This post is from J.D., the other half of Get Fit Slowly.

I had a rough day at Crossfit yesterday. After taking a week off because of my sore back, my body wasn’t quite ready for intense effort. (I spent my week off doing nothing; I intentionally rested my body.) Though the workout wasn’t too intense (cleans and dips), I felt nauseated after just a couple of minutes. I took a dreaded DNF, and was fine with that.

Despite having a lousy workout to end the month, I’m not discouraged. And though it’s also true that my body fat and muscle mass remained the same in August, that doesn’t discourage me either. I still lost 4-1/2 pounds and an inch around the waist!

Here are my ongoing fitness statistics since the start of the year:

Look! I lost 10 pounds in the first four months of 2010, and I’ve lost 21 pounds in the second four months. Rock on. I’m also impressed that I’ve lost 7-1/2 inches from my waist, and that my waist is now narrower than my hips. I’m not sure how much smaller my waist can get. (Well, that’s not true. I’m sure I can drop at least three more inches. I’d love to get to a 32-inch waist.)

All of my numbers continued to improve last month except for body fat and muscle mass, which remained level. I’m fairly certain this is because although I was maintaining a calorie deficit, my diet in August contained a lot of junk food. That’s something I’m looking to fix in September.

I’m pleased with everything else, though. My current weight is about 179 (for daily, 3-day average, and 7-day average), and seems to be moving downward at an even pace. My goal is to be at 175 by the end of September. I also want to focus on reducing my body fat and boosting my muscle mass this month. My wife and I will then spend a month in France and Italy, and I won’t spend much time worrying about anything fitness related. When we return, I’ll spend November and December working to shed the last 10-12 pounds for me to reach my target weight of 163.

And then? And then? Well, and then I’ll keep doing Crossfit, working to boost my strength. Plus, I may work my way back into running. When I tried running in 2008 and 2009, I did so at 190-200 pounds. I want to try it at 160-170 pounds. My guess is that shedding 30 pounds and boosting my core strength will make me a better runner, and less prone to injuries. (That’s my hope, anyhow.)

Pam and I arrived in Wrightwood, CA for the AC100 around noon on Friday afternoon. We quickly checked in for the race, got her through the med check, did a little bit of last minute race shopping and then checked in at our hotel. We spent the rest of the afternoon resting and prepping for the race, attending the spaghetti dinner, and turning in early.

Saturday morning, we were greeted with several unlucky glimpses as to how the day would unfold. First off, Pam used the wrong contact solution in one of her eyes and ended up putting a 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide directly in her eye. This caused some pretty major redness, irritation, and some blurry vision for a bit. Then, as we got out of the truck at the start of the race, Pam accidently let the door close on her right knee—no major damage, just a bit of a bruise. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, her knee wouldn’t be the only thing bruised.

After a quick kiss and a reminder to “run slowly” Pam was off on another 100 mile quest. On the first climb through a residential neighborhood, Pam settled comfortably into third place. She stayed there for a while, but somewhere just before the third aid station, the two lead ladies made a wrong and Pam found herself in first place. When Pam showed up at the third aid station, she was running strong and she continued to do so until the fourth aid station.

But by the time I saw her at the 5th aid station at mile 37, things had taken a dramatic turn for the worse. She was still in first, but her pace had slowed, her knees had started to bother her, and she wasn’t eating or drinking as much as she should have been. She felt terrible and we both knew it. But we got her some food and drink, cooled her off with some cold water, and got her back on the road.

One mile after the 5th aid station, I was waiting for her at one of the highway crossings. When she showed up, she told me she wanted to go home, that she wasn’t having any fun, and that she couldn’t make it to the end of the race. But I wouldn’t hear it. I gave her a pat, tried to steal a kiss (which she wouldn’t give me), and sent her on her way—again.

It took Pam a LONG time to run the next four miles to the 5th aid station. I knew she was hurting, but was very hopeful that it was just a “bad patch” and that she would be able to rebound. But as time dragged on, I knew that this wasn’t going to be the case. At this aid station, I recruited another experienced ultra runner to give Pam a pep talk. The pep talk, coupled with a little bit of knee massage by the medic got her back up on her feet towards the next aid station—but she did not look good.

When Pam made it to the next aid station, she had made up her mind to go no further that day. She just didn’t have it in her. She basically hiked the course for the last two aid stations that she made it to and didn’t want to walk the last 48 miles of the course. It was a sad day for her—and for me as well. If you want, you can read her race account here.

So the 25 miles that I was supposed to run with her never happened as she never made it to mile 75. For a while, when I was waiting for Pam to show up at the mile 52 check point, I was preparing myself to walk the last 48 miles with her. I had my pack all ready with enough food and warm clothes to get us both to the finish. It would have been a long slog, through a totally dark and cold night. But I was ready to get it done—I never thought in a million years that Pam wouldn’t finish the race. In the end, her knees had the final say and the word was, “stop.”

