Eating, yes, eating has me in a quandry. I have been eating healthily, but it turns out I am not eating enough. Some days I evidently haven't even been hitting the 1200 calorie mark, which is the base line for just what you need to keep your body in motion. Of course the days we've eaten out or had pizza, I well exceed the mark. Based on some calculations that our coach gave us and due to the amount of exercise we're doing per week, it looks like I should be eating (even with subtracting out 500 calories for a weight loss of 1 pound per week) 2,000 calories a day. That is a whole lot of eating when you primarily eat fruit and veggies like I do. To give you an idea of what a quandry I'm in, yesterday I ate 1 cup of kashi, 1/4 cup of skim milk, a v-8, an orange, green tea with honey, 2 smart dogs, 1 fat free activia with 1/4 cup of mixed berries mixed in, an apple with 1 tbsp of peanut butter, turkey sloppy joes, and added a package of power bar energy gels, and I still only hit 1,206 calories (maybe 1300 because I ate a little extra bread with my sloppy joes). To me, that's a good bit of food. But evidently not enough. Of course, I was rather hungry this morning for breakfast...
Luckily I purchased Joe Friel's newest edition of The Triathlete's Training Bible because it has a section on nutrition and it gave me some helpful information, like eat 20% of your calories as fat calories and eat low to medium glycemic index foods during most of your day (which I do already) but increase your glycemic index foods around and during exercise (but still avoiding the sugary stuff). BUT, those fat calories need to be "good fats," ie. monounsaturated and omega-3s to the best of your ability... so getting them from unprocessed foods like nuts, seeds and lean meats. How I wish someone would just hand me a menu already put together with a grocery list so I could purchase and cook! So, today, I'm using a handy spreadsheet to see if I can get this ball rolling in the right direction. I still can't figure how I'm going to lose weight if I start eating more than I'm already eating, but we shall see.
Last night was our swim workout. It went well, but trying to learn the new version of the stroke is a little difficult. I will perservere of course, but until I can train myself to stick my arms into the water straight in front of my ears I may be swimming a bit crooked. And crooked is not good because that means I'm adding distance to the length of my swim and we don't want to swim farther in a triathlon than we need to. I'm going to give it a go for a week or two, but there's only 11 more weeks until the Miami Tri, so if by week 9 I'm not swimming straight, I may do as my coach suggested and just stick with what I already do well. But, I'd like to be as efficient (and hopefully as fast) as possible since swimming is the sport that I am the best at. Too bad it's only about 1 mile out of the total 32 miles we'll be doing. Of course, most people on the Team in Training team with me are happy about it. I, on the other hand, would rather swim than run! Most kids ran in sports as little kids, me, I swam!
Tonight is a 3 mile run at Lake Eola followed by a running clinic at Track Shack. Our coach said something about a 1 mile warm up, a timed 1 mile, and then a 1 mile cool down. I'm not looking forward to officially hearing how "fast" I do a mile after already running one. But, as always, I will do my best! Running has grown on me, especially now that I make myself pick my head up and look around (instead of straight ahead of me), but I still would rather be in the pool or on the bike. I'm hoping to like it even more as time progresses. Before that we'll be playing on the playground with the girls in the hopes of making the car and parent transition a little more fun for the ladybugs, plus I get to spend more time with them (and feel a little less guilty about not being home with them in the evening).
It's funny because last night in reading some of my new book, he asks the question why do you want to do triathlons? And to be prefectly honest, I'm not 100% sure why but I know that I am driven to do it. At first it was because I was bored with my workout and wanted something to get in better cardio shape and to have a goal, but then the more I trained it became something more. It was a sort of mental therapy because I have endured a good bit in what I consider to be a relatively short life thus far (yes, I do know I'm in my 30's but even with cardiovascular disease running rampant my Dad's side of the family tends to live until around 90, so imagine the possibilities!) and it was somehow proof to myself that I'm still here, I'm still alive and I'm still kicking and I refuse to just exist. And then it is a way to raise money for cancer research in memory of Angela, whose death has really changed the way I look at life (mine and everyone else's too). And not only is that the case now, but it is all of these things and yet something more that I can't quite figure out. It is fun for me, it is something I do for myself in a time when I work for others, take care of others, and try to run a household, but yet there is more to it. I am not delusional... I am aware that I was never a fast runner as a child and most likely will never be what others consider "fast" so I can never be a truly "great" triathlete. But, I somehow don't care as to whether I'm "great" at this in someone else's eyes, I just want to be happy with my progress and what I'm doing. When I finished my 1st sprint triathlon, my Mom said to me,"well, now you know what to do to be better next time." And for me, yes, there were lessons that I can use to improve, but it wasn't about being better. It was living in that moment that I did something that I considered amazing. Every time I get a little faster, I amaze myself that I did that. Perhaps this triathlon stuff just gives me a different perspective on myself from where I was before, and it drives me to do and be even more than I already am. Not to mention it is good therapy for working out whatever is going on in my brain or in my life as well. So BRING IT ON!
News in from the potty training front. After a war of refusing to wear underpants Sunday and Monday (despite using the potty all day at school yesterday), Ladybug has returned to the allied front, is proud of wearing her underpants again and has vowed to keep her pretty pants clean and dry today. Angelfish's teacher at daycare yesterday also informed me that Angelfish has been doing very well using the potty. In fact over the past week or so, she has been keeping her pullup dry. This morning she too is in underpants (although extras were sent with her to school). Is the end of pullup land in sight? Stay tuned...
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