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