Never Fail Again

What a week. I decided to take off a week from work and see what I could get done towards commencing on with my new life.  Boy am I in trouble!

While I was pretty good keeping up with my new commitment to Crossfit, my diet wasn't nearly as good. Too many carbs, too much beer! Organizationally I'm also having problems due to my lack of hard cardio and the subsequent lack of focus. While the week was far from a complete bust, I'm seriously concerned with achieving my new goals.

I'd decided that I want to keep up with running, rowing & swimming as my "active rest" throughout the week and I really want to continue getting up early to hit the gym. I really like the discipline, the people and the routine. I've therefore decided that I can add "skill sessions" to my regular Crossfit regimen. By skill sessions, I mean working on the many fitness disciplines that elude me. Many of these skills involve many of the 10 elements of fitness that I lack and that are core to the Crossfit methodology:
1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance- The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.
2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.
4. Flexibility - The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.
5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.
6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.
8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.
9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the body's center of gravity in relation to its support base.
10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

These are ideal because I can do these skill sessions no matter how sore I am from the weeks Crossfit workouts. In may respects, getting up at 4:00am, knowing that I'm going to face a tough 30 minutes on a Versa climber, was easier than knowing I'm going to have to focus on my weaknesses and concentrate on refining skills. I find that I'm way too much of an all or nothing type of guy and I'm having a REAL hard time limiting my workouts to Crossfit & Skill Sessions ( along with the regular easy run/swim/rowing sessions).

Some of the skills I'm working on ( and failing miserably at) are:
Swimming - 20 or less strokes per length.
Swimming - Addition of the flip turn on all laps.
Speed Bag - Trying to perfect several different striking methods
Jump rope - double unders
Pull Ups - Performing a proper kipp ( one that does NOT resemble seizure or electrocution!)
Proper form when performing Deadlifts, Squat Cleans, Snatches and Overhead Squats.

And these are just the tip of the ice burg. In any event, I'm finding I need to pull my "Ace in the hole" when I get up early in the morning by simply telling myself that this is simply "what I do". If there is any reasoning with myself whatsoever, I'll simply go back to bed and pull the covers over my head.

Whenever I find myself amidst a greater percentage of recent failures than successes I have to remind myself of my previous successes and I have to lean on my unshakeable belief that the only real failure is when a person totally quits trying. Two examples of this in my own experience are related to weight and smoking. In regards to my weight, my struggles were never a constant battle but there were times when I'd lose 10 pounds only to gain 20 after I'd "fallen off the wagon". The attached photo is one of me "in between". We were on vacation in Washington DC and I can remember half heartedly trying to watch what I ate (very unsuccessfully). I didn't give up even though I think I added another 15 or 20 pounds to what I had, but just upped my game on the next serious attempt.

I think the best example of what I'm referring to deals with my many attempts to quit smoking. I'd smoked on and off ever since I was 16 years old and I'd venture to say I'd quit 1,000 times. When I was younger, I even had friends tell my to resign myself to a life of tobacco addiction! Whenever I see someone trying to battle either of these formidable challenges, my most adamant and valuable advice to them is to never quit trying. With that attitude, the only way you can possibly fail is to quit trying. Every time you try, add to your "quitting/weight loss" skill set and continually build up your arsenal of tricks and strategies. Every failure will bring you the lessons that will eventually deliver you to success. I very certainly expect to conquer the above skills by the end of the year but if I don't, you know I'll be trying in 2012.

btw - I haven't smoked in about five years and I'd finally managed to quit at around 4 months into my successful 9 month campaign to lose the 90+ pounds.

I've been pretty good at logging my diet and workouts and I'm probably about 80% accurate. Details can be perused, as usual at:
http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/Stairclimber_D/

Crossfit Workouts:
#1
4 rounds of: 400M run 10 Deadlifts (125) 15 Wall balls (20)
#2
Crossfit - 65lbs 20 Thrusters, 20 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, 20 Push Press, 20 Deadlifts + 4 burpees on the minute.
#3
w/u 10 min speed bag / run 2 miles - WOD 15min. amrap 200m sandbag run/10 sandbag situps/20 sandbag squats (5 rounds + run) / Cool Down 2 mile run.
#4
WU/Helen (3rds. 400m run/21 kb swings/12 Pull Ups) / Cool Down Team 1,500m Row(750 each)  /200 situps (approx.)

