Mulan levels up her battle training

[Mulan]

Hi Scouts! It's time to get down to business...to defeat the Huns! Last challenge got me back into pretty consistent triathlon training and better eating habits. I learned so much and have applied what I learned to my goals this time around. Thanks again for all your support! I <3 this forum!!

 

MAIN QUEST: Race a half ironman in 10 weeks.

And by race, I mean go as fast as I possibly can and see how close I can get to breaking 5 hours. I've broken 5 two times, but it was over 4 years ago and I haven't raced that distance since then. I'd like to get back to feeling fit and fast while working a more demanding job and work schedule.

 

Goals:

 

1. Training volume of swim/bike/run (+ strength) 10 hours minimum per week.

 

10 weeks of 10+ hours of training should get me back to a higher level of fitness. I plan to bump it up to 12hrs as the race gets closer, and I feel 10-12 hrs is a reasonable time commitment with everything else going on in my life. (Got the consistency going during the last challenge, but volume was only 7 to 9 hrs, with one really paltry 4.5hr week.) I'm also incorporating two pull-up/push-up/plank routines per week into my training program, unlike last challenge when I procrastinated until the end of each weekend and failed on that goal. I've gotten my long bike up to 50-60 miles consistently and my long runs at 1.5hrs. I haven't swam more than once a week though and want to hit the pool 2x/week minimum this time.

 

2. Complete my first Whole30 (possible extension to Whole45) and focus on becoming a lean machine, rather than losing weight.

 

I've focused on my weight for way too long. I lost about 3 lbs during the last challenge, but gained it all back in the week after from lots of ice cream. I have some disordered eating habits (including binging behavior) from my sordid athletic past, and want to slay those dragons. So I don't want to get too obsessive about calories or how much I weigh and will not be logging my food at all, just making good choices every day. The Whole30 rules can be found here, but I will be making some modifications to support my longer training efforts--like allowing white potatoes. I won't be a total Nazi about "unapproved" oils but I will be eliminating nuts and nut butter as those are too easy to binge on. I do want to focus on getting faster and stronger, and know if I get leaner it will help--increasing the power-to-strength ratio and all that. So I did weigh myself before starting the Whole30 (I got a headstart on Thursday, 7/25 as eating crappy post-challenge really bothered me) but also took a bunch of measurements. I'm going to focus on shrinking down the measurements and making sure I eat enough to support the amount of training I do.

 

3. Prepare each night for the next workday.

 

I learned from the last challenge that preparation is KEY! This will include packing lunches (and possibly brekkie if swimming right before work), packing work clothes (I bike commute every day now) and/or swim gear, and prepping training gear for post-work workouts. This will give me NO EXCUSES for missing workouts, eating badly, or being late for work!

 

 

LIFE SIDE QUEST: Organize the apartment!!!

 

I moved into my studio back in early January, and then Mr. Mulan followed suit and moved in 4 months later. We always seem either really busy and out of town, or really lazy when we stay in town, and we've just got random sh*t everywhere that needs to be organized. Especially for two people in a 600 sq ft studio apartment. I want to donate stuff, re-organize, consolidate, sell some things, etc. oh god, there's even boxes that haven't been unpacked yet. Less chaos and less stress!

[Everstorm]

Great goals, Mulan.  Welcome back!

[bgvanbur]

Have you signed up for a half iron man or just doing the distances on your own?

 

Nice goals, especially the being prepared and organized, it definitely helps everything else out.

[Sifter]

Great goals!  I am with you on the prepping.  Last challenge it was so clear...the week's that I prepared a schedule, meals, etc resulted in success!  Interested to hear your thoughts on Whole30 & follow your progress to achieve your main quest!  Good luck!

[SeaweedGirl]

Good luck, Mulan!  5 Hour Half!  You are such a bad ass! 

[Mulan]

thanks everybody! @bgvanbur, I will be officially signing up in early September, it's a smaller local race so it won't sell out like some of the big ones. (I'm waiting to completely pay off my credit card debt, almost there, another life quest!!) I can probably do all the distances on my own right now, just not super fast like a race situation.

