Okay, so today I got up early to spin/lift with my trainer Jen. I woke up extra early to have my yummy sweet potato, eggs, avocado breakfast and then went to the gym. I did good and brought 1/2 cooked sweet potato and chicken with me for after. Spin, then lift: That went good. This is my 3rd lifting session back so the soreness is getting more under control now. It's so nice that I am MUCH stronger than I was a year ago at this time. I'm excited to see what another year of functional strength yields. Last year I was dying with the sessions she had us do, and now I've got things more under control.

After lifting I ate my food. I didn't spend any time under the Shower head and ate it while I drove home. I wanted to shower but it didn't seem to make sense, my "window" would be gone. I'm just stoked that I made it happen. It tasted okay, it was cold, so that was meh, but I wasn't bummed to eat it or anything.

Because I woke up early, I got tired and ended up with a three hour nap in the middle of the day. Oy! It was wonderful!

In the PM I went to a run that the local tri club was putting on where you run around and look at Christmas lights while doing a scavenger hunt sort of thing. That was a lot of fun and I brought more chicken and sweet potato for after but ended up going out to eat with friends straight away so opted for that. I had a GREAT Paleo plate at Wahoos Tacos with extra veggies. It was really good!

So, day 1, success!

Okay, last thing I want to talk about is the no fruit as a recovery carbohydrate issue. The "It starts with food" book talks a bit about this. They basinally say, no fruit after because fruit is mostly fructose and it replaces liver glycogen not muscle glycogen. Replacing muscle glycogen is the only reason we eat recovery stuff in the 15-30 minute post workout "window". It's when our muscles are more open the replenishment.

So my friend Jordan (love her) did me a big service and dug a little deeper by talking to a local coach who is big in the tri industry. He reached out to Stacy Sims, who I consider an EXPERT in the field, like BIG TIME. I trust what she says over anyone else. PhD in this stuff, works at Stanford.

Her email was amaze balls and extremely technical but the jist of it is that fructose goes from the intestine to the liver where it is metabolized (broken into glucose, triggers the formation of triglycerides). Then if the liver needs glycogen it gets it. But the muscles do as well. The glucose component of fructose after it metabolizes is available to skeletal muscle glycogen replacement.

Stacey also said that FREE GLUCOSE INGESTION is faster across the board for glycogen replacement. So the fastest was to replenish is protein with mixed sugars.

I love Stacey and I love Jordan for helping me with some more information.

So, from what I can tell is that fruit is not a no-no choice, because the glucose is available to the muscles. But it's not the best choice because the liver can take what it needs (if it needs any) first.

That was my take away, Jordan, would you agree here??

Everyone seems to agree that actually protein is really the big post workout kicker, it's needed, it's important, you gotta get it in, within 15-20 minutes. As for the carbohydrate piece, you can be a bit more relaxed with that.

***I'm not a Dietitian....just trying to learn and share....!!