Part II: Race weight (I still love pizza, and ice cream, and...)

Here we are in week 7 and training is going well, other than missing the last 20 minutes (well, 19, but who’s counting? I am!) of my bike ride on Sunday due to a flat tire and subsequent tire-changing difficulties.

I am in a bit of a funk—more about that next week, hopefully in the form of “how I got myself out of the funk”—but it has to do with eating and laziness in non-exercise related activities.  I believe this "funk" is one of the fears that I may or may not have detailed in my "hopes and fears" post a few weeks ago.

Part II of the overeating debacle, however, has to do with race weight and how I personally define it and the journey to reach it.  Those involved in triathlon, running, cycling, etc. will likely have an understanding of what “optimal race weight” is.  The way I define it is simply the weight at which I can perform my best.  “Weight” is a loaded word, certainly, because it does not correspond directly to fitness.  But I am making the assumption here that I will get to my desired race weight through fitness, so I’m not talking about simply reducing weight (in my case—for some people it might mean gaining weight) through diet alone.  Clearly I am using exercise to reach my goal of completing an Ironman.  Yet diet, nutrition, has so much to do with the journey that it cannot be separated from the exercise piece.

If you recall from my last post, I began having difficulty maintaining proper diet and healthy eating choices, regressing into the Pit of Despair (said as The Albino did in The Princess Bride):

Okay, so it wasn't the pit of despair, but that funk I mentioned?  Yeah, it’s all connected.  Anyway, since I have a history of making poor eating choices, I decided last year to attempt the Paleo Diet.  I had heard about it through involvement in CrossFit, but had never researched it much.  And then the defining moment happened (the one where you decide).  See, no one can decide for you—to be healthier, to be nicer, to listen more, to get up and exercise—you decide.  I had that moment on New Year’s Eve 2010.  My pants were so tight!  I was at World of Beer, and my jeans were so tight that my stomach was uncomfortably hanging over the waist band, and even though I had chosen a loose, black shirt to hide it, and probably had a sweater on, as well, I still felt naked.  Like everyone was looking at me and how much weight I had gained.  (No one was looking—it was all in my head—but it didn't matter, it was in that moment I decided.)  The “decision” at that point led to joining CrossFit and making 2011 the year of triathlons, culminating in the half ironman distance Atlantic Coast Triathlon at Amelia Island.  It was a good year—I went from weighing 140.5 lbs on January 1^st, feeling soft and out of shape, to maintaining a strong 132 pounds for most of the rest of the year.  After the half ironman, I was in marathon training mode, and pretty much maintained that 130-132 lb weight, though it fluctuated a bit more through the holidays (the marathon was in March).  January was also super busy at work, but no problem, I still maintained a mostly healthy diet.

No…who am I kidding…I didn't.  The increase in running mileage allowed me to eat badly sometimes with the only consequence being whether I felt bloated or not.  So as usual, I pretty much just "got by" instead of getting to the weight that would allow me to excel.  Anyway, after the marathon, I really let things go.  Work would be getting extremely busy so I couldn't fit in any major fitness goals (i.e. races), so my dedication wavered.  Yes, I was still going to CrossFit 3-4 days a week, I was still running (occasionally), I was biking when whether permitted, but I had definitely lost focus.  Enter the PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION YEAR…

(For those reading this who do not know, I work for a local elections office, so every even-numbered year means a big increase in hours worked, but if that year is a presidential election, fuhgettaboutit…I am a slave to the office and exercise is comprised of walking quickly up and down the office halls to address one issue or another.)

Those bad eating habits I detailed last week?  Those have always increased exponentially during election season…a stop at Walgreens or Publix between an off-site meeting and heading back to the office may have included the purchase of easy to eat fruits or vegetables, but more often than not included mini-rice cakes, chocolate of some sort, trail mix, and other bloat-inducing, highly processed, sugary “foods” that provided a short spike in energy level, followed by a steep crash into a sugar coma—except that I had no time to allow a sugar coma, so I was really just existing on calorie-laden fumes.  This indulgence began again in July of last year, which was the start of long hours, weekend work, etc.  All of this work is expected, so I should be able to plan for it properly.  But I was lazy. At the end of August, after the Primary Election was over and we were feverishly resetting and planning for the big one (no, not the expected earthquake in San Francisco, the presidential election, silly), I reached another decision point.  The decision came sometime in September, and this time I don’t remember exactly where I was or what prompted it.  Only that I was back up to a pudgy 140.5 lbs., feeling constantly bloated and uncomfortable.  So the Paleo Diet began.

