Day 350 (F, 111216) — Getting Ready for Primal: Exercise, Part 2

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. – Emerson

A Change in Plans.  Rather than interrupt my exploration of how things will change as I move from 4HB Slow Carb to living Primally, I’ll post my normal Friday Setlist on Monday.

Moving Primally, Part 2 – Move Slowly, Often.  Good news again: I won’t need to change my current running plan much, either.

Running.  Mark’s rule is that people should move slowly, frequently: “3–5 hours a week of low-level aerobic activity (walking, hiking, cycling, swimming, puttering in the garden, playing golf, etc.).”

I am looking forward to this change. =)

Up until now, I’ve gone jogging when I can and, like many people, I’ve often tried to increase both my mileage and my pace.  This has caused problems with my feet, ankles, and knees on occasion.

Thankfully, Mark recommends walking rather than running.  This isn’t a big deal for me given that my “running” was a sloooooow jog in the first place — usually 11-13 minute miles.  A good day would see me sweat out a blistering 10:30 pace.  There are lots of runners who hardly consider 10:30 miles to be walking much less “running.”

Also, my normal routes would go about 6 miles, 2-3 times per week.  Since the twins were born and it has turned cold in the mornings, however, this has dwindled to once a week and sometimes not even that.

My long runs were generally 8-10 miles (though I have gone as far as 13.2 miles — I challenged myself to go for a half marathon distance and my route turned out to be just barely over the 13.1 miles I needed to move).

Sprints.  About once a week Mark recommends sprinting:  a simple progression from slow jogging to moving slightly faster to all out sprint as fast as you can.  Do this for 80-100 meters for 6-8 cycles.

You can also do hill sprints, cycling sprints, swimming sprints, rowing “sprints,” Tabata sessions, skipping, bounding, hopping, stair drills, etc.

This aspect of exercising is based on doing something quickly for a short time, several times over.  What that something is depends on how imaginative you are. =)

Putting It All Together – Running.  So what will my “moving and sprinting” workouts lookout after I make the change?

EXERCISE	DISTANCE	NOTES
Jogging	3-6 miles	12 min/mi pace 1-2 x / wk
Sprints	80-100 meter sprints	6-8 cycles in 2 miles 1 x / wk

I’ll do a different kind of sprint when the opportunity presents itself.  I’ll keep an eye out for hills, grab my bicycle when I can, etc.

Between this and last Thursday’s yesterday’s post, that’s all the exercise adaptation I need to do to go Primal.  Yippee. =)

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Exercise.  So far we’ve done well this week but today is a challenge because we’re leaving for the in-laws’ house in the AM.  I guess I’ll just have to do all my exercises first thing in the morning.  No problem. =)

	Exercise	Sets	Reps	Notes
1	Myotatic Crunches	2	25
2	Cat Vomit Exercises	2	20
3	Push-ups	2	50
4	Pull-ups	2	10	assisted
5	Squats	2	50
6	Dips	2	20	assisted

Review. pending

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Plan for Week 50. Off to the in-laws’ today, coming back on Monday.  It’s gonna play hell with my eating.  Oh well.

Day	Fast?	SCD?	Run/Exer?
Sunday	No	No	No
Monday	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tuesday	Yes	Yes	No
Wednesday	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thursday	Yes	Yes	No
Friday	No	No	Yes
Saturday	No	No	TBD
Red = a negative deviation | Green = a positive deviation | Blue = a note

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