New Year - More Cooking

Okay so I am back... I just watched Julie and Julia, and the really inspired me to want to try something similar - mostly because I need to just try things off to increase the amount of dishes
I can make and make well... So in order to do this I decided to try and make it my thing to get through most of Make it Paleo in the new year (except for the ones calling for utensils and ingredient that I am not able to find in Denmark) - already did some of the dishes but there is no harm in doing them again...

Okay so I kinda cheated and started today already - I have poached an egg, and I succeeded in my second try - how enormously cool is that???

The dish was called Eggs Paleo, and is a modified version of Eggs Benedict - which I have never tried, so actually have nothing to compare to. This version is basically a poached egg (Hurray) on top of a tomato, with an avocado sauce and bacon sprinkles (double hurray).  

I apologize for the picture, but at the moment it is just iphone pictures - and I guess mostly just for me. I really liked the poached egg, and the dish in general, would probably use a little less lemon in the avocado sauce, but that is just my taste I guess. Also next time I would like to try poaching in broth to see if that would give more taste to the egg...

I am not quite sure about the copyright stuff, so for now I am just using this as a journal sort of thing to keep my self up to my promise. 

Oh and I am once again training for the ironman, so there will probably be a bit of that here and there as well... 

Happy New Years Everyone - I hope your resolutions are as delicious as mine :-)

1 down ? to go  

Challenge

Okay so the triathlon season is well underway, and my training is actually going pretty well at the moment. My diet however is going down the drain. Or actually thats not true, I am doing great for the most part, but then I have a giant cheat day, which often progresses into two and then all the progress is kinda lost.

So in order to get this right, and get into the best possible shape for my half ironman on June 17th and thereafter I am going to do a 30 day modified paleo challenge.

Week 1: I am going to ease into it by allowing artificial sweetener in the form of a few diet cokes and some sweetening of my breakfast smoothie. There will be no more cheat days though (read B&J days), but high quality chocolate (86%) in moderation is ok. I am going to try and track my intake this week to get a sense of the amount I eat and the macros as well. Generally you don't really need to monitor your intake on paleo (or so they say) but I kinda want to get a better idea about how much I actually consume. I have been indulging in bacon wrapped dates as a snack lately, and even though it is actually a paleo food, I got a big surprise when I tried to weigh one of them. The little delicious bastard without the bacon weighs in at about 20g which roughly corresponds to 60 calories. Add the bacon and the fact that I probably have 6 per serving (not really that filling).... hmmm definitely need to have more of those aha moments. During my long rides/runs (90min+) I am using gels and energy drink since I have to get used to those anyway. Also since my HIM is only 2 weeks away I will have to keep a somewhat high carbohydrate intake to avoid bunking in my workouts, or even worse during the race.

Week 2: Going to cut out the artificial sweetener, which will probably be a really good thing leading up to the HIM. Keep using Gels etc during my training, and keep the carb intake pretty high.

Week 3-4: Going to cut down on the carb intake for the next few weeks and mostly use it during and post workout. Increase the amount of fat that I consume to compensate.

Long run

So after a day of doing nothing I was so ready to get outside. Since the winds have been pretty tough the last couple of days I decided to go for a run and see how the ankle was doing. Figured I could do 10km and then just keep going if I felt ok. I ended up doing 16.5km without problems, except for some really tired legs. I Didn't really eat anything before going out at 2pm so I am pretty sure I was just running on low. Grabbed a smoothie from a local store and then I went to the pool for a swim workout. Definitely felt the run in both my arms (strange) and legs (not so strange) but it was good getting in the water and getting rid of a little tension.

Swim Workout:

400 warm up

200, 100, 200 pull

3*100 on base

2*200 on base

700 steady

First outside bike ride

So I have been dreading this day for a while, since my bike training (and overall training) hasn't been great. I was sure I would pay for it on my first ride with a slow pace and tired legs. And the day definitely started out that way. Was in a bit of a hurry to get out since I had a drive to Copenhagen afterwards, and had to be there to meet a friend of mine to get her keys. And as always when your in a hurry everything goes wrong:

Spend 10 minutes looking for my gloves since i was sure it would be to cold for bare hands (it's Denmark after all), never found them but figured my running jacket had long enough sleeves to make do. Then I spend 10 minutes looking for my ipod, never found it so had to use my iphone and some old earplugs. Finally I was ready to leave, and then the zipper broke on my jacket. I was ready to give up bu then, figuring I would probably have a flat tire when I got out on the road. But the weather was beautiful so I figured I could always turn around if it got too cold.

