Nutrition

Sorry about this post being a few days late, but as usual, I have been very busy. I have been getting a lot of requests lately from my clients about nutrition and they have been very curious about what I eat. Nutrition is extremely important and I try to eat the best that I can. Let me start by saying that I am not a dietitian or nutritionist. Nonetheless, I am confident in the information I pass onto my clients and try to abide by some very simple principles when it comes to eating. Here are some of my recommendations/thoughts. For starters, I am not a calorie counter. There are a lot of people in the triathlon and nutrition world that preach about only taking in x number of calories per day. I am not one of those people. My general rule on nutrition is to listen to your body and eat healthy foods when you're hungry. Pretty crazy, right? I realize how general this is, but it seems to work very well for a lot of people. The key to this is to eat the right foods and to not over eat. As triathletes, we need a lot of energy because our body is burning a lot more calories than the average person. As a result, most of us need to eat a lot of food and it would very challenging for a triathlete to "diet" while training because I doubt that person would take in enough food to fuel them for their training. Here are a list of my tips when comes to nutrition: 1. Drink a ton of water and stay hydrated! So many people underestimate the value of water and how important it is for you. A great way to know if you're staying hydrated is to look at the color of your urine. If it has any color to it, it is a sign of dehydration. Also, if you wait until you're thirsty to drink water, its already too late and your body is dehydrated. Drinking straight water is great, but also remember that most fruits and vegetables are mainly made up of water so they are a great way to help hydrate. My goal is to drink a gallon of water everyday, which does not include the fluids I take in during training. To start with, I always drink a glass or water to start and end my day. During the day, I try to take in around 10 ounces of water every hour. So when I get to work, I always fill up my Nalgene bottle which is 32 ounces with the goal of finishing it in about 3 hours. Sure, sometimes I forgot, but if you build this into your routine everyday, you'll get used to it. And yes, it will force you to head to the bathroom quite a bit, but its well worth it. 2. When you're eating, make sure to fully chew your food and only eat until you're full. It sounds really simply, but there are very few people that actually chew their food properly. The chewing process should take time when done properly. I struggle with this sometimes, but one great way to help do this is to actually set down your eating utensil down after you have taken a bite and do not pick it back up until you have fully chewed and swallowed that bite. By doing so, this should dramatically decrease your chances of overeating because when you slow down when chewing your food, your body is going to realize it is full a lot faster than if simulating a hot dog eating contest and trying to inhale your food. 3. Try to eat real food. In our fast moving society, its very easy to rely on processed snacks and meals. They are very convenient and appealing in most cases. However, your body will benefit greatly if you're able to eat real food. I am extremely fortunate to having a beautiful fiance that likes to cook so this makes things much easier for me. However, with how busy I am, I do rely on bars for a lot of my snacks. This is something I am continue to try to improve on, but I try to pick the healthiest choices available. As you will see from my diet, I try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I'm not sure I could ever become a vegetarian, but our body really needs these real foods. 4. Try to eat smaller portions more often. The standard eating habits of having a breakfast, lunch, and dinner are not ideal. The forces your body to do too much processing at once. Instead, I would recommend eating smaller portions more often. This also helps to keep your metabolism going throughout the day. However, be careful not to go this route and still each large meals. It is important to reduce the size of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you are going to be adding additional meals. Below is a list of the food I consumed last week. My eating habits were a little bit off this week do to some celebrating of some wonderful news (my brother came home from a very successful rehab trip where he was able to get himself off of some very serious opiates and my finance was hired for a new job). That being said, I considered doing another recording of my intake this week, but thought that it made more sense to use this week because life happens and this is a real display of what I ate during a "random" week.

