Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Losing Weight While Training

Many people have the flawed belief that if you are training for an endurance event (half marathon, marathon, triathlon, etc) that you can eat whatever you want and still lose weight. THIS IS NOT TRUE, it is far from it! A lot of people I know in real life and in blogger world have gained weight while training for these events. Tina, Julie and Monica have all talked about gaining weight while training for endurance events. I often find that when I am in high volume training I maintain. There are many reasons that I think that this happens but these are just my opinions, I am not a nutritionist or fitness expert.

1. There is less time to focus on nutrition and food choices. After a 4 hour training session it’s easy to just grab whatever food is closest

2. You are hungry ALL the time! You may burn more calories but it seems like your appetite grows more than you burn


3. Endurance training isn’t the best way to rev up your metabolism and burn calories. I think interval training, HIIT, etc are better exercises if you are just looking to burn calories.

In the Book Racing Weight, Matt Fitzgerald suggests that you not try to lose weight while training because you need to be eating enough calories to get through all your workouts not keeping a calorie deficit that you need to lose weight.

Where am I going with all of this? I decided that even though I knew all of this, I still wanted to try to get closer to my ideal racing weight while training for my ironman. And since we started training I have taken off 14 pounds, I am happy about this and have about 10 more pounds to go to get to my “Race Weight”. The last 10 pounds will come off slowly but I am ok with that, I don’t want it to compromise my training. Also I am now and was even at my highest weight in the healthy weight range for my height, I just would like to be leaner (specifically getting down to 16% body fat, I am about 21% now) while putting in so many miles.

Here is how I have lost the weight so far and hope to continue to lose weight this way as I go:

1. Focus on the types of food I eat. I think I have a good idea of what healthy foods are and I try to fill up on them.

2. EAT! If I get too hungry I usually eat things I shouldn’t so I allow myself to eat a lot, I just try to eat fruits, vegetables and lean meats.

3. Plan ahead. If I don’t plan what my next meal will be BEFORE a big workout then inevitably I eat unhealthy foods if I have a plan before hand than I almost always stick to it.

4. Don’t listen to others. I sometimes get crap from friends or coworkers about how much I work out and how I must be able to eat anything. Sometimes they give me a hard time if I turn down junk food. But I know it’s not true that I can eat whatever I want so the the longer I stick to my guns the less crap they seem to give me.

For me it’s that simple and that difficult to lose weight while training.

Have you gained weight while training for an endurance event? Do you have any tips?

Speaking of healthy foods, enter to win my Chia giveaway!


Week 11 Ironman Training and My First Giveaway

I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday so far! I am excited to host my first giveaway ever!

Because I am an Ambassador for FitFluential, I was sent a shipment of Chia Seeds and I would like to share them with you.

So two lucky readers will get a bag of black and a bag of white chia seeds to try out.

The contest is easy to enter, you get an entry for each of the following (be sure that you make each entry a separate comment)
1. Follow my blog and leave a comment that you follow

2. Follow FitFluential on Twitter OR like FitFluential on Facebook and leave a comment

3. Mention this giveaway on your blog or twitter.
Giveaway will close on Saturday January 21st at noon (Mountain Standard Time) and I will announce the winners that evening. I will use a random number generator to select the winners, good luck!

Week 11 Ironman Training

Monday 60 min yoga

Tuesday am: Distance swim 2900 yds

pm: Interval Run 6 miles

Wednesday am: 90 min spin class

pm: 60 min strength training

Thursday am: 60 min progression Run

pm: Speed Swim workout

Friday am: Strength training

pm: 2 hr 15 min time in the saddle ride

Saturday: Frotey’s Frozen Five Mile Race with 5 easy miles later in the day to add some distance.

Sunday am: 3 hour bike ride on rolling terrain

pm: Strength session

Yesterday I finished my first “ironman” for my gym’s ironman competition. It’s funny that I easily finish the swim and run portion in a week but the bike portion takes me almost two weeks to complete. Last week I competed over 14 hours of workouts and over 11 miles, it scares me that this is MUCH less than I will do in one day! Makes it more real what I am training for and I am grateful I have six months to get my body ready for it!

Run For the Hills!

After freaking out earlier this week about what I got myself into with the RAGE half ironman, I decided to do something about it. On my schedule this weekend I had a 90 minute trail run and a 3 hour bike ride, perfect, Boulder here I come!

Yesterday Cory and I headed to the Mesa Trail near the Flatirons. It wasn’t too snowy on the trail so the was a plus.

*These photos are from last winter when we ran the same trail, I forgot my camera yesterday, whoops!

I really like this trail it’s challenging and the views are breathtaking the whole way.

After our run we came home watched the olympic marathon trials. I loved watching it but was heart broken for both the female and male 4th place finishers. I had weight training on the schedule too so I got in 45 minutes before heading to my parents house to eat lots of yummy food and watch the Bronco game. The game wasn’t fun to watch (for us) but they put in a good season and I hope they come back even stronger next fall.

