And More Tucson...

Almost done with my Tucson recap....I just don't want to forget any of the fun times we had!

Saturday we had to get up early to meet at the store for some team pics and to leave for our "secret workout". We ended up riding around for about an hour and a half before arriving at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) which was a super nice huge place with a pretty sweet pool. 

After riding around for quite awhile to get there I was feeling pretty miserable. I think I was just tired and my hand was sore from falling on it and trying to hold onto my bike. I got into even more of a rut when I was told we were going to do a mini triathlon! OH JOY! I was already signed up for a local race the next day and when I heard we would be racing at the JCC I told myself I didn't have to race the next day anymore...I was too tired and mentally down to handle it. Hoping my mood was being influenced by blood sugar I downed some Clif Bloks and what do you know, I was actually feeling alright after all! Funny what food can do :)

Jaclyn, our sponsorship coordinator, giving us the run down. I look oh-so-excited!

So we started: 800 swim, 2 loops of the bike course they created (made extra complicated because the roads were not closed so you could put a big lead onto someone and then the light changes to red and you sit there letting them catch up) making 16 miles, then a 5K. My swim was alright but I accidentally swam 50 extra. Oh well! The bike was fun and more like playing frogger. I made sure to keep some of my teammates in sight because I had no idea where I was and could not remember where we were suppose to turn. By the time I got to the run it was soo hot out and I knew I had a race to do the next day so I just brought it in at a nice pace. I luckily won for the women on the team so I got $50 to use at TriSports!

Running form: HORRENDOUS. Considering how I was feeling though, I will let this slide :)

I was very happy when this surprise workout was over and ready to go put my legs up for a little bit before the big party! I only ended up getting a little relaxation time because when we got back to the store the EXPO was set up! So many vendors to see and products to drool over. 

Once I got nice and cleaned up we headed back to TriSports for the awesome party. They had tons of food stations set up (my fav being the gelato and mashed potato bars) and after some speeches they gave us some poker chips and had black jack, poker and other gambling tables set up. It was a really fun night and I had no problem forgetting about the race coming the next day and having fun!

**Thanks to TriSports.com for these pictures, taken from their Facebook page

More Tucson

Mt. Lemmon had me nervous as everyone I asked would sort of sigh and say they were not sure if they were going to ride all the way to the top or they would talk about the cold descent and snow found at the cookie cabin. Since this was my first time in Tucson and I have no idea when I would be back, my mission was to go to the top. The top is at 25 miles from the base. We met early on Friday morning with a HUGE group ride for the TriFest weekend. We probably had about 75 people when we left the store, no joke. Riders, Riders, everywhere. I felt pretty safe in the traffic on the way out to Mount Lemmon...

Here is a video of the ride up and down taken from a helmet. It's nice because it is sped up so you can see the sights. When we got to the base we were at about 16 miles in so I knew by the end of this thing it would be my longest ride ever. Yay! We reconvened at the bottom and then it was every person for themselves! It was fun riding there and up because I got to talk to multiple different people along the climb. You literally start out at mile 0 and it is only so comforting knowing you need to get to 25 to make it to the top and the amaze cookie cabin, where you can chow down after your hard work.

The first 4 miles had me with major doubts as all of a sudden I was feeling the sun big time and huffing and puffing in my smallest gear. The grade did lessen a bit after this so I was able to catch my breath and my confidence to some degree. This was no Tates Creek Ferry Climb...It was fun to see the elevation signs going 3,000....4,000...5,000 on the way up, all the way to 8,200 ft! I stopped about mile 11 where TriSports had a water/food station set up and got some super salty Gatorade and kept chugging away.

None of these pictures are that great cause I only took a few on the way down and some when I was driving on Mt. Lemmon.

Once at the top I bought a hot chocolate and had some of a friends cookie before heading down! I tried to explain to some of my teammates that I would be slow on the way down. They didn't believe me till they had to wait for a while at the bottom. I am a major weeny when it comes to descending.

This hot chocolate doesn't look that great but it was. Esp after the climb since it got cold up there!

