Weekly Ramblings - 1/24/2011

Workouts:
Since I am just kicking off my official 16 week program to take me up to Knoxville, I figured having something to hold me more accountable and listing weekly activities, miles, etc will make me think twice about backing out of a workout.  I will keep details to a minimum although I am designing the plan from a mix of sources.

Monday: S-1800 Yards(36 Mins) , B-14.55 Miles (50 minutes) - 20 Min FTP Test
Tuesday: R- 6.22 miles (46 Min)- 7:26/mile pace
Wednesday: S-2000 Yards (39 Mins) B- 16.85 Miles (1 Hour)
Thursday: S-1700 Yards(31 Mins) R-6.1 miles (52 Min)
Friday: B- 15.27 Miles (56 minutes) - 5 Min FTP Test
Saturday: St Paul Winter Carnival Half Marathon: R - 11.83 Miles (1:28:41)
Sunday: B- 16.52 Miles (60 Mins)

	Distance	Time
Swim Totals	5500 Yards	1 hr 46 min
Bike Totals	63.19 Miles	3 hr 56 min
Run Totals	24.15 Miles	3 hr 7 min
Total Volume		8 hr 49 min

This seems to be the first week in a long time that I have hit every workout scheduled, including a longer run or in this case a race.


Week-In-Review:
The purpose of the week was to jump-start my training on the right foot, that meant hitting my prescribed workouts, keeping my nutrition in check, and start getting into the mentality of preparing for a race.  Mentally it is hard when the temps are still freezing, albeit not as cold as the last few weeks.  I am anxiously awaiting an early thaw to put the rubber on the road!

After much deliberation, I have made up my mind, and will be going with the Kestrel 4000 Ultegra Build for my race setup this year.  I plan on changing a few things up, adding some Zipp R2C shifters from  All3sports.com and my race wheels will be Hed Stinger 90s with a wheelbuilder cover.  It will be a change riding on tubulars, but I am excited for the change!  I will probably have some custom decals for the wheels made down the road as well!  Excited to get all the pieces and start building this beauty up!

With as much success with nutrition and training this week as I had, I sure let it slip from mid-day Saturday to Sunday night.  I had a lot of junk food and spent a lot of hours at Buffalo Wild Wings!  We went with some friends to hang out and ended up staying up way later than expected and consuming way more than I should have!  I am now paying for it.  Next step for nutrition is to nail it all week long, and not slip on the weekends.

Trakkers:
It was announced last week that SBRSports has signed on as a sponsor for the 2011 Team Trakkers. We also got word that Canari will be doing our team apparel!  I am looking forward to seeing the design for 2011.  My first pair of bike shorts were Canari brand, so looking forward to racing in their gear!

I got hotel, air, and ground transportation all figured out for Rev3 Knoxville Olympic on May 15.  This will be my farthest destination traveled yet to a race, previously it was the Chicago Tri.  I am glad to have the logistics taken care of, and only the training to worry about!

Feature Blogs of the Week:
This started only a week ago on my blog, but take a chance to check out a few other blogs, leave comments on their recent posts or better yet become a follower so you can keep up with their updates! Oddly enough the first 3 random numbers were the same!  Finally I got a new number and this weeks random blogs:

Anne - http://www.annesirondream.blogspot.com
Jessi - http://www.jessithompson.blogspot.com   

St Paul - Securian Half-Marathon Race Report 2011

If you read my Weekly Rambling you would have seen me mention that someone I know mentioned this race to me, and it did not take much work to get me convinced to run it.  As endurance athletes... don't we all have a slightly crazy side to us?  Endless hours of training, early morning workouts, or running when its freezing cold are just some of the reasons others may think that anyway!

