16 and 17 AUG 2010 workouts

16 AUG workout:

30 minute zone 1 spin on trainer.

Warmup: 5' 00" spin
Workout: 30' 00" spin (estimated 296 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 350
Knees were pretty sore Sunday night and Monday morning, presumably from the run on Sunday morning, so I switched it up. Today's spin was a recovery spin for 30 minutes in zone 1 with a five minute spin-up and -down. Knees felt better afterward, and also felt much better in the morning after I woke up.

17 AUG workout:

45 minute zone 2 spin on trainer.

Warmup: 5' 00" spin
Workout: 45' 00" spin (estimated 564 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 618

Knees felt much better this morning than yesterday morning, still a little bit sore but not too bad. Spin itself was good, kept a good pace and kept HR in the zone 2 range.

Back to the knee pain. I've never had knee problems, not even while I was in the Army as a tank crewman. At first, I was kind of worried about it, then did some research and though about it; I believe that it's plain-old, ordinary, Runner's Knee, and that I'm feeling it for the first time because I haven't tried running (especially since I've been as fat as I have been) in years. I believe that as long as I keep losing weight, and taking it easy on the running for now, I will be able to go back to running full-steam in a few weeks. As it is, though, I'm going to shift the workouts back to the bike four out of five days per week.

Speaking of which, it's getting to be time for me to shift some things anyway, so here's the shifted workout plan:

Wed/Fri: probably days off, though I may start using the Body by Jake door thingy that Kevin has on the door at quarters for leg workouts (as long as Kevin leaves it up); if so, I will probably also need to add a third day (probably Mondays) to properly manage that process.

Thursdays: 45-55 minute zone 2 spin (weight loss!)

Saturdays: 45-55 minute zone 2 spin (more weight loss!)

Sundays: Zone 4/5a/5b run (30 minute minimum)

Mondays: 30-minute zone 1 recovery spin, possibly leg resistance exercises

Tuesdays: 10-15 minute zone 5a spin, additional 10-15 minute zone 4 spin, finish with 25-30 minute zone 3 spin.

Still, regardless of the actual workout plan, minutes, methods or whatever, the overriding goal is still to lose weight. So even though the plan at the moment doesn't really resemble a periodization training plan for competitive bike racing, it's not really supposed to, either.

That brings me to another point: I'd said in an earlier blog post that I was going to put up the weigh-in weight and some body measurements a couple of Monday's ago, and I still haven't done that. That's going to be next Monday (23 AUG), due to my having forgotten about it. *whoops* I can say that according to the Wii Fit (which I get on every day, even if I don't do any exercises on it that day), I've gone from a high weight of 244 to a current weight of about 236 pounds, which is about 8 pounds in 6 weeks. Though that's not quite as much weight as I'd hoped for, I haven't been keeping track of my calories eaten, either.

So, that's the next step in the progression. I have been doing a better job of choosing food, I believe, in that I choose whole-grain foods for carbs like 90% of the time, haven't had any beef, pork, or other red meat in a long time, I don't eat fried food hardly ever (I've had one serving of Lucky Wishbone chicken tenders in the past six weeks, and that's it), I limit my snacking to veggies, fruit (apples especially), or edamame. Most of my protein comes from legumes, and I eat smaller portions than I used to.

However, I am not discouraged, simply observing. I am committed to the exercise plan, and am working on the meal planning in the background (for now). The weight loss will come.

Sleep: 8/10 (pretty good sleep both nights, though it took longer to get to sleep than I'd like)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 1/10 (new knee pain is a touch disconcerting)
Soreness: 6/10 (knees, esp. R knee, sore Monday morning, more like a 2/10 Tuesday)

Resting HR: (66)