Got out on the road and did the workout my coach gave me. Has such a blast, and kept a much higher pace than I thought I could keeping an average pave of 28km/h (18.5mph). as I posted in my GOALS post I wanted to work on positive thoughts/self talk, and I actually thought about this during the ride, but I honestly don't think I had any negative thoughts. Sure there were times when my legs hurt during the intervals but I was having such a great time, and working on getting as much out of my intervals as possible, that i didn't put much extra thought into that.

So today was definitely a great day for my confidence on the bike, gave me a great start to the outdoor season, and made me look forward to the next ride. Also it made me wan't to really improve my biking, would be great to have an average speed of 28-30km/h on a normal ride.

Got on the scale today and that was not so great. 65kg. I am not going to get myself down because of that, that is where I am now, and that is just a starting point. Should be able to get down to 61kg before Jels half ironman on June 16th. I will do my best to do paleo this week, but since I am staying at a friends house I am not going to beat myself up about it too much. The only thing I am going to be strict about is not consuming any Gluten.

Bike workout (45km - 1h 35min):

15 min warmup

8*1 min hard / 2 min easy

10*2 min hard / 1 min easy

Fast pace the rest of the way

GOALS

So I am back in Denmark after a loooong travel and am getting really psyched about getting my bike out in the morning. As promised I spend some of the travel time reading "The Triathlete's guide to mental training". I am still not done with it, and will have to go through some of the chapters again when I wan't to work more on those areas but one of the things that the book had a chapter on was goal setting. So I figured, a good beginning would be to write out my triathlon goals:

Long-Term (Ultimate triathlon goal)

My long term goal is to continue to show improvement in my overall fitness and body composition, and to see a general time improvement.

Yearly (Performance and ranking goals for the year)

To complete the Challenge Copenhagen ironman distance.

Race (Goals for specific races)

Jels half ironman (16.6.12) in a time below 6 hours and 30 minutes. This would be 2 min/100 m swim, 25km/h bike, and 5.30 min/km run.

Challenge Copenhagen (12.08.12) under the time limit.

Training (goals for all aspects of preparation)

Technical:

1. Open Water swimming: Method: 2 times a month in open water
2. TT - position Method: Get aerobars mounted on bike no later than may or buy a triathlon bike.
3. Fuelling Method: Start carrying gels on anything longer than two hours + experiment with different solutions.

Physical:

1. Endurance Method: One long ride/bike/swim pr week, follow schedule more religiously.
2. Body Composition Method: Reach 58kg
3. Flexibility Method: Stretch after each run and bike

Mental:

1. Motivation Method: Evaluate each training session, how it felt, what I accomplished, how it got me closer to my goal. Method: Ask myself the following questions: What do I have to do today to become the best triathlete I can be? Did I do everything I could possibly do today to become a better triathlete?
2. Mental toughness Method: Practice using positive talk before, during and after training.
3. Visualisation Method Visualize the next days training before going to bed at night.

Lifestyle:

1. Implement Paleo Diet Method Make a meal plan for the week every saturday, stock up on sweet potatoes and easy meats, follow the guidelines from Amy.
2. Sleep 7-8 hours Method Go to bed at 22.00 on week days, and get up at the same time every day

This was quite a handfull, and I don't expect it all to go smoothly from day one, but nice to know what I would like to accomplish.

Mental training

So wen't to bed at 9.30 pm yesterday and slept until 7 am, such a great feeling knowing the alarm is not going to go off and you can just seep until your body tells you to get up.

Woke up with pretty heavy legs, which is to be expected since I really didn't eat enough yesterday so didn't really give them a chance to restitute. Definitely felt that during todays run. Heavy legs for about half the run but that gave me a chance to practice the mental aspect of it. Just kept repeating that this was good for me to experience and to take it all in.

Definitely need to work on the mental aspect of my training, since that will be half if not more of the battle come raceday. I have a book about it that I guess I could bring on the flight home, will keep you updated on how that goes as I get on with it.

Did 10.5 km without any ankle or knee pain, but feeling really hot and tired - Looking forward to having a full fridge again, Subway salads gets a bit boring in the long run!

Yay for another great day

Despite working late last night I was able to get out of bed at 6.15 this morning using only one round of snooze - yep big things are happening here in my life.

