October 5th 2016
The Day’s Game Plan:
Up at 4am.
Wednesday is Speed Day, so warm up with a 1.5 mile run around the lower loop of Central Park, until I hit the base of Cat Hill. The goal is to complete four hill repeats before heaving all over my bright orange Brooks.
Once I wrapped that up, I waddle home, grab my workout bag and head to the gym. The goal here was to log 1000 yards in the pool, and then hit the weights.
In the evening, the goal is to amp up my metabolism by doing a workout at home that primarily focuses on core strength. I’m hoping that by amping up my metabolism right before bed, my body will burn more calories that it normally does while I sleep.
Nutrition-wise, I’ll bring lunch to the office so that I’m not tempted to eat what I really want: a chicken parm hero from Luigi’s. I’m also going to go protein heavy in the morning with some hard boiled eggs and a shake.
The Outcome
Well, I got up in time and knocked out a relaxed swim. 1000 yards in 28:01. Water seems to be my natural element – although I know it’s a training session, swimming is almost therapeutic to me. I got these cool-looking new googles too – they make me feel like Fonzi.
I changed into my running stuff and ran 1.5 miles as a warm-up to Cat Hill. The hill is about .35 of a mile, with a steep incline at the outset which tapers off with about 1/10 to go, so hill repeats on this section of the park are not very enjoyable to a shlub like me. I got 4 repetitions in before I had to call it a morning – there were too many bikes going in the wrong direction within the running lane, and if one of them hit me this morning I was not in the mood to be Mr. Forgiveness. Instead, I would have channeled my inner Ric Flair and suplexed the schmuck.
I knew it was time to call it a morning when one of these two-wheeled whackjobs flew by me – without a helmet – while in the designated runners lane – going opposite the flow of traffic – while texting. Given the fact that it was before 6am and sunrise still hadn’t provided some degree of natural lighting to the park, this guys was a rolling accident about to happen. Now don’t get me wrong: I love cycling. As a triathlete and Ironman hopeful, it’s the one discipline that I need to spend the most time on. However, when I ride I try to respect the rules of the road and those around me. I got the work in, so I felt fairly accomplished by the time I got home.
I stuck to my protein-heavy breakfast: a couple of hard-boiled eggs and a shake. I’m trying to get myself to stop craving sugary awesomeness like Oreos (seriously – Oreos should be a darn food group – it should go Oreos, Pizza, Pop Tarts and General Tso’s Chicken). Kicking the sugar craving will NOT be easy. I have absolutely no discipline, so saying no to those round tasty little pieces of Nabisco heaven is going to feel like root canal without the Novocaine. However, the juice is worth the squeeze. So the first real experiment that this new adventure has triggered deals with diet. I’ve come to realize that the things I now need to say “no” to historically have constituted a decent size of my overall caloric intake. So switching to a much healthier selection will not be easy. It also didn’t help that I was lazy this morning and forgot to put together a sizable salad for lunch. As a result, lunch consisted of a couple of handfuls of pretzel pieces. This will cause my overall calorie count for the day to be less than the total I have budgeted for myself: 2,300. I’ll need to compensate by having a bit more protein tonight.
Had a simple salad with a couple of ravioli for dinner. Figured that I am in severe calorie debt today – I can tell from the raging migraine I’ve been dealing with and the stats on Myfitnesspal.com. (Yes, I am using a website to count my darn calories and make myself more accountable – would much prefer using some Deal-A-Meal cards). I wanted to stay away from heavy carbs at night, but I think I’ll need the efficient energy that comes from carbs in the morning.
The evening workout, right before I crashed tonight, was annoying. I am not a huge fan of core work, because it’s a weak point for me. We’ll see over the coming weeks whether the concept of cranking up the metabolism right before bed helps burn more calories.
I look at the first 2 weeks of this experiment as a data-gathering phase.
Today’s Nugget
October 5th 2011: Steve Jobs passed away at the age of 56.
