Summer [Food] of Love

I try to be pretty positive on this blog, but today I need to come clean about something. It's no secret that I love to eat and have a big appetite. I also know how hard I've been working: I have over 300 miles on the bike logged this month, plus 49 miles running and over 5000 meters of swimming. So what's the problem? My weight.

Last week I went to a concert and wore my "show pants" which have cool cargo pockets on the legs, eliminating the need for a purse. I stood there, hands in my front pockets and thought, "wow, these feel a little tight." I didn't think much of it.

Summer is the time for good fun and good food - burgers and dogs on the grill, s'mores at the campfire, ice cream cones on the way home from the beach. I love it all! I thought that all my exercise would give me a free pass to indulge as I pleased. This turned out to be a false assumption.

Since June I've gained about 7 pounds. Yes! 7! I don't mind a little squish here and there but it's starting to get out of hand. My buddy, Mr. Scale, tells me that I have gained muscle but my fat percentage has remained constant. That means fatter. I'm also dehydrated with a 47% water percentage. Not good news. I wouldn't mind the number if I were getting leaner but the digital readout and the mirror tell me otherwise. I don't kid myself and I take full responsibility. I ate all that food! I am very disappointed because there are 5 1/2 weeks before the half iron. I know I do NOT want to carry around all this extra junk for 70.3 miles. I'm so annoyed with myself!

So what to do? I took action this morning by employing old standby, calorie counting. I know, *yawn*, but it works. My plan is to hold myself to 1800-2000 calories (no less than 1500) this week and see what happens. I'm also going to go cold turkey on chips and ice cream. I will hold to my training plan and fuel my body with quality food. Not always easy for a lazy, hungry person like me. We'll see if we can shave off some of the fat. On race day, leaner is better. The goal is to keep the muscle and remain strong.

Your friend in training,
Annette

Validation and What's Your "B"?

I've been reading this book to help me get the best out of my training time as I work towards the half ironman in September. Some of the information is really confusing with "lactate thresholds", "anaerobic vs. aerobic workouts", "periodization in training", etc. But one thing Joe says jumped right out at me. The chapter discusses fitness and explains that increasing your fitness takes years. That's right, years. I'll come back to that in a minute.

Joe also talks about maintaining one's fitness level. This is the validation part. You know how when you're less than fit, and you see that guy or girl running along the path and you feel jealous? "Oh look, it's easy for them to run like that while I'm walking here, huffing and puffing." You are correct! It IS easy for them because they have probably been running like that for years. It doesn't mean they are not working hard. But their lungs, heart and muscles are so used to it that it doesn't hurt and probably feels really good to them.

Don't despair. I have improved my fitness from years back when I gazed with longing at the kids playing on the monkey bars and those first few laps in the pool. I'm learning about the "Triathletes Triangle" measuring Endurance, Force and Speed. It got me to thinking about how one goes from A to B. My B is the quest for fitness, the goals I set for myself. My B used to be an hourlong walk or 500 meters in the pool. But it keeps moving out on me. In 2008 my B is 35 mile bike rides to work and "bricks" - bike/run workouts stacked on the weekends.

What is your B? It could be as simple as taking a hike or deciding to move around a little more. It could be taking a little bike ride with the kids or getting your heart rate up with a swim at the beach. It doesn't matter. It's a personal decision. The good news is that even though it may take a long time, even years, each year it will be a easier to do that activity and hopefully that will encourage you to go a little farther or try something new. Don't stop.

I never imagined I would attempt a half ironman distance triathlon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run. I'm scared. But my training rides have shown me my speed is up and my runs still feel great. I'm smiling at the end of a 10k and my mental check "can I do that again?" tells me "yes, I can." There are about 7 weeks left to go before the half. I'll let you know how it goes.

Athletes toolbox

Thanks to my cousin Jessy I get to talk more about racing. Thanks, Jess! She specifically asked about three things: Chips, Speed Laces, and Gels.

Chips, or timing chips, are little electronic devices that are strapped to your ankle with velcro. It's coded to your bib number and knows everything about you that pertains to race day. Your name, how old you are, and your gender. When the race begins, whether it's running or triathlon, the "gun" goes off. But not everyone crosses the start at the same time. When the athlete moves past a sensor, the chip signals the offical start time for that person. The clock is running. In triathlon, there are offical times for the swim, transition 1 (from swim to bike), the bike, transition 2 (from bike to run) and finally the run. Chip readers are located at entry and exit points for each event. In my previous post I mentioned someone called my name when I came out of the water. When I passed the sensor, my name came up on a laptop and that's how they knew who I was. Mystery solved!


Speed laces are miracles of elastic. I use Yankz! brand shoe laces. They replace regular tie shoe laces with pre-tied stretchy ones. I had to get my PhD in shoe tying to lace them correctly but the video got me through. I just slip my running shoes on and off I go. Brilliant.




I could devote a whole post to race day and training nutrition but I'll stick to the gels to keep it short. For Mooseman I used Powerbar brand gels. It's a small packet of sweet stuff that has 110 calories and 27g of carbohydrates. The chocolate flavor has the consistency of canned frosting but the vanilla is more pudding-like. It's slightly less sweet than those two items. Gels are designed to fuel you up on the go without giving you a bellyache. You tear off the tab, squish it into your mouth and wash down with some water. Sounds gross but working hard makes everything taste delicious. I am able to tuck the packets under the elastic of each leg of my bicycle shorts. It doesn't slip and I can grab and eat it while I'm riding.

There's a multitude of supplements but I'll save that for another post. Powerbar is a great resource and their products are tasty, too. I also use Clif brand products. They are super yummy, high energy food.

I hope that helps explain some things. I think I know about less than 1% of all the products available for athletes but I'm always learning. I'm still training for the half iron and even though I worry about making it through I'll keep at it.

Best,
Annette