Goals

Today was my first day of 3-a-days. The morning started out early. We left our hotel at 6 after a quick breakfast/snack of a piece of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and an apple. It was so cold this morning! I couldn’t feel my hands for probably the first hour. After our row at about 9, I went for breakfast number 2 at the training center.

I had a slice of banana bread, 2 whole grain pancakes, 1 with syrup and one with smart balance (not pictured), a veggie egg scramble, fruit, and a hardboiled egg white. And a small mug of hot cocoa on the side.

After breakfast and a short break for a team meeting, we were back on the water for our second row of the morning. I hadn’t rowed in a month before yesterday so after 4 hours of rowing this morning, I was feeling pretty tight. Tomorrow morning should be interesting…

Just a side note, I promise this won’t turn into a rowing blog, it’s just all that I am doing right now at training camp. I just eat, row, and sleep, and considering I’m already documenting my eating, and my unconscious self is not too interesting, that leaves rowing.

After our row was lunch at the training center. I started with a salad with Greek dressing and a bit of chicken salad. I also had a chicken breast, which I put on the salad, steamed veggies, and a taste of scalloped potatoes.

For dessert, I had chocolate fro-yo with chocolate chips and peanut butter.

After lunch we returned to the hotel for a much needed nap. When I woke up, I was sooo hungry, but I didn’t really want to eat anything because I had to leave for a run in an hour, but the thought that dinner would be several hours away convinced me I needed something. I ate half a granola bar, which managed to hold me over.

Our run was 40 minutes in the rain and dark. It felt good but I finished completely drenched. By the time we arrived at dinner, I was ready for something hot. I grabbed a big mug of hot cocoa, and then filled my plate with chicken, steamed veggies, and tortellini (plus ketchup).

I ended up going back for seconds on the chicken because I had difficulty getting the meat off the bone, and added a little brown rice to my plate as well. For dessert I had a cinnamon raisin english muffin with butter, a few pieces of dried fruit, and a little bit of chocolate fro-yo with coconut and marshmallows. I also had a Kashi dipped cinnamon raisin granola bar. I was underwhelmed. The bar was very dry and a little too sweet for my taste.

I wish I hadn’t eaten quite so much at dinner. I returned to the hotel very full and also very thirsty. I was too full to drink as much as I probably should have.

Today, I was talking to some of my teammates. We’ve been asked to set goals for ourselves, and one of my teammates said that she wanted to give up dessert. This made me uncomfortable. I have dabbled with giving up sugar with some success. I always feel way better, but eventually go back to eating sugar. This is truly a personal topic for me, as I have struggled with sugar for a long time. I realized that I felt uncomfortable because I felt someone was going to be eating better than me, and my competitive instinct kicked in. Obviously this is not healthy. I want to have a better attitude so that I can help myself and others improve our health.

At the same time, I realized that this means that I am not happy with my eating. If I was satisfied with my eating, that discomfort would go away. I’m most concerned with the sources of sugar in my meals, rather than dessert. Most of the sugar I have been eating I have not been in the mood for, or even necessarily enjoyed. For example, I am very picky with maple syrup, and I didn’t like the kind at the cafeteria, so my pancake (which I think was whole grain) wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been. Part of this is a learning process. I need to seek out less sugary sources in the cafeteria, but now I know what to expect. Tomorrow I want to avoid added sugar and optimize my nutrition.

How do you feel when others talk about nutrition?