Nutrition 101 – FAIL!

There are two types of runners – those who “eat to run” and those who “run to eat”.  I’m definitely one of the latter.  Actually, I may their leader. Mind you, I’ve loved running since I started over ten years ago, but I love eating a lot more.  I wish I just loved clean, fuel-your-workouts, help-you-recover types of food (and I do love these), but I also love deep-fried, clog-your-arteries, make-you-feel-hung-over foods too. 

What’s really strange about the whole thing is that I am a type-A personality.  When I train for a race I need a training plan and I follow it carefully (these days as carefully as a full-time job and a 3 year old will allow). When it comes to the nutrition part though, I fall down.  I don’t mean stumble a bit, I mean trip over my own feet and fall flat on my face.  For example… last week was the Noggin’s birthday and we had a small family get together over the weekend.  There were maybe ten people expected to attend.  I bought a chocolate whipped cream cake with strawberries that is supposed to serve 15-20 people.  Part of the reason for this was that this was the smallest size that they would do the Cars (the movie) design on and the other (somewhat secret) part was that I was excited about the leftovers.  If I had listened to the Russian I would have bought a non-theme cake that serves 8-10 and we would have maybe a piece left over.  Instead, we have this…

Now, the cake wasn’t that good, so I haven’t been eating that much of it, but I am still eating it (it was pre-eating for my long bike ride). 

I know I need to figure out how to get myself to commit to eating well for training (and for life).  I want to be one of those people who eats purposefully, I really do. I’m jealous of those people. I try to train purposefully and I feel that it’s a shame I can’t put the same sort of discipline into a part of the equation that is as important, if not more so, than the type of workouts I do. (the Russian would also be happy if I could do this since he thinks I set a ridiculously bad example for the Noggin, which I do, but I try to do my worst eating when the Noggin is not around). With the half-iron training, and getting older, it is becoming more clear to me that I need to get serious about nutrition – for real, like now! The hard part is figuring out how to do it. 

Of course, the question from this article in the magazine Swimmer is never one that I’m really going to ask myself with a straight face.

So BUSTED...

That's how I've been feeling since last weekend's olympic tri.  Here are some signs that I did not recover well from that effort:

1. My long "ride" on my trainer this weekend felt like some sort of cruel and unusual self-afflicted punishment (this was even with watching old episodes of Smallville with the gorgeous Tom Welling)
2. I slept 9 hours Saturday night (which I never do) and still felt like having a nap on Sunday
3. Even my compression gear didn't make me feel any better
4. I want to eat everything in sight (I eat when I'm tired, which is why I gained almost 40 lbs when I was pregnant)
5. I fell asleep today for ten minutes with the Noggin singing "Old MacDonald" in my ear (and no, the Noggin does not know how to sing quietly) 

It worries me that the last week has been so hard.  I feel like I'm not getting any sort of quality out of my workouts this week because I'm so tired, which makes me feel like I am missing a week of training.  With Pumpkinman less than 6 weeks away, that is very disturbing.  Looking past Pumpkinman - I am supposed to run the Nike Women's marathon with my sister 5 weeks afterwards.  If I can't even recover from an olympic, how am I supposed to recover from a half-iron in time to do some long runs before the big day? Ack!

I feel like I'm the sign the Noggin was drop kicking all last weekend.  Not a good feeling. Hope it goes away soon...

BTW - that is my hat the Noggin is wearing.  He can also wear my visor and my sunglasses - that's why we call him the Noggin.

I DID IT (race report for the Title 9 Olympic Triathlon)

And it was hard...

This past weekend my little family drove to Boston so that the adults could do some triathlons and the baby could run amok (more on that).  The drive to Boston on Friday took us a long time, but it ended with BBQ (a case of all's well that ends well).  We stayed with friends in Cambridge who were beyond gracious in hosting us, even as we took over their place with our bikes and all our tri stuff.

The Russian did the Massachusetts State Triathlon Saturday morning, which was nice for me because the Title 9 Triathlon on Sunday was the exact same course.  Basically, he checked it out and let me know what I was facing ahead of time.

The Russian did a great job on the course, but despite what the announcer said, I do not believe he was smiling while he was running up to the finish line.

Sunday morning was a wash and repeat of Saturday morning except for this time I was racing and the Russian was dealing with a tired, cranky naughty toddler (the Noggin spent various parts of Saturday drop kicking the sign I had made for him to cheer on his father, crying, running around like a madman with his stuffed monkey, touching EVERYTHING, and pushing his limits in a myriad of different ways).

I look so calm and relaxed before heading into the transition area to set up...

