Destination MoP is FULL (of motivation!) (Page 33)

Had a great swim today.  Managed to 'feel' the water than fight it most of the time.

Anyone else finally getting in some pool time?

Last week I started a nutrition experiment.  Given my workouts & bicycle commute, I was famished by the time I got home and would need to snack before dinner.  I knew I needed to change this.

So last I week I started 'front-loading' carbohydrates.  This means I try to get in lots of carbs prior to lunch to provide fuel for my morning commute and then lunchtime workout.  For lunch, I've added more  protein.  The lunchtime protein is supposed to help me recover from the workouts.  Then 30 minutes before I head home, I have some more carbs.

I've noticed that I'm no longer STARVING when I get home and don't need to snack before dinner.  Also don't seem as hungry during the morning.

Anybody else do this?

Great to see people are fitting swims in again.  I've managed 2 this week, although I'm noticing that my times and my strokes per length have both gone up significantly.  Going to take a little while to work back to where I was...

On the nutrition front I try to make sure I have plenty if I'm going to be working out.  If I'm doing a morning workout I have porridge for breakfast (I think you call it oatmeal...), which gives me loads of energy.  Otherwise I just have bran flakes.

On the subject of nutrition I had an interesting insight at the coaching course this weekend.  We had to keep a nutrition and hydration diary for a week, which we then looked at in the context of good nutrition.  What it made me realise it that I've got the balance quite well for most of it, but have absolutely no fruit and very little vegetables in my diet!  Obviously this isn't good, so this week I've been making a real effort to eat fruit and increase my vegetable intake.  It's taking a bit of thought, but can only be a good thing in the long run and those are the things that stop me from getting ill, help with recovery from workouts etc...  It's a work in progress!

Good trail race yesterday.  A 5 miler.  2nd in age group of about 23.  So pretty darn pleased.

Getting back into the swim routine.

Preparing to battle Halloween candy cravings later this evening.

Way to GO!  That is very impressive!

So for one day I broke the 160 mark and weighed 159.7 but after that day I have gone between 161 and 162.  My nutrition lacks so much.  I really try but once my GI issues begin, I don't think I am receiving any nutritional value and the fat clings to my belly.  I also beleive a lot of it has to do with hydration. 

On the good side, I have been maintaining my strength training.  Not hitting ALL my SBR training, especially the bike portions but my focus is on getting the strength training in this month and next.  Its coming along. 

So for me...protein and weights all day long.  

Hi All,

Been a bunch of nutrition talk around the MoP board these days... not surprising given we're now smack dab in the middle of the foodathon trifecta affectionately known as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Year's.  Stay focused on eating what is healthy for you!  Balance!

For what it is worth on the scheduling - more carbs in the morning helps me with energy in the afternoon.  Lean protein for lunch helps curb the appetite later too.  We have a problem eating dinner before 8pm in our house and the 6-8pm time slot is my valley of death when it comes to bad eating.  But I still haven't found a way manage that one.  We're just on two different schedules around here - I'm the morning person and Karen stays up until 2 or 3 am... which naturally leads to different eating schedules.

Anyway, congrats Melanie on your measures - lean is good... but don't start losing tone.  You'll have to pardon me for being especially sensitive on this subject right now, but it also may be that your appetite is telling you that you aren't getting enough calories to cover what you're burning each day. 

Still not sure what I will do about Richmond marathon which is now less than 2 weeks away.  Right now, I'm leaning toward doing it even though I haven't done any runs over 16 miles and my left knee isn't quite right.  It may come down to the weather forecast.  If it looks like it will be a cool, but pleasant day, I'll probably do it - rain or heat and I'll probably pass.  No need for an unpleasant experience - hmmmm... well, no doubt the last 6 miles or so will be unpleasant regardless, but I'd like to enjoy some of it :-)  Sounds like a fair weather fan plan to me.  Yep.

Keep well MoPers!

Stu

What kind of GI issues, Cynthia?  Any clue as to what foods trigger them?  Dairy perhaps?