I had a great Week 1 of workouts to take me up to Rev 3 Knoxville which will come in more detail tomorrow in my Weekly Ramblings post.  All that I will discuss is that on Tuesday I did a 6.22 mile run at roughly race pace, 7:22/mile.  It was a good effort and it gave me an idea of what to expect for this "race."  I say race loosely because I was not racing anyone, I was not competing to place, but only trying to better my PR from the Urban Wildland Half, a 1:39:34. With less than a week of preparation, I thought it will be a good benchmark of where I stand currently to look back on towards the end of the year.  There would be no taper, no change in workouts, just me aiding recover as much as I can!  This involved a nice 6 mile run Thursday to loosen the legs up and my 5 min FTP test on the bike Friday... not exactly ideal the day before a race.

Some will get humor of this which I have mentioned on twitter, but Friday after the bike, I took an ice bath.  Yeah cold water in the tub, empty the ice machine to the tub, and plop in.  Now we did not have a ton of ice, and I thought of using snow, but then opted out of that due to dripping sweat from the ride.

One key thing to remember when taking ice baths, a strategically placed warm water soaked wash cloth.  Yeah... I forgot that and it made this whole experience a whole new level of cold.  

On to the race.  I drove to St Paul and found parking, then found the plaza where they had pre-race activities and bag check etc.  I stretched, evaluated the temps to decide on clothing, listened to some music, and talked with a few people, then did warm-ups outside.  It was cool, and by cool I mean about 25 with 13 or so MPH winds.  My goal was to line up with the 1:35 pace group and see if I could push myself to hold that pace.  As I lined up, I saw the 1:30 pacer and I saw the 1:40 pacer, then found out that the 1:35 pacer bailed.  Wonderful I thought, this is going to be a bit more of a challenge, but lets roll with the punches.

As people lined up, I started talking with a girl who was also shooting for 1:35 so we decided to pace off each other and keep each other going.  Before I knew it, we were weaving through the streets of St Paul before getting on Sheppard Rd for a the majority of the course's out and back.  We were only a few miles in and I heard someone say the course was not a full 13.1, although I thought I saw that it was a certified course, maybe that was only the 5k and 10k.  Either way we kept together and chatted a little bit trying to keep our pace even at 7:15.

As many of you can relate, there are times when you "pair" up with someone and it is a mutual agreement, stated or unstated, that everyone is here to run their race, so if someone needs to break away, go for it.  I started this race with the mentality of setting a PR for myself, what a great motivator to start the year.  A PR in January would surely show that I did not slack too much in the off-season and indicate good things to come right?  At some point this race stopped being about me, and it became about helping someone else keep motivated.  Our pace had fallen from the 7:15 at some point and when we hit the turn around, the 1:40 pacer went past us, partially due to the bad distances of the course etc, but we plugged along and ended up in front of them again.

Having someone to keep you accountable works wonders, if it be a work goal, or a fitness goal, someone to check up on you, remind you of your goal, push you to do things that align with that goal, and help you celebrate!  I could tell she was hurting, still trying to recover from a 2 week bout with a cold, and then out running in the cold would work a number on anyone.  We pushed on, pace fluctuating up and down but moving forward still.  As we entered back into downtown St Paul, she kept telling me to finish strong, but I stuck by since we had done the whole thing together as I know she would have done the same for me.  As we got to the final straight-away, she said to pick it up and go my pace so it pushed her to run harder to keep up, so I did.

After we finished she thanked me greatly for sticking with her and pushing her at the end.  It felt good to know there was more in the day than just looking for my own PR.  My finishing time was 1:28:19 (by the official results, the course was 11.6 miles so my pace was 7:37/mile translated out would have been a 1:39:47, while that would not have been a PR by about 20 seconds, I felt so much stronger and know my pace could have been lower.  The Garmin had me at a 7:29 pace.  I think I needed a day like this to keep me thinking about things in perspective.  It is not always about me me me, sometimes there are other reasons to be at an event.

I finished 185/817 people this day!

I am excited to see where this benchmark takes me over the next few months!

