Day 48: Cheater?

It's been 9 days since my last post. Time gets away from all of us sometimes, I suppose.  A quick look back.

I finished my triathlon!  My two goals for this endeavor were to not drown and to finish, in that order. A secondary goal was to not finish last! I obviously accomplished the first goal as I can assure you I am not typing this from the great beyond! I finished, too (and I have the medal to prove it!).

I originally thought I could finish in 1:40:00. Then when I factored in the transition times I was hoping to make 1:45:00.  Then I read that the race would be completely over an hour and fifty-five minutes after my start time. So I was questioning if I could get it all done in 2 hours. Nerves!! Finally time was 1:29:47. And I placed 315 out of 330, so not last! All three goals achieved.

I'd also like to mention my recovery time: ZERO. I attribute this to Isagenix. I was properly fueled and my body had all the nutrients it needed to make adequate repairs. I literally woke up Monday morning with a slightly sore back from the bike portion and by noon it was gone. No analgesics needed.  Love it!

A few triathlon thoughts for those of you thinking of trying one:

• If you are weak in the swim portion, practice this the most! I totally slacked and it sucked during the race. Try to avoid traditional freestyle stroking in a pool. Swimming with your head out of the water every 3 or 4 strokes is beneficial. Try to get into open water if you can. With a lot of people. Splashing and bumping you. If you're a great swimmer, do the above any way. You'll just need less practice.
• Learn the rules of biking for a tri. Apparently there are a lot and they throw them all at you the day of the race. Passing? Drafting? 15 second rule? What?!! Oh, and if it's an official USAT event then no music. What?!
• I'm a runner and it was only 2 miles. Even without running for 3 weeks I did my best per mile time this year. If you're not a runner, prepare yourself early, especially because coming off the bike, your legs will be screaming at you, "What are you doing to us?!"

Now on to more recent events and the reason the cheater title.  Over the course of the past week, a fair amount of people have been posting on our Isagenix Team Facebook page that they have been "cheating". Ever the philosopher, I've been waxing poetic about letting the past be in the past, you're only human, tomorrow's a new day, blah, blah, blah. Then on Saturday night, it was me! I had been on edge all day leading up to a dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday and Father's Day. I did research the restaurant's menu beforehand and made reasonable (delicious) choices. I ordered wine but really had no desire to drink it so, my husband willing obliged to take it off my hands.

We arrived home, kids and hubby went to bed early. And I promptly ate the leftovers. Then made a couple spoonfuls of chocolate peanut butter. Then hit the chocolate syrup. Oh, caramel syrup. Why not? Having satisfying my urge to eat everything insight I begin with the guilt. Why would I do that? Why would I sabotage what I've been working for. Weight loss notwithstanding, why would I sacrifice the good nutrition Isagenix gives me for the crap in a bottle of Hershey's caramel syrup? And then I did it again the next day!! Although this time is was "just" overeating at dinner and not processed junk.

One of the many things I've learned over this journey (and the many failed diets over the year) is that the adage "it's not what you're eating, it's what's eating you" holds true. A bit of introspection tells me I was on edge Saturday for two reasons: money and family. Not going to go deeper into that here, but those two topics trigger emotions in me. Like a lot of us, I have a hard time facing my emotions. Who likes to feel sad, or hurt or angry? I used to eat over those unpleasant feelings in hopes of stuffing them down. But the problems always remained anyway.

Now that I've figured out what was eating me I noticed those feelings have no power over me today. It truly is a new day and I'm back on track being fabulous healthy and energetic. If I keep at it, I might even grow up  to be a pretty cook adult someday!

Peace,

Susan

Day 39

This is it. I can do this. Can't I?

I'm sitting in a hotel room with my family. I'm wondering how I'm going to sleep tonight. Tomorrow is my first triathlon. A super sprint! Quarter mile swim, ten mile bike and 2 mile run. I'm supposed to walk the run due to my injured right leg. I don't know if you've met me yet, but all bets are on that I end up running it. Running is my thing and it's been killing me that I've had to substitute not only walking, but slow walking for short distances. On the plus side, I've developed an infinity for my bicycle.