Mad Science & Crossfit

So, I've discovered that my particular metabolism requires an unusually large amount of physical activity to achieve a considerable level of focus in my life. This focus, in turn, enables me to actually utilize the intelligence that my parents and teachers have always told me I'd possessed. Since I can no longer maintain daily extended periods of intense exercise, am I now supposed to simply sit back and embrace a return to life as I knew it? I used to worry about my career and the monetary/lifestyle changes that would occur if I were to halt my exercise routine. I am now beginning to worry about returning to a life of fog. One of my long time favorite animated features that played on television every year was entitled "The Point". It was a story about non conformity and the virtues of finding the assets to our own uniqueness. There's a line in that movie that perfectly reflects what life with ADD is like: "He who points in all directions, points nowhere at all". This week, for various reasons, I'd probably done less intense cardio than I've done in years. I don't like how I feel.

This whole process for me has never been anything more than a continual guessing game that either produced results or didn't. If I felt good, I'd simply try and look at my fitness and diet details and try and repeat it. This is how I'd determined that a diet of 40% carbs., 30% protein and 30% fat was optimal for me. Like so many significant discoveries in life, I'd stumbled upon this by compete accident and I'd refined it through trial and error.

This is however where "The Calorie Lab" becomes relevant. I need to experiment, report results and hopefully learn a few things about how my diet and exercise routines affect my mental acuity. I may determine that there are other ways of achieving focus, I may find that there's no way but through long bouts of intense cardio. What ever I determine though, I have no doubt that I'll become fitter and healthier in the experimental process!

Here's the plan:
Since I can't maintain the long, intense and daily levels of cardio anymore, I need to try something else. Perhaps what I see in the Crossfit methodology is a possible answer to my predicament. Is what's happening with me a simple matter of pushing calories to increase the blood flow to my brain or a way to satisfy a metabolism that needs intense and prolonged activity to achieve balance? I'm thinking it could be a level of "fitness", if you will, that automatically balances my body and regulates it in such a way that will naturally enable me to focus and return to a high level of functionality. I need to test my body in a methodical manner. I know, for example, that if I were to return to a 2-hr. a day regimen of intense cardio (from how I feel right now), I'd be back to a high functioning state in about a four to six weeks.

I intend to attempt to utilize Crossfit as a means of increasing my level of all around fitness to see if I can achieve a similar effect as I'd achieved with the long cardio emphasis. Since I'll be actually changing my body composition, a minimum period for the test would have to be 90 days. For the past month or so, I've been avoiding my Crossfit as I've had some major life decisions to make and I needed to be sharp. One thing I've learned over the past year is that long intense cardio and Crossfit do not mix well. After some of the more intense workouts such as "fran" ( 21,15,9 reps of Thrusters &  pull ups) I'd be intensely sore for 3, 4 or even 5 days afterwards and a simple easy swim would be extremely painful. I'd have to stop the long cardio sessions and when I was able to do so, I'd hesitate to return to Crossfit. A good example is from last Saturday when I did the "Murph" workout ( 1 mile run, 100 Pull Ups, 200 Push Ups, 300 Squats, 1 mile run). I only made it through half of the workout as prescribed before I had to scale it down (After 50 pull ups, 100 push ups and 150 squats I gave in to assisted pull ups) and I ultimately only finished 3/4 of it with 1/4 scaled. All the way through Wednesday I was still so sore, I couldn't do a single pull up. Getting off the couch was a major challenge! Pushups weren't much better and I forced myself to do pushups even though my arms and chest hurt like hell!  Bottom line is that I'm going to have to work through a couple of weeks of severe "Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness" (DOMS) with little intense cardio on the side. Hopefully my body will become accustomed to the breaking down and recovering of muscle. It'll be interesting (and disconcerting I'm sure) to see where my ADD will go in the process.

