Triceratops Triathlon Results

1st off - it was HOT last night! 94 degrees, 90% humidity. With that being said, I completed the first tri of my 2009 season.

Last week was rough for me personally. My mother was rushed to the ER with heart failure at 1AM on 6/14... the AM of what was supposed to be my first Oly tri.

Needless to say, I spent all week up in Sagniaw at St. Mary's of Michigan by her side while she was in CCU.

Mom had a pacemaker in yesterday, and now we are just trying to figure out how this all happened.


I did the race last night as a fun little something, and a way to blow off steam. I think I was in more steam than I was able to blow off. WOW.



0.5 mile swim: SWAM IT!!! 22:47 2:37 / 100 yards

Felt good, quicker than last year's first OWS without a wetsuit, but slower on the same course. Heat possibly? Or maybe my lack of swimming as of late!

T1 time - 1:28. Felt like 3 minutes


11.8 mile bike: NAILED IT!!! 38:44 18.28 mph

T2 time - 1:39 Felt more like 5.

3.1 mile run: WALKED IT!!! 45:18 14:37/mile

OMFG.... Had an asthma attack at the start of the run, then walked the run portion. Not too shabby for walking and not breathing.

I need to invest in a nice water belt. NEEDED MORE WATER!


It was AWESOME seeing Dave, Kristen, Trish, Smoke, xcourtx, MSUDan, and the others! I missed my BT Rawk Squaders this past spring!!!!! I love you all!

TTFN,
Runnergirl

Understanding Nutrition.

Due to yesterday's EPIC FAIL in nutritional experimentation, today I did some research on nutritional needs of athletes.

According to http://www.brianmac.co.uk/nutrit.htm an athlete needs 1.3 calories per hour per kg of body weight as your BER - Basic Energy Requirements.

Personal energy requirement = basic energy requirements (which includes your basal metabolic rate) + extra energy requirements.

For me this ends up being (taking age and gender into consideration) 2792.4 calories just to make it through 24 hours.

This seems pretty high to me actually, but we will go with it for now.

You have additional caloric needs is you exercise or train, being 8.5 calories per hour per kg of body weight.

For me this is about 760.75 calories per hour under my training conditions.

The formula for nutrition according to the same site is the following:

57% should be carbohydrates
30% should be fats
13% should be proteins

So for a day in which I do not train, I should have the following:

398 gr. carbohydrates
93 gr. fat
91 gr. protein

20-30 gr. carbs each main meal (3)
10 gr. carbs at snacks.

We all know that healthy diets are well rounded and consist of whole foods as close to the earth (meaning as little processing as possible) as you can find.

The thing that I find difficult is that in picking my meals, I do not really pay attention to the overall makeup of my food.

I know how many calories I choose, and if I follow my Weight Watchers training I know based on points roughly how much fiber and fat I am taking in, yet I never really look to see what I am eating.

So let's see how well I have done so far today.

I am going to take my information from Calorie King to get the nutritional information on all food consumed up through lunch.

BREAKFAST
1 bowl Simple Harvest oatmeal - maple and brown sugar with pecans, Quaker [3.5 fat 30 carb 4 protein]
32 oz. Green Tea (iced)[0 0 0]
1 Arbonne Supplement [ 0 0 0]

TOTAL - 3.5 30 4
Remaining for today - 89.5 368 87

LUNCH
1 Arbonne supplement [0 0 0]
1 California Roll [5 70 8]
1 Spicy Tuna Roll [9 125 30]
8 z. green tea (hot) [0 0 0]
8 oz. water [0 0 0]
Miso Soup [3 11 3.5]
Japanese Salad (ginger/miso dressing) [5 3 .05]
1 DQ Brownie Batter Blizzard - small [29 88 13]

TOTAL - 51 297 55
Remaining - 38.5 71 32


Comparing the graphs from goal to actual consumed (can you say data junkie?) I am just slightly high on carbs and slightly low on proteins and fats.

While tracking food and exercise may be cumbersome, I feel that for me the outcome of proper fueling and weight control is worth it.

