Adjusted Reality

Facebook now has the feature of reminding people of their past with the “this day in 20xx” feature.  Besides a firm reminder that I pretty much only post about amazing food and working out and races, it also reminded me that yesterday, a year ago, August 22nd, I completed Sweet and Twisted and became a triathlete!

…holy crap, it feels like forever ago.  However, I have very vivid memories of that morning in question.

I was practically knock knee terrified for the swim.  I had open water swam TWICE, the first of which was accompanied by a bit of a freak out.  I didn’t have freestyle down yet, so I was planning to do the best I could, but lean on breast stroke a lot.  I took as long for that as I do now for about 2.5 times that length, but I was WAY spent afterwards.

I still had my big ass heavy department store Schwinn.  It took me over 1 hour to ride those 12 miles and I even got heckled by a volunteer who told me that maybe I should get a heavier bike.  This was the first time that I would ever have fathomed I wanted to spend more than 200 bucks on a bike, but it was apparent that I was going to need it if I wanted to continue.  I remember thinking the course was hilly, but I’m pretty sure I’d eat it for breakfast now.

I remember finding out the special hell that was running outside in the late morning heat during August.  I mean, they were nice enough to hand out cold towels throughout the course, but still – it was HOT (and definitely influenced my decision to take July-Sept off this year, I’d rather race Apr-Jun and again in Oct when the temps are below 105 highs).  Also, I was rolling sans garmin, so I was super excited to see the finish line… and then we curved away from it (I mean, I could almost touch the fucker, it was so unfair).  That last mile was the longest of my LIFE but I made it through the finish line and was just giddy with joy that I was a TRIATHLETE.

Besides major nerves about the open water swim, I was pretty confident – my ultimate goal last year was an Olympic (which I did in October), and I was already training longer distances, but it felt great to put it together in a race.

Then I went home and drank too much champagne.  I believe this was the race that started that tradition…

In the last year since then I’ve:

-Purchased a new bike.  A week before my next race.  It worked out because I went from utter crap to a decent entry level road bike, but don’t be me.  It could have been bad.

-Raced an Olympic.  Holy exhausting race, batman!  I got a 3rd place in the Athena division (out of 3, heh).  I definitely want to do more but I just don’t have the time commitment right now.  I’m actually training those distances+ right now, but not as much volume or brick work as I would if I was signed up.  I’ve been continually tempted to just jump into an Oly race one weekend and see how I do, but I’m trying to be a good girl and not do a billion races this summer as I’m looking into a decent amount once the weather turns more to running season.

-Improved my swimming and biking skills like crazy.  My average chillville pace on a 35 miler is 2.5 mph more than I was racing last year.  I’ve neglected my swim a bit lately, but I can still jump in and knock out a mile in about 35 mins.

-Racked up another 2 Sprints this year, and signed up for a 3rd. – all with my Zliten!!! He has become my triathlete partner in crime and I love it!

-Entertained some 70.3 and Ironman dreams in the future

And I simply can’t believe it’s only been a year.  In the next year, who knows what titles I can add to my racing repetoire… marathoner?  century bike race finisher? half-IM finisher?  Age group podium winner (in what, I care not…)? Who knows?

It’s a great reminder to just embark and see what happens.  Two years ago, the idea of a triathlon scared the bejezus out of me.  Biking?  Haven’t done that since I was 14.  Swimming in open water?  Haven’t done that since high school.  Who could do all that together?  Apparently me.  And I’m hooked.  And I love it.  And I can’t imagine life without triathlon.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go home and force myself to rest this evening, as apparently 10 miles ran with a fast 5k at the end isn’t enough to keep me down lately (I wanna swim, wahhhhh).  What have you embarked upon recently and now can’t imagine life without?

…will pretty much have to sub for a weekly update as between crazy work hours, appointments, social obligations, and sleep, I got nothing.  In the way of time, sanity, or brainpower.

Dear Nutritionist Lady-Person,
Another week, another set of logs and some navel gazing. 🙂

My progress seems to be a bit of a contradiction.  I’ve had two people tell me I look smaller.  Tuesday, someone who hadn’t seen me in 2 months.  Today, I had my yearly with my doctor and SHE said she thought I looked leaner.  Which was odd because I have gained at least 10 lbs since last year.  And she sees me nekkid so there’s no possibility that I was just wearing something flattering…

However, my weight has actually gone up.  My first visit in July, I was 173.  Today, I was 177.  Things definitely fit better and I feel less wobbly since then, but is it really possible I’ve gained over 4 lbs of muscle in the last month (and if I really am getting leaner, it would have to be more, right)?  Honestly, It’s not a number I care about, if I’m making progress and I end up a 200 lb size 6 running sub 2 hour half marathons somehow, I’m ok with that.  I want to fit in all my clothes (which I’m making some progress, albeit slow, at).  I want to improve athletically (which I am).  I was feeling a little blah about workouts before I changed my diet, and now I’m forcing myself to take rest days instead of wanting to take more of them.

