Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Recovery

Sunday was the last day of off-season for me (finally). I really missed having the routine of training and I also noticed it was MUCH harder to make healthy eating choices while I was less active. It was also harder to motivate to do anything because I got stuck in lazy mode. I tend to be very Vata, so without routine I can become imbalanced and spin a little out of control. Because of this, taking a break really makes me appreciate my very active lifestyle. I had visions of days filled with working, hiking, rollerblading, yoga and crazy amounts of cooking. Instead I played with a puppy, twittered, played with a puppy, slept, hiked with a puppy and caught up with non-triathlete friends. Believe me, it was far from terrible.



Training

And I have a new coach! I’m really excited about this because I have this friend Phil and I pretty much think whatever he does (triathlon) is what I should do. He used this very same coach for kicking ass at IMLP this year and now that I’m in for next year it’s clear that I should just do whatever Phil did. You can check him out at www.johnhirsch.org.

Monday - was day #1 of my new training plan. It was a rest day. Boy did I feel rested by Tuesday.

Tuesday - ran easy for 45 mins.

Wednesday - went to the pool in my bikini and swam 2500 yds.

Thursday – should have been on my bike for an hour but my bike gears are broken so I spent the bike hour wishing REALLY HARD for a shiny new bike.

Friday – did the famed ZenTriathon Mega Swim Workout. Swam 3000 yds in an hour with rest intervals. I started doing this workout in the summer and it helped make me faster but my arms started to get really buff. I had to cut back on it because boys were afraid to talk to me. It’s like aqua-steroids.

Diet

During my “off-season” (it was 4 weeks), I gained a little bit of weight. If you know me in person you know that this is NOT a bad thing at all. I’m not underweight and I’m within a healthy range, but I need to work at my diet to keep weight on when I train a lot. So for 4 weeks I stuck with a healthy diet but it was a very relaxed healthy diet. I had treats, I paid less attention to increasing protein and I obviously didn’t eat any training foods. I was still eating gluten-free and mostly vegetarian (more on that later). I noticed that the less active I was, the more food I ate AND the more junk I craved. This is a perfect example of the Primary and Secondary Food theory that I teach to my clients. Anyway, I don’t have “skinny” jeans and “fat” jeans but I do apparently have “off-season” and “on-season” jeans. I made the switch and appreciated my new WOMANLY figure (boobs and butt). Normally I look more like a tall little boy :)

So now that I’m back on with my training I’m also back on with my training diet. I already notice the difference in my cravings and hunger level. My on-season plan is simple:

- start my day with my Nutiva Hemp Shake
- plan my meals around vegetables then add protein and carbs/grains
- continue keeping my diet free of wheat (because I have a wheat sensitivity)
- consume minimal amounts of caffeine, alcohol, dairy (yogurt is an exception), sugar and processed foods



I have to say that this healthy eating and awesome training has both improved and become easier because I have so much support from my boyfriend. I’m so grateful and feel very lucky to have him in my life… which is not to say that I would discredit past relationships, every one has been valuable and beautiful in its own way. I’ve always been a lucky girl.

I Feel Pretty

Just a quick funny story... I'm blogging it because it was too long to tweet :)

So this week I'm back in the pool because I started a brand spankin' new training plan. I also recently moved into a new apartment and have been unable to locate my "sporty" swimsuit in my yet-to-be-unpacked boxes. My dilemma: the thought of wasting my new coach's time by missing workouts already was depressing... so I went to the pool anyway, armed with the only swimsuit I could find (a pretty white string bikini complete with sparkles, flowers and sequins). I wore an old race swim cap in hopes that people (other triathletes) might still take me seriously.

Today was my second swim in this fabulous get-up. I was doing a crazy hard interval workout by Brett and at one point a man stopped me and said, "yoo muss be european". So I was all, "why? are europeans wicked fast swimmers too?" and he was like, "no, becuss yoo are weering ze string beekeenee".

So much for being a badass.

I Eat Boys Like Bobby for Breakfast: ToughGirl Race Report

Once again, the fun began at the HFWT the day before the race. It was awesome having everyone together to fit bikes, go to packet pick-up, and chow down. I love hanging with my buds before, after and even during tri-events. That's what it's all about for me. THANK YOU to Kate and Phil for always having your doors open.

This was my first official half-iron distance triathlon. The course was definitely Tough and the run was INSANE, which I kinda loved. I was also racing @IronmanBobby because he decided to pick on a girl and I wanted to teach him a lesson.

