Tri/Bi/Du-athlon

On my bucket list is to participate in a triathlon (again) as a team member (read: I don't want to run). When my local YMCA announced its annual February triathlon with the option to NOT participate in one of the three events, I thought "this is for me!" ... so I'm counting it as a bucket list item. Because my original objective was do to a triathlon without the running. ;)

Which brings me to the name of the event. The Y has it listed as a Tri/Biathlon. Right? Makes sense?

A friend so kindly pointed out the actual meaning of Biathlon as: "a composite athletic contest consisting of cross-country skiing and rifle sharpshooting." Hmm....not exactly the intent of the club, I'm sure. But brings me a little grin.

The way the Y has it set up is you can choose from several levels, starting at 3 mile swim/20 mile run/60 mile bike (you have all of Feb to do it). I thought "I could easily do the swim and bike, but the point is to challenge yourself." Which means I went to the next level: 6 mile swim and 90 mile bike. I used to swim summer league, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. And I've biked 90+ miles in one day before, so I knew that wouldn't be trouble. And it hasn't been (so far).

Here's the rub, though. I've easily done 2 sessions of 12 miles on the bike. Cake. On Friday, though, I decided to do a little swimming (1 mile = roughly 1600 meters). When I'd swim leisurely before, swimming 1000 meters was about par for the course. I wouldn't be too winded, could swim 200-300 consecutively, no problem. WELL ... let me just say IT AIN'T SO EASY AFTER PUTTING IN ALMOST AN HOUR ON THE BIKE. After 50 meters (down and back), I was huffing and puffing. Seriously. After 100 meters, I decided swimming an entire mile/1600m was unrealistic for the day. I felt like I was wimping out and only did a half a mile. When it was all said and done, I huffed and puffed my way into the hot tub in the ladies locker room and collapsed. Maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I thought?

My goal is to keep powering on the bike, and maybe work up to more time in the pool. But if I keep going at my current biking pace, I should be able to finish off the biking in about another week and a half, which will still leave me plenty of time (and energy!) to tackle the swimming.

My life sans sugar

Some of you have heard me whining. Lately, it's been A LOT.

A few weeks ago, I had some testing done and my body is hyper-sensitive to added sugars and yeast. As a result, I'm trying to cut out added sugar in my eating routines.

Growing up with 3 diabetics in the house, I thought this would be a piece of cake. It turns out I was pretty much dead wrong. When a diabetic eats some extra sugar, they just take insulin to counter-act it. Me? I'm supposed to have a zero-tolerance approach. So it doesn't work quite the same way.

Everything (and I DO mean EVERYTHING) from cream of mushroom soup to crackers to chicken broth to chicken nuggets has sugar in it. *roll eyes*

It's fortunate that I like to cook and have a knack for throwing things into a pot that go well together, or I'd seriously starve!

It's also fortunate that I've started making my own hummus, because I can eat that, and it's a great source of protein! :) And as luck would have it, the ONLY cracker I found that does NOT have sugar is Triscuits.


Triscuits are one of my best friends, but I love them all the more now. And, since I've had to kiss bread goodbye for the time being, they serve as a platform from which I can eat tuna + cheese, as well as other tasty meat tidbits. And they have a great crunch.

SO, you ask what it is that I AM eating? Lots of veggies, meats, rice cakes, NATURAL peanut butter ...


This is a great tangent story. Late last week, Erik was munching a PBJ next to me. And I could just SMELL the sugar in the Peter Pan goodness ... I almost ripped it out of his hands, ran to another room and locked myself in it to shove it in my face ... but I did not. But you can bet that Erik got LOTS of kisses after he finished devouring that sandwich. :)

The first week off of sugar was absolutely AWFUL. I had several meltdowns. I nearly had one in the middle of the grocery store when I realized all ham and bacon is cured with sugar. That means no ham and bean soup. :(

And did I mention that my body was revolting, I constantly craved sugar and I was in extreme physical pain? Like worse than normal. And *someone* ate a big tub of hummus I had my eye on. It was a rough week. Not me at my best.

But it's getting better. I still want to rip Peter Pan PBJs from Erik's hands, don't get me wrong. But the pain has subsided to muh more manageable levels. And I'm getting a better hang of what foods I can get at the grocery store.

The biggest victory so far? Eating out. We went to lunch with my brother, and pretty much the only thing I could order on the menu was steak. Now, I'm not a girl that normally orders steak when eating out, but I had very few other options (and did I mention I was STARVING?!???!?). So I did. And guess what? I was FULL for the first time in several days. It was fantastic! (that was during the first week when my body hurt all over and I was hungry 24/7. I seriously woke up at 5 a.m. once because I was SO hungry!).

The biggest surprise? I actually think I like eating natural peanut butter and no-sugar added jelly on RICE CAKES. Yeah, it sounds trippy and crazy, but I really am digging the CRUNCH when I eat them. :)

Another plus is that I have to really think in advance about what I'm going to be eating for the week. Right now, I have 2 cookbooks strewn about, trying to figure out dinners for the week. I think I'm going to attempt cooking with a "fryer chicken" this week in the slow cooker ... we'll see how that goes! I'm also looking forward to Amanda's Rosemary Chicken Rice soup that is SO yummie ... and I can eat ALL of the ingredients!!! WAHOO!!! :)

The one loose end I'm trying to figure out is fruit. I've been eating plenty of meat and veggies, but fruits contain natural sugar. Some of them contain a LOT of natural sugar. So, since I'm trying to starve out candida, and it feeds on sugar, should I axe fruits, too? I can't seem to get a consensus from anyone. But I'm feeling better, and eating only a serving or two of fruits per day, so it seems to be an OK compromise.

Now, eventually, the goal is to be able to re-introduce foods with sugar (ham, wine and beer, please?) into my eating patterns, but for the time being, I guess you would say that I'm in 'detox' from sugar and yeast products.

# 97 — Lift weights 2x week for 3 months (to encourage strong bones and fight off osteoporosis)

YIPPIE!!!!!!!!!!! :)

I'm RELIEVED to be done with the whole "Lift weights 2x week for 3 months" ... my goal was to just get in a good habit because I'm a slacka in that arena. And I know osteoporosis is a very real part of one of my grannies, so if I know what I could be fighting, why not start fighting it now?

Well, I have been good about about doing it at least twice a week. Sometimes three times a week. :)

Ok, so I don't look like THIS:


But at the same time, I absolutely KNOW my legs are all sorts of stronger. I think the BIG bonus of this is hopefully my rockin' strong legs. When we shoot (especially weddings, as we have the next few weeks), there's TONS of squatting going on to get low for awesome photos. SO with awesome, strong leg muscles, hopefully I won't be so stinkin' sore after 12 to 16 hours of solid shooting.

This is the 30th item I've been able to check off of my 101 in 1001 list. :)

Diabetes

A friend of mine sent me a message, asking for some resources for a friend of theirs whose child was recently diagnosed w/ diabetes. Growing up in a family of diabetics, I'm happy to help. :)

The point I made to him was it's a VERY livable condition. I also like to point out you can still be a rock star if you've got it. Mick Fleetwood of one of our favoritest groups, Fleetwood Mac, does.

So I checked out THIS article online ... and the list of celebs is ASTOUNDING.

Here are a few:


Halle Berry


Larry King


Mary Tyler Moore


Mike Huckabee


Mick Fleetwood


Aretha Franklin


Nick Jonas


Andrew Lloyd Weber


Jay Cutler

And the list truly continues ... CLICK HERE if you want to check it out.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't include some informative links.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
American Diabetes Association