22 Aug 2010 workout

Since developing the runner's knee after the last couple of runs, I've switched to spinner only. Today, a 30 minute spin in zone 5b.


Warmup: 5' 00" spin up.
Workout: 30' 00" spin in zone 5b (estimated 601 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin down.
Estimated Total Calories: 670
Felt great during the spin, it was a definite 18 on the Borg RPE scale. TSS 60 (for an explanation of estimated TSS, see Joe Friel's Blog on this metric). It was fairly easy to keep the effort in the right HR range, and basically just meant when the HR crept up to the high end (169) I dropped down one gear, then when it got to the bottom edge (164) I would crank up a gear; wash, rinse, repeat until 30 minutes are up.


Tomorrow is a recovery day, probably 45-55 minutes in Zone 1.


Sleep: 9/10 (slept really well last night)
Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)
Stress: 1/10 (a little bit concerned about the knees, but I think they'll be fine once they're completely rested from the running. Once I lose more weight I think it will be fine to go back to the running.)
Soreness: 1/10 (very slight R knee soreness)


Resting HR: 64

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)

15 AUG 2010 workout

Today, a zone 4/5a/5b jog/walk to improve CV fitness and train LT.

Warmup: 5 minutes on Wii Fit plus 3 minute walk
Workout: 30' 35" jog/walk (estimated 390 Cal.)
Cooldown: 7' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 421
Road run to improve both cardio fitness and train LT threshold. Sun shining, a bit humid (appeared to have rained some overnight), but still a great run overall. Very happy with today's exercise. Recovery HR: 177 @ t, 154 @ t-1' (-23), 143 @ t-2' (-11 [-34]), 138 @ t-3' (-5 [-39]).

Recovery workout tomorrow, likely a 30' Wii fit activity in MET 2.0-3.0 range.

Sleep: 9/10 (slept really well)
Fatigue: 0/10 (not fatigued)
Stress: 0/10 (not stressed)
Soreness: 1/10 (very mild knee soreness bilat.)

Resting HR: 68

14 AUG 2010 Workout

Zone 3, zone 2 spin.

Warmup: 5 minute spin
Workout: 45' 30" spin (estimated 601 Cal.)
Cooldown: 5' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 735
Spin-up for 5 minutes in low zone 1, then 10 minutes of zone 3 spin and 35 in zone 2, with a 5 minute spin-down in zone 1. Felt good, nice spin.

Tomorrow: 30+ minute run in zone 4/5a/5b.

Sleep: 3/10 (got basically no sleep on shift, took a nap after getting home)
Fatigue: 5/10 (fairly high due to lack of sleep & running traffic all night)
Stress: 2/10 (little stree)
Soreness: 0/10 (no soreness)

Workouts from 10 AUG 2010 and 12 AUG 2010

Missed blogging the 1o AUG workout due to business at home, taking care of laundry and housework and whatnot.

Spin in zone 2.

Warmup: 11 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 51'00" spin (estimated 735 Cal.)

Cooldown: 4' 00" spin.

Estimated Total Calories: 804

Good zone 2 for 45' and about 7' of zone 1 as a ramp-up. Cool down was a little over 4 minutes of slow spinning.

No workout tomorrow, on-shift.

Sleep: 9/10 (Excellent sleep)

Fatigue: 2/10 (somewhat fatigued)

Stress: 1/10 (some work stress)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness).

Workout for 12 Aug:

Two-stage spin, 10 minutes in zone 3 and 35 in zone 2.

Warmup: 11 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 52' 00" spin (estimated 695 Cal.)

Cooldown: 7' 00" spin.

Estimated Total Calories: 762

Started off ramping straight to zone 3, did ten minutes there then slowed it down to a zone 2 spin for 35 more. Cool down was a little over 7 minutes of slow spinning.

No workout tomorrow, on-shift.

Sleep: 9/10 (Got great sleep, more than 7 hours straight even though it was on shift)

Fatigue: 1/10 (hardly any fatigue)

Stress: 2/10 (some work stress)

Soreness: 0/10 (no soreness).

08 Aug 2010 workout, review of new wardrobe items

Today's workout was a zone 4/5a/5b/5c walk/run.

Warmup: 10 minutes on Wii Fit.

Workout: 32'40" walk/run (estimated 408 Cal, Min HR 145, Max HR 179, Avg HR 157.)

Cooldown: 5 min walk.

Estimated Total Calories: 470

Busted out with a good hard walk/run, essentially interval training (see the run graph). Felt great starting, had a good run throughout, and finished with a pretty good nearly full-effort sprint toward the end (recovery HR: 175->1' 151-> 2' 143->3' 138 (-24, -32, -35)).

Got new workout clothes and running shoes! I went and spent some money to upgrade the wardrobe, and I'm ecstatic about the results.

The shirt is a loose-fit Under Armour Ringer Tech Tee, which was really comfortable. No places where it bunches up, squeezes, or felt too loose. In addition to the shirt, I got a pair of Under Armour Compression Heatgear Compression shorts (really, just tight boxers meant to keep everything secure), and a pair of Under Armour Men's Blitz Microshorts, the combination of which worked really well. The pockets in the shorts are very deep, which I like, but they're only attached at the opening, and so if you put anything heavy (like, keys), the pockets sway really badly. Outside of that, they're excellent.

The pinnacle, though, is the shoes: Under Armour Prophet II running shoes. I freaking LOVE these shoes. They don't roll, they compress properly, the shock absorption is excellent, and they have great rebound. These aren't the top end of running shoe, but they're quite excellent for a guy like me, just re-starting his exercise activity.