My blog will therefore appear scant in regards to the amount of activity I'm doing. I intend to attack the Crossfit with a 2 days on, 2 days rest approach until I feel I can go 3 days on 2 days rest and finally move on to the prescribed Crossfit standard of 3 days on, 1 day rest. This is not set in stone. If I have an easy week or my body is handling the workouts well, I could, theoretically do a 3 on 1 off next week... I'll ultimately be listening to my body. I'll continue to track my diet and workouts on the Livestrong website and I'll be adding to the daily "How do you feel?" portion of the food diary. ( I'm thinking of grading scale determined by the number of times I lose my keys on any one particular day! ;-)  )

I am again going to skip my weekly summary of activity except my Crossfit involvement.

Diet and other fitness details can be perused at: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/Stairclimber_D/

Crossfit Workout #1
Wed. Still VERY sore from Sat. "Murph"
4 rounds of "Cindy" (5 Pull Ups (machine assisted), 10 Push ups, 15 Squats) & 120 flights of stairs with 100 Pushups ( 10 every 10 flights for the first 100 flights)
Sat. "Lumberjack 20"
20 Deadlifts (275lbs) - I did 175lbs
Run 400m
20 KB swings (2pood) -  I did 1pood (I think)
Run 400m
20 Overhead Squats (115lbs) - I did 35lbs ( I think)
Run 400m
20 Burpees
Run 400m
20 Pullups (Chest to Bar) - I did chin to bar
Run 400m
20 Box jumps (24")
Run 400m
20 DB Squat Cleans (45lbs each) I did 15# each.
Run 400m
32 minutes ( I think)
Sunday
4 rounds of 400m run.
10 Deadlift (125lb)
15 Wall ball (20lb)
19:30

An Easter Blog

For those of you who are new to my blog, Here's a synopsis.. (those who are not new to the Calorie Lab can skip the following two paragraphs!):

I'm a "late blooming" athlete with severe ADD who has successfully been fending off my ADD symptoms to maintain an extremely technical (and lucrative)  position with a fortune 500 company.  The required prescription to keep me focused and effective was 90 --> 120 minutes of intense cardio daily and a strict diet of 6 daily meals consisting of 40% carb, 30% fat & 30% protein. I've successfully maintained this regimen for the last 5 years but my body (at the age of 56) is no longer able to maintain this level of intensity on a daily basis. I simply can no longer adequately perform in a highly technical field. I need to embark on a new career and I've determined that the fitness industry is where I belong. I'm passionate about diet & fitness and I've learned a tremendous amount about the topic in the last 5 years. I've personally lost 95 pounds on my journey and I've made the transformation from couch potato to athlete. I've been there, done that, and I'd LOVE to help others experience a similar transformation. I also know this is something that I can be excellent at.

My blog will continue to basically be a journal of my late life career change. I intend to regularly touch upon the topics of diet, fitness and ADD. Within these parameters I also intend to include material that will in some way (hopefully), inform, educate and perhaps even inspire.  I'm not sure how often I'll be able to hit the mark and I often doubt that people will continue finding value in reading this admittedly narcissistic endeavor, but I'll continue to document my experiences nonetheless. I may simply continue writing, perhaps as a journal, if only for myself. My workouts will be different, but will still be considerable and I will be, at least short term, documenting my increasing foray into the Crossfit methodology. I'll also continue (for the most part) documenting my diet. Several readers have expressed surprise in my willingness to expose such personal information to the masses. The truth of the matter is that if I'm going to make an impact in other peoples lives, I HAVE  to be open about mine (the good and the bad). Besides the obvious value of accountability to help me succeed in my endeavors, I feel a tremendous release in living my life as an open book. Too long have people observed my life, scratching their heads,  as a grand enigma, without knowing what was behind it all.

Before I get on to the heart of this weeks post, I'd like to share something I'd read this last week. It's from a book entitled "Healing ADD" and I found it especially reassuring. The author, Dr Daniel G. Amen says "Through the years I've seen a direct relationship between the level of exercise a person gets and the severity of their symptoms. I have seen a number of ADD professionals ( such as physicians and attorneys) get through school by exercising two to four hours a day." (italics mine). Ever since I've "come out of the closet" with my ADD, I've had numerous occasions where a person has heard my story and I've had them repeat it back to me (to be sure they're hearing it right) with a "so, you THINK the exercise is helping your symptoms" and I reply, no, I KNOW it is helping. It is a very dramatic  effect. While this is nothing new to me, it is something I'm all too happy to have outside validation on. Also, for those of you with friends or family with ADD, know that this could be an valuable and viable option outside of medication.

