Working Hard While the Liver Takes a Break

So last Monday, I was a woman with a plan. I started my detox to kick off the tri-season and give the liver a little break. While I was "playing," enjoying off-season and taking it easy, the liver was getting quite the workout.

I have to say the detox that I use is great! I feel better, my skin gets better and definitely triggers losing a few of the 8-10 lbs I need to lose for the racing season. Here is A Much Overdue Detox for the guidelines.

It's funny, we sometimes act like we are in denial and say things like..."gee, I have no clue how I gained so much weight?" or "hmmm, I exercise and I STILL gained weight..." and then the logical part of our brain perks up and says things like "duh, let me get out the list...beer, beer, wine, bread, the night that you needed to eat wings with some fries, the going back for seconds of what was supposed to be a healthy meal of 400 calories probably turned into 800 when you include a second helping and some wine..."

Calories in and calories out - it doesn't take a genius here to figure out that. It is tough during the off-season because our brain is still telling us that we are as hungry as we were during training...So by doing a detox, it's me saying F-U to my brain. Kind of like when you need to erase the hard drive, get rid of the viruses and start fresh.

So, I had a pretty amazing week. I really thought when I looked at the schedule for the workouts and said "SHIT, can I do this?" "Am I ready?" And then I said if I can give up coffee and alcohol, wheat, meat and cheese for a week, I think I can do this too.

I used my new software www.trainingpeaks.com and got to play with the pretty graphs after loading my Garmin data in, it was fun. The end of the week, it calculated a total of 11hours and 15 min of training (about 2.5 hours of that was strength training and power yoga which brings it down to 9hours).

Monday

• Off
  

Tuesday

• AM - Swim 1600m with the core set of 6x100's at moderate pace
• PM - 4 Mile interval run with core set that included a few 1/4 mile speed drills and 1/2 mile recovery)

Wednesday

• Afternoon - Took "Aura" out for a spin with my friend, Bill- did 18 miles outside during an extremely windy day so I was working pretty hard.
• PM- Power Yoga - 1 hour

Thursday

• 4 mile easy steady run for 38 min
• Strength training - 45 min

Friday

• Swimming - 2300 m with a core set of 6x200 (50 build and 50 descend)
• Yoga - 30 min

Saturday

• Afternoon long run - 9miles - got a calf cramp on mile 8 and had to run walk the last mile at the canal.
• 3 hours later - Swim 1600m

Sunday

• 1 hour field hockey game (sub out for 10 min) - intense game - 13-13 definitely a major sprint agility workout.
• Afternoon bike on trainer while watching Exit Through the Gift Shop (incredible movie) for 90min.

My big learning of the week: Swim after the long run = good legs for the next day!

I knew I had this game on Sunday which made me worried that I would be too sore from Sunday's run. I never swam after a long run before, for no reason in particular; but I have to say it was amazing. I came home after the run, did the foam roller while watching some TiVo'd Smallville episodes (nerdville...) and elevated while I ate lunch. I cringed going back to the gym to swim. The strange part, to me at least, was that my legs felt really good even after I went out that night in heels! I had a good game, no soreness and it was tough. An indoor field hockey game means lots of repetitive sprinting over and over again with minimal break time. I mean I was a little pooped to have to go on my trainer after the game when all I wanted to do was lay around but I sucked it up and finished a full week.

My reward for all this hard work and eating good was a glass of Ten-Fidy last night.

Now as I gear up for week 2, I leave you with week in review of my yummy eats from detox week!

Kale, raddichio, endive, bean and roasted tomato and garlic salad with white balsamic garlic vinaigrette.

Black bean, rice, quinoa, tempeh green enchiladas with hot sauce and avocados and a dollop of Greek yogurt.

"Pizza" on rice tortilla (w rice mozzarella)

Breakfast of champions - steel cut oats, almond butter, blueberries

Brown rice spaghetti, soy meatballs, artichokes, tomatoes and rice mozzarella

Stew made with kombucha squash, aduki beans and tofu (and other yumminess - key ingredient tamari and sirachi sauce).