Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

So, I mentioned that I haven't noticed a lot of changes with the change in diet. But, when I sat down and really thought about it, yes, I have. Now, I'm not having one of those "OMG, I can hardly stand it, where is all this energy coming from" transformations, but, I am seeing some interesting things going on with me.

Now, understand that I did a 'lowish' carb diet last year as part of my weight loss program, but it did include some dairy and some grains. It was also low fat and calorie restrictive. When I followed the program exactly as written I was always hungry, as in chew my arm off hungry. So, I would often supplement with nuts and generally felt better. I say all of this simply because, the fact that my body is already used to a lower carb intake could be one of the reasons I'm not experiencing a radical change in feeling/energy by going paleo. Or, it could just be that I haven't given it enough time.

Anyway - back to the changes I am seeing.

1) I'm losing weight. I'm not counting calories. I'm not going hungry. I'm not constantly watching the clock waiting for my next meal. I'm also not spending hours planning my meals for the day, and yet, I've lost 7.6 lbs since Jan 1st!

2) I'm not losing strength. Generally, dieting means having to compromise on strength training (and sometimes even cardio) and yet, I'm still putting up the same (if not better) strength numbers as the end of the year.

3) I have fingernails! I know, this is probably a strange thing to mention, but you have to understand that I'm a person who can't grow fingernails. My nails are normally super soft and very thin. They rip and break right to the quick, constantly. And yet, right now, I have nails that go beyond the ends of my fingers on all but one finger!

4) My sleep patterns are changing - for the better. Ask anyone, they'll tell you, I'm not a morning person. This wasn't helped by the fact that I often had trouble falling and staying asleep at night. Even after sleeping 8+ hours I would often wake up groggy and exhausted. Weekends were a constant battle for me. I would often not wake up until 10AM and could easily fall back asleep and stay in bed until Noon. Then Sunday night I would be laying in bed at 1:00AM staring the clock, stressed out because I knew I had to be up by 5:00 AM the next day.

This past weekend (a three day weekend for me), all three days I woke up 6:00AM (WTF!). Even after telling myself, "It's the weekend! You can sleep in" I ended up getting up before 8:00. I've also found myself falling asleep faster (in usually 10-20 minutes, instead of the HOURS it could sometimes take) and waking up in the middle of the night a lot lot less.

Now, my sleep patterns have always been cyclical, going from bad to worse at certain times of the month, so I'll be tracking the quality of my sleep for at least 30 days to see if it continues to improve, or even just stays as good as it is right now. If it does, then whoo hoo!

Oh, and last night, I made the most amazing pork stir fry w/tangerines and bok choy, and tonight we're having chicken that's been marinating in a homemade peach sauce. Nom Nom Nom!

And the 1/2 Iron Training Begins

One thing I didn't mention in my last post is 2010 will also be the year of the weight training. Hubby and I started getting constant at going to the gym late last year during the "off season". We plan to continue that effort through tri training. Normally that will mean hitting the gym for weights and stretching early in the morning (we get up at 4:00AM) and then doing tri training at night after work. Today however, since we got done with the weights early, and the run was only 30 minutes, we did our run right at the gym on the treadmill. Since the the weather's been bad to worse of late, and the focus was on running drills this actually turned out to be ideal.

Now, my back is sore from a killer weight workout, and I'm all energized from doing 30 minutes on the treddy - 10 of those minutes doing inseam drills.

The remainder of the workouts include:

25 miles on the bike tomorrow (we'll use the trainers)

45 min run on Thursday (The long run of the week)

30 min of drills on the bike Friday (supposed to be hill repeats - I'm thinking we'll just simulate with big chain on the trainer)

40 minutes of running w/hill bounding on Saturday (cross your fingers that the weather will clear like the report says it will)

and

30 miles on the bike on Sunday (again with the hoping for good weather!)

Yes, I know there's no swimming in there - that's because as of right now, I don't have any place to swim :( I canceled my membership in the town where I live, and I'm a woose, and I won't do open water swims when it's 50 degrees outside. My goal is to be able to do my swims on my lunch hour but that'll require me getting a second gym membership, something that's not in the budget (today). So, for now I'm going to have to rely on the the fact that I'm a strong swimmer and I've completed the 1.2 mile swim easily many times before...

That being said, I'll be signing up for a gym membership if I ever get some extra chashola, and I'll be hitting the OW as soon as the temperatures get reasonable.

PS: if you want more details on my weight training, I track it all at Daily Mile - and update twitter with my workouts (SAMBoddy69) You may notice I'm a much better weight lifter then runner - heh.

PPS: bought a second bike trainer over the weekend so hubby and I can workout together :D

2010 Goals

So, 2010 is upon us, and like most folks I've set a few goals for the new year.

