Saturday, March 7, 2009

Always growing, always learning

Workout - 2 hour trainer ride
Goal - to increase avg wattage over longer duration
Results - Mission accomplished.

It's not much but I increased my avg wattage from 149 to 154 in the last few days. Actually you know, it's more then just wattage. My body is starting to get used to the TT bike, my heart is becoming more comfortable with long durations of effort, I'm adapting and slowly building some kind of fitness back. My leg did not hurt at all during the spin and was only remotely tight after wards at which Mr. Ice breaker stepped in and helped out.

Big ups to Alana for getting up uber early on a Saturday morning to put in the time and effort on the bike.

Post spin I headed over to Willamette Park to volunteer at TNT's mission mile workout. I think I should be banned from any kind of potluck or all you can eat event....I had entirely waaaaaay too many chocolate chip cookies, seriously I think they hold a key to my heart. Which brings me in to another subject, one that is a little difficult for me to talk about but I've learned from it and maybe someone out there will benefit from hearing my mistakes/learning process.

Subject : Disordered eating
Not eating disorder but disordered eating. They sound the same but are very different. I've never thought I had a problem with nutrition. For the most part I eat super healthy. My nutrition plan is enriched with lots of veggies, whole grains, lean proteins and fruits. I shy away from any animal fats and limit my sugar intake (clearly not today though :)). Right before I injured myself I had some blood work done, an hour after eating my blood glucose level was at 50, hypoglycemic is at sub 70. I often experience signs of hypoglycemia, so much that my boss knows to tell me to go eat when we're in the middle of a meeting as I grow expressionless and come close to taking a nose dive. I shake, I get cold, I have a nasty pit in my tummy that makes me want to hurl, dizziness and irritation also come hand in hand. I usually experience several of those symptoms several times a day. When I got the blood testing done the doctor thought there was something genetically wrong with me and wanted to get me on some kind of drugs. I just ignored her and told her I would "deal" with it since she had been trying to hook me on any and every kind of drug possible since I started seeing here. I was not about to experiment with another. So, let's bring us to present day and what I have learned. I have not been able to run for the last 4 weeks. My training volume went from 14-15 hours a week down to 4 up to 8 hours max. I have been eating as if I was training as much before, I just couldn't stop. I was hungry so I ate. Well, over the last 4 weeks I have rarely experienced any of the hypoglycemic symptoms. I have been eating as much as I would when I would train twice as much and I have felt "normal". This indicates that I was not eating enough while training. Past and present day I eat 6-10 times a day....A lot I know :) But each meal is anywhere from 150-400 kcal and I'll limit myself to eating every 3 hours. So, if I eat say 320 kcal and it's been 2.5 hours I will allow my tummy to growl for another 30 minutes before I feed it again. It takes 3 hours to digest and process food and for some reason I had it in my head that my food was not done processing. I mean I eat so often how could I not be getting enough kcals? That's what I would ask myself. I also have this whole "fat girl" image in my head. I know, I know, I am not fat. BUT I was fat kid for most of my childhood and I think that image will never go away. So I'm thinking to myself I'm eating often I can't be starving myself, but apparently I was.
It also doesn't help that I used to weight lift, was carb-depleted for 2 years and trained for vanity. Ugh, personally a low point in my training resume as I find so much more enjoyment in racing for personal achievement, not how one views me. I once thought I had a "bangin" body.....endurance sports, carbs/sodium and water retention has a way of changing all of that. It's bittersweet in my opinion. Another aspect of my disordered eating is the way I view foods. I look at sugar as a big no-no. I mainly stay away from any kind of fat that is animal related and think white flour and high fructose corn syrup are some how prodigies of the devil himself. Yes I do think Lucifer is a man, I also think he made women have periods, but now I'm going off topic.
This injury has been a royal pain in the tail but has taught me a lot about myself. I will not longer eat enough fuel to get by in my workouts. I will eat to fuel (whatever form it may come in) to power and recover, and on the occasion reward myself.
IF I pack some extra weight, highly doubtful, but if I do, so be it....nothing is worth those hypoglycemic symptoms. Sometimes it's stepping out of the bubble you see what's in the bubble.

I'm hopping to aqua jog or swim tonight

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