Weekly Ramblings - 1/17/2011

Week-In-Review:
What a busy week!  It seemed like every night was something else that was on the schedule to add confusion to an already busy schedule.  I managed to log some miles on the bike and get a couple good swims in, but running was not happening this week.  It seems like every day I was going to run, something came up that pulled me away from it.  Ok so maybe some of it was me not wanting to run in negative temps, but some was due to scheduling.  Regardless they are all excuses.  Sure it was not the best workout week, but this week is a new week, a fresh slate, a world of opportunity!

It also seems that my nutrition went down the drain this week due to a "winter party" and a recognition event.  I still have a sweet tooth and the cupcakes were quite tasty!  Along with the busy schedule went less time to cook good meals at home... again... excuses.

No more about the negative, I am looking forward to this week, we have a week worth of meals planned and I even re-wrote my workout schedule and posted it at work so I can keep an eye on it.  It may get modified slightly since Saturday night we had our Africa reunion and shared pictures with others.  It came up that the St. Paul winter carnival is going on, and they have a Frozen Half Marathon next Saturday.  The crazy inside of me smiles, and I will probably be running it on fairly short notice.  I have not been training for this at all, but have had some longer runs.  I am more interested in doing the run to say I am slightly crazy for running a half marathon in the middle of January!

Planning:
It is no secret that I signed up for a few Rev 3 events this year, so I have been thinking logistics of getting to and from races, where to stay, etc.  I hope to book flights tonight for my mom and wife to fly to Knoxville, and my dad and I will be driving!

After some closer analysis of my 2011 schedule, I have come up with the following (still in progress, but getting closer)


May 7 - Souixperman Sprint (Have some family who would do this with me, we will be in the area and missing the tri in Alexandria, MN that we did in '10)
May 15 - Rev3 Olympic Knoxville
June 5 - New Brighton Sprint
June 11/12 - MS150
June 26 - Waconia Triathlon (Possibly)
July 17 - Annandale Triathlon (Schedule calls for a sprint tri this weekend)
July 23 - Warrior Dash - Minnesota
August 7 - Camp Courageous Tri (Near my home town)
August 14 - (Schedule calls for an Olympic, nothing around)
August 21 - Lake Marion Triathlon - Olympic
September 11 - Rev3 Half Cedar Point

I am debating if  Aug 7 sprint and 14th Olympic will be alright, sure it doesn't match up exactly with the schedule, but I think it will work in nicely.  I will not be focusing on many of the smaller races being "A" races, but just judges of where I am at overall.

My main races are Knoxville and Cedar Point.  Sure I would like to see a good finish at New Brighton as this is where I started racing and it is a pretty fast course!

The good thing is today, Monday Jan 24, 2011, my 16 week plan kicks off for Knoxville.  I have a plan and plan on sticking to it.  This includes a better approach to nutrition all around.  Only an occasional sweet treat, greasy burger, or choice beverage.

Trakkers:
I forget if I have ever mentioned... oh wait yes I have... but will again.  This team is AWESOME!!  The people have so much knowledge it is amazing.  From nutrition and recipe tips, to motivation and great stories, they have it all.  As part of giving back to the team, I would like to continue something we have been doing.  Every Monday when this post comes out, I will have a random blog selected, actually two.  Make it a point to visit their blog, look around a bit, read the posts, and most importantly leave a comment!!! I cannot think of many people who do not love to log in and see all the new comments.  It surely brightens my day!

It is now official, SBR Sports, makers of Tri Swim, Tri Slide, and Foggle has signed on with Team Trakkers again for 2011.  This is another company I have no personal connection with in the past, so I look forward to becoming more familiar with their products.  If they are as good as everyone says, I am going to love them, and so will my scales from the chlorine! 


Take a moment to check out..... drum roll please.....

David - http://mtntriathlete.blogspot.com/

Kiersten - http://www.kierdoestri.blogspot.com

Have a great week everyone!

I am on the board!

Today - January 21, 2011

I have officially stopped talking about registering for races and actually went through with it!  2011 Schedule is in progress, but I have two races on the books.

