Week 17 Update: October 7th, 2013 - 2nd post of the day!!

Week 17 Update: Oct 07, 2013

I finally figured out my fatigue. It might sound crazy but I need to workout in a single block rather than break up my day with multiple bouts. Yep. It was that simple. The past few weeks, I tested a simple proposition - do I recover enough between workout sessions in the same day to make my second daily session easier or harder. Well, the results are in! I have my worst workouts in the afternoon following a morning workout session. The delay seems to make me more fatigued compared to no delay. I tested this by working out in the morning or the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays - lifting, running, cycling, and elliptical training - and then swimming in the evenings. The weeks I had morning and evening sessions resulted in awful (and I mean awful) swim practices. Conversely, when I worked out right before my swim practices, I felt great. Here are a few other things I learned this week:

• I can increase the tent altitude to 12,000 feet after a few weeks at 10,000 feet without a problem. We both seem fully acclimatized to the high altitude settings.
• IHT no longer makes my toes and fingers tingle. I think I am slowly adjusting to those 20,000 foot, 5-minute bouts without any trouble.
  
• Finally, after a few weeks of editing and data collecting, I posted my blog response to “why climb Everest?” Hope you enjoyed it.

Workout Progress

Running still going well. I have some slight soreness in my soleus (calf muscles) but that subsides overnight and never carries over to the next day. Swimming at a lower intensity also really helped me recover this week.

Spreading out the workload across the week - even on Tuesday and Thursday when I work the longest hours - helped me recover a bit more than previous weeks. Also, as I said in my opening, I now workout right before swimming in the evening because I seem to perform better with a continuous workout schedule compared to splitting the day into two sessions. No more swim workout leg cramps!

275 hours and counting. I can almost taste that 300 hour beer now.

Weekly Summary

No more bad days. I felt great every day. Training in Tuesday and Thursday evenings before swim practice eliminated those down days. I feel like a new man.

Mood

The figure below shows a sharp decline in the good things and a sharp increase in the bad things. Not to worry. Those changes will slowly go away now that I know what makes me miserable. No more broken days of training. Those two-a-days are deadly for me!

Hypoxic Training

We continued ramping up the altitude to 12,000 feet and I felt great. The heat continues to be a problem but soon the outdoor temperature will drop along with our nightly indoor temperature. I can't wait. The heat is really killing me.

Updates for the week

1. IHT continues but no longer makes me feel weird. I do get really sleepy but that is probably due to the fact that I do my IHT sessions at night while watching a few episodes of Family Guy or Southpark with my son.
2. I am very excited now that I solved the misery I felt early every week. The last hurdle to overcome is the heat in the tent. Our latest heat wave on Sunday, October 5th might be the last of the real heat….I hope.
3. After several people suggested it, I finally purchased some calf compression socks. They seem to help my calves (and soleus) recover after runs. I intend to track my soreness a bit closer over the next few weeks as I increase my run times from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. Stay tuned for more….
4. I am almost done with my pulmonology functioning post. Hopefully, I will have it fully edited and posted by the end of the week. Any suggestions on more topics? I have other posts in mind but I figured I would ask those who read my blog posts. So, what do you want to know?