Closed Gyms, Rainy Days and Disappointments

Good old Lifetime Fitness ... closed this whole week for rennovations or something like that. Its a shame it couldnt have been shut down last week while all the triathletes were in recovery. But alas, no pool. Then, the lovely Chicago weather that has been blowing through here has been nothing but severe thunderstorms practically all week long, so no outside workouts. Thankfully, the pool portion of the club reopens tomorrow- Hallelujah!

While Ive been on shut down, I did some shopping on Amazon for some new books. I have purchased:

The Athletes Plate- Real Food for High Performance by Adam Kelinson

Strength Training for Triathletes by Patrick Hagerman

and

Workouts in a Binder- Swim Workouts for Triathletes by Gale Bernhardt and Nick Hansen.


They just arrived Wednesday, so I'll keep you updated on how well they work. There are a few things, off the top that I do have to say on the new books:

#1. This swim workout binder, is definitely NOT for the Sprint Triathlete. Considering that most sprinters dont swim more than a 1,000 m or 1200m by the time Tri day comes along, and the shortest workout in this binder is a 2500 m ( umm holy crud) Oh, wait. I stand corrected, these are all workouts in yards... but still, thats still a holy crud.

These will be a stretch even for me, and my heavy day is a 2000

I bet these could easily be modified though... It looks like they are broken up into 2 sets (A and B) so I'm assuming you could just do one of the sets and that would cut it in half. But that is still a lot more swimming than most people do.

I'm excited to get in the water and try these out though. They are broken down into different sections: Endurance Training, Endurance Speed Training, Muscular Endurance (Distance) Muscular Endurance (speed), Stroke Force, and Anaerobic Endurance. And the binder is about the size of a 4 x 6 note card and totall water proof (and stands upright for pool side viewing)

The Athletes Plate is not a Vegetarian book, however, the receipes look simple enough that I can modify them to work for vegetarians.

What I found interesting, which - warning- this will be a fairly long tangent, because this was the precipice of the entire saga that I am about to lay out- is that according to this book which uses the Harris-Benedict forumla for calculating Basal Metabolic Rate (ie- the amount of calories you need to consume just for your daily functions not including exercise.) And, according to this I should be consuming about 2100 calories a day- thats without exercise. When factoring in days where my workouts are 2 a days (at an hour each, the amount of calories that should have been consumed- according to this book should have been around 3800 calories. So, I most definitely under consumed (if this book is correct) throughout all of my training. Which would explain why I only lost 4 pounds, if in fact this is true.

So, in search of truth, I decided that I am going to find a nutritionist and figure this stuff out. That now, armed with my finishers Triathlon medal, people will have to take me seriously when I tell them how much I work out...because I have the medal to prove it. My husband changed jobs earlier this year, so we no longer have Cadillac Insurance... we have really crappy insurance now actually. But, we're about 80% sure that nutritionists are covered under the new insurance plan, because we took out the additional supplemental coverage- and the HR person that is at his company *thinks* that means they are covered but she isn't sure and isn't "authorized to answer those kinds of questions" so, the dietician said she would look into it for me.

Well, in order for it to be covered under insurance, I need a note from the Doctor saying that I have PCOS, and that seeing a dietician is in order to help get the disease in check. The doctor that originally diagnosed me (in 2004) I don't see anymore. I didn't like her and changed ob/gyne's probably about six months after I saw her. She was a really opinionated piece of work that refused to listen to you when you talked to her, and walked around as if she knew everything. Anyhow, I switched doctors. I send the sheet to my doctors office asking him to please fill this out, so that I can bring it in with me when I meet with the Dietician. Well, HE refuses to fill it out, because he isn't the one that diagnosed me with PCOS, and according to my records, the original Fertility Doctor that I saw, apparently wrote in my file that he disagreed with my diagnosis of PCOS because I am a-symptomatic (ie I have no cysts on my ovaries, I just have out of control hormones) - so he believed that with "diet and exercise" I would be perfectly fine. Yeah, the guy was a tool. My current Reproductive Endocrinolist pretty much said the other guy was an ahole. Just because I'm a symptomatic doesn't mean that I don't have it, my hormone levels are all crazy which is right in line with a PCOS patient etc etc. Except, he says he can't fill out the request for a dietician because he is an RE and the form calls for a Primary Care Physican or an OB/GYN. Are.You.Kidding.Me

I just want to go somewhere that I can say- LOOK- this is what I workout in a day... I'm a vegetarian, I have PCOS, help me.
And have them say okay eat X Y Z come back in 2 weeks.

Because everybody has an opinion on what should and shouldn't be eaten. Some say dairy is bad for PCOSers bc of the hormones in the milk, so buy soy others say Soy is the worst thing, just drink hormone free milk. Some day only complex carbs others say ohh no stay away from them completely. Some say yes to dairy some say no dairy. Some say the worst thing I could do for myself is to be a vegetarian. Well sorry I won't compromise my priniciples for anything, it just wont happen.

I' just frustrated beyond belief. For now, until I figure all this crap out, I'm going back to weight watchers. If nothing else, it will be good to have somewhere to be held accountable week after week. And, we know how much I love those pats on the head to keep me motivated.

The gym opens back up tomorrow, and I will be there bright and early. I have the next Tri to train for. Even though Im doing it as a relay with my dad and sister, I still plan to train for it as if I were doing the entire thing. I think I may do the whole thing anyway- even if we are in the relay category.. I haven't quite decided yet.

I intend to continue my brick workouts on Saturdays (tomorrow I won't lest I shock my lazy system which has been taking a loooong extended break the past two weeks) but from next Saturday until well, as long as I decide to the Triathlon and beyond! I will continue with bricks on Saturdays at the very least.

Alright, I had intended to post much more, but my short attention span has already derailed my thought train.

Have a good weekend everyone!

~Millie