Closing Week 39 / Start Week 40
Another week has already passed and I’m pretty happy with the whole week as I look back. What was on the planning?
Basic schedule for week 39 (September 21-27)
- Rest: Workdays get up at 6am and go rest at midnight.
- Running: 3 times in the morning. Getting the blisters away with 6×4 minute runs with 1 minute rest in between.
- Freediving: Pool session on Thursday. At least 6 times this week: max 15 minute static schedule. Short but intense.
- Food: Start eating regularly 3 times a day on workdays. Not yet paleo style but no snacks after dinner! Soda light no problem.
- Mental: Read some books and start writing regularly again.
The resting part is going great! I’ve made some variables in my sleeping schedule. Basic rule number 1 is that I sleep 6 hours and that’s it. So, I try to keep it the same the whole week; going to bed at midnight (read/sleep) and get up at 6 in the morning. Sometimes there are priorities and things need to be finished. Or sometimes I’m in a working flow, that I don’t want to quit working yet. So I had a few occasions that I went to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning and got out of bed at 7 or 8 in the morning. In the weekend my only rule is to get out of bed at around 8 in the morning. Sleeping out is mentally refreshing.
Running is also going excellent. Last week 3 runs of 6 times 4 minutes, without any real problems. Only thing is that I feel my left calve and my right heel after 20 minutes of running. Not a real problem, but something to keep an eye on. No blisters or any other foot problems at the moment. I’m still taping my heels every time before going for a run. I probably go to my local sport store to video my running and examine my foot, to see if I use the right equipment for running. Next week 3 runs with a 5×5 minutes schedule.
Sanne and I did an excellent freediving session on Wednesday in the pool. We played a lot with alignment and technique, but still I’m missing a dedicated lane to improve. Outdoor season is over now and because of my busy schedule we will probably stick to the Wednesday pool training schedule. Dry static schedules are off for the moment. Maybe again next month.
Food schedule is going pretty okay. I’m back to eating 3 times a day and no snacks in the evening. But the weekends are still eat-all-I-can days.
Mental part is going okay. Writing is up and going strong again. In the last 3 weeks I’ve read 9 books. So that is 3 books a week. At the moment I’m reading around 6 others at the same time. Absorbing knowledge! The biggest one is Titan, a biography about the life of John D. Rockefeller. 760 pages written by Ron Chernow. Great read and this one alone will probably take until next weekend to finish.
What I’m learning with making schedules and therefore structured changes in my life is that I need to do it with small steps, stick with it for several weeks and then add, remove or change a habit or skill. So after the coming week I’ve done 4 weeks of good sleeping cycles, running, basic eating and mental homework that it’s time to change something again. Interesting weeks to come!
My schedule for the new week:
Basic schedule for week 40 (September 28 - October 4)
- Rest: Workdays get up at 6am and go to bed at midnight. 6 hours of rest.
- Running: 3 times in the morning. Getting the blisters away with 5×5 minute runs with 1 minute rest in between.
- Freediving: Pool session on Wednesday. Do a dry walk or static when I feel like it.
- Food: Start eating regularly 3 times a day on workdays. Not yet paleo style but no snacks after dinner! Soda light no problem.
- Mental: Read some books and start writing regularly again.