Officially 70.3 Finisher

Even with threats from Tropical Storm Rina, I am now an official Ironman 70.3 finisher! The race was like the rest of the races this year, expo in the rain the day before and we were worried about the weather up through the start of the race.
Saturday had patches of sun and then patches of rain and it was really hot and humid - I was worried about it being that hot on race day because I was sweating just standing around.

Check In on Saturday - It's sunny now

Getting my packet: number, chip, etc

The best part about Saturday was the food truck that was at the expo, I was bummed they weren't there on race day too because that would definately have been my preferred post race fuel to the food that the race offered.  They did have real food here though,  better than the subway sandwhich at the Pocono race.  They offered arroz con pollo (which was mostly rice), pork, cooked plaintains, fresh fruit, bagels with cream cheese, and water, soda, and ironman perform drink.  I had some pork and fruit, and tried the plaintains but they were coated in sugar and were way too sweet for me.

Food Truck (it was raining)



Menu - Lots of great choices

Ironman Pocono Mountains 69.1

This weekend I completed the Bike and Run of the Ironman Pocono Mountain 69.1 (since the swim is 1.2, I've removed that from the planned 70.3 distance).  Overall it was an amazing experience, and even though the swim cancellation was a HUGE disappointment to me, I'm glad I did it.  I thought I was prepared, but actually doing the 56m bike and then the 13.1m run I was able to prove to myself that I really could do it.

I was Paleo except for my the Powerbar Gels and a little corn in all of the days leading up to the race and even on race day.  I didn't hit a wall or bonk at all, I felt good nutrition wise throughout the whole race.  I probably should have had a little more on my run, and had I done the swim then I'm sure I would have felt the need to "eat" something sooner than mile 16 on the bike.  Generally I eat something like a lara bar or a gel as soon as I get on the bike after finishing a swim.

Here is a recount of what my food and nutrition looked like the days before the race and then during the race itself:

Pre Race:

Added some extra sweet potato and some acorn and spaghetti squash (for variety really) to my meals starting on Thursday (race was Sunday).

Dinner night before was grilled chicken, salad, and mashed sweet potatoes, and lunch had been a burger with no bun with pork roll and a fried egg on it (this was delicious btw) and a half a lara bar.

You've Got Questions....I've Got Answers

Thank you all for the questions that you submitted, here is the first round of answers - please feel free to continue to post more and I'll pull them through into a future post.

Laura - Hey, I've got a question for ya! I have been doing a 21 day challenge of strict paleo and while it's been going really well, I have found that I am craving gum. I can't seem to shake this and have been giving in to it. I am chewing like 6 to 8 pieces of gum a day. I am assuming it's because I am craving sugar? Thoughts?? -- Melinda

Fight Inflammation Naturally

I've spoken before about the importance of managing inflammation in your body, through eating whole foods: vegetables, meats, seafood, fruits, some nuts and seeds. You want to reduce inflammation since it seems to be the root of many diseases – so an easy way to stay healthy is to reduce inflammation. You can reduce inflammation by NOT putting inflammatory things into your body like gluten and lectins, which means removing certain foods from your diet. Another thing you can do is put good things into your body that are anti-inflammatory. Spring is in the air and so are the beautiful cherry blossoms, and cherries have a lot of great nutritional properties and are something that you should consider including in your diet as part of your plan to reduce inflammation.

 
Cherries are a rich source of:


• Vitamin C
• Potassium
• Boron, a mineral that plays an essential role in bone health, especially for women

...and help control inflammation


 One way to use cherries is to think of them as a great post workout tool, like taking extra fish oil after a heavy lifting day, you can incorporate cherries and natural unsweetened cherry juice into your post workout recovery routine. According to this article by Leo Galland, MD through the Huffington post cherries may be as effective as aspirin, are great for workout recovery, and may even be able to help with gout. He quotes a study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition that states that consuming cherries “before and after strenuous work” (Crossfit anyone?) “may have a protective effect to reduce muscle damage and pain.” My additional two cents, try cherries but make sure you’re checking for added sugars and be careful how much fruit you're eating, espeically if it's dried fruit. Munch on dried cherries on a long run, experiment with the concentrated unsweetened cherry juice as a post workout recovery tool, and once they come in season grab some from your local farmer’s market and enjoy as a recovery tool and delicious snack!

