Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Tag: running Page 17 of 50

Pflug and the rest of the season

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On June 14, 2017

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I’m going to go play triathlon this weekend, and I’m not quite sure what to think about it.  But, I’m 8 weeks out from the little race I did at The Woodlands, so I should be ready to get back on the horse for a little gallop, right?

Neeiiiighhhh?

I’d discuss this weekend’s specific race goals but there aren’t any, really.  I am going to go swim, ride, and run as fast as I can without fainting or puking and collect my freezy pop at the end and sit in the lake and be at peace with whatever happens because #offseason.

Now, here’s where I contradict myself.  I think the thing I care about is the bike.  I’d like to think I may do okay since I *have* been riding a little bit, enough that those muscles should remember what to do.  I also do have a benefit this year over every other year – they’ve switched the waves to have the women go first, I take off somewhere in the middle vs almost last.  So, if I show up and somehow feel awesome with race day magic, I am set up for success.  Or maybe to at least beat Zliten for once *grumble*.

Since it’s been a while, here’s where I remind myself of what it takes to do a triathlon that doesn’t take a full day to complete.

Pre-race:

  • I will need to remember to practice transitions a few times this week.  At the IM, I took 10-15 minutes and made full changes.  Not this time.  The least amount of stuff possible in the shortest time possible.
  • Pre race food the day before – bringing my calories back up to flush (or close) vs less than I burn.  I definitely feel the calorie deficit working its magic – both in how my clothes are fitting (yay) and the lack of fuel for training (boo).  My plan is normal breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and chicken/potato/veggies and a salad for dinner.
  • Pre race swim.  This has become a tradition and I <3 it.  Probably will accomplish this at Lake PF after packet pickup (or before, depending on how early I’m up) so I can check out the lake monster (hydrilla) situation.
  • Breakfast will probably be a tried and true sunbutter jelly sandwich and some coconut water.  I’ll bring either blocks and some nuun or just a gatorade to sip on for hydration and calories between then and race start.

This race is also the best and hard to skip because of all the friends and teammates that show up. 🙂

During the race:

  • I’ll position myself at the front-ish of the pack for swimming since I’m typically about top quarter/third out of the water at this type of race.  I need to remember than yes, even if I am a little untrained, I do swim faster than my average age group fish.  I’ll keep an effort that is challenging but not anywhere close to redlining.  I’d rather save some energy here and put more into the bike.
  • Transitions are quick and focused.  Sock, sock, shoe shoe, glasses, helmet, and go.  Shoe, shoe, shoe, shoe, visor, frozen bottle (it’s supposed to be killer hot), race belt, go.  Don’t need anything else for ~40 minutes on the bike or ~30 minutes on the run.
  • The bike is going to feel like sucking wind for 40 minutes, sprint races always do, and that’s ok.  Keep pushing anyway.  I have zero watts metrics or any idea how fast I’ll ride but I know where my heart rate can hang and I expect it feel like death, but hopefully enough unlike death that I can still find my Hokas afterward.
  • I have zero confidence that holding anything back on the bike will help me here much on the run, so I don’t plan to do it. I expect a run personal worst and that’s not being self-depreciating, it’s being honest.  If I can hold 10:30s for 3 miles right now after a bike ride, I will be shocked and amazed.  However, I’ll go out with the goal of getting to the finish line as fast as humanly possible so I can plant my overheated butt back in that lake.  I know where my HR is just shy of redlining but can stick it out (around 175 bpm) and I’ll just watch that to make sure my brain isn’t making shit up about being tired while my heart is actually just at 150 bpm.

My best is 1:30:30 (2015).  My worst is 1:40:37 (2011).  I’m going to start with the goal to go sub-1:30 but I’ll abandon that as soon as it doesn’t make sense (really, the bike will tell the tale) and see if I can come in somewhere sub-1:40 at least if all goes to hell.

As for the rest of the year, I am still maintaining that I will not put any more A races on the schedule.  Ironman Texas got the one and only slot for 2017.  Nevertheless, I also am ready (kind of) to go play triathlon and bikes with LOTSA friends a bit so it was time to start thinking about putting some things on the schedule before I spend the entire year paying late registration fees to jump into things at the last minute.

In concert with Zliten, we put together a scale of how much we care about each race.  A is obviously your most important race, B is kinda important but not the MOST important, and C is kind of a training race, something you’re not going to taper for.  We added the D category, which would be a race where you’re almost completely untrained but show up and toe the line anyway.  Obviously, like any convoluted grading scale, there are minuses and plusses for various and arbitrary reasons.

