week of 7/6

so far, following the zone diet the vast majority of the time has been really good for my energy levels and mood. i also lost 5 lbs and am down to my lowest ever (180 lbs). i used a more detailed online calculator that incorporates measurements from your wrist, hips, thigh, and calf, and found out i have 25% body fat. which was way better than the 37% my scale was telling me! anyway, nice to have a measurement i can track to see if i build more muscle but don't lose much weight-wise.

for no real reason, i was really exhausted on wed/thurs of this week, and while i was mentally dying to get out there and really tax myself with a hard run or bike, i could tell i physically just needed rest. it was hard to listen to, but i felt leaden and was sleeping 9 hours a night and hardly able to tear myself out of bed and get to work. so i'm glad i took a little more time off this week than i intended to. it's the beginning of tapering for mass states in 2 weeks, so it's probably a good thing, even if it's hard to do.

this week i definitely found that i have made improvements in both running and swimming. with running, i put out a 9:11 min mile on the track, which blows away any previous best mile off the treadmill. i'm actually able to run faster on a real surface than i am on the treadmill, rather than how it used to be vice versa. also, i finally got back in the pool for the first time in a while, with all those lake swims. my time for my first 12 length set was much faster (i took 7 seconds off!) than my previous best times; i did it breathing every other stroke, which is how i have to roll in the lake when i'm in my wetsuit. after that, my funky neck pain kicked back in and i had a hard time with breathing on one side and had to keep alternating awkwardly. right now the bike is feeling pretty stagnant for me all of a sudden, probably due to saddle pain that's been getting worse. i'm trying to address it, and i always have one of the 3 disciplines that's bugging me at any given time; i'm actually glad they rotate because it allows me to focus on my weaknesses and always stay interested in my training.


7/6: track run, 4 mi. 0.5 mi jog warmup. 3 mi, 1 min rest between; first 2 at ~9.20's, last at 9:11! 0.5 mi jog/walk cooldown.

7/7 weights. 1 mi run warmup (9.40)
press (1 leg), 2x12, 90? lbs
curl (1 leg), 2x12, 60? lbs
ext (1 leg), 2x12, 60? lbs
calves: 1x20 140 lbs
abs: 30 dual crunch, 15 each oblique
hip raises, 1 leg, 10 sec each, x3 each side
lats: 2x12 100 lbs
chest: 2x12 40/50 lbs
pecs: 2x12 70 lbs
delts: 2x12 70 lbs
circuit: 10 chair good mornings (10 lbs), 10 lunges (10 lbs), 30 sec wall sit (x2)

7/8 swim, pool workout. 90 lengths total.
10 lengths warmup.
5x12 lengths, 1 min rest between.
first was 4:58!! then 5:08-5:10 for subsequent.
6 kick/4 technique lengths.
10 lengths cooldown.

7/9 off, unplanned; wanted to run but was dead tired and relaxed on the couch instead. much needed!

7/10 bike ride, hills and easy; focus on adjusting seat to minimize increasing inner thigh chafing and blistering. moving seat back helped somewhat, especially in aero. only 25 mi, did "crazy local climb" on green st for the first time and may have found a good new place for hill training. average speed only 15.8 mph, but it was a lot of climbing.

7/11-7/12: off; had planned to run once but had no time saturday and was on 4 hours of sleep and one scotch too many on sunday. had a great time cutting loose at a friend's party and managed to keep from injuring myself in 4.5" heels, so it was a success!