This is definite progress.  As much as I miss sandwiches and am really struggling to kick the apparent corn addiction I never knew I had – even if I don’t lose weight I’m not going back and don’t feel like what I’ve been doing here for the last month or so has been a waste.  I feel amazing.  But the scale going up is bugging me as it seems counter-intuitive to my long term goals, which is frustrating.

So next week, I’ll try to log my portion sizes a little more carefully.  When you first suggested the portion worksheet (note – two weeks in when I talked about not making scale progress she suggested this – I wasn’t ready), I felt like I was not yet really acclimated to the dietary changes.  I feel like I am now.  Introducing one more step isn’t going to rock my world like it would have 2 weeks ago.  Not that I don’t have improvements to make, but I’m pretty comfortable with what I’m supposed to eat about 90% of the time.

I also asked the doctor to order up a full run of tests with my thyroid just to make sure there’s no pure medical reason for it too.  I’ll be doing that next week.

Also note that this week work ate my life – lots of Amys and meals out – but I think I did ok considering the crazy hours I’ve put in last and this week.

I’ll see you next Thursday at 12:30.

<omitting full log of what I ate as to not kill y’all with boredom>

Love and kisses,
Quix

I could postulate on and on about what it all means, but I think instead I’ll submit last week’s workouts and this week’s plan and call it a post.

Last Week…
Thursday: 4.2 miles hill/sprintervals on treadmill in 40 mins (about 9:40 pace overall)
Friday: off
Saturday: 20 mile outside bike ride in 1:23 (should have been 30 but Zliten got glass in his tube, and then I had to be at work)
Sunday: off
Monday: 9.45 bike inside in 30 mins (18.9 mph pace), 3 mile run in 28 mins (9:20 pace), 30 mins crunchtime
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: off

This week…
Thursday: full body weights (morning), 9.56 miles inside ride in 30 mins (lunch)
Friday: 10k run sometime (before work? after? double 5ks maybe?)
Saturday: 35 mile bike ride, swimming
Sunday: off (or Saturday’s ride if I have to work)
Monday: 30 min ride, 30 min run, crunchtime
Tuesday: 10 mile run with 5k “kick” at the end
Wednesday: off or swim + weights after work (8am meeting UGH)

It works out much better if you look at it from Mon-Sun (which is how I plan out my weeks).  This week was a stepback week (and I picked a good week for it with work hell), and now it’s keeping myself in good condition for the tri (which I’m pretty peaked for) while increasing the running miles to be ready for the half mary, and increasing my bike miles because it’s fun and I want to do at least 50-60 before I have to ditch the bike for the winter and lace up the sneaks every Saturday morning for longer runs.

Have a great week everyone!  What are you conquering this week?

On the pure high of my last 9 mile run going so well, the 10 today feeling easy peasy besides my poor sore legs from the workout the night before, taking back the summer and getting heat acclimated, and the realization that I’m just not going to have time this summer to get in an Olympic tri (I was going to try to fit a race in but you should see my calendar through the end of the year… it’s bananas), and reading some race report porn (this hot mama just finished her first and this badass who just finished an Ironman is the reason I haven’t blogged much – I’ve been obsessively reading the archives of hers, and then there’s of course this awesome lady who is out for revenge on RnRSA this year) around the internet, I’m ready.  I want to be a marathoner.  I want to be in the cool kids 26.2 club.

As much as I wanted to love 5ks, it’s just not working out between us.  It may be something I’ll go back to someday, but I have a lot of work to get back to the speed I was at, and the courses matter SO MUCH on these.  A little long?  No PR.  Super hilly?  No PR.  Humid?  No PR.  Hot? No PR.  Cold?  No PR.  Longer distances, you expect some hills and valleys, some more than others, but I’ve raced pancake flat 5ks in perfect temps and you just have to be ON from the moment you start.  When I go to attack that PR, I’m going to need to probably train up for a while, and then race every other weekend.

