Slornow and Wannabefaster's Winter Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 27)

Were you watching me during my first few races?  But I think you forgot the part where you run out of T2 with your helmet still on.

love it!

Funny Stuff Rene! To add to the craziness I sacrificed my heart rate monitor tonight...not my Garmin, just the sensor that goes on the strap. Went to the park to do an easy trail run. Finished the run, took off the heart rate strap and put it on the roof. Took off earphones and did usual stuff to head out. Busy road. Pulled out somewhat quickly at the exit of the park and hear the "rocks" hitting the underside of the car. Drove the mile home and realized I didn't have my heart rate strap. Light bulb goes on with large letters blinking underneath...DUMB A$$, DUMB A$$ those wern't rocks. Drove back and found the strap and sensor...in the middle of the busy road. The strap was fine but the sensor......RIP!

Looks like I will be doing some online shopping tonight.

So, I have a doctor's appointment next week and I think I'm going to ask for a referral to see a nutritionist but I thought I'd see what you guys ahad to say about it.

I became a vegetarian about this time last year although, I eat eggs and cheese. I also started counting calories. It worked really well until around July when I plateaued. A friend told me not to worry about it that with the amount of training I was doing it was going to be hard to lose weight, that it would come off again in the off season when I could focus on it. So, frustrating though it was I didn't sweat it much. I spen the summer really concentrating on  getting my diet really healthy and increasing my fruit and vegetable intake. The problem came when I had replaced a lot of food with veggies and fruit and was counting all the calories in them. I was hungry all the time and then STARVING all the time and then it started to affect my workouts to the point where I wasn't doing them. I reevaluated with the same person and decided to stop counting the calories in the fruit and veggies and just count other calories. I took a few weeks off from counting first to get my metabolism back on track and ended up gaining a few pounds.

When I started counting again I still wasn't losing so I restricted my calories again and within a few months I was starving again and had to stop counting and gained a few more pounds. then I got sick and injured and was afraidto restrict my intake again so I gained a few more pounds-Yeah, I'm up about 10lbs. Also, Ithink this has really contributed to the illness/injury cycle I've been in. The problem is I really can't figure out how much to eat and I also worry that I'm missing something important in my diet. I'm really muscular so I'm not sure the formula to calculate BMR is accurate for me. I found one that takes BF% into account and according to that I was about 1000 calories short per day for weight maintenance (500 for loss). That's using the factor for hard exercise.

Here's my problem-How do I know if that's accurate? I really don't want to screw this up again. another 15 pounds and I undo all the hard work I've put in this year. I don't know if I should try counting again or stop countiing and find a more intuitive way to eat. I think my tendancy even when I'm not counting is to try to eat less so I still might get into trouble. I mean, I bring this ridiculous amount of food to work every day-it's really hard to think I might not be eating enough when all I do is eat.

What do you guys think?

Sorry to be so needy lately but I swear I'll get my act together and pay it forward eventually. Thanks!

I think seeing someone is an excellent idea.  But you want a registered dietician - not just a "nutritionist."  Let us know how it goes!

When you count your calories do you also keep track of your macro nutrients?  (Protein/Carbs/Fat)  

Not that I'm suggesting you do this but I heard a great term on the Biggest Loser last week - people tend to be Carbotarians!  

Hi Nicole,

I'm a recently converted vegan, myself. Although I have a lot to say on the matter, I wouldn't know how much it would help due to the hypothyroidism which makes it difficult to lose weight (from what I've read) I echo others' statements that you may want to see a dietitian\nutritionist who may have knowledge of weight loss in individuals with hypothyroidism.

If you'd still like some tips, I'm glad to give them!

1) Don't forget your healthy fats. They help in giving a satisfied "full feeling" Avocado, almonds, nuts, seeds etc. 

2) If you are feeling hungry, try breaking up your calories into 6 meals throughout the day instead of 3.

