fish out of water

A lot harder than the other 2 days!  I had a banana before working out, a green smoothie after the workout and a bowl of oatmeal and walnuts when I got into work.

I felt really hungry this morning.  Really really hungry.  I broke down and started eating lunch at 11:30 am, which is early for me.  I had brought the leftover pumpkin enchiladas to work.  I had 2 servings again and still felt hungry and yep, I ate another serving.  Wow.  Definitely was satisfied after that.

I had serious sugar cravings in the afternoon and kept glancing at the drawer with the whole grain cookies in it.  Mmmmm.  Cookies.  I know that if I open the package though, I can’t stop myself at 1 or even 3 servings.  That package is going down.  I had an ounce of almonds.  I also went through my mail and found a freebie from ClifBar.  I caved and ate the mini clif bar (100 cals).  Still could have been worse.

Today included some non-ETL items, but overall, I don’t think I strayed that far.

Breakfast was a banana before workout, a GU during the workout, and a green smoothie afterwards.  I am not really sure what to eat during workouts but for now, I’ve got cases of GU and Clif bars to go through so I think I’ll go through those first.  I also had a bowl of oatmeal with almonds again once I got into work.

Lunch was some chinese broccoli (my favorite vegetable!) and then a bunch of steamed swiss chard with black beans and salsa on top.  I wasn’t so excited about the chard.  I usually like chard, but maybe it was a mistake to eat the entire bunch.

I was super tired in the afternoon and had a 12 oz soy latte.

I got home around 7 pm and experienced weird stomach cramps that were very uncomfortable.  It felt like serious hunger, even though I had eaten about 4 hours prior.  I was trying to prepare dinner but the cramps were getting unbearable.  I had a banana to see if that would help.  It didn’t seem to, but once dinner was ready (45 minutes later), I felt better.  I was pretty hungry by then and ate 2 servings of pumpkin enchiladas.  This put me over my grain limit for the day, but again, I’m trying not to stress about these things too much.

Day 1 is always the easiest.  I had no problems sticking to the plan today.

Breakfast was a banana before swimming, a green smoothie after workout and then some oatmeal with .5 oz of almonds before the second workout in the afternoon.  I am going to allow myself snacks if I need it and I honestly think I needed it here.

Lunch was a huge amount of stir-fry vegetables and beans for lunch.  Yum.  Dinner was a “blended salad” - basically a salad ground up in the blender.  It looked disgusting and unappetizing, but surprisingly didn’t taste that bad.  It didn’t taste good either, but it was drink-able and I didn’t feel hungry after eating it.  I also didn’t cave when The Boy came home later and inhaled a very delicious-looking non-ETL meal right in front of me as I talked to him about his day.

Hey I gotta find success where I can!

In the last few months, I’ve read some interesting literature about nutrition and diet. Specifically, I read Eat to Live and The China Study. I am thoroughly convinced that this nutrient-dense diet is the way to eat for longevity and health.

But (there is always a But!), I have lots of doubts that I can do this. Let’s just get them out of the way:

• I am not sure that I can ever completely give up all animal products. There are a lot of ethnic foods I really like. REALLY. LIKE. A LOT. It also doesn’t help that I am somewhat of a “foodie” and love to cook, bake and enjoy food. I almost feel as if I would be losing part of my identity by giving up these things. However, I have been reading quite a bit on this, and have been surprised to read many testimonials of people eating this way and simply losing their desire for these items. I am somewhat doubtful of this happening to me (okay I am in complete disbelief) but it is interesting…
• Is this a realistic way of eating for an “athlete”? What am I supposed to eat during workouts? Bananas? Diluted fruit juices? Hmm.
• The “no snacking” rule. I understand the rationale about trying to learn what true hunger is, but I have doubts that I can workout in the morning, eat breakfast, and then try to power through an afternoon workout without some kind of snack in between.
• Am I really going to lose weight without counting calories? I’m so used to counting and the idea that I can have unlimited amounts of any item (even if it is vegetables!) is mind-boggling.
• Salad? Really? Everyday?? Salad????

I have been struggling for a while to lose a few stubborn pounds (somewhere around 15, but I haven’t weighed in a while) and this should help with that. So I’m going to try the initial 6-week plan. However, I know myself better than to set myself up for complete and utter failure so I am going to be a little loose at first and see how I do. If I know in advance it’s okay not to be perfect, I won’t give up completely after day 1.