Since people ask me all the time about training and racing foods (for some reason) I'll include my nutrition details. For breakfast I had 2 eggs, gluten free toast, water and coffee.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous before the race. I don't race often so I don't have a great pre-race set-up and packing routine. I was sure I'd forget something. My main focus was to get through the swim because that's the part that makes me the most anxious. Before the swim I had a delicious banana since breakfast was a few hours earlier. Starting the swim was weird because the water was shallow (hip level) and everyone was walking out pretty far. Someone once told me that as long as your hands aren't touching the bottom you should be swimming. So I started swimming as soon as I could. The water was choppy and it made it hard to know if I was staying on course. And it tasted funny. I know, I'm not supposed to drink it.

Swim: 37:23

Coming out of the water I was told that I was in second place (in my race against Bobby) but I wasn't concerned. I knew he'd beat me in the swim. T1 was slow because I was thinking about how much I hate triathlon and that it was stupid that I signed up for IMLP 2010. On the way out a guy fell over next to me or I pushed him. I can't remember. I thought he was Bobby.

T1: 2:31

I started out taking it easy on the bike to save a bit for the run (where I would squish Bobby). I was also on a borrowed bike and didn't want to crash (again) so I needed more time to get used to it. Once I settled in I started my gel every hour and race cookie at halfway plan. At about the 8 mile point I heard someone yell "Go Holisticguru!!!" and I was all, "who the heck was that?" I thought about who came to the race with me and none of my peeps volunteered. This guy was wearing a volunteer shirt. So then I realized I didn't know him. He knew me. Then I realized I was famous. Then I was thinking how am I going to wear a big floppy hat and oversized sunglasses when I'm racing so that I'm not always recognized by my crazed fans? Then I realized I was getting ahead of myself. Regardless, that guy got me all pumped and that was the moment when I started racing. His name was @IronmanLongRunr.

The rest of the bike was hilly and fun. I started to think about how much I love triathlon and how psyched I am that I registered for IMLP 2010.

Bike: 3:25:18

As I got closer to transition I saw Bobby already on the run but walking up a hill. He was pretty far ahead of me but the fact that he was walking meant that I could likely catch him. Even if he just walked up the hills. T2 was uneventful.

T2: ?

As I exited the park I ate a race cookie. I was on a mission and I set out to catch Bobby, with a HUGE smile on my face. I LOVE running and I decided that my run goal would be not to walk, not even for a second, no matter how tough it got. At mile 4 I passed Phil coming from the other direction as he was almost done with the race. There was a guy in front of me (#111) and I decided to keep him in my sight. I liked his pace. Running over the dam was beeyouteeful and it led to a switchbacky trail nightmare. The kind of nightmare I live for. I didn't walk even though most people did. I caught #111 and ran with him while chatting him up instead of walking. Just before the turn around I saw Grant and he told me that he saw Bobby ahead of me but I would cach him because he was taking walk breaks. I gave him a high five as a thank you for the information. Then I saw Bobby (after he passed the turn around) and he said that I would catch him by mile 9. I picked up the pace and #111 came with me :)

After the second time crossing the dam there was a huge downhill. I was going to warn my new friend that I run SUPERFAST downhill but decided to surprise him. He couldn't keep up. I dropped him. Running downhill, out of his life forever. I bet I'm his girl who got away.

Meanwhile, I was having a gel every hour and water at almost every aid station. I kept thinking everyone in front of me was Bobby. I climbed the Fake Bobbies like a ladder until I caught him at mile 11. He was taking a walk break (turns out he had a run/walk plan that worked really well for him). I told him to run with me, slowly, and we could finish holding hands. He said we had 17 minutes to run 2 miles and finish under 6 hours. I thought that would be pretty sweet but knew it was too early to pick up the pace without having my wheels fall off. Bobby decided to try anyway and ran ahead. Wicked fast. As the distance between us grew, as I was holding steady, Bobby was screaming and cheering for me "COME ON GURU! LET'S DO THIS!" At that moment I loved Bobby and I loved triathlon and racing. I also missed Coach Adam because if he was there screaming at me I would have been running a 6 min mile the rest of the way.

Sadly, Bobby blew up in the last quarter mile. He was walking again and I tried to get him to come with me. He just cheered for me and told me to keep going. He rocks.

I sprinted to the finish hearing "here comes #234, Christine from NYC, with an impressive sprint to be finishing a HIM".

Run: 1:57:59

Phil, Kate and John were waiting there for me at the finish. I was SO happy to have them there. As soon as I collected my hugs, a bee stung me on the neck. Asshole.

1st HIM finish time: 6:03:09

6th in my AG

Thank you again to Phil and Kate for being the awesomest kind of friends. Thank you to John for lending me pretty much everything I needed and for being a kick ass athletic supporter. And thank you to Bobby for pushing me (he ended up with a 45 minute PR).

