Planning, Organizing, and Following Through?

What else do you do on a rest week but view video? I've been watching a LOT of swim video and visualizing how that would feel. How my hands would rotate,  my arms would reach, and my elbows would stay high.  Today, I finally got to try some of it while doing 1000 yards of pulling and to my surprise, I was up for that!

I'm heading into my biggest base block. I'm excited to start those tough Du workouts. I don't like rest weeks but I know that I really need them. So, I rested, planned, and organized.

1. Tracking my workouts on Livestrong
I've entered my planned workouts into Livestrong. That is, entered the estimated calories I will burn.

2. Plan my meals/snacks for the day
Knowing in advance how much I should burn, I can pack an appropriate amount of food for the day and plan an appropriate dinner. Appropriate dinners this week include Lindsey Corbin's power chili, Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf, and Pho.

3. Track my actual intake on Livestrong
If it goes in my mouth, it goes on Livestrong. If I want something from the vending machine, I know how many calories I've got to blow on it or dinner. I've been picking dinner lately.

4. Printout my workouts
I have all the workouts for this week printed. This allows me to read and make my own notes on them. I can take them with me in case I'm unsure of something.

5. 9-9:30 bedtimes!!!!
There is no better recovery method than sleep.

6. Don't procrastinate -- especially on Sunday workouts
Doing the Sunday workout late does not allow for enough time to recover for Monday morning masters.

So now, all I have to do is follow through.

Weigh In Day
 
Rest week did not mean rest from the above planning. In fact, due to the reduced volume of workouts, it was more important to keep focused. 0.8 for the week - not huge, but nice for a rest week. So far, almost 5 pounds in 2 months -- which included Christmas and New Years. I'll never be the biggest loser, but I'm steadily bringing it down in a healthy way and not risking muscle building.

Week One:  149.8
Week Eight: 145.0