I woke up a couple of times overnight but nothing more than what has become a new normal for me. I was still able to get around 7 hours of sleep so I was satisfied when I woke up. 

I climbed out of bed at 6:30a as has become the regular time I’ve been waking up. Laura slept in until she finally woke up around 8:30-9:00a.  

While waiting for Laura to wake up I watched a TEDx talk by Joe DeSena, co-founder of Spartan Race. Due to a challenge his staff and the Spartan Race community put him up to, he completed 4,000 burpees in a single day and closed out that week with a total of 10,000 burpees. That’s just downright crazy. 

I gained another 1.5 pounds this past week. My body fat % has remained the same thus it is another week of gaining lean mass. I still would prefer to see my body fat % reduce but there will be plenty of time for that later. As long as it doesn’t start going up while I’m putting on weight, I’m happy (mostly). 

Since it is Saturday, today was my cheat day.

It started off with donuts from the best small neighborhood donut shop I’ve ever been to. Laura and I split 2 donuts and an apple fritter..all of which were delicious! 

We came back home to hang out for the rest of the morning until it was time to head over to Smashburger for the next stop on cheat day.  

After lunch we had an unexpected surprise from one of her colleagues who stopped by to drop off more food for us.  

I went next door to the gym to complete my stationary bike workout. Keeping resistance the same as on Thursday (7) I was able to complete an additional 0.4 miles or so, nearing 8.0 miles total. 

I returned home to run through a number of shoulder and elbow exercises. As part of that I performed 15 reps of front and side raises without weights or the shoulder pulleys.  

I have good range of motion for the front raises. The side raises are hard and I can only get my arms up 75% of the way.  

I also had to work on restoring external rotation in my elbow. This is a painful exercise but one that I know is helping.  

I tried searching Mobility WOD for external rotation tips but all involved using my shoulders so that is out of the question for now. 

As everyday tasks are becoming easier they are still usually uncomfortable and slightly painful. I'm able to push through them but it's still not fully back to normal. For example, though I am able to get dressed by myself, I have issues with my shirt getting stuck every once in a while, needing Laura’s assistance. 

Laura and I finished off our tour of eating with trying an Italian restaurant that is directly next to my physical therapist. It’s one of those restaurants that has always been across the street from our community but we never remember to try. 

After eating waaaaay too much food, we came home to find “Lone Survivor” on. It is an incredible movie about a Navy SEALS mission, Operation Red Wing, which went horribly astray. It is a remarkable survival story about Marcus Luttrell, a man who is most definitely built unstoppable. 

If you have a chance I highly recommend you read the book. As with most movies based on a book, the movie is good but the book is far better.  

With yesterday’s update I asked if continuing with daily updates was useful or if they were becoming repetitive. The overall feedback I received was bucketed into either a) please keep up the daily updates or b) we’ll support whatever you decide to do. 

Thank you to everyone that took time to provide feedback. I’m happy continuing with the daily updates.