While I feel like being a little heavier/well fed doesn’t affect my endurance races, I feel like its hindering me on all out speed runs.  Working on it, but still.  I like going on long runs even if it’s the same 2.5 mile loop over and over.  I don’t feel warmed up until at least halfway through a 5k and by then I’m huffing and puffing hard.  Working on my 5k time did nothing for my tri run time.  I have a feeling that what I need to work on is a 5k tempo… but at the end of a double digit run in the heat.

So, I entertained the thought.  Then I spoke it out loud.  Then I mentioned it in a blog.  Now, I’m actually looking up potential races for Spring and putting together a potential training plan.  I think I may have marathon fever.  Someone call a doctor, please.  My life would be much easier if I was cured…

I’m probably going to use this FIRST program again since it worked well for my last 2 halfs, which is 3 times per week of running, and 2 days per week of x-train.  Also, since I lack the cognitive ability to do a recovery or easy run, two days of hard x-training is my savior.  So a week in the life would probably be: Monday: bike (45 mins) + crunchtime, Tuesday: tempo run (4-10 miles), Wednesday: swim (45 mins) + weights, Thursday: speedwork (45-60 mins), Friday: off, Saturday: long run (10-20+ miles).  Not much more mileage/hourage than what I’m doing now, except I’ve traded a long bike for a long run and switched around the days a little.  A little rougher on my bod? Sure, a 22 mile run is going to be a much harder effort than a long ride, but by then it should be just an incremental thing.

I wasn’t going to do a marathon.  Wasn’t going to do it.  But then I realized that if I want to knock out an Ironman someday, or even a half IM, it would be good to be able to know what 5-ish hours on my feet feels like.  Calculators put my well trained pace at 4:20, but I’ll be happy to finish under 5.  I’m doing some research right now, and trying to determine what my long runs should be.  20 miles seems too short, some programs go up to 26, some plans even to 30 – but most caution you against going too far before your first race.  So, anyone out there that has done marathons – is 20 REALLY enough or should I do a 22-24 run 6 or so weeks out?

Also, the matter of which race I should pick.  The obvious choice?  Austin Marathon.  It’s 6 miles from my house and actually goes through my neighborhood.  However, I ALWAYS ALWAYS get sick once a year – in February.  Usually that week.  Something gets me.  Has happened the last 3 years at least, if not more.  The idea of running my first 26.2 with a cold sounds crappy.  Rock and Roll AZ is cheap because I have a place to stay, just need a flight, but that means Zliten probably won’t be with me (which might be good for him :D) and its only about 3 months of training past my half.  Pretty much – every marathon I’m looking at is in Dallas (RnR, etc).  I’m not super fond of Dallas (though I’ve not spent ALL that much time there), but I hope they put on good races!  I’m looking also at RnR Mardi Gras on March 4th, but the idea of spending my 33rd birthday the day before unable to party… I dunno if I can hack that.

Although, lets see if I give up after my longer-than-a-half-marathon run like last time. 🙂  I think the problem was I didn’t have a training schedule, I just figured I’d leisurely increase my mileage.  Also, I had 50 dollar trail running shoes that were way worn.  OF COURSE my feet felt like fire for a few days after a 14 miler.

In other news –

Still following the plan.  The nutritionist lady person evaluated my eating for the week previous and 90% was good.  She pointed out a few things she’d like me to do away with (a samosa, some corn chips, sharing a small blue razz slurpee) but all my main meal choices she was happy with, so that’s a big bunch of YAY.  No weight loss yet, but I definitely feel firmer.  She said if I haven’t lost anything by our next appointment August 25th we’d tweak things more, but it’s been really really nice to have someone just tell me to stay the course.  Three more weeks.

I did break down and have a sandwich this weekend.  It was glorious.  This weekend, I’m definitely going to eat a (good organic) burger and (olive oil fried hand cut or oven baked) french fries (though it will absolutely have a huge, yummy bun).  As long as these can still be sometimes foods, I’m ok with them not being all-the-time foods.  Trying for one not-quite-on-plan meal per week, and cutting out my issue with “add ons” or “offers”.  If something comes with a meal (samosa), offered free (chips and salsa), or is offered to be shared (slurpee), I end up having it even if I really want it or not.  This week, I’m trying to practice saying no.