3) When replacing meats, replace them with plant protein sources like legumes and nuts or your case a non plant source like eggs. If you only try to replace them with fruits or veggies, you might find that you are still hungry.

4) Do you drink diet drinks or use artificial sweeteners? The aspartame tricks your brain into thinking you've just taken in a lot of calories. When your body finds out that it didn't get any calories, it rebels and demands that you feed it the calories it thinks you gave it which makes you feel hungry.

5) I'm not sure how much you are trying to lose per week, but I've heard that losing more than .7% of your bodyweight a week will hinder performance when it comes to training. If you are counting calories make sure you don't exceed that expectation of weight loss or you might find you are really tired for training.

Hope this helps and good luck at the doctor's office!

+1 on this. I constantly struggle with how hungry I am. I teach, and got observed last year and my principal asked me what the deal was with all the food during my lesson. I just laughed and said I eat pretty constantly throughout the day. I told her the students were completely used to it, so it wasn't a big deal. I find that no matter how much I eat, I'm generally hungry again in 30 minutes or so, so I try to eat less at any given time and, instead, eat less food with more frequency. Then, I try to eat an earlyish dinner and taper off food intake the later it gets. That's about all the contributions I can make as far as diet goes; I'm an omnivore

Swim workout this morning. I'm feeling stronger during my swims now, which is making a big difference. I also haven't felt nauseous, so I think that was just a combination of getting back in swim shape and adjusting to an earlier schedule. I'm on a cyclical swim workout, so I did the same swim set as I did on January 3rd, except I was able to do the same workout 10 minutes after. Woot 

Nate, let me know how that seat feels!

Today's word of the day is "perseverate." Thanks to Jason I had to look this up. I've read and written alot over the years through college, law school, work etc. and don't know that I have ever heard or seen the word before. Good stuff  

Dang, that's a good word. Can't wait to find a way to use it.

Mentor Group-not just for triathlon anymore!! 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm convinced that I need professional intervention at this point. I really do eat pretty clean am concious of getting a good mix of carbs/proteins/fats (although not in a measured way-I make my self crazy enough). I also eat all day long many small snacks interspersed with some larger meals. I'm actually bringing back some of the foods I was eating when I was succesful and tried to cut to eat cleaner like greek yogurt because eating fruits all afternoon makes me really hungry when it's tiime to work out.

The fact that I am doing the same things as others and not getting the same results tells me it's me. I'll let you guys know what I find out.

Yesterday I ended up doing a new bike route that includes a 3 mile section with four hills.  I did that section twice.  I think I will add that section of road x3 at least three days a week.  Hopefully that will get me over the hills easier on my tri.

Today is my run day so I decided to ride the 5.6 miles over to my PTs office and do my two miles on the treadmill there.  The ride over I pushed pretty hard knowing it was such a short distance.  The quickly changed my shoes and shirt (I sweat a lot when I run) and banged out the two miles with relative ease.  Then change my shoes and shirt and headed back. 

Unfortuantly half way back I blew a back tire.  With no spare I changed shoes again and walked my bike the last three miles home.  At least I had a pair of running shoes in my backpack to put on.

On the plus side the run program is feeling like something that I can actually progress with.  Also, leaving the PTs office I ran into one of the guys at our local LBS.  They have a ride on Sunday mornings that is a bit faster than I generally ride.  I am going to join them this weekend, weather permitting, and see how I do.

I'm pooped.

Yesterday was 4 miles in the gym and some strength work. Today is swim team and mid week speed work with my running group. Looks like 6-7 miles of Indian running. Our team leader is very creative and likes to make it "fun". It hurts, but people in the group are very entertaining, which makes it easier.

This weekend husband and I are going on a couple's retreat provided by the Air National Guard called "Strong Bonds". Two nights at a nice hotel at their expense. We're going to learn how to communicate better and such. We're going to run his 15 mile long run together, and we're right on the water so I can walk to the beach and get some open water swimming done too with his supervision. Really looking forward to it all!

