Nutrition

     Nutrition.  That's a loaded word.  Well, it is for me.  And my lack of being concerned with anything having to do with that word is how I got started on this journey, but that's another story for another day.  

     In my training comments last week, I noted that a particular workout "felt pretty hard."  My coach's response?  Not exactly what I wanted to hear.  Dream world scenario he would have said "great!  Rosalyn, that means you are doing this exactly right."  What he really said:  "[this workout] should be challenging but not difficult...depending on the day. ... Your current state of fatigue from previous days of training plus rest, nutrition, hydration, motivation all come into play."  And all I kept thinking in my head is "my nutrition?  Well that explains it, since what I've been putting in my body recently (past month or so) is essentially anything but nutrition.  In fact, the best words I can think of to describe it: absolute shit.

    So where does that leave me?  I'm not generally one to make pledges that I'm never going to eat this food again...get real, I love me some cheese.  And I don't do great with super tight restrictions on my diet.  It just doen't work for me.  But I do have a plan to fix this little problem and it's kind of simple. Every time I do it, I see things in my training take a step in the right direction.  I'm going to view my food as fuel and make a conscious decision on whether this particular food is going to fuel me toward my goal this year.  If the answer is yes...perfect.  If the answer is no...then I have to make a decision.  Is this something I really want right now?  Or is it just a momentary thing that I'll regret 2 hours from now when I'm up in the torture chamber (i.e. on my trainer).  

     The idea of viewing food as fuel is not novel.  I don't think I'm stumbled upon some big revelation or have contributed much (if anything) to society or the triathlon world with this post.  But this is for me.  To remind myself of what my goals are to be much more conscious starting today about what I eat.  Take a second to think about my food before eating it impulsively and ask if this is really what my body is craving and what I need to get all of my work and workouts accomplished today.  So hopefully next time I check in on this subject I will have good news and I can actually fell alright with calling what I'm eating "nutrition."  

    Oh and by the way, today, I ate significantly less shit.  3 servings of spinach and a ton of fruit and veggies for the win.  



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