How Strong I'm NOT

So a few posts ago I commented on how I was going to get a plan together to stay fit while recovering from foot surgery.  Last week I took the next step in making that plan a reality...I met with Coach Sandra.  The goal of this meeting was for her to see my current fitness level and for her to show me how to use the machines that she was going to include in my plan.  Since I'm an idiot when it comes to working out on machines, I was excited for her to show me exactly what I should be doing.

First, I have to say that she probably thinks I'm a wacko.  I was in a particularly chatty mood and I talked more than I listened.  Not a good way to start when she is supposed to be showing me how to do things!  Oops.  We got along well though and she didn't seem to be too annoyed by my constant talking.

Everything was going so well...until she started to assess my core strength and my upper body strength.  I think she was genuinely shocked at how weak I am!  At one point she handed me a weight and said that it would be easy for me.  HAHA...I struggled to do the exercise with the "easy" weight.  How embarrasing.  But she just smiled and said that we had a lot of room to improve! 

So at the end of our time together, we talked briefly about nutrition.  I have not been eating well at all lately.  She asked what I had eaten that day...it had been a pretty good day so it didn't sound too awful.  If she had asked what I had eaten the day before...totally different story.  But I know that I need to get rid of the Cokes, stop eating so much popcorn at 9 pm and incorporate more fruits and veggies into my meals.  I also need to do a better job of eating breakfast.  That has always been a struggle for me.

But one of the things that I have to commit myself completely to is a better diet.  I have put on 5 pounds from where I was when I did the half ironman.  I'm lucky that it's only been 5.  If I keep going this way when my exercising is reduced after surgery, I will pack on the pounds for sure!  I really need to focus on eating right and losing those 5 pounds PLUS the 10 pounds that I should have lost before the half.  (Yes, even with that much training, I was still overweight.)

So hopefully with Coach Sandra's fitness plan and a better effort in the way of nutrition, I will be able to survive the recovery period. And my ultimate goal is to come out of the recovery period and not miss a beat getting back into triathlon training.