Sunday, September 30, 2012

Eat Papa Eat

I wrote several posts this week that I didn't publish. NOW, I have to go back and summarize.

I think we can agree that I don't "summarize" very well.

Here goes:

1.) I've had some nutrition issues. I've been unable to finish master's swim. My long runs have been really tough.

2.) My long runs have been really tough.

How's THAT for summarizing?

Dealing with my frustration is one thing. Dealing with My Mike's has been something else. "You gotta tell Ricci about this. Maybe he knows someone you can talk to."

And of course there was JMan with, "You need to eat more calorie dense food."

I know.  They're right. 

Before I contact anyone, and the reason I didn't post about this to begin with, I just wanted to see if I could make some adjustments on my own.

The first adjustment I made was....basically....stuffing my face. No, I haven't gone out and gotten dairy queen once a day. I've been a lot more responsible than that. One thing that I realized, and I admit, it was silly that I didn't recognize it before:  My caloric input had dropped. Since the temperatures have dropped, I have not been having my Super Smoothies. In the summer, I would have them once a day, sometimes twice depending on what my plan called for. 

The second adjustment was in training nutrition. The master's swims that I've been struggling with have been after another harder worker. I switched my master's drink to a higher calorie + protein drink. In between the two workouts, I also started to eat a bigger meal. Fortunately for me, I can pretty much eat anything before swimming.  (I haven't been able to see how this goes yet. I only started making these changes on Thursday).

This is what I don't understand. I'm not a very big person. How can it be possible that I need THIS MUCH FOOD?

The other issue that I had was the simple fact that my long runs have not gone well.

I looked back over the past month of training. I realized that my running volume has jumped up quite a bit. The Fri-Sat-Sun trifecta of running has been kicking my butt by the time Sunday rolls around. 

(This plays into the nutrition piece too.)

This week, I got a break on Sat. (No running just riding).

AND I ate like a crazy person on Sat.

AND this resulted in a really good run today. 10 miles. I didn't care how long it took me (1:52). I just needed to finish my run without calling for a rescue and without have to walk because my legs were dead. 



Sometimes I feel like a little kid. I have My mike & jman telling me what to do. I have Coach telling me what to do. I have Swim coach telling me what to do.

With all this expertise around me, you'd think I'd learn.