase my weekly swim volume.

Cycling

I got in two rides this week. I had really wanted to get 3-4 rides, but laziness and excuses kept me from achieving that. Overall my rides were really well and I found the cadence a bit easy, so I'll be increasing resistance. It's always exciting to see gains even when that is not the focus.

Running

As I already noted, I did not run at all. My foot would flare up during the week, so I made sure I didn't attempt any running. With my foot finally feeling better Sunday, I am hoping to get some runs in. However, I will be a bit careful and I'll probably set my first run to my Week 5/6 Cadence training plan.

Strength

I did no planned strength workouts this week, which is a major mistake on my part. I had planned on doing my original physical therapy routine 2-3 times, plus stretching everyday. I failed miserably on this and will have to be extra cautious for Week 14 to make sure I don't aggravate my food again.

Nutrition

For the most part, I did alright with nutrition. Super Bowl Sunday was not so good, but I have no regrets because I had a ton of fun cooking.

Final Thoughts

If it wasn't for skipping basically all of my strength routines, I would have said it was a successful week. But, sadly, I still show signs of having trouble to get over injury from a mental standpoint. Going forward, I am going to try and approach injuries like DOMS or general muscle soreness. Hopefully I will then not feel defeated and just do a workout to make it better.

Building Plan: Week 12 Complete

What a week! I started off pretty well, and ended with a minor injury. I started off the week perfectly. I was a bit more exhausted than usual from my Wednesday run, so I had taken Thursday off. For my Friday run, I forgot my usual running shoes so I used a pair I have used in the past, but they did not have my orthotics. This was not an issue since I was running more forefoot and midfoot. However, this caused more muscle impact than I had realized. So when I did my Saturday, lower and thigh intense strength session, I hurt myself. I was feeling too lazy to drive 30 minutes to the gym to swim, so I had done a trainer ride and stretched. However, this only made everything worse and Monday I couldn't do anything. I am still hobbling. So Week 13 is going to be focused on flexibility, blood flow, and being loose.

Swim

I should have swam Thursday to help recovery from my tough Wednesday run. I should have swam Sunday after my legs, back and right foot were doing bad from my Saturday strength session. I did no swimming, and am suffering for it.

Bike

I got 2/3 sessions in. Despite how my legs felt, my 2nd session felt really good and I was able to maintain my cadence with no problem at my current resistance level.

Run

My Wednesday run was rough. The gym was way too hot and I couldn't hydrate quick enough. Overall, it was a decent run though. My Friday run went extremely well, considering I was in different running shoes than I usually wear. Plus I didn't have my orthotics. Overall though, this wasn't a problem since I was fore and midfoot striking. The shoes I was wearing were considerably lighter than my main pair, and I had no issues with turnover, allowing me to easily hit my 180 cadence and have my pace considerably faster than usual. However, I was not able to do my Sunday run due to my injury on Saturday.

Strength

I was able to get 2/3 sessions completed. My second session was focused on lower strength, with targeting of inner thighs and quads. The workout seemed to go well, although extremely tough. However, this workout injured me because I was not aware of how weak my muscles were from my run the prior day.

Nutrition

I did terrible with my nutrition this week. I had a little more stress than usual and therefore at horribly. To make it worse, I did not log most of the junk I ate. I will be working to dramatically improve this issue.

Final Thoughts

Despite the injury and nutrition, it was a very insightful week where I learned a lot about my body, my training, and impacts from workouts and variations in form. Week 13 is going to be treated as a recovery week, and then Week 14 I will get back to running. If I am feeling better later in Week 13, I might try to do a run, but I will be overly conservative on any decision.

Building Plan: Week 11 Complete

So this was a rough week. Monday was an incredibly challenging strength routine. I thought I was doing well on Tuesday, so instead of cycling I ran. Well, I hurt myself a little. Nothing major, but I couldn't do anything for the following two days. I adjusted my schedule though, recovered, and finished out the week on a good note.

Swimming
My shake-out swim was rough. I was spent after my run, but I still managed to get in 800 yards. Had to pound 2 nuun tabs after though to keep me from passing out. Although my swims are designed to just help with my recovery and push myself a little extra, I am happy with how my swims are going. My form has been much better, especially my arm rotation along with my pull and push. It will be exciting later in the year when I start my actual swim training to see what I can do on a fresh swim.

Cycling
I got in a cadence ride this week and it was awesome! I was shocked I could hold my cadence for 45 minutes, which is 15 minutes longer than my previous rides. In addition, I had been having trouble keeping that cadence. I am going to hopefully have another successful cycling week and then I am going to bump up the resistance.