Look how awesome I am, just beating this guy who is probably twice my age…

Bold = signed up or definitely planning on.  Italics = possibilities

Lake Pflugerville – D (6/18).  We do this one every year and it’s Zliten’s favorite.  I am counting this as a D for the fact that I’ve swam less times than I can count on one hand and I’ve run approximately 9 miles since 4/22.

El Diablo Poker ride – C (7/15).  This is not a race, but a team ride, and this is training for HHH100 below and also motivation to ride bikes longer than 25 miles a few times beforehand.

Jack’s Generic – C/D (8/6).  Eh.  Maybe.  I either need to volunteer here or race for the TX Tri series completion so *shrug*.  On the pro side: lots of friends doing it, it’s my sprint PR from last year on minimal training (so it’s not exactly a hard one to crack), and I have to either work packet pickup the day before or be there anyway.  Con side: It’s hot, not sure I actually want to train even that much just yet, I could save money by just volunteering if I’m not going to take it at least semi-seriously, I might want to use this weekend to redo the kitchen instead.  I think I’ll take stock again after Pflug and see if there’s fire in the belly.

Hotter than Hell 100 B- (8/26).  This will solely exist on the schedule to keep me doing a few long rides over the summer so I can complete this one and not totally die.  I’ve always wanted to do it and this summer is about bikes (not 70.3s like normal).  It’s a B simply because I’m training FOR it (since it’s long), but I honestly don’t care how fast I finish it as long as I stay #rubbersidedown.

Kerrville Sprint Triathlon B+ (9/23).  This one is MY favorite and I’m overjoyed at an opportunity to race the sprint again.  It was one of my fastest bike splits WAYYY before I had any business riding that fast.  I think I could, on a day full of unicorns and rainbows depending on how things are going, possibly podium given the finish times and what I’m capable of, if I’m interested in training again for this race (otherwise it will be super fun anyway).  At the very least, I’ll really go for it here.

I think that’s plenty of things to keep me out of trouble over the summer.  After that… *shrug*.  I’m not doing Austin 70.3 for SURE this year (have a conflict) and I don’t want to do anything that long anyway.  My next A race I’m planning on is 3M half marathon (stupid 2:08 PR is GOING DOWN Y’ALL) and I’ll probably put my eggs in that basket from Oct-Jan.

What’s on your plan for the summer?

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Open mouths and open wallets.

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On June 12, 2017

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Ah, THIS week.  This one happens every #offseason.

Energy+enthusiasm-a training plan to apply it to = open mouths (and open wallets).

The fatigue from the season is finally gone, and it’s like a curtain being lifted from my eyes and I see ALL THE THINGS I can go do and it’s overwhelming in a good way.   I’ve gone from thinking ALL I wanted to do was jump back into IM training because everything else in life seemed so crazy to hoping I have enough time before I start training seriously again so I can tick all the amazing things I have planned off my list.

This week, I would consider my first one back into being a recreational triathlete.  I did five days of training (4h30m), I followed a loose plan, and I even did a brick workout.  It feels like nothing and everything at the same time.  90 minute bike rides are plenty right now, though I will need to start ramping this up soon through the summer to do a 100.  20 minute swims and 3 mile runs are also plenty, and since I’m *NOT* planning on doing any long races, they can be enough for a while.

Tuesday, I rode bikes on an F1 racetrack with hundreds of my closest friends.  You would think of a racetrack as a flat surface, right?  Nah.  It has a killer hill right off the starting line, and a steeper, longer one just after that.  That day, it was right into the wind.  Lovely.  However, there was a flat back straightaway section that was SUPER fun to cruise at 28 mph. We did six loops (totaling about 22 miles), taking the cheater way to skip the hill every other time, and then headed home.

Saturday, we were going to ride and run at the lake, but poor sleep the night before (and frankly, a lot of the week) made us miss our alarm and snooze.  Instead, we rode the trainer and ran around the neighborhood.  I haven’t been on the trainer since… my birthday, I think, and I forgot how challenging it was.  I couldn’t really handle it for the 4-5 hour rides, but now that I’m doing shorter ones, I think I’ll make some improvements by being able to push myself.  Once I get some aerobic base back.  Let’s not talk about the 2 mile run after at 11:09 min/miles at a heart rate of about 170 bpm.  Sigh.