Yep, another lapse in posting.  I could say that I’ve been busy (I have) but part of the lack in posts has been my less than stellar performance at the last 2 events of the season.

Briefly: I swam the Gatorman in September and was not happy.  I was fairly excited for this one since it is a strict swimming event and hey, swimming, unlike triathlon, I CAN do!  I had been putting in a fair amount of miles on the weekends and though it wasn’t nearly as much compared to last year, I still thought I’d do okay.  I had an excellent first half of the race.  I caught a good draft in the beginning and felt that I was working hard enough to be keeping a good pace.  I reached the turnaround point and ran into a fellow masters swimmer!  He is around the same speed as me so seeing him made me feel that I was on pace.  I tucked in behind him for a while and then…

I started to get sick.  I swallowed too much saltwater and it was choppy.  Long story short, I briefly emptied the contents of my stomach, lost my draft, and then had no energy to power through to the finish.  Oh well, there is always next year…

At the end of September, I did the OC Triathlon. I was psyched for this one since it seemed to be a good distance and the swim is relatively long compared to the bike and run (almost a mile!).

The swim: It was in a lake and I overheard someone say the water temperature was 79 degrees! That is HOT and I thought USAT rules said you can’t wear wetsuits over that temperature but now I’m not sure because practically everyone was still wearing their wetsuits? I did not. I was freezing just waiting around for the start — and of course I was in the last wave! So when the gun finally went off, I jumped in and was not warmed up at all. It didn’t feel good. Also, there was a lot of fog on the lake (or was it steam?) so we couldn’t even see the buoys. The start was chaotic and unfortunately, I spent a lot of time trying to pass people because I didn’t start up front like I wanted to. I also got kicked in the face which was a first and not very cool. The swim was slow for me and I expected to be about 3 min faster than my actual time.

The Bike: This was ok. I’ve done part of the course with my brother a few times so I was familiar with it. It was rolling hills.

The Run: Immediately after starting the run, my stomach felt uneasy. It was full of air and I kept hiccuping again. Ugh. Every time I tried to run, it would act up. So I did a run/walk thing for about 4 miles of the 10K. Only at the end was I able to pick it and felt good. It was the EXACT same thing that happened to me at Barb’s, except on a smaller scale.

So it ended up being another slightly disappointing race… I need to figure out my nutrition issues before I tackle any more races!

The race went all right (better than Auburn) but I definitely had some issues!

The swim was good — I didn’t work too hard and found someone to draft off of the second half of the swim.  The water was calm, flat, and it was a relatively easy swim.  I didn’t wear a wetsuit since I’m still trying to figure out why I am slower in mine but still came out with a decent time.

The bike was okay.  I felt good in the beginning but after hour 1, my left foot started cramping.  I have never had this happen to me.  I stopped at an aid station to stretch it out, taking my foot out of the shoe to stretch it, and thought maybe I needed salt.  I took 2 salt tablets and biked a little easier for the next 45 minutes so my foot wouldn’t cramp up again.  The cramps went away and the last hour I felt good and that I could bike normally.  I even passed some people, which is unusual for me!

I had a big headache after the first hour, which I’ve had before on bike rides and usually means I’m dehydrated. I didn’t know why I was getting one though because I drank plenty of water before the event and tried to drink a lot during as well.  The headache wasn’t unbearable, just annoying.

The course itself was beautiful.  It was through vineyards and not too difficult — mostly rolling hills.  I was surprised that the course itself felt relatively easy compared to Auburn.  To be perfectly honest, the course felt ridiculously easy compared to Auburn!  I was worried when I had read about a big hill at mile 48, but it ended up being perfectly do-able.  I got to the top and thought, “Uh, was that the hill?”  I wasn’t sure since my computer had registered it at mile 44 and I kept wondering if it was a precursor to the real thing.  Nope.  That was it all right.

The run was awful.  In transition, I took 2 more salt tablets (it was hot) and immediately upon leaving T2, I had a side cramp.  I walked it out and eventually it went away.  But after that, my stomach wasn’t cooperating.  I felt bloated and I kept hiccupping.  Every time I’d try to run, the hiccups would get worse — to the point of being painful.  So I ended up WALKING the entire run, which I must say was not fun and very discouraging.  I don’t know what I needed to do at this point??  I tried taking in some more fluids, but that just made it worse.  It was only after 11 miles or so, well over 3 hours later, that I felt okay enough to run.  I jogged and then ran the last 2 miles or so.