Rev 3 Knoxville - May 15, 2011 - My first Olympic distance race.  This is my first "A" race (may sneak in something earlier but not sure yet)  I am greatly looking forward to meeting my Trakkers teammates at this event and sporting all of the new gear for 2011 from our sponsors: Kestrel Bicycles, Avia Shoes, TYR Wetsuits, and First Endurance Nutrition.

The second race....

Rev 3 Cedar Point - September 11, 2011 - I did not join a team to stay the same, I did it to push myself to be better and grow in the sport.  I have been talking about getting into longer distances especially since I have only been doing sprints in the past.  Here goes!!!!  Half Iron distance race.  Some will think I am making a big deal about doing a half in comparison to a full, but you have to understand a bit of my past.

I have never been a strong athlete, I was tiny in high school and played football, well I was on the team, although we barely had enough people to staff both sides of the ball in practice, I saw pretty limited time playing, not because I didn't have talent, but because of my size, or something like that.  Regardless... I also wrestled.  Here I was matched with like weight opponents and was alright, but far from a State Champion, but I do have some good memories which I will save for another time. 

Triathlon has given me an opportunity to keep active and get some competition in my life.  My first year was a year for learning mostly, and getting used to the sport.  The past year has opened my eyes to how successful I can be in the sport by training properly and pushing myself.  I have been doing short distance races, because I am just alright at endurance levels (marathons etc)  My marathon PR is over an hour off of the "old" Boston Qualifying times.  I have a pretty solid half marathon PR at just under 1:40 which trended towards the upper middle of the pack, but I shine in short distances.

By no means am I trying to be arrogant, but I have found that I can push myself to be uncomfortable (and I still have room to push further) for fairly short periods of time.  You know that feeling where your stomach is hot and rumbling, and not the kind where you had some bad mexican food.  Your lungs feel like they are going to melt, your limbs are starting to numb from the lactic acid burn, and your stomach is about ready to dispense anything remaining from earlier in the morning.  This is why I have stuck to my "comfort zone" of short races.

Thinking of racing longer distances includes more nutrition, pacing, and mental strategy, not just oatmeal, coffee, balls to the wall, and around an hour of pain.  It is so much more than that. 

The swim does not bother me, I am comfortable in the water, my biggest concern is what pace can I hold for 1.2 miles?  I know I can do the distance, that is not a problem for me, but how quick can I get out of the water and get on with the real race.  I put my swim time to be 35 minutes, I think that is a good shot right now, something around a 1:40/100 yard pace and not burn my matches too early.

The bike... Who knows what to expect? I can do the miles, I train with power, and I love numbers.  What I may not love is what I get back when I combine them all together.  What power numbers can I hold for the 56 mile ride? More specifically what can I hold and still run like I am in a race.

The run - This is where I may lose my marbles.  I get off the bike, its getting warmer out, who knows how I will be feeling, did I take enough calories on the bike to keep me fueled for the next 13.1 miles?  Can I have a run that is fairly close to my open half time?  If I am going to fall apart, it will be on the run.  Mental toughness becomes huge at this point, counting down double digit miles or over an hour of time left in one sport is painful.  How much can I make it hurt and still make it across the finish line?

All of these questions have kept me from the longer distances, but I know I will have an AMAZING support crew from Trakkers through training and at the race.  Here is to the start of a season that will bring new experiences, acquaintances, and PRs.  Now that I have races scheduled, it is time to get serious.  Monday starts my 16 week plan to take me to Knoxville then a transition to Cedar Point half training. 

Daily Deal - $20 Amazon Gift Card for $20

I stumbled on this early today, and since I do a fair amount of shopping on Amazon.com I jumped all over it.  The LivingSocial webpage offers deals in your area by the day.  Today you can get a $20 dollar Amazon.com gift card for only $10 bucks!  I am no financial genius by any means, but when someone is going to give me twice what I paid for something, I am very willing to listen.

Just think that 35 dollar Garmin Cadence sensor would only run you $25 bucks out of pocket!