THE SWIM

I was able to get into my wetsuit (wasn't sure it was going to happen to be truthful) with the help of the Russian and took a pre-race dip.  The Russian made me do this silly pose and then somehow caught me with the camera.  I was still in a good mood at this point because the water was warm (a little too warm for a wetsuit, but I am a bad swimmer) and calm and my wetsuit fit.

When I got out of the water after a very long swim (I took the long way around the first few buoys), I was not quite smiling like that anymore.  In fact, I felt a little nauseous.  The Russian got a great picture of me gagging on some honey stinger gel thingees, which was all I ate for the entire bike section.

Because I didn't feel super great, I took my time with changing into my socks, bike shoes, helmet, and gloves and getting something to drink before heading out of transition.

THE BIKE

Since I was 75th out of 105 people out of the water and took my sweet time in transition, most people were out on the bike section already.  Once I got on the bike, things went fairly well, I passed a number of people during the ride and no one passed me.  Well, there weren't many people behind me so I wasn't expecting to get passed too much.

On a side note - I did not spend much time on the aero bars because I was uncomfortable passing people while riding like that and there was a fair amount of traffic during parts of the ride.

I was working pretty hard for most of the time and at mile 10 I thought, "I've only done 10 miles? WTF?".  Anyway, I made it to the end, feeling a lot better than I did after the swim.  My second transition was faster than the first (no wetsuit to remove), but slow enough that two people I passed on the bike ran out ahead of me.  Got to work on those transitions...


THE RUN

Running is my strength so I was excited to get to this part, but did I mention it was in the 90's by this time? Whatever the exact temperature, it was HOT and I was suffering.  During the run I remembered that the last time I did an Olympic distance triathlon (Lobsterman in 2008) I felt like it was the hardest thing I had ever done (this was post marathon, but pre-baby).  Right, running 6 miles at the end of swimming and biking is hard.  Forgot about that...

I slogged through the run, with the first 3 miles being kind of miserable.  I did pass a number of people, so I wasn't running backwards at least. After the turn around at the midway point my legs started feeling a little peppier and I knew I only had 3 miles to go - that was helpful.  The Russian and the Noggin were at mile 6.1, with a handmade sign to cheer me on.

When I finished the run, the volunteers let me put my feet in a pool of cold water (fantastic) and put a wet cold towel on my head (even more fantastic).  Did I mention that the volunteers were great?  They were really great and Max Performance put on a fun race.  Now, if it wasn't in the middle of July, which tends to be a tad warm, it would have been perfect.


I got this cool metal for my 2:51:47 of effort, which the Russian did not get (though he got a towel which was also nice).

THE SUMMARY

If I compare how I did in this race to the only other Olympic distance I have done, the breakdown would be:

1. My swim was a lot suckier (2012 vs. 2008)
2. My bike speed was a bit better
3. My run was somewhat worse (I already know I am a lot slower now than I was before baby)
4. My transitions are slightly faster than they were before

What I learned from this race that I need to apply before Pumpkinman:

1. I need to swim in open water more (this was the first time in four years and my shoulders felt the extra effort sighting took)
2. I need to bike more (56 miles is a lot more than 22 miles)
3. I should work on riding on the aero bars (to help with that speed thing)
4. I should work on descending (I got passed by someone I had passed because I was too cautious on the downhills, though I passed her no the next uphill)
5. I need to learn to eat on the bike (if it had been any longer I would have been in really bad shape on the run)
6. I should work on my transitions
7. I have a long way to go before September!

I've probably made wiser choices in the past

It's less than a week until my first triathlon of the season.  In the last couple of days, a few things have come to my attention:

1. I am either a.)[over]confident or b.) not that smart to have signed for an olympic distance triathlon as my return to racing - I'm pretty sure it is the latter, because I have never been that confident about swimming or biking.
2. I am not a very good bike handler - While I survived my first ride trying out the aero bars, there was a close call when I tried to clip and get into the aero position at the same time.  You probably guessed that I am not that talented.  Luckily, there were no cars nearby or there might have been some ugliness on route 9 in NJ. Side note on that ride - there was a small mishap where I was hurt in a place I will not speak of by my crossbar.  I doubt it's necessary to say more.
3. It's been awhile since I have done this sort of thing -  After my last foray into the ocean to test out my wetsuit, The Russian hung it up to dry and I noticed that the markings from my last tri had imprinted themselves on the inside. Last time I raced I was 31 (see the left leg) and my number was 270 (see the right leg). Now I'm 35 - I've moved up an entire age bracket since that last one.

Somehow, these things together make me quite a bit nervous for Sunday.  Not to say that I think it will be the hardest thing that I have ever done (I will reserve that distinction for childbirth  and the eighteen years that follow). However, I do think that it will be quite challenging and I really hope that I'm up for it.  More importantly, I hope it goes well, because other wise I am in deep for Pumpkinman, which is less than two months away (yikes!)

