ZappoMan.com - Fitness Blog

Week 3 Report

January 21st, 2007

Week 3 Down, doing well sticking with my plan; although this week felt a little unstructured. Mostly this is because I was working a lot on my new business project, and so I’ve been working long hours doing market research, product development (marketing requirements, specifications, design work), coding, etc. The good news is that training and blogging are useful distractions to help me clear my head and refocus. So I feel like I’m keeping my work/life balance intact.

As for training goals: I am still sticking to my “process goals” of some form of strength training and flexibility training every day, as well as swimming at least 3 days a week. I’m still not on a rigorous outline of a swim/bike/run training program, mostly just randomly working out on various disciplines when and how I feel like it. But I’m exceeding my 10 hours a week goal. I’ve had 2 weeks of running, and feel good, although I am having a little trouble with my new orthotics for “normal use”. I need to look into this issue.

Detailed breakdown follows…

Strength Training - 3.08 hours - On Schedule, I haven’t missed a workout yet. I am still on my 3 day routine, repeated twice in the week, with the seventh day (actually on Mondays) being Iron Yoga. Again, I dropped my total time spent doing strength training again this week from 3.3 hours last week to 3.08 hours this week. I feel like I’m getting much more accustomed to my routines, and I’ve settled into a groove. I am also happy with the results, as I feel like I’m gaining muscle tone in my upper body. I’ve been slowly increasing my weight so I know I am also gaining strength. I also feel like I am losing inches (or some fraction of inches) around my waist. I think I will start tracking some of my measurements to see whether this is real or imagined.

Swimming - 1.4 hours - I’m on schedule with my goals, in that I have swam 3 times this week. But I am not all that excited about my results. I wrote more about this earlier this week, but I haven’t actually done anything about it. Although today as I swam my laps, I definitely was much more seriously considering looking into a master swim program.

One of the owners of my local favorite triathlon shop told me that if I show up at a typical masters swim group I will probably be right in the middle of the pack. She said, “Look you’ve swam 2.4 miles in 87 minutes… that’s not something that most people can do. Of course there will be other people who are much better swimmers than you there, but that’s what you want, you want those people to challenge you. There are other people there that are far less talented or fit as you. So don’t worry about standing out… just go and learn.” I wonder if she gets a finders fee if I show up.
Flexibility - 1.17 hours - On track, did some flexibility every day. Did more shorter routines this week, saving some time. The problem is, I think this is an area where I don’t really want to save time. I have really tight hamstrings. (What runners and cyclists don’t?) But I think mine are almost dangerously tight… so I want to redouble my focus on this next week. Make sure I do at least my hamstring, calf, IT-band, and hip flexor stretches for 2 minutes each, each day.

Running - 1.81 hours - 13.5 miles - Feels good to be running again more regularly. I am up to 5.25 miles for the longest run distance. Next week, 10% more means 5.8 miles… woo hoo, almost up to 6 miles. I have to admit, any run less than 6 miles just doesn’t feel like a run to me.  I did two of my three runs this week as bricks. Today I did a 26 mile bike, and a 5.25 mile run. Hey, including my .6 mile swim tonight that’s almost an Olympic distance triathlon. No wonder I’m tired and should go to bed.
Cycling - 4.92 hours - 68.62 miles - Less cycling this week, mainly because of work. I was missing it a little bit. I’m still way ahead of my outdoor cycling miles from last year (216.9 vs. 0.0), but behind for total miles (216.9 vs. 264.6).

I did have a great day of “bike activities” this Saturday as I took my 6 year old daughter Saffron out for another practice session of her riding without training wheels. She was much improved from last week, and rode back and forth the distance of a tennis court without help half a dozen times, earning herself a new “safety flag” for her back wheel… and a handful of stickers from the local bike shop. Things went great till she crashed trying to earn a “flashy light” reward (she had to circle the tennis court making full turns an both ends). She was done for the day, and has complained about a sore foot most of today.

Total Exercise Hours (including Strength and Flexibility Training): 12.4 hours
Total Swim/Bike/Run Hours: 8.13

More charts? Here you go…

Entry Filed under: Living Seattle, Fitness, Triathlon, Diet, Weightloss, Swimming, Ironman, Business, Family, Running, Cycling, Marathons, blogging, Yoga, Strength Training, Flexibility, Stretching, Sports Injuries