Rob's Reboot

Day 6

Food

Eggs over easy and smoothie (banana, mango, yogurt, almond milk, psyllium husk) and fish oil and flax seed oil supplement
Lunch was salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing and pistachios
Dinner was chicken meatball chili with avocado, salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing
Snacks were Rx protein bars, mango chunks, Swiss cheese, and pistachios
Total calories in were 5782.

Exercise
4 sets of 30 reverse hyper
3 sets of 11 stability ball pike
standing calf and quad stretches
leg/hip swings
2 sets of 20 each side band walks
1 mile incline walking, 3.9mph, 4% incline
8 mile long run, 5.6mph, 1% incline
Total calories out were around 1548.

Sleep
5 hours 48 minutes

I ate too much tonight. The protein bars had chocolate in them and that led to eating more of them and then the other snacks. The 8 mile run also contributed I'm sure. I'm up to 34.6 miles running for the week. I overate by about 1800 calories. For the week I'm still in a cumulative deficit of about 3000 I think. I'll check that math at the end of the week. I'm sure my weight will go up tomorrow but will likely come right back down. I should back off the running. My body needs more time to adjust. I get in this weird dynamic of not wanting to back off and if I do, I can't really rest and I'm uncomfortable all day until I exercise again the next day. It's a familiar response. Bottom line is the overeating came from not resting enough and a trigger food, I should rest more to get out of this weird dynamic and work on not eating and other coping techniques during my rest days. Also, I could do cross-training at a much lower exertion level. Increased sleep would help too. I'll work on the sleep right now.
 
LaMaria said:
Yes please! Better to be a smidge too careful in building up your running distance again than to be in a world of hurt again.
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You're right, LaMa. I was in a world of hurt with that injury. I didn't know that could happen. Every other injury (not involving nerve tissue), I just figure out. Like this latest one with my LCL - a few days rest and a brace. I implemented it when I figured it out. Not so with the disc/sciatic nerve injury. That was a different story. The affected knee is continuing to feel better but I don't need another one of those. I'm doing other preventive strengthening exercises but the best thing I can do probably, is rest. I know that, I just can't do it sometimes.
 
bensanon said:
Increased sleep would help too. I'll work on the sleep right now.
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Endorsing this - I try for my own sleep with having audio books murmuring away at least in the the beginning of the night, but I'd like to be able to manage without. I was intrigued by @Cate's recent mention of magnesium oil. (I think? I must check.)
 
205.2 and dragging this morning. I feel different than when I was losing weight this way before several months ago. I think it has to do with cutting out refined sugar these past couple of months and feeling better since I got off the medication I was on. No one believes me that I could still have issues related to it except for others who've been through it but I'm healed enough now I don't need anyone to believe me. I know I'll get where I want to be as long as I can keep exercising and eating well.
 
alligatorob said:
Rob, how many hours a day do you spend exercising? It must be a significant chunk of your time.
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Hey, Rob. Yeah, I spend a lot of time doing cardio (running). Close to 2 hours on days with long runs. The strengthening exercises and stretching take about 20-30 minutes and the running usually takes an hour or more.

aiminglow said:
Endorsing this - I try for my own sleep with having audio books murmuring away at least in the the beginning of the night, but I'd like to be able to manage without. I was intrigued by @Cate's recent mention of magnesium oil. (I think? I must check.)
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That sounds like a good routine. I saw Cate mentioned rubbing magnesium oil into her feet before bed. I am taking magnesium but haven't tried the oil. It does sound intriguing.
 
My body is telling me it needs fuel. It's because of the running. I haven't run this much in 6 months. I need more rest and food to rebuild. I can see my complexion getting more defined and my waist is tightening a little but I don't want to restrict anymore here at the beginning until my musculoskeletal system is better adjusted and I'm more resilient. I'm going to go up for a little bit and rest and then I'll get back to it.
 
bensanon said:
I can see my complexion getting more defined and my waist is tightening a little but I don't want to restrict anymore here at the beginning until my musculoskeletal system is better adjusted and I'm more resilient.
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This sounds so good, and so intelligently controlled! Go, you! :)
 
Rob, I really do swear by the magnesium oil. I just got lazy with it. It has made a big difference in my quality of sleep. I am going to use it every night from now on. I also take magnesium to prevent cramps. It's great for aches & pains too.
 
Day 9

Food

No breakfast this morning
Lunch was salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing, fish oil and flax seed oil supplements
Dinner was salad with chicken, avocado and light zesty Italian dressing
Snack was a smoothie (banana, mango, yogurt, almond milk, psyllium husk) and flax seed oil supplement
Total calories in were 2073.

Exercise
4 sets of 40 reverse hyper
2 sets of 9 stability ball pike
standing calf and quad stretches
leg/hip swings
1 mile incline walking, 3.9mph, 4% incline
8.5 mile long run, 5.5mph, 1% incline
Total calories out were around 1616.