By the end I had 83 miles in the bank! Pretty solid for me! We had to quickly shower, stuff our faces and then head out to a trail run at Star Pass with the team. This was such a great place to run. The trails were amazing although a bit rocky but I ended up doing this on one of the non-rocky parts!

Which wasn't that bad, more of just a nuisance than anything else as I am left handed. My friend Steve said he had a feeling someone was going to bite it on the trails...I was just doing the team a good service! My reward after this run and long day: Starbucks iced goodness of course! I headed there with some friends then to rest up before our team dinner. Good day!

Getting into Tucson!

Where to begin! I had such a wonderful time out in Arizona for the TriSports.com training camp. They truly treated us like VIPs. I got into Tucson on Wednesday and had till the next Tuesday to hammer myself into the ground; considering that I was only able to run 0.8 miles before walking on my last day in town (due to pure tired-ness, not injury) I think I was successful! I had gotten up at about 5 on Tuesday to get to my 6:30 am flight and after 2 flights landed in Tucson at about 10 am. I had strict instructions not to work out. Blah. This was definitely for the best as I was coming off of a hard build week. I was itching to get out into the warm desert and all of the mountains around me anyways so after getting my car and lounging in the hotel for a bit I went out to Sabino Canyon to just walk around. 

Two words: cactus and mountains. Just all around! It was super pretty. I was ravenous for no good reason and got some food at an organic vegan grill that was really good and waited for my roommate, Michelle, from Illinois to get in. I met Michelle at Worlds in Budapest, Hungary, after our race and she also happened to be on the TriSports team. It was really nice to have a familiar face around.

Thursday we woke up and I went back out to Sabino canyon to do some running. I had 6 efforts to do at my 10K pace. The canyon is at about 3,000 feet which isn’t much but enough to inhibit me from making my times on the last 2 efforts. 

I found some bunnies on my way out!

This was going to be a challenging week for sure…after this we found a local pool, swam outside and then grabbed some food and headed back to the hotel to lounge before heading over to TriSports to check in and get our welcome packets. Man did they welcome us well!!! They gave me a Cervelo P2 to ride for the weekend along with tons of stuff in these great TYR transition bags (these bags have a 3 minute YouTube video to explain how to use them).

It was a lot of fun to open everything. Jaclyn, our sponsorship coordinator who is awesome and hilarious gave us an awesome dinner recommendation so after filling up on Mexican food we headed to bed to get ready to face Mount Lemmon the next day!

10K

I had one more running "test race" to get through before my trip to Tucson where I would really be tested. I signed up for the second race in the Triple Crown series, The Charm City 10K, and was in a build week leading into this race. Come Friday night I was excited to drive to Louisville to visit my sister and her husband but not so excited for this 10K as I was feeling fat, tired and sub-par. I did way less preparation for this race and was seriously dreading it. 

I went to bed late because staying up watching fashion police and eating some of my sister's homemade ice cream sounded way more appealing. So after about 6 hours of sleep it was time to get up and go meet the legendary GVM for a nice warm up! Since attending the USAT coaching certification I have become a major fan of the dynamic warm up. So after we jogged around for about 1.7 miles I got in some lunges and jumpies. We then made our way to the front of the pack (much better position than the 5K!) and we were off!

I knew I wanted to try and hold 6:40/6:45. I didn’t really have a goal time in mind, just something below 42 minutes. My running is very behind compared to some of the girls I am going to be facing in April so a sub-42 is like minutes away from where I need to be but I had to start somewhere! The first mile was pretty ugly….George was on fire and his claim of “starting out slow” was a lie, as I look down at my Garmin and see 6:00’s, 6:15’s and the like flash up. This is not slow for me. I knew I would crash and burn at this pace so I let him fight on and fell back. Having his head bob about 30 yards in front of me for the next 2 miles was anything but encouraging. So began the mental beat down from miles .5-2.5. I was telling myself I sucked, I should start walking and this all came together beautifully when I tried to sip some water out of a cup and promptly choked after pathetically climbing a hill. 

This face is about right considering how I was feeling.