Today is Easter and I've managed to extract my own Easter message as it relates to me. It goes like this: Last Friday (Good Friday) I was able to meet with HR for my current employer to determine how we can both find a way to amicably and in a mutually beneficial manner, terminate my employment ( I have at most, one to two weeks left at SW). Today, I earnestly begin work on my new life. I have a resume to write, an interview test to take online for a prospective employer and I am now planning my new life out of the death of my old one. Most of you who know me personally, know that I'm a Christian. Chances are however, that you do not consider me as being what many would consider to be "Religious". While I'm not what many would classify as religious, my faith in Christ means a great deal more to me than outwardly meets the eye. To me, a Christian should not be recognized by how someone outwardly preaches a message or by what "things" he did or didn't do. In my opinion, a Christian should be recognized by how they treat others and by portraying an overall and unmistakable element of excellence in their lives. A church I used to attend had a part of their mission statement that read something to the affect: "Attracting others to the Excellence of Christ, the Adventure of Faith and the Joy of Ministry". If I could sum up how I feel about my faith, this would be most accurate. My aim in this new life is to mirror the excellence of Christ. My stepping out on a faith that God has a plan for me will most certainly be an adventure I look forward to embarking on and I truly believe that my ability to help others to reach their own potential through a balanced life of diet and fitness will enable me to experience the Joy of Ministry.

This Easter I'd encourage all of my Christian friends to attempt to utilize this Easter holiday as an opportunity to further experience the life of the Risen Christ in your daily lives through Excellence, Adventure and Service. For those "heathen" friends of mine ;-), I'd encourage a little respect, an open mind and perhaps some friendly discussion over a beer regarding how I perceive the Gospel of Christ. ( see what I did there with the beer? :-> )

For all those that are new to the blog and are interested in more of the details of my recent history, I'd encourage you to read a previous post:
http://calorielab.blogspot.com/2010/02/honorable-employment.html

Happy Easter to you all....

My diet details for this week are incomplete due to my time in Chicago... Details I do have however can (as always) be perused via http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/Stairclimber_D/
What I've done this week:
Very light week with the Chicago Trip and accompanying recovery.
Raced - 180 Flights of stairs for time. (23:57) 4th in my age group 35th over all.
Rowed - 39,416 Meters to make my 1st Million
Crossfit - "3/4 Murph" 1 mile run. 75 pullups (25 with bands), 150 push ups, 225 Squats, 1 mile run (manual)
Ran - 6 miles

Taking a break!

Wow, I have a program that tells me how many people are checking my blog and I'm VERY surprised to see that people are regularly checking for my Sunday update...

You obviously know by now... I didn't post one!

The reason being was that I was in Chicago all weekend participating in the "Fight For Air", American Lung Assn. fundraiser climbing the Presidential Towers.

It was an amazing event. Our team "The Sherwin Steppers" scored a corporate team 1st. place out of 15 teams. We had one age group first place finisher, one 2nd place age group finisher and a bunch of 5th --> 7th age group finishers. To top things off, our team had a truly incredible time. What a group.

Don't worry however, I'll be posting again this Sunday and the way life is shaking me up, I'm pretty sure I may have some interesting news. I'll have stories from Chicago as well...

Until then.. Thanks for checking in...

Think, Think Think....

I'm back....

After two terrible weeks, I've managed to regroup and hit it hard. Diet was great and I'd managed to stay clear of the "brewskis" through this week including St. Patty's day. There have also been considerable developments on my employment front so, I'd managed the above through considerable stress. One more week of careful diet and a small taper to my exercise routine from Thurs. --> Sat. and I'll be ready for the "Presidential Towers" stairclimb in optimal shape. I'm aiming for a sub 24 minute time.

While my fitness routine was good, the fallout from the two previous weeks of "backsliding" ( for lack of a better term) has left my ability to focus in shambles. It'll take another week till I'm anywhere back to an acceptable level. Since I've been dealing with the ADD all week, I figure it's a good time to break the norm of my blog and write about something other than diet and fitness. I've also been asked by several friends who are now privy to my situation "What are you like when your ADD is bad?". I've had to think about it, and all week I've been thinking about how to describe it.

