The time change is throwing me off. Ivy woke me up at what would be my usual time of 4ish in the morning, but this morning, that’s 3 in the morning. Physically no different, but mentally…why the fuck am I up now?! Oh yeah, because the dogs don’t know we’re supposed to sleep later, they just know “I gotta go, so you gotta get up and take me” So now I’m sitting here after finishing my first cup of coffee and getting food prep done for the week ahead, and I sat down to reflect on the last week, and I’m coming up blank. Nothing really stands out. I guess not every week is a highlight reel. Some are just…fine. Steady. Unremarkable. And honestly? I guess I can live with that.
This week I missed leg day because of an appointment, but then I got my runs in Tuesday and Thursday, and the calves are feeling a bit of alright, so that’ll be my win for the week.
A few months ago, a “meh” week would’ve derailed me. I wanted the weekly PRs, whether lifting or running, but now, it’s just part of the plan. No drama, no meltdown, just stacking days. Lifting, running, sleeping (mostly), recovering, repeating.
The work is starting to feel normal. Not always easy, especially when it’s cooling off a lot in the morning, so the desire to just curl up in an already warm bed sounds WAY better than going outside, but normal. And with the major “stuff your face” holidays coming up, I think normal is what I’ll need to keep from blowing myself up like an overstuffed turkey. (Is there such a thing as too much stuffing?!)
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
A long time ago (2015) in a gym far, far away… I started a blog for accountability. And stopped writing the blog. And started again. And stopped again. You probably get where this is going. Each time was supposed to be the One, the version of me that would finally stick. Spoiler: they didn’t.
Fast-forward a decade and here we are again, same guy, different decade, different town, different blog, same goal; to be the best and fittest version of me that I can be. This time it’s The Recomp Chronicles. A little older, possibly a little wiser, but finally honest enough to admit that maybe the journey doesn’t need to be cinematic (I was really dramatic before, oh woah is me). It just needs to keep going. Some weeks rock and I hit PRs and feel unstoppable, other weeks I hit walls and eat Krispy Kreme and want to just get fat and invent a suspension chair.
This past week was a de-load; lighter weights, slower pace, more thinking than doing. And that’s fitting, because it’s hard not to look back at all the other “Day Ones.” The Michigan posts, the false starts, the posts that never made it past the first week. Turns out I’ve been the main character in the longest prequel series ever written.
But things feel different now. Time will tell if it really is, but so far, I’m feeling good. As I found when I quit smoking back in the day, after dozens and dozens of starts and stops (stops and starts?), I only have to succeed once. So I keep moving forward on this journey, through the good (Yay 320 leg press) and the bad (I swear I didn’t eat the entire box of cereal…), the recovery and the sleepless nights.
And by “succeed once, I don’t mean that I will never screw up and over indulge in ice cream, or pasta, and don’t get me started on holiday cookies and Thanksgiving food coma. What I mean is this time I fully understand that I will make mistakes as I go, but this time I will not quit on myself because of it. I’ll be like one of those old sticky wall toys, the kind that’s lost its shine, covered in dust, a little crusty, hanging there by one arm but refusing to let go. I’m faded, stretched, but still holding on.
That’s the voice I want to bring to stage. I’m not the reboot, just the continuation.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
This last week definitely didn’t turn out how I’d hoped.
Monday’s gym session just felt off, like I could move the weights, but nothing felt right. I chalked it up to “Monday being Monday” and just moved on. With my calf still feeling off I didn’t try to run Tuesday, but by Tuesday late afternoon I could feel it: Itchy eyes, scratchy throat, cotton-headed. The sudden weather change to much cooler and rain had hit me good, so I made the one call I used to hate making: I hit pause. I took some OTC meds, ate my soup, drank my water and tea, and tried to get as much sleep as I could through the week. I didn’t try to force anything by going to the gym or trying to run or even walk, just let my body do what it needed.
So the 6th week of Phase 2 turned into “Sick Week”, and instead of just picking up where I left off and pushing through what was scheduled to be the 7th week this coming week, I’m going to pivot and do my de-load next week. Lighter weights, fewer sets, and more mobility and stretching at home. Then, Phase 3 starts the first week of November, hopefully with a much healthier and more prepared me at the helm.
So yeah, normally I would have tried to push through, but I’m learning that sometimes you have to use a little bit of strategery when life tries to knock you down. Pivot when you need and let your body guide you, it generally knows what it needs.
Lessons from this week
Sometimes showing up means backing off.
Recovery is still work, just not as flashy.