Last week:

  • Monday – ran 2.68 miles
  • Tuesday – 22 bike miles in about 90 mins
  • Wednesday – 17 bike miles in about 80 mins
  • Thursday – off
  • Friday – off
  • Saturday – 30 mins on the trainer (about 7.5 miles) + 2 mile run
  • Sunday – 1000m swim in about 19 mins.

This week I race… so I’ll probably do approximately the same stuff as last week and then see what there is in this little tank of mine right now.

  • Monday – ran 3.1 miles (37 mins, further and faster than last week)
  • Tuesday – brickie workout ~1 hour (maybe bike 20 mins/run 1 mile/bike 20 min/run 1 mile
  • Wednesday – BSS ride
  • Thursday – off
  • Friday – 20-30 min pool swim
  • Saturday – 15-20 min lake swim
  • Sunday – Pflugerville Tri! (500m swim, 13 mile bike, 3 mile run)

This will be over FIVE hours of training/racing y’all.  I’m not sure if I can handle it. 🙂

I always want to start this food/nutrition weekly update section with, well, last week was a shit show.  And then I add up the numbers and they are not so bad and I’m making progress and it’s just that unrealistically, I did not eat only chicken and celery all week and also unrealistically, I did not lose 10 lbs.

  • Weight: 187.8 (+0.4) lbs
  • Avg cal per day: 1753 (+21) calories
  • Avg deficit per day: -970 (+132) calories
  • Macros: 43 (-13)g fat, 181 (+17)g carbs, 102 (+9)g protein, 27 (+4)g fiber

The weight went up a little, but there are two important mitigating factors here.  1. I haven’t seen anything over 187. something for a week now, which means I’m stabilizing, which is a sign that if I don’t fuck it all up, I’ll drop a few lbs soon. 2. It’s that TOM, which also means if I don’t fuck it all up, I will drop a couple lbs once I lose the bloat.  So, if I can manage to eat all the veggies and not all the chips, I might make some progress.

Healthy food!  Yay.  Almost all pre-prepared?  Meh.  Close enough.

Other than that, the numbers look GREAT.  I maintained almost the perfect deficit that’s still within the healthy range.  I’m still in the lower tax bracket with activity, so my appetite is doing just fine.  My fat is down, my protein is back in the normal range, and so is my fiber.

Let’s attempt a diet quality score now, shall we?

Monday: 24.  Then it goes downhill.  Tuesday: 18.  Wednesday and Thursday: 16.  Friday: 13. Saturday: 10.  Sunday: 9.  Average comes out to approximately 15 (out of 32).

I won’t belabor the point (if you want the deets, check the link), but you give yourself points for veggies, fruit, whole grains/complex carbs, dairy, and nuts/seeds.  You subtract points for booze, sweets*, refined carbs, fried food, and fatty meats.

Looking back at previous years when I did this, I actually am doing better on the weekends than I was before (it would go in the negatives sometimes), but I had better quality food during the week when I tracked this previous.  So, why not both?  So, my goals this weeks:

Previous weeks goals: water, tracking, fruits, veggies, maintaining macro balance (protein, fat, fiber).

Incorporate more fruit and nuts into my day.  These are things that were low on my positive points list, but I need to add them slowly to figure out how to do it without increasing my calories much (since I’m not snacking a lot, I don’t have a *lot* of things to replace with them).

Carb conscious.  Be conscious of areas where I’m eating refined carbs and make a plan next week to switch them to whole grain/complex carbs.  I don’t want to go crazy and chuck out things in my pantry, but I will switch over when I need to replace them.

I’ll try the tally next Monday and see how I’ve fared.

Let me tell you a story about adventure.  On Friday, we realized that we had some unplanned time off because of moving offices and the Independence Day holiday, so for 2 days of PTO, we have a 6 day weekend.  While we have plenty of things at home to keep us occupied, of COURSE we’re going to go out of town.  Then I started looking at options.  We thought maybe we’d try going somewhere super north like Vermont or Boston, but those flights take up most of the travel days.  Then we looked up Boulder to go play bikes and it was just about as expensive (though less travel time).  But… I was really close to pulling the trigger anyway.

Then, I made the comment that camping sounded just as fun but gosh it’s hot in Texas.  Could we rent a camper?  Spoiler alert: it’s stupid expensive.  Like nice hotel expensive.  So no.  Then, I made an offhand comment about wondering how much they cost to purchase.  Fast forward through a weekend of researching everything about them, driving to a RV mall to check out a new one, driving to the middle of nowhere to check out a used one on a super cute farm with chickens and goats….

