Derby diet challenges and triathlon tribulations

*peeks head over parapet*

Woah, so that went better than I thought. Thanks to everyone who posted their thoughts about my last post, both here and on facebook. It gave me a lot to think about and given I'm still on leave that's no bad thing.

I'm keeping a food diary this week because I'm going to work through my diet with a nutritionist (and fellow Mascara Massacre skater) later this month. Figured that instead of guessing or making half-assed attempts at research on The Googles, I should really talk to someone who knows what the hell they're on about. Cunning.

With the new year and the new season just a few short weeks away, a few skaters I know have been following the Total Body Transformation challenge, as set down by a couple of Rocky Mountain Roller Girls. It's worth checking out if you're interested in a ninety-day fitness challenge and as it's derby-orientated you can imagine there's a lot of positivity and encouragement (of the kickass kind) to be found there!

I'm not going to start a new blog for TBT or follow it precisely, but I do think it's a good idea. My reasons for not going with it are this:

• I'm focusing on nutrition and exercise for the rest of the triathlon season and I think signing up for a different fitness challenge might take some of my focus
• It advocates a six days of diet good behaviour and one day "off" a week. Whilst I think that's fine in theory, I know it doesn't work for me (too easy for one day off to become one and a half, then the weekend, then the weekend and Friday evening, and so on). 

If any of you are taking up the challenge though, please let me know how you get on!

THREE HOURS!

Today was meant to be a skating day but the rain kept making itself known and I really didn't fancy a repeat of the last time I went outdoor skating (which resulted in a 2km walk home in bare feet, carrying my skates in an absolute deluge), so instead I spent a bunch of money I didn't really have on upgrading my ancient mountain bike to make it more road (and therefore triathlon) friendly. A local bike shop is sadly closing down (despite my best efforts) so I got a new set of tyres, a new helmet (I'll leave the derby helmet for derby I think) and a set of totally kick-ass cycling shoes with holes for clip-ons for $110! Given the shoes had an original sticker price of over $400 I think I spent my money wisely (even though I can't afford the pedals and clips until after next payday- Xmas is expensive). The rest of the afternoon turned into a comedy of errors as I tried to swap the tyres over, took the chain off for a long-overdue clean, reattached everything, broke all my tyre levers, made a huge mess, and finally discovered once everything was in place that I'd managed to puncture my rear inner tube getting the new tyre on. In what turned out to be THREE places. I eventually got it all sorted (thank god tea exists) and now my bike looks much more different to how it did. Strange that changing one little thing would have such an effect! Quite proud of my efforts though, I think I learned more about bike maintenance in the last 12 hours than I have in the preceding 20 years (when I got shown how to fix a puncture by my very practical mother)

If you have places like this nearby, swim them!

I went for my first outdoor training swim today, nudged on by one of the current fresh meat intake (who runs marathons so automatically has my ear on such things). Pretty much all the swimming I've ever done that's not involved scuba gear or at least a mask and snorkel has been in a pool, but as all triathlons are outdoors and the sea is free I figure I should move my training outdoors as much as possible. It was really good, I stuck to my "only swim using freestyle" rule and swam for about 40 minutes (with the odd break here and there to orient myself, disentangle myself from seaweed and pull a razor-sharp shell out of my foot). There's a really nice, quiet beach about 5km from my house so eventually the aim needs to be to run there, swim, and run back again!

Once I got home I felt I should go for a run, as it had been a few days and I was itching for it. I hate to say it but it wasn't one of my better efforts, I feel like I'm running out of steam really quickly when I run recently and I'm taking more walking breaks. They're short, but there nonetheless. I'm not sure why, but I need to find my running mojo again. I love the idea of it, I love getting out there but just seem to...stop after about 25 minutes. I don't feel hugely exhausted, out of breath or ill, I just grind to a halt.

If anyone has any suggestions why, please let me know! Other than "my brain is lazy", of course.