Let's Get This Party Started!

Today I got my schedule from The Dirk (as Oscar calls him) for the next 3 weeks.  Whoa.  Let's just say, training for IMCdA has begun!  Time to get this party started!  I was giddy with happiness looking through each day and wondering how I would do it all.  I definitely saw some of the most challenging workouts I've ever seen - Dirk isn't holding back now (or maybe he is still...which scares me).  I do love me a fresh new schedule that holds so much promise.  Time to get down to some serious business and go about the day to day task of getting the work done and recovering from it so I can do more.  This is the part of the sport I love!!  :)

So the next 2.5 weeks will keep me good and busy and tired.  I have a little break to race Columbia and then I'm sure I'll get back to work again before I taper for CdA!

In the mean time, I've made a re-commitment to eat well.  This coincides well with a hard block of training if I do say so myself!  Let me explain some - we always eat relatively well.  I am a dietitian after all!  But I do have some bad habits - one of which is to turn to quick and easy dinners (including going out to eat) when I'm tired and too lazy to cook.  This often means I don't eat enough fresh vegetables (I'm the queen of fruit...veggies...not so much) and not enough whole foods (quick and easy foods come out of a box...BAD BETH!).  This certainly isn't the end of the world but I know I can do better.  And I know I HAVE to do better.

So we've been filling up the fridge each week with tons of fresh vegetables and I've made a rule I'm not allowed to throw anything away!  It's either eat the veggies fresh and when they are good or eat them when they are rotten.  ;)  I've also been trying some new grains including barley.  I've never had barley before.  It was pretty good! 

The barley is on the left there.  There is chicken under the tomato/avocado pile and the stuff on the small plate is apple/carrot "slaw."  My mom is probably reading this and falling over in disbelief!

Oscar has been a great sport about making some diet changes.  He'll eat just about anything and not complain.  And in exchange for this, pizza night remains on the weekly rotation.  :)

I've also been trying to cut back (notice I said "cut back" not "eliminate") my Diet Pepsi intake.  NOT because I think Diet Pepsi is the devil (as some seem to think), because I think most all things in moderation are okay.  But my Diet Pepsi habit is definitely bordering on being highly NOT moderate, if you know what I mean.  Mostly I'm trying to cut back because DP definitely makes my reflux worse and at the rate I'm going I'm going to need a Nissen before the age of 40!  Time to reign 'er in!

So that is what I've been up to.  And if you don't hear from me for a while it's because I'm (1) training, (2) sleeping, (3) making Oscar eat barley or (4) working (occasionally I do still do that :).  Hope everyone has a great start to May!  (which, by the way, is the Merry Berry Month of May if you are from around Pittsburgh and go to Eat 'n Park!)

Oh, and just a few more pictures from New Orleans, courtesy of Heidi and her wonderful husband Scott!

Run, run, run!  Also, I'll have you know that that #49 is still branded on my arm and multiple people have asked me what it's from at the pool...

This is my signature move after crossing the line!  (either this or just laying down on the ground altogether)  Glad Scott caught this one!  :)