Awesome Weekend

My coach has been working with me on visualization - most importantly, picturing a fantastic workout in my mind when conditions get bad. Keeping things positive when it would be easy to let them get negative. I've had a few workouts to keep in mind, but this weekend took the cake!

Friday evening I cranked out a good 60 miles on the bike. I rode to Ocean City and back, and then to the Indian River bridge and back. Headwinds were at a minimum and my cadence was good. I hit my nutrition (about 900 calories in 3.5 hours) and I got off the bike feeling great.

Saturday morning, I decided to alter the morning workout(which was to be a 55-minute aerobic run) and did the Dam Mill 5k race instead. Of course, I added mileage before and after the race to get in my time. The good thing is I won my age group in 19:47 (5 seconds off my PR) and held my place in the top 5 for the Seashore Strider summer series. Some friends also did very well - Doris won her age group, Mary Beth and Mary Ann took 2nd and 3rd respectively in their age group, and Erik hit sub-20 for the first time this year.

Saturday afternoon was an ocean swim session with my coach and another guy he is training. It was one of my better ocean swims, although I know I still have a way to go before I'm ready.

Sunday morning, I got up early to beat the heat. I had a good 50-mile ride, with some hard headwinds on the first 25, which made for a great 21-22 mph pace on the second 25. I nailed my nutrition again with about 825 calories in 3 hours. Immediately after getting off the bike, I did a 4-mile trail run and paced sub 7:30s.

By mid-afternoon I was napping, and missed my Sunday afternoon ocean swim, but I obviously needed the rest, so all is good.

Even after all of that, I'm still feeling really good today. After work I'm getting out for a 100-min. run, which will probably be about 12 or 13 miles. This week really begins the hard push - 2 sessions each day until my next day off, which is Sunday.

Only 34 days left!

You Want Fries With That?

I'm a huge advocate for healthy, mindful eating. I try my best to model good eating behavior by keeping my intake of red meat, sugar, salt, fat, and alcohol low. Lately, however, it seems like it doesn't matter what the food is. I'm eating it. All the time.

In addition to all of the nifty things (pace, heart rate, elevation) my Forerunner data tells me, I get the total number of calories I expend during a run - based on my weight, pace, distance, etc. And Sunday's run cost me over 1,700 calories. That's about half a pound!

So to keep from losing weight I'm eating everything in sight. I know I need to make a significant effort to ensure those extra calories are the "right" ones - from foods that are nutritious and won't be detrimental to my training or health. But that cheeseburger at the Summer House last night was too tempting to resist! (But I didn't have fries with it!)