It was a long and quiet ride home from the race. I think that Pam thought I was upset with her for not finishing. And I’ll admit that for a little bit I was. We had a short conversation where I compared not finishing a race to fishing or hunting without eating your kill. I said that just as you dishonor the fish by not eating it, you dishonor the race by not finishing it—and she agreed. But I’ve never known my wife to quit anything when the going gets tough; she always perseveres. But this time was different. Pam really thought that continuing the race was going to lead to a major knee injury. She made the smart choice to end her day early so that she could race on a different day.

And race again she will. She’ll come back stronger, fitter, faster, and with a better game plan. For now, we concentrate on getting that knee healed up with ice, massage, and physical therapy. I hope the bruises that the course dealt to her head heal up just as easy. Only time will tell.

I have been dabbling with running on trails for the past eight months or so. During that time span, I’ve only had 6 or 8 quality trail runs. I’ve run two trail races, the Wildwood 10K and the Wildwood Trail Half Marathon. I’ve also run withPam in the SoCal mountains and in Palm Springs. My latest run, this past weekend at the Where’s Waldo race was definitely the toughest run I’ve attempted.

But this weekend, I’m about to get my tail whipped in one of the hardest ultramarathons around—and I’m not even running it! Pam’s the one running the race, and just like I did for her Western States debut, I’m crewing for her.

I’ll help her at each of the aid stations as she comes through. I’ll make sure that she’s got whatever she needs to get herself to the next aid station, keep her informed of her competition, and do what I can to keep her spirits high.

Elevation profile for miles 75-100 of the AC100 endurance run

A pacer’s job is much different than a crew member’s job. Many ultramarathons allow pacers in the interest of keeping the runners safe. In addition to keeping the racer on schedule, they monitor hydration and nutrition, help with navigation and illumination on the trail, and try to keep the racer’s spirits high when the inevitable rough patch(es) hit.

If you look at the elevation profile above, you can see why I’m a little bit concerned about this crash course. Right off the bat, we start by climbing 3100 feet in 6 miles. Then, at about mile 10 (85 of the race) we climb again—this time about 2000 feet in 4 miles. These are serious climbs and they have me terrified. I hope I don’t end up being one of those pacers who end up getting dropped by their racers.

Part of me really wants Pam to find a pacer that can do just that—pace her. But another part of me wants to see just how far I’ve come in my journey towards physical fitness. For Pam’s sake, I just hope that I don’t learn how much further I really have to go.

This post is from J.D., the quiet half of Get Fit Slowly.

It’s been a good summer in my personal world of fitness. I’ve lost thirty pounds (and have about twenty to go), cycled about 700 miles, and have built a lot of strength through Crossfit. As you might expect, I’ve coped with a variety of minor injuries, most of them due to my own clumsiness. How many times can one fellow crash his bicycle?!?

Last Monday, though, I woke with a sore back. There was no real cause for this sore back; sometimes I just wake to find I’ve slept wrong and my back is sore. No big deal, right? It’s not like I have a history of chronic back issues. Just sometimes I get a sore back for a day or two. So does my wife.

So, last Monday I woke with a sore back. I drove to my 6:30am Crossfit class and did my normal warm-ups. In the middle of these, I kicked up into a handstand. (This is a skill I’ve only recently mastered, and I’m excited to try it whenever it comes up in warm-ups.) I kicked up into one handstand and was trying for a second when >zing!< There was a sharp pain in my already sore back. (Note: The pain is in the lower back, on the left side.)

Cody, my trainer, noticed that I was wincing in pain and asked what was wrong. I told him my back was sore, and he immediately told me to stop with the handstands. He also told me to lay off anything involving my back, including my beloved sit-ups. (I usually do fifty sit-ups every morning just for fun.) At the end of last Monday’s workout, he had me ice my back and recommended I ice it throughout the day. (Which I forgot to do.)

All last week, my back was sore. The soreness diminished throughout the week, and I did my best to not work it. I took Tuesday off from Crossfit, for example, and when I attended classes later in the week, Cody always substituted exercises that were less stressful for the back. This weekend, I made sure to just take it easy and not work my back at all.

As a result, I woke this morning to find my back felt fine. I drove to Crossfit, ran a mile, and then did today’s warm-up, which comprised pull-ups and kettlebell swings. Then, just for kicks, I decided to do a frog stand. (A frog stand is where you balance all of your weight on just two hands while resting your knees on your elbows.) I did okay, but when I moved to stand up >zing!< There was a sharp pain in my back.

