How are you and how was your week?
goals this week
1. 7/7 healthy coping, promising myself next week we’ll be celebrating day 117
2. journal daily
3. practice the 2 min pauses
4. eat the # of calories I am supposed to
5. do PT as directed
6. be grateful for what I can do sport wise
- DONE! I have 117 days of healthy coping in a row
- I journaled most days
- I used this skill, though I didn’t practice it
- 6/7 days… last Wed was really rough, but weight was stable at my Thurs appt which made both my MD and I happy
- Done
- Done, in spades
I had a rough week exercise-wise. I had a ton of pain on Tuesday in my shoulder that came out of nowhere. On Thursday I had a cortisone shot in my hip that has helped somewhat. I did a good job listening to pain and not pushing it.
M - 1 mi walk
T - 1200 yd swim + 1 mi walk
W - 1.3 mi walk
Th - 1.3 mi walk, cortisone shot in hip PM
F - off
S - off
S - off
DID I MENTION I AM AT 117 DAYS IN A ROW HEALTHY COPING
goals this week are the same as last. I fly back to OK on 8/13 and that will ease a lot of stress for me as a good deal of the stress right now is my family. I’m ready to get back and might go back earlier but have a bunch of appts this week for my shoulder. Hoping for some answers Wednesday regarding that.
I spent a lot of time this week being grateful I can walk, am not on crutches, and the days I didn’t have pain I was very grateful for that.
I’m proud of myself for sticking to the plans and taking care of my body.
The calorie goal right now is 1900-2000; I remain freaked that I will gain weight on this despite a lot of evidence to the contrary of stable weight when eating at this level. I keep reminding myself how happy I will be when I have another period this month.
Thanks to everyone who chimes into these threads.
That’s great that you’ve been so consistent. I’m not sure I could maintain the positive attitude you have under the circumstances.
Please make sure you have a doctor (besides yourself 
to keep tabs on you in OK.
Body is holding up pretty well. I have enough experience (but from 30 years ago) to know when a pain is momentary (and/or how to modify my gait slightly for 3-5 minutes) so that it goes away without stopping and when I need to step away for several hours. If I go slowly I can last a very long time. (And it keeps me in a zone where I’m fat-burning, which is the goal right now along with toughening tendons, aka base.) In the last 2 days I’ve been pushing a little more (fast shuffling on the downhills) or actually doing 4 mph on the treadmill, which is fairly fast walking, but doing 3.6-3.8 mph when trying to study at the same time. So my first “run” of the day has been a little sub-13/mile in the last couple of days, but I’m starting to feel a little lactic acid building up for the first time since last October (pre foot problem). (On the other hand, a lot of the older people who are doing well in GVRAT are going 20 mins/mile or slower, so I’m willing to forgive myself at this point.) As it is, my resting pulse seems to be in the mid-50s, so my conditioning is not horrible. I’m looking to complete this virtual trans-con (Laz Lake again via GVRATx5) by the cutoff date of April 30, which I figure will give me the base to have a strong year next year. (I have no A race this year.)
Once I hit 600 miles (234 so far) of this phase (and my weight drops enough) I will allow myself some running (if what I do can be called that at 67yo). I still feel I have weakness in my hamstrings and the walking won’t do much for them, so I’ll start doing some biking once I feel that my body is solid for running. As far as swimming, I don’t know timing. Hopefully my neck is sufficiently healed soon so I won’t leave a blood trail. (I can’t see it because the incision is in the back, and my wife says it’s still not ready.)
I also was doing everything just using water (about every 1/2 hour) and no fan on the treadmill (or the bike); now I use the fan and have switched to a modified (0 calorie), refrigerated (Dr.) Alex Harrison drink. I make 2 liters of Crystal Light tea and add 2 tsp of sodium citrate. I found I was fading sometimes due to lack of sodium.
Please make sure you have a doctor **(besides yourself **to keep tabs on you in OK.
I already have appointments set up for a few weeks. I think things will be better there and am hoping to not need weekly but we’ll see. If I need weekly we’ll do it.
Thanks for making me smile!
re: sodium - I crave salt when I am working out a lot too. Glad your body is holding up well.
Goals for this week:
-
recover from race and transition back to normal training (and life!)
