It's still raining...

The first week of recovery after the Marathon went by and the first three days of it were slow going. I continued to try and keep up my protein & carb consumption to help fuel my muscles recovery. As the weekend came so did Mothers Day and a never ending barrage of sweets! I can only handle so much so on Monday I went back to restricting my sugar to less than 30 g a day, Tuesday less than 20 grams a day...

Unfortunately I was up all night Tuesday into Wednesday with horrific stomach pain. I took it easy Wednesday, only managing to stomach about 500 or 600 calories and now that Thursday has come I am feeling as though my tummy is on the mend....fingers crossed.

Beyond the stomach issues, I am feeling great being "off the stuff". Sugar is evil. I am convinced. I know when I consume large amounts of sugar I feel like crap after the 'sugar bliss' wears off and while the first few days of detoxing myself suck, the end result is a much happier, much healthier, fat-burning Krystyn.

In other health craze related news, I have registered for the Pittsburgh Triathlon Adventure Race again this year! Its on August 1st...2 mile Kayak, 20k Bike, 5k Run. I really need to work on my biking because the first half of it is essentially uphill and last year it absolutely killed me. My legs were burned out for the run big time because I didn't prepare enough for the bike. I spent most of my time training on flat trails, this year I am going to try and crush the hills with my training.

Last year I finished 3rd in Athenas but wasn't happy with my overall performance because of the bike. The kayak took me 33:26, the bike 1:06:00 and the run 47:11 with transition 1 2:27 and transition 2 at 1:27. The bike was a horrible pace of 11:30 and the run was even worse at a pace of 14:45. Overall Time 2:30:30

My goals for this year are:

Kayak 30:00
T1 2:00
Bike Under 1 hour
T2 1:15
Run Under 40 minutes

Goal for Overall Time-- Under 2:15:00

In order to do this I need to get back in the boat and try and improve my time a little bit while also working on my upper body strength and core by doing lots of pushups & planks outside of my training. I plan on spending a lot of time on the bike up and down hills, all sorts of different terrain. By continuing to work on squats and lunges I should be able to help with the stability of my hips for the bike and the run. As for my runs, they just need to get better. I spent so much time working on endurance that now I need to work on pumping up my speed as well as Brick workouts (bike then run) to get my legs used to that feeling.

I have so many goals for myself but I need to remember to take everything one day at a time. Be proud of each little accomplishment and keep pushing myself.

In addition to all of this I feel as though last year Sara was really held back in the bike since we planned to start and finish together. I would really like to be better for her. If there is one thing I don't like it's feeling like I am holding someone else back or hindering their progress. I know that she would really like to medal this year for her age group and I don't want to be the reason she doesn't.

As for today I will stay the course with my low sugar intake and work on a training plan for the upcoming weeks.