Week 7 – Hungry Like the Quix

Here are the other things besides kicking ass at the Indoor Tri…

Food:

So, out with the face stuffing of good food, in with calorie restriction.  And there was much rejoicing.  NOT.

My goal each day is to eat around 1700 calories (and increase that if I’m burning way way more than normal).  Some days, that worked.  Some days, it didn’t.  Sunday was the only crappy day, I ate a breakfast taco and a half, snacks, ordered Jimmy Johns (on wheat, but still), and drank way too much champagne.  Finally, by 5pm, I realized I just had no calories for dinner and pissed and whined and bitched but I just ate a very small snack and was fine.

The rest of the week, though, was pretty good.  I had a few drinks on Thursday, but kept it reasonable.  I spent most of Saturday either training or getting to places to go train, so I couldn’t eat as much real food as I would have liked, so a lot of those extra calories were ergogenic aids like gels/bars/gatorade because I didn’t have enough time to let food settle before moving to the next session.  I more than earned my ~2500 calories that day though.

Monday:  24 DQS, 1695 calories (2077 burned)
Tuesday:  29 DQS, 1760 calories (2953 burned)
Wednesday:  29 DQS, 1679 calories (2241 burned)
Thursday: 24 DQS, 1980 calories (3144 burned)
Friday: 24 DQS, 1864 calories (2108 burned)
Saturday:  26 DQS, 2445 calories (3110 burned)
Sunday: 9 DQS, 2778 calories (2705 burned)

Total avgs: 23.5 DQS, 2028 calories (2619 burned)

Weight: lowest 184.0, highest 186.2

This should be doing things.  My deficit is around 500-600 which is just what I want (just not terribly consistent per day).  I definitely feel HUNGRY now in a way I didn’t before, and according to the internet, that’s probably normal and ok even though I will continue to bitch about it on twitter until I start seeing some damn progress.  I feel like I’ve been hungry for a week and I will never be full ever again in my life.  But I’m going to give this 3 weeks, like I gave stuffing my face with DQ-happy food, and see where I’m at and what I need to tweak.

For this week coming up, I pre-tracked so I have a good idea of what I will be eating and when.  Figure I’ll give that a try and see if that does good things.

Training:

Running:  Getting better by the week.  It’s nice to be running in the 11s, running longer than 10k, and getting in a little speedwork finally.  Oddly enough, my HR drops a little even with the same effort after a sprint, it’s like “hey, this isn’t nearly as hard as I was working before”.  Feet are holding up alright, they were a little tender after the pounding that was Sat and Sun, but nothing that lingered.  I can actually wear shoes again besides my running shoes and my black tennies, which is making my work wear a little more varied. I’ll be excited when it goes away completely, but it’s definitely better.  Also, all this perfect running weather (60s and sunny) isn’t hurting my run mojo.

Bike: Feel sort of stalled here until I get to get out and ride more.  I’m varying up my resistances and doing drills, but I don’t feel like I really am going to make that much more progress until I start doing more outdoor rides.  March will be my month!

Swim: Ahhh, I just love the pool lately.  Drills are starting to be things that just help me count laps, as my form is getting better (and with that, my times are).  I am looking forward to getting some lake swims in, because it does take a bit to adjust from the nice pool to the murky, nature-having, no side to push off like, but I think I’m setting myself up for a good season.  Also, taking my fins to the lake and cruising around the buoys sounds like a blast!

Weights: Yep, super heavy weights are fun, and work in a completely different way.  I lift, and I’m like “ok, that’s it?”.  Then, after the session, it’s like BLAM.  I feel it.  Oddly enough I’m crushing the upper body goals, but I’ve got a bit to go (+50 lbs to my squat, +150 lbs to my leg press?) to hit leg goals, but it’s fun to pile on the weight and I get thumbs ups from the trainers at the gym so there’s that.

By the days:

Monday:  Swim: 1200 m in 25mins (wore fins for some drills)(actually did this on Sunday, but counting for this week)
Tuesday:  Bike: 20.64 mi in 60 mins – first 40 mins lighter resistance (2 of 5) with 3×1 min one leg drills, last 20 mins higher resistance (4 of 5) Run: 3.91 in 45 mins. 153-154 HR average 167 max. Weights: 3×4… 290 lb leg press, 120 lb rows, 100 lb pulldowns. 3×20…. incline sit ups w/10 lb plate w/twist, 110 lb calf presses.
Wednesday: Swim: 1500m in 37 mins.
Thursday: Bike: 20.46 in 60 mins – First 25 mins at 2/5, 3x1min one leg drills. Next 20 at 3/5, worked on concentrating on the push then the pull (not set intervals). Finished with 15 mins at 4/5, just trying to keep up the pace as best I could. Avg HR: 127, Max 191? (probably a spike) Run: 4.12 miles – 47:51, 6×20 sec sprints. Weights: 3×4… 185 lb squats, 120 lb rows, 105 lb pulldowns. 3×20… incline situps w/10 lb plate w/twist, 65 lb hamstring curls.
Friday: off
Saturday: Bike: 30 mins, 10 miles.  Avg HR 111, Max HR 132. Run: 7.4 mi in 1h 30. HR avg 151, max 171. Swim: 1050m in 25 mins.  Spin class: 45 mins of pain, torture, and awesomeness.
Sunday: Indoor Tri! Swim: 487m in 10 mins. Bike: 30 mins of quick spin. Run: 2.13 in 20 mins.

10 hours total, goal was 10 hours.  So yay!

Definitely definitely ready for this next stepback week.   I feel a little fried.

Other Stuff:

Not much.  This week was really just train and eat and work, boring and lovely.  Peak weeks are just going to be like that, I suppose and I have no complaints.

Having Monday off was nice though – we were able to relax a bit, while also transferring our clothes into our new bedroom furniture, batch cooking, doing laundry, and a few other things.  I could really use a 3 day weekend more often!

Question of the week: how do you control your appetite when you’re hungry and know you shouldn’t eat more?