And as of about 1pm today, we’re the proud owners of a JayCo 2008 pop up trailer with AC.  For about the cost of two modest/average continental USA trips, we’ve now got a mobile hotel room!  And, because of a cancellation, we were able to secure a spot for six days at Krause Springs over that weekend.  I’m SO flippin’ excited, everything (so far) has fallen into place nicely, so I feel like this was meant to be.

So as for the previous goals…

  • Find a doctor and schedule a check up.  I had something written up here about excuses and whining and how I’d found someone but hadn’t called, but while I was writing this, I put on my big girl panties and while that SPECIFIC doctor was leaving, I have an appointment with at least someone that lists running when not injured as one of their hobbies. I felt a connection with that. 🙂
  • DDR Pad.  Nope.  Spent the weekend doing other things.  This didn’t even register on the radar.
  • Office.  Nope.  I technically had the time on Sunday, but we had been running around like crazy all weekend, so we watched a movie and painted minis and read books instead.  No regerts.

What we DID do besides make completely impulsive purchases that will result in awesome adventures:

  • Bought a shed.  CostCo had this roadshow thing with a great looking shed for a great price, and that even included delivery and installation.  At this point, besides being there when they arrive and leave, and painting it within a month or so after they install it, this one is almost off the list.  Yay!
  • Got a hitch installed on the Xterra.  This was on Zliten’s to do list for other reasons, but it’s a thing we have done now (and needed to bring the trailer home).  Check!
  • Started talking in real terms about the kitchen remodel.  We have gone over the list with Zliten’s parents, and we’re looking at scoping things out to do things over two weekends at the end of July or mid-August.
  • Non-fiction.  It’s hard to fall asleep reading non-fiction (or at least these particular ones), so I’m alternating.  I’ve read about 3 more chapters in the big yellow endurance book and I’m about 20% through How to Win Friends and Influence people.

This week will be sort of pop up centric, and we can’t do too much other stuff because of the race, but here’s my list.

Pop up stuff.  We need to get it under the insurance, registered, and get it to at least it’s temporary storage (right now it’s parked on the street which is NOT where it will stay).  Additionally, I’m sure there’s about 1000 other things we’ll discover we need so those To Dos will go under here.

Finish the shredding in the office.  It’s not as much as I intended to do last week (and didn’t), but it’s a step in the right direction.  And if I start, I might do more if I’m not exhausted after the race.

Pick one of these.  #1 – Get the DDR pad set up.  #2 – Do more kitchen remodel research.  Neither of these should involve standing on my feet much, so they can keep me busy on Saturday since I don’t have a packed day.

Between the shed, the pop up, and the kitchen remodel, we REALLY need to stop #projectoffseason because it’s so expensive.  Triathlon is pricey, until you compare super motivated triathletes during #projectoffseason who turn their attention to something else with the passion of 1000 fiery suns. At this point, once the general adulting and renovations are coming to a close, the year should turn more to side hustle and fun stuff, which are a little less WE SPENT HALF OUR MONTHLY SALARY THIS WEEK and a little more adventures and learning.

If not, we’ll just have to put a 70.3 on the plan at some point simply to keep us out of trouble. 😉

 

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Losing the blues.

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On June 5, 2017

In Uncategorized

I’m done with the Ironman blues.  Hello from the other side!

Finally this week I came out of the fog.  I remember what it was like to be doing all that training, but it doesn’t feel wrong to *not* do it.  I still get to ride my bike.  We hit the pool once and that made me a happy fishie.  I laced up my hokas this morning for their intended purpose, and it wasn’t far and it wasn’t fast and it was kinda hot but it felt good.  I’m going to try to keep it to 5 hours a week, give or take, but I think both my body and brain are ready to be a super casual recreational triathlete.

It’s a good thing too, because I signed up for a race!

We do this one every year.  Last year I was about 3 months into offseason, I just bought my new bike that week, and I was just a minute and a half off my PR and my second best showing ever.  This year… I’m going to go in again with no expectations and see what I can do.  Go play triathlon hard that morning.  Maybe not even with a watch. All hippie-like without data (but I like looking at it later so maybe not).

So, this week I start with the swim/bike/run – yes all 3 of them in one week.  Here’s the plan.  It’s super detailed.

  • Monday – ran 2.68 miles
  • Tuesday – ride TT bikes at the Circuit of the Americas track for ~2 hours
  • Wednesday – ride bikes with the BSS crew
  • Thursday – probably be dead from all the exertion plus I have gaming so *priorities*
  • Friday – swimming, maybe in the lake
  • Saturday – short brick at Lake Pflugerville (probably 10-15 miles on the TT bike + once around the lake)
  • Sunday – go die somewhere because obviously I’ll be worn the eff out

After these two weeks I may just hang my TT bike and hokas back up for a while again, or I may continue to play triathlon at this low level for the summer.  I haven’t decided yet.  I should probably lift some heavy things soon (like at least my own bodyweight) so we’ll see how I want to prioritize everything.