 

I took a page out of Phoenix Burning's book and made sure I packed my lunch and work clothes tonight right after dinner, but before logging into Nerd Fitness. Whoop whoop! So even though I fell way off the wagon the week after last challenge, this second week (pre-tomorrow's challenge) has been pretty awesome. I actually got in 9hrs 45mins of training, almost my 10hr goal, and yes, I could've gotten in another 15mins with pull-ups etc, but was exhausted from my treadmill run.

 

Yep, today I actually ran the half marathon distance on the treadmill incorporating 15 x 800m speedier intervals, followed by 400m recoveries. My total time was 1hr40mins, which I am really pleased with since I still feel like I'm only starting to get my fitness back. I know treadmill running doesn't exactly replicate outdoor running (some say run at 1-2% incline but I do 0%), but it definitely kicks my ass and forces me to run faster than I want to! It is also only 5mins slower than my fastest standalone marathon, and my goal for the half ironman run split is just under 1:40. I think I'll do this workout at least every 2 weeks as a way of gauging my run progress!

 

For fueling I used coconut water, and then had a sweet potato right afterwards (I ran late-ish, finishing at 7:30pm). Then I made sweet potato fries for dinner and was excited I had leftover fish and broccoli I roasted yesterday. YES! Well, about the fish...I had one of those Whole30 moments where I was basting it in butter and sprinkling spices and lemon juice on it when I was like "OH SHIT. Whole30 says I have to use special CLARIFIED butter only...whatever the hell that is!" I debated on half a second on if this is considered breaking the rules, then remembered I wasn't going to be completely anal about using unapproved oils and fats. I don't really even use butter hardly ever but I wasn't about to start my 30 days all over because of some butter.

 

So! I'd say I'm off to a good start! 

[Mulan]

After my run today I had a sliced up Fuji apple with cinnamon. It was pretty awesome, like apple pie! Whole30 goes well as does training. And I'm still packing up the night before. Had a small snafu when my alarm didn't go off Monday morning but was able to get out the door in 5mins since everything was packed. Hooray preparation! Boo alarm clock!

[shortstuff]

Preparation for the win!

[Mulan]

Day 7 of the Whole30 completed! One week down, 3ish weeks to go I'm feeling good and my willpower is still strong. A sales rep brought a huge thing of Panera pastries yesterday at the office and I was not even tempted. I did walk by to have a look and have a cup of the Panera coffee. I think my taste for coffee is actually maturing too...I've been drinking it black for the last few years, and I really like it dark roast, espresso-ish. More recently, I've been able to tell when it's too sweet or mild, or just bad. yech. Then today someone left a plate of chocolate chip cookies right on my bench...still not tempted, but also wished it wasn't there calling out "eat me! eat me!"

After work I went swimming at the pool (3 buildings away), and signed up for the monthly membership. It's only $40/month for the whole fitness center, which includes a pool that is hardly ever busy. I always get my own lane. I was really proud of myself for getting a swim in after work for the first time. I always thought it would be way more crowded after work, but I got it done and was home by 6:30pm. Nice! Usually I get home, relax a bit, then run or bike and am not done until 8pm. I'm making a bigger effort this challenge to be done by 7:30pm if not earlier. Right...so the drop-in fee is usually $5 each time for the gym/pool. I figured if I prepaid the monthly, I'd force myself to go at least twice a week! Anything more than that would be "free"!

Right now I'm downloading a new Sufferfest cycling video for tomorrow morning's bike ride. I got this one: http://www.thesufferfest.com/video-sufferfests/hell-hath-no-fury/ which features women's pro cyclists. Cool!

[Everstorm]

Well done sticking to whole 30 and getting in an early workout.  You're doing great week one.