Pre and Post Workout Foods

What am I supposed to eat after I work out, what about before I work out? I've gotten a few questions about recommendations on what to eat after you work out.  Figuring out what to eat after a workout is not as easy as "have a protein shake." It's actually a bit of a tricky question to answer, but inevitably it boils down to the "It depends on who you are, what your goals are, and what kind of workout you just did."  Frustrating I know.  The who you are part plays into what you're currently doing with your food. If you are a Paleo follower or eat a Standard American Diet (SAD), what you look to eat after working out may be a little different because you have a different selection of foods to choose from. You also need to work with something that you like and will actually consume after working out.  The recommendations that I have below are primarily Paleo, because I think that you should focus on eating real food as much as you can.  Feel free to read within the guidelines and make substitutes based on what you currently eat within your diet.

So before you can figure out what you eat before or after working out, you first need to figure out what your goals are, for this  post I'm going to cover the following 3 goals:

Goals

1. "Lean out" - Primary Goal is fat loss

2. "Get 70s Big" - Primary Goal is to gain a lot of muscle quickly

3. "Just to Recover" - Primary Goal is to heal your body you can workout again tomorrow

In addition to identifying what your goal is, you also need to consider what your workout will be.  How long is the workout?  Are you doing a Brick training session of bike and run for +2 hour as part of your triathlon training program? Completing a 2m leisurely jog?  6 sets of 400mrepeats with 3mins rest in between?  A relaxing yoga class? The type of workout you do also plays into what and how much pre and post workout food you need in order to fuel your body throughout that workout and then what you need to eat after you're finished.  Another factor to consider during longer workouts is if are planning to consume any fuel - dried fruit, salt, gu, etc. while completing the workout - you want to account for that in your fueling and refueling plan. 

On the home stretch

Those of you who are doing a 30 day challenge - how are things going?  What new things have you incorporated into your life and foods that you like?  Are you finding it hard to adjust or easier than you thought?  How do you look, feel, and perform?  Have you noticed any changes in your mental clarity, your athletic performance, how you feel when you wake up in the morning?


This 30 Day challenge has been the easiest its ever been for me, since now that I've consistently cleaned up what I eat I have found that when I do go super strict that the things I do miss are the occasional Paleo treat and being able to enjoy a glass of wine  - but its not so bad knowing that I can have them again soon.  I have definitely seen benefits from my clean eating so far - on Sunday Sept 12th I competed in my first Olympic Distance Triathlon (1.5K/.93m Swim, 40K/25m Bike, 10K/6.2m Run) and did great finishing with a time of 2hr 45min in the top 12% in my age group and top 12% of females in the race. The race was The Nation's Triathlon in Washington DC and we actually set a Guinness record for the most participants in an Olympic Triathlon with over 5300 athletes competing.  I felt great during the race, and was back to doing a hard crossfit workout on Tuesday.



Laura Left-Center Red Shirt, Kristin Right-Center Pink shirt



This past Sunday Sept 19th I decided to jump in and run the Philly Distance Run - Half Marathon with a friend,  Kristin, that is training for a full marathon in November.  I was taking a small leap of faith that I'd be able to run that far since the most I'd run was 8 miles 3 weeks earlier.  I had just completed the Tri and knew that I could do over 2 hours of "work" so I decided to give it a shot.  Kristin did great and turns out she would have slammed that 13.1m run on her own, I was just along for the ride :)  I was a little sore on Monday, but by Tuesday felt great again.  I really think that the combination of crossfit workouts and eating a really clean diet are the two contributing factors to helping my body repair itself so fast and push itself so often.  You don't have to do a race to notice increased recovery, anyone else noticing better recovery and performance too?  Post to comments what's going on, how you're doing, what you're having trouble with, and any new things that you want to share that others might want to try.

Keep checking out what I'm eating for ideas, the pictures have descriptions of what I'm eating:
http://picasaweb.google.com/laurapappas07/Whole30Food?authkey=Gv1sRgCM-J8P753eS34QE