During my post-race euphoria I had to work very hard at convincing myself that going rollerblading almost immediately after returning home from my race would have been a very bad idea. I knew that I needed to let my body rest and ignore the adrenaline rush I was still experiencing hours after the race had ended. Nevertheless, less than 24 hours after crossing the finish line, I found myself biking 40km on the first Sunday Bike Day of the season. For those of you who are not familiar with Ottawa’s Sunday bike days, they refer to a five hour period on Sunday mornings where several roads are closed to motorists to make way for runners, rollerbladers, and of course cyclists! It creates the ideal conditions for biking with a partner because you have room to bike side by side and can avoid the awkward backwards conversations. My Olympic distance training plan had me biking 1 hour and 50 minutes yesterday and that number will steadily increase week by week to 2 hours and 35 minutes before race day hits. Needless to say, I appreciate having some pretty wonderful company on these long rides!
I have also come to realize over the course of the last week that while my workouts intensify, my portion sizes will have to increase as well. I already feel like I am constantly eating, but to keep my energy levels up and my muscles happy, I will be increasing my carb and protein intake over the next few weeks. I wish that my parents didn’t live so far away so that I could borrow their huge crockpot to make a big patch of turkey chili (recipe courtesy of a triathlon/sports nutrition website called “The Core Diet”). I usually spend one afternoon a week cooking and prepping my food for the upcoming week. Breakfast is by far my favourite meal of the day and I currently have an obsession with oatmeal, fresh berries, and egg whites. I literally eat this almost every single day, although sometimes I have been known mix it up on the weekends and substitute oatmeal for a bowl of quinoa topped with strawberries, bananas, and sprinkle of chopped pecans and almond milk! Delish!
My staples for lunch and my morning snack include but are not limited to:
- no bake chocolate almond protein bars (thank you Michelle Fawcett!)
- vanilla protein pumpkin loaf (from “The Core Diet” with a few modifications)
- greek quinoa salad with chickpeas (I have Caro Mayo to thank for this obsession)
- Jamie Eason’s turkey meatloaf muffins (try them – they are delicious and so portable!)
I also recently found a recipe on Pinterest for Dark chocolate powercakes with strawberry chia jam which I plan to try sometime in the very near future!
As for my dinners… they have been kind of all over the place lately, but I really can’t complain about that. I have been thoroughly enjoying dinner dates, epic meal time with Emily, and catching up with old friends that I missed during my brief hiatus from Ottawa
Now that I have one race under my belt, I feel refreshed and excited to continue my training. I couldn’t be more thankful for my flexible work schedule which allows me to make my own hours and to work from home from time to time. I often find myself heading into the office bright and early so that I can take an extended lunch break to fit in my workouts, especially those swims because:
“If it’s important, you’ll find a way. If it isn’t, you’ll find an excuse”
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