A pivot isn’t failure; it’s adjustment. Long-term success builds on being able to adjust to the needs of the moment.
There will be times to push through; long runs, soreness, mental fatigue, but when you’re sick, or on the brink, pushing through just makes it worse and can lay you up longer. Take the break, eat the soup, drink the tea, get the sleep. Be good to yourself.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
This week was all about consistency, and about slamming face-first into the infamous wall. Four weeks into Phase 2, and shockingly, I haven’t fallen off the wagon yet. I’m not saying I’m a model of discipline, more like a slightly dented shopping cart that still manages to roll in the right direction despite one wheel wobbling worse than my legs after leg day.
The training is steady, the runs are steady, and even my sleep is finally leveling out. Which, apparently, is the body’s cue to stop giving out “easy” wins. The scale? Mocking me. The mirror? Playing hard to get. My effort-to-result ratio right now feels about as rewarding as shouting into a hurricane.
I’m guessing it’s normal, every program must hit this stretch (I haven’t been this far into a program in, possibly ever), but it still sucks. I’m doing the things, eating the stuff, logging everything, and the only thing dropping quickly is my patience.
Now that the novelty’s worn off, I’m down to the nuts and bolts: food timing and recovery. It turns out you can’t just lob protein and carbs at your body whenever and expect superhero regeneration. Some days I nail the timing and feel unstoppable. Other days I mistime a meal and end up running on fumes, wondering if “hitting the wall” was supposed to be metaphorical or if I actually just blacked out mid-lift.
Fear not, faithful blog reader, I’m still here. Every lift, every run, every recovery session completed. My sleep is improving. My food habits are messy but I’m working on that daily. The wall is here, the wall is painful, but I’m still moving forward.
Small wins. Consistency over fireworks. Progress that hides under frustration until one day it doesn’t.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
“If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.” — Samwise Gamgee, The Fellowship of the Ring
That line has been rattling around in my head this week, because I’m in uncharted territory. Not geographically, but with consistency. I’ve never strung together this much gym and running work without burning out. Usually by week four or five I’ve hit a wall, either physically from under-recovery, or from cutting food too hard, or mentally by not trusting the process. But this time? I’m still here, still going, and still moving forward.
Consistency = Uncharted Territory
Old me would hammer workouts, under-eat, then flame out. This version of me is pacing things: lifting three times a week, hitting every Runna workout, logging supportive cardio with the dogs or on the walking pad, and actually recovering and “trying” to eat the way my body needs. It feels strange, but in a good way. I’m no longer waiting for the crash, I’m watching the habits start to stick.
The Wins Beyond the Scale
The scale has been bouncing within a two-pound window. Old me would be losing my mind over that. But here’s the truth: It is still driving me a bit bonkers, but I also realize that my waist is continuing to trend down from Phase 1, my lifts are climbing, and my runs are getting longer, and somewhat easier. I’m fitter now than when I started, even if the number on the scale doesn’t scream it yet.
Runna & Recovery = The Secret Sauce
Letting Runna handle my progression has been a game-changer. Intervals and long runs bump up gradually, keeping my calves from revolting like they did when I tried to push too far, too fast. On top of that, I’m eating enough to recover. It feels weird not to be starving and sore all the time, but that’s exactly why I’m still here in Week 3 of Phase 2 instead of sidelined.
Looking Ahead
This isn’t about arriving anywhere, it’s about seeing how far this road really goes. Like Sam, I’ve stepped beyond the point I’ve ever been before. The question now is: how much farther can I go? The answer is coming one rep, one run, and one week at a time.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
I’m a day late; I try to do these weekly recaps on Sunday, but I ended up working from 6-2, so my day got all kerfuffled. It was a great week though all in all.
The week’s biggest win? Consistency. I actually got all my workouts in. For me, consistency has always been my biggest issue, and for once I didn’t fuck it up halfway through the week. Three gym sessions down, plus the walks and mobility — it feels good to say I showed up every day I said I would.
Biggest frustrations? Two-fold:
The park where I walk the dogs did their annual pesticide maintenance, so I decided to keep them away from the park. Bane would have been good, but Ivy loves to eat the grass. Each day I did my walk I checked, but even Saturday the signs were still up, but hopefully Tuesday morning they’ll be gone and we can get our walk on.
The lower ab strain. The light bulb moment came when I was going over some notes, and realized that the lower ab strain kicked in a little after I started doing the GMB drills. A lot of them are very core centric, so I pulled back after Monday and swapped in other mobility work. The soreness dropped off almost immediately. Sometimes progress isn’t about adding — it’s about knowing what to remove. I’ll give it a couple of weeks, then start adding things back in.
