I’ve decided I’m at least partially crazy. I’ve allowed my friend and neighbor, Erin, to talk me into signing up to do my first sprint triathlon (500m swim, 12 mi bike, 2.6 mi run). The race is now in three weeks, and we just started training about a week and a half ago. I've always held the notion that people who do triathlons are crazy, and felt like I knew something about it because I did a marathon five years ago. So I've joined the crazy poeple tribe, but I’m working out regularly!
Weight Management Recap
I started my weight loss plan on July 15th, and for the first couple weeks, I was doing little more than trying to eat right. It was working to a certain extent--I lost a couple body fat points, and a couple pounds off the scale -- but life and work was getting in the way of attaining my workout goals. Then in walks my friend, Erin.
Erin is naturally tall and thin, and works part-time as a nurse while studying for an advanced degree in nursing. I was looking for a new workout buddy, and she seemed like a good choice since she is home most days like I am. Our flexible schedules would allow us to workout during business hours and also get our work done with our families out of the house. I didn’t want my husband to turn into a triathlon widower. Yes, I know it’s only a sprint triathlon, but I still didn't want my workouts to creep into family time. So Erin offered the triathlon goal. She wants to do a race before she gets pregnant, and I am easily convinced.
Back on the Training Train
Last week was our first real week of intense cardio workouts, and I think we’re doing great so far. We swam on Tuesday and Thursday for twenty minutes (about 400 meters), and then we each went to our separate hour-long yoga classes. On Wednesday, we biked close to seven and a half miles, and then immediately ran about a mile and a half. Friday was a day off, and Saturday we ran close to four miles. I joked on my FaceBook page that “I seem to be going at a ludicrous pace lately.” Someone asked me if I was still on Prednisone. I'm happy to report that the only supplement I'm using is Centrum Performance(R).
So far I have experienced only minor soreness. I am sore in the places I should be—my hamstrings and quadricep muscles from biking, my hips from running, and my shoulders and pectoral muscles from swimming. I am very encouraged that I can do this race. That’s not to say that I’m not scared, but I’m encouraged. I only hope there aren't too many steep hills on the race course.
I’ve been so hungry!
I am finding that when I workout I eat more. My body is craving foods, and not always good ones. The Doritos(R) are taunting me. I'm trying to stick with allowing myself a little of what I'm craving and not over-do it. My pitfall is eating after dark. Throughout the day, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables and some dairy.
However, after the kids are in bed, I get ravenous and want to eat everything in the snack cabinet. I think that since I’m burning so many carbs in my training that it’s all right to snack. So what’s a girl to do? I’m trying to take stock in the fact I’m leading an active lifestyle, and am trying to eat right most of the time and drinking more water. I’ve stopped tracking everything I eat over the weekend because it is too hard to write everything down while chasing our two sons, and am logging week day foods and workouts in a notebook which I then transfer to the SparkPeople.com website to see how I’m doing. I like the daily consumption feedback and make mental notes of how to eat better going forward, like my own internal "Eat this, Not That" monitor.
I think I’m looking better working out so much. My clothes already are fitting better, so I’m not going to worry about the scale for now, even though I regularly step on it before getting into the shower. I'm going to focus on trying not to drown or fall off the bike in our training or the triathlon. Then I'm going to cross "do a triathlon" off the list of things to do before I turn 40 years old.
Christine Jeffries is a writer/editor for work and at heart, and lives in a home of testosterone with her husband and two sons. She founded a women’s group, The Wo-Hoo! Society, in the interests of good friends, networking, and philanthropy; the group meets separately on a monthly basis in Phoenix and Kansas City. Christine is interested in women’s health and promoting strong women.