Running
As I noted, my first run was really bad. I started my new cadence training week, 7/8. So aside from it being a lot tougher from that, my legs and body were not remotely recovered from my Monday strength session. Therefore, I was having terrible heart rate spikes and pains all over. My foot is still bugging me slightly. So, I took off 2 days and I waited until Sunday to do another run. My Sunday run was awesome though! I completed it and overall my cadence wasn't too bad. However, it wasn't as good as it could have been because my foot still was slightly bothering me from Tuesday. The gym was also so hot and humid that I was having trouble cooling myself and staying hydrated enough. Looking forward to smarter running and more of Week 7/8.

Strength
Even though I hurt myself, I still got in two of my three strength sessions. They were great as always and I keep seeing more improvement every week!

Nutrition
I am getting better with logging my food. Still not 100% there yet. I have not been too good at quality of food in some cases, but I'll get there.

Final Thoughts
Overall a tough week for me, especially since I don't handle being injured very well. However, I fought through my mental hurdle, recovered, and finished out the week strong. I am so proud of myself for accomplishing that. I look to keep the momentum going into next week!

Building Plan: Week 5 Complete

What a week. I was at the vet hospital a ton, I got sick, and I aggravated my knees and right foot. I still pushed through and got workouts in, but I was overly cautious and conservative. I'll go into detail, but I am pretty happy with my decisions. To make thing frustrating though, I have been dealing with some sort of joint or some other issue in my left thumb for months, and it's getting worse. Probably will have to head to get x-rays on it.

Running

I only got my first run in for the week. The following day both knees and my foot were so bad I was limping. I thought maybe I went too hard on the treadmill. However, it's a lot simpler than that. The past couple weeks I have been slacking on my strength training, core strength, and stretching. As I have noted before, these things are imperative to long term injury prevention for myself and keeping my knee and foot issues at bay. I had a nice reminder last Tuesday of this fact. Fortunately, I didn't try and doing any running until my knees and foot were feeling good again.

Cycling

I got in some spin sessions, as well as a trainer session. I am just going to emphasize how ridiculously useless spin bikes are in regards to real bike training. I am going to write a blog article on this later in the week, so you can read more about that then. Anyway, I had, what I thought, were two amazing spin sessions where I was easily hitting 90 rpm at a very decent resistance. But my trainer ride showed me how inaccurate those sessions were. To achieve only 85 rpm average, I was going at a fraction of the resistance and worked at least twice as hard. That is fine though, I will continue to use the spin bike for warm-ups when I need breaks from my running warm-ups. Also, when I don't have time to get trainer rides in I'll use spin bikes for 1-legged drills and sit-stand strength training.

Swimming

It didn't happen. I literally had no time to get over to LA Fitness to get into the pool. Until my cat's health issues are more under control and he has his surgery, I expect this to be an ongoing issue.

Strength Training

I am embarrassed to say I got in 1 strength session, which was just core strength. Not only that but I overdid the session and my left deltoid and trapezius muscles were completely messed up for 2 days afterwards, even with stretching and using a lacrosse ball. This will not be happening again, as I cannot afford to have knees, foot, and other injuries like I did this week.

Final Thoughts

I will be revamping my training schedule to be a lot more basic and not worry about doubles just to get all of my training in. My original intent was to build my strength, get a consistent stretching and core routine, and to build my running back up. I have strayed from this by trying to get cycling and swimming in, causing me to focus on cardio more, strength less, and ultimately scope creep from my plans. Week 6 will be much more structured, but simple. I will probably follow this until real life gets a little less crazy, then I'll start adding back my other cardio.

Building Plan: Week 3 Complete

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving! I was cooking up a storm for my family. It always amazes me how much better 100% home-made is versus anything else. I made some good progress in my prior weeks and lost a good bit a weight. Just in time for the feasting, lol. I am not looking forward to my upcoming weigh-in. No matter, I had wonderful times with my family and can get back to my usual eating again. In regards to working out, my goal was to not miss anything because of the holiday week. Well, I went and hurt my neck which prevented me from doing some workouts. However, I did make some excellent progress despite that.

 

Strength

I got 2 of my 3 strength sessions completed. However, the one session was more just stretching and a little bit of body weight routines. I am still seeing significant improvements in my strength. In addition, I am seeing some improved mobility and flexibility. Still nothing to write home about, but I’ll take any gains.

Running

I had a PR this week! During one of my runs, I got a 6:34 mile!!!!! I was so excited. I am also feeling slightly less winded and tired during and right after my runs. I am excited my endurance is finally building back up. I am starting my week 3/4 of my running training. I hope I can do it!

Cross Training

I still have yet to get myself back into the pool. I hope to change that this week, even if I only make it once. I got in one trainer session. It was alright, but it was more just to get my legs loose. With my neck bothering me, I couldn’t get anymore done. My brother has me doing some stretches that are slowly helping.

Final Thoughts

For Week 4 I am hoping to keep increasing my consistency and getting more workouts in. I am not too worried about my eating as I have gotten rid of most of the leftovers, so this week will be mostly back to normal eating. I do need to make sure I keep up with my food tracking though. Hope everyone is doing well with their goals!