On the upside, weight was down a couple of pounds, and my waist and body fat continue to go down.
Week 2’s focus: Start the running plan. My calves have been solid through the walking volume the last couple of weeks, and I’m ready to lace up and reintroduce running without pulling myself back into strain city. That’s the test for this week: keep the momentum, keep the joints happy, and get the dogs back out and walking again.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
You ever notice how the universe seems to have a sixth sense (I see sleepy people) for screwing with your sleep? This week was supposed to be my big “rest and recharge” week — a de-load before kicking off Phase 2. Instead, I got a parade of late-night curveballs: heartburn from poor pizza choices, multiple dog puke alarms, and even a 1 AM flash flood alert.
So yeah — not exactly the deep, restorative slumber I had in mind. But here’s the funny part: even with garbage sleep, my body still moved (sloooooowly, stubbornly) in the right direction.
The Numbers Don’t Lie (Even if the Scale Does)
Weight: Bounced around thanks to salty meals (210.4 → 209.6 lbs range), but my waist shrank another notch to 38.4 inches.
Body Fat % (tape): 27.3 → 27.1% (small but steady drop).
Lean Mass: Holding steady around 153 lbs.
Soreness: Never above 1/10 all week.
Translation: the scale noise was water retention, not fat gain. The waistline is still trimming down, and the fat % (via tape) is sliding in the right direction. That’s the exact outcome I wanted from de-load week — joints fresh, body still trending leaner, ready to push harder again.
Training on Cruise Control
The gym sessions this week were short and sweet, everything was about form and blood flow, not weight.
Add in:
Daily calf rehab walks (2.5–3.5 miles).
Dog walks every day (about a mile).
Steam room recovery 3x.
Basically: I stayed moving, but never pushed the gas pedal. And my calves didn’t mutiny, which is a big win in itself.
The Real Limiter: Sleep
Every night was something, between eating too much salt later in the day (but so damned tasty), to eating cheap pizza and waking up with heartburn all through the night, my food choices and timing could have been better. And then the dogs decided that this week was a great time to puke. Or go outside. I mean, they did have to go to the bathroom, so I can’t be upset. I’d rather them wake me up then to make a mess inside, but it really messed up the sleep I was hoping for.
The result? Sleep averaged about 5.5–6 hours/night, with broken chunks instead of long, restorative cycles. Energy during the day was “meh” at best, “dragging” at worst. But here’s the kicker — even with that, my waist still shrank, and the fat % still ticked down. That means the system’s working.
Phase 2: What’s Next
De-load week wasn’t glamorous, but it did its job: let the joints and muscles recover, hold my body comp steady, and mentally reset. Now it’s time to move forward.
Here’s the Phase 2 game plan:
Strength Progression: Back to heavier lifting, pushing the main lifts toward true RPE 8–9 sets. More structured progression in shorter blocks.
Running Base: Transition from intervals and rehab walks into consistent 5K runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Saturday long runs creeping past 3 miles into real endurance territory.
Nutrition Tweaks: Keep protein high, but add carbs on run days to fuel endurance (no more skimping here). Sodium awareness stays in play so the scale doesn’t gaslight me.
Recovery Insurance: Naps when I can sneak them in, hydration buffers around salty meals, and earlier wind-downs whenever possible.
Milestones in Sight: Sub-10:00 mile pace, 5K continuous running, push-ups and dips climbing past Phase 1 marks, waistline continuing its slow march down toward 38 → 37.
The Verdict
Deload week wasn’t pretty. The workouts were light, the sleep was trash, and the scale was lying to me. But the signals underneath all that noise? Leaner, tighter, and primed for Phase 2.
Phase 1 was about getting consistent again. Phase 2 is where the results start compounding — heavier weights, longer runs, and smarter recovery.
And if the universe could stop sending me early morning dog puke, that’d be great too.
Still Lifting. Still Losing. Still Showing Up. (Usually)
Dogs are the best alarm clocks and the worst recovery tools. Most mornings, I’m up at 4 AM to hit the gym, but some nights I’m already awake because Ivy, my youngest, has decided to boop me square in the face at 2 AM like a drunk friend confessing their love. “Hey. Hey. Hey. Guess what?! I fuckin’ love you man.” Meanwhile, Bane, my older hound, itches from allergies, then needs to go outside. After all, he’s up, so why not? A full, uninterrupted night of sleep? Rare as Bigfoot flying a UFO.