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V bananna granola bar protein bar salad + mixed nuts for lunch bananna granola bar mixed nuts Kale salad, sweet patato, white rice, and chicken for dinner 2 eggplant manicodies 1 gallon of water consumed throughout the day Glass of water

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V 24 ounce of water during strength 24 ounce during/after swim First Endurance Protein shake Cliff Bar bananna protein bar salad + trail mix for lunch granola bar 2 banannas Pasta with suasage + mushrooms from Filos frosted mini wheats .75 gallons of water at work 32 ounces during run 3 glasses of water after work

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V bananna 24 ounces of water during spin class Cliff Bar 4-5 handfuls of Fruits amp; Nuts Mix salad + trail mix for lunch .5 gallons during work 96 ounces of Powerbar Perform during ride Cliff Bar Salad, Ham, patatoes, brocolli, and bread for dinner .25 gallon of water after work Glass of water

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V 24 ounces of water during strength workout 24 ounces of water during swim workout First Endurance Protein shake nut mix- couple handfuls granola bar nut + berry mix Ham and patatoes for lunch bannana Clif bar 24 ounces of water during run Fruit, salad, ham, brocolli, cookie .75 gallons of water at work nut + berry mix hummus + tortia Glass of water

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V 24 ounces of water during spin class Clif bar nut mix Clif Protein bar Chaing Mai Thai for lunch mixed nuts + berries hummus + tortia Salad, steak, + patatoes Popcorn and soda at the movies .75 gallons of water throughout the day Glass of water

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V 48ounces of water + 2 GU's during run Full cantelope Endurox r4 protein protein shake Clif Bar Zone Perfect bar 24 ounces of water after swim Clif Protein Bar Pea soup quiche chicken fingers and a few french fries 1 slice of pizza dark chocolate .75 gallons of water throughout the day glass of water

- Glass of water Ensure with vitamins- First Endurance Multi-V Full cantelope Clif Bar 2 eggs, beacon, homefries, 2 pancakes with maple surup bowl of granola .75 gallons of water throughout the day Beef stew with beef, patotoes, carrots, and celery glass of water

My Training

My training has been going really well for the past few weeks. I did get a couple outdoor rides in, but most of my riding has been indoors, which isn't ideal. However, the Computrainer does help keep things entertaining.  But as mentioned above, there were some big news for some of my loved ones this week.  I am extremely proud of my brother for changing his life for the better.  He literally is like a new person and I'm really excited to reconnect with as we haven't been as close as we once were over the past few years.  My fiance Kristen also got a new job as an LPN at Westfood Pediatrics.  She is extremely excited and I am very proud of her as well.  This did have a little affect on my training, but I managed to get everything in with the exception of my ride last Sunday.  That being said, last week was a great week and I managed to spend some time with my wonderful family. Here is a list of my training for the past 2 weeks:

- 7:10 hrs slept, ZS: 83 Pilates- 1:00hr

- 7:55 hrs slept, ZS: 100 Strength- 1:10 at DSC Swim: 3,000 yards in 55:20

- Hrs slept: 7:15, ZS: 88 nap at lunch: 10' Spin class: 40' First outdoor ride of the year: 50.78 miles in 2:33:11- hilly + windy day

- 6:45hrs slept, ZS: 88 10' nap at lunch Strength: 1:10 at DSC Swim: 3,000 yards in 54:23 Run: 7.30 miles in 56:19

- 6:40hrs slept, ZS: 82 Spin class- 45 min

- 8:33 hrs slept, ZS: 106 Run: 15 miles in 2:00:51 Swim: 1800 yards in 29:48

- 7:32 hrs slept, ZS: 91 Ride: 71.27 miles in 3:59:30. Rough ride with lots of climbing- took a lot of mental strength

- 7:47 hrs slept, ZS: 97 Yoga- 0:30

- 6:33hrs slept, ZS: 87 nap: 10' at lunch Strength: 1:10 at DSC Swim: 3,800 yards in 1:04:18 Run: 10 miles in 1:12:41 - did some tempo pacing

- 7:33hrs slept, ZS: 89 Spin class: 0:40 Ride: 45 miles on IMSG course on CT in 2:20:43

- 6:50hrs slept, ZS: 84 Strength: 1:15 at DSC Swim: 3,000 in 50:18 Run: 7 miles in 50:31

- 8:10hrs slept, ZS: 96 Spin class: 0:45

- Hrs slept: 8:05, ZS: 102 20' nap between run + swim Run: 17.10 miles in 2:11:24. Tough run- it was sleeting and the roads weren't in great shape Swim: 1,850 in 29:54

- 6:45hrs slept, ZS: 80 long nap at after lunch: 45 min