-
no reading phone at bedtime
-
good nutrition
-
spend a bit of time each day on new project Mon-Fri (I have already failed but let’s see if I can manage Tue-Fri)
-
watch a lot of the Olympics
-
build back of training went well and didn’t seem to carry lots of post-race fatigue
-
phone at bedtime 5/7 (slipped a bit this week - noticed I’m more likely to do it if I don’t have to get up early the next day - it’s an act of self-sabotage as I should be taking advantage of a good recovery opportunity)
-
good nutrition 4/7 (being slightly strict with myself here - it was a decent week overall but I ate out more than planned)
-
spent a bit of time on new project Tue-Fri (could have been more, I blame the olympics)
-
olympics: nailed it!
Goals this week:
- solid week of training (races coming thick and fast: half-IM in 2 weeks and then a standard dist 2 weeks after that, so not much chance to build training load but it’ll be fun)
- focus on improving major swim technique flaw
- no reading phone at bedtime
- good nutrition
- spend 8hrs on new project
- watch a lot of the Olympics
Have a good week everyone!
Monday: 1850 calories, eating dinner was hard so it’s a win that it’s 1850 and not 1430; journaled
had some tough family stuff last night. I fly back to OK next Tuesday!
How is swim technique improvement working?
119 days -17 weeks- of healthy coping in a row! That is four months and one week. And today I will cross another ten milestone w 120, I promise myself!
1965 calories yesterday and journaled a lot.
How is swim technique improvement working?
Thanks for asking. New videos incoming shortly on the other thread. Think doing catch-up with the stick is helpful getting my hand entry lined up better. And that seems to set me up for a less wide underwater phase (my shoulder was noticeably less sore after swimming today). So, early days and much to do to ingrain movements, but feeling like I maybe have a method to work with.
Dr. Tigerchik wrote:
How is swim technique improvement working?
Thanks for asking. New videos incoming shortly on the other thread. Think doing catch-up with the stick is helpful getting my hand entry lined up better. And that seems to set me up for a less wide underwater phase (my shoulder was noticeably less sore after swimming today). So, early days and much to do to ingrain movements, but feeling like I maybe have a method to work with.
I’ll make the obvious joke: stick with it!
I had a doctor’s appt this morning and my weight was down 0.2 lbs which is stable 
calorie goal remains at 1900-2000. I am back in Oklahoma next week and have drs appts set up there to help me transition - I hope to not have to do the weekly thing as I think some of the stress will abate when I am back there, but I’ll start with more frequent and taper off as my doctor and I decide is okay. Because scales are different by a bit my doctor also made a goal range for next week, as that will be a baseline on a different scale. I am trying not to use the low end of that range as an excuse to lose weight. That would be silly for lots of reasons
- I like my body
- losing weight doesn’t support building strength to resolve hip and shoulder injuries
- losing weight doesn’t support keeping a period
- losing weight downregulates metabolism
- losing weight doesn’t support bone health
I can list all of those, and I will absolutely be saying to myself “chowders would tell you losing weight is STUPID and if the weight number is higher next week than I like it’s just a difference in scales.”
Also, 120 days in a row healthy coping in terms of getting rid of the particular unhealthy coping skill I seek to eliminate 
I like your list 😊
And also, weight can go up or down a little week by week and that’s ok and still counts as stable!
And also, weight can go up or down a little week by week and that’s ok and still counts as stable!
yup. I know you are right, it’s just hard for me to deal with mentally and I feel grateful mine is so ridiculously consistent week to week
Your consistency is beyond admirable, congratulations. I am sure at some point in the future you’ll have a built-in resilience to abandon “tracking” and go into “monitoring”.
My previous week has been skewed a bit, because I decided to actually go to Frankfurt for 3 days & recon the course. So less system-work and more specificity (checked some parts of the course 1x, some parts 4x; 2x open water swim, 2x used carbon shoes, a lot of mid-day heat workouts etc.), 19h in total (22h the week before).
This week is the second last before the race. I feel like I would be better at the start line this weekend already - I’m a bit afraid, that I’ll mess something up or get an injury in the last week. Plan is to do around 15h, nicely distributed between swim, bike & run.
Your consistency is beyond admirable, congratulations. I am sure at some point in the future you’ll have a built-in resilience to abandon “tracking” and go into “monitoring”.
I envision that at some point in the future too. I am way less stressed about food stuff when I can work out like I want… which isn’t the case right now.