But six weeks later, I’ve learned something: consistency doesn’t mean perfection. It means showing up even when the night before was chaos. It means stringing together enough good days that the bad ones don’t completely screw up your progress.
The verdict? Mission accomplished — in a George W. Bush sort of way.
The Numbers (July 19 → Aug 31)
Weight: 208.4 lb → 208.2 lb (flat, but the real story is in the details)
Body Fat % (tape): 28.6% → 27.3% (–1.3%)
Waist: 39.5 in → 38.6 in (–0.9 in)
Lean Mass: +2.5 lb
Fat Mass: –2.7 lb
Fitness Test Highlights:
Plank: 60s → 70s
Push-Ups: 15 → 20
Pull-Ups: 5 → 6
Dips: 8 → 9
Wall Sit: 45s → 60s
Not breaking records, but breaking my old limits — and that’s the whole point.
Wins
Consistency streak: I finally stacked six weeks of gym sessions, runs, mobility, and recovery. Not perfect attendance, but no disappearing acts either.
Logging became a habit: Every lift, every run, every measurement tracked. The data pile is now a foundation, not a chore.
Recovery tools came online: Steam room, EMS, massage gun — when used, they worked.
Walking became non-negotiable: Daily walks with Bane and Ivy. Some days that was the win, and it was enough.
Challenges
Calf sabotage: My left calf staged a revolt near the end of the phase, forcing me to swap runs for rehab walks. It was a reminder that durability comes before distance.
Sleep disruptions: Between dogs and on-call shifts, “uninterrupted sleep” was more of a fantasy. Some mornings the real victory was just getting out of bed.
Balancing lifting and running: Learning how much was enough without tipping into too much took trial, error, and a couple strained muscles.
Biggest Challenge = Me: Mentally, I’m still my own biggest roadblock. I can overthink, second-guess, or want to scrap it all when things don’t go perfectly. But this time, I didn’t.
Lessons Learned
The single biggest lesson from Phase 1: missing workouts doesn’t mean failure.
I missed Fridays. I missed Saturdays. Sometimes back-to-back weeks. In the past, that would’ve been the end. I would’ve scrapped the plan and “restarted later” (translation: months down the road when I looked in the mirror and wondered when I was due).
This time, I just kept showing up. Mondays were my reset button. Dog walks were my insurance policy. A bad day, a bad night of sleep, or a missed workout didn’t derail the whole thing — it was just like tripping on a raised bit of sidewalk. I stumbled, caught myself, and kept going.
I also learned that:
Recovery matters as much as training. Push through a strain and you lose weeks. Rest smart and you’re back in days.
Data = accountability. Logging everything, even the ugly sessions, kept me honest.
Consistency isn’t about streaks, it’s about persistence.
Recomp Week (Deload)
This week isn’t about progress, it’s about preservation. The plan:
Training: Light weights, mobility, calf rehab, walks, maybe some biking.
Nutrition: Simple, clean meals. More protein, less fluff. Sandwiches and salads are the name of the game.
Recovery: Steam room and sauna back in the mix, EMS/TENS daily for the calf, compression on rotation.
It’s not retreat — it’s reset.
Looking Ahead – Phase 2
Phase 2 officially starts Sept 7, with the half marathon training plan launching Sept 14. The goals:
Push gym weights upward with a fresh baseline.
Rebuild my running base without re-aggravating the calf.
Keep recovery non-negotiable.
The foundation is built. Now it’s time to layer strength and endurance onto it.
Closing
Phase 1 is done. I’m leaner, stronger, and still standing. Not because everything went perfectly — it didn’t — but because I kept showing up. Even when the calf blew up. Even when sleep didn’t happen. Even when Ivy booped me awake at 2 AM to remind me that she loved me.
The base is built. Recomp week is here. Next stop: Phase 2.
Still lifting. Still losing. Still showing up. Usually.
Sunday Reset – Week 6 Kickoff Sometimes the best training move is no training at all. After cramping through Saturday’s run, I skipped my planned Lone Mountain walk and gave my calf a real break. Instead, I caught up on sleep, food prep, and a whole lot of nothing. Funny thing is, that “nothing” might have been the smartest thing I did all week.
The grogginess from a CBD gummy reminded me that recovery isn’t just about muscles—it’s also about the nervous system and sleep quality. With soreness easing and the week ahead mapped out, I’m stepping into Week 6 not burnt out, not behind—just ready to keep stacking consistent days.