I'm going to continue to do triathlons - I mean, do I have much of a choice? It's either that, or change the name of my blog :D

I've got one big goal for this year tri wise and that's to do a Half Iron Man distance race. I'm still finalizing my plans, but my hope is to do the "World's Toughest Half Iron Man" on May 23rd. I know, I aim High :D. This race is called "World's Toughest" because of the sheer elevation. I know, I know. If you've spend any amount of time on my blog you know I hate hills. Well, guess what, I'm the kind of person who likes to face my weakness head on - and so, I want to tackle the 1/2 Iron distance and hills all the same time. What's even better, this race has a 70.3 mile distance Duathlon. So, my husband is training for the same distance, same race. woo fun! Oh, and since this race is 18 weeks away, training starts this week.

I'm going to do a few other races along the way - some of the same races I did this year - overall, I plan to have some fun.

Now, if you've spent any amount of time on my blog, you can guess that the other big health and fitness goals is to get to my goal weight. Last year I started reading "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain. I was intrigued, but wasn't ready to make such a drastic change. Then I bought, "The Paleo Diet for Athletes" by Loren Cordain, and Triathlete Coach Joe Friel. After some study and some deep thinking At the beginning of the year, I made the switch. How do I feel so far? Not really that different, I mean just a few weeks I'm not feeling as if my life has suddenly become roses. But, I'm not suffering giving up (most) dairy, grains and legumes so I'm going to keep with this. Mentally, at least, I feel healthier and that says a lot. I know I'm putting good food into my body, that has to be a good thing.

I know to a lot of people, this is rather extreme. And some might think my diet has got to be bland, but I'm actually really happy with the variety I've managed to have. Today I ate: 2 eggs and 3 turkey sausages for for breakfast, a turkey burger w/a couple cups of mixed veggies for lunch, and for dinner chicken w/beets and orange butter - yummy yummy! I've been having a lot of fun making dinners for new 'diet' and I hope you don't mind if I share them with you.

2009 Recap

The year 2009 was an interesting year for me.  I turned 40, and while not the introspective, page turning birthday that some experience, it did make me realize that I was getting much to old to keep putting my dreams and goals on hold.  If I was going to make a dent in my bucketlist, I better get a move on.

One thing I had be thinking about doing for years was a triathlon.  As I started to look forward to 2009 and my pending birthday, I knew that this was the year I was going to finally do it, so, I signed up with Team in Training and started training for Lavaman in Oct 2008.

At 240lbs, training was difficult.  I struggled with running and biking and was always the absolute back of the pack.  But, I persevered and through a myriad of struggles and injuries, on March 29th I started and finished my first ever triathlon.

It became clear to me that day that I was hooked.  But, it also became clear to me that I couldn't continue in this sport with success and with any longevity at 240lbs.  So, the day after we got home from Hawaii I stared, once again, to work on something that's been a goal of mine for 25 years;  to lose weight.

With race after race looming on my calender and the burning drive to "not be last" I stuck to my plan and  continued to lose weight week after week.  By August I was at my lowest weight in years and was feeling good.  I was also starting to feel a little 'competitive' at races, looking for more then just 'don't be last'.  I started trying to compete against others at the race instead of just myself.  I started having a lot less fun.

I was in the middle of Run Girl Run when I realized what I was doing.  Mid race I had an attitude adjusted why race if it made me frustrated and discouraged.  What was important was that I was out there, having fun, and on the road to self improvement.

Overall, health wise, I think I've had an excellent year.  In running I went from averaging about a 15:00/mile pace, with an average distance of 2.5 miles  to 11:00/mile pace, with an average distance of 5 miles.  On the bike I went from averaging 11 MPR on most rides, to being able to hold a pace of 16 MPR.  On top of all this, in body comp I lost just over 50 lbs, and dropped 5" off my waist and 6.5" off my hips.

Not too shabby

My Races for the Year:

2.25 Miles

Dog run Dog - 25:26

5K

Tough a Granite Trail Run - 37:47
Mountain House Run - 32:54
Skirt Chaser Run - 33:32

10K

Old Mill Run - 1:39:25
Skyline Mountain Run - 1:14:50

12K

Bay to Breakers - 2:08:10
Bridge to Bridge - 1:26:43

1.2 Mile Swim

Catfish Crawl - 46:23

1.5 Mile Swim

Sharkfest - 1:02:30

Super Sprint Tri

Deer Valley  - 59:44
Central Valley - 45:42

Sprint Tri

Napa Valley - 2:21:17
Anchorman - DNF (Got lost on the run)
SV Mountain Bike - 2:02:32
Tri for Fun (Pleas) - 1:30
Tri for Fun (Sacto) - 1:57:50
Tri Girl Tri - 1:49:22 (same race as Napa Valley)

Olympic Tri

Lavaman - 4:59:11
Central Valley - 3:16:46

Other

Escape from the Rock - 2:21:11 (No Bike)
Salmon Duathlon - 2:20:35

And that about sums up 2009 - I'll post again with some of my 2010 goals - it's going to be a GREAT year