Born Again Athlete:

I hate Excel, spreadsheets, data - but it is helpful

Ugh, do you know how long it took me to do this post? Good thing I'm not an accountant or engineer or librarian or any other job that required data and organization.

I never really did this before; went along with "well, I did most of my training like I was supposed to."

The first 3 months of Ironman training

OWS = open water swim, which is separate from our regular swim workouts; usually 2000-4000 in Barton Springs.  Run means track workout. Usually, I'm supposed to do 2 swims, 1 spin, 1 track and 1 core; long bike and long run on the weekend.  I usually do 2 spins because I like it the best. Did not include Pose clinic or ballet, which are "extras."

 

Wk of	Planned	Completed	Swim	Spin	Run	Core	Yoga	Long bike	Long run	OWS	%
BASE 1
15-Feb	9-11	8	1	2	1	0	1	yes 40	NO	n/a	68%
22-Feb	10-12	7	0	1	0	1	0	yes 50	yes 11	n/a	58%
1-Mar	11-13	8	1	2	0	1	0	yes 62	NO	n/a	61%
8-Mar	9-11	4	0	1	0	1	0	30 of 40	NO	n/a	40%
											57%
BASE #2
15-Mar	11-13	4	0	1	0	1	0	NO	11of 13	NO	33%
22-Mar	13.5	11	0	2	1	0.5	1	26 of 70	16 of 15	YES	81%
29-Mar	15	6.7	1.7	2	0	0	0	NO	15 of 18	NO	44%
5-Apr	9.5	8.5	1	2	1	0.5	1	YES	13 of 10	NO	90%
											62%
STRENGTH/INTENSITY
12-Apr	14	11	1	1	0	1	0	40 of 80	17 of 17	YES	78%
19-Apr	11	9.5	1	2	0	0.5	0	56 of 60	13 of 15	YES	83%
26-Apr	16	9	2	1	0	0	1	NO	20 of 20	YES	56%
3-May	12.5	9	0	1	0	1	0	56 of 60	13 of 13	YES	72%
											72%

 

Too many numbers, but helpful because overall I can see:

1. Really bad about not going to track workout.

2. okay on spin, core

3. Doing my long runs fairly consistently. This is surprising to me!

4. I haven't done a century ride yet! My long bikes have been not consistent.

5. Overall percentages are better though : 57 to 62 to 72%, so I'm pretty happy about that.

6. I'm not really completing all the hours I'm supposed to do. But I have a fairly good base, and my goal is to just finish, which I'll likely do.

3 months left.

What I eat

Sometimes people ask me what I eat. I don't diet. Period.
but I do eat healthier these days. As much as I rip on vegans, I eat raw vegan one day a week, and vegan or vegetarian one other day. This is my food for tomorrow:

From the top clockwise: Fuji apple, bananas, blackberries, blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, raw food bar (chocolate - hey I need a treat), grapefruit, raw almonds, carrots, sugar snap peas and raw almond butter. Not sure what I'll have for dinner, but the raw foods bar at Whole Foods or Beets (vegan restaurant on 5th), are good.

I feel much better when I eat like this, but honestly, I can't get enough calories or protein, so would not do this all the time. Plus, I like red meat, butter, ice cream, and bacon way too much!

On vegetarian (not raw food) days, I will add hummus, or other cooked beans, yogurt, protein shakes, bread, rice, eggs.

Lest you think "oh, jane is sooo healthy" - I will tell you what I've eaten this weekend since my race: lots of fried fish in Florida, brownies, ice cream, a Big Mac (yes, I went to McDonald's!), meat pie, boudin, fried boudin ball, more ice cream.

I feel fat

Notice I wrote I "feel" fat, not I am fat.

If you are 60 to 100 lbs overweight, fluctations of 5,10 or even 15 pounds is not that big of deal. If you are normo-weight, 5 to 10 lbs is noticeable. If you are a triathlete, a 2 to 3 lb weight gain makes you freak out. Some of you must think I'm cuckoo because one week I'll complain about not wanting to lose more weight, the next week I'll complain about looking too muscular, and now I'm complaining about being fatter. Nothing makes you feel fatter than being around a bunch of triathletes, especially Ironman level ones. But then as Phil says, he looks at these women and want to tell them "eat a hamburger or something." I look at some race pictures and think "damn, my legs look goood!" Then I look at other race pictures and think "ugh, my legs look huge!" I don't want to diet, or start monitoring my calories really carefully, because this just fucks with my head and I become very bitchy and grumpy (please don't tell me how many fat grams or carbs or points or calories I can have - it just makes me very oppositional.)

Is this a woman thing? A triathlete thing? A woman triathlete thing? Arggh, I don't want to think about this anymore! I feel very distorted.