Finally, the road took a turn and we started going downhill. There was a LARGE man next to me, just dominating and loving the descent, and I told myself I could not let him beat me. So I bucked up and held his pace. With that we were at mile 3 and I was feeling pretty good! Just like that I had gone from dropping out to feeling good holding about 6:25. Looking at my watch and making some quick math I knew if I could just hang on for the last 3 I could still break 42. So that’s what I did. Honestly, it felt pretty good and I was finally in control of my brain, my biggest enemy.

I crossed the line at 41:32 according to my Garmin and was pleased. I literally came from a dark place full of hate to a good result. I found Mr. Speed demon who seriously crushed it and we finished out with a cool down to bring the mileage for the day to about 10.  I am very glad that I did this race. I learned how much my mental game sucks and how much I need to work on this. It’s crazy how many emotions you can have in 41 minutes and 32 seconds!

Dynamic Warm Up

All throughout high school cross-country, track and even through all my years of ballet we always did a warm up. In ballet it was at the barre to warm up before moving to floor work. During track and cross country we always did a dynamic warm up and this continued, literally using the same exercises, during my years of rowing. I understood the idea of waking the muscles up before working out and warming things up before asking your body to go full force but I had never really thought too much more about it. My coaches for triathlon also always talked about it but I just didn’t spend any time on it once I moved to triathlon.

At the coaching certification they talked A LOT about the dynamic warm up. Examples of what I am talking about are:

-lunges

-squats

-arm circles

-leg swings

-grapevines

-knee highs

-butt kicks

-the inch worm

-hip openers/closers

The list goes on….

The term they used to explain the importance of this was neuromuscular activation, which basically means waking up the pathways of communication from our brains to our muscles. So this goes further than getting our heart rate up and blood pumping to our muscles so they can begin doing work. The dynamic warm up also wakes up our coordination and motor skills. As a typical un-coordinated triathlete, this can only be a good thing J I think everyone has experienced that first mile or 2 of your run that just sucks. You feel wonky and sort of out of control of your body. Doing a dynamic warm up inhibits this because it awakens the pathways before your workout. I have started doing about 5 minutes of this before most of my runs. Sometimes I forget and just take off running..oops. Other times I just do like 2 minutes and get over it. As of late, now about a month after the clinic, I am much better about completing an adequate warm up and do think it is saving my first mile from being absolute crap and helping with my coordination! If nothing else, it is definitely helping with injury prevention!

USAT Coaching Clinic

I started with my coach about 3 and a half years ago. I had gone abroad for the spring semester of my junior year and upon returning decided I did not want to return to the crew team. I also knew I did not want to be without structure and guidance. After a summer where I competed in a few triathlons and planned my first Olympic up in Maine, The Lobsterman Triathlon, I decided to get a coach that fall. I owe SO MUCH to Mideast Multisport. I decided it might be fun to get certified to coach as something to do while in school so at the end of February I went to Charlotte, NC for one of their coaching clinics.

It was 2 full days of listening to lectures ranging from nutrition, bike skills, periodization and planning, swimming, triathlon skills and strength training. I most enjoyed Bob Seebohar’s talks. He was a super good speaker and after reading his book about nutrition and metabolic efficiency it was nice to hear everything he believes in first hand.

I probably learned the most from the talk about “mental fitness”. One of the things I struggle with most while racing is my thought process. This is obviously common and goes along with all the things you hear, like:

            -Sports are 20% physical and 80% mental

            -The major difference between a great athlete and an Olympic athlete is their mind

            -People that can push themselves to athletic achievements have a better ability to endure pain

Even thought I have heard this over and over again it doesn’t make fighting the mental demons any easier. Yeah, it’s a great fact and wonderful to know that the person next to me also feels like crap but these facts do nothing to tell me how to conquer my thoughts of sucky-ness. Dara, the instructor for this part of the lecture, went over tools we can use like visualization and mental mapping/preparation to try and turn situations where you are battling your brain around. So once I start triathlon-ing again I will give these tricks a go!

Butter Made Better...for reals

Irrelevant fact: the word butter comes from a latinisation of the Greek word bouturon (feels good to say that word) which means "cow-cheese"; I loved this phrase as well. Cow cheese.