Check out the deal!

Weekly Ramblings - 1/10/2011

Week-In-Review:
Looking back at the past week we had the inspection for our house and everything checked out well so now it is just a waiting game until our closing date!  This weekend involved some packing of things we do not use very often to get the house picked up and ready for renters at some point.  We also managed to sell a massage chair I had won since it sat around most of the time not being used.  I was quite happy to clean it out of the living room!

A funny story from the inspection: When I got there my Realtor who is also my sister-in-law was there and had been talking to the home owner and getting the scoop on the neighborhood and people.  Somewhere in the conversation he said something about "Jeff being a runner or doing triathlons"  She was a bit taken aback by this and said "Yeah, how did you know that"  Well apparently his wife googled me and must have found the blog!  I thought it was super funny being that I work in IT, and could see myself doing it as well as my sister-in-law wanting to do the same thing.

I am glad she found the blog, another hit!  This did spark up a conversation with another person in real estate this week.  We were discussing about people not having their facebook accounts locked down, and how some Realtors or clients are now leveraging social media when going through negotiations.  If it was that easy to find me, and being that buying/selling/renting a home is often a highly emotional time.  A simple status update of "Just put an offer in on our dream home" could result in a seller finding it, and saying nope these people want the house bad, we are not going to move our price.  Just one way to leverage technology in our world!

Along the lines of additional hits for the blog, let me just say things have been hopping around here.  Last month accounts for nearly 25% of my total hits!  Glad to see more traffic, currently the highest hit count is on the Wahoo Fitness review!  Why did I not think about using this when my 310xt battery crapped out on one of my rides?

Edit: I forgot to add this in the first posting.  Friday morning I did my first ever spin class with some people from work.  Holy heck, I could have sworn the instructor was trying to kill me.  I asked them to save me a seat, well they saved me the bike right in the front row directly in front of the instructor!  What great friends!  Now spin is much different than I was anticipating.  I was not read for in and out of the saddle, bar position 1, 2, and 3.  This was a lot of movement for me, but boy oh boy was it a workout.  It was not terribly warm, but we started doing a climb set.  Starting on resistance of 5 and standing it went up in resistance over time until it was all I could do to get my body weight to push the pedal down. 

I sweat a lot, although recently I have not been nearly as bad as a few years ago, but I drink a lot of water and sweat a lot when I work out.  My bike had a puddle, no better yet, a pool of water.  I could have probably swam laps in it.  I think I was the only person with that much under me.  I am in good shape right now, sure not my peak, but still in good shape, how did other people appear to be doing this so easily?!?

Friday afternoon, I got out of work a bit early and decided to go for a run.  It was snowing, not terribly hard at the start, but enough that the sidewalks were starting to cover.  I set off with the intent of doing around 8 miles or so.  As I started running, I had 2 8oz bottles of Infinit along with for nutrition/hydration.  I have never quite gotten my formula dialed in, but knew I needed to take something with so I would not crash hard that night.  I am glad I did, but as cold as it was, they started to freeze on me!  Slushy Infinit in Fruit Punch... it was pretty tasty!  That being said, as the run progressed, I felt better and better, legs moving freely, snow getting a bit deeper, but not too deep to run in yet.  I ended up pushing out just over 10 miles, feeling amazing around 9 minute miles. 

I have had issues with GU for nutrition in the past, finding that Hammer Gel is easier on my stomach, but still not the right answer, and thus went for Infinit.  It has been by far the best for me, but still not perfect.  Which leads me to the next point.... Trakkers newest team sponsor! First Endurance!  I have never used their products before, so I hope they can be the remedy I need.  If the Ultragen is half as good as everyone claims it to be, I am anxious to start using their products.  While nutrition has not been huge for my shorter distances, as I look to build to longer events, it becomes vital... look for a post in the future about fueling your body. 

So Welcome to First Endurance, it is great to be on a partner team with you, looking forward to trying some new products and providing feedback to all the users in blogland.

