I've been very lax with my eating lately, and I am tired of feeling somewhat icky all the time. So, in the spirit of small achievable goals, I've pledged that TODAY I'll "eat clean." Those scones in the breakfast buffet almost got me, but wheat toast with tomato slices won the day. Luckily the lunch entree holds little appeal, so sticking to my salad with roasted chicken won't be a problem.
I didn't make it out of bed in time to do both my "short swim" and "short bike" workouts this morning, so I did the swim and plan to do the bike this afternoon (oh, who am I kidding? evening) after work. Inspired by a talk with one of the trainers at the gym on Friday I had every intention of kicking this workout up a notch (BAM!) and doing some interval speed work, but I just wasn't feeling it at all. I was tired, had a lot on my mind, and kept inhaling water because I was thinking about life instead of about swimming. I "put in my time" and did 14 laps in 17 minutes. I did bust out a half-lap sprint a few times, but felt like I swam slow enough on the recoveries to more than defeat any pace gains.
As I was logging the workout and breakfast in fitday.com, I decided to calculate how fast that swim was, just for giggles. I was expecting a number around 30-35 yards per minute, because that's what it felt like: dog slow. So imagine my surprise when I get 41 yards per minute, another new record.
It all feels so backwards to me. Okay, so this training really is paying off. Fast is the new slow. That's fantastic. Yet I don't FEEL faster. And I certainly don't feel more toned or in shape. In fact, early Thursday morning I had to sprint from the bus to catch the Caltrain and I almost felt like I had asthma I was sucking wind so badly. I lamely blamed it on being tired and running up a very steep hill and, um, being tired, but I was very disappointed that all this working out I've been doing didn't translate directly into being able to just charge up that hill at a moment's notice.
Yet, in my heart of hearts I know what the problem is, that missing piece of the puzzle that's preventing me from feeling and performing as well as I could. It's my eating. It's the beer, the cookies, the massive amounts of coffee, the chocolate, etc etc etc. It's the too much fat and simple sugars and not enough protein. I eat enough vegetables and fruit every day. I drink enough water. But I need to cut down on my "cheating" if I want to reach the next level. And I do, I do want to reach the next level.
So today... today I'm eating clean.
1 comment:
Oh man! That's great about the swim time. It's funny how, without specific metrics, it is so easy to dismiss (or even not notice at all) our progress. Great job on the time!
And I have been slackerly on the food too. I've been feeling sleepy after meals and a bit bloated from the mini snack binge I had over the weekend. And my portions have slowly been creeping back to their old size too, which I've just noticed and am going to fix.
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