I'm actually going to nap after I get off from work, before picking up my daughter. I need that extra bit of energy for the evening. Swim/run bricks kick my butt!

Jason-great post. I'm bad about pushing my recovery runs too hard. I should probably be a good 20-30 seconds a mile slower. This is especially true coming off an injury. Unfortunately, I've been too focused on getting my run back to where it was...and that includes trying to match my previous easy run pace.

I read an article several years ago about an American writer/runner going to Kenya to train and observe some of the top Kenyan runners. Then main thing I recall about the article was his amazement about how slow the easy/recovery runs were. Basically, what he called a "shuffling pace" at 8:30-9:00/mile. These were guys that were sub 2:30 marathoners...probably closer to 2:15. So, these guys were doing consistent easy runs at 3+ minutes slower than their marathon pace.   

I think this is very wise.  Find the most knowledgeable and experienced person you can, and as someone said, find somebody who has experience with your specific problem.

x2.  I occasionally run (though not recently) with a <1:10 half marathoner friend of mine (depressingly, he is my age...).  We often did recovery runs (back when I actually needed to do them) at around 8:30-9:00/mile.  That's well over 3 minutes/mile  slower than his half marathon pace.  Somewhat less for me, but still extremely, extremely, easy.  It feels more or less like walking.

Having said that, there is a difference between 'easy run' and 'recovery run' (at least in my book -- I'm not going to insist on terminology!).  If you are running for recovery, then yeah, it should feel ridiculously easy, like walking.  But you don't really need to do recovery runs unless you are running quite a bit -- enough that you are carrying a lot of fatigue (day to day and week to week) from running so much.  'Easy' runs (which is how I would classify what Barry calls 'running while allowing for recovery') are done at a slightly harder pace than true recovery runs (which I would characterize as 'runs that promote recovery').  But they should still feel very very easy.  I do 'easy' runs at around 7:30 or sometimes slower depending on how I'm feeling.  This is around 20% slower than half marathon pace.  So, for example, a 2-hour half-marathoner would do these runs at around 11:00/mile or slower.  That's still running, but it should feel very very easy.

A great way to enforce the easy pace is to run with someone for whom the pace is NOT easy.  I use children for this.

Not all of you know me, so I'll say it explicitly that I'm kidding about the word 'use'.  But I'm not kidding that going for a run with my kids has the beneficial side-effect of keeping me from going too fast.  Now if Randy were to go for a run with his son, well, that's a different story entirely!

Michael I agree about 'needing' a recovery run (or bike or swim).  I don't run enough to need any recovery run.  Maybe someday but not today.

I have had occasion to do a recovery ride.  Back when my PT would not let me run I was cycling 5-6 days a week.  I would reach a point where I just needed to cruise around town.  No clock, no destination, just getting the legs spinning easily.

As a matter of practice almost all my rest days are active recovery.  I might ride 10-15 miles real easy or swim 1500 - 2000 yards.  It may all be psychological but at the end of the day I feel better doing an active recovery exercise that taking a total rest day.  It never occured to me to push that recovery ride/swim hard just because it was short.  But then I learned about active recovery when I was in college when an 'easy' day was very welcome.

Um, for me, right now 1500-2000 is a workout!  I hope soon it won't be.  My swimming is pathetic right now.  What used to be a warm-up is currently a hard workout.

me too!  Although I finally uploaded yesterday's workout and I'm happy to report my 100 yard t-pace has broken the 2:00 mark.  YAY!!  After just a few weeks I went from 2:02 to 1:56.

I go to the ortho tomorrow.  I've been using my bone stimulator for 10 weeks now and I don't think it did jack.  I'm afraid he's going to say "no running still."  It's been 6 months  I've been behaving - although when he said I could ride I'm not sure he meant 3 centuries in 2 weeks....but we'll see how it goes.

Have a good Wednesday all!

Oh, and Blanda your schedule makes me exhausted just reading it  I'd need a nap!