Moving Forward:
I finally got my copy of Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide and have started reading a bit into it.  My thoughts are to do one more week in a prep phase, and then jump to a mid level Olympic plan for Knoxville, and then transition to a HIM plan for Cedar Point.

I am not currently registered for any events in 2011, but plan on getting signed up this week!  This is the year to increase distance and hopefully keep getting faster at the shorter distances. Tentative race schedule:

May 15 - Rev3 Olympic Knoxville
June 5 - New Brighton Sprint
June 11/12 - MS150
June 26 - Waconia Triathlon (Possibly)
July 23 - Warrior Dash - Minnesota
September 11 - Rev3 Half Cedar Point

I may also throw in a race in August, there is a nice 1/3 IM not too far from home that could be a good tune-up/gauge for Cedar Point.

Looking forward to meeting some of my Trakkers Team at the Rev 3 Events!

Also don't forgot to check out DCRainmakers Giveaway

Homemade Oatmeal Recipe

It has been a while since I have posted a recipe.  In light of the new year and some people setting weight-loss goals, I wanted to share this with the blogger community as a great way to kick off your morning especially in the winter with this warm, filling, and tasty breakfast.

Background:
I am always cold at work, especially in the winter, so I aim to eat warm foods to try and warm me up from the inside.  Oatmeal is a great way to get a variety of nutrients to start your day.  My main purpose of venturing to make my own oatmeal was to avoid some of the sugar in many of the big name pre-packaged brands without getting too complicated of a prep process.

Ingredients:


1/2 C Thick Cut Oats (purchased from the bulk section at my local grocery store)

1/4 C Craisins

8-10 walnuts or pecans (broken into smaller pieces)

1 Tablespoon of brown sugar or Sugar in the Raw if you prefer

Optional – 1 teaspoon of ground flax or flax powder

I combine all of these in a dish that is microwave safe, and add water to cover the ingredients and then microwave for 1:30 (time will vary based on microwave)

Notes: 
You may have to experiment with different containers as some like to bubble over and some microwaves will cook faster or slower.
I prefer my oatmeal to be on the harder side, mushy oatmeal makes me cringe a little.  Play around with water/cook time to taste.  Some people suggest soaking the oats overnight, but I have not tried that before.

Changing it up:
Rather than the Craisins, you can use 1/4 C raisins and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  This is probably my favorite combo I have tried this far.

Overall:
A great food to fill you up and get you started off on the right foot.  The above recipe helps much to curb my appetite for a majority of the morning until a typical piece of fruit as a snack.  I would love to hear how you modify the recipe and make it work for you!

Hydracoach Giveaway

Checkout Heather, one of my fellow Trakkers, who is putting on a sweet giveaway on her blog... because if this picture is not bad-ass enough, the Hydracoach is pretty sweet too! Check it out here.

Weekly Ramblings - 1/3/2011

The holidays are over, hopefully all the sweet temptations are passed (outside of a few that are still on the counter tops), and it is time to get serious about training.  Welcome 2011!!!

Week-in-review:
What a week.  It started with looking for a new house, and finished with a partially postponed trip to visit family due to weather with some training in the middle.  We had been looking at houses just scoping out the market and seeing what is available when one day a great looking place came on the market.  We were going to look at places that night, and got a showing scheduled.  I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason... we just cannot always identify that reason. 

We visited one place, a foreclosure, that was in pretty good shape all things considered, but the basement... YIKES!  It was like a mouse maze and hideous, we quickly ruled this one out as it would have taken a significant amount of work to get it to the point we wanted.  The next house was the one that just came on that day.  It looked nice from the outside and the pictures looked pretty good, all the numbers matched up to what we were looking for in a place.  We walked in and heard music playing, something that was also very identifiable when we moved into our current townhome... coincidence or a sign?  As we walked around, it only took a few minutes until I wanted to toss my coat on a hanger and call it home.  It was cozy and in the grand scheme of things, even more than we were looking for. 

