January Training

I am pretty good at keeping up with my training log for each week.  I have a formulated a plan for myself for the next few months.  It took a lot of this



and this



to get the final results.  My attempts at planning my training life.  So far, things seem to be going well.  My one weakness is not always looking at the whole picture and seeing how one thing affects the other and then causes the next thing to happen.  You know how that goes.

I decided to tabulate my totals for the month- something I have never done. (I know, I am probably the only one in the entire world that doesn't get hung up on numbers and I teach math????)

Putting this out for all to see is a true testament to my desire to walk to my own beat because it is so hard to put your numbers out there.  Kinda like advertising your weight online for the world to see.  Makes you vulnerable and comparison rages like a wildfire.  So easy to find those who have numbers like this in a week never mind a month.  But I gently remind myself that this is me, my life.  The numbers only show miles and doesn't show schedules, family obligations, work issues and personal sufferfests.  The truth is I have pledged myself to a training program and so far I have not missed nor shortchanged any of my workouts.  I am preparing myself physically and mentally in so many ways and I am proud of my efforts.  My goals have never been to be the best out of everyone but to be MY best and enjoy the journey this road of life takes me on.

So, this is how it adds up;

Running miles- 91.5

Biking miles- 323

Cross country skiing miles- 15

Swimming in meters- 1000

Did you just laugh- don't try to hide it, I can hear.

I took the swimming out, then added it back in too many times to mention.  It is an embarrassment that I am training for a triathlon and get no swimming in.  We have no pool here.  Ya, you don't need to read that again.  I live in the sticks and have no pool. We actually have a wellness center that was just built and the opening was scheduled for last Nov., around the time I signed up for the triathlon.  Delays, pool leaks and more have led to no pool opening probably until late March.  So I will be driving a couple hours hopefully every 10 days to get my locks wet.  It is safe to say I may not be rocking the swim portion of my first triathlon in 2014.

I am hoping that looking at the monthly miles will help me see smaller things in the big picture and also boost my confidence.  I try to always tell myself to look short term, only 5 miles, only 10 minutes because the magnitude of a 50 mile bike ride seems kinda, well, huge.  But 5 miles is good.  I can do that.  I see now that I can do more than that and that is good too.

I'm betting you can too!

 

What kind of training plan do you use?

What do you tell yourself to get through long workouts?

 

 

 

Eating Plan # ??????

Hello from freezing cold Manitoba!  I will spare you the details of how cold exactly it is because otherwise my sanity ( or not) will be confirmed.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading over the weekend which initially started with a post from Mileposts concerning food allergies and the FODMAP diet. What has got me so excited about this is that it is something that comes and goes, flares and settles because of the tolerance our digestion has at any given time.  We overwhelm it, it responds unhappily.  We have balance, our digestive tract is happy.  I also read another great post by Chris Kressler about common foods harming the digestion of some people some of the time and how the FODMAP diet can help.

I have never been a dieter nor a sucker for bouncing around with the diet of the month.  I have always tried to eat for health with moderation in mind, denying myself nothing and going overboard on nothing. Sometimes my eating involves carbs, sometimes not. Sometimes it is Paleo based, sometimes vegetarian based.  I try to listen to my body and eat for what it is telling me.  For the past couple of years I have been failing miserably at this as what my body is happy with one day, it is terribly unhappy with the next.  There has been no rhyme or reason.  I haven't known what to do.  Keeping a food journal has proved nothing except inconsistencies.

However, I have made a very conscious decision to try and eliminate as much sugar as possible from my eating.  I have been a strong fruit person and this has been a great opportunity to cultivate a love for veggies.  I have also enjoyed carbs because as an athletic person, I believed this is what fueled me.  I have also been reducing my carbohydrate intake and can still pump out strong workouts without trouble.  I have chosen to reduce sugar and carb consumption because of the increase of inflammation associated with a high sugar diet.

So, now I am about to undertake another adjustment to my eating philosophy.  Learn more, do better, change occurs.  Here's hoping!

I have printed out a couple of Low FODMAP diet food lists and it is apparent to me that the veggies are actually the main adjustment I need to make.  fodmap-intolerances (1)

I consume many of the high FODMAP foods daily in terms of the veggies like asparagus, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower as especially beets and garlic.  I have been juicing these regularly.  What is going to happen with my juicing right now I am not sure about.  It appears that juicing the offending foods still is a problem so I will adapt my juicing recipes to try and get the juicing benefits without the problematic veggie.  I will also need to change my yogurt to the lactose free option (which I have been buying but not eating as my daughter is the one who needs it) and the coconut.  I am very sad about this right now as I LOVE coconut and it will be hard to go without it for a couple weeks.  However, most info states that a couple weeks is all that it takes to see significant changes and if this is indeed what is happening- then I will re-adjust my plan.  The good news is that once foods from all the FODMAP groups is eliminated for a while, they can be reintroduced as not all groups offend everyone.

Dr. Allison Siebecker, an expert in this field has this to say.

The science of FODMAPs starts in the name: Fermentable Oliogosaccharides DisaccharidesMonosaccharides And Polyols.  For many reasons these carbohydrates are easily fermented and the byproducts of this cause digestive pain.  But as we’ve discussed before this is very individual and the quantity consumed is very important.

This next information is from the following IBS site.

FODMAPs are types of sugars and fiber, found in wheat-based and other foods:

Fructans and Galactins	Polyols
Fructose Lactose Fructooligosaccharides Galactooligosaccharides	Sorbitol Mannitol Xylitol Maltitol

There is a cumulative effect of these foods, of their osmotic (water moving) and fermentative (bacteria feeding) actions, on IBS symptoms such as  abdominal pain, bloating, gas, altered bowel movements and lethargy. Irritable Bowel Syndrome symptoms could result from many different (and independent) reasons including  low absorptive capacity of the small intestinal epithelium, increased sensitivity of the bowel, rapid transit through the small bowel, and bacterial overgrowth in the distal small bowel.

This means that you may eat some of the problem foods listed in the tables and still fill fine. It's not about the foods eaten in isolation, it's about hundreds of food components that are adding up. To follow the right diet, you need to identify your individual sensitivities and dietary combinations.



 



 

I am disclaiming any diagnosis as an expert as I am not trained in these areas.  I am only providing what I feel is very valuable information for myself -onto others who may also be needing it.  How do you know what to look for if you don't know?  My eyes opened because of one person's blog post a week ago and I hope that I may be of help to someone who just maybe doesn't know.  Symptoms and issues may be different but the planting of an idea, a spark of information can yield a great hunger for learning and then healing.

Happy Eating!