Workouts since I’ve blogged:

Saturday: 25 mile ride with Joel – easy peasy 13.3 mph
Monday: 40 min ride hills level 8,9,10 – avg 19.1 mph (best pace evar!) and crunchtime class (especially brutal this week)
Tuesday: 10 mile run – 1:55.  Besides my legs killing me from the workout 12 hours before, it rocked!
Wednesday: 30 mins full body strength (on my own), 30 mins swim (1500 yds).
Thursday: (lunch)

And, that’s about it.  There was also Harry Potter 7-2, a bbq at a friends (where the cards and a blender came out and we stayed too late), dropping money on new gear for Zliten and I (new helmets, new running shoes, a camelback for Zliten, and of course, some new workout clothes for me…), cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, etc.  This week, I’ve just been resting up, as I’m heading into some massive crazy – work at 7am tomorrow, 8am Friday, evening deadlines both days meaning I’ll need to stay late likely, and next week starts week-o-appointments.  Dentist one morning, doctor another, a Yelp event, a launch… so I’ll be getting creative with my workout schedule.  Thank goodness it also coincides with a stepback week so less mileage.  Yay!

So, yeah… any marathon advice/recommendations?  What would your splurge meal be?

But I’ve been busy… see… since last Thursday…

Friday, I got up early and ran sprints at the track, same program as last week (100×2, 200×2, 400×2, 800×1, and back down, with equal recovery walk/jogs in between, about 45 mins.  After work, we went downtown for fancypants dinner at Gumbo’s.  I indulged and had a slice of bread, a crab cake, and bite of cheesecake, but I stuck to greek salad, filet mignon, and veggies so it wasn’t all bad.  Noticed that I’m not used to a big dinner anymore and it actually felt really bad on the ol’ tum tum.  Here is me fancied up!

Saturday, we tackled a 20 mile ride in the neighborhood (I reset back to 20, Zliten and I are going to work back up in 5 mile increments).  It was a nice mellow ride that took about an hour and a half.  Then, I got a haircut which I am MAD happy with (the last one traumatized me a little, it was a drastic change), and she even dried it straight for me.  My poor hair will never look this nice again, I so don’t have the patience for it.  I’m so so so thrilled it turned out awesome.  Haircuts kinda traumatize me…

Then had lunch with friends (chicken taco salad – good.  Corn chips – bad), and then got some shoppings done.  We were real adults and purchased a for real pot and pan set (a good one), and various and sundry other things that we needed and spent way too much money.  Then, we fired up the grill and had friends over, brought our TV and PS3 outside to the patio, and played Katamari Damacy, Trivial Pursuit (I won 3 out of 4 games, wheee!) and ate ribs and stuffed peppers and (organic) corn, and broccoli salad and boozed it up a little (rum + coconut La Croix + lime + stevia = MAGIC), until I got sleepytired and passed out happily.  Thought I learned my lesson from the big dinner the day before? No way.  I ate way too much.

Sunday, this made me feel kinda crappy, but I managed.  We ordered some chinese food (chicken in black bean sauce, brown rice, eggdrop soup, good.  Eggroll? Not so…) and proceeded to chill all day.  I got groceries, did laundry, and basically chilled out all day watching star trek and dorking on the internet.  Dinner was pretty epic – mahi mahi with a side of veggies and brown rice pasta w/olive oil, garlic, and parm. cheese.  OM NOM NOM.

Monday, I did 45 mins on the bike doing hills and I think busted my pace record at 18.9 mph average.  19 SOMEDAY (maybe next week?)!!!  Then, had a pretty brutal crunch time class as usual.  Eats were fairly unremarkable, normal yogurt and berries breakfast (trying to eliminate the oats), soup and salad lunch, and a repeat of the awesome chicken tostada I made last week + a little extra bowl of nommies.

Tuesday, I got up and did 9 miles.  Honestly?  Wasn’t as hard as it has been.  I’m getting heat acclimated fo sho, and this was the first time trying the coconut water and BOY DID IT HELP.  Some weird body sensations/feelings were absent and I’m thinking… mild electrolyte imbalance/heat exhaustion?  Maybe.  My 9 miler was slow as molasses (11:20 pace), but if you apply the 20% rule, it actually was more like low to mid 9s.  Which is way faster than I would normally kick out a long run like that.  So, I’m either getting heat acclimated, faster, or both.  I actually felt pretty great after the run!  I had a mega smoothie w/cherries, pineapple, and mango to go with my protein powder, pb, and banana, lunch was veg. curry (which honestly ended up with a few too many grains, lentils, a small amount of rice, AND a flatbread, but thems the breaks when you don’t have meat to compensate…).  Dinner was a very yummy dish of crab legs, drawn butter, homemade mashed potatoes, and normandy veggies.  More OM NOM NOM indeed.