Butter is good. My sister and I always talk about how we used to eat pats of butter from my grandmothers fridge...that doesn't appeal to me now but I wont deny that I did it. Now something that I love more than butter is any type of  butter made from almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts....the list goes on. Not this type....

That is, the stick type. That's disgusting and it would never spread smoothly on that bread unless it was warm.

Anyways I have been eating a lot of the Justin's packets of almond butter and chocolate hazelnut butter during the day and they really are so good. The grocery sells little 1 serving packs and they are perfect to throw in the purse.

My fav is chocolate hazelnut

SOOOO good.

The other day my mom made a discovery at Whole Foods! It's called PB2 and it is pretty great. It is peanut butter in powdered form! They basically crush and squeeze the peanuts to get rid of all of the oils and fats. A lot of these fats are healthy but a lot of them are not. Then you can use this powder in so many things. I have had it in a smoothie, oatmeal, and, my fav, 2 scoops with coconut milk after a workout. The kind I have has cocoa powder in it, so that adds antioxidants and wonderful flavor making it a great treat. You can also just add a bit of water and make peanut butter! Just reconstituted.

So this is super yummy and I highly recommend it. Sometimes peanut butter hurts my stomach because it can be too heavy but this stuff is perfect.

5K

This past weekend was the 5K in Louisville. Despite many storms trying to stop me from getting to the ville I made it. Lexington and Louisville had made it on the Today show as the 2 cities in the bright red circle on the weather map. We had tornado watches from 12-8 so I booked it to Louisville to avoid them.

One thing I did to prepare for this race is something I have never done before but I read about it in a mental race planning article.  The article suggested you print out the race map and write notes to yourself on the course and things pertaining to your plan. So I wrote a few notes along the way and some of my goals, mainly to break 20 minutes.

I spent the afternoon on Friday, in a tank top outside, attempting to run the race course. It was so warm with the storms coming so it was great running weather. This was only an attempt because the race map was labeled incorrectly.  The first right turn was at the 1 mile mark onto Ohio St. Well this street didn't exist there so I ran on and eventually just turned around because the area was getting sketchy. So fail.

My sister and her husband live right on Main Street across from Slugger Field where packet pick up was so I got this out of the way and got my 2 hour trainer ride in while watching the news on the coming storms. My sister got out of work early but we were lucky enough not to get any of the severe weather. It did hit a lot of areas close by and these cities were pretty devastated by the storms. Kentucky made it onto the Today show again, unfortunately. Some pictures and coverage are here.

Race morning was not so good. I like to wake up 2 and a half to 3 hours before a race so I set my alarm for 5:30, woke up, pressed snooze, woke up, thought I pressed snooze again, then woke up at 6:45 and said an expletive. I quickly got out of bed, dressed and reluctantly bolted some oatmeal. My sister is super supportive so she woke up and walked down to the race start with me where I left her to get a warm up in of ~7 minutes of dynamic exercises followed by a 15 min run.

The only mistake I really made was starting too far back. I spent the first mile really jockeying for position with people and weaving my way through the crowd. I have also never come so close to so many spit wads! Everyone I came up on was like hacking lugeys right in front of me; I'm lucky I didn't end up with one on my bod.  It was frustrating but did work as a pretty great distraction so the race flew by. I came in at 19:58 so I met my goal but was not that thrilled with the result because I really thought I could have done better. Considering it is just the beginning of March and this was just a gauge of fitness at the end of a build week, I will take it.

Also, I got to go cuddle with this (my main motivation) after my race:

Impending 5K

First race of the season will be this weekend! Well, this is only sort of a race...it is just a 5K so no triathlons yet but they are fast approaching. Coach recommended I do some early season road races to take a peak at where my fitness/speed is leading into the last few months of training for my first REAL big race. I must admit I am pretty excited for this one and have a goal time in mind. I have not done an open 5K for a few years so I am hoping to shave a few seconds off!

