Do Fruitbars Count As Fruit?

So... I have been thinking about my eating habits lately and decided it was time for an intervention. Even since I started training (January), I have been eating and eating, and when not eating, been hungry... I guess going from 4 hours to 10-14 hours of exercise does that to a person. Before starting, I was at a scrawny-yet-flabby 62 kg, and I ate pretty badly but not too bad (think loads of carbs, little protein, and very little fresh fruit and veggies, but also very little processed food).

After I started training, I started eating a lot more, yet instead of adding healthy foods to my diet, I just kept on doing the carb thing. I initially put on about 3.5 kg (well, actually, I put on 2 kg over Christmas break when I went home to visit the folks and failed to lose those, before putting on another 1.5 kg when I started training) and have remained pretty stable at 65 to 66 kg since. So nothing dramatic weight wise, most of the extra weight is muscle (but the initial flab remains) and I still have good energy levels. However, I just can't imagine that eating so little protein, and so few fruits and veggies is good for me. And how will I feel if my food intake was a bit more nutritious?

So... cue challenge #1. My goal for this week is to
1) eat 5 servings of fruit and veggies every day (I usually manage 2 oranges a day and that's it)
2) at most 2 of those servings will be the same thing (aka no 5 oranges in one day)
3) eat one serving of protein at each meal
4) lay off the carby snacks unless I am hungry for them.

So how did I do on day #1 of challenge #1... No too shabby. Breakfast was 1 orange, 1 glass of milk, and one croissant with nutella, lunch was a huge avocado, egg, and romaine salad with 2 slices of whole wheat bread (1 with cheese, 1 with chocolate sprinkles), dinner was pasta with tomato sauce and a huge bag of cookies. When I got home I had two oranges and a fruit bar (can you spot it behind the oranges?). So, even though I only succeeded in part 1) of the challenge, I consider this good progress, but now I need to crank it up a notch...

Do fruit bars count as fruit?

Speaking of cranks, I took my awesome bike for a spin today. 55 miles of hills, hills and more hills that I tried to fly over. I went out really hard and kept the hard effort for the entire 55 miles. 3:40 minutes and 1,800 calories later I got home, drenched in sweat, but ecstatic that my bike skills are improving so dramatically, so Wiesbaden 70.3 sounds a bit less scary.... The weather was also just awesome, doesn't hurt right?

How Geeky can I Look?

At least the glasses were hiding this...

This afternoon I went for a short swim, and then spent the evening battling a statistics software for my dissertation data analysis... Hubby is out of town, so I can work late... Heck, I am supposed to work late.

I hope y'all are having fun!!!

Bike Mojo is Back!

Today was a beautiful day. I got to ride my bike again, no wind, no falls. Just pure joy. So today's ride will hereafter be known as Mojo-is-back-Ride.

It all started a couple of days ago. The awesome guys from Freeze Thaw Cycles have been helping me make some adjustments to my bike. Last week I got a new crankset with bigger chainrings and a outboard bottom bracket (hubby helped put this sentence together). I don't know what that means, but is sure is faster!!! I first tried it on Saturday (also known as first metric century Saturday), but did not really notice any difference. I was still riding scared from 1) fall Wednesday, and 2) windy Saturday. But today was different!

The other change (on Tuesday), was a minor adjustment to my saddle (lower and further back). On rides over 1-2 hours, my back starts hurting me and my neck/back muscles get very stiff and painful. So Jordyn from Freeze Thaw Cycles, bike fitter extraordinaire, suggested I try this first, and then report back. Sadly, the change did not improve the back/neck problems, but it sure made me faster...

Not being very adventurous (especially when riding alone), I like to stick the same route, with minor modifications. The advantage is that I can time myself. So today I started with State College to Bellefonte on Seibert Road (I have four different ways of going from State College to Bellefonte). My old record on that route was 44 minutes and 16.6 mph average. Today, I did it in 43 minutes and 17.4 mph average (it's about 13 miles). That part of the ride is relatively flat.

The next 20 miles I tried to find long uphills (3 miles +). I did three of those (followed by the inevitable downhill that follows) and then went back on Seibert road again. I did 48 miles in about 3:25 hours, not including a couple of stretching, eating and drinking breaks.

In addition to getting my biking mojo back, I also practiced nutrition (2 x 100 calories in jelly beans and 1 Luna bar) and drinking on the bike (1 1/2 bottles ). Even though I did not completely bonk (an improvement over other rides), I was still well below what I needed. I also worked on going faster on downhills and am happy to report that I hit 35 mph (still below my 37 mph record) and exceeded 30 mph on several other occasions.

Post mojo-is-back ride, I made wubby and myself an epic lunch (included egg, peppers, onions, cheese, with salad, avocado, loads of bread (and butter), and Nutella... I think I was eating for over an hour, and my plate kept on looking full...

In other news, next week is the Fly by Night Duathlon, consisting of run-bike-run-bike-run on The Glen, a racing circuit. They still have spots open, so please join if you can! The more, the merrier!

Life is good, biking is better! Happy training!

New 5K PR and lovely ride

I ran in the Lactic Acid 5K today, organized by the Penn State Triathlon club. Until about an hour before the race I wasn't sure I was going to go since I had planned a 45 mile ride. The one I have been postponing for several weeks now... In the end, even though I ran 6 miles every day on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I decided to try to set a new PR. I was a bit disapointed that I did not get under 25 minutes, I felt I could have. But I was happy with 26 minutes and something (no results posted yet). I made a few key mistakes.
#1 I forgot to use my inhaler, so the wheezing started pretty much straight away
#2 I ate waaaaaaaaaay too much breakfast (I thought I was riding 45 miles...)
#3 I did not warm up (I was worried about #2)
#4 I went out too fast (sub 8 minute 1 mile)
I was a bit worried since all the runners (at least 95%) looked extremely fit and like they knew what they were doing. Still, I managed to stay ahead of a few of them.

I used this picture to enter Steve in a Speedo's contest.

After the 5K, awesome wubby, great friend Dan and I went on a ride to Centre Hall, PA. We stopped on the way at the Mount Nittany Winery and Vineyard for some sightseeing (and no tasting) and then went on for some massive pizza at Brother's Pizza in Centre Hall. On the way back we rode through Lemont (another picturesque PA village). 35 very easy miles. My legs were tired. I still owe myself a real 45 mile ride, and I am several long runs behind, but for today my legs were shot. Tomorrow I am attempting (again) the 12-mile long run. Pittsburgh 1/2 marathon is only 4 weeks away...