Wednesday I was feeling kinda wiped so I took it easy.  20 min weight sesh instead of 45 like I wanted (but did lots of combo exercises so I was sufficiently worked), and an easy 30 min swim (only 1400 yd).  I really need to put in some more quality swims before the tri Oct 1, but it’s hard with all the running and biking and weights.  Priorities.  The swim is only 10-ish mins of the tri so it’s hard to justify spending a lot of time on it.  Eats included picking up bbq from Rudys (chopped beef, turkey, coleslaw, beans – good.  One slice of bread, creamed corn – not so), normal yogurt and berry breakfast, and homemade chicken taco salads for dinner.  We stayed late at work and played a game called munchkin with some coworkers.  Oh man, so much fun.  Started at 7:30… didn’t finish until almost midnight which is WAY past my bedtime.

Yesterday was sprints at the track (400, 800, 1600, 800, 400 w/400 in between).  I’ll talk about this more next week but it was pain, but went by fast.  With the 20% rule, I was happy with my splits (my last 400 was like a 6:30 min/mile pace, with the 20% rule of course).  Lunch with the girls at the company and had an amazeballs greek salad w/chicken, but splurged and had a mini-brownie cupcake thing which was SO WORTH IT (best desert I’ve had in forevs).  Dinner was grilled chicken (holy god, organic chicken is expensive but SO WORTH IT – the taste was like finally tasting filet mignon after eating hamburger all these years….), leftover mashed potatoes, and normandy vegs.  There may have been a few drinks due to work stressin’ me out, but early to bed as I was EXHAUSTIMACATED!!!

So, that’s pretty much the last week.  Eats generally good, but not angelic.  Workouts, on pace and on plan.  Work and life – busy as usual.

Some deep thoughts:

-Need to continue with the running and biking outside.  It’s part of my plan to not be such a wimp this year with conditions.  Austin has about 3 good running months in the spring and about 2 in the fall.  I refuse to spend 7 months of my life indoors anymore.  I have beat the heat, I can (ulp, way worse for me) beat the cold.

-With work/life being summer crazy, I think I’m scrapping the Olympic Tri idea this year.  I can train distances all I want for fun, but it takes a certain amount of hours to put them together that I don’t have/don’t want to give up right now.

-However, this recent conquering of both morning running and not-so-ideal conditions is making me consider that 2012 may be the year of the marathon.  9 miles is far from 26.2, but I think this might be the time where I don’t get up to 13.1 and just want to die after.  I’m training smart this summer and not biting off more than I can chew with tris and races and whereas I was getting burnt out last year, I am feeling invigorated and fresh (again, I’m over 1.5 months out of my two October races).  Slowing down in the heat is actually making me appreciate running for running sake again, not a goal pace or time, just getting out, enjoying the morning, and running more by feel.  If I keep with THAT mentality, I might be able to do it instead of being a dummy and trying to push my pace hard.  I can take walk breaks or go snail pace if needed.  The great thing about my first marathon is it will be a PR!

-While I have not made progress on the scale – my legs are getting super buff and there is way less to pinch.  I’ve been having some weird stomach bloaty things this week, but I still feel a bit less in the waist too.  I’ll take it!

This weekend – Harry Potter, 25 mile ride, lunch and games with parents, bbq, and then a nice relaxing Sunday… what are y’all doing this weekend?

I’m not even sure if I have a whole post in me about this, but here goes (yeah, who am I kidding – I’m VERBOSE if nothing else…).

1.  We talked organic.  My question was, as she brought up organics a few times before, what was worth it, what wasn’t, etc.  She said her priorities were a) organic, grass fed beef, chicken, dairy as often as possible b) leafy vegetables as often as possible c) organic corn/soy/canola as often as possible d) veg/fruit without peels when it makes sense financially, otherwise wash well e) not waste time money on other things like organic fruits/veg with a peel, or other products like organic beans, organic cake, organic salad dressing, etc.

2.  We talked genetically modified crops.  Genetically modified crops are great for the environment because they have internal changes to their DNA that makes them bug resistant and drought resistant and easier to grow.  However, they also have been shown to cause tumors and stomach issues and other bad juju (the highly technical term, yes).  Apparently 90-95% of corn in existence now is GMO (that includes corn starch, corn syrup, corn tortillas, and just… corn).  As above, as much as possible, 100% organic corn and corn products.