I've been so many places

I've traveled all over Europe, but the US is foreign to me. I grew up on the East coast, I've stayed somewhat local, I've been to the states that touch my own. I went to Florida when I was too young to remember and SF twice to visit friends and attend a wedding. That's about it. This summer I decided to go on tour. Or, well, it sort of happened that way. The best part is that I can call it "work" even though its been exhaustingly fun. If I manage to squeeze in a podcast or an interview, counseling sessions or a blog post, I'm working. If I laugh until my abs are sore I'm playing. Most of the time I'm doing both. I love what I do.

*The fun (hard work) started the last weekend in June with our Mega Deth Training Weekend in Lake Placid. Then I flew to TX to finally meet Texafornia in real life. I laughed and "worked" my ass off there.

Some Texass cactus. I wasn't skeered.

*From TX I took the following week/end with the fam in MA for a race that I completely flaked out of by not registering in time. I ended up having a beautiful solo ride along the MA/NH coast instead, which I can't wait to do again.

*Then I flew to Oregon to visit my good friend and web designer Molly Bermea. It was an awesome non-triathlon related weekend. We went rafting and hiking and I got to relax, a lot. We even ended up on a CA beach at one point (which I am SO counting as a destination when I tally up my summer travels).

*After OR I had less than a day in NYC before packing up and heading back to Lake Placid for IMLP. That totally rocked. And yes, I completed my self-supported HIMs and had a ton of fun. All the guys had a great Ironman day and I signed up for IMLP 2010 (no biggie).

This is what the sky looked like after I registered for IMLP. I think it's a good sign.

*During my Lake Placid trip I took 2 separate days to be the airport limousine service for some friends to Burlington, VT. While I was there I made a day (or 2) of it.

This is the car I drove to VT. The car happens to be ON A BOAT.

*Back to NYC for 3 days then to Block Island for a visit and a race. John won the BI sprint overall and I scored 1st in my AG. I should race more. So I'm gonna.

Yesterday I had a blast at Coney Island. Thursday I'll be at an amusement park in Bristol, CT. Saturday I head to West Virginia for a race. Virginia is for lovers, not workers. When do I work? This IS work. My life RULEZ.

Totally Naked Self-Supported Endeavor

(Pic: One of my favorite gems in our Lake Placid house)

Next week I’m headed back to Lake Placid to support my tri-peeps for their IM. Last year’s IMLP trip was ridiculous amounts of fun and we have another great group this year. I’ll be staying in our usual house with Rambonie, Phil, Javier, Bill, Farrah, Gustavo, Michelle, Nathan and Kristine. And now we even have Triboomer right next door! I’m seriously giddy about this. I can’t wait to help my friends by being a sherpa, a cook, and a cheerleader. As an extra bonus, I get to hang with Kate Lavoie and Janet Brode (two of the greatest tri-wifes ever).

So I figured that since I’ll be there, and since the course will be marked, and since I love to train… I’m gonna do another self-supported HIM on the IMLP course the day before the race. Rambonie and I did this last year and it was fricking awesome. We also got the better weather of the 2 days (fingers crossed for good weather this year). So on Saturday I’m going to do one loop of the swim, bike and run. David Mak and Jackie V are both going to join me for all or part of the “event”, and we may even be joined by some other tweeps. And of course, keeping with tradition, the event has a name. I’ve decided to call it the Half-Naked self-supported HIM for 3 reasons:

1. We will be scantily clad because we are triathletes.
2. The word “naked” draws attention (which I like).
3. I have been on a mission for the past year to be 100% myself, honest, genuine and authentic almost to the point of discomfort. This has actually been incredibly enriching and has opened up so many new opportunities with work, friends, family, etc. I sometimes call this “being naked” with people. So the Half-Naked is dedicated to this mission. It shall be a celebration.

One more thing… I was in Lake Placid for a Mega Deth Training Weekend only a few weeks ago. The purpose of the trip was to be a big push in training, on the race course, for my IMLP tri-peeps. Well, being that I lub them and hanging out with them always happens simultaneously with swimming, biking and running, it turns out that I’ve trained a lot more than needed to complete a HIM. The LP training weekend made me realize that the Half-Naked wouldn’t be enough of a challenge. I know I can do it. I wanna do something that I’m not sure I can do. Soooo… I decided to do ANOTHER Half-Naked, completely alone, on the Friday before. Yes, an IM distance split into 2 days. Of course this will be called Totally Naked. And I really don’t know if I CAN do it. Although, I do know I’m a badass, so I’m betting that I can.

If anyone else wants to spend time Half-Naked with me, let me know and I’d love to have you join in. Unfortunately for you all, I only get Totally Naked by myself :)

I'm a BIG STAR on the latest Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast

Check out the show from my visit to Texas (via http://texafornia.squarespace.com/):

Click here to listen

"Christine Lynch (Twitter.com/holisticguru) came down to Texas from her hometown of Harlem to show us how to shop and cook better. In return, we took her on a killer bike ride and then to Lance's bike shop in Austin.