The course is right downtown, outside the door of my sister's apartment so it is pretty ideal. I have been doing my hill repeats at a pace right around where I want to average for the 5K so I know what it is suppose to feel like. This was not very comforting today while I was doing those repeats and knew it would be similar but without the nice, leisurely 6 minute downhill cool down between the 1k's. This distance is tricky because it gets very painful but the whole time you are racing, you are telling yourself how little you have left. I'm sure my mental strength will be challenged during this one...I will just have to kick it into high gear and try to have fun!

Beets....Again

We have some wonderful family friends who were going out of town for about a week and they thought I might like to try out their juicer while they were gone. They were right! I was very interested in trying this out especially after reading some recipes in The Feed Zone cookbook. The authors really push juicing because you can fill up on vitamins and minerals from many servings of fruits and veggies without having to attach yourself to a toilet or go in for a blockage removal due to fiber overload. Pretty picture...your welcome.

So to really take full advantage of the juicer I made 3 recipes from the book one night. First I made some granola sweetened with unfiltered apple juice, some brown sugar, a banana and agave. I mixed up this combo with some old fashioned oats, currants and raisins and threw it in the oven to bake and it was very very tasty. 

I have to admit I was full of apprehension  while buying more beets at the grocery. I just cannot get past the dirt taste of the darn vegetable. I would just give up on them altogether but the health benefits are so epic I really want a relationship with them. I guess we are destined for a love hate one. Anyways the recipe called for 3 beets, 4 carrots, a few apples and any greens you want. I threw in some kale and a sliver of ginger as recommended by the juicer owner. I also threw in some pineapple.

The juice was really good! It still smelled a little bit like dirt but the taste was really good. I was super pleased. The next recipe I made was for veggie burgers and one of the main ingredients was the pulp from the juice I just made.

So I mixed together some pulp, black beans, some red pepper flakes, salt, pepper and sticky rice. I then formed patties and sauteed them in a pan till brownish on each side. They also really looked like hamburgers because the beets in the pulp made the sticky rice turn this deep red color so it looked like bloody meat. Yum.

So I finally found a great way to eat beets! I kept the juice in the fridge and drank a serving after some of my harder workouts that week. It was like drinking recovery... I feel faster already!

The FeedZone

After Christmas I was looking through the USAT newsletter and there was a recipe for a great snack you could cook to take on the bike with you to replace all of the bars and processed foods that are so simple to take on the bike or on the go. The recipe included ingredients like eggs, rice, bacon, parmesan....very nontraditional ingredients when it comes to foods used while working out. I got on Amazon to order the book and it was backordered till mid-February. I finally got it!

 

Allen Lim and Biju Thomas have put together a wonderful cook book full of field tested recipes. A lot of these recipes were born in an RV while fueling riders for multiple stage bike rides, including the tour de France. The concepts of the cookbook include a step back from complicated ingredients and processed foods, quick and easy recipes for the "time crunched athlete" and ways to make foods versatile.

I learned a lot just reading the forward of the book and all of the pictures in the book made me very excited to try out all of the food. Allen Lim has also founded Skratch Labs which carries hydration products. I am very excited to try out some of their drink mixes that do not have artificial colors or flavorings. They have an everyday hydration mix as well as a mix for performance.

I have tried a few of the recipes and so far so good!

Hill Repeats

During 2 of my build weeks I have been lucky enough to do some hill repeats. My coaches lead me to a 1k hill near an elementary school. This hill is tricky, with a nice incline at the start, a leveling off, another gradual hill, slight downhill into one last gradual climb into the finish at this weird looking house. There are a few stop signs along the 1k so traffic can be an issue but I just make sure my senses are hightened. I first did this work out with one of my coaches and we did 4 repeats on 10 minutes in my ideal running weather (a breezy 55-60).

The next time I went to do this work out it was about 30 degrees, 6:30 PM, dark and I had been at work all day. It took every amount of convincing I could muster to drive over to that hill, warm up and run 5 repeats. When I first started running I did not feel good or let alone fast. I had 3 layers on my top that were constricting, a headband ear warmer and gloves. I felt like I was shuffling along the road and had a difficult time picking up my warm up pace. As I made my way to the bottom of the hill at the end of my 20 minute warm up I was dreading every 5 repeats I had to complete.

