2 Fig Newton’s…fuel me up!

I love Fig Newton’s! When I saw that they were one of the moderate glycemic index foods I could eat before a workout, I was pretty darn excited. I only get to eat 2, but that’s enough to keep me happy – especially because I eat them REALLY slowly…just like a mouse : ) It would prob. kill you if you sat and watched me eat them, really.

This week we are weaning onto our new nutrition plan instead of diving right in, though I think we’re pretty much on track now – just missing a few protein shakes here and there and much needed variety in our meals. We now eat every 2-3 hours. This helps keep our blood sugar stable as well keep a constant supply of nutrients in our bodies to get us through the day. We’re still figuring it all, but check out what I had for lunch today (Greek yogurt w/ a mashed banana and fresh veggies with hummus…looks delicious, huh?):

Last night we headed out for a long run. Jus did 2 hrs, I did 2hr 15m. It was a nice run, NO wind whatsoever. I always find it hard to get myself out running on cold nights, but once I’m out and going, it ain’t too bad and I love it.

This weekend, we’re headed to the dirty south for some wonderful wedding related activities. Hopefully the temps are warm, as a little bonus to our workouts wouldn’t be so bad! It will be hard to resist that Chick-fil-A....in fact, I don’t know if I can.

It's QT2 time!

The time has come… Justin and I are now on the QT2 nutritional plan. We’ve heard great things about QT2 so we were excited to start working with them.

Before our meeting with Rachel R., the registered nutritionist we’re working with, we made sure to eat the foods we knew would not be making an appearance in our plans throughout this past weekend: bacon, egg and cheese, stromboli, mexican food, brownies…yummm!

Last night, we sat down with Rachel and reviewed our nutrition plan, learned about all things nutrition, and discussed our goals for this coming season. After some playful teasing of my love for Teddy Grahams and Justin’s hyper reaction to Guayakí Yerba Mate tea, it was time to get our body fat tested. The results are in:

Justin: current body fat percent is 7.8%, goal to hit 7% and 160 lbs on race day.

Liz: current body fat percent is 16%, goal to hit 15% and 116 lbs on race day.

We’re still trying to understand the numbers, especially our goals, as they don’t differ too much from where we are right now. We both feel like our goal body fat percent should be lower, way lower. There is A LOT to learn with the nutrition plan but with time, we'll start understanding it all. At least we now know what we’ve been doing wrong and have a plan to correct it. In a nut shell, the plan is designed to help better prepare and fuel us for workouts, recover from those workouts faster, and become leaner which, in turn, should result in more efficient training and racing.

More to come on the nutrition plan… too much to include in one post!

Winter days have got me down

Hi All, Liz here:

I’m in a recovery week, which I couldn’t be happier about. To tell the truth, like Justin said, I feel like I’ve just been going through the motions – somehow doing my workouts, but not quiet sure how I did them. I train hard, that much is true. If I am going to spend my time working out, I’m not going to waste it by not giving it my all. I’m not very tolerant of slacking off. However, lately, when I look back on my previous day’s workout, it seems to be just a daze.

I’ve been logging between 13-14 hrs/week. I wake up at 5:15am to get my long runs in so I don’t have to run late into the dark night; I head straight to the pool after work only to have someone hovering over me the entire time, waiting for me to get out so they can get in, and I have resorted more times than I would have liked to the indoor trainer. I’m finding it even a struggle on the weekends to motivate myself to bundle up and bike outside. I eat dinner late at night and fall asleep shortly after.

I’m not trying to be a downer, but I seem to be stuck in a rut. I’m getting my hours in but that doesn’t mean I’m doing them with a smile on my face.

I’m REALLY sick of winter. I’m ready for spring. The short days suck. I wake up and it’s dark out, I leave work and it’s dark out. I want the sun, I want daylight. I want to run in shorts and soak in warm weather, leave the pool and not freeze on my walk home because my hair is wet and its 26 degrees out, and once again bike without feeling like my nose, fingers, and toes are all going to fall off from frostbite.

I found out yesterday that daylight savings day is March 8^th. That’s just over 2 weeks away! I’m looking forward to it being lighter out later. Now, all I want is it to be warm. Then maybe, just maybe, I’ll crack a smile on my face and be back to my normal self.

The Mental Game

Sorry for the blogging vacation- lots of non-training stuff going on but we'll be back to posting this week.

Luckily, last week was recovery and just happened to fall at the same time that I got sick. I spent the start of the week just going through the motions, making myself log the training hours and not really caring about anything but finishing. As the week dragged on I realized that as much as being sick sucks, it forces me to push past all of the excuses and go. Not every or workout is going to feel good.