Christine proved herself to be a grocery store ninja and also a master of hot bike rides. She had a great time and we truly enjoyed her visit.

Listen in to get lots of shopping and cooking tips from a true master.

Shownotes!

• Christine, Kai, and Brett making hemp milkshakes with ingredients from Nutiva. Thanks, Nutiva!
• Christine and Brett out on the Ride of Truth. 70 miles in the hot Texas sun... Will she crack?
• We take Christine to the weirdest 4th of July party ever.
• Off to Barton Springs for some swimming and trail running.
• Partying at Mellow Johnny's bike shop.
• Driving from Austin to Houston in the ZenTri Mobile Studio."

Wicked Training Weekends

I've had two mega awesome training weekends recently. I luv swimming, biking and running but it only gets better when I travel for it.. and when I'm surrounded by my best buds... and when our sponsors send us tons of delicious nutrition to stuff in our faces. My Nutiva friend, Mark, is the bestest for rushing the stuff through the mail to get there in time for the madness.

First we had the Mega Deth Training Weekend in Lake Placid. The boys are all training for IMLP and that means that I sometimes train for IMLP. That also makes me a badass because I'm not even doing an Ironman this year. I should also mention that I never really felt like I needed to recover from the 19 hrs of training in 4 days because my nutrition was perfectly spot on. I felt incredible. The weekend went something like this:

• *Friday - Load up the car with the essentials (Phil, Javier, bikes, Nutiva goodies, Nuun goodies, Action Wipes, and ONE Coconut Water). Then swim 4k at Pond Blanco and run 10 miles before driving to Lake Placid to meet up with Rambonie and Jen.
• *Saturday - ride an LP loop (56 miles) then stop for snacks (Nutiva energy bars and ONE coconut water) then start another loop and cut it short due to a mysterious cycling accident by Javier (Crash Gomez). After a short break, a run loop (13 miles).
• *Sunday - Hemp shakes for brekky, made with coconut water to fuel up for another bike loop (56 miles) followed by a 3 mile run then a 2k swim in Mirror lake. We had to be on the road by 6pm to head home and people were psyched that we shared our sponsor goodies which also left us with less stuff to pack into the car.
• *Monday - A spontaneous 14 mile run with Phil because we're just nuts, then recovery hemp shakes made with ONE acai juice (such a yummy mix). Phil is officially hooked, even though hemp is NOT addictive. It's a choice... a smart one.

Next up was my trip to Texas to meet Texafornia in real life and survive the Ride of Truth:

• *Thursday - Missed my connecting flight in Dallas because of a delay in NYC, but didn't mind because I got to meet Triboomer and his wife. I have so many people to thank for helping/ offering to help with that situation as soon as they saw my updates on Twitter. Triboomer picked me up in Dallas and drove me to Waco, TX (3 hrs round trip) to meet Texafornia in Waco and drive back to College Station (3 hrs for him as well). This was all pretty crazy, especially since the airline offered to put me up in a hotel, but Tex said no to that because we had a trail run scheduled for the morning. Crazy, I know.
• *Friday - Trail run with Texafornia. We were joined by his 4-year-old triathlete son Kai. I hope to be as tough as Kai someday. He started out on his mtn bike and finished up by running with us. Then we made hemp shakes and had a taste test with Kai. We recorded audio of this which is supposedly hilarious, listen for it on the Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast via iTunes. After that we went on a healthy food shopping tour, joined by @Envirogisgirl and a cooking lesson (Sweet Potato Quesadillas) for our pre-ride dinner. We also made potato wedges with Nutiva coconut oil to fuel our ride.
  
• *Saturday - ROT ride. I took the healthy hippie approach to fueling for this event by drinking my TOP SECRET maple syrup energy drink, and eating potato wedges and dates. I won't say much because you'll just listen to the podcast. I will say that it was 121 degree (heat index) when we finished the 70 mile windy ride. I survived and didn't complain once. I did feel like I got hit by a train for days afterwards. That night we went to a 4th of July party where we saw nothing that was weird. Not one bit.
• *Sunday - Hemp shakes for everyone before our trip to Austin and Barton Springs for a swim lesson. If you ever have a chance to get a swim lesson with Texafornia, jump on it. It was awesome and I now have a few things to work on that will make me a more efficient swimmer. At 2pm, in the heat of Texas, we decided that it wouldn't be insane to do a trail run for 45 mins. After that we suffered heat stroke, jumped in the water again, then went to Mellow Johnny's for a Tour party. We also did another healthy shopping tour with ZenTriNurse (Texafornia's fabulous wife).

The above photo was taken right before the Ride of Truth. I do not have an explanation for Texafornia's behavior here.