Get Fit Slowly

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Greenman2001 sent me e-mail the other day:

We haven’t heard much about your workouts in the blog lately, and I’m curious how they’re going.

I haven’t written much about my workouts recently because I’m trying to “mix it up”. I think a blog full of workout reports would be boring, so I also write about pouring salt water up my nose.

That said, I feel like my workouts are going great. I’m still adhering closely to the Body for Life program, though I’ve modified it somewhat for my goal of running the Portland Marathon. I know that many of you feel I should stick entirely to BFL until I complete the 12 weeks, and I respect this position, but I’m doing what’s right for me.

Six days per week
In his e-mail, Greenman wondered if I was still keeping up with the “six days per week” schedule. I am. I’ve missed four days out of the first seven weeks of the program:

• I missed two days of exercise when we were in San Francisco.
• I had a lazy day a couple weeks ago.
• I intentionally skipped last Friday’s lower-body weight-lifting session. I was having some trouble when running, and so decided not to strain the muscles.

Because it’s difficult to tell from my We Endure page how my weight-lifting program is going, I’m going to summarize my current fitness level (and schedule).

Lifting weights
I’m still lifting weights three days per week. I alternate upper-body and lower-body sessions, so some weeks I do upper body twice, and some weeks I do lower body twice. I lift weights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

When I lift, I’m falling the Body for Life progressions. I focus on one major muscle group at a time, performing two exercises until that muscle is exhausted. For example, here’s my actual chest routine from last Wednesday:

• Dumbbell bench press: 12×15#, 10×20#, 6×25#, 6×30#, 12×25#
• Dumbbell flyes: 12×20#

As I do each set, I note my perceived level of effort on a scale of 1-10. My perceived effort on the first set above (12×15#), for example, was a five — it felt pretty easy. My goal is for the final two sets of each muscle group to feel like a ten. Last Wednesday, I noted that both of the final sets listed above felt like a “9.5″, which means I may have to bump the weight (or increase the reps) soon.

The weight lifting has been awesome. I love it. I never thought I would, but now that I have a routine, it’s excellent. There are times that I get discouraged, however. I have two weak points on my body. The first is my right knee, on which I had ACL-replacement surgery five years ago. The second is my left shoulder, which is a huge barrier to my lifting right now. It is weak, weak, weak. It’s getting stronger, but very slowly.

Running man
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I do aerobic activity. According to Body for Life, I should only be doing twenty minutes each day using intensity intervals. This is where I’m straying from the book. Because I’d much rather complete the marathon than look like a BFL model, I’m focusing my aerobic activity on the marathon guides. Also, I’m swimming once per week.

On the day after my mid-week upper-body session, I swim 1000 meters. This takes me about half an hour. I use goggles and a noseclip, and I wear my heart monitor in the pool. (I still need to write about the heart rate monitor — it’s awesome.) I alternate freestyle with swimming on my back. I don’t use any particular back stroke — I spread my arms wide, and then pull them back to my side. This provides a great workout for my shoulders and chest, so I spend 40% of my time in the pool doing this.

On the other mid-week day, I do follow the Body for Life intensity interval recommendation, running for twenty minutes on the treadmill.

On Saturday, I continue to run with the marathon training group. (I missed last Saturday because Kris and I were in Central Oregon, but I ran on my own.) I started in the slowest pace group and ran the shortest of the three distances offered each week. But I’ve bumped up one level (to the 4:45 pace group) and moved to the middle distance each week.

Finally, I’m also running a mid-distance run on Wednesdays. This run is half the distance of the previous weekend run.

This gives me four days of cardio per week: three days running and one day swimming.

Future plans
I only have five weeks left in my Body for Life training. When that’s finished, I’m going to keep my running about the same, but I’m going to shift from weights to biking. I haven’t even begun to train for Cycle Oregon yet, and that’s a big concern. I’m confident I’ll do fine, but I do need to start preparations.

So in early June, my running will stay the same (though distances will be increasing), but I’ll drop to just one day a week of weight-lifting. On Sundays — currently my “off day” — I’ll go to the gym to do an upper-body workout. I’m not going to worry about lifting for the lower body. Running and biking will take care of that just fine.

Meanwhile, I’ll drop swimming and add three days a week of biking. I’ll run on Tuesdays (intensity intervals), Thursdays (medium run), and Saturdays (long run). I’ll bike on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Other notes
Do I worry about over-doing it? Absolutely. I’m paying close attention to what my body is telling me. (Thus the reason I did not lift last Friday.) It’s fun to be focusing on fitness, but having been through one knee surgery, I don’t want to have another. If I suspect I’ve bit off more than I can chew, I’ll back things down.

Greenman 2001 also wrote: “I’m curious whether you’re addressing the food boredom problems you brought up in passing in one of the posts.”

I’m not doing a good job of this. If there’s one weak link in my training so far, it’s food. My diet is better — no question — and I’m mostly steering clear of junk, but I still struggle to find interesting food that I enjoy. (If only I liked more vegetables!)

One of the big problems is finding good protein sources. I have a chicken sausage most mornings, and I eat tuna couple times per week. I drink a protein shake now and then. But mostly, protein is a challenge.

Plus there’s the fact that there’s too much contradictory information out there. My marathon training guides are all about eating complex carbs. Body for Life doesn’t like them. I just try to eat small portions, eat food that’s reasonably healthy, and don’t stress too much about the protein to carbohydrate ratio. Life’s too short for that.

Conclusion
I’m making progress. There’s a long way to go, of course, but I’m confident that I can meet all of my objectives this year. I’m going to complete the Portland Marathon, finish Cycle Oregon, and I’m going to lose 50 pounds. (I’ve lost 15 already!)