[Mulan]

You know what's great about the Whole30 so far?? Regular good morning poo's! Yeah, you read that right. 3rd morning in a row and the best way to start off the day, IMHO. Last challenge I wrote about how awful it was to be constipated 4 days in a row after going a little lax on the nutrition, having treats and some gluten. Not this time around! Bwahaha! I am a happy pooper!

[Mulan]

okay, enough poop talk. So training-wise, I've done two things this week that I wasn't able to do in the first 6-week challenge (or the 2-week interchallenge gap): swim more than once a week (I went Weds and Friday, both after work!) AND add a transition run to on of my bikes--did 20mins off the bike after a hard 51-mile ride, mostly in the aerobars. yay! I've got a 2hr run I'm about to head out the door for and then more pull-ups tonight and I should hit the 10hr mark for my weekly volume. More later!

[Everstorm]

Wow.  Great first week!

[shortstuff]

Well done on your great first week!

[SeaweedGirl]

Great job, Mulan!  Impressed by your long workouts and hitting your 10 hour a week goal!

[Mulan]

thanks everybody! long run done, 10 hours of training in the books.

 

Now about that Whole30...it's Day 11, so I'm supposedly 1/3 of the way done. BUT...I kind of messed up on Day #8. The last time I posted about food, I was pretty proud of myself for resisting temptation and saying no, no, no, to everything at work. I'm learning that willpower really is like a muscle...you can learn to build it up, but also I've realized that it gets depleted and needs to be replenished. Thursday was one of those days. At work, we celebrated a birthday, and someone brought in cannolis. OMG I love cannolis! They cut me a piece and I stared at it and then had to refuse it.

 

THEN, later that day me and Mr. Mulan went out on a weeknight date for the first time in a couple weeks (his work schedule has been really busy). We went to happy hour, where I was really good and had club soda with limes, and then dry rub wings. Then we actually went to see a movie for the first time...EVER. In the 8 months we've been dating, we've never gone to the movies. Since we didn't have a full-on dinner, I was still hungry. And so I had a lot of popcorn. With a bottle of water. Popcorn is definitely not Whole30-compliant. I did refuse the sodas, icee's and candy...and there honestly are no Paleo snacks at the movie theatre. I acknowledged I was breaking the rules and did not beat myself up over it. I think by the end of those 8 days (especially that day) my willpower was just spent. I'm not sure if I'm going to then add another 8 days to my Whole30... I did learn the next morning that popcorn irritates my eczema, but not my gut. Well, I did decide early on (before taking on the Whole30) that I was going with the kinder, gentler version (http://whole9life.com/2012/04/sometimes-it-is-hard/) for people who have had some serious eating "issues" in the past. So it is what it is! I would say going to our first movie theatre date EVER was a pretty special occasion.

 

All in all though, I do feel like I am fitter. Some of that ab definition that's been hibernating is coming back. Hooray!

[Mulan]

food food food. om NOM NOM. That's all I think about these Whole30 days...which may not be good because I'm trying to get LESS obsessive about food. The good: hey! Trader Joe's now sells clarified butter/ghee AND their own brand of coconut water for $2.99/liter. sweet Paleo must be getting more mainstream, yahoo.

 

I broke my no-nuts rule today, but that's still acceptable as far as Whole30 goes. I had my usual breakfast (4 poached eggs and a sweet potato) around 6:30am and can usually make it to lunch (late, around 1pm) without being hungry. This morning, I was ravenous. I didn't have any snacks packed, so I went to the corner store and amongst the baked goods, processed bars and candy, were small packets of nuts. I bought some cashews and almonds. Had the cashews to tide me over til lunch and almonds after my post-work swim. I ended up buying the individual raw almond packs at TJ's later tonight as I should probably have a good emergency snack at work. And if they are individual they will keep me from binging. ok!

