Wake Up: 8:00am Good 9 hours of sleep last night. Shaka Laka. I started into the book Saras Key last night, couldn't put it down!

Breakfast: 9:05am

We have groceries! Yea!!! Breakfast was leftovers. Those salmon cakes last night were way too good and I decided to have a repeat for breakfast. Next time I am making a double batch of them.  I had leftover roasted veggies from last night: brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and cauliflower. Also 1/2 an avocado, which really never gets old. And to think of all the avocados I've eaten these last 27 days! Probably more than I have the rest of the year combined!

Swim: 10:00am

What? She's training again? Yes, after a few days of really just letting things go I wanted to get back in the pool today. My legs have been aching and hurting and super grumpy. I feel like they are eating themselves and just so angry. My body likes motion. So this week I'm hoping to get back moving. It's definitely interesting to feel ready to get going again. Usually I want to rush the off season because I feel like I'm gaining weight and don't want it to get out of hand. This year I feel like the weight is not an issue and I can really take the time my body needs to reset at the end of the year. I trained HARD for about 11 months in 2013, with a 2 week break after Ironman Brazil, so this body needs some space and time to repair and rebuild. I swam about 35 minutes today, 1,650 meters with Michelle.

Lunch: 12:30pm

Okay, NOW we are talking! The last of the soup Katie gave me (Butternut Sweet Potato...SPICY style) was calling me, and I sautéed two sausages in thin strips, put that in the soup and added shredded coconut on top! DANG! Filling and YUM!

Dinner: 6:00pm

Troy took Annie to her reading tutor and I stayed home and cooked. I made the Turkey Cranberry Meatballs from the meatball section of Well Fed 2. In case anyone is wondering Well Fed 2 is BETTER than Well Fed. I am drawn to the recipes in 2 much more than the first book. The turkey cranberry meatballs were such a hit that Annie asked if I could pack the leftovers in her lunch tomorrow. Yup, THAT GOOD! I went thanksgiving style and served them with mashed sweet potatoes (Clarified butter in them) and my favorite (second favorite?) roasted veggie recipe: kobucha squash (can leave the skin on), brussels sprouts, and pears with pomegranate seeds on top. I roast them in EVOO, pomegranate juice (I just crush some of the pomegranate seeds, salt and nutmeg. This is from Clean Start, but I leave out the Maple Syrup. This meal was a huge hit!

Criticism

This article came out today bashing Whole30. First off, I have to say that I don't really agree with this woman on quite a few fronts, she somehow thinks intermittent fasting is GREAT, but eating meat and veggies for 30 days is HORRIBLE. I didn't know this woman before the article and really don't give even one hoot about what she thinks, but it got me thinking about a few subjects. ONE: the fact that there is an article for and against about EVERYTHING. This is just one of thousands of examples. We can find studies and arguments to refute every one of her "goods", and support every one of her "bads". I think we as people have to get away from looking at others to tell us what to do. The WORD of 2014 should be "experimentation."

TWO: criticism is part of life. I thought I would get some flak for doing this Whole30 stuff, I've spent months vegan at the beginning of this year and in 2012 as well and I just see this as another experiment to see what feels good and healthful in my body. But I haven't. Not one ounce of critique. The truth is, we each have to own what we put in our bodies because we pay the price for those actions. We each need to accept and be okay it, or choose to change it. But take ownership of you, and everything else will fall in it's place. I think the author of this article wrote her opinion and found some stuff to back it up, but I will write the only opinion piece about what goes in my mouth, using mainly my own intuition.

Training +Fueling

I got a request from Emily, one of the cutie-pies I used to coach asking if I could go through what I eat while training. Here was her question:

hey chick!! if you have time could you write a post about training fuel and Whole30? like what are you using (Osmo and Amrita only? or other things?) to fuel your workouts? is that changing from pre-IMAZ and now? i would think it’s pretty hard to find strictly-Whole30-compliant training calories but maybe that’s not entirely your goal.

Cool! So right now I am not using anything while I train. Really that's because I haven't been training! HAHA! On training sessions under 90 minutes I don't using anything other than water. If it's a run, I eat right after, and occasionally I will use Osmo during a long swim. Given that, before IMAZ when I was still riding long rides, I did two different things on two different long rides.

1) I did Coconut water (50% coconut water with 50% water in my bottle) and Lara bars that were Whole30. I rode 80 miles and had 3 bars and 4 bottles. I hated the coconut water and had to gag it down. I got 3 different flavors, including plain and just did not like it. I LOVE coconut, but I do not love coconut water. However, my ride went just fine, I was able to do my intervals and felt strong throughout. You can train Whole30 compliant if you love Coconut water...easy peasy.

2) I did my normal fueling strategy. Osmo in my bottles (per the back of the containers instructions, and 24-27oz per hour) and I had my last Amrita bar (cranberry raisin), and two Picky bars (Smooth Caffinator). I think I rode 90 that day and again, hit my intervals, felt great, wattage was fine, and felt strong.

On race day in Arizona I had 5 bottles of Osmo, 2.5 Picky bars (out of Amrita), and 3 or 4 bags of Honey Stinger Chews, the last two were Lime and had Green Tea extract in them for caffeination. I felt great.

So in a nutshell, will I stick with my Arizona fueling going forward? Yes and No. On training rides this year I will always have Osmo in my bottles (for anything over 90 minutes) and I will rely mostly on Amrita bars and Picky bars. I always have some chews with me but those are only for when the effort gets HARD or the HR has been high for a long time, or I have to run really hard off the bike. All three of these instances are rare.

However, I'm going to experiment with a few other things this year. Last year I LOVED making the rice cakes and I think that during training these are great, so I will add those back in during Whole30 reintroduction to see if I have any problems with them. I'm also going to experiment with some homemade date balls, like the Salty balls that Stacey Simms recommends. Also, I may work back in some Phil's Bars because I have trained on those before really well. So, I have some experimenting to do, but I will say that it will be in the direction of whole foods! These recipes all come from sources that I trust heavily in the endurance world, Phil and Stacey especially. I feel that the both of them are proponents of "the sweet spot" between health and performance. When we train in Tahoe my coach stops us in the middle of our rides and we sit on the tail gate of his truck and eat tri-tip sandwiches. Whole Foods are where it's at!