training

Training for Success

Do you have to eat every 2 hours? Get HANGRY if you don’t?  Are you able to go go go all day long then crash once you actually sit down?  Require a giant glass of wine/beer after work just to “unwind”?  Use working out to beat yourself up as a stress relief?  Have trouble falling asleep? Wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep?

This defined me.  Family and friends knew meals and snacks were a necessity if you didn’t want the bitch to come out.  Missing a meal was never an option.

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2017 Triathlon Season

Today was a wrap on the 2017 triathlon season!  Since my first one last year, I have fallen in love with this race.  I completed 3 Tris this year – one was suppose to be an ocean swim, but due to rough waters it was cancelled (Islandman Triathlon in Avalon); another in a pool which I’m not a fan of the serpentine style race (Lititz RecCenter Triathlon); and a lake which was awesome, even if my shoulder was acting up and I had to breast stroke the entire distance (Marshman Triathlon in Marsh Creek State Park).

Like all my half marathons, I really do need to start properly training for these events.  I do believe going to CrossFit a few times a week does help build strength and endurance, but CrossFit does not prepare you for sitting on a bike for extended period…Luckily you can swim however you want so there is always breast stroke. I would actually like to do better so I really need to start freestyling and conserving my energy for the other 2 legs.  Maybe next year I’ll properly plan and train for any Tris I decide to compete in….I do always say this for whatever race I sign up for…one day tho!

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Nutritional Challenge – Changes

Day 7 of no sugar, gluten, dairy, or alcohol.  Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t have delicious and tasty food!

Only 1 day of slip ups which for the most part were out of our hands…look I know we could’ve CHOSEN to not have alcohol or dessert, no one was MAKING us consume these things. But stressing out about our food choices will not benefit our bodies either. So yes, we had beer (Zach) and champagne (me) and ate desserts (shared mini desserts and didn’t Repeat the same one). The food at the wedding was amazing and I’m sure there was sugar and hydrogenated fats in there, but I didn’t stress about it. We did make the conscious effort to not eat bread at dinner and didn’t stuff ourselves. So I’ll take that as a win while dining out.

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Lititz Triathlon Recap

I do have one regret from last weekend’s triathlon…I should have gone harder. I’ve had the mentality lately of showing up and doing the work without pushing myself. Sunday’s race was no different. I swam and biked with minimal effort.

I am competitive but I’ve tried to keep it under control the last few years. It is more with myself than it is with other people. However, a little friendly competition isn’t going to hurt. The friend that got me into triathlons was doing this one. We both signed up last minute without any true training for the tri. But CrossFit trains you for anything, right?!

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Digestion: The basics to help fuel your daily grind

With all the stress I have in my life, the last thing I thought I was effecting was my digestion.  Hell, for the past few years I’ve completely shifted what I ate and how I thought about food.  I thought I was doing a pretty damn good job of eating the right foods to provide my body the fuel I needed to perform optimally. Enter NTA and a wrench in my daily grind…I have come to the realization that over at least the past 2 years I have been “thriving” off of cortisol and epinephrine (adrenaline).

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Recap – Islandman Triathlon

I love triathlons for the sole fact that you get to execute three activities within one event.  Islandman Triathlon was a few weeks ago in Avalon, NJ.  Honestly, I had no true training plan…I had done a handful of swims and bike rides as well as ran at least once a week since signing up in February (I was going to CrossFit at least 2-3x a week).  I know, not the normal mentality of someone who committed to a race.

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Recovery Journey

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 3

I have been doing CrossFit for 4.5 years with varying degrees of dedication.  I would consider myself one of the “weaker” females in my gym.  My 1-rep max deadlift hovers around 155# (that is this year) and has seen little improvement.  The weak deadlifts have always been blamed on my running habits – quad dominant and weaker hamstrings; oh and my inability to activate my glutes.  Well in April this chick hit a 200# sumo deadlift. SAY WHAT?! My body felt great that day, there was no “knot” above my right glute and that damn bar went up when I lifted it.

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The Crash

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 2

Adrenal fatigue does not appear overnight.  There are subtle things that can fester over the years.  There can also be one event that will throw your adrenals over that threshold into fatigue.

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No Training Plan

Adrenal Fatigue – Part 1

I’m 1 week out from the Island Man Triathlon today.  Last night I had planned to do a bike and run today, since it would be only my 2nd time this training cycle to test that out.  I know, I am probably screwed next week. Oh and obviously I haven’t swam in 2 weeks, AHHHHHHHH.

Anyway, I went out with the intention of biking for an hour.  I got back just under that and covered 15.1 miles.  The bike ride was a relatively easy-paced, I didn’t kill myself knowing that I needed to be in top-notch shape next Saturday.  Got back to my car and got ready for the run – there is absolutely no urgency in my transitions, which will probably put me dead last with all my friends next week.  9:30 minutes passed and I headed back on the trail for a 2-mile run.  Now this is what DOES NOT MAKE SENSE to me – 1st mile was 7:57 (WHAT?!) & 2nd mile was 8:05!  How is it possible that my miles after a bike ride are faster than if I had just gone out for a 2-mile run?! Okay, I know I don’t push myself on most runs, but I felt like I was a 200# person running today – my legs felt so heavy and my quads were screaming!  Other than making myself run, I was not pushing myself to hit a certain mile-pace.  So what the hell is going on?!

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Overtraining

CRAP! The Islandman Triathlon is officially less than 3 weeks away.  I am starting to freak out a little about the race.  Since signing up (February?) I haven’t had a game plan – real surprise there, right?  Even though this is nothing new (I have never truly stuck to any sort of training program), I thought this time would be different.  I do want to do really well, not trying to win awards here, but I do want to crush it to my own ability.  Either way, I know I will be able to cross that finish line.  The only possible disappointment I’ll have is when I don’t beat the three others that I’m doing it with.  But to my defense, they do have more experience with triathlons, access to a pool for training whenever they want, and are taller than me = longer running strides.

Last week was a short work week due to Memorial Day, so I thought I would have more time to do things I wanted to do.  It was 4 weeks to go until the triathlon.  Again, no real training plan so I didn’t think much of what I was doing every day.  Well I was totally wrong, I definitely over did it.  My body is SCREAMING at me this past weekend and still is today.  My quads and hip flexors are extremely tight.

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