Last Saturday around midnight, Katie and I had taken showers and were laying in bed chowing down on two personal-sized DiGiorno pizzas we’d picked up in our hotel lobby. We were in Nashville and had only recently gotten back from the second of a two-night concert event at Nissan Stadium hosted by the gods of heavy metal: the mighty Metallica.

We stayed at a hotel that was walking distance from the stadium as well as the many shops and restaurants nearby, so we spent most of our time walking. When I looked at my watch, I realized that we put in 9.2 miles on Thursday and another 13 miles on Saturday. I didn’t run in Nashville (though I did get in a gym workout while I was there), but since I make the rules for this program, I decided to count that distance toward the Oppdrag: Norge project.

My last update was a celebration of reaching my latest destination, Røros, and served as the official kickoff to the next leg toward the town of Trondheim. I popped my carryover mileage into my tracker for this leg and I’m already halfway there just after two weeks! This leg is going to be over in a hurry and I’m pretty excited about it!

My training has changed now that the half-marathon is behind me, so I figured I would dedicate this post to detailing the new phase, much like I did way back during Update 1 and Update 2. Since this is post-race, I’m considering this Phase 2. The programming consists of four strength-training days, three running days and two days dedicated to rest and mobility. I’m back to using Arnold Scharzenegger’s fitness app The Pump to track my workouts and my habits (Next Level: Dumbbell Dominance Program with a focus on Muscle Gain), Garmin Connect for tracking my runs and vitals, and the Renpho app to track my weight and body composition. This phase will also include body composition measurements that I’ll outline below.

Oppdrag: Norge Programming, Phase 2

Monday: Strength Training
Next Level: Dumbbell Dominance Program, Phase 1 – Full-Body Focus
No cardio
Daily Mobility Work

Tuesday: Strength Training, Cardio + Conditioning Run
Next Level: Dumbbell Dominance Program, Phase 1 – Chest and Back Focus
3 Miles on Stationary Bike (morning)
3.1 Mile Run at the Park (afternoon)
Daily Mobility Work

Wednesday: Rest
Daily Mobility Work

Thursday: Strength Training, Cardio + Conditioning Run
Next Level: Dumbbell Dominance Program Phase 1 – Arms and Legs Focus
3 Miles on Stationary Bike (morning)
3.1 Mile Run at the Park (morning or afternoon)
Daily Mobility Work

Friday: Strength Training and Cardio
Next Level: Dumbbell Dominance Program, Phase 1 – Legs Focus
6 Miles on Stationary Bike
Daily Mobility Work

Saturday: Training Run
3.1 Mile Run at the Park
Daily Mobility Work

Sunday: Rest
Daily Mobility Work

My post-race goal is to get back into muscle building since I was feeling pretty small at the peak of my half-marathon training, while simultaneously maintaining my conditioning through three weekly 5Ks. I’ve also started supplementing with creatine again, which I’m very excited about. I had cycled off early last year after it was erroneously suggested it was causing my high blood pressure. While a study did find higher blood pressure in athletes who supplement with it, it was unable to definitively find causation. I still chatted with my doctor about it and he said as long as my creatine lacked any kind of stimulant, I shouldn’t be worried.

And thank the gods, because I’m already feeling like myself again.

Still, I’m keeping an eye on my blood pressure since I’d love to see it go down some more. With that said, I’ve started a more vigorous tracking process that includes progress photos, body measurements and blood pressure stats. I’ll be taking weekly body weight and blood pressure measurements, and monthly metrics for body fat percentage and body landmark circumferences. With that said, I’m introducing a second tracker:

Body Comp Tracker, Week of May 10, 2025
Measurement	Value	Monthly Change	Change Overall
Weight	228.8	+4.8	+4.8
Body Fat %	17.9	+0.5	+0.5
Neck	15.875”	+0.125”	+0.125”
Arms (L/R)	15”/15”	+0.5”/+0.5”	+0.5”/+0.5”
Chest	43”	+0.5”	+0.5”
Waist	39	-0.25”	-0.25”
Hips	40”	+0.5”	+0.5”
Quads (L/R)	24”/24”	+1”/+0.5”	+1”/+0.5”
Calves (L/R)	16.5”/16.5”	+0.5”/+0.5”	+0.5”/+0.5”
Blood Pressure	154/107	+6/+1	+6/+1

I’ll indicate here that the body fat percentage reading is probably flawed. Most body fat percentage calculations are ballpark at best anyway, and I think my scale bases my body fat reading off my current weight, which is inaccurate. Still, the trend is a good indicator of how my body comp is changing, which is really all I’m concerned with.

Also, you may notice the increase in blood pressure. I’m not terribly alarmed since the increase was minimal and my practices were rather poor in the week leading up to the measurement. For starters, I only ran once that week and I’d eaten stuffed crust pizza and a piece of cake the night before like a lunatic. Also-also, I’ve been eating clean otherwise, but I’ve not been paying a lot of attention to sodium content like I usually do, so that may be a contributing factor as well.

And now, for the trip to Trondheim:

Road Trip Tracker
Road Trip Mileage	Total Mileage	Percentage Complete
1,284.37	353.894	27.55%
Miles to Trondheim	Leg Mileage	Percentage Complete
95.6912	52.696	55.07%
Date	Type	Distance (Miles)
	Carryover	12.396
4/29/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
4/29/2025	Weekday Run	2
5/1/2025	Nashville	9.2
5/3/2025	Nashville	13
5/6/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
5/7/2025	Weekday Run	3.1
5/8/2025	Strength Day Cycle	3
5/9/2025	Strength Day Cycle	4

42.9952 miles to Trondheim!

Alltid Videre!

-JTF