I feel like I would be better at the start line this weekend already - I’m a bit afraid, that I’ll mess something up or get an injury in the last week.
I get that! I bet you’re also excited having done course recon!
This week is the second last before the race. I feel like I would be better at the start line this weekend already - I’m a bit afraid, that I’ll mess something up or get an injury in the last week. Plan is to do around 15h, nicely distributed between swim, bike & run.
Have a great, chilled week feeling fit & fresh! The work is done now 💪 May your taper week niggles be minor 😉
Ate 1900 calories yesterday
Journaled
Used my healthy coping skills to get thru urges and get to day 121
Have promised self today is day 122
.
yesterday 1900 calories eaten and used the healthy coping skills
I feel really stressed and anxious and am leaning into the healthy skills.
yesterday was DAY 123 ! I like it because it is the numbers 1, 2, 3 in a row!
I have promised myself today is 124 … a cool number because 1 x 2 = 2, 2 x 2 = 4 …
I’m super anxious about Tues of next week; a thing I will remember on my travel day is finishing Tuesdays ok is the thing that ticks me over to “add another week of healthy coping”
I’m a Real Madrid fan, but I also follow other sports. There’re series that press and fans follow: Real Madrid had a 20+ win games in a row with Ancelotti a few years back and then they won La Liga and Champions League, Bayer Leverkusen had their “no game lost†series last season, winning Bundesliga and losing only in Europe League final, Iga Świątek had her winning strike last year, incl. a few WTA titles etc…
Press love those series because people get interested. People get interested because that’s how the brain works - it’s somehow addictive, maybe like with a gambling strike, to always expect one more, when the stakes go up.
In the end it’s not important if you maintain the series, but if you achieve long terms goals. If you or somebody ever fails one day, don’t look at it as a failure overall. It’s actually an unbelievable success to have a 99% success rate. Real won their titles, same did Bayer and Iga. Those were the real objectives, look for yours.
As for me, I’ve managed to close my week with 15h (3h15min swim, 8h bike, 3h40min run), no injuries nor niggles, I only have that hot trigger point in my shoulder that doesn’t want to go away. Spent some extra time on glueing my wetsuit (there’s a tiny chance it will be a wetsuit swim for AG), cleaning the bike, changing tires & sealant (25mm & 28mm Conti GP 5000 S TR with muc-off sealant, for those interested), changing the chain to a freshly waxed gold KMC chain, checking the trisuit once more. Highlight of the week was definitely doing a short brick session, where with Alphaflys I was able to go 20s/km quicker than my target pace, for the same HR.
Just read Michal_CH’s latest post. Very wise words.
Sorry to hear stress levels are high.
Also, Botox - who knew?!
I’m a Real Madrid fan, but I also follow other sports. There’re series that press and fans follow: Real Madrid had a 20+ win games in a row with Ancelotti a few years back and then they won La Liga and Champions League, Bayer Leverkusen had their “no game lost†series last season, winning Bundesliga and losing only in Europe League final, Iga Świątek had her winning strike last year, incl. a few WTA titles etc…
Press love those series because people get interested. People get interested because that’s how the brain works - it’s somehow addictive, maybe like with a gambling strike, to always expect one more, when the stakes go up.
In the end it’s not important if you maintain the series, but if you achieve long terms goals. If you or somebody ever fails one day, don’t look at it as a failure overall. It’s actually an unbelievable success to have a 99% success rate. Real won their titles, same did Bayer and Iga. Those were the real objectives, look for yours.
I agree in general, but it’s REALLY important to me to keep the streak. Not doing so is going to make a lot of things a lot worse in the immediate future. And it’s a VERY doable thing. This thing for me is kinda equivalent to an alcoholic falling off the wagon - things might start to spiral.
I do so appreciate the reply, and while one blip would be something I could recover from and it would be something like “x days in a row except a blip at day whatever”, it would set me up for some very very hard days ahead. Can you trust me without me saying what the bad coping skill actually is?
Just read Michal_CH’s latest post. Very wise words.
Sorry to hear stress levels are high.
Also, Botox - who knew?!
botox, IKR?
see my reply - it is really really important Tues go well, otherwise I will be setting myself up for even more anxiety. Please believe me and trust me. And … I know I can do it! I know I can get through Tuesday and be ok. It’s a matter of using the healthy skills. Getting thru Tues ok is an outcome I really want.