Last season started with St Croix...the weather went from calm, to downpour rains, to Carribean heat. Being from Boston, I wasn't used to the heat and struggled throughout the day- it didn't help that I crashed my bike in the rain and lost my water bottles early in the race. All race, thoughts of giving in and quitting kept popping in my head but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did so I set smaller goals (like passing someone on the uphills or refusing to walk during the run) and trudged across the finish line. Finishing was extremely rewarding even though I missed all of my pre-race goals (other than finishing and biking the Beast w/o walking).

About a month later, JoJo and I raced Mooseman. Race day was freakishly hot (100 + degrees during the run) and the lake temp a brisk 59-60 degrees. I tried adjusting my race plan to rbeak 6 hours and ended up bonking badly...missed my time by a few minutes.

Point of all this reminiscing- my "A" race last year was RI 70.3. Another blazing hot day that saw a lot of people crumble on the course. B/c of my stubborness during St Croix and Mooseman, RI didn't seem too harsh. I'd done bigger and badder during training/other races and never really worried about RI.

So as I train for IMLP, I've started to welcome the rough workouts. Training sick or in the snow may seem crazy and useless from a fitness standpoint but they've been priceless in building my mental fitness. All things to look back on and use on race day!

Here's a shot from this weekend's mountain biking ride:

Inspire Daily

The last couple off-seasons, I've gotten bored without having upcoming races (kind of hard to get pumped for something still 3-5 months away). Its usually around this time I start checking all the tri sites for amateur sponsorship- I only look at companies whose products I use, otherwise I'd feel like a poser. While scouring the sites, I got a recommendation to check out the Brooks Running Inspire Daily program. I used to run in Brooks' Adrenalines until Mark from Kilometers got me hooked on the Infinitis. I love my kicks, so figured I'd send in an application. Lucky for me, I got accepted! You can check out the info at: http://www.brooksrunning.com/Athletes+%26+Events/Brooks+I.D.+Program/. So if you see my sportin' more Brooks gear than usual, thats why. So stoked to be hooked up with a brand I use everyday.

As for training, this is my last week of heavy swim focus. As exhausting as its been the last month, I've been able to notice a huge difference in my stroke, comfortability and speed. Just hoping I don't lose it after the swim focus ends.

Anyways, here's a parting shot for anyone in the South- I know you wish you were here for the runs...

Perfect running form

One thing I need to start working on is my running form. I have always been a runner and I consider myself to be good at it. Before this year, I was running almost every day; I couldn’t get enough of it so it surprises me that I’ve never studied my form before. I just ran.

Last season, in pictures my family took from races, I noticed that I look sloppy when it comes time for the run. I’ve posted 2 pictures taken during the run at the RI 70.3 – look at how uncomfortable I look, esp. my flopped over hand! I don’t even know where my right arm is in that picture, it's non-existent. One goal for this coming season is to run with good form, even when I’m tired. I’ll need proof in the form of a picture, let’s hope I get it.

I bring this up because last night I went for a run and while heading uphill, I thought “I’m so tired, I hurt, I’m uncomfortable” so I took a second and looked at my form and everything was wrong, plain and simple. Yes, my hands were bent way over, very much like I have them in the picture, I was hunched over and my legs were dragging. I had done core excises the night before so my muscles were sore and tight – which is what I think played a big part in my exhaustion. However, tired or not, I shouldn’t let myself continue the habit. I need to start focusing on form because that, as much as anything else, is what will lead me to successful training and racing.

My Own Little Paradise

Unfortunately, Saturday's training got pushed out due to wedding planning...both sets of parents were kind enough to visit Newport for our tasting and to hash out some event details. Liz and I were a little worried about the menu because we have been looking for a good balance between healthy options, some vegetarian options, and overall quality. Now that we've tried the sample menus, we couldn't be more excited- everything was excellent and we found our perfect balance (only bad thing, we ate massive amounts of food to find that perfect balance).

This was the end of a much needed recovery week and having missed Saturday's ride, I was really looking forward to my 1 hour run Sunday morning. After a little wake-me-up coffee and some grub, I headed out to battle with the single digit temps. For very cold days, I have found a sweet gear combo for running (pictured) that keeps me toasty regardless of the weather. I pretty much buy everything on sale so I definitely don't recommend picking these up full price but if you live some where cold, you can't go wrong with the REI power stretch half-zip top layered with the Marmot Torrid fleece...if anything this can get too warm but is still pretty lightweight. I also run with the REI power-stretch tights that work pretty well- the company advertises running and biking but they let in too much air for cold-weather rides. Either way the run felt great and kind of let my mind wander. I was able to sift through all of the work, wedding, and tri stuff that have been going on and just run for a bit. It was one of those runs where you really don't remember much about your surroundings or anything going on.

This week's back to a swim focus........