Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Only a few more days of being a tri-newbie!

Less than five days till my triathlon and I am just slightly freaking out. 

The swim is less of a mental hurdle for me now that I participated in a practice open water swim in the Chesapeake Bay last weekend and felt comfortable in water with a much stronger current than the Potomac will have (although the Potomac will be grosser) and I greatly enjoyed trying out my wetsuit - its amazing how much more buoyant it makes you! The bike is a pretty technical turning course but I trust my bike handling skills and there will be some amazing views of the DC monuments over the course. The run has been extended from a 5k to a 7.5k, which is fine if I was just running that, but after the swim and bike that extra 2.5k might be a mental struggle far more than a physical struggle but some of my friends who are in DC are planning to come out early on a Sunday morning to cheer me on!
 
This week is my taper week, and my taper is probably a little different than others because I still needed to get in one more long distance swim workout because I was behind schedule on the swim, so yesterday I went a little more all out that I was supposed to, racking up more than a mile of swimming in my main set between my warm up and cool down. Sunday was my last long bike ride, Monday was a medium tempo run - so a 5k at race speed. Today, Wednesday is a rest day, tomorrow Thursday will be a brick workout of short run, short bike, short run, Friday 50 yard sprint swims and a core workout, then Saturday a very light jog - just till I break a sweat 10 to 15 minutes. Then Sunday is the triathlon where I'll do some dynamic warming up while I'm waiting for my swim wave to start at 7am. The hardest part of training this week is resisting the desire to over train!
 
Nutrition is another aspect I am planning for this whole week- I'm not introducing any new foods, I am staying totally vegan and cooking all my meals, so no eating out at all, (I plan on my version of pigging out on Sunday after the race!) and no alcohol for the two weeks leading up to the race, (I have a bottle of Malbec to be opened Sunday evening.) Basically I am eating the same few meals over and over again, which people think would be boring but if you think about it most people do that anyway - especially with breakfast. My staple foods are whole grains or psuedograins like buckwheat, quinoa, faro/barley, cracked wheat (in a tabouli salad) and sprouted grain bread; spinach and kale both raw and cooked; sweet potatoes; raw nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts and sunflower seeds; my superfoods maca, raw cacao and chia; and berries. I will keep eating raw foods until Saturday afternoon when I'll need to take in less fiber prior to the morning race. Tomorrow and Friday I am adding some extra carbs. Every day this week I have had a big kale and/or spinach salad with a garbanzo bean, tomato, cracked wheat/buckwheat tabouli for lunch with some raw almonds or an apple as a snack. Breakfast is my weird version of cereal- puffed rice, puffed kamut or millet, maca, hemp seeds, chia seeds, raw cacao, agave, raw pumpkins seeds, walnuts, rice milk and berries. Dinner is a grain combo of quinoa and faro, with sauteed kale, or a different roasted green vegetable and baked sweet potato. If I am hungry before a workout I have a few dates and almonds or half of a Larabar. Oh yeah, and I have been and will continue drinking water like crazy. I don't know if Sunday will be nice like it has been for the past few days, or like DC usually is during the summer - hot and humid.  
 
Again, for this triathlon my goal is only to finish it and enjoy the spectacle, August is when I'll race for time. If you are around the Washington DC area and want to come out and support me early on a Sunday morning, feel free to do so! I will appreciate it tons!


 

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