Loving the rhythm - you know, when you aren't dealing with congestive heart failure, a family member hasn't been diagnosed with cancer, and you didn't just come down with shingles.  Who knew training could be so enjoyable?

Had a client (and friend) in town this week and it was a nice change of pace to sit around and do old guy shit - you know, like sit around and watch baseball and just chill - with another guy with similar interests (or lack thereof) - no homo.  We got 5 training sessions in at Armbrust Pro Gym and killed em all.  He hung quite well considering he doesn't have much experience training at this altitude.  Of course, at the house watching baseball isn't too hard to do if we are just sitting around - not terribly taxing.  🙂 

We loaded last Sunday on IHOP and Beau Jos pizza so we had a good bit of carbs over those 2 meals and I also put down more pizza before bed.   Typically, I do my loads on an off training day but with my current rotation, I am training through the weekends sometimes.  This was the case on Sunday as we trained and then loaded.  

Bitch is, as usual, my controlling of the Skipload the week before by not taking in many carbs did not allow me to drop below baseline.  So, I increased the load time a bit this last Sunday and added more carbs and ... surprise, surprise, I dropped below baseline by Thursday.  I can try to limit my loading but it only hurts me so this Sunday will have me loading on high carbs again and I might even stretch the load time to 4 or even 5 meals.  I have always responded better to larger Skiploads than to smaller ones so it is back to loading hard again.

The only change I will make next week is I am going to stay with the 3 day rotation but have fixed training days instead of "floating" training days.  I will keep the same rotation but take Thursdays and Sundays off.  That means every Monday I will start the week off with a different training day than the previous Monday.  I am doing this because it feels like this 3on/1off is bogging me down and I am starting to feel run down and achy, already.  I come off of the Skipload ok but by the end of the week I am fighting to train heavy, get a pump and my shoulders are KILLING ME.  The other option was to kick back on intensity and... that just isn't going to happen.  The added 1 day of recovery should make all the difference.

3 weeks from our family cruise and everything is going very well.  I should be sub-210 by the time we leave and that is exactly where I wanted to be.

As most know who follow me, I don't like to train on vacation.  It is a VACATION and that means I like to get away from everything and relax but I am going to continue to train light and use that week on the cruise as a deload week.  I will still train to get a pump and get a workout in but it will not be 100% like if I were not on vacation.  I feel this will help my brain by keeping my momentum and I will keep the diet relatively tight and structured, still.  I say "relative" because I will not eat super strict but I will still eat clean and take protein powder with me so that when I return from vacation, I am not digging out of a hole again and struggling with motivation.

I am contemplating my plan as to what I will do when I return.  I want to stay tight and train through the holidays (which I sometimes don't do) and just maintain my condition without having to diet to get leaner because at the first of the year, I am considering shifting gears and possibly going into prep mode again.  I think I will ponder this on vacation and make up my mind before I get back home.

I will be riding with my wife on Sunday and putting down carbs.  I hope you have a great weekend, as well!