When I started my first repeat I was shocked that I felt alright! I was hitting my pace and my range of motion didn't feel as restricted as it had while I warmed up. I was running well! I don't know if it was the Nicki Minaj Pandora music I was playing or running in the dark but after that first repeat I knew I would be able to complete the work out.

The best part about this work out was finishing. I was so happy and satisfied with myself for completing that work out when I could have drawn up multiple excuses not to do it. I did 6 repeats on this hill last week in 60 degree weather and while happy with myself for completing this work out and finishing the repeats in good times, I was not nearly as proud of myself.

So next time I am dreading a work out or trying to come up with excuses not to do a work out (that don't include REASONS like over-fatigue, sickness, injury or sleep deprivation) I will try to remember the gratification that comes from completing something in conditions stacked against me.

Babycakes

While I was visiting New York my aunt Ginny (who lived in NYC for a bit) gave me some recommendations on some awesome bakeries and desert stations to hit up. My bestie JKB and I visited Momofuku which was amah-zing and we purchased a plethora of goodies that provided multiple sugar highs. One place we did not make it to was Babycakes, a bakery opened in NYC before the gluten free hype really began. The bakery features all vegan, mostly gluten free and mostly sugar free baked goods.

Since I didn't make it to the bakery myself my aunt and uncle were thoughtful enough to get me the cookbook for one of my Christmas presents (along with a Beibs notepad :) )! I was so excited to get this baking book because all of the recipes have healthy ingredients, low glycemic indexes and would be easily digestible. All of these qualities lead to foods perfect for pre-workout fuel!

The first recipe was so good I am putting it up here. I made some zucchini muffins and they have been perfect to eat before workouts; especially as something to look forward to at 5am when rolling out of bed for swim practice.

Recipe:

2 cups whole spelt flour
1/2 cup flax meal
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup agave nectar
3/4 cup rice milk
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini

A few things about some of these ingredients:

• Spelt flour: make sure to get the whole spelt flour because the germ and bran have not been removed, so the muffins will be a bit heartier and more healthful 
• Flax Meal: this will boost the fiber in the muffins and add good omega 3s
• Agave: this is a wonderful alternative to sugar because it has a lower glycemic index (provides more sustainable energy instead of a white sugar energy spike) and it is sweeter so you can use less than you would with white sugar, resulting in fewer calories
• Coconut oil: this comes in a jar and will be rock solid so you will need to melt it in the microwave to measure it and use it. The lady at Whole Foods told me that she uses it to remove her eye make up....I haven't tried this yet...

The instructions are simple from here. Preheat the oven to 325 and line 12 muffin cups. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Next stir the coconut oil, agave, rice milk and vanilla into the dry ingredients. Stir until smooth. Using a plastic spatula, fold the zucchini into the mixture till evenly distributed. Fill each cup with 1/3 of mix and bake for 22 min, turning the tins 180 degrees 15 minutes through the baking.

I think I added a bit too much zucchini because I ended up with 14 muffins and they sort of overflowed the cups but they are wonderful and keep for awhile in an air tight container.

Enjoy!

Call Me Mix Master

My sister is a FOODIE QUEEN. She knows how to use things like rosemary, prosciutto, cooking twine, make her own fancy pasta, season things properly and pair the correct wine with it. When I was visiting her a few weekends ago she was putting together some tuna salad sandwiches for us. She put some tuna aside for me so I could put mine into large pieces of living lettuce instead of bread (seen below). I took my first bite and it was exceptionally good.

I was like sister, what did you do to this canned TUNA?

Ummmm I added salt and pepper!

Just tuna, salt, pepper and avocado in some lettuce. So good, so good.

My mind exploded. Like I don't add anything like that to any of the food I ever make. A few days ago a coworker asked me what I was going to make for dinner that night. My response was I have no clue, it depends what is in my fridge.

