Triathlon Training: Day 33, workout #15

In case you don't remember, I joined the NYU Tri Club at the start of the semester and began training on October 13, 2008. We workout at 6:15am-7:30am on Mondays (strength/drills/core/plyometrics), Wednesdays (cardio/core), and Fridays (swim). That's why the number of workouts is less than the number of days since I started.

Anyway, I have already lost 5 pounds since I started! At this rate, I will be at my goal weight by the end of January which is very, very, very exciting.

I have been getting a lot stronger, faster, and definitely eating way healthier (which isn't the hard part for me... it's the portion control). I love vegetables, fruits, legumes and lean protein so making the right choices and avoiding junk food isn't what bothers me. There's nothing really that I feel I have to "give up," but when it comes to actually eating... I tend to want to eat A LOT of vegetables and A LOT of fruit which is simply not the right way to do it.

So I have been really aiming to eat small amounts every 3 hours. I've been okay at it... but it feels really weird eating so frequently. It almost feels as if I am eating too much. But I know I am not because my dinners are so much smaller than they used to be... and by then I am usually not that hungry anyway.


Changes to my lifestyle:

Not only have I been working out with the team 3 times a week, I have also been doing running and yoga on my own time on the in-between days, so overall I am very happy with my discipline when it comes to exercising.

I have been drinking SO much more water. This is good because I tend to not drink water throughout the day. I forget to do it or sometimes I just don't want to drink it because it makes me feel bloated or have to pee CONSTANTLY. I have the weakest bladder ever. One glass of water will make me pee at least 4 times in 45 minutes. It's so effing annoying. But I have been pushing past the annoyance and drinking a lot of water anyway and it's definitely contributing to my feeling beter.

I am focusing more on eating the right things than "not eating." I used to always think that if I ate really, really little then I would lose a lot of weight and get perfect, but the end result was always me being crazy hungry and then craving the worst foods until I finally caved after 2 weeks. So I would never be able to stay on that pattern for very long. Plus, eating so little was counterintuitive to the amount that I would workout! (When I workout, I'm pretty hardcore).

So now, I am always focused on vegetables and protein.

Here's my schedule, if you're wondering:
5:30am: I have some peanut butter before working out in the morning and I take some liquid B12 vitamin (for energy, it's the best).
7:45am: Then, as soon as I get home I have a glass of skim milk with a scoop of whey protein.
8:45am: An hour after that I usually get hungry (since whey protein digests so quickly) and I have a banana w/ some granola, or a scrambled egg sandwich on whole wheat toast, or mixed fruit w/ cottage cheese (cottage cheese has tons of protein).
12pm: After that I am usually full and I just drink water until I get hungry again, which means lunch time. I go to any NYC deli that has a buffett and get a small plastic box and fill it with a little bit of lettuce, lots of vegetables, a hard-boiled egg and a small piece of chicken or fish. (As long as it fits in the small plastic container, I know I'm okay). I also drink another bottle of water here.
3pm: I have an apple and/or some mixed nuts.
6pm: Dinner is usually random because I never really know where I'll be or what I am doing but I still like to keep the vegetables at the top of my mind. If not, then I just go for whatever I deem healthiest from my choices and try to be conscious about portions. So this might be a soup, a healthy sandwich, vegetables, a salad, sushi, pasta, etc. The good thing is that by this time I'm not really that hungry and so I get satisfied with a lot less.
9pm: If I get any sort of hunger before bed I'll drink some water... maybe lick a small spoon of peanut butter or drink just a little bit of milk to make it go away.
11pm = BEDTIME!

(Of course, on the in-between days I don't wake up until 9:30 or 10am and if I go out late on Friday or Saturday night, then I don't wake up until about 11am. But I ALWAYS try to aim for before noon. Any later and my whole rhythm will be messed up).

Oh yeah, and waking up early is so much fun. It's not normal for me because I am instinctively nocturnal. I just enjoy the night more, I don't know why. I am most productive at 3am. But waking up early helps me keep my day in order, I can enjoy the sunrise, and I can actually go to sleep because I am tired by 11pm. You just feel so much healthier this way.

The only downside to all this is that after I get home and have breakfast, I usually CRASH. I get insanely tired and sluggish and I just HAVE to take a nap. I pass out on my bed. This sucks because sometimes I have to go to class or something and I don't want to. I have found that if I push through this crash, I can stay alert but I'll have to have a small cup of coffee. If I do that, then I don't get tired again until night time. But if I let myself fall asleep, I usually take a 1 to 2-hr nap.

Not sure what to do about this -- on the one hand I am adding empty calories with the caffeine and sweetened sugar (aspartame = the devil!) but on the other hand I am skipping class because I am so goddamn tired.

In the end, I am eating a lot of food, but I am actually losing weight because I am exercising so much and I am eating the RIGHT food. So it's just fuel that's making me grow muscle, get stronger, workout harder, and as a result... get toned and weigh less. More muscle = faster metabolism. Faster metabolism = leaner. Leaner = HOT, haha.

Wow, this has been a very long post but it's a part of my life that I haven't been blogging about as much, so I just thought I'd let you know what's been taking up so much of my time. Now add 4 classes, homework, a part-time job, a boyfriend, blogging and a life.... and you got yourself one BUSY girl!!

:) Thanks for sitting through this rant. (If you did).

Love ya,
Alana