Thanks for all the nice comments about Body Image. As you strive for weight loss, while improving your performance as an athlete (or fitness enthusiast), believe in yourself that you can do it! Understand that your focus isn't a certain body type. Don't compare yourself to others! Your goal weight isn't a number on a scale. What is the ideal weight for yourself anyways??? Who knows!??! Strive to increase your lean muscle mass and decrease your fat mass. Because males aren't trying to achieving zero body fat and for the ladies, you want to ensure healthy hormone production through a healthy body fat percentage, look at your weight loss journey (through healthy eating) as a way to get stronger as an athlete. Being lean doesn't mean you are stick thin and you see every muscle in your body. As you drop fat mass you will notice your clothes feeling looser and you should start to see definition in your body. Remember...it takes time! Just because you had 3 great days of healthy eating, don't expect to see ripped abs. Keep up the hard work and remind yourself that you are a lifelong athlete. Your focus is consistent training, hard work, dediction and ultimately progress. You are an individual with your own goals and always remember to make practical and realistic goals, both long term and short term. In the end, you will never feel restricted, unhappy or stressed about your decisions to eat healthy, take care of your body and live the rewarding multisport lifestyle.
On another note...my training is going well. I was a little apprehensive about my upcoming IM in 4 months but the training is coming along. I can tell my progress with my training when my workouts change every so often. It is really important that all athletes (racing athletes or just gym lovers) change up the workouts every few weeks. Give your body time to adapt to a new training program but be sure not to do the same workout every day. It's ok to have a consistent routine where you do a certain discipline/type of workout for each day of the week, but don't make every workout the same. Shawn just changed up my week of training and instead of doing my bike intervals on Tues, I do them on Thurs. Tuesday was great when I did my tempo ride after a day off but then on Wed morning, after 3 x 1 mile's on the treadmill(total 6.5 miles) at 10K pace, it was tough convincing myself that I could do 6 x 5 min. c30 (power wattage) on my bike this morning. Also, swimming was super tough yesterday after I ran and we did 3 x 500's descending (7:03, 6:56, 6:53) and then 8 x 100's pull on 1:30. Luckily, my brick workout is on tuesday so it was a nice change to push hard on my bike this morning (with Karel drafting behind me, coaching me all the way :)), and not having to run afterwards. Of Course I LOVE taking Campy for a run so we always run after I come home from my workouts. It is a treat for both of us cause we have so much fun.
I had an awesome time in athens, running on the streets of downtown Athens and riding my bike in the rolling hills of GA. This weekend is another great training opportunity. We are heading to SC (spartanburg) on Fri. Karel races at 8pm for another crit for Speedweek. Anyone in SC is welcome to come! Then we will make a late drive to NC (about an hour) to stay with my good friend Christi. We stayed at her house last year but she was out of town. So this year she lined up some workouts for me and I am super excited. Sat morning I am doing a 1-mile lake swim, followed by a 50-mile bike. Although I LOVED riding my road bike in athens, I will bring my tri bike to ride the hills. This will be a good opportunity for me to practice the rollers before my half ironman in Macon, GA on May 30th. Then Karel has a crit at 4:30 on Sat in Charlette, NC and after a 16 mile run with Christi on Sun morning, Karel and I will head to Sandy Springs GA for his last crit of Speed Week.
I have a feeling my blog is a bunch of blabbering on but with this week being my finals week (Bio Chem today and Nutrition through the life cycle tomorrow) I am just a bit stressed right now.
Have a great day!
On another note...my training is going well. I was a little apprehensive about my upcoming IM in 4 months but the training is coming along. I can tell my progress with my training when my workouts change every so often. It is really important that all athletes (racing athletes or just gym lovers) change up the workouts every few weeks. Give your body time to adapt to a new training program but be sure not to do the same workout every day. It's ok to have a consistent routine where you do a certain discipline/type of workout for each day of the week, but don't make every workout the same. Shawn just changed up my week of training and instead of doing my bike intervals on Tues, I do them on Thurs. Tuesday was great when I did my tempo ride after a day off but then on Wed morning, after 3 x 1 mile's on the treadmill(total 6.5 miles) at 10K pace, it was tough convincing myself that I could do 6 x 5 min. c30 (power wattage) on my bike this morning. Also, swimming was super tough yesterday after I ran and we did 3 x 500's descending (7:03, 6:56, 6:53) and then 8 x 100's pull on 1:30. Luckily, my brick workout is on tuesday so it was a nice change to push hard on my bike this morning (with Karel drafting behind me, coaching me all the way :)), and not having to run afterwards. Of Course I LOVE taking Campy for a run so we always run after I come home from my workouts. It is a treat for both of us cause we have so much fun.
I had an awesome time in athens, running on the streets of downtown Athens and riding my bike in the rolling hills of GA. This weekend is another great training opportunity. We are heading to SC (spartanburg) on Fri. Karel races at 8pm for another crit for Speedweek. Anyone in SC is welcome to come! Then we will make a late drive to NC (about an hour) to stay with my good friend Christi. We stayed at her house last year but she was out of town. So this year she lined up some workouts for me and I am super excited. Sat morning I am doing a 1-mile lake swim, followed by a 50-mile bike. Although I LOVED riding my road bike in athens, I will bring my tri bike to ride the hills. This will be a good opportunity for me to practice the rollers before my half ironman in Macon, GA on May 30th. Then Karel has a crit at 4:30 on Sat in Charlette, NC and after a 16 mile run with Christi on Sun morning, Karel and I will head to Sandy Springs GA for his last crit of Speed Week.
I have a feeling my blog is a bunch of blabbering on but with this week being my finals week (Bio Chem today and Nutrition through the life cycle tomorrow) I am just a bit stressed right now.
Have a great day!