 

As for what's not acceptable...well similar to the last post, when I had the "but we've never gone to the movies together, ever! must have popcorn!" thing, we went to our first major league baseball game on Monday. I was doing all right, had fries and hot dogs without the bun (potatoes are ok, oils questionable, ok hot dogs are really stretching the rules here...), but we were both still hungry. I ended up going to the BBQ stand, and got Mr. Mulan a fried chicken sandwich and a platter to share--spare ribs, beef brisket and baked beans and cornbread. The beans and cornbread were for him, or so I thought...but he didn't want them. (He can be really picky sometimes!) AND...I was annoyed enough at paying for overpriced food that I couldn't just throw it away. Is that terrible? I had half the cornbread (which I love) and the baked beans (OMG, legumes!) which were also awesome. So much for no gluten. I also inadvertently had a few sips of beer, as when I was buying Mr. Mulan draft beer, they always fill it to the top of the cup, and I usually take the first couple sips so I don't spill the drink walking back to our seats.

 

Augh...Whole30 confessions. Can we even call this a Whole30 any more? I will say, that I resisted the 2 dozen awesome Georgetown cupcakes that a patient brought in for us earlier that day. Maybe my willpower was slightly drained. Going outside the safety of my own home seems to be my downfall, when coupled with drained willpower from resisting snacks earlier in the day. But like the last time, I only teetered slightly off the rails and got right back on the next day. If I'm learning anything at all, it's that DAMN there are a lot of office treats, DAMMIT (someone brought in Panera again today) and also that sticking to a perfect and strict diet is really difficult and ultimately unsustainable. In the past if I've restricted myself too much (can't have this, can't have that), I end up going on a binging spree. Luckily I haven't gotten to that point this time--which is why I've allowed myself white potatoes, less strictness on cooking oils, no food logging or calorie counting, and I don't even have a cut-off time for when to stop eating. If I'm hungry, I can eat, as long as they are good choices.

 

So, that's the scoop. I don't think I'll keep restarting the Whole30, because that would probably be a recipe for failure for me. It will seem like a never-ending process if I have to restart every time I mess up just a little. Maybe another time, another month (January? when there are not awesome summer events to do and we are hibernating anyway?). But I'll see how good I can be for another 2ish weeks. It's Day 14 after all! Tomorrow's the halfway mark!

[shortstuff]

If you have a bad day in terms of whole30 instant of restarting could you just continue from where you where up to the next day?

[Mulan]

Shortstuff, I really like your thinking!! I can see myself adding an extra day for each one that was slightly noncompliant. That seems so much more reasonable and much less discouraging than starting all over. In fact, I already was thinking I could extend it an extra week to get myself to right before Labor Day weekend. Or even two weeks to the end of the challenge? I think for now I'll still think of it as the original first 30 days with a possible one or two week extension, instead of starting all over. Starting all over just = failure in my head!!

[SeaweedGirl]

Hey Mulan!  Don't beat yourself up over a slipup!  I had one myself last night, too, if it makes you feel any better.  Just remember the reasons you are doing this, and what is best for you to reach these goals.  I think just getting back on the horse is the way to go.  Don't quit, and just get through the 30 days.  You're a smart cookie and can troubleshoot this, too, to minimize any other slipups.  Are you getting too hungry?  Would having go-to snacks help?  Like plantain chips or olive oil/avocado oil potato chips? 

[Mulan]

Thanks Seaweed!! I am definitely lacking in the go-to snack department. Maybe I need emergency beef jerkey too. I'm trying to eat more fat + protein at my meals (lunch today was awesome leftover beef and red cabbage stir fry, topped with avocado and scrambled eggs).

And Yup, trying to focus on long term goals, a sustainable and healthy way of eating...not so restrictive that it triggers any binge eating. I kind of liked my previous challenge guidelines better, paleo on the weekdays and gluten free on weekends. Maybe I'll end up doing (after Whole30) paleo for most meals and gluten free when going out/special occasions. Maybe not have a whole gluten-free weekend but more like select gluten-free meals.

One of my favorite articles on triathlon and nutrition is this one by Jesse Thomas: http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/08/features/triathlife-with-jesse-thomas-i-eat-a-lot-and-thats-ok_60088

He strives for a "B+ diet" rather than an A+, as it is more realistic and sustainable. Great concepts!!