Sleep: 9/10 (Excellent sleep)

Fatigue: 2/10 (hardly any fatigue)

Stress: 1/10 (little work stress)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 67.

05 Aug 2010 workout

Today, a nice spin in zone 2, for 45 minutes total time in zone.

Warmup: 10 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 47'48" spin (estimated 641 Cal, Min HR 111, Max HR 143, Avg HR 136.)

Cooldown: 4 min spin.

Estimated Total Calories: 705

Made a concerted effort to stay in zone 2 HR-wise, and was able to with just a few seconds in zone 1 and a few seconds in zone 3. Plan was to warmup, get on the spinner and get the HR into the zone, then start a 45-minute timer and keep my HR in the zone the whole time: succeeded. Cool down was a little over 4 minutes of slow spinning.

No workout tomorrow, on-shift.

Sleep: 7/10 (For a 36-hour shift, I got very good sleep)

Fatigue: 3/10 (somewhat fatigued)

Stress: 2/10 (some work stress)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): @ work, unable to assess.

Minor changes

Today's "run" gave me a thought about how to change up a few things and possibly work the fat off faster. Naturally, one of the things that we fat people have to worry about when attempting any exercise program is the health of our hearts, and our blood pressure (many of us start exercising because our doctor says "run or DIE" or something nearly as melodramatic, because we have pre-hypertension or are actually at HTN stage 1).

I have an advantage, in that I was in outstanding shape, exercising nearly every day for four years and change when I was on Active Duty in the Army, and then did some pretty consistent 3-4 hour/week basketball games/practice the first couple of years that I was in college. My body has had the experience of intense exercise, and the Anatomical Adaptation phases are somewhat lessened as a result.

However, I'm still a fatty-fatty-fatty right now, and the best thing I need to do in order to be able to start periodization training for El Tour de Phoenix 2011 (which is the first Saturday in April) is to lose the weight while doing very basic aerobic capacity stuff.

So, again, change is coming. I know, you're all bored to death with my constant changing of patterns and plans, but it's my blog :P

The change is that I'm going to switch two days a week to be zone 2/3 spins of 45 minutes or more (Thursdays and Saturdays, I am thinking right now) with Sundays and Tuesdays still planning on being a hard zone 4/5a-b walk/run as much as possible, probably by building in some interval training into the walk/run. The theory here is that the two long(er), slow-ish spins will be more fat-burning, but still aerobic enough to build some basic aerobic fitness, while the two walk/runs per week will be better for improving aerobic fitness and less oriented on fat specifically. Between the two, I am thinking that I will be able to both gain the fitness while maximizing the fat burning potential, so that every week is as effective as possible at losing weight while not being overly taxing, yet still pushing the fitness limits a little bit to edge out the envelope of my aerobic ability.

03 Aug 2010 workout

Today's workout was intended to be a zone 4/5a/5b threshold & aerobic capacity run, but after a couple of minutes of normal running pace my HR was into the 170-172 range, so I dialed it back to a mostly zone 2/3 aerobic/tempo walk/jog, with occasional jogs into the anaerobic capacity realm.

Warmup: 8 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 37'09" walk/jog (2.19 mi, avg 16'58" mile, 392 Cal, Min HR 135, Max HR 172, Avg HR 143. In-exercise recovery HRs, with start->1'->3': 1st 172->152->145; 2nd 167->146-136. Not bad for a 40 year-old fat guy who's only been back on the exercise wagon for just under a month.)

Cooldown: 5 min walk.

Estimated Total Calories: 441

For some reason, my sleep was broken up often, and I am fairly sure I spent the last two hours of it in an alpha state rather than a full sleeping state.

No workout tomorrow, on-shift.

Sleep: 5/10 (Woke up several times through the night)

Fatigue: 3/10 (somewhat fatigued)

Stress: 4/10 (work stress elevated)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 70.

01 Aug 2010 workout

Today's workout was a zone 4/5a/5b threshold & aerobic capacity run.

Warmup: 15 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 33'38" run (2.26 mi, avg 14'53" mile, 410 Cal, Min HR 130, Max HR 177, Avg HR 155)

Cooldown: 5 min walk (recovery HR roughly - 20–25 BPM)

Estimated Total Calories: 510

Good run. Felt better and was able to push the envelope a bit, did some interval-esque running (clearly visible on the run tracker on Nike + website).

My last two runs were both tracked with both the RunKeeper free app for iPhone as well as the Nike+ app. The Nike calibration hasn't been really good, mostly because it's a PITA to calibrate it unless you do it in EXACTLY the right order (it doesn't do a very good job when backgrounded). As for which I like better ... I like the Nike + app better for almost everything. I wish it would shuffle the playlist that I select, rather than only "all songs," and I wish it would handle calibration better (it should allow you to go back to historical workouts and calibrate those, as well has properly suspend and restore its state when put in the background on iOS 4). Outside of that, the Nike+ site is awesome, I LOVE the graphs they use. RunKeeper has great map and elevation graph, along with pacing/speed graphs that superimpose over the elevation graph, showing you how you fared against the climb. So, for the near future, I do believe that my runs will be done with both apps, since they both give different useful information.

Sleep: 10/10 (Awesome sleep)

Fatigue: 1/10 (slightly fatigued, mostly from the shift I believe)

Stress: 4/10 (work stress elevated)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 66.