3.  We talked electrolytes and during-workout fueling.  Basically, the good news is I’ve been feeling so good with the fueling and dietary changes, I’ve been increasing my mileage again.  However, this means I’ve been outside in the hot sun doing 1.5 – 2 hour rides and runs in the high 80s.  And I’ve just been doing it with water, and I’ve been feeling awesome because of the new fueling plan, but some articles I’ve read lately about heat sickness scare me.  The new plan is anytime I go over an hour, I incorporate coconut water.  For rides, I’ll put it in my under-the-bike bottle and use my camelback for water.  For runs I’ll just mix it half and half with my camelback.  It will be interesting to try out, I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

4.  We talked progress.  While I’ve felt major improvements in my energy, workouts, and just how I feel, and maaaaaaaybe a little progress in how my pants fit, the scale is STUCK.  I stressed that I’m in it for the long haul and am not trying to be impatient, I just want to make sure nothing is WRONG.  She said that YES, absolutely it’s normal, she would be a little freaked out if I was seeing significant changes on the scale.  My body is very confused right now with the changes, and she said the general course and cycle of things is that I’ll be stagnant for the first 4-6 weeks, and then the weight will start dropping off.   By the end of August, she said I should see about 5 lbs lost, but to not expect much before.  I have a couple of future type questions about how my body will know to stop losing without tweaking calorie counts and if I can actually screw this up staying on plan and eating too much, but I’ll collect the info and let you know at the next installment!

A few other small Q&As we had over email:

Q. How to thicken soups/chilis without flour/cornmeal?  A. Rice starch/flour.  Use the least amount possible.

Q. How much is a serving of grains? A. Less than you’d think.  1/2 cup is a true serving of pasta.  Also, 1/2 of a whole wheat wrap is also a serving.

Q.  What’s a good quick lunch/dinner in a pinch if I have to go frozen. A.  Anything Amy’s.  High quality ingredients and no science-y stuff on the list.

So the plan going forward is:

-New fueling plan with long runs/bikes
-When I go grocery shopping next, lean towards organics especially in meats, milks, and leafy stuff
-Continue with the way I’m eating now.  For reference, here is a normal day in Quixy-land:

Day: Tuesday, July 26
Wake Up: 7:20am
Workout Fuel?: 1/2 coffee light honeymilk/1/2 chocolate light honeymilk (7:30/9:30)
Morning Meal/time: smoothie (1 scoop whey protein, 3/4 banana, 1 cup pineapple, 1/2 cup cherries, 1 tbsp pb) (10 am)
Mid-day Meal/time: schezuan chicken from Bamboo Bistro (takeout chinese – chicken broccoli, carrots, onions, in sauce) w/half cup brown rice (12:30)
Snack/time: 12 almonds 3pm, apple 5pm, carrots/tzatziki, 6pm, string cheese 7:30pm
Evening Meal/time: 1 small whole wheat tortilla crisped in pan w/whipped butter, topped with shredded chicken, beans, cheese, salsa, greek yogurt, lettuce, and hot sauce.  Small extra bowl with some chicken, beans, cheese, lettuce, yogurt, and salsa. (8:15pm)
Water: 90 oz
Other Drinks: La Croix Lime
Activity (what/how long): 8 miles ran, 1:28 (sooooo hot…soooo slow)
Relaxation (what/time): 3 hours tv/internet
Sleep: 11 pm

I got to eat both takeout chinese, a crap ton of snacks, and a fried tostada. ::grin::  There is nothing really wrong with this way of eating.  I’m still bitter about the lack of sandwiches but I have a feeling that will be my once a week splurge.

I’m to continue to food journal (as above), and submit them to her to look over on a weekly basis, but my next appointment isn’t until August 25th.  So from here on out, I’ll continue updating on Thursdays, but it will be just a check in.  As much as it’s expensive and a bit out of my day to see her, I’ll kinda miss the weekly sessions.

Also, she’s going to make me a fueling plan for my upcoming races once I get closer.  How cool is that?

In summary, the experience has been awesome.  As I admitted to her today that if I was doing this on my own, and hadn’t seen progress right now, I’d be getting SUPER antsy and would have certainly given up before the end of next month.  I’m very happy having someone reassure me that it’s the right thing to do.  I mean, my energy and how I feel is definitely encouraging, but I know I’m above the weight I should be at.  Jiggly bits don’t lie.

How are your jiggly bits (or lack thereof).  What do you think of my daily grind?  If you could ask a nutritionist one question, what would you ask?