Today we are heading back to my parents house (hope they don’t get sick of us!) for our first transition workout of the year. We are going to ride out to Boulder to Old Stage for some hills and get a good 53 miles in.

From MapMyRide.com
When we are done we have a fast transition to a 30 minute run. My parents’ community has great running trails so their house is the perfect place to transition.

I am so excited to get my new Kestrel out on the road for the first time today!

What are your plans for the day?


Dropping the Negative

This is not a triathlon/running/training type post. You have been warned.

I think of myself as generally a nice person. I HATE when people feel bad, I do everything in my power to not hurt people’s feelings. But I think I play into gossip way more than I should. I feel that it is easy for most people to be pulled into negative gossip, especially if it’s under the guise of concern. It’s easy for concern to degrade into a complain fest and have a negative spiral.

Lately I have been paying attention to the actions of people that I really look up to and I have noticed how they don’t get involved when gossip starts, shut it down and only have nice constructive things to say. I want to exhibit those qualities too and think that it must have a positive effect on your mental health not to participate in a negative activity.
So the plan is to do my best to not gossip, and to try my best to shut it down when others try to involve me for the rest of the month. Why the rest of the month? It’s not really a scientific choice, saying for the rest of my life seems unrealistic and like I am setting myself up for failure. I wanted a short enough time period that wasn’t overwhelming but was long enouph that I would be able to hopefully see a difference in how I feel. I know I won’t be perfect but the goal is to be conscious of what I am saying about others and what I am participating in.
What do think about gossip? Harmless, Hurtful, don’t care?
We will return to our regularly scheduled Triathlon blogging tomorrow. Happy Friday the 13th all!


RAGE and Terror

I did it to myself…….normally I am good about doing race research before deciding on a big race (to me this is anything half marathon or Olympic triathlon and longer) but for some reason I decided on the RAGE 70.3 as my spring long course without doing ANY research. I decided I liked the date and going to Vegas in the spring sounded fun so I forked over my money and didn’t think too much about it.

BIG MISTAKE! I had no idea how challenging this course is, there is more than 6,000 ft of climbing on the bike!
I don’t even know how to train for that! And then after thrashing your legs on the bike you get to climb over 2,000 feet in the first six miles of the half marathon.
I honestly feel a little sick about it. I keep trying to tell myself that it is good training for my full ironman. If I can finish this really difficult half that should give me more confidence for Coeur d’Alene, right? Well the lesson is learned here, take it from me kids ALWAYS research a race before signing up. I see some major hill training in my future *barf*
Have you ever signed up for a race before knowing anything about it? Did you survive?

IMCDA Week 10 Training Plan

After a week focusing on recovery, we are back at it full speed with week 10 (I can’t believe it’s been 10 weeks and we only have 24 weeks left, vomit). Things are getting more real now that it’s 2012 and I am hoping to take more workouts outside!
Week 10 will look like this:
Monday Yoga and core work
Tuesday am: 2950 yd swim pm: 5 mile interval run
Wednesday 90 min spin class and 60 min strength training
Thursday am: 60 min endurance run pm: 2850 yd swim
Friday am: Strength training pm: 2 hr bike with time trial
Saturday : 9 mile trail run and a recovery swim
Sunday : 3 hr hill climb bike ride with 20 min transition run and a strength session
Total: 13 hours and 20 minutes total. This seems like so much and I think it will be closer to 20-24 hours a week in April/May. I have already started warning people at work that I will be tired and cranky all the time this spring!
With training taking up more and more time I am always looking for fast healthy foods. One of my new favorite breakfasts is Eggo Low Fat Whole Grain Waffles.

The stats look pretty good:

I like it with peanut butter and banana before a workout or with light spread and sugar free syrup
What does your week look like?
What is your favorite fast healthy food?


Sausage Spaghetti Squash and Football

We woke up this morning to about 1/4 of an inch of snow. Frustrating that so little snow would keep my workout inside but it was pretty much a sheet of ice and would not be good for a hilly bike ride.

So instead we packed our bags and headed to the gym at 7 am where we spun on our own for an hour before taking an hour spin class. I was pleased that we had a great instructor and I felt like I got a really good workout. Some of the instructors at my gym are great and some are awful. After spin class we hurried to change into dry clothes so we could take the 9 am yoga class.

We haven’t taken yoga at 24 hour fitness before but decided to give it a try since it was such good timing. I was pleasantly surprised by the class! It was challenging to hold some poses on tired legs after 2 hours of spin and I got light headed every time I stood up but I think my legs are in better shape because of the good stretch they got.

After our workout we headed home to clean up, eat and clean our house. Exciting stuff I know but it feels so much better to start the week with a clean house and clean clothes!

For dinner Cory made one of my favorite dinners, spaghetti squash with marinara sauce, broccoli and sausage.