Excitement and terror all in one

No, I am not talking about childbirth, I'm talking about aero bars. Though I'm sure you mothers may agree the title could apply to that too.

Early this week the Russian installed his old aero bars on my bike (In addition to being a professor at a prestigious university, my personal chef and  my sherpa, he is also my bike mechanic).  We (meaning the Russian and I somewhat) thought it would be a good idea for me to learn how to use aero bars before Pumpkinman.  I hear 56 miles  goes by much faster when you're traveling at higher than 13 mph (my normal speed).

In case you were wondering, this is what scary looks like from the top:

Of course I am excited about the prospect of learning to ride on them - I do think that they will improve my speed (they better!). Though I will look even more like a poser (The Russian's word) than I already do, I hope to get some benefit out of them in my races this season.  [BTW if you don't know what a poser is I may be too old to be your friend.]


Tomorrow we are going on our first jaunt with these things attached.

Reasons for terror:

1. If you know me, you know I can barely ride a bike as it is.  Ask The Noggin ("Mommy, you fall down?").
2. I have been known to freeze when confronted with unexpected (for me) events on the bike. For example, I kicked the chain on an uphill on my last ride and despite The Russian yelling repeatedly "Unclip, unclip!" I did not and ended up taking a nasty slow-mo fall into a ditch head first - see the above question from the Noggin. One can only imagine what the wobbly aero position will do for my bike handling skills.
3. This will be the first time for me outdoors in months (I am a self-admitted chicken and will not ride by myself around traffic, bad roads or really in any conditions).  Of course it would be worst to try it next week during my first tri in four years...

*Update-7/9/2012 * I lived, but just barely.  Those things are nerve-wracking!

Inspiration, perspiration and neoprene

This weekend was chock-full of all of the above.  Okay, maybe not the neoprene, but there was more than enough of that for me...

Inspiration
On Friday I came home to this in the mail:

Every year my husband enters the lottery to try to win a spot in the Ironman Championship in Hawaii.  So far, he is 0-5, thank goodness unfortunately. As a consolation for not getting the opportunity to intensely suffer challenge yourself, they send you the broadcast from the previous year.  I love watching this thing.  Of course the pros are beyond AMAZING specimens of humanity, but I really like the segments on the "regular" folk who have overcome adversity.  These are people who have cancer, are in their 80's and have done 20+ Konas, are racing with their child, have lost 200 lbs... You get the picture.  One of the guys this past year was a double amputee vet - makes you say to yourself, "What's my excuse now?"  Anyhow, this is a much watch even if you're not into triathlons for the pure inspiration.  So I watched this while I was on the bike trainer Saturday morning to get psyched for my 3 hour indoor ride (The Russian and The Noggin were sleeping and I am a chicken when it comes riding by myself). Which leads to...

Perspiration
As it was everywhere else on the East Coast, it was super hot in New Jersey this past weekend.  Inspired as I was by the folks in Kona I was still hating the weather, especially when I got off the bike to do a run outside with my (all women) running group, the Elysianettes.  If you're ever in Hoboken, NJ you should definitely come run with us.  The group is friendly, all-inclusive and just plain fun.  Anyhow, it was hot, I was dying on the run and I was more than happy to turn around early when one of the ladies suggested it.  I felt like I was pretty dehydrated, supported by the fact that when I got home and weighed myself I had lost 4.5 lbs.  I didn't recover on the hydration until probably today (Monday). This was compounded by the fact that we decided we should go to Brighton Beach to check out what was going on with my...

Neoprene
On Sunday, The Russian, The Noggin and I went to Brighton Beach to do a little open water swimming, but mostly to test out my and The Russian's wetsuits.  Mind you, it's been 4 years and a baby since I put that thing on and it was tight when I was at my thinnest.  Needless to say, 90+ degrees, sand, extra weight and not having done this for 4 years was not a recipe for success.  I got it on (sort of and with lots of sweating and WTFs) and swam for about 5 minutes.  That's how long I lasted before heading back to shore. I didn't get it on high enough on the legs, so it was pulling on my shoulders and making them extra tired while I was swimming.  Well, at least I learned what not to do before my first tri this season.  I'm planning for another practice this coming weekend.  Hopefully, it won't be ridiculously tortuous as bad next time.  I definitely need to practice before the olympic tri in two weeks, which is in itself a dress rehearsal for Pumpkinman.  At this point, all things are done for Pumpkinman, including walking amongst lots of Russians on the beach, sweating like crazy while they (and you) wonder if you are in fact crazy.

The Russian had no such problems with his wetsuit, but there are two things to consider here: 1 - his is two pieces, 2 - he never had a freaking baby.