I am doing a lot of endurance work these days (hello - half Ironman in 4 weeks!!) and while trying to loose weight I feel that some of my training mishaps are directly related to my fuelling or lack thereof.

Just like you do not attempt a feat of endurance or skill without training (*cough*), why attempt weight control without planning? And if you are training for something in addition - you certainly need a plan, or atleast the knowledge in fuelling for performance.


This brings me to the question of "what am I really going for here?" Outside of being fuelled properly to complete my races and training, I decided that I want this for more long term.

1.) I want healthy weight control.
This means that I will need to shed an additional 22.5 lbs from where I stand today. Keep in mind - I am still down 10lbs beyond my big weight loss from last year, so I am on the right track. When I meet this goal, I will be down 50lbs since New Year's Day 2008. That is in ADDITION to the weight lost in 2007. All in all, at my goal weight (not by a chart but rather my own personal goal weight) I will be down a total of 66lbs since December 2007.

2.) I want healthy eating habits
I am really close to being there but still get tripped up over high calories snacks. Darn those cookies!

Emotional eating has crept back into my life, but thankfully I caught the aftermath at only a 4lb gain versus 40lb gain like I did in 2001.

I eat a rediculous amount of vegetation and fruit, and very little red meat these days. I am working on the breakdowns of foods now, and with this information I feel that I will have a good army of weapons to help blow away those pesky obstacles that come along.

3.) I want to remove the self-imposed limits on my abilities.

I saw the neatest thing last night and it said "Attitude is more important that facts."

I am still not really pushing myself. I know this to be fact. HOWEVER - I also know to be fact the following:

I can and will do it.



4.) I want to get stronger and fit.

I am not going to lie to you. I secretly dream of being on the cover of Oxygen. No, not the women's TV channel - but Oxygen, the women's fitness magazine.

I am a muscular person, so why not embrace a fitness routine ala cross fit and finally get there.

I really for realzy real want to do cross fit. I want to get strong and fit and... strong. OK, I still need to work on this one!


5.) I will overcome.

It may be a long journey, but the best ones usually are. If life is more about the journey than the destination, I am glad that I have a sense of adventure and don't mind the pit-stops!



So what say you? What are some things you do to keep on track? Do you journal, track calories, track nutrients? Do you wing it and eat whatever as long as you work out?

The Muncie Endurathon Report - Nutrition Mumbo Jumbo and my experiement

I am finding it difficult to really wrap my head around what I need for fueling my body these days.

I attempt to think like the athlete I am trying to become, but still eat like a part-time dieter, part-time starving teenage boy.

My weight is stable, which is good, however it needs to be on the downward trend. I am working out a lot, but also taking in a lot of nutrition I would not normaly take in if I was training for a solo sport.

For the swim it is pretty standard, right? You cannot supplement while swimming as it is really hard to consume nutrition in the water, so you fuel for the race in the AM prior to setting sail so-to-speak.

So then you get done with the swim, head into your first transition and get ready to ride. For me this means 56 miles ultimately. I have been practicing my fuel for those 56 miles, and now have been practicing my fuel for getting ready to run a half marathon afterwards.

In training I am riding long then running short, however I am fuelling just like I would in the race so my stomach is used to the calories and the particular nutrition supplements that I will be using.

I have my mix down, but it is so many calories compared to what I am burning.

All of this has driven me to do some research on fueling for athletes. This made me shudder a little as looking at me and then talking about being an athlete still does not line up in my head.

And maybe my dear readers is where the problem lies. What if I try a little experiment?

How about I act like I am the athlete I want to be? This will require me to think about my diet (not as in a diet diet, but rather as in my eating habits, etc.) in a more scientific way.

Math.

So here is the experiment:

Method -
I will plan my meals (each meal) as I would if I were an athlete using a percentage of carbohydrates, fats, proteins.

I will adjust intake for workout weeks of extreme intensity (increasing intake) and rest periods (decrease intake).

I will track ALL FOOD CONSUMED right down to water and gum for the duration.

I will continue to work out for these three months as I am today.

