Friday 18 October 2013

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....

2 comments:

  1. I just love trading this stuff it fascinates me! And you accomished amazing things this year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Katie, you help me all the time with your posts and blog.

      Delete