Again Cody noticed that I was in pain, and he had me stop warming up. Since today’s workout included twenty minutes of my beloved sit-ups, he substitute some hanging tucks. (I hung from the pull-up bar and tucked my knees into a chair position.) He also had me do push-ups instead of burpees. And at the end of the workout, I iced my back for five minutes. Again Cody has recommended that I ice my back throughout the day, and this time I don’t think I’ll forget.

Still, I’m frustrated. Injuries are always frustrating, right? But at least when an injury has an acute cause, it’s easy to understand how and why you were injured. When my IT band was causing me woe two years ago, I understood the source of the problem. When my wrist was hurt this spring, I knew it was because I’d crashed my bike. But this back thing? I don’t know why it’s there.

And regardless of how an injury occurs, it’s always frustrating that you can’t do the exercises you’re used to doing. In this case, it’s very clear that I’m going to have to back off my normal workouts. “We’re doing back squats tomorrow,” Cody told me before I left the gym today. “But I’d still like you to come in. We’ll find something else for you to do.” sigh

So, I guess my questions for you folks are:

• Have you ever hurt your back like this before? How did you make things better? Did you just give it time? Did you go see a chiropractor? Should I rest completely? Or should I keep working out, but do whatever I can to avoid putting stress on the back?
• How do you cope with injuries? When you have a good workout routine going and you hurt yourself, what do you do? Again, do you just take time off? Or do you find some sort of alternative to do instead? Mentally, how do you cope with not being able to do the things you enjoy and look forward to?

I feel like I’ve made great progress this summer, and now I have something of a minor setback. I’m not giving up — not by any means! — but I want to know the best way to proceed so that I can keep working toward mastery.

Help me, Get Fit Slowly — you’re my only hope!

The other day, when I asked you all about your vacation habits, a couple of people perceived the anecdotal mentions of two one day weigh-ins as the main point of my post. The post was supposed to be about how I believe you should let yourself take breaks from the stresses that sometimes come along with trying to lose weight. But some people missed my point.JD wrote the following:

Mackenzie: One-day weights are meaningless! [The exclamation point briefly ticked me off] The 167 when you left and the 172 when you returned mean nothing without additional context. Do you really think you lost seven pounds after four days of clean eating? There are so many variables that go into a daily weight that only extended averages matter in any way. I think you know this, but you keep building blog entries around one-day anomalies…

Shortly after, fit36.com left this comment. With all that “heavy day” and “light day” talk, for a second, I thought I was being spammed by a tampon manufacturer.

But then I got to thinking about their comments and I came to the conclusion that they are wrong! [The exclamation point might briefly tick JD off] I truly believe that one day weigh-ins, even WITH all the flaws (dehydration, water retention etc.) that come with them can truly have meaning for those of us who are watching our weight. Let me explain my thinking.

One Day Weigh-Ins Provide Motivation to get us to our Goals

How many times have we stepped on the scale, expecting to see a certain number, and been totally deflated by what we’ve seen? Some of us are able to shrug it off. The salt from last night’s dinner or the 5 extra glasses of water yesterday afternoon are to blame for why we weigh more today than we did yesterday. We remind ourselves that the trend is what matters. Let’s calculate the moving average to see where we really are.

But some of us get pissed off and take one of two courses: we either give up and go back to being fat, or we work harder that day to make sure the next weigh in is better than the last. I recommend choosing the latter option, by the way.

It doesn’t matter which of those two courses we choose, for the sake of this argument, the one day weigh-in has meaning.

One Day Weigh-Ins are the Keystones of a Weight-Loss Trend

I’m pretty sure that the people who discourage the use of one day weigh-ins use some type of moving average when determining their “weight.” And I’m not against this at all. In fact, before I got my scale and started using the dailyburn, I logged my weight into physicsdiet every day. Moving averages ARE good ways to filter out the noise of “off” weigh ins. But let’s be clear. ALL of the data used to calculate their moving averages are…wait for it…ONE DAY WEIGH-INS! Without those one day weigh-ins holding up them up, those moving averages would crumble to the ground. So again, for the sake of this argument, the one day weigh-in has meaning.

I said earlier that I think JD and fit36.com are wrong when they say that one day weigh-ins are “meaningless.” And Ted, has previously written about the dangers of judging fitness by the numbers on a scale. But I don’t want you to think that I believe that your one day numbers are the single most important factor you should look at when you’re analyzing the progress you’re making to get to your goals. The general direction you are headed, either towards your goal or away from it, is more important than where you are at any current instant. In this aspect, all of the aforementioned people are correct. But don’t forget, that the string of daily numbers is what determines the direction you are headed.

Here’s to achieving that string of one day weigh-ins that you are hoping for!