I don’t know what is wrong with my stomach.  I also don’t understand why none of these issues ever happen to me during training!!!  I am disappointed overall, and I feel like I should be able to do better.  But the good points were that the swim and the bike went well and that this was still better and easier than the last half-ironman (Auburn).  But I still need to figure out my nutrition issues!

I know I said I was going to concentrate on Me and My performance for this race, but I can’t help compare my results to my friends.

Second time around, this race was okay. Not great, not bad — just okay.

The Swim: The water temperature was 74 degrees (warm!) so my plan to swim without a wetsuit seemed like a good idea. Although the water temperature was warm for swimming, it was an in-water start so I spent a lot of time at the front line treading water and getting somewhat chilled. When the gun finally went off, I didn’t feel warmed up and instead felt tight. I saw my two friends take off and I could NOT catch them.

I know I said they were fast but..

THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED ON THE SWIM.

I should have been able to beat BOTH of them. Really.

Wetsuits make swimmers faster and more buoyant and I think me not wearing one was a disadvantage. However, as I’ve said before, I swim much slower in my wetsuit so today I chose not to wear mine.

I need to figure this out. I have to find a wetsuit that works for me and actually makes me FASTER!!

The Bike: I felt like this went okay. I was working hard but not too hard. Unfortunately, I was also getting passed… by quite a few people! I am kind of used to this since this is my weakest area, but I thought I had gotten stronger and was slightly surprised to see THAT many people passing me.

The Run: I didn’t feel great on the run initially. I think my first mile splits were around 10:30 and 10 minutes. I was hoping to average 8-8:30 but never really got near that. I don’t really know what happened here. I was working, but in retrospect, perhaps not working hard enough. I never pushed myself to where I was hurting, thinking that six miles was a long time to push hard.

But those 6 miles went by fast and I probably could have, and should have, pushed harder.

I had a respectable time and it was better than last year’s (of course, since I wasn’t injured this time!) but I still am slightly disappointed. Obviously I need to work on my weaknesses (cycling and running — oh, and learning to swim in a wetsuit!) but I think I also need to learn how to RACE. And by that I mean, learn pacing and how hard to push myself during a race. A friend asked me later whether I felt as if I was ready to pass out (i.e. completely spent) or more like this was a hard training day. I’d have to say it felt more like a hard training day. Wrong answer. I should feel spent. Another friend (who did the race) said she was expecting to be very sore tomorrow and that she felt her lungs burning during the run. I know I didn’t push hard enough to feel that way.

Two of my friends placed and all 3 of them were about 20 minutes ahead of me. TWENTY MINUTES! That’s a lifetime!!!!

I’m trying not to be too hard on myself since yes, I’m still new to triathlon, and yes, I’ve only started working seriously with a coach, but dang, that’s a hard pill to swallow.

I wish there were more (and maybe a few of me!) but it’s not like I take my camera with me during the race.

Folsom Lake: the swim

Spotted on the bike course. There were quite a few animals on this course — including pastures of sheep and ostriches!

I am not a salty sweater, so you can see it was HOT! Check out all the salt on my shorts. I’ve never seen that before.

I have an international distance triathlon this weekend so these past few day’s workouts have been short and sweet. I actually have a DAY OFF on Saturday! I did this race last year with my knee injury and had to walk a lot of the run so I’m definitely excited to do it again.

There is a bit more “pressure” this year because three of my girlfriends are doing it too. They are all also stud triathletes. Seriously. Two of them are on a sponsored team and one of them has actually WON a triathlete before. Can you imagine?!!! Not just in her age group — she was the top female overall. Two of them are also in my age group and while I know logically I shouldn’t compare myself to such rock stars, it is only natural.

But I’m going to try to concentrate on running strong (for me) and beating last year’s time. With no injury, I better!

As I drove into work this morning, I was stopped at a light and could see a few police cars on the opposite side of the road.

I saw an ambulance. Obviously an accident had occurred.

I saw a car and a woman crying.

They pulled out a stretcher and put a man on it.

I saw that he was wearing bike shorts.

Then, I saw the bike.

Seriously disturbing.

I wish there was a way I could find out if he was ok.