I was just wondering the same thing.  Kevin (husband) has recently developed a serious dairy intolerance (unfortunately it looks like he caught something at our last tri from contaminated water in the swim, which gave him a stomach bug...).  He's doing fine now that he's managing it, but bizarrely his changed eating habits have made me realise that I've actually got a minor dairy intolerance, which as far as I can figure out has been there since I was a teenager.  I can't believe I'm well into my 30s before I've realised what it is that's been making me feel ill!

Congrats on the weight Cynthia.  If you've hit it once it'll come again.  I'm having the same sort of issue getting below the 80kg mark.  I keep dropping down to 79 point something, and then it pops back up again...

In other news I officially started my "ironman 2012" training program on saturday.  It's going fairly well so far, although I've been off work which has really helped with fitting in all the sessions.  The real test starts when I'm back on shifts.

I've added in strength training, which is something that I think will really help in the long run.  In the short term I'd forgotten how much it hurts afterwards...  I did the session yesterday and was really tired for the rest of the day.  Today I could really feel a couple of muscles that obviously just aren't used to doing anything.  I definitely won't be able to do it before a shift, which shouldn't be too much of a problem, but is another thing to factor in.  I'm hoping that once my muscles adapt to the session they won't be quite so sore, but of course the whole point is to work hard, so I'll have to find the right balance.

So November goals for me are:

Follow Jorge's bike plan - have done two sessions so far, and I can already feel my legs hating me ;-).  3 turbo trainer sessions per week plus an optional mtb ride outside.

Running - gradually building up the mileage again, but working on faster cadence and shorter strides. 3 runs per week.

Swimming - regain my form and endurance.  My technique has gone a little, mostly due to the loss of fitness, so concentrate on the form and the fitness will come. 2 sessions per week.

Strength training - working on muscle adaptation so high reps, low(ish) weight to get my muscles used to working. 2 sessions per week.

Core stability - I don't have any, and apparently that's my biggest weakness in running, so some kind of core work every day. 6 sessions per week.

One complete rest day per week.

I have been following the drills from the learn to swim series on BT. Its been helpful to me, so heres the link Learn to Swim - Month 1  There are all kinds of other programs on this site that you may find helpful to you.  Glad to see you had a great swim!

The GI issues...how to do this without TMI...or grossing anyone out.  Well, when the GI issues are bad they are bad.  The doc states I have severe diarehha because of constipation...strange but true.  So I really can only eat small amounts of food and anything can trigger an episode.  Fats of course are the worst culprit or too big of a meal.  Nuts seem to set me off too but I can handle a small handful once in a great while but no more.

I have found that I must have a lot of salads throughout the week, one or two a day to get more fiber from the dark leafy greens. Tried the docs recomendation of adding a fiber powder to my water but that did not seem to make a difference, did that for about six months and nothing changed.  So it seems I need to get my fiber from food...lots and lots of fiber. 

Porridge every morning was not enough. So I have changed to yogurt and grapenuts for breakfast in the morning and that seems pretty good; then a bowl of oat...I'm porridge at ten.  Salad at oneish plus lunch...which is dinner left overs.  Dinner has to be small or I can feel the affects in the morning and any food I put on top of my dinner from the previous night will be bile by the middle of the night and the cycle starts all over. I am still not eating enough calories throughout the day and I feel it in my workouts.  Weak tired, and an overall run down feeling.

Thank you for your concerns and any info you may have would be greatly appreciated especially if anyone else has this problem. 

And of course WATER, WATER, WATER...all day long.

Hey Coach Rach!

I really like your focus for over the winter.  It will build a solid base for whatever you decide to do next year.  Between Jorge's biking and the core/weight work, I think you'll find a new gear next year.  Did you have someone help you decide on the exercise/weight choices specifically for tri, or did you do the research yourself?  I'm going to add some weight work in Dec, and I'd love to find a good source for "here are the weights to focus on for x aspects of the tri".  I'm totally sold on the core (and for me, back) exercises.  I do them, I feel good.  I stop doing them, and I feel old :-)

Anyone else have weights / exercise insights?

