5 weeks down

Ok...at some point I will stop counting, but maybe after the 3 month mark. So 5 weeks of kettlebells and powerlifting/strength and I feel...well pretty darn strong. I actually made it through my 3x10 sets of burpees this morning and didn't have to stop to rest quite so much. Oye the first week I had to do those it was like do 3 burpees, stop, do 3 more...stop...finish the final four and want to lie on the floor. Now I can get through the full set of 10...even if I start to falter a little at the end I'm still able to do all 10. So yes, i'm getting my fitness back which is soooooo nice. Interesting observation was with hanging leg raises today...where I hang on some rings and lift my legs up...4 weeks ago...could barely do 5. Today..12 wasn't so hard (ok a little at the end...but these are not sissy exercises).

And good new...Fatigue is still at bay...so I really do think I"m on the mend. And I'm more and more thinking Magnesium did have something to do with it. Been running a bit...still pretty laborious...how did we ever get into running? Those first few weeks of running...SUCK. But I did have a fun end of a run the other day where my friend and i pushed it at the end of the run and it felt good. I'm almost to venturing past the 40 minute mark. I know...sounds so short.

And I wont' be doing the half mary i was contemplating in November. Too much chaos in Oct to deal with. One insanity at a time please. Maybe carlsbad half in January? Donno.

But all in all its good. Checked my body comp this weekend, body fat is down, % bf is down and I have regained the lean body mass I lost this spring which is also a good thing. Side comment on body composition though...who says you can't spot reduce? Seriously...I wouldn't believe it except if you have the YEARS of trends with how your body loses weight...what you are doing *does* influence where you lose more fat. I'm so not kidding. The first time I went in to see my nutritionist over 2 years ago we would notice I would lose weight from some parts faster than others and she would comment: are you doing more XYZ? And I would blow off the comment as I didn't believe in the idea that doing something that used a section of your body would cause more fat to disproportionately leave that area. I just figured 'that's my genetics'.

Ok...i'm now super suspicious. Last time I was working with her back from 2007-spring 2009...i tended to equally (and these two spots I would lose the most body fat from)...lose from my quads and my waist. This time? My quads alone DROPPED a disproportionally greater amount than ANYWHERE else. She asked: are you doing lots of squats?

Well...yes I am...but why would that cause me to drop MORE fat from my quads?

Last time I was working with her I was doing swim-bike-run plus some crossfit. This time i'm doing kettlbells/powerlifting, running and vinyasa yoga. It's kind of bizarre. So maybe you *can* do some spot reduction. But I think if you that is all you do you won't lose anything...you do lose fat all over the body, but it does come off not at the same rate from the same places. That's kinda weird too.

Three weeks down

Three weeks down with my strength/conditioning kettlebell class and all is going well with the class. I love the class. To the point that I am sad on the days I don't get to go and excited on the days that I do...Waking up at 5am doesn't even bother me and that is SAYIN' something considering I am no early bird. It's interesting because the program is periodized and so we have had 3 heavy weeks progressively getting heavier weights and then decreasing number of sets...so for example the first three weeks for my deadlifts looked like this: 5x3, 4x3, 3x3. Next week it is 2x3, but also a decrease in weight on all lifts. I had gotten up to 135 on the DL last week which is progress...i was doing 3x5 @ 145-150lbs in January. So the strength is coming back. I probably could pull that right now, but I wanted to start conservative considering I'm getting back onto the training wagon at the moment. But good news...energy is high and spirits are too.

It was interesting last week because I was in a discussion about a random supplement that is making its way into the trimarket...what's new there? But it got me thinking about how I feel like I have 'rounded the bend' almost fully on a few different spectrums in the last 3 weeks which had me thinking: is it just that I can train again? Taking a fair amount of starchy carbs out of my diet unless prepping or recovering from training (similar to Paleo for Athletes), or is it the fact that I decided to see if some Mg supplementation might be beneficial?? I am a data point of one, but I might be leaning toward that I may have been Mg deficient. I have been reading a lot of both endurance athletes as well as the impact Mg has on mood and it makes me wonder...its not too out of the realm of possibility more out of the fact that I have come up short on so many other things this spring that I tend to wonder what else I might be missing. I eat a pretty heathy well rounded diet, but things have pointed to that I don't efficiently absorb the nutrients in food. Either way, I'll probably take it more out of insurance than anything. After this spring's issues and how so much has surfaced with deficiencies...i'm pro-multivitamin and pro-multimineral now.

On the endurance front I am considering a half marathon in November, more out of the fact it would be a way on my off training days to continue to burn high amounts of calories. And while I truly believe calorie in- calorie out = weight change, I can't help but be annoyed that while I have been extremely diligent tracking calories and exercise in training peaks...and I have been running a deficit very consistently for over 2 weeks...the scale has decided not to be a pal and reflect this hard work. It actually is saying i'm heavier at the moment. In two weeks I will know better with a bf test...the pants do fit a little less snug, so I have to go with that. I have been known to lose fat as quickly as I gain lean body mass...and considering I've been doing more weights/week than I ever have over the past few years, who knows how my body will freak out. Granted one goal was to gain back the 2 pounds of lean body mass I had lost since last year, I think I'm there.

More fun to come I'm sure.

One week down

Week one of kettlebells/powerlifting has gone really well. I'm sore. I knew I would be. But not too sore and the type of soreness is not related to how I used to get sore when all the overtraining syndrome started...so maybe I'm heading out of the woods. I still need naps it seems on the weekends and I will be honest...if I could nap around 3pm in the afternoon I would do it. That would have been good today, but I will make this short and head to bed early.

But the best thing is that it just feeeeeels good. So many months of barely getting my HR up and finally being able to be out of breath during a workout just gives that great rush of endorphin high that is so wonderful. I heart endorphins. In all honesty I'm more surprised that I'm not MORE sore. I mean, don't get me wrong...friday's squat fest (a zillion and two lateral squats combined with a bunch of back squats made me barely able to move around this weekend) put me in a sorry state, but really not a severe degree. Soon enough I will be moving beyond that initial 'owchie i haven't lifted in a while soreness' to the different type of soreness that comes with just moving new heavier weights. The later hurts a little less.

But most of all...i'm enjoying it and having fun. And really that is the most important.

But again it has me thinking...will I *ever* come back to triathlon? I know I don't have to. And I won't until I think i will love the multisport schedule, but it is just so weird to think that I may not come back. I am having a day where I'm really not sure if I ever will return. But then again...tomorrow I might think differently. I would say I'm about 50:50 split at the moment...so it depends on when you catch me.

In the meantime...I'm learning to master that kettlebell swing.