Last week I was about 2 for 3.  I actually did 4 things (3 bikes, 1 swim).  I got 10k steps on my fitbit every day (technically minus Saturday, because it counted steps for a 2 hour bike ride, and I only really *walked* 7k but details…).  I did not wake up and do stuff because a) my back really wasn’t ready and b) I realized waking up in the morning and going cold to do some stretching without a warmup was probably not the finest idea ever.

I assure you that the second panel did not turn into the third, although I have threatened before.

My adventures in nutrition can be summarized thusly – I did really well all week.  Then I went and rode bikes for 2 hours kinda hard on Saturday and hosted a party with lots of food so I ate and drank a lot.  Then I resumed normality on Sunday and here we are.

This week’s tally:

  • Weight: 187.4 (-1.6) lbs
  • Avg cal per day: 1732 (+17) calories
  • Avg deficit per day: -838 (+35) calories
  • Macros: 56 (+2)g fat, 164 (-12)g carbs, 93 (+3)g protein, 23 (+1)g fiber

So, besides a little extra fat (still within the acceptable range), everything is going the right way regardless.

Last week’s goals:

Continue with Week one goals.  Track and maintain a deficit.  Water.  Try to keep the alcohol consumption to reasonable levels. – Check.  Saturday was a little out of hand but in the grand scheme of the week it all normalized.

Fruits and veggies. – Check.  I went back and could count at least 5 fruits and veggies every day.  Thursday was pushing it a *little* bit including celery from the wings we split but if you’re counting 5 average per day over the whole week?  Nailed it.

Protein.  – Better, but not quite 100g.  I went up to 93g from 90.  When I eat more, this is effortless.  With smaller calorie counts, this takes some planning and perhaps a snack with protein because I’m just not making it some days.

This week’s goals:

Continue with previous goals.  Track and maintain a deficit.  Water.  Try to keep the alcohol consumption to reasonable levels.  Five fruits and veggies per day.  This is a reminder to not regress.

Protein.  I need to watch this carefully.  On nights where I’m having some adult beverages I should skew towards things that are carb-light, and have quality protein and fiber instead to make my macros.

The tally.  Now that my appetite is back to mortal levels and I’m used to not having a food orgy every day, it’s time to START working on my diet quality (the word of this season is baby steps).  Not doing anything this week, except trying to make good choices.  Next Monday, I’ll add up my DQ score and see where it’s at in comparison to where I was a few years ago.

I did some things besides swim/bike/run/eat!  #offseason is glorious.

It’s so weird.  During periods of heavy training, I’m like, what the heck do I fill my life with on the weekends if it’s not either riding bikes for 6 hours or running 20 miles and then laying exhausted on the couch watching Netflix?  Just laying on the couch watching Netflix sounds rather dull without the bikes to tire me out first.

Then, I remember how awesome it is to have some spare mental and physical energy on the weekends.  It’s the worst when you’re recovering because you feel tired without the fun and endorphins, but then once that breaks… HALLELUJAH!

Here are the things I did this weekend:

  • Had two glasses of wine on Friday because I had calories left and I could.
  • Rode my bike with friends for 2 hours.
  • Went out to lunch.
  • Actually died on the couch for a while watching all the 2017 IMTexas videos to try to catch ourselves in them.
  • Picked up the house and prepped for the party.
  • Hosted 11 people and had a fantastic time.
  • Read a few chapters in the Big Yellow Book and finish section 1/3 (and some in my fiction book as well).
  • Did laundry and actually put it away the same day.
  • Cooked a BUNCH of batch meals – curry turkey with brown basamati rice and veggies, shepard’s pie, chili.
  • Went for a walk.
  • Watched a movie.
  • Painted some minis.

…and I was still in bed early enough Sunday night to wake up and run this morning and I feel refreshed and happy instead of overwhelmed.  Glorious!

My goals were:

Find a non-fiction book. – Check.  However, I had just started the new Argonauts book and I’m into it so I’m waiting until I finish it (certainly this week) to start reading How to Win Friends and Influence People (in the Digital Age) – figured I’d start with a(n updated version of a) classic.

