Where will you get your protein?

I was never a voracious meat eater. I only ever ate chicken, that too in select forms - tandoori, tikka masala, and McDonalds's spicy chicken sandwich. The chewy feeling of the meat in my mouth kind of disgusted me. Over a year ago, inspired, moved and touched by the book "World Peace Diet," I decided that I would no longer play a role in the slaughter of animals. The question arose, "Where will I get my protein from?" But in reality, that's never the issue. Nobody eats meat for protein! They eat it because they like the taste of it. I never really thought about my protein intake until recently, since after I signed up for an Ironman triathlon. From what I have heard, losing several lbs while maintaining muscle weight is not possible without significantly increasing protein intake. One of the guys from my triathlon club recommends a daily intake of 2g protein /kg of body weight. Now, that's a LOT of protein.

First thing I did was go to a sports nutrition store, GNC, and grab a deal on GNC Total Lean Shake, with "supports lean muscle mass" advertised on it. I didn't get good advice on which protein shake I should go for, so I decided to do some trial and error. I got two flavors - Strawberry and Chocolate. I tried the strawberry total lean shake the same night as a meal replacement, and it tasted like decomposing cardboard and strawberries blended together. I gulped down the glass full of it, and washed it down with water. I avoided it for the next few days and then decided to give it another shot. They say it's acquired taste, so why not? The second time it didn't taste any better, and the third time I almost puked. And here are it's nutrition facts: 9g protein, 5g sugar, 180 cal, some carbs and sodium.

9g of protein is not a lot. Even with a modest 1g protein /kg of body weight, I will need 65g protein each day, which means I will need to consume ~6 servings of that shit. The next day I went to Sports Basement to shop for a beter tasting protein shake. They had trial packets here which is good, and they didn't dupe me into buying two large buckets of protein shit. This time I got two single serve packets of Hammer Whey protein powder - Vanilla and Chocolate.

Impressive composition with 19g protein, 1g sugar, 1g carbs and only 80 calories. After praying for a good taste, I took a sip of just a different brand of shit. One afternoon I tried a ready-to-drink protein shake in my gym, which surprisingly tasted great! Not sure if they sell it by the carton though. I am sure there are other good tasting protein shakes, but at least for now my taste buds don't have it in them to endure a any more unpleasant encounters. So, until then, I will be going with the following:

4 egg whites + PB sandwich: 15 + 9 = 21g protein.
2 servings of Horizon Organic 1% Chocolate Milk = 16g protein.
2 servings of Greek yoghurt = 22g protein
Total = 59g protein

The 26g of sugar in the chocolate milk is acceptable as long as I no longer indulge my cravings for desserts. I will also be on the lookout for the protein shake I found in the gym. I am curious to see how this affects my healthy weight loss goals.

Great ride today; Need a bike fit

Today's ride was fun, but a bit painful. I think raising the seat post was a bad idea. Though it felt good in the short run, I think it hurt my lower back when in aero position for too long and put much stress on my right upper quad. Lowering the seat mid ride, helped. Not too much climbing on today's ride, instead focused on keeping power steady on small uphills as well as downhills. HR was a bit high all along and I was definitely above my steady zone. Goal for next weekend's ride is to stay in steady zone and go longer, maybe ~70-80 miles.

I think I need a bike fit if I intend to stay in aero for 100 miles. I have an appointment with Vanessa @Cognition Cyclery next week for a full BG fit which takes ~3 hours; will report how it goes. The transition run felt good. I am noticing that the jelly legs feeling goes away much quicker now, than it used to before. All in all a fun day of training with easy 700 yards of swim and jacuzzi to top it off.

Weight games

Losing weight in a healthy way is hard! I have managed to lose roughly 20 lbs over the past year or so. And I was not too huge to begin with. Since last week, my legs are feeling tired all the time. I get a tingling sensation in my calves while running and I start cramping up after roughly 2500 yards of steady swimming. Biking hasn't been up to the mark either. Clearly something's wrong, but I haven't figured out what, yet. One hypothesis is that the change in eating habits is causing some under-nutrition, resulting into weaker leg muscles. Like coach says, I need to eat a lot, but healthy food. A few things I will be trying:

• Eating more frequent small meals throughout the day.
• Drinking a LOT of water.
• Getting at least 8 hours of slee each night (at least until fam is back.)
• Improving protein intake without adding starchy carbs and bad fats to the diet.

I will be heading out tomorrow for a long steady ride with some tempo thrown in. The plan is to start @Woodside and do reps on Canada, Alpine, Portola. Let's see how the legs feel.

Reviving the tri blog

I have been wanting to start logging my workouts and all the nuances related to tri training again, but never had the motivation. With something bigger coming along, i.e. a full Iron distance triathlon, in July 2013, I think the blog will help me stay motivated to train and hopefully share some insights I learn along the way. And of course, what's a better way to commit to a goal than to announce the plans on the World Wide Web!

I am currently in the middle of my recovery week, trying to shake of the fatigue from the past 2 weeks of training. Coach says my training is going well. My run mileage has gone up to 30 miles/week first time ever in my life. And, knock-wood, I am still injury free. I'd attribute it mostly to the weight loss I was able to pull off and training through the winter. Next big race coming up for me is Wildflower in the first week of May. Totally looking forward to it.