Client Profile: Jason, Week of 11/6 – 11/12

I’ve begun to implement my plans for the goals I laid out last week. I think it was beneficial to refocus myself as this past week has gone pretty well. I started taking salads to work for lunch. Kale, romaine, veggies, sprouts and some BBQ tofu cubes with salsa instead of dressing. On more than one occasion one of my co-workers asked where I ordered the “chicken” salad. It was funny to watch their reaction when I told them it was homemade…and tofu, not chicken.

Running continues to go well. I did a 7 mile long run and I’m proud to say that I was able to hold my half-marathon goal pace (11:30) for the entire distance. Unfortunately, I am still having some knee problems and I think I’m probably pushing things a little bit too much…just barely, but still a little bit too much. I told Jake that it’s hard to slow down because it seems like just about every time I go out I’m seeing improvement with my running. Faster times, longer distances, sometimes both, sometimes just a better heart rate, whatever, everywhere I look I’m seeing improvements. On the other hand, I still need to keep things in perspective that every long run I do from here on out is going to be the longest I’ve ever run. I mean that in the literal sense. Last year when I was training (and during my half-marathon itself) I was walk-running. This year I’m running with no walk breaks. It does seem to be taking its toll on my knee. I may need to start mixing in some short walk breaks or slow down a little (or both) to avoid things getting out of hand.

I’ve also decided to throw the training plan out the window and start over. I had originally wanted to do five days a week of running, then cut back to a goal of four days, but at this point I think I need to embrace doing three *quality* runs per week. If I’m feeling really good maybe I can throw in a fourth easy run, but if I can hit my three quality runs I’ll be happy. Then it’s a matter of getting back on track with my cross training on my off days. My core workouts have been non-existent the last couple weeks as I’ve gotten busy with a work project and have been cutting corners to save time. I know that core (which also includes some hip exercises) is critical and I need to get into the habit of doing it three days a week.

On the nutrition side of things Jake wants me to try to mix in some healthy fats as a way to curb some of my junk food cravings. We talked about ideas like adding some avocado to my salads and taking some nuts and seeds to munch on as a snack. I’ll be putting that into practice this coming week. Sorry for the short update this week, but things are busy.

Weight Update:
Original weigh-in (9/19/11): 216.2
Week 7 weigh-in (11/12/11): 205.0 (-11.2 pounds total, -3.4 pounds from last week)

As always, thanks for reading. You can follow my progress on dailymile or @jwmfitness on twitter.