Sleep
8 hours 16 minutes

Saturday and Sunday I was completely wiped out. I rested both days and ate more calories, I didn't track calories or even weigh myself. I do know my sleep improved. Saturday it was 5 hours 18 minutes, Sunday it was 7 hours 26 minutes and then today it was more than 8 hours. There's a definite connection between restricting and my sleep. I think I could have recovered even more, I could still feel some fatigue in my muscles. Today's run felt good. It was a tough workout but I had no problems. My knees are both pretty good. The sciatic pain is mostly gone but my lower back bothers me quite a bit. I do believe the reverse hyper exercises have made a big difference for the sciatic pain, also just simply time, it's been about 6 months now since I injured that area. I can feel some fatigue in my lower back area - pelvic/glute/lower core - when I get toward the end of my runs. I haven't found a good exercise to get at it. Hip bridges kind of work also the stability ball pikes help but I'm keeping an eye out for other ideas to strengthen that area to help prevent injury. My weight will probably be up tomorrow so I won't bother weighing myself but I'll check on it later in the week when I'm back to being in a deficit.
 
Keeping an eye on posture and form especially by the end of your run should help stabilize your back. Once you can't keep those things up anymore you're done running for the day (or at least need a walking break) no matter what your mileage says.
 
LaMaria said:
Keeping an eye on posture and form especially by the end of your run should help stabilize your back. Once you can't keep those things up anymore you're done running for the day (or at least need a walking break) no matter what your mileage says.
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I appreciate that, LaMa. Although I am not the type of person that will back off easily. I'm going to try and figure out a better solution so I can run more and better and harder. I think I understand the point where I can't stabilize things anymore and I'm starting to figure out how things are all working together down/back there so I don't think I'll get into too much trouble by selecting the wrong exercise. I will probably try some variations on the hip bridges, work on keeping the glutes contracted and hold for longer at the top and do them more consistently.
 
Lurking Cate just had to tell you that I was drinking coffee as I read your last post & laughed at-
bensanon said:
Although I am not the type of person that will back off easily
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I would never have guessed :)
You seem to be starting to figure out that balance, Rob. Balance & moderation- 2 of the hardest things to achieve! *sigh*
 
Day 10

Food
Breakfast was eggs and smoothie (banana, mango, yogurt, almond milk, psyllium husk) and fish oil supplement
Lunch was salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing
Dinner was salad with chicken, avocado and light zesty Italian dressing
Snacks were a smoothie (banana, mango, yogurt, almond milk, psyllium husk), protein chips, and pistachios
Total calories in were 3399.

Exercise
4 sets of 40 reverse hyper
standing calf and quad stretches
leg/hip swings
3 sets 11 hip bridges (two sets were single leg, each side)
1 mile incline walking, 3.9mph, 4% incline
2 sets of 8 sprint intervals: alternating 1 min 8mph pace (estimated 5k pace) sprints, 1 min slow run recovery
45 min recovery running, 8.5 mile total for day, 5.7mph average speed for day, 1% incline
Total calories out were around 1629.

Sleep
7 hours 11 minutes

Had another pretty good sleep day. I tried sprints today to mix things up and help prevent injury by working different muscle fibers and exposing myself to different types of forces while running. I think it took a lot out of me because of the higher speeds. I ate more although still in a little bit of a deficit. I have a stressful day tomorrow so I won't write much else and just work on preparing myself and try to get some good rest.
 
That food sounds so healthy and great, as does your exercise. Hope you have another good sleep and hope tomorrow's not too stressful.
 
Day 11

Food
Breakfast was eggs and smoothie (banana, mango, yogurt, almond milk, psyllium husk) and fish oil supplement
Lunch was salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing and sprouted bread slice
Dinner was different greens salad with chicken and light zesty Italian dressing
Snacks were frozen mango chunks
Total calories in were 2496.

Exercise
4 sets of 40 reverse hyper
standing calf and quad stretches
leg/hip swings
5 miles walking outside in the park
1 mile incline walking, 3.9mph, 4% incline
8 mile run, 5.5mph average speed, 1% incline
Total calories out were around 2157.

Sleep
4 hours 23 minutes

Really tough day. I was under a lot of stress. I did have some extra time so I went walking in the park and enjoyed that. Sleep was terrible last night in anticipation of things today. My run felt good and I would have run another hour if I felt my body could hold up but I could feel my form slipping a little and some strain in my lower back so I backed off. I made it about as far as I usually do.
 
bensanon said:
Really tough day. I was under a lot of stress.
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Sorry to hear that Rob, but so great that you took some time in the park.

Hope the stress is over now and you get a better nights sleep.
 
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