Metrics -
Weight loss (lbs.) taken once a week, same time each week for reducing variation.
Measurements (inches) taken same as above.

Duration -
This will last for three months, starting June 11th, 2009 (today), ending August 11th, 2009 (my 31st birthday).



It all needs to start with what I am putting into my body in order to get the most out of it.

The Muncie Endurathon Report - Wow only 5 weeks left Edition

I have been less than prolific here. I have been so busy with work, busy training and then busy not training, and now busy training again.

So let me recap.

I lost two weeks of training due to illness/stress/lack of motivation due to illness and stress. Then I was afraid to really get back into it because of those lost two weeks.

I felt paralyzed, but then I realized something. I need to be true to my dreams. And this is my dream.

So, I threw out my training plan as it was just not getting me to where I need to be in oder to feel comfortable, and then I developed my own training plan getting me to the endurance base I desire.

So there we have it. The past few weeks have left me feeling like I was on a rollercoaster - fast and leaving me wanting to puke.

However some really cool things came out of it.

So onward and upward to Muncie. It is HAMMER TIME!

The Muncie Endurathon Report Volume 77 Days and Counting!

Everything passes away - suffering, pain, blood, hunger, pestilence. The sword will pass away too, but the stars will still remain when the shadows of our presence and our deeds have vanished from the earth. There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes towards the stars? Why?
- Mikhail Bulgakov, The White Guard

Today, I am turning my eyes towards the stars.

I have 77 good solid days until my first 70.3 mile race. A lot can happen in 77 days. I can end up in Mexico for a week. I may break my leg or pull a muscle. Or, I can happily complete my training and be strong, healthy, and fresh for Muncie.

Unfortunately, I have gotten sidelined in my training due to a mix of personal reasons.

So after two weeks of me sitting around and trying to "sneak" in training, I decided that enough was enough. I have a Half Ironman to finish happily and strong. I have some hard work to be putting in so it pays off. I am back in training mode, now if only Mother Nature would get on the same page!

So enter the freak out. Those two weeks scare me. The weather has been really hit or miss. I know that I will have two solid months of biking outdoors and one solid month of swimming in a lake to be prepared. I am just scared that that is not enough.

So today I am banishing my scaredness... NO MORE.

I set out to complete a 70.3 mile race, and I am going to do just that.

Munice is a beautiful race I hear and based on the turnout from my triathlon club FAST, may people agree. I am excited to be a part of the 30th running of the Endurathon. I hear that the swim is nice, the bike nearly all flat minus some rollers on the last 5 miles or so, and a hilly run. I am fine with all of this.

So I am recomitting to my plan. I have had to move some things around due to other commitments (such as launching my own business!), but I am going to move forward knocking out those training blocks and really giving it the respect it deserves. This is going to be my last first half ironman. And like I have said before - you only get one first.

For 77 days I will enjoy every single stroke, pull, catch, peddle, and stride.

For 77 days I will work my butt off and make sure that the only workouts I miss are due to hell and or high water. (or migraines lol)

For 77 days I will make sacrifices and work magic with my schedulling wand, I will be at the pool, in the lake, on Hines Drive, Island Lake Rec, Kennsington, or running the hills of Farmington as required to be prepared.

In 77 days I will go from a dreamer to a doer.

In 77 days I will be a Half Ironman finisher.

In 78 days I will look back and smile at how far I have come, because surely this journey was not about the 70.3 miles, but rather all the miles beyond.

With that I bid ado so I can get my tush in the saddle and my feet on the path for a nice brick.

Here is to a happy, healthy, and well prioritized spring!

Plan B... do you have one?

My dear, dear friends... I had such grandiose dreams and notions about my week off from the 9-5. You see, I am off from work from 4/6 - 4/13, returning 4/14.



*fade to montage of riding the bike outside for hours on end, living in the pool every morning like a good triathlete in training, running in the sunshine wearing my sweet spring gear*






Then I woke up Sunday only to realize that we are going to have snow this week, and bore witness to my ideal week of being buried under 6-10" of wet, sloppy, snow.