Find office chairs.  Check.  600 bucks later, we both have seats we’re happy with that we can sit in for a while.  They’re worth it.  I sat in it to paint for about 2 hours and I didn’t want to die like I do in any other non-couch chair in the house.

Host people without stressing out. Check.  We spent maybe 2 hours cleaning and prepping simply because we effed up with the timing and didn’t schedule this on a cleaning service week, so next time should be even simpler.  There was plenty of food and drink without me going overboard.  We all had a blast playing games.  This will happen again soon.

Life goals, super check.  This week has a few more extra curricular activities, so I am picking one thing that will be a time commitment (Sunday), and the rest should be low hanging fruit.

Find a doctor and schedule a check up.  I have no idea why I’m putting this off.  Actually, yes I do.  This is definitely the year to get my blood drawn and I probably need to recover my account info for the login and the UHC website is confusing and blah blah blah.  Get over yourself and DO EITTT, woman.

Dance dance.  While the next two weeks I’ll probably err on the side of spending my energy doing triathlon stuff, I purchased a DDR pad a few weeks ago and I’d like to get it set up and working BEFORE I really want to use it (and get frustrated that I’m spending my play time getting it set up).

The Office, round 2.  Zliten thinks we can get at least through Step 3 this coming weekend in a few hours.  I’m cautiously optimistic.

And on that note, off to do all the things I can do with a brand new week!

 

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8 reasons why being a prissy pants and a triathlete don’t mix

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On May 11, 2017

In Uncategorized

Triathlon is super fun and awesome, but it’s definitely not a world for someone who doesn’t like getting dirty.  Here are eight things you’ll have to get over if you want to triathlon.

A lovely long row of porta potties is a triathlete’s best friend around 6am race day…

#1 – Porta potties. You’re going to have to use them at some point.  They may not be QUITE as bad as the ones baking all day at an outdoor music festival but by the time the gun goes off, they’re usually pretty, erm, full and usually out of toilet paper.  Also, there’s not generally a place to wash your hands after.  That’s what the lake is for.

#2 – The gauntlet of urine, aka, the swim.  Speaking of the lake, the open water swim is definitely not for the weak of heart.  Besides the fact that you’re going to get hit, kicked, and shoved, you’ll also probably (accidentally) drink some of it.  And people have been peeing in there all day.  You might be swimming in a slipstream of pee at any point.

About to go swim in a lake with a non-zero amount of pee in it and I’m doing just fine, thanks!

#3 – Public indecency.  You’ll have to stick your hand down your pants to apply something called Deez Nutz or Hoohah Glide or Butt Butt’r before you bike and depending on how long you’re riding bikes, during it.  You’ll learn what a snot rocket is and how to properly do them without (regularly) getting boogers on yourself.  In the Ironman, you’ll get buck nekkid to change in front of hundreds of people in the changing tent.  If you have any modesty, go ahead and throw it out the window right now.

#4 – Anti-beauty queen. If you washed your hair every time you worked out, it would fall out.  So, get ready to accept SWEAT as a valid hair product.  Also, since you’re going to be showering at the gym (and at work) more than your house, you’ll need to keep your beauty routine short and to a minimum.  People will probably recognize you better with wet hair than dry hair after a while.

Laying in a park eating a cold cheese sandwich about 50 miles into a bike ride.  This is fine.

#5 -Jack’s utter lack of give-a-shit about appearances. You’ll get to the point where you just DO NOT CARE what you look like to anyone else.  Goggle eyes and looking like a drowned rat coming out of the swim.  Pain faces on the run.  I’ve laid down on the side of the road and shoved food in my mouth a non-zero amount of times in the last year.  You’ll walk into a restaurant sweaty in your clippy cloppy bike shoes, and full kit for a meal and a beer (though it helps to have your whole team with you there).  You’ll learn to own your spandex proudly even in inappropriate places.

#6 – Body problems.  You are going to have a lot of conversations about peeing, pooping, stomach aches, blisters, saddle sores, crotch pain, chafing, road rash, and probably other disgusting things that I haven’t even thought of.  I happily use the bathroom behind the bushes if need be.  Also, the likelihood is that sometime in your career, you’re going to poop your pants.  It’s not happened to me yet, but I’ve had a LOT of close calls so it’s probably going to happen someday.  I’ve made peace with this.

These will absolutely replace your Jimmy Choos.  Or in my case, the Shoe Carnival sale specials.