Several years ago I saw one of those public service commercials on TV that addressed what it was like having ADD. It basically showed about 30 seconds of a television screen changing channels randomly very quickly. I liked the idea and thought that it was pretty accurate. But there is more to it.  I once had one of my doctors (who is aware of my ADD) confide in me that he too was diagnosed, as an adult, with ADD. He conceded that his was not as severe as mine, but the important fact was that he found that this tendency to continually and quickly move from one channel to another was in fact an asset to him. He actually found that the quick pace of a busy doctor's office was a perfect fit for an adult with ADD.

The thing that affects me most however from a technical perspective is the need to be able to capture numerous steps and attributes in one complete thought, as it were. A good example of this type of thinking would involve a game of chess. A master chess player can focus well enough to see 15 moves ahead being able to envision pins, forks, checks and various other tactical elements all the while keeping track of the various piece values gained and lost. Ask the same chess player to do the same while being interrupted every few seconds and the outcome would be quite different.

Earlier this week I was working on configuring a server that was utilizing a networking protocol "801.q" which will allow for multiple VLANS to be configured to the same network card. When I am able to focus correctly the switch--> cable--> vlan --> subnet--> interface card --> configuration file and all of the various attributes that need to be considered could all be digested in one piece and I'd simply edit the files. Instead, I'd have to get so far, complete one step and rethink the whole process over and over again. It probably took me four times as long as it would have had my focus been intact. Thus we have this weeks blog caption... That is how I feel most at these times.... tapping my head, saying think, think, think to myself!

All through elementary school I was always told how smart I was and with my IQ I could go so far... "If only I'd applied myself". The late 50's and early 60's were not very good times for those of us with ADD. In fact, thinking back, it's absolutely amazing that I grew up to be as good natured as I am. For all practical purposes however, the constant "changing of channels" is pretty easy to deal with on a daily basis. Good habits, a high priority on organization and a good sense of humor can do wonders to allow me to be successful on a daily basis. A continued career in the technical fields for me, however, would be a prospect that would most certainly be doomed to failure.

Speaking of humor as a coping mechanism, I'd recently run into an old "alt.support.attn-defecit" news thread I'd started in January of 1995. It was entitled "The top xx things ADDrs should NEVER do" (it started out as the top 10 list but was so popular we were aiming for the top 50 instead). The many responses and stories were really very funny

Here is a sample of my first top 4 :
1). Never put a warm pop in the freezer for a "few minutes" just to get it cold.
2). Never put coffee/soda/ANYTHING on the car roof "for a sec." until you get the car loaded.
3). Never start some bathtub water and run downstairs "for a sec" to do something real quick.
4). Never pull away from the gas pump without first checking to make sure the nozzle is not in your car, but in it's holder. (I've never had a mishap with this one but, I ALWAYS check because I could just see myself doing it and the consequences scare the heck out of me!)
5). NEVER buy something now that you need later, with the plan to get it out when you need it.  If you remember you bought it, you won't remember where you put it.

I don't remember how many we ended up with but if you need a good chuckle here is a link to an early compilation of it and some of the stories were great:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.attn-deficit/browse_thread/thread/9448537852813c9f/6dc4c87b4f1aeea6?lnk=gst&q=top+10#6dc4c87b4f1aeea6

What I've done this week:
Weekly Totals: (Sunday --> Saturday)
Running - 20 Miles
Rowing - 23,643 Meters
Swimming - 4,400 Meters
Versa - 1 Mile 29:30
Bike - 87 Minutes
Speed Bag/Jump Rope 5 minutes each alternating - 45 Minutes

Diet
19,420 Calories Consumed
8,475 Calories Burned during exercise.
14,616 Calorie Maintenance Goal
10,945 Net Calories ( Consumed minus Burned)
3,671 Deficit ( Goal minus Net)

Eyes on the Prize

Those of you who know me know I do nothing half way.... This can be good... This can be bad. This week it was bad.  I attended two separate events that involved mass quantities of beer. My diet sucked, my workouts sucked... the week sucked.... I made almost NO progress on my NCSA training.

Fortunately I have a large goal on the horizon; the Presidential Towers stair climb in Chicago on March 28th. It's time to get serious. I've prepared my breakfasts & lunches for the week. I've scheduled my workouts to make the most of these coming two weeks. I've scheduled time to study.