I have decided I am not a cook, but an ASSEMBLER. If I am making a meal for myself my thought process is so simple. I open the fridge and pick a main protein, like tuna, tofu, beans, shrimp or fish. Then I simply pick out all some of the veggies, pick a sauce and done! Dinner. By sauce I usually mean a Marsala, stir fry or tomato sauce. On week nights I am usually just getting done with a work out and am very hungry or I am in a huge rush to just eat and get into bed. Regardless, I leave the fancy cooking to my sister :)

Asparagus, tofu, and yellow peppers sauteed in a mango curry sauce over a mashed sweet potato

My new breakfast staple: oatmeal with chia seeds and wheat germ, blueberries, strawberries and walnuts

Spinach, chickpeas, avocado, Gorgonzola, blueberries, walnuts and hemp. I love making my salads in a Tupperware container so I can add my dressing then shake the heck out of it to mesh all the flavas. 

Tofu, zucchini and squash simmered in Marsala sauce over a sweet potato with cashews on top

Perfect Day

I love the holidays BUT I must admit I am glad that they are over. I do much better when I can get my sleep, have fewer obligations, and there is not candy and chocolate around every corner. I am also excited for the new year because my training has picked up a bit and I am feeling much more like I am devoting my "training time" not only to swimming, biking and running but also to recovering, eating and sleeping.

This past week I had a few glorious days where I fit all my work outs in complete with naps and even a massage. Here are some recaps of what I have discovered make a perfect day:

Day 1:
Wake up 5 am for swim practice
Swim 4200m (these practices are usually pretty challenging)
Eat: 3 egg whites and 1 egg scrambled with cheddar cheese, oatmeal with blueberries, strawberries, walnuts and chia seeds
Go back to bed!!!!
Wake up ~2 hours later
Bike at 10:15 for 2 hours (a power work out on the CompuTrainer)
Refuel with some food
Ice Bath

Relax the rest of the day!

Day 2:
Wake up ~7 am
Run 5.5 miles at the YMCA on the indoor track
Snack on the way to the CompuTrainer
Bike 2 hours with power efforts
Massage at Noon!!
Watch TV and relax

It is just so wonderful to get my training out of the way in the morning and really let my body recover from my work outs. I am not minding this schedule at all!

Pre/During Work Out Snacks

If I do not eat something within 30 minutes of waking up I get a nasty stomach ache and cranky. To avoid this at all costs, when I am going to sleep at night I am already looking forward to what I will have for breakfast. When I wake up at 5 for an early work out like swim practice I need to pick a food that will satisfy my stomach without weighing me down for practice. In an attempt to stay away from the more processed foods I have tried bananas, Larabars, peanut butter and a variety of different bars. None of these options were sitting that light in my stomach at 5 am so I kept on experimenting.

I did come across the Clif Kids bars and they actually work really well. They are 110 calories which is just the right amount of fuel for the morning.

They are also pretty organic (like 70% or something, whatever that means) and don't have an insane number of ingredients or any ingredients that my grandmother wouldn't know. They are pretty inexpensive and can be found at Kroger.

I was still longing for something a little more pure but just as convenient and thanks to a recommendation from my mother when I was sick during college I started buying baby food again. This sounds weird but it really is so good and I have started to us it during some of my work outs over the past few years. I only buy the fruit flavors and thanks to my choices and coupon targeting I now get coupons for diapers and formula. So now I find it necessary to hint to the check out person that I don't have a baby, and that the food is just for me, so then I just sound like an idiot but I can't help myself. There are no added ingredients since they are for babies so it really is just pureed fruit in a very convenient to go container. Basically exotic apple sauce.

Peaches is one of my favorites. I also love the apricot and mixed fruit but DO NOT buy strawberry banana; it is nar-nar. The best part is that they usually run about $1.00 for 2 and contain 50-60 calories apiece which is great towards the end of a bike ride when all of a sudden I am starving. An even more convenient take on the baby food is Buddy Fruit!

 

These can also be found at most groceries and they contain only pureed fruit. The packaging is so convenient. It is just like a gel! They of course do not have any electrolytes or any of the fancy ingredients I might want when racing but they are perfect for training over the winter. I have liked all of the flavors so far. These run about $1.00 apiece but I think it is worth it for the packaging. That's not very environmentally conscious of me but until I start making my own gels this is what I got to work with.

So now on the way to practice or before a work out if I need a snack I have one of these guys and some dark chocolate and I am ready to go.