#7 – Say goodbye to cute shoes.  Heels will not be worth it anymore.  I have so many cute shoes that I just look at and sigh while I choose to wear either running shoes, flat super padded sandals, or flat boots on the daily because I cannot be arsed to walk around on sore and tired legs in anything that doesn’t feel like a pillow giving my feet a hug.

#8 – “She gets too hungry for dinner at 8”. Yep, Frankie is right.  It’s hard to coordinate meals with other people.  I need to eat, I need to eat a lot, and I need to eat right now, and I’m not going to be polite about it.  If you mess with any of these things, we’re probably going to need to have some words and you’ll see my nasty side.  Also, I’m going to be probably be picky about how healthy it is.  I want a giant side of vegetables, some whole grain options, and some protein that isn’t covered in a bunch of fat.  Unless I want the opposite of those things.  And that can flip at any moment depending on the weather, my training, or my whim.

The one thing I will never just “get over” though?  The early morning wakeups.  This priss needs her beauty sleep.

What have YOU given up for sport or fitness?

Invisible Things

By

On May 8, 2017

In Uncategorized

If something exists that bothers me, but I don’t really want to prioritize doing anything about it, I can usually make it disappear.  This works on objects, like the dirty half spilled cat litter box in the garage that had been sitting there since when it was cold enough to put the cat inside at night.

Lumpy space princess is not a good look for me.

This also works on mental things as well – for example, during heavy training cycles, I can almost completely ignore the emotional attachment to what’s going on with the scale.  Once you remove the “so there’s a few lumps but we’re going to go bike 100 miles today so who cares?” aspect about life, it’s really hard to not look in the mirror and be really negative and nasty to myself about it.  I’m trying to be patient, I’m trying to be kind, but everything just feels so far away from where I want to be right now.

And oh, the patience part of it is SO HARD.  At least when you’re doing a super tough multi-hour run, you have the direct power to progress it forward.  You’re doing something.  Right now, my body feels and looks like such a mess in so many ways it’s just not cool and the BEST thing I can do isn’t something, but NOT do something.  I can NOT eat a bunch of crap and fill it with too much alcohol.  I can NOT just jump back into multi-hour efforts and keep my workouts short.

That’s ok, I thought, I’ll just convert all that volume over to speed.  Short and NOT so sweet.  Then, I tried to do a splash and dash at the gym expo thingee and I was busting ass to keep my run speed in the 11s for 1 kilometer.  ONE.  I’ve ran marathons that felt less difficult at about the same pace.  In fairness, this was after a little man kicked my ass in 45 minutes with some drumsticks in a class, I did a 750m all out row (3m13sec, not bad!), and then tried halfheartedly to do some standup paddleboard yoga on shaky and tired legs, but STILL.  I honestly thought my garmin was broken.

Scenes from #pureaustinexpo17 – I want that bowl for breakfast EVERY DAY.

So, I really did spend all my cash on race day and now I’m living paycheck to paycheck and I need to calm my shit if I ever want to have a savings account again.  This is SO different than last year’s offseason where I didn’t want to touch a bike for 2 months, I am just so mentally fired up to DO STUFF that it’s excruciating that my body is taking so long to get with the program.  I’m unfairly comparing myself to where I was last year this time – after two months of offseason.  I’ve now just passed two weeks.

One of the coaches at our gym also did IM Texas and looked at us crazy when we told her even the little we’ve been doing.  She said she’s on pizza and beer for AT LEAST another two weeks.  So, fine.  I’m done with the pizza part of the equation, I need to watch what I’m eating because I refuse to gain any MORE weight, a reasonable, healthy human amount of light-moderate activity sounds like where I’m at right now.  Walking for an hour.  Riding bikes to work or on our recovery ride.  Swimming a lap or two around the lake.  Paddleboards and kayaks.  Lighter strength workouts.  Longer and harder efforts and I need to take some time apart, for our own good.

And I need to have faith that my body will let me know when it’s ready for more.  It’s killing me to have my season end just as tri season is ramping up and watching my teammates and friends crush races just stokes the fire to get RECOVERED already and back up and out there.  However, Saturday taught me it will not end well unless I give myself the time and space to do this the right way.  It’s just hard and I feel like such a weenie.

At least I’m an Ironweenie.

So, last week I did these things:

  • One rowing/weights/stretching session (45m)
  • One 18 mile BSS ride (1h30m)
  • One mile swim in the lake (30m)
  • All the crap at the expo (2h30m)

I also walked at least 10k steps each day (an average of about 14.6k actually).