I used to hate cycling but couldn't figure out why. Until I got my new bike! Turns out my old bike, which was naively purchased when I was in college, was sized entirely wrong for my frame. It's a men's small; I take a men's large. On the plus side, my son now has a new mountain bike sized perfectly for him. I'm looking forward to the bike leg. And it's a flat course so I'm expecting some hills. If you've ever run the Tex Mex in North Wales you'll know why I wrote that...

Then there's the swim. I love the water! The pool with the kids, the waves at the beach. Yes, I love the water. Swimming? Not so much. I have trained over the past several months but not near as much as I probably should have. Which led to much anxiety on the way down to Delaware this morning.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to sign up for the swim safety and warm-up clinic. Unfortunately, the clinic talked about drowning and how swimming is the most dangerous leg of the tri. About pulling people out of the race so they wouldn't be a hazard to other participants. That if you had to you *could* hold onto a kayak or buoy and try to continue. And try to avoid floating on your back to catch your breathe because that makes you look like a floater and they'll try to rescue you.  Uh, thanks guys. And to think I was mostly concerned about the water temp.

Now panicked, I'm allowed to swim a short portion of tomorrow's swim. The water is blessedly warm, about 72-74 degrees. No wetsuit - WooHoo! People start their practice swims and I'm frozen, shin-deep in water. After a few minutes I think, "What the hell." And wade in further so I can dive under. My first lap is horrible as I'm all panicked and rushing and forgetting all I learned about swimming. My second lap I take my time and feel much better. Lets hope tomorrow's swim mimics lap #2.

All in all, I'm looking forward to this experience tomorrow. I have my Isagenix nutrition with me and will be using the e+ shot for the first time tomorrow for a little boost. Assuming I actually fall asleep, I'll be up around 4-4:30 a.m. and at the course between 5:30-6:00 a.m. to set up my transition area and get marked up. My wave goes at 8:30 a.m. I plan on doing my best and have faith that I've prepared enough. But for right now, I plan on trying to sleep.

Peace,
Susan

Month 2, Day 3

I began my second month with a 2-day deep cleanse. I really like cleansing! I know, this seems weird.  Two days of drinking adaptogens, botanicals, herbs, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals.  The only solid thing I eat are Isa Snacks - those little wafer things I couldn't describe in the beginning. Turns out they're kind of like astronaut ice cream! - and IsaDelights. I purposely save the IsaDelights for only cleanse days. Maybe that's why I think these days are special? But besides those little chocolate squares of joy, I feel free.

Two whole days of being free from making choices. To just take it slow and do my body some good. For how little I take in, I have pretty much energy. The first day I usually have to hold myself back from doing exercise.  This time around we had a graduation party on my second cleanse day.  I'm not going to lie. It was tough. I can still smell the food. Some of it healthy, some of it not, all of it gorgeous! But I made it through with pre-planning and a sense of priority. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I was there to celebrate the graduate and her accomplishments, not the food.

Now after my last two cleanses I've had a ton of energy the following day. I wake up, take my Ionix, drink a shake and go for a run or bike ride of a respectable distance. This morning I just wanted to lay around and read (truth be told, it's a really good book!). Yes, I just didn't feel like myself. I was lethargic in fact. Or so I thought. Because even though I continued to feel lethargic on my bike ride, I rode the farthest I've ever gone and posted my best time. When I got home? I took the dog on a 2+ mile walk. Uphill.

Needless, to say, I'm enjoying this journey. I still can't get over the fact that I am very rarely hungry. In fact, I wasn't able to get in all my calories today (which is a bad thing!). I'm going to have to do better with that, especially with my first triathlon right around the corner. I'm excited and nervous. (Please, God, I just don't want to be last!)

Tomorrow is a new day. Even though the energy was there for my exercise, I'm hoping the lethargic feeling (For whatever reason I have it) passes for tomorrow. I'm going to go through my own triathlon staging to get the feel and transitions down. Maybe I'll sneak in an IsaDelight even if it isn't a cleanse day.

Peace,
Susan

PS if you aren't a Facebook friend then you don't know my results. In 30 days I released 14 pounds and 20.25 inches! My body fat was down 3.3% and I dropped 2+ BMI points so I am no longer considered "obese". Now I'm merely "overweight".  Duh!