Like many of the people I coach, I originally came to exercise and aerobic activity as a way to manage my weight and burn calories. As I got more interested in marathon running and triathlon I’ve become more focused on fitness and performance rather than calories and this has helped to temper an unhealthy obsession with size and weight loss.
My obsession with Ironman and being the best triathlete I can be also comes with a little bit of interest in weight management – after all the better my power to weight ratio, the faster I’ll and the lighter I am the faster I’ll run.
Anyway, my hearty appetite and friendship with chocolate (particularly at times of high stress) means that weight management is an ongoing learning process for me! (See I’ve made that sound positive!)
The good news is now that I’m in my 40s, I’ve have learned not to be completely obsessed by this. And I know that in the overall scheme of things consistent training, being strong, moving well and not being injured actually have far more impact on my performance than my weight.
However, I’m still learning about healthy eating, what works for me, and trying out new recipes and foods. Most of all I’m still learning about how to fuel myself for training, how to manage my appetite and what race day nutrition might look like.
Over the last few weeks I’ve had some serious HANGRY appetite moments which nothing seems to satisfy and I’ve been at a loss of what else to eat. Although I’ve been swimming in the morning for years without breakfast recently I’ve had a HANGRY attack during my warm up and a slice of toast before swimming just doesn’t seem to cut it. I found myself dreaming about lemon Dalek cake in the middle of a morning yoga class rather than focussing on my downward dog and did almost leave the class to buy a cake from the Starbucks upstairs.
I also needed some new foods for my back pocket during a long ride other than another jam sandwich and didn’t feel like buying another box of cliff bars.
So I decided it was time to try out some new strategies, different recipes and new different foods. So I tried a smoothie before swimming and home made energy bars for a long ride. I cooked a great chocolate and quinoa protein energy bar from the No Meat Athlete and also tried out their Smoothie Blue print below.
