Metabolic Efficiency Training - Week 1

First of all, thanks to everyone for your awesome comments on my last blog post and on twitter!! It is so nice to have support while I test this stuff out!! Thanks again! Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments, or just say howdy. I love getting comments :D

I wish I had a bunch of cool food photos to accompany this post, but I don't. Oh well.

So I'll just write a bit about how it all went.

First off, the food. I found it very easy to stick to the eating plan. Towards the end of the week I started to have "cravings" in that I could smell bread baking even though I wasn't anywhere near bread baking! But I seem to have weathered the storm and finished the week with only 1 "cheat" (and I'm feeling fine about it, because it was planned AND the book indicates that a little special something every 4 days or so is totally within the plan) So I am 100% on the plan!!

PROS:
- I'm still feeling the "good energy" that I wrote about in my last post. Just good constant energy. This has helped my realize when I'm actually tired vs. just coming off sugar or caffeine rush. :)
- I've found that I really like raw veggies, and it's a lot easier to prepare and pack raw veggies for lunches and dinners on the road than preparing them!

CHALLENGES:
- This is actually a "pro" in the grand scheme of things, but it has been a challenge to make the change - no more convenience eating. I have to plan out almost every meal so that I bring the right food with me. In a pinch I've purchased a salad out with chicken but most of the time it doesn't have enough fruit/veg with it and I end up hungry.
- eating enough veggies and fruit to get enough carbohydrates and calories. The first two days I actually ended up with a calorie deficit of 1000 cals!

TRICKS:
- I have a bag of dried fruit and almonds and other nuts that I eat when I'm on the road and it's snack time.
- When I want some bread or something sweet I stick a piece of gum in my pie hole :D

So the second component to this adventure is training.

I'm in the "base building" part of my training, so it made it a great time start MET (Metabolic Efficiency Training). Because of the way my schedule is, Tuesday and Thursday are always at least triple workouts, and the workouts are all one right after the other. This made a really good test for the new plan of eating no calories during the workout. So far I haven't really "bonked" on a ride or run and typically felt pretty strong. I notice that as the workout progresses it feels harder, but I've been trying to convince myself that it's all in my head. I also try to visualize my body using fat to get more energy to my muscles to keep pushing myself. My main issue seems to be recovery. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I'm more sore and it takes me a little longer to warm up than usual. NOTE: this may also be because of an increase in training in my training plan.

This week I had three days of 3+ hours of training with no calories coming in and didn't have any real problems. I also had a long run 12 miles Zone 1 and 2 (so almost 2 hours) and actually felt super awesome at the end of that run and never felt low energy during.

PROS: It's a lot easier to get ready for long workout days when I don't have to worry about packing up sports drink and Liquid Shot. I just use Water and electrolyte tabs. No sticky bottles to clean up either.

More even energy during workouts (no ebbs and flows).

CHALLENGES:
Figuring out what to eat before and after workouts is a bit of a challenge.

Hungry tummy during workouts is distracting

TRICKS:
In the morning I've started drinking the Mix1 Lean Performance. In the mornings where I have the 45 min drive to masters, I've had plain yogurt with fruit and it seemed to digest pretty well by the time I was swimming. After long workouts a huge salad with chicken or hard boiled eggs (or sometimes both) seems to be working out well too. If I can't bring the salad with me then I just chuck another Lean Performance in my bag. That bag of dried fruit and nuts comes in handy at the point as well.

I haven't figured out what to do about my stomach feeling hungry. Water doesn't seem to cut it. I was thinking I might try NUUN in one of my water bottles because it has a bit of carbonation. I'm going to try that this week.

So that's week 1! Officially no cheating (which feels awesome - kinda proud of myself for that one!!) and feeling pretty good.

I didn't do any testing when I started, so I don't have any good numbers. I did weigh myself at the beginning of the week and it looks like a lost 3 pounds this week. I don't imagine that kind of weight loss will continue and it could have been a fluke. So I'll keep tracking it.

Wish me luck for week #2! I think this will be a tough one to keep myself from "cheating" on the eating plan.