Out With the 8, In With the 9

To end this year, I had a three sport day. It's been awhile since I had one of those. 1hr15min bike, 45min run, 3400yard swim. That makes 21 swims for the month of December for a total of 82,900 yards (the pool closed early and I missed the last 100 yards today). And I think my experiment worked and I got a lot more comfortable in the water and a little faster, at least for me. Sadly though since I stopped recording many of my totals once I got injured in July I cannot tally everything I did in 2008.

2009 brings a whole new set of challenges for me. First time completely on my own in terms of finances and insurance. First Ironman. It seems there are enough things to conquer that I needn't make any resolutions. And generally I never make resolutions. I don't need to exercise more (some people would probably suggest I exercise less) and I don't smoke and I am no longer a heavy drinker. But I decided that since I am doing an Ironman this year, I should try to improve my diet. I stopped drinking coffee early this year (aside from one I had while driving back a week and a half ago) and have cut out most caffeine in general, except what is in the occasional cup of black tea or green tea and caffeinated gels. I have also stopped eating foods with artificial sweeteners since they are essentially chemicals, plus I think I'm allergic to Splenda. So now my goal is to cut out all foods with partially hydrogenated oils /or high fructose corn syrup. No more processed foods and no baked goods from the supermarket aside from maybe Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. Hopefully that will clean me up.

I have about 19 days left in New York. I want to swim at least every other day, run at least every other day, and go cross-country skiing. It snowed today and I did go run in it so I am trying to harden up. Austin and it's warmth and dryness softened me up.

Happy 2009!