Small steps, long-term change!

"Small, seemingly insignificant goals can turn into life-changing experiences in the blink of an eye"
-Susan Lacke

We all set long-term goals, I know I do, I just did actually: Ironman 70.3 Raleigh, NC June 1, 2014 and possibly a full Ironman in 2015.

I haven't officially signed up for either, because registration isn't open yet, but Raleigh is my goal half ironman and I've got a whole lot of expectations for that race. I want to be at least 20 lbs lighter, I want to be faster in the swim, bike AND run, I want to feel stronger, look better and hopefully place in the top 50%.

Yep, I've got big expectations and I think that's okay, but let's admit it, humans are bad at long-term goals. The further away and bigger the goal, the more likely we are to procrastinate, make excuses and shift our goal. Ironman makes it a little harder, because registration is mighty expensive, so once you register, you don't really want to back out, but I could probably finish the race at my current weight and speed, so why set such high expectations?

Honestly?

Because I can. Because I deserve to be the best version of me and because I WANT to be the best version of me.



While my mind has already made this lifestyle a habit, I know in order to reach my long-term goal, I'm going to have to set some short-term ones. More importantly, I'm going to have to set realistic, attainable short-term goals that will keep me motivated.

I'm a behavior analyst, I know all about motivation and behavior change. It's what I do for a living and it's definitely what I am doing for my own training. I recently already gave you the basics: pair and condition the activities, take small steps, reinforce yourself and find your motivation.

But what does this actually mean?

Shaping: When creating new routines, you have to shape up the behavior. In run training programs you'll often see the Saturday long runs increase by as little as 10% every week. Not only is this the healthiest thing to do for your body (to avoid injury), it's also the best thing to do for your mind. Remember what Susan said, small insignificant change can turn into life-changing experiences. You've got to shape up your behavior and if you do it in small enough steps, you won't even know you're changing. Don't compare yourself to others. Collect your baseline pace and distance and build up from there. Most importantly, take it easy. It's good to be sore, but if you train right you can avoid injuries. Trust me, I know. I went from having all kinds of knee injuries to being completely injury free once I started following a plan.

Balance: Elite and endurance athletes look at their CTL (chronic training load) to help them decide when and how much to train. As Matt Fitzgerald explains in Racing Weight, CTL looks at the average training stress which includes duration and intensity of workouts. Humans it turns out have a maximum CTL. Exceed the threshold and you crash, get close to it without exceeding it and you can thrive. If you're really into racing like me, it might be worth investing in a TrainingPeaks account or some other software that can help you track your CTL.

Another option is following these basic rules:
1. Listen to your body: Don't make excuses, but if you feel tired or overworked, re-assess your plan, take a day off, go easier on yourself during your workout. Again, do not make excuses, but take care of yourself.

2. Balance your sleep, nutrition and training: Are you training too hard? Are you getting enough sleep? Are you fueling your body enough? Studies have shown correlation between sleep & performance and nutrition & performance, so if you don't focus on all three, you won't get very far.

3. Take breaks: The general triathlon rule is to take a break every 12 weeks. In general, take a break after an A race (like I did this week after my first Olympic). In the half Ironman training plan I recently downloaded, the coach actually suggests a recovery period every 4 weeks of training. This doesn't mean you dont' do anything during the recovery, it just means you take it easy on your body.

4. Try High Volume, Low Intensity training: What this basically means is that you train more, at lower intensity. Sure you can do the reverse, but if you do that you're more likely to exceed your CTL threshold and crash or get injured. Try training at 80% below threshold and 20% above it. For example, if you're going to do speedwork, start with a warm-up and end with a cool-down and mix speed intervals with recovery intervals, so that only 20% of your workout was an all out effort and the rest was lower intensity.

Nutrition: Depending on your current nutritional habits, it might be unfeasible to cut out all sodas, junk food, processed foods and a bunch of calories. The thing is, you don't have to. Cut out little bits at a time, make replacements gradually and identify those things you just can't live without (for me that's a lot of stuff, including cupcakes, margaritas, chocolate, eggs benedict, and cheese, so I'm finding ways to eat a healthy balance of those things).

Cutting all your favorites out for good will not work and more importantly, it will make you miserable. This is a lifestyle change, so the last thing you want is to be miserable.

Last, but not least, celebrate progress. Set small goals and celebrate them when you reach them. Whether it's completing an Olympic triathlon, losing 5 pounds or cutting out sodas from your diet.
Set the goal, commit to it, track your progress and celebrate when you reach the finish!

Still on track!

July 23, 2012.

That's the last entry in this blog. I actually had to go back and read all the previous posts to remember where along the journey I was 8 months ago. A whole Summer, Fall and Winter have passed, but the good news is, I'm still on my journey!