OK, OK... I know that I live in Michigan, the great white north, but still. *hmpf*


So - the hours of sunny riding have been replaced with more trainer rides, and those sun basked runs through the trails are now just treadmill runs in my dreams.


One day that idyllic training will be mine... just not this day.


Those are the joys of being a triathlete, runner, cyclist, or any other outdoors enthusiast. We can plan all we want, but when life happens are you ready with a Plan B?


I am lucky as I am a member of two gyms and my apartment complex has a wellness cent in the middle so I have ample access to dreadmills. I just need to go and do it. OR, alternately I can run in the snow, but my winter stuffs are all packed away in a futie attempt to ward off the flurries that we all knew would manage to fall upon our hopefull heads.


Biking needs to be done on a trainer, so that is really no issue. Boring, yes, but it needs to be done!

So think of this today... having the ability to be flexible can mean the difference between successfully accomplishing your dreams, or giving up before you start.

~Happy and healthy training!

})i({ RG

The Muncie Report - Gettin' Back To Bidness, Week 6

WOW.

So I have been mysteriously ill for over a week. Headache - check. And constant.

My motivation to work out has dropped off the face of the planet, and my State Swim Meet debut was a no go due to stupid crazy illness all weekend. *sigh*

I am just glad that I am in base building right now otherwise.. this girl would be screwed.

So no stats for last week. I swam a little, nothing much to speak of. No bike, no run. *sigh again*

This week so far has been a no go - headache from another world since Friday.

Tomorrow AM I am biking for 1:15. Tomorrow night is an Arbonne meeting, so I needed to rearrance some things. Friday night, if the weather holds, will be a nice bike.run brick and Saturday is the Martian 5K. I cannot even do the 10K because now my Aunt and Uncle from out of state are visiting my parents up north, so we need to stop in however they are leaving before 3PM, so we gotta get the lead out !

To top off the week's craziness, now Mike is sick again (respritory issues) and his Grandmoth has a massive heart attack and his mother and sister are by her side in Vancouver. Things do not look good for her, so we are sort of on call.

Now this is what I talk about in tri clinics - be fluid. Life happens and triathlon training is not your job. I would in past years be fuming mad that I cannot follow a plan right at the moment, but the current Jenn is just happy she has time to get back into the groove.

A super bonus - April 7th is the official start of the Tuesday PM brick workouts at Hines Drive! Jenn's back baby!

I am looking forward to Muncie in a few short weeks. A part of me is still in disbelief that I am doing this - but then I look in the mirror and say heck yeah I am doing this.

Happy training and healthy days!

~Jenniferlyn

MyArbonne.com Website Created, New Email Activated, Business Cards Ordered!

http://thehealthandwellnessblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/myarbonnecom-website-set-up-email-ready.html

Life is good my friends, life is good!

Arbonne Business Launch - April 23, 2009.

Well it is official. I am starting my new Arbonne Independent Consultant business at the end of April!

I am a big believer in that things happen for a reason, and Arbonne came into my life at a time where I am in danger of loosing my job. I pray and hope that that does not end up happening, but in these uncertain economic times and my job in the automotive industry - I decided to look for an opportunity that I can take advantage of while I still work my full time job.

I have started an auxillary blog at http://thehealthandwellnessblog.blogspot.com/ which will chronicle my new business venture!

Arbonne is a health and wellness company that is best known for their skin care products. Their products are all made without any animal by-products (making them vegan friendly!) and are chemical free.

There is a skin care line for every need, as well as an entire collection of body, face, spa/detox, teen, blemish treatment, men specific, Arbonne Smart Hybrid vitamins, and weight loss products. Arbonne belives is providing amazing quality products at attainable prices, as well as the opportunity to sell the products yourself.

Due to strict Arbonne regulations, I cannot link my blog(s) to my MyArbonne.com website or vice versa, so if you are interested in ordering Arbonne products you will have to email me directly to get the link.

