It has been almost two long years since I raced a tri and just about the same
amount of time since I actually trained well for a race. I signed up with all
hopes of working hard to train for the race and life got in the way. Still
contemplating a DNS, a fb post from SusieRocks reminded me that I had to show
up. I’m really glad that I did. It was very difficult. My body is still
screaming two days later but I am so thankful that my body still works enough to
pull through!

The swim was ok. I didn’t have a particularly fast time and didn’t find a great
rhythm, but I was pleased that the nag in my shoulder didn’t scream too badly. I
found that there was a lot more weaving than I was used to at a CTA race, and
after a nice swift kick in the lady parts, I tried to avoid all other feet
around me. I came in only one minute slower than two years ago when I was well
trained, so that made me a bit giddy! 29ish.

I had not prepared for the bike, at all. My entire bike was rebuilt and I had
good intentions to get on the course, it just never came to fruition. I did a
few laps of gateway a few weeks back, but that was about it. I was worried that
my new shifters would not work for me on the reservoir hill. Luckily, all was ok
and I huffed and puffed up the hill. Boy do I miss my triple. My shifter decided
to die around Folly Quarter MS and therefore I rode the rest of the course in my
little ring. Much rather this than be stuck in the big, but missed the power on
the flats. 1:43ish

My legs felt fine going into the run and not as jello-like as I expected! I
wanted to maintain 10 min/mi’s as much as possible. I made through the lake
without walking and needed a few walk steps in the hilly hood from hell, but I
managed to survive. It was a blessing to see friends and hear cheers on the run.
Past gatorade hill I was feeling good so I picked up the pace a little and came
in for a comfortable finish. 1:02ish

It was so wonderful to have smiling faces at the finish and ice cold water.
While my time is far from stellar, I’m pleased I was able to finish despite a
crazy schedule and lots of life changes. I am super proud of all of the first
timer’s and Pr’s out there for showing me what real training looks like. Next
time, I’ll respect the value of training and put forth a better showing. For
now, I’m content.

Race: Columbia Triathlon
Date: Sunday, May 22, 2011
Location: Columbia, MD
Race Type: Triathlon – International Distance
Age Group: Female 30-34
Time: 3:21:51
Overall Place: 1229/1556
Age Group Place: 59/88

I am feeling like my body is quickly aging and rapidly breaking down.  I am not particularly old but I think that my recent two years of low activity have caused me to see clearly how the body breaks down.  As I type I am suffering from a crazy ridiculous sharp shooting pain in my shoulder blades that has gotten progressively worse for the last two weeks. I keep hearing more frequent cracks and pops in places like my shoulders, wrists, and jaw. It is an audible reminder of the body’s ability to self heal but also the body’s ability to slow down.

I ran a race last weekend and did ok. Quite far off my fastest time, but I was happy about it. The winners of the race were all over the age of 45. They were fit, strong, beautiful, and ephing fast. (Plus they are super nice…) They are all of these things because of the care they have put into their bodies. The constant vigilance of fitness, food, and strength. This is the example I need.

I’m too young to feel this decrepit. If not now, when?

Just a quick post to talk a little bit about “what’s worth” having a mild tummy ache over. As I look at going dairy free in much of my eating life I have made concessions here and there for things I really want–cheese on a burger, Ledo’s pizza.  But today I did something I haven’t done since starting the regime…I ate ice cream. It is our seasonal tradition in our running teams at my school to run to the local Cold Stone and have a treat to celebrate all of our hard work and running success. I joined in on the fun thinking it wouldn’t be too bad. Oh I was WRONG. By the time we got back to school I was in so much pain I wanted to crawl into a ball. Instead I went to a 3 hour shift at the running store. My lesson was totally learned.

I’ve been really grateful that Holistic Guru reminds me that certain treats and things are ok. Moderation is not a bad thing. But as I start to take things away and reintroduce them, I need to be forever cognizant of things that might need to go away forever. Thank goodness for So Delicious Coconut milk ice cream….otherwise, I think I’d just about cry.

As I embrace this diet/lifestyle change adventure, I think it is important that I learn to differentiate between treats and full blown backslides. I realize this was a holiday weekend but oh my goodness my belly was not happy with me yesterday. I blame that sweet Italian who sat in the car with me for 7 hours yesterday. It is his amazing and awesome mother that makes such lovely delicious quiches that I can’t stop!

Not that I was all that bad….I did have a tasty plate of brussel sprouts (with bacon) and dandelion greens in Brooklyn with my longest friend. It just happened to be accompanied by the most delicious artisan cheddar grilled cheese with apples that I’ve EVER eaten.

On the way home I read the book, Skinny Bitch, which was very interesting and reminded me to get back on the straight and narrow (right after I have that Roy Rogers cheeseburger at Molly Pitcher. Damn!) Seriously, it was hilarious, shocking, informative, and thought-provoking. I thank that same great woman who filled my belly with ricotta and cured meats for giving it to me!

Back to the straight and narrow today. Yummy shake today with a good full cup of kale, the banana flavor really came through w/o the chocolate protein (I used vanilla). Avoided all elements of non-planted related items at school lunch. (Yes, I actually ate a salad.) Now I supplement with radishes, grapes, a clementine and a sliver of a Sticky Fingers Cowvin Cookie. (oh dear Lord, this is VEGAN??)

