Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Half-way through the Primal Challenge


Today is the 28th of September, making it the 16th day of my 30 day Primal Challenge. Just over two weeks in and I've already had my fair share of highs and lows. My energy levels have been slightly lower in the past week, and yet I've had problems sleeping at night as well. I think that these problems are related to a perpetual state of under-recovery (I don't like the term overtraining) due to my work-out schedule. Mondays and Wednesdays I have a swimming class from 1-2 PM. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have a mountain biking class from 2-4PM. On the weekends I usually do a short, but intense body-weight workout as prescribed by the Primal Blueprint. I have been doing research on  recovery periods after intense work-out sessions, and I believe that your body requires 2-7 days rest for the given body section that you're utilizing. Swimming rips my upper body pretty well twice a week, but overall is an all-body cardiovascular workout. Mountain biking on the other hand really does my legs in twice a week, with only one day of recovery (and only semi-recovery because I have swimming on Wednesdays) in between. The class generally consists of about an hour and a half of climbing, with the remainder of the period downhilling and riding back to campus. All of this is simply part of my school schedule, and does not include cycling for transpiration around town or for recreation on the weekends. 

A high resting heart rate, trouble sleeping and appetite loss are all signs of under-recovery. There is no way to measure if this will impede my fat loss during this 30 day challenge, so I can only 'tough-it-out' until this challenge is over. My mountain biking class is done mid-october, which will give my perpetually sore legs a much needed chance to heal.

Attempting to 'forage' the Food Zoo (our school cafeteria) for Primal foods has proven to be a challenge. As such, I have made a few exceptions - pizza on occasion, veggie wrap etc. I think that being as active as I am, a few extra carbs probably won't hurt, and may actually help with my energy levels. 

1 comment:

  1. Good luck on the challenge my son! Halfway there and you are hanging in. Proud of your efforts.

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