A lot has happened in my 30th year of life, but one thing has stayed consistent: I am focused and determined to find my way back to fitness!

My journey is far from over. I'm only 7.5 lbs lighter than when I started, but I've lost inches all across my body and more importantly I am fitter than I've been in over 3 years and that after all is my end goal: to be fit and healthy.

When I started this blog I could barely run 20 minutes, but that is a thing of the past.  Just yesterday I completed the Nike Women's Half Marathon in DC in 2hr and 24min at a 11:03 min/mile pace. While I am nowhere near the fastest runner, I am happy to say that THAT is a personal record!

Since my last post I've actually completed 3 half marathons (getting faster every time) and 1 sprint triathlon and I've got another sprint triathlon and possibly 2 olympic triathlons coming up in the next few months.

Races, it turns out, might not be for everyone, but they are definitely for me.

I'll never mingle with the pros and I don't ever plan on winning, but the motivation to beat your own time, challenge your own abilities and continuously push to new distances, is enough to get me in my running shoes, on a bike or in a pool at least 5 times a week. I am a triathlete and I love it...and cross training, it turns out, is for me the absolute best way to get in shape and remain injury-free.

It also doesn't hurt that my athletic husband has also recently embraced races and together we are now working towards our (half)-ironman goal. Nothing like your significant other to help you wake up for a run when it's 40 degrees out or hold you accountable when the training schedule says swim.

Today, post-half marathon I'm allowed a day of rest, because we all deserve (and need) at least one day of rest per week, but tomorrow, it's back to the training schedule, which these days looks something like this:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
rest	swim/core	swim/run	bike/core	yoga	bike/run	swim/bike
	45min	60min	45min	60-90min	60min	60-90min

*Schedule is adapted from various triathlon books and guides, which I'll be sharing with you as I fine-tune my own training schedule.

It's a lot more intensive than when I started working out last June, but it's also a lot more focused on the goals I have in mind, starting with the Ladies' Choice Tri (400 yard swim, 8 mile bike and 2 mile run) which I'm trying to complete in as close to an hour as possible.  I know that a sprint tri is far from the ironman distance and 7.5lbs is far from the 20-25 lbs I want to lose, but small attainable steps will eventually lead to big changes and for now I am enjoying every step of the journey!

It's going to take time...

I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I AM FRUSTRATED!
I worked out 4 times last week, only went over my calories once, yet I am still stuck at 167 (only 0.5lbs from my starting weight almost a month ago). How am I supposed to stay motivated if I don't see results?

I'm sure this is a question many people ask themselves as they go through this journey. Gaining weight and becoming a couch potato is easy. Losing weight and becoming fit...not so much. It takes work and when we work we want results. 0.5lbs in 3 weeks is just not a strong enough reinforcer.

So have I given up? Not yet.

While I am definitely discouraged, I keep telling myself that I am following the right prescription and I should see results soon. I am actually stepping up the routine. This week I plan on working out 6 times and I'm going to track my diet even closer. While I haven't lost weight, I have realized how much I enjoy being active and feeling strong.

I've also been lucky to find a friend to go through this with. She started her journey a few weeks before I did and despite the fact that she lives in Hawaii, while I live on the East Coast, we're connected through MyFitnessPal and provide each other with support. She's lost 6 pounds already and keeps telling me to hang in there, because it took her a while before she started shedding pounds. It's nice to hear encouragement and see where I could be in a few weeks.

I'm still frustrated that the scale hasn't budged, but I guess it makes sense. Muscle weighs more than fat or actually a pound of muscle takes up less volume than a pound of fat, so as you convert fat to muscle you may not be losing weight, but you are shaping up and hopefully losing volume. I tested this theory and while my weight has stayed steady I've actually lost 1/2 inch around my waist and 1/2 inch around my hips. Not bad!

I'm also aware that increasing muscle also means increasing my metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Basically, the more I workout the more effective my body will become at burning calories, which means more calories burned, less stored. So while the pounds may not be coming off just yet, hopefully the fat has been decreasing. It's also motivating to know that shaping up means that I'll be able to do more and doing more means burning more. I've definitely seen the results of that already. The ab exercises feel easier and as my running distance has increased, so has my speed. For example, on June 21 I ran 1.2 miles at a 12:35 min/mile pace and on July 21 I ran 2.0 miles at a 10:57 min/mile pace. Harder, better, faster, stronger! (I should add that song to my running playlist)

Small achievements, that's my new strategy. The scale may not be showing me what I want, but other things are. Losing inches, gaining strength, it's all part of the journey to fitness. Of course I also want to lose 20 pounds, but I think that is the difference between a diet and a lifestyle change: it's more than the pounds and it's going to take time.