Yesterday was the last day of a 21-day "cleanse", the Beachbody Ultimate Reset. It was also the day of the Buckhead Border Triathlon, consisting of a 1.5k swim across the Ohio from Louisville back to Indiana, a 40k bike, and a 10k run. This post serves two purposes: a wrap-up of the Reset and a race report.
The morning started with a 3:15am alarm, only to find I'd slept through a series of texts from the race organizers the night before: the recent rains in the area had caused the bacteria levels in the water to rise to "slightly elevated" levels. We had the option of swimming anyway or doing a duathlon instead. This race is interesting mostly due to the swim across the Ohio, so I chose to swim. I'm sure I've swam in worse water than this. The lakes around here get pretty nasty by August.
Made the 100-mile drive in decent time, only to get held up in a horribly inefficient packet pick-up process. They were busing swimmers across the river to the start, and as I'm standing in the non-moving line, they're announcing that the last bus is leaving in ten minutes. Great. I still need to get bodymarking done, and get my stuff all set up, and here I am standing in a stinking line. Thankfully a very nice guy who was doing the shorter distance (and starting later), insisted I cut in line to the front. Finally I got my bib and other numbers, and could hustle to transition for set-up. Got all my stuff set up in record time, and trotted to the last waiting bus. Whew!
Aside from the kick to the nose, the water was fine. I felt great during the swim, lost a little energy during the bike but it didn't suck, then bonked horribly on the run. It was my own fault. I usually stick a gel in my running shoes and suck it down after the bike, and in my haste I forgot to do that. And it cost me big time. I was totally spent by the time I hit mile 2 and the rest was a sufferfest. Slogged the last 4 miles to the finish, and managed not to be dead last, but was darned close. Oh well, I finished and had an active Sunday morning, which is more than the vast majority of our population can say.
In addition to my forgetfulness, I was on the last day of a 21-day cleanse. I had been on a reduced-calorie (and reduced-activity) diet for one week, and a vegan diet for the last two weeks. No meat, no dairy, no animal products, including eggs. While I heartily endorse doing something like this from time to time, it simply doesn't support this level of activity. I dodged a bullet last week at the race in Muncie, but couldn't avoid it yesterday. The cumulative effect of 3 weeks of reduced intake was a major bonk.
HOWEVER, the cleanse was worth it. During the 21 days, I felt physically great the whole time...felt energized, clean (can't think of another way to describe that), and ready to go. I lost that sluggish logey feeling I'd been having for a few months. Even though I was on reduced calories (and yes, thinking about food a lot), I still felt like I wanted to go work out. Intellectually I knew that would be a mistake simply due to the calorie deficit, but mentally and physically I wanted to move.
Final results: I lost 5.7 pounds and 3.2% bodyfat. My main goal wasn't to lose weight, but to cleanse the system and hopefully shed some bodyfat in the process. I'm quite sure I'll regain a couple of pounds this week, but if I can hang on to this current feeling of well-being and keep the bodyfat down, it's been worth it. Tonight, though, a glass of wine and a hearty meal are on the agenda!
Day 1: Day 21
Pre-Reset: Day 13 of Reset
