End of Season wrap up

So I have spent the week thinking about the last 6 months of my training.  In May it seemed such a long period of time and now my season is almost over and it is time to start winter training.  I have run a 5K, a 10K, a 15K, 2 half marathons and a Marathon since May and I got a PB in each.  I also did a Sprint tri, an Olympic tri and a Half iron Distance tri, all firsts for me, well maybe not the sprint since I tried one last summer but this was the first one I finished.  It was a crazy summer and I am looking forward to a few weeks of reduced training and some new things this winter.  Looking back is important to me, remembering where I started so I can see how far I have come, what worked and what did not work, what I want to improve and what I want to change.  I thought I might share some of this with you, it might help you or you might be able to help me so here goes...

After May I knew I could not do this alone so I explored getting a coach.  I had had a less then successful coaching experience in the past and I wanted to be sure this time.  It is hard to schedule the running and triathlon programs independently of each other, I needed to coordinate my workouts and do a good job of both.  I found the perfect coach for me and we started working together in July.  Poor Laura was in for a challenge, she had 9 weeks to get me to my first HIM triathlon with a 15K and an Oly tri thrown in for fun. We were also planing a November marathon but when the marathon man got injured that changed and I added a half marathon in Sept and a marathon in Oct to the training plan and once again she got me to the start line.  I have worked hard, I followed the program to the best of my abilities and it paid off, big time.  Getting Laura as a coach was one of the best decisions I made this summer and I have recommended her to friends so they experience her brilliance too.  

I also realized that I needed to work on my nutrition this summer.  I was having issues training for over 2 hours and half marathons where a challenge to finish without a stop.  I had food sensitivity testing in May and was surprised to find out I had to give up dairy, eggs and gluten plus a bunch of other foods.  I was thrilled that I got to keep coffee, wine and chocolate, I could survive as long as I had those.  It was a challenge, finding foods that fit these restrictions (and expensive) but so worth it.  I started to feel better, I had more energy, I was sleeping better and those around me noticed as well.  It was a good thing that I had more energy since I was doing really long bike/run workouts on Friday and long runs on Sunday but I survived and thrived.  I also lost 14 pound during this time, I am not sure if it was the training or the food or both but trust me I was eating, eating a lot.  This week I tried gluten and egg again and had no big reaction but I think I will keep eating the way I had all summer, I like the way I feel.  

I also worked on my race nutrition during training so on race day I knew what worked and what did not.  It was a trial and error process, too much sugar is still not a good thing for me so I limit my gels and chews during a run.  I tried other foods for the bike, some worked like Thoz Barz and some not so much like PB&J on vegan bread (cue coughing fit).  I tried Super Food blocks, cashews and Lara bars, some worked and some, not so much.  The good thing was on race day, I knew exactly what to eat and drink and I never experienced issued during a run that hurt my race day.  

This is getting a bit long so next post I will blog about what did not work and what is next so stay tuned....