[SeaweedGirl]

Great article!  I was thinking about something related lately.  When I was doing my Whole 30 last challenge, if I didn't have something compliant available, I would mostly go hungry.  Even if I was at home and did have food around, I was so sick of cooking up that I would sometimes still be hungry after breakfast and just not eat. Consequently, I am sure I was undernourished and overtrained.   My strength training got harder towards the end of the challenge and my runs were just plain slow.  I think under my thinking for the Whole 30, eating something that was not perfect was better than being hungry.  Maybe it was a good temporary thing just to adjust my mindset and feel more in control of my eating, but it was definitely not something sustainable and maybe not even enhancing to my physical health.  

 

I want to leave this to you to figure out what is best for you, but maybe it is good that you ate things off the rules, right?  I read in The Paleo Diet for Athletes that even just a short while with insufficient calories can be really detrimental to training.  I'm not saying just totally let go and not plan to make it easier to make better choices, but this is all a learning experience, and you really need to figure out what is best for you, whether it be a Whole 30 or your own plan.  

[Mulan]

Yep, this has definitely been a great learning experience thus far! I am really finding this way of eating to be unsustainable, especially when traveling and having fun social events. I'm kind of tired of always being the person who is like "I can't eat this, can't eat that, oh I'm not drinking right now...." Saturday was pretty bad with a mini road trip, big family reunion lunch, then a celebratory party at night with friends. I kind of went off the rails and am starting to see that the stricter I am, the further I go off the rails when I do. No bueno!

On the bright side, Mr. Mulan has been requesting more home cooked meals and I just paleo-ize them without telling him. Bwahaha! I made meatloaf for the first time in my life using the "eating for idiots" recipe that Seaweed Girl made last challenge and he LOVED IT. I was so excited because I didn't grow up eating meatloaf and had no idea how it was supposed to taste!

He has also requested chili, meatballs, steak, and loves Shake n Bake chicken. All totally paleo-izable!

[Everstorm]

I have the same problem with going way off the rails when I've been really strict.  I think balance is better.

[Mulan]

I'm feeling pretty run down this week, and not sure I can even still say I'm on the Whole30 when I keep messing it up. I know last challenge, Seaweed Girl had given me some advice, that it's best to do this when there is not a lot of other stress going on in your life and I thought I had a better handle on the stress part but maybe not after all. I feel like I'm making a lot of excuses, but I'm also trying not to be so hard on myself.

 

Sleep--I had a lot of problems with this the last challenge, trying to get enough sleep while being a supportive girlfriend to Mr. Mulan and his opposite work schedule (2nd shift, 3pm-11pm). That hasn't been resolved yet, other than me deciding that training after work was better than before. But I still then have the problem of being too tired after work some days, especially when I have to stay a bit later when it's a busy day.

 

I've been cooking more to get us both eating better (he doesn't cook at all) but that means even less time for me to rest and recover. Training hasn't been too good the 2nd and 3rd weeks...I am actually at a point where I'm wondering if I am pushing myself too hard to get into half ironman shape. I'm not sure I'll be ready to go as fast as I want, maybe 10 weeks of training is just not realistic. Good thing I haven't signed up yet...there is a shorter option, with 0.9 mile swim, 32-mile bike, and then 6.5-mile run. Maybe I'll end up doing this instead? Not as epic as I wanted, but maybe I'm not quite ready for epic yet. I don't want to set my goals so high that I can't quite reach them and end up being really disappointed and then unmotivated.

 

I also am tired of feeling tired all the time! I try to be superwoman but need to realize I can't do it all and have to set better priorities. Mr. Mulan is out of town for a couple days, so I'm really going to focus on sleep, and sleep in a bunch. I think if I made the decision to race the shorter triathlon, I'd feel less pressure on myself to train so much, it seems like more than I can handle right now. I'm tired all the time, and an old shin splints injury is flaring up. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something and I'm being too stubborn to listen!