This is definitely the maximum effort I want to be at right now and I’ll probably be dialing it back a little bit this week.  I’m not going to put up a plan because I’m not there yet, but I’m sure I’ll ride bikes a bit, I probably won’t be able to resist the lake being perfect right now at least once this week, I’ll continue to completely ignore running (we’re definitely not on speaking terms after Saturday), and if I feel good later in the week, some light strength work.

Let’s also talk about the realization about how that silly little sticks class kicked my ass.  Of course I’m probably not going to do stuff like that regularly during season, but it opened my eyes a bit.  Ironman training makes you super strong in so many ways, but it makes you so WEAK in others.  If I want to be a more well rounded human and overly stronger, more stable, and functional athlete, I need to do things besides all the miles of run/bike/swim.  To that end, I’m hoping to incorporate some of those types of activities that move my body in different ways over the next few months.

With the nutrition side of things, I’m feeling kind of the same way.

At least I’m cooking up some real foods now that have plants in them, so that’s a step in the right direction.

My mind is ready to cut calories down because oh my stars, I’m ready to start trying to shed some of this unfortunate weight, but I have to make sure I’m allowing myself to actually recover as well and trying to completely underfeed myself would not help me accomplish this end.  I started tracking my food last week, and it went… okay.  I managed to keep approximately a 5000 calorie deficit per fitbit with minimal pain and suffering and my weight stabilized at 189.5.  My appetite is beginning to behave itself, with moments of rebellion.

I’m trying to stay away from a barrage of junk food, drinking plenty of water, and actually quite trying to slowly replace all the carbs all the time with more fruit and veggies, starting with snacks.  I’m back to desert being described as something you have a small amount once or twice a week vs multiple times per day.  I’ve had the same bag of pretzels for two weeks now and there are no other salty snacks around.  My meals are similar, but I’m only eating three of them per day and I’m trying to gravitate towards the more filling ones for the calories because other than plant type snacks, that’s it for the day.

The last thing on the list is our friend alcohol.  I was actually able to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo with tacos and margaritas (homemade for both so they were lower calorie) for the first time in years because I didn’t have some sort of crazy training reason I had to be up super early.  It’s been nice to have a glass of wine here, a beer there, and not worry about how I was going to utterly fuck up tomorrow’s training.  If I actually want to make weight loss progress, I’m going to have to ration this eventually, but we’re still in the “hang loose” phase of this particular adventure for another few weeks.  Track and healthify the food, but enjoy some drinkies.

Sunday was a full on triathlon with volunteering, cleaning up, and a movie.  T1 was chillin’ on the couch with a beer and T2 was dinner and some wine.

My mood and energy level definitely perked up a bit this week.  There was gaming with friends. We went to go see a movie (Guardians of the Galaxy 2 – which I HIGHLY recommend and think might be my favorite Marvel movie so far).  We volunteered at Rookie Tri.  We had an early Mothers Day celebration with the in laws after busting our butts at the expo.  The week before, I think I left the house ONCE on Saturday for a few hours but that was it for plans besides a recurring date with my couch and netflix.  It was exactly what I needed, but it’s too pretty outside to make a habit of that!

We also reached the advanced beginner level of adulting!  I didn’t get that haircut, but I was able to finally CLEAN THE EFFING CAR and we got it washed and I’m dropping it off tonight to be serviced.  We finally made a Costco trip, and bought and installed outdoor lighting we’ve been talking about forever.  Additionally, we did a pretty good job picking up of the house, and cleaned out and blew the leaves out of the garage.  We cooked garlic shrimp pasta with asparagus and spinach, cilantro cajun turkey with rice and veggies, and chicken tacos.

Next week is all about moi.  I can’t do much about my body feeling lumpy, inflamed, and bloated, but I can make myself the best version of me I can.

  • Haircut!  …and after I get it done, consider using hairdye for the first time in about 15 years.  Part of the BLEH I look terrible is my hair and the cut will probably take care of it, but part of me isn’t sure about the Frankenstein’s bride thing I have going on in the front with the grey streak.
  • Pluck my eye caterpillars.
  • Redo my toes and maybe even my nails.
  • Pick up after sun care stuff, because my beloved Clinique is almost out after 4 years of using it…

Maybe more if I get antsy but I’m definitely not ready to graduate to Intermediate level adulting just yet.

 

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About Me

I'm a video game producer and a lover of anything game related by trade.  I'm a triathlete by hobby.  I live for being on or in the water as much as I can - scuba diving, snorkeling, paddleboarding, water slides... you name it.  The dichotomy between my outdoor and indoor realities are interesting, but they're all mine!  Longer version here...

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