Here’s to a week of positive eating.

So after two weeks of big changes to my diet (no cheese, what you talkin’ bout Willis…) I have had some fun revelations and done some neat experimenting. First, reducing my overt consumption of diary products has made a huge impact on my not always happy digestion. This happened so quickly. I learned to like soy creamer in my coffee fairly easily and also have taken well to coconut based yogurt and milk as well as dark chocolate almond milk for an antioxidant treat. I’ve already posted about the super sneaky secret vegetables in my smoothies but I must share that on Saturday I added a beet to the smoothie and not only did it turn it a lovely hot pink, as beets tend to do, it added a lovely sweetness.

Dear BF was very pleased to get to try this delicious breakfast delight packed with antioxidants, vitamins, protein, fiber, and oh wait…yummy taste! So happy to get to try these new things. (It contained: So Delicious Coconut Milk, Manitoba Harvest Dark Chocolate Hemp Protein Powder, a Beet, a handful of chopped Kale, Peanut Butter, and Frozen Strawberries. Yummy Yummy Good.)

Tonight, as it was Sunday dinner and there was some free time (what? time?), I finally got around to making Orange Pan-Glazed Tempeh that I found from a site my Holistic Guru suggested. I used Flax Tempeh as I like Flax and having never cooked tempeh, I thought it would work. Oh, did it work. In addition, I made the amazing Sesame Kale recipe that Holistic Guru sent to me last week. She said, “if you don’t like this, I don’t know what’s wrong with you” with a laugh in her voice. I TOTALLY AGREE. It was crazy-insane delicious and I can now say, I LIKE KALE! Both recipes were easy to prep and cook simultaneously.

This dinner left us practically licking our plates and relaxing with full, healthy bellies. It may not look like the website, but it was plenty good to us.

Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can handle these food changes a little while longer…..

Somehow, despite months and months of spotty training and poor habits, I still surprise myself with being a game day player. I showed up on Saturday to run a 5k with my students and had planned to try to stay under 25 minutes. This was a very reasonable goal. In the “old days” my 5k times were between 22:30 and 23:30 but that was quite a while ago.

Perhaps it was the weather or perhaps it was the desire to set a good example for my students? Or maybe it was the goal of keeping my speedy co-coach in my sight line that helped…I don’t know. But darned if I didn’t run a 23:17 on Saturday morning on a course that was quite fair but had a long, steady incline in mile 2.5. I am really proud that every once in a while I can pump out a good time. It reminds me that all athletic hope is not lost!

I’m not sure if I saw the tip on the Veganist episode of Oprah or if I saw it on a passing by of the Today show, but I saw a great tip for sneaking veggies into my breakfast shakes. Obviously, moms and dads have been sneaking veggies into their kids food for years and most notably Jessica Seinfeld’s books have recently brought light to the trend. But for me, this is the first time I have tried it for breakfast.

Today I made my hemp shake and in addition to my fruit, I added a few frozen broccoli florets. I couldn’t taste them at all and it just gave me delight to know that I had my first veggie serving of the day!

Sneaky Veggie Shake

• 3/4 cup of Silk Coconut Milk (vanilla)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 3/4 cup of frozen strawberries (approx.)
• 4 tsp of chocolate hemp protein powder
• 1/2 cup frozen broccoli florets (approx.)
• heaping spoonful of unsweetened peanut butter

YUM!

It has been 3o years of tummy trouble. It started with giving up my Fred Flintstone bottle of apple juice at age 2 and hasn’t stopped since. Years of doctors, fiber, water, mineral oil, supplements, fleet products, tums addiction, and a colonoscopy later…it if finally time to do something. And it has to start with food. It just has to. I know it, I just have denied it because I’m so content in eating crap. It is absolutely ridiculous to think I can perform well as an athlete while fueling my body improperly. If some days I can barely function because the tummy trouble is so bad, how can I be a runner?

The answer is, I can’t. So I am working with a really cool Holistic Nutrition Counselor to try and figure things out. I think blogging about the journey will be good for me. So runsingteach is gonna talk about food for a while. Every two weeks we will set goals and I will try new things and be cognizant of the changes. It has been three days and I already feel better. 🙂

Current Goals:

1. Bring lunch from home 3 times a week to school. (Stop eating poisonous, but delicious, hot lunch!!)
2. Be mindful of breakfast and try eating a filling breakfast. (Such as a delicious hempshake)

I am also reducing my diary intake with the possibility of going dairy free for a while. This is hard, when you consider how many things include dairy.

Foods made this weekend with mindfulness. (After an expensive and long visit to Whole Foods in Baltimore which had to be therapeutically treated with a trip to Bin 604.)

• Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas (from Christine’s site) with cilantro/lime rice and avocado. (yes family, I’m trying to eat avocado.)
• Hemp Shake: Coconut milk (the milk substitute, not the cooking kind.), scoop of peanut butter, dark chocolate hemp protein, banana
• Beet Risotto made with Diaya cheddar instead of real cheddar, side of broccoli and portobello/chicken sausages.
• Rice Cakes with Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter
• Dark Chocolate Almond Milk blended with frozen strawberries (for dessert)

With food like that, it might be ok to make a few…changes 🙂

The journey has just begun.