Monday Ivy decided 3 AM was the perfect time to puke, and Bane chimed in later with his itching routine, so sleep wasn’t exactly awesome. Still, I managed to shake it off and head in for leg day.
The session itself went well — I’m still dialing in that upper limit on the leg press. The tricky part is finding a load that pushes strength without wrecking my legs for the next day’s run. That balance between strength and endurance is Phase 1 in a nutshell: building a base without overcooking anything.
It’s the last week of this phase, and I want to finish it proud — consistent, steady, and ready to earn that de-load before Phase 2 cranks things up.
Tuesday Planned: continuous 4K run. Reality: calf had other ideas. The left side cramped again, so the run became another run/walk. Frustrating, since hydration and electrolytes were on point yesterday and this morning. So, it’s likely not an issue with hydration.
So I’ll take it easy today and keep icing and stretching, and hope that adding a compression sleeve Thursday will help. And next week is my scheduled de-load week, so I won’t be going quite as hard at the gym.
Wednesday
Last night’s sleep finally cooperated, and it showed up in the gym today. The chest and triceps session moved well, and it felt good to rack weights without second-guessing if I had anything left in the tank. It’s also the last stretch of my on-call rotation, which means soon I can get back to one of my favorite recovery tools: steam room sessions. I’ve missed them more than I expected.
Midweek, the body feels solid and the mindset is steady. I know the measurements will be what they’ll be, but I feel like I’m actually putting in the kind of work that will start to show. Progress may not always be obvious day to day, but stringing together weeks like this is what gets me to the bigger goals. Right now, I’m hitting the gym hard and staying locked in—that’s a win.
Still Lifting. Still Losing (My Mind). Still Showing Up (Usually).
Today was a good step forward. I stretched my intervals to 90 seconds run / 30 seconds walk and logged 3 miles in just under 35 minutes. That’s the longest run I’ve managed in quite a while, and while I could feel the effort, it felt good to push the distance a bit.
One issue still lingering: that hot spot on the ball of my right foot. Even trying some new socks, it crept in again. It does fade as I go, but I’d rather solve it than keep hoping it disappears. Next step will be experimenting with lacing — if that doesn’t work, I may have to get a little more creative.
Friday – Finally a Friday Session Sleep tracking apps are liars. Mine swears I didn’t actually fall asleep until 10:45, but I was out cold by 8:30. Aside from a quick bathroom trip at 1 AM, it was actually a solid night. Not perfect, but definitely better than the graph of doom my phone showed me.
The big win: I FINALLY made it to the gym on a Friday. First time this whole phase. I felt a little punky, like I’m still fighting something off, but I got in, knocked out the workout, and it felt good to tick that box at last. No steam today since I’m on-call — my phone and steam don’t play nice.
Fingers crossed that tomorrow’s run goes smooth. It’s the first full week of gym I’ve strung together, and that is a huge win this week.
Saturday – Two Miles, One Long Day The plan was a straight two-mile run, but the body had other ideas. I made it about three-quarters of a mile before my left calf started cramping, and with the sinus junk still hanging around, breathing wasn’t exactly smooth either. Lesson learned: some days are about grinding, not shining.
Saturday as a whole was a marathon of a different kind — Daisy’s first Taekwondo tournament as a black belt. Proud dad moment, but it meant we were out the door by 7:45 and on our feet until nearly 4:30. Food was a mess: quick cereal before leaving, a protein bar somewhere in the middle, chili cheese fries when I realized I couldn’t wait another three hours, and Cane’s chicken strips for dinner. Basically, famine followed by feast, with very little water in between.
Mood took a hit when the run went sideways, and energy yo-yo’d all day thanks to the food situation and whatever bug I’m fighting off. Still, it was a day worth showing up for — both in the gym earlier this week and cheering Daisy on all day. Progress doesn’t always look like clean splits or perfect macros, but it stacks all the same.
End of Week 5 Wrap The week closed out with some oddball measurements — weight up, waist stuck — but that’s almost certainly from Saturday’s salt bomb and barely any water. Chili cheese fries + Cane’s chicken strips after a long day on my feet with no hydration is basically a recipe for bloat.
The bigger takeaway? For the first time this phase I actually hit every gym session and every run. None of it looked perfect — some lifts felt rough, the calf cramped on Saturday’s run — but I showed up and got the work done. The tape measure and progress trend are still pointing in the right direction, and that’s the win that matters.
Still Lifting. Still Losing. Still Showing Up. (Usually)
The Recomp Chronicles 