A series of weekly updates on my plans, how they are going, what’s working, what’s changed, and what I’m loving right now.
While my Week 1 was about getting ready to eat right and get the workouts in, this week has been about doing it and figuring out how to track it.
I’ve found I’m not using my 2025 Hobonichi Weeks planner in the same ways I was in the past as a time and to do list tracker or as a space for keeping track of the week in journaling or brain dumping. I tried that format in week 1 but felt I was cramming everything else a little tight and not making use of the list space. So this week I changed it up.
I got rid of the to do list and replaced that with my workout plans, in pencil which get replaced with the actual workout in pen once I do it. In that section I also added a dedicated line daily for what I’m listening to, reading, and cleaning (if anything, as this was the first thing sacrificed to the 2-a-day workout grind), and what I was grateful for. It WAS helpful to have a dedicated spot to record the things I wanted to do more of. AND it was a good reminder, I looked at it at the right time to do something about it. But for the most part is was something I was filling in after the fact.
I moved my meal tracking to the left page and made it just a smidge wider. It worked really well as long as I kept my writing small and named things concisely. On the right I added a column for tracking macros, the daily high/low temp, my sleep, and my hydration. I was struggling to find a way to drink enough water and how to remember how much I’ve had. I was trying to color a leaf for each water bottle I drank but I kept having trouble with the math and would forget where I was mid-day.
I added the scale weight for accountability and to keep week over week progress in mind without fixating on it too much. I also went back after the week ended (for this week and last week) and tallied up the weekly average calories, protein, carbs, and fat and the relative % of the macros. I’ve got some goals to increase protein, and manage my calorie intake so I think this will help by knowing I’ve got a number to calculate at the end of the week.
It will also help, along with the other metrics like temperature and training load, to better assess the week. While putting in the effort is a daily challenge, no one day or workout is going to make or break my goals. Looking at weekly and monthly averages can pull back the time horizon to help reveal trends and show progress without letting me beat myself up over a bad day. This week, for example, showed I brought my protein up by an average of over 30 grams daily.
I kept my habit tracker largely the same, with a few small tweaks to better match my goals. I also improved my workout tracker, the pyramid of boxes, that helps me keep track of which types of workouts I’m doing and how much time and volume I’m achieving weekly. Like the macros, this will help me compare week to week and, as things inevitably don’t go to plan, it’ll help me make smart choices about how to switch my workouts around so that I’m still doing enough of each sport to progress in my goals.
This week I hit my goal of doing 14 workouts, through subbing a walk for a swim when the pool closed earlier than I’d anticipated. It showed me how I have to be on top of my bedtime, and strict in getting up with my alarms if I want to fit it all in but that I can fit it all in with meal prepping, packing my bags the night before, and staying flexible.
This week I’ve gotten hooked on the Tread Lightly podcast. I’ve read their blog posts before but really appreciate the science backed advice and the breakdowns of so many topics, especially as a female athlete. I’m working through their back catalog on my commute. If you want help navigating all the conflicting running advice out on the socials, give them a listen.
