Getting back on track and the West Point Tri

Well guys now that summer school is over, I'm determined to get back on track.  I didn't completely go by the way side during the past 8 weeks, but I will admit my working out and eating were not on point. I decided to set aside my working out for the sake of NEEDING to get through the first semester of Physical Therapy school.  I made sure to at least get in one workout a week but it was never consistent. It was enough to maintain a tiny bit and that's it.

Eating on the other hand suffered immensely.  I'm not perfect, I'll admit.  I emotionally ate.  I munched when I studied...(according to my histology professor it's okay to eat sugary foods while studying b/c the thinking process burns glucose!).  I might have taken that to heart a bit too much.  :-/  It's easy to go down in a spiral with food once you start eating bad.  I even stopped by the shopette the night before a test and purchased a Snickers bar, a bag of Reesens, a bag of Haribo sour spaghetti candy, and a bag of Laffy Taffy.  Ugh.  I ate the Snickers bar before I even made it home...and it's only a 60 second drive to my house.

To get my eating back on track my meals will look like:
*This is a very broad menu.  I will add things here and there, but this is the general gist...

M1:  1 cup non-fat greek yogurt sweetened with 1tsp of Truvia and berries; 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekial brand whole grain bread with coconut oil and a pinch of honey; coffee with one packet of Stevia and unsweetened almond milk
M2:  4 homemade protein bars and a bag of raw veggies
M3:  6oz of meat (either beef or chicken) and veggies.  We always grill/cook more at the beginning of the week for lunches.
M4:  Two 4-oz low fat cottage cheese containers and veggies
M5:  6oz of meat with veggies.  Occasionally a health carb, but not every night.
M6:  (before bed) Protein shake.

Of course drink water, water, water.
On days I workout, post workout shake with all natural whey protein, banana, and ground flax seed.

I need my workout schedule to be on track because then my eating will be on track.  With something to focus on, it makes me stronger to the food temptations.  I knew every time I put that sugar in my mouth that my tone would suffer, but I didn't it anyway!  So now it's time.  It's time to get back on track.  And you can too!!!!  Eat clean and train dirty.  Like I have always said, 80% of your results are from what you put in your body and the other 20% is from working out.  Don't be afraid of the weight room.  Muscle is beautiful.

Last weekend I participated in the West Point sprint triathlon.  It was a great race.  800m swim, 14 mile bike, and a 5K run.  I haven't been practicing my swim (or run for that matter) so 800m felt like a life time of a swim.  Every time I pulled my head up to check my direction I swore that buoy was getting further away.  Next time for long(er) swim distances, I must practice ahead of time.  I thought I would pull out a 17 minute swim or so.  I was surprised when I was in the 15 minutes range!  Great work Lar!  The bike course is the road I always ride.  I know the hills and everything about that road.  I felt like that was my advantage.  I had a good ride and finished in the length of time I typically always do that ride in.  There was another female on the ride that kept going back and forth with me.  I eventually left her behind me.  However, she caught me the last 1/2 on the run and beat me.  That was frustrating!!!  My 5k run was 24:28.  A decent time, but nothing spectacular.  After reviewing the results, I know I need to get my run time down in order to be more competitive.  Unfortunately, I know me and I know I'm probably not going to go out and 'run.'  I always pick weights and HIIT over just going out for a long(er) run.  I finished number 21 for overall females and number 144 overall males and females.  There were some 900 participants.  Going into the race my goal was to finish in the 1 hour and 30 minute time range (so if I crossed the finish at 1 hour and 39 minutes, than I was happy).  I finished in 1:29!!!!  Yahoooo!

Race set up.  I love my new Nike Free running shoes.  They are so amazingly comfy...and the color makes me very happy!

Pre-race.  This picture really visualized for me how much of my muscle tone I lost over the summer.... :-/

Coming out from the swim.  This was my first race trying out the swim suit and tri shorts for my race attire.  I actually really like it.  Until I find something more fashionable to wear that is...

First race on my new bike, Trek Madone 3.1.  Love her!

5K run.  You can see the girl behind me who I kept going back and forth with and she eventually beat me.  There is 1/2 mile left in the run at this point. I'm still mad at myself that she beat me!

Jersey Girl Triathlon

Let me start this blog by making two statements:
1) I have a midterm tomorrow morning that consists of a two fold test, practical and written in anatomy and clearly I should be studying, but instead am blogging.
2) My train up for the triathlon was 1% due to school.  So keep that in mind.

On July 29 my good friend and I competed in the Jersey Girl sprint triathlon in Long Branch, NJ.  This was my 4th triathlon ever and my last one was two years ago.  The Jersey Girl is all females (much more gentle of a race) and was a 300m swim in the ocean, 10.5 mile bike, and 3 mile run.  Short and fun!

If anyone wants to do a tri and lives in this part of the country this is a GREAT starter tri.  It is so user friendly and makes you feel very comfortable.

Generally speaking, I'm a strong swimmer, okay biker, and strong-ish runner.  I don't really do any of those on a regular basis any more.  When I do find time to workout now that I'm in school, I lift.  I love lifting and what it does for my body.  I get in an occasional ride, but nothing too crazy fast or long.  I rarely run.  I swam twice in a pool prior to this race and before I started school, so in May.

I never know if I'm going to just do a tri for fun or really go at it to be competitive before I start.  It probably wouldn't have been fair in this race to really try to crush people considering out of the about 2000 females racing, a little less than half this was their first tri.

The swim was fun.  Always when I race the swim plays games with my head.  Not being able to see, racing, breathing, other people around.  I have to mentally pep talk myself.  This pep talk this time wasn't as bad and the swim was actually relaxing.  I probably could have pushed harder as my heart wasn't pounding out of my chest when I exited the water.  I was 1st or 2nd in my heat in the swim and had caught up to the majority of the heat in front of me.  When I exited the water, I decided to be competitive.  Especially when a lot of the ladies were walking out of the water.  Oh hell no!!!!

I took off on the bike.  A relatively flat course and just started passing people one by one and decided to not let anyone pass me.  A small group of girls caught up to me with about 2-3 miles left, so I was determined to stay with.  I rode aggressive [for me].  Remember, biking is not my strongest event.  By the looks of the girls in my pack I was going to leave them on the run.  Just saying.

My run time was not impressive at all, three miles in 25 minutes.  I finished the race in the top 20 of finishers, but since we started in heats there were people behind me with faster times.  I ended up 47 overall out of almost 2000 athletes and 8 out of 154 in my age group.  That is the one that kills me.  I always try to place in my age group.  I'm trying to not complain too much considering I DID NOT train for the race.  My swim and bike were competitive with the other 7 in my age group, I would need to shave 3-ish minutes off my run to really get up there.  And since I now prefer lifting for working out, I probably won't practice on that run for the next race in a couple weeks.

I enjoyed standing at the finish line watching ladies finish.  So many were filled with such great emotion to now become "triathletes."  Despite body shape, body size, age, race, athletic ability.  I loved seeing the smiles on ladies' faces.

If you are thinking about doing a tri, give it a try.  I promise you can do it.  Pick a low key sprint triathlon.  The reason I love them so much is b/c as soon as you get bored with a sport, it's time to change to the next event.  I would NEVER chose to run a marathon again when I find this so much more thrilling.  You don't need to have the best equipment.  You can simply do it just for you and crossing the finish line.

Next up, the West Point Tri on August 19!