Spaghetti squash is a much healthier option to traditional spaghetti:


How to cook spaghetti Squash:

  1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Rinse squash then poke holes in it with a fork
  3. When oven is ready, cook squash until it feels soft when poked with a fork. This is usually around an hour.
  4. Allow squash to cool
  5. Cut in half, remove seeds and scape with a fork.

This is a great meal to make in advance for during the week since you can save the scraped squash in the refrigerator for up to a week.

I like mine best with cheap marinara sauce, broccoli and sausage but you can top it with anything you would put on noodles.

I enjoyed mine with some champagne (for no good reason) while watching the bronco game we had recorded.


What did you do today?

What is one of your favorite healthy meals?


Working Out Indoors

Living in Denver means that sometimes you just aren’t going to be able to easily workout outside. Most of the time we have beautiful weather here but this week isn’t cooperating with me.


I am more than happy to run in the snow


But I have a bike two hour hill workout on the schedule tomorrow. I don’t like to bike in the cold let alone ice and snow. I was really hoping to get the new steed out on the roads tomorrow but it’s not going to happen. I am a little sick of my trainer so decided to head to the gym to spin on my own for an hour then take a spin class. The cherry on top will be a yoga class when I am done. While not what I wanted to do I am accepting it and looking forward to it a bit.

What are your thoughts? Is working out inside as good as outside?


Beer Mile

Have you ever hear of the Beer Mile? I hadn’t until recently and was invited to participate in one this Saturday.

Here is how this run works: First, each competitor consumes a single beer in the starting area. After the beer is emptied (as proven by turning the container upside down on one’s head), run one lap of the track. Upon return to the starting area, another beer is consumed and another lap run. Each runner must complete four laps and the 4 corresponding beers. If one vomits before the fourth lap is completed, a fifth lap must be run. Multiple vomits DO NOT result in multiple penalty laps, so the maximum any person will run is 1.25 miles.

Source
Apparently these kinds of runs are all the rage and there are some pretty strict rules you have to follow:
Official Beermile.Com Rules

1. Each competitor drinks four cans of beer and runs four laps on a track (Start – beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap, beer/lap – finish).

2. Beer must be consumed before the lap is begun, within the transition area which is the 10 meter zone before the start/finish line on a 400m track.

3. The race begins with the drinking of the first beer in the last meter of the transition zone to ensure the comptitors run a complete mile (1609 meters).

4. Women also drink four beers in four laps (past rule lists only required ladies to drink three beers).

5. Competitors must drink canned beer and the cans should not be less than 355ml (the standard can volume) or 12oz (the imperial equivalent). Bottles may be substituted for cans as long as they are at least 12 oz (355 ml) in volume.

6. No specialized cans or bottles may be used that give an advantage by allowing the beer to pour at a faster rate. ie “super mega mouth cans” or “wide mouth bottles” are prohibited.

7. Beer cans must not be tampered with in any manner, ie. no shotgunning or puncturing of the can except for opening the can by the tab at the top. The same applies with bottles – no straws or other aids are allowed in order to aid in the speed of pouring.

8. Beer must be a minimum of 5% alcohol by volume. Hard ciders and lemonades will not suffice. The beer must be a fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from malt and flavored with hops. For an abbreviated list of valid beers and exceptions, click here.

9. Each beer can must not be opened until the competitor enters the transition zone on each lap.

10. Competitors who vomit before they finish the race must complete one penalty lap at the end of the race (immediately after the completion of their 4th lap). Note: Vomitting more than once during the race still requires only one penalty lap at the end.

While this event sounds kinda fun I am not sure I can hack it. Chugging 4 beers would probably make me sick if I wasn’t running and throwing up in public is not my idea of a good time. I might go as a spectator and see if some super stars can break the 5:09 record (seriously!)

Would you or have you run a beer mile?

Ironman Challenge

As the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge winds down I find that I will miss it. I like having challenges, a little extra motivation never hurts! So I was excited when I saw that my gym (24 hour fitness) is hosting an Ironman competition. According to the instructions we have from January 1st until February 15th to complete the full ironman distances. What could be more perfect for me while I am training for Coeur d’Alene?!?

Also you can enter as many times as you like as long as you swim 2.4 miles (or 84.5 laps), ride 112 miles on the bike (each 60 minute spin class counts as 12 miles) and 26.2 miles by foot (running, walking, elliptical). I hope to complete at least 3 “Ironmans”. I have already almost completed the swim and run portion but I think the bike will take me two weeks to complete.

Do you like competitions like these? Would you participate in an “Ironman Competition” at your gym?

Also I have added two races to my 2012 calendar. The first is Aimee’s fault, she posted about doing the Greenland Trail 25k on May 5th and it sounds like too much fun!

So I hope to see you there Aimee!!!

The second race is the Wild West Relay

The WWR is a 200 mile relay on August 3rd and 4th. Cory and I were invited to join a team today and we are SO in!!! That will be my second relay in less than a month since I am going to run the EPIC relay with a team from work in July. Now I just need someone to invite me to run Hood to Coast (please)!

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