Stu

Cynthia - uffff... the stomach stuff is so tricky.  In our family (more accurately, my wife's family), we've got celiac (late onset - age 40), several food/chemical allergies, lactose intolerance, IBS, and our daughter had been struggling with something that sounds kind of like what you have a few years ago which was probably one of the early drivers of her eating disorder.  Meals at the holidays are pretty interesting when we all get together (throw in a vegetarian too).  As a nurse and since you're seeing a doctor, I'm sure you've been doing food and errr... "results" logs, but if not, sometimes that can help diagnose what is going on.  Things like allergies to nitrates are particularly difficult to figure out because they are in different categories of foods - like wine, sausage, sauces, etc.  It took us 2 years to figure out about Katherine's lactose intolerance b/c some things had a stronger reaction than others and it was all on a bit of a continuum. 

While it is challenging to do so, it seems that the path to figuring it out is often to go to very basic unprocessed food groups and then slowly add things back in.  And yes, giving your stomach less to work on at any particular time is a good idea!  Fruit is a great source of carbs if you're having trouble getting carbs in your diet and it would seem it would serve two purposes :-)  Anyway, all that is best done with help of doc or nutritionist.  Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Stu

Lol, not a coach yet.  Still got a lot of studying and stuff to do before I'm actually qualified.  The course runs till March!

I'm hoping that the winter training program is going to give me a good base, although I'm also feeling a little like I should start taking bets on how long I'll be able to stick it for.  It's pretty full on!  I'm already trying to figure out how to fit all my runs in for this week ;-)

For the weights I read up on as much as I could, but eventually used a session I found on here (this one), which has the advantage that I can do it at home with stuff I already own (I've adjusted a couple of the core things to include the swissball as I think it gives added benefit).  The video claims to be a 20 minute workout, but it takes me about 55min!  I'm already feeling the benefits.  The first session was really hard and it hurt afterwards.  I've just done my 3rd session and I've added one rep each time.  I can feel that it's not as hard, and I haven't been stiff afterwards either.  I'm hoping that means I'm getting the benefits already.

The only exercise I'm doing that is specific for me is the "running" with the swissball.  It's basically doing the bridge on the swissball then bringing one knee at a time in towards the ball.  This one was recommended by my physio friend as a really good one to improve my core specifically for running (because you're working your core while making the right movements).  He's been giving me some tips on improving my running technique as I'm a little bit all over the place at the moment.  Fingers crossed everything will eventually fall into place...

Getting ready for a long weekend.  I have tomorrow off.

Plan on an hour ride on tri bike tomorrow, an hour on Saturday, and a 5M trail race on Sunday.  Weather is looking really nice for all three.  The bike rides will focus on just getting used to the bike and be around my neighborhood.  There are lots of hills so this will help me get used to the bike on hills.  It is very different from my current ride.

I am just about finished completing the 8 1/2 steps workbook from TriAthlete Mind.  It is an interesting exercise.  Has anyone else done this?  

Have a great day everyone!

Cynthia... hardly professional, but our family has seen alot of different variations on food issues in the past few years.  Going back to the lactose issue - we had a major breakthrough on that when we realized how many processed foods have lactate as an additive - things you'd never imagine - like crackers, potato chips, lots of fast foodish stuff b/c lactate is apparently good food adhesive.  Anyway, since over 60% of the world's population is lactose intolerant, it is a good place to start.

Check the labels:

"Lactose is added to some boxed, canned, frozen, and prepared foods like bread, cereal, lunchmeats, salad dressings, mixes for cakes and cookies, and coffee creamers. Be aware of certain words that may mean the food has lactose in it: butter, cheese, cream, dried milk, milk solids, powdered milk, and whey, for example."

Glad you're seeing a doc too... hopefully he/she is checking for other possibilities.

Sounds like a blast of a weekend, Melanie!  I took a quick gander at the 8 1/2 steps... will look more later.  Seems like goal setting on steroids - but I like how it seemed to come back to the WHY are you doing this.  The underlying motivation.  I'm definitely sneaking up on some new thinking about the whys for me.  But more on that toward the end of the year when I look at 2012.  Right now, I have a marathon to try to run on Saturday!

Yep, signed up yesterday and picked up my race packet today.  So here we go.  Weather looks like it will be ideal, and who knows the next time I'll have this many run miles under my belt.  I'll let you all know how it goes on Sunday, presuming I have enough energy to type :-)

Stu