Really only 2 weeks.....

Hard to believe Ironman was just 2+ weeks ago. Funny how I went from feeling so terrible to pretty darn well. Although I have been cautious not to do too much too soon. I have kept heart rates low, key to recovery.

Zen is happy to run slowly so no worries there. My other friend is on a low HR training plan so that worked out well and when I ride with JB he drops me on every climb and circles back on a regular basis.

On Saturday we rode up to Encinitas, took the long way so it was a 90 minute ride. JB hung for a bit and headed home and I worked at the Tri Club booth at the Expo for the Encinitas Sprint Tri. So fun to see everyone getting their packets and eager to race- having no personal desire to race myself. Met some new people and caught up with a lot of others. Post expo I hopped on my bike and rode home- no power meter, no worries just a nice ride along the coast. Biggest workout since IM!

Sunday was great- ran with M for 1/2 her long run- with her low HR plan it was good recovery paced run and then we did an hour spin and JB rode circles around us. Hung out at Peet's and enjoyed the day. So, so nice to not be rushing to get the long training in, worrying about recovering etc. Really living like a normal person- well normal in our world anyway.

Monday I was all set to swim, yoga and run. I got up and ran, had to ditch Zen after 2 miles- he is a slacker and finished a great run. Planned a noon swim and yoga but well...work took over with vengeance. I was chained to my desk, okay slight exaggeration, but I worked a solid 10 hours with little break - and working like that at home means no lunch, no chatting with office mates - Zen is great and all but really not a good conversationalist. I had my office line and cell going a few times. But it's all good! Busy, busy means I am making money. And that is a critical goal in this thing called life.

Been experimenting with my diet.. I have been reading alot about metabolic efficiency and it makes a lot of sense. I have 2 friends who follow the program with great success. With the GI distress I have had at my last 3 races, I need to take a look and see what can be changed. As I told a friend, after my last porta pottie incident at IMSG, it was not a light bulb that went on, it was a streaming strobe light- hello, there is an issue! I always thought I had a iron stomach....well not so much when it comes to IM. So it is different and a challenge. The concept is teaching your body to burn fat vs. carbs- since we all, well most of us, have a lot more fat stores, it is more efficient and useful for endurance racing. We cannot store nor replace the carbs necessary to race for 10-12 hours. So I have cut out all simple carbs....no bread, rice, carb snacks, cookies (okay this is the toughest one) and increased my lean protein and good fats. More avocado's, almonds and nut butter. The first 2 weeks were the hardest as a lot of what we eat is habit so I would go for the rice crackers and stop.. The ideal time to make the change is the off season, post race or when training volume is low. Literally you have to bonk a few times as your body is "learning" what to use for fuel. It's funny I picture my body looking for carbs and not finding any, panicking - thats when I feel crappy, and then seeing the fat and a big sigh of releif- oh good, we are not going to die.

I still have a lot of questions and am learning. I am going to stick iwth it and see how it goes as training volume increase. Bob Seebohar is somewhat of an expert on this field and has a great book. METABOLIC EFFICIENCY TRAINING: TEACHING THE BODY TO BURN MORE FAT The title pretty much sums up the book. So if you are interested...check it out or if you are metabolically efficient, drop me a line- I want to learn as much as I can.

3 hour ride today with KP and I was definitely depleted at the end so need to figure out how to make this work before the volume and intensity kick in or training will not be effective or much fun.