Triathlon is making me a hippie

Granted, I was never some super conservative hummer-driving war monger and I’ve always leaned a little bit to the left politically, but I feel like I’ve gotten way more hippie-ish in the six months since I’ve really started taking triathlon seriously and made it more of a “lifestyle” than just a hobby that I trained for whenever I felt like it.

I’ve started a little herb garden outside my kitchen window. I completely stopped drinking coffee and switched to herbal tea, sweetened with stevia instead of sugar. I take cod liver oil every morning with chocolate soy milk, two things that I NEVER thought I would ever do. I’m planning to start commuting to work by bike at least once a week this summer and am way more conscious about the energy that I use. I also started running to my gym instead of driving since it is less than 2 miles away and it saves me from having to want to claw my eyes out when stuck running on the treadmill. I’ve even started re using plastic grocery bags, or getting paper, at the grocery store.

I’m not exactly sure what is going on, but it is just weird to see all these changes so quickly in my daily routine after I had been stuck in my old ways for so long. No real deep reflection here, sorry. Just an interesting observation I decided to share.

Oh, and I went on the longest ride of the season so far and it was aaaaaawsome. Almost 55 miles through the woods Concord, MA. It was a pretty nice and easy pace, but let me play with my nutrition and hydration a little bit so I can have a better idea of what I need for the Providence 70.3.

1) Straight Gatorade is not enough and at least one GU or pack of Clif Blocks an hour is a good idea.

2) Only two water bottles for a +3 hour ride isn’t going to cut it. I’ve gotta plan out some places to stop and refuel along the way.

3) My legs are whiiiiite. I got a little bit of a burn today, and probably could have used some sun tan lotion, but hopefully now that they have seen some sun, it won’t be too much of an issue for the rest of the year.