First steps, again

After my last post, I vented my frustrations to a group of women who are so very near and dear to my heart. One of those AMAZEBALLS women is none other than THE Swim Bike Mom, Meredith Atwood. She's been running Swim Bike Fuel with the lovely and talented Meredith Vieceli for awhile now. When the program first launched, I didn't have the funds to take part. Then round 2 dinged. And round 3. And round 4. And I still didn't have the funds. Well. Something clicked (or popped open on my shorts...) this past weekend and I decided that I am just done, done, done. After talking it over with Meredith, I decided NOW is the time to invest in myself. Not just by throwing money at races and training myself into exhaustion. Not just by buying fancy new tri gear. Not just by saying and not doing. I'm going to start with the most basic building blocks and fix my nutrition once and for all.

There's been a common denominator in all three of my 70.3 races - nutrition. It suffers on race day. That part is easy for me to admit. 99 calories on a 3.5-hour bike is absurd. It's taken a while for me to admit this, but it suffers before race day, too. I usually manage to eat pretty clean the week before a race, but in general, I eat entirely too much Blue Bell, entirely too much bread, entirely too much crap. I've had friends approach me about Beach Body, Plexus, p90x, and anything in between. I know in my heart that this does not require a magic bullet. It requires discipline and knowledge. The discipline I have. The knowledge I lack. I *think* I know, but all of the knowledge I've acquired contradicts itself and makes zero sense and I just wind up sabotaging myself on a daily basis.

Enter Swim Bike Fuel and, hopefully, the beginning of a whole slew of healthy changes for me AND for my family. The program doesn't start until July 1, but I'm trying to implement healthy changes right now. Less coffee. More water. I finally broke down and bought that blasted chicken sausage Meredith is always talking about. I nearly choked when I paid $6 for 4 sausages, but I'll be danged if it isn't delicious. I froze some Greek yogurt today to replace my beloved Blue Bell. It'll do.

I posted bathroom selfies earlier this week. Today I stepped on the scale. Again, I can't believe I'm putting this out there, but it said 156.8. I don't have a goal weight. I don't have a dress size I'm trying to fit into. I just want to give my body what it needs to do the things I'm asking it to do. As Mere said, I'm ready to "rawk the avocado."

322 days to IMTX17.