In a nutshell, following a Paleo diet means eating a lot of (lean) meat, veggies, some fruits, some nuts and seeds, and very little starch, no sugar, no dairy, no beans, no grains.  The article I found that best explained it to me is found here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/10/04/the-beginners-guide-to-the-paleo-diet/.  To some, this may seem extreme, it may seem like a fad or something ridiculous.  But to me it made sense—the items on the “no” list are things that often make me feel bad after eating them anyway.  I don’t mean bad as in guilty, I mean bad as in pants are tight, is everyone looking at my fat roll, I need to buy bigger clothes bad.  Sure, chips and salsa provide an immediate feel-good happiness in me, I love candy and can eat it until my teeth hurt, chocolate knows no finish line when it comes to my intake.  Luckily for me, I LOVE vegetables, too.  And I’m not a big pasta eater—I like it, but I can live without it.  Rice I like a bit more, but mostly when combined with sushi, Cuban food, or in the form of Vietnamese rice noodles.  Bread—well, I do love me some bread!  But I’ve never been much of a sandwich eater so no biggie.  Cereal, on the other hand…well, see Part I if you need a reminder about my cereal fetish.

Anyway, cutting sugar out completely for 6 weeks was my goal.  Doing this would naturally eliminate a lot of—no, almost ALL—processed foods from my diet. (Have you ever read food labels—I mean, REALLY read them, to see how much of the shit we eat has added sugar?!)  I was successful!  I went from mid-September all the way to Halloween without eating any sugar!  Now, I’m sure there was something that I ate which had added sugar that I may have missed, but not much.  I checked all labels.  It didn’t hurt that we were so busy at work that I wasn’t eating out at restaurants at all, not even on the weekends (what’s a weekend?), and I did use the crockpot a lot to prepare meals for the week.  I love raw vegetables, so when all else fails, hard boiled eggs and raw veggies make a good go-to snack food or meal.  So in that time I lost 10 pounds, with absolutely no exercise at all.  After Halloween I continued my sugar-free streak until Election Day, at which point I ate whatever was placed in front of me, I didn’t care. 

By Thanksgiving, however, our schedule got back to normal, and going out to dinner on the weekends began again, and the holidays came, and a mini-vacation…excuses, excuses.  Although I did start exercising again, I also gained 5 pounds back.  But I had made another decision—Ironman Louisville 2013.  In order for Brian to agree to this journey, he wanted my commitment that I would go all in—no half-assed, train when I want, just-get-by and finish within the 17-hour time limit.  I agreed that it would not be like that, I would instead give it all I had and train, train, train.  And get to my race weight, which I have never reached before.

Race weight for me will likely be 120 – 125 lbs.  It all depends on how much extra fat I lose.  I know, most people ask “what fat?”  But there is fat.  I have a fairly small frame and am a bit muscular, and there is quite a bit of fat on my frame, surrounding those muscles.  Less weight = faster performance.  It just does.  There are countless stories of elite athletes performing their best when they lose weight—and these are ELITES who already look like they need a few extra sandwiches and a cookie!  So for Average Weekend Warrior here, I want to get to my race weight—that point that is sustainable yet performance-enhancing.  The Paleo approach has worked so far, but I have to step it up a notch now.  I have to reduce my fruit intake, I think, because it’s high in sugar, and I eat too much of it during the day.  I can replace it with more vegetables.  I also have to make sure I’m getting enough protein.  I’ve never been that much of a meat eater.  I love eggs, so I eat those every morning for breakfast, but I need more chicken, salmon and beef, most likely. 

I’m struggling with my evening meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays, because I have back-to-back workouts on those days (run then swim or bike then swim).  I eat in between, but then have to eat a little after my swim, and I haven’t quite figured out that balance yet.  Definitely taking in too many calories there.

And I have to figure this all out soon, because about halfway through my training plan, when volume and intensity really picks up, I’ll have to eat more in order to fuel my workouts.  Weight loss will be very difficult at that point without compromising my workout performance. Tick tock.

Moving forward, here are my goals:

1.       Control the overeater in me that has escaped too many times lately.  I won’t be insanely restrictive, but I must remember that just because I eat one “bad” meal on Saturday doesn’t mean that Sunday (and Monday) are extensions of the sugar-fest. 

2.       Reduce the amount of fruit I eat.  I plan to have fruit with breakfast and my afternoon banana with almond butter that sits well before an evening workout.

3.       Eat enough fats and protein with my veggies (carbs).

4.       Finish reading the Paleo Diet for Athletes book so that I have a plan on how to fuel my higher-intensity, longer-distance training.

I will check back in on these goals in two weeks to see how I’m doing.

In the meantime…fuel well, train on!