Day 21: End of Reset and Bonking

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

Beachbody Ultimate Reset

Day 2, Initial Thoughts

I'm a skeptic, but the eating plan is certainly effective. There's just no way you could NOT see results with the clean eating this cleanse requires. Are the supplements worth the high cost? I don't know yet, but the price tag certainly motivates me to stick to the meal plan as closely as I can manage! My reasons for doing the Reset are simple:

1. My diet has gone to total seed, and I've got to get it back on track.
2. My GI hasn't been normal and happy for some time (see reason #1).
3. I really don't like how I've felt physically: really sluggish and bloaty (see reason #1).
4. I've packed on enough extra fat to accentuate my pear-shape, and I hate both how it looks and, more importantly, how it makes me feel when I'm trying to train or race (see reason #1).

The plan is only for 21-days, and is not a horribly restrictive one. Basically, you cut out dairy and red meat the first week (and caffeine), and the next two weeks are essentially eating a vegan diet. While doing this, you also drink a lot of water, probably more than most people are used to doing.

I dropped the milk a few days out from starting the plan, but indulged in some last-chance cheese a couple of times. I also went without coffee two days in a row in a sort of "trial run". It was tough, but I survived. The plan officially started yesterday morning.

So far, here's what I've observed:

• If you drink a big-ass glass of water and force yourself to wait 30 minutes to eat, you don't eat as much.
• If you don't drink liquids with your meal, you don't eat as much.
• If you then force yourself to wait at least 2 hours before repeating this cycle, you don't eat as much.

In addition, knowing that I have a two-hour wait before the next eating opportunity, be it a snack or a meal, means I have to put real thought and planning into my day's menu. The Reset package comes with a really great little book with meals outlined for every day, but every day's schedule doesn't quite align with yours, so you have to think about it and plan accordingly.

For example, breakfast in Week 1 alternates between oatmeal or eggs/steamed kale. Factor in that you can only eat AFTER drinking the glass of water/supplements and waiting 30 minutes, and your morning routine can become a shambles. Yesterday I drank my water and went to my regular trainer session at the gym, then came home and had oatmeal. Today I didn't have any early-morning appointments, and had time to scramble the eggs and steam the kale, and prepare most of my workday's food while waiting for the 30-minutes to pass.

Because I am used to grazing pretty much non-stop, the most difficult part of this is the waiting between meals. I also realize that at least part of this struggle is due to sitting at a desk all day staring at a computer (I do better with physical distractions). Thankfully the weather has been conducive to mid-day walks, and that's going to help break up the constant "feed me" signals from the brain.

Beachbody recommends you lay off strenuous exercise for the 21 days it takes to complete this thing, due to the changes in diet/calorie restrictions. I did a nice short open water swim last night (1500 yards) and felt really good for the rest of the night. Today I'll walk some; tomorrow is a massage. Some people report feeling sluggish, but I haven't had that yet. Any fuzziness is likely due to the lack of coffee/caffeinated products, and seems to pass by early afternoon.

I'm traveling for four days starting this Thursday evening. It'll be a real challenge to stick to the plan while traveling, but I'm convinced it can be done. I'll just be eating in grocery stores more than restaurants, most likely, and ordering lots of steamed veggies while everyone else mows down on really good Tex-Mex. But it's worth it to see exactly how effective this thing is.

Now for the hard part: posting pictures. Here are some photos I took this morning (this pains me as much as it pains you). I know, it would have been more ideal to take them yesterday before starting, but I didn't have time. I don't expect any huge visible results at the end of this thing, but I DO expect to feel 100% better!

Ironman nutrition

I probably obsessed over nutrition more than anything else. I was extremely concerned that I not screw this up, because it can make or break your day.

How will I get at least 300 cals an hour in me when:

• I can't eat solid food while I'm exercising. It just won't go down.
• It must be portable and not heavy.
• It must be quickly consumed.
• It needed to be more than just carbs.
• It was going to be a warm swim (water was 84 degrees), so starting well-hydrated was mandatory.

I figured I'd be out there for 16 hours and some change. 16 hours on nothing but gels = very unhappy stomach. And not enough protein would mean bonking. I've learned over the years that my body really likes protein, and needs it for anything more than 5 hours, as opposed to just straight carbs. I also know that I get really, really sick of the sweet stuff.

I've been using Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem for about two years, so I knew that would be a component. It's a carb/protein drink and is more substantial than a straight electrolyte drink. The plain flavor doesn't taste that great but it's not sweet either, so it's worth a less-than-yummy taste simply to get a break from the constant sweetness.

Infinit makes a custom blended drink and I really wanted to try that with some protein in it, but time grew short and I didn't have time to get it and train with it. I did however, have a blend that was primarily carbs/electrolytes that I was used to, so I stuck with that.

Shakeology drinks have worked out well for me this year, simply because they're a more complete meal replacement than a simple protein drink, and my body seems to process it just fine. I've had good luck drinking them about 30 minutes before a race and before training, so figured they'd be worth a try as a meal replacement during a race.

Enduralyte capsules are a quick easy way to get some electrolytes in you without having to drink all that sickly-sweet junk.

So here's how the race day nutrition worked out.

Breakfast, 4am. Oatmeal with dried raisins, one boiled egg (I apologize to any swimmers in line around me)
Swim line, 5:30am, yogurt
Swim line, 6:30am, Shakeology.
- Sipped on an Infinit drink for entire time in line until 7am.
T1, 9:00am, Shakeology, two Enduralyte capsules
Bike, over the course of 8 hours:
- went through two front bottles' worth of Perpetuem
- around 3 bottles of Perform at aid stations
- several large bottles of cold water at aid stations (stopped and drank the entire bottle on the spot)
- four gels, approx one every two hours
- another Shakeology at special needs, around 2:30pm
- piece of banana at two of the aid stations
- two Enduralyte capsules at four different stops
T2, 5:30pm, drank Shakeology for dinner, two more Enduralyte capsules
Run, over the course of 5.5 hours:
- three pieces of banana at three separate aid stations
- gel every 3-4 miles since I was moving slowly
- Perform 3-4 times at aid stations (less than one an hour)
- Water at every aid station. Yep, all 25 of them.
- Bottle of Perpetuem at special needs, mile 14. Carried bottle with me and took about an hour to drink it all.

I really wanted to avoid the cramping/hydration issues that take so many people down, and measured my hydration by the number of pee stops. Peed at T1 and T2, twice on the bike, and three times on the run. All was well.

Around miles 50-60 of the bike I had cramps in my side, but remembered the advice from Coach Patrick of Endurance Nation: when your stomach cramps, drink water to dilute all the other junk. It helps settle the gut. And it worked. Before long the cramps subsided. Ditto on the run - when the stomach got queasy I would drink some water and feel better. I know the constant influx of calories/water is why I felt so good all day. I heard someone puking behind me on the run and was happy not to be them.

...and it took a couple of days to be able to eat normal-sized portions of solid food again!