Worked a few hours at the local coffeeshop, mostly because it's nice to have a different view than the wall at the office. I don't really feel like I get a kick from coffee, I know that sounds really really bad, but I never really did I just really like the taste of it. I decided to IF until 12 since I didn't have anything except brocoli in the fridge, and the eggs at the coffee shop really do not look like eggs at all... Had a salad from Subway for lunch with extra chicken and bacon, and that kept me going until my workout at 5pm. I was counting on doing a spin class at 6pm followed by an hour or so in the pool, but my meeting was done earlier than expected so just did my own workout (same as last week since I didn't have time to print it). Afterwards I did 2500m in the pool, once again a replica of last week fit to match the distance I needed. Felt great through both, my heart rate wasn't sky high like last week since the air conditioning was back up, and arms and legs felt strong the whole way through.

Also no problem with the ankle today, legs were a bit stiff in the morning but that was to be expected... Yay for another great day.

Bike Workout:

5 min easy

6*1.5 min hard /3 min easy (Z5)

8*2 min hard / 1 min easy (Z3)

4 min easy

Swim Workout

400m warm up

300m, 200m, 100m pull

15*100m on base

One step closer to departure

So this weekend didn't go to well. I was supposed to do a spin class and a 4 mile run on friday and a 3800m swim on saturday which I didn't. Friday I ended up selling the car and once it was gone we had a massive thunder storm which really didn't make it easy to drag myself to the gym. In an attempt to make up for it I figured I would do a long run saturday and do my swim afterwards, but it was so hot and humid that I couldn't drag myself out the door, and then another massive thunderstorm hit.

I know I know it's a crappy excuse, and one which I have to throw away now since they promise crappy weather all week and I really can't take a week of because of a little rain.

Today I did a 16km (10 mile) run which started out crappy due to having eaten a sandwich and a cookie for lunch. Yep my stomach definitely wanted to punish me, making me look like I was 4 months pregnant. So I got out, and my stomach hurt so I figured I would just do a short loop and then go home, a little being better than nothing. But once I was pretty much home I figured that as long as I could run and didn't feel sick I might as well go as far as I could. Which ended up being 16 km. Bit of stiffness in my ankle on the last few miles, but no knee pain at all. So so happy I got that run done.

As for the rest of the week heres the plan:

Monday: Spin class followed by 2500m swim

Tuesday: 10.5 km easy run

Wednesday: Spin class followed by 2500m swim

Thursday: 10.5 km easy run

Friday: Spin Class followed by 2600m swim

Saturday: 19 km easy run

Sunday: Travel back to DK

Also I am planning on being somewhat paleo all week, but modified to allow subway salads etc since I probably won't have much of a chance to go to the store.

Reverse brick

For once I was so so happy that I have the opportunity to train indoor. Had a really difficult time falling asleep last night, so when the alarm clock rang I figured I would be better off getting some sleep. I know I know, thats how my mind normally gets me of the path, but this time I knew that missing the workout would mean that I had to make it up in the afternoon - NO EXCUSES. And I was ok with that.

So apparently the rain from last night wasn't enough to get rid of the heat/humidity, and as I drove to the gym this evening, I could see the lightening in the horizon. In that moment it is great to be able to train indoor and not have to worry about it.

Did a 60 minute spin class, following a program sent to me by my coach (see below), felt great, strong legs even though my heart rate was pretty high due to the heat and bad air conditioning.

Immediately after the bike I changed into my swimsuit and did 2200m in the pool. It was so great to get in the water to cool down, and I felt pretty good considering I had gone pretty hard at it on the bike. So this was a reverse brick I guess, I will probably be doing this most days next week since I'm planning on selling my car this weekend, and don't really want to have to go to the gym via metro twice in the day.

And now I can just relax and enjoy the thunderstorm, from my bed at my window - nature can be pretty magnificent.

Bike workout:

5 min warmup

6*1.30 Very Hard / 3min recovery

8*2 min hard / 1min recovery

4 min easy

Swim Workout:

400m warmup

300, 200, 100 pull

12*100 on base, with 45 sec break after every 4.

Five stages of grief

The weather today has been incredibly humid and hot, so I postponed my run to later in the evening, even though I knew there was a chance of rain. During my 10.5 km (7 mile) run I kinda went through the five stages of grief:

1: Denial: At the first few drops - "Hey a little rain will be nice since it's so hot"

2: Anger: &/%€&(%€(/&%€% A little I said

3: Bargaining: Please don't let that thunder storm get me, I'll never mess with the weather Gods again I promise

4: Depression: Could the world be any more grey?

5: Acceptance: Hey puddle jumping is actually pretty fun, and miss wet t'shirt is the new black I hear...