Likewise, if you are interested in hosting a presentation (Arbonne does not believe in the term "party", and neither do I!) or becoming part of my team as either a preferred client (can you say 20% discount?) or an independent consultant yourself (how about a 35% discount!), please feel free to contact me at jwarstler@gmail.com.

I am looking at hosting presentations in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and the greater Chicagoland area currently, and will possibly be hosting one in the Las Vegas area as well this year.

Have car will travel and no presentation is to small! Here is to a blessed and happy 2009!

Thought for the day - do not hope more than you work.

Today is going to be a prolific thought day I can already tell. :)

Further examination of the occurences leading up to my decision to not run in the Martian half Marathon leads me to today's thought for the day.

Thought for the day - do not hope more than you work.

Sometimes we hope and hope and hope for something, putting a lot of emotional energy towards the goal. No one can say that we do not have our hearts in it, that is for sure! However, if we do not put much physical energy towards the goal, how will we ever really achieve it?

Hope makes a good breakfast, (meaning a it is a good thing to get us started) but makes a horrible supper (meaning you cannot sustain life on hope alone.)

If you are hoping for something in your life, are you taking the right steps and working towards it?

I need to step back at times and think about this question myself. I hope for 'x' but find that I am really working towards 'y'. This was the case with the Martian Half Marathon.

Aligning our goals with our actions takes some time and practice, but with patience soon all the pieces will come together and assure that you are on the path to success.

Sometimes turning around to find a different exit is just what we need to assure that we continue moving forward. You do not have to continue on with a wrong turn, and dead ends are not really the end.

The Muncie Endurathon Report - Week 5. Wait... what? Really? Already?!?!

As a new feature on the 'Muncie Endurathon Report', I will be adding my week's training overview - goals, volume, and details. Can you say "type-A personality"? I prefer "numbers geek" myself. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Week 5 Goals:
1. To follow my plan only missing at most 1 workout.
2. To return to healthy, accountable eating. Weight is the same for 3 weeks now, and it is not a plateau.
3. To have fun this week, and get ready for the State Swim meet this weekend.

Week 5 Planned Time: 8h 57m

Week 5 Training:
SWIM
Three swims on tap outside of State Meet.
Two are with 100 repeats and drills, one is a 1200 meter long swim @ moderate intensity. Total swim workouts range from 1800m to 1900m

BIKE
Three bikes on tap: one hill work, two aerobic conditioning ranging from 1h 5m, to 2h in duration.

RUN
Two runs on tap; one 47 minute speed workout with :30 repeats, and one 35 minute pace run followed by a intense speedwork strides ( 4 x :20 second with :40 recoveries)

BRICK
1 brick of 1 hour mod intensity on bike, 20 minutes mod intensity run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How did this happen? Is it true? I am already in week 5 of my Muncie Endurathon training? It is odd because my calendar is saying this, but the past four weeks really have flown by. Wow, isn't life fast?

This in no way is a bad thing, as training has been going very well. I feel that I am ready for a sprint race at any moment, and could feasibly finish an Olympic race without much worry, just not so sure how the final time would be although I would finish strong.

I inadvertantly took last week quasi-off (oopsy) but in all reality needed the time to regroup and make a decision about the Martian Half Marathon and how finishing it really helped in my half ironman goals. In the end this one week will not really matter as long as this is the only one I take off as such, and because the first 8 weeks of my training plan are base-building and my base was already a little above where the training plan started me. I feel like I am easing into the more serious training that will come in three more weeks.

I am really going to have some quality workouts ahead of me, and starting April 7th the FAST Tuesday night bricks come back into play! CELEBRATE!

Starting Memorial Day weekend both the Thursday night swim/bike bricks and the Saturday morning open water swims/ long bike rides will resume.

The way I look at it, now is the time to get a feel for training volumes and what I can attain in them, so if I miss one here or there it is more acceptable and less damaging if this were to happen during the ciritical weeks of training.

Already I feel good and stronger in all three disciplines, so I am happy to say that if the goal of base building is to give me the foundation to work on speed and efficiency in the bulk of my future training, then base-building works!

Train well, train happy!
~ RunnerGirl Jenn