After some working back and forth with the mortgage guy, we were able to make an offer and a little more work, and it was ours!  The inspection is tonight, and we are super excited to have a new place lined up... Now for the dreaded packing up of the townhome and getting it ready for renters!

Training:
Despite being busy communicating between everyone for the house, I was able to get some solid workouts in.  I am slowly getting back to the routine, but still having issues getting all self-prescribed workouts in to get my hours.  I had some good luck in the pool and have been working on a nice stroke with some power added.  I have not ever used a 'pool toy' but think that a set of paddles are in my near future.  I would like to start developing some stronger muscles to pull a bit harder. 

I am sticking with my cycling plan, although I have been omitting the longer rides on the weekends, they will start up soon.  As I keep moving through the workouts, I feel my legs getting back in shape and able to push a bit harder and a bit longer without feeling like they are going to melt!  

Running is one of the weaknesses right now, I am just trying to put in miles, and even that is a challenge, not due to fitness, not due to much else except I dislike the treadmill, and there is not a ton of daylight when I can run yet.  It will come around, I have faith!

Finally since the new year, I am down about 4.5 pounds.  I managed to make it through Christmas without any real weight gain, based on my weight when I got back from Africa... which was also higher than when I left... wtf?!?  I did not make a resolution to lose x amount of weight because I believe you have to enjoy what you are doing and weightloss is a perk to that.  This is why so many people fail in only a few weeks.  They are slaves to exercise and burn out when they do not see results. 

Find something fun, take the dog for a walk, occasionally jogging.
Walk around a lake or a park.
Play basketball or tennis or raquetball. 

If you are not having fun while being active, then it will be much harder to stick with it.  This is why they say do not make weight loss goals.

Moving Forward:
I want to race 2011 in a leaner state, a state that my body is still well nourished, better composed, and even stronger than now.  I was hovering around 170 pounds, last season I made it to about 165 during race season, maybe a few days at 163, but was dead tired.  I never want to be there again!  I could not push power, my runs were sluggish, and by the end of the season, I was losing motivation due to this lessened performance.

I weighed in this morning at 165.5, down 4.5 or 5 from 12/31.  My workouts are not where they need to be, but my nutrition is also not quite there yet.  I have found the types of food to help get me through the day, and I must say my energy levels are significantly higher than they have been.  I have not given up everything I liked, but I have taken a better look at what I put in my mouth. 

Breakfast: Oatmeal - Stay tuned for my recipes!
Snack: Orange or Apple/PB
Lunch: Tend to be leftovers of some sort, last week included (stuffed bell peppers using ground turkey and fat free cream cheese, Spinach and Asiago cheese stuffed chicken brats, and turkey burgers)
Afternoon Snack: Veggies with hummus or some veggie dip from fat free sour cream
Dinner: See lunches... also had a taco salad, with some crushed chips
Evening Snack: At some point I typically snack, this is usually involving 6-10 chocolate chips, a carmel, or a couple bites of fat free frozen yogurt to hit the sweet tooth.  Some days when I get home I will snack on a few turkey rollups (sliced bell peppers in the middle)

This has been the staple of my diet so far.  And it is working.  I do not feel like I am giving too much up, but I am seeing some great results.  I hope to continue and see where my body wants to level out.  I still have body fat that could go, and keeping a calorie deficit will hopefully shrink it away.  I am excited to see where my body wants to go with training and nutrition.... the fourth discipline, but probably most important. 

Trakkers:
I can pretty much sum up our team with one word: AMAZING!!!!  This group of people have so many great stories, knowledge, experiences, and insights, not to mention some pretty sweet give-a-ways!  I ordered my first pair of shoes this week.  The Avia Bolt-II... what a sexy shoe!  These things feel like slippers, cant wait to get in and run in them as my miles increase.

 

A huge thanks to Avia for being a great sponsor of the Trakkers team and providing an excellent product, look for a review to come in the near future as I break these bad boys in!