Winston Churchill once said, regarding his considerable alcohol consumption; "I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.". This week, I can not say the same. So much so, that I'll not drink another beer until our celebratory toast with pizza on the evening of the 28th. I will also use my time away from the brew to reconsider my habit of daily consumption. Yep, that'll make for a very unique St. Patty's day! Oh well...

In any event... Two weeks ago I'd been in the best shape of my life (4 sub 30 minute Versa miles in a row!). I've gained a few pounds since then but I'm certain I'll be able regain what's been lost & then some.

I won't bore anyone with the details of my less than stellar exercise and diet week. If you're really interested, as always, you can check my food diary on livestrong.com under the user "stairclimber_d".



 

I Yam What I Yam!

It's been another interesting week. After my vacation from what I've come to refer to as my "mega-cardio" schedule, I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things. Martha is starting to feel better after her sinus surgery but is still quite a ways from being 100%.  My talks with management at work have yielded some changes in that I've been reassigned to a different group where my diminishing skill set can be put to use in the best manner. 

Change, change, change... After literally years of an iron clad routine aimed at a significant challenge, It's like I have to re-invent my life. Do I REALLY need to maintain the 90 min. of cardio while I study for my NSCA certification or should I retreat to a more normal 1 a day strength/30 min. cardio routine and use the extra time I'd have spent on the cardio towards actual time in the books? If I return to a more traditional fitness schedule, do I incorporate Crossfit?  If I change up from a lot of cardio... Will I be able to handle the change in diet that such a modification would require? I would most certainly miss that extra 1,000 to 1,500  calories I've been accustomed to. To make things even more difficult, in times of stress, disappointment and frightening levels of change, I tend to over eat and drink WAY too much beer. Everyone knows you can't out "work out" a bad diet! (and a bad diet makes those workouts that I do engage in SO much harder... )

Funny, but when my ego takes a spill as it has with my recent job reclassification, I always tend to find myself, without even being aware of it, quoting the wisdom of one of my favorite cartoon characters "Popeye"... with him, I'm comfortable uttering the ideal statement regarding a healthy attitude towards self acceptance and a realistic ego and I quote; "I yam what I am and that's all that I am".

There's really so much to like about Popeye. Growing up and watching Popeye all through the 1950's decade, I believe he had an enormous positive influence on the baby boomer generation. He ALWAYS stood up to the bully Bluto, he demonstrated the power of a healthy diet (He's strong to the finish cause he eats his spinach! ) and always did the right thing when it came to Olive Oyle and Sweat Pea  (not to mention his friend and obviously obese and diet challenged fellow character "Wimpy")...

While I like the original song lyrics to "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", I do believe the song from the 1980 film captures the essence of Popeye even better...

I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam 'cause I yam what I yam

And I gots a lot of muskle and I only gots one eye
And I never hurts nobodys and I'll never tell a lie
Tops to me bottoms and me bottoms to me top
And that's the way it is 'till the day that I drop
What am I?
I yam what I yam!

When it came right down to it, Popeye was a stand up, regular guy... The proverbial "working class hero" who had his moments of greatness but was never cast as a perfect creature... His language was raw and unsophisticated, his voice was annoying (as was his nyuk, nyuk nyuk laugh) and even though he was strong and had forearms as jackhammers, he was hardly good looking and was stricken with that unsettling ocular anomaly, "The eye". It's no wonder that I find a real affinity with the character. But than again, what would I know about living and growing up with a feature as unsettling?  ;-)

What I've done this week:

I'm eating late today and want to post... this week is a 6 day total. Next week I'll post Sunday --> Saturday..

Running - 8 miles

Swimming - 1.3k m

Rowing - 21,828m

Stairs - 209 Floors

Bike - 70 minutes

Versa Mile in 29:40

Calories Consumed - 18,864

Calories Burned through exercise - 5,384

Net Calories (Consumed - Burned) - 13,480My 

Maintenance Goal - 12,528 (I did overeat this week by about 1,000 calories)


My NSCA studies are SLOW... the first chapter has been difficult... I'm almost done with it ( I'm actually thinking I probably don't need to memorize as much as I have)...