Triathlon etc. (was: Ellie)

[Guest guest]

Hi, ! Well, you said " ...it's truly for recreation " but you know what, so

is mine ;-) I mean, it's not like I'm making money at it or anything LOL! The

first one was " to see if I can " and the one I'm training for now is " to see if I

can again, and maybe a little more easily, or maybe having even more fun than

the first time " or something like that. There is no really good reason for

anyone to do this other than prize money, fun, or just plain insanity, and we

have already established that I don't stand a chance of the first one... :-D

A sprint tri is an accomplishment. An Olympic distance one is definitely no

small potatoes. If you do 4 or 5 this summer I'm impressed! The most I've ever

done in one season is 3. However, this past winter, when we were staying in

Arizona, I met a woman who does a lot of hard-core biking and wanted to start

increasing her distance for some kind of event in May. We were both up to about

40 miles, so together we started with a 50-mile ride; the next week we did 75;

skipped a week, then the next 2 weeks in a row we did 100-mile rides. I was

whupped. She was riding me into the ground. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention, she's

68 and has a great-grandkid. In her " active " season she does 200-300 miles per

week. I can't imagine. What does she eat? Breakfast: Oatmeal. Lunch: PBJ

sandwich. Dinner: Just some kind of normal meal or pizza or something. On the

bike: Granola bars and Gatorade, plus she takes along her PBJ sandwich if she's

riding through lunch. ~Sigh~

You're right about seeing food as just plain fuel on long rides. That's what I

do. I think about carbs, protein, fat, calories, and balance. I just realized,

if I can do that on the bike, I should be able to do it off the bike. I never

thought of that till just now. Thanks for the tip! :-D

Ellie

Re: Ellie

Ellie,

I'm not a newbie to BFL but I am a newbie to Triathlons, I did an olympic

distance last summer and hope to do four to five this summer, three sprints and

two olympics. I'm blown away at what your doing, it's way out of my league!! My

sport was really soccer but after three foot surgeries I had to pick again, so I

chose tri's, which allow adequate rest time between runs. I love the challenge

and the training, especially the bike portions, but it's truly for recreation

and I don't see myself doing an ultra anytime soon, with kids, hubby, full time

job, etc., I can't commit that much time to training. Kudos to you, sounds like

you're heading in the right direction and have already accomplished so much!

Best of luck with your training!

heather

PS. You're so right about people in training not usually focusing a lot on

their eating, I was telling Jami that I was cycling last night and half way thru

our 33 mile ride a girl gave me a granola bar and i totally looked at it like

fuel for my body, not analyzing every calorie and fat gram. An athlete and a

dieter do not eat the same, it was refreshing.

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