The word of the day: Easy

It’s been four months now since I decided to try my hand at triathlon. At the very beginning it was my enthusiasm that was waking me up for my early morning workouts and my determination that was giving me the boost for the evening ones. I was surprised by the fact that the more I was training the more energy I had during the day. I couldn’t believe I was able to do all those workouts without getting tired. After the sixth week of (for me) hard trainings, my exhaustion finally arrived. It was the first wall I hit, but with the support of my coach and my friends, with YOUR support, I managed to get up quickly and continue. It was the same scene like the one when I was running in Belgrade, by Sava river and I tripped over a rock I didn’t see because I was too busy dreaming the dreams I’m living now. First thing I did was stopping my Garmin. Then I got up, had a look at my bloody knee and hands and continued the training.

Off season

As I think I have already told you, Dejan decided to halve my trainings. I had just 6 hours of trainings per week. It was ok with me for the first period, but then I started to feel the lack of workouts. As he didn’t want to increase them, I did it myself. In the meanwhile, I was taking tot'hema ampoules twice a day (I still do), so I managed to recover from the anaemia I was diagnosed with for the umpteenth time! I hope it will come the day I will have that problem no more. Until then,… I will complain and live my life normally, as I have done up until this moment.

Dejan decided to meet my needs, so, in December I will be training approximately 8,5h per week. I saw I could swim 2K, I could ride a bike 125K and run a Half Marathon within 2h. Now I have to slow down and concentrate on my plan, EASY trainings and technique.

How is it going?

I am often asked how my trainings are going. The answer is-great! I have never felt better! I don’t recall I was ever as active as I am now for such a long period of time! Maybe there was a time when I trained more, but I was never so constant.

A few days ago, a friend of mine confused me by asking me how many kilometres I can swim/cycle/run now, after 4 months of trainings. Well, the distance is always the same. I usually swim 1,5K, cycle 37-80K, run 7-15K. So, what is the result of all these hard work? I improved my technique, I lowered my heart-rate, I got more disciplined, I built endurance and I manage to recover in no time for the next workout.

I gained weight. The relationship between me and the weight scale doesn’t flourish in this period. And no, it’s not about the muscles that are heavier. It’s fat. As I like to say, the problem is that I am too good behind the stoves ;) 

Building the base

It’s been four months now, yes, but triathlon and I are still flirting. We are still getting to know each other. Pedro and I get along, but we still have miles ahead of us until we get completely familiar one with another. The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long (Lao Tzu). I don’t want to lose my passion, I don’t want my love to fade away. I want it to be a never ending story, a love that grows day by day. I think I just gave myself the answer. I have to build my base brick by brick. I hope that won’t be a problem, since I have never lacked for patience.

The misunderstanding comes when “Easy” appears. That word doesn’t exist in my vocabulary. I have to learn how to control myself without leapfrogging the stages. Building the base is a key for success. The off-season period is great for working on endurance, technique, muscles, balance, new habits. I’ll try to be a good girl and do as I am supposed to. There will be plenty of time for pain and tears. Now it’s time for LSD.

I have a song for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMA3lIeqV8M

Enjoy!

September  2016 Pula ;) 

The fourth discipline: Nutrition

I studied about nutrition in this period, as I promised I would. While searching
for quality reading materials, I found a lot of articles and books that were too basic or too complicated. Finally, I found “Endurance Sports Nutrition” by Suzanne Girard Eberle. As a good nerd-friend, my intention was to share my notes with you, but I decided not to do it because I found this book simple and fast for reading, full of concrete advices, facts and examples and I advise you to read it. You can find it on this link.

It’s written in American Best Seller Style that I don’t like (that’s my problem), but I assure you it’s worth reading. The writer is a former elite runner, graduated from Georgetown University in Washington. She got her Master degree in Nutrition from Boston University. The book is written in 2000, while the third edition is published in 2014.

The fact that Suzanne is “one of us” allows her to understand the athletes, their problems and everyday battle with food. She’s been there (and she still is) and she knows both how do I feel when I’m eating my ice cream and how do you feel when go out running on empty stomach. She knows us and our crazy and stupid ideas and experiments with sport and nutrition. Moreover, she talked with people, read stories, tested and experienced on her skin what she talks about. Her degree in the field gives her answers to our numerous questions. “Endurance Sports Nutrition” is intended for endurance sports athletes who care about their nutrition, its effect on their performance, athletes with a problem to resolve or the one who simply want to understand the importance of well-balanced nutrition. If you are not an athlete, if you do sports occasionally (or you would like to), if you are a couch potato bored with your life to the point that you are reading these lines, you can still read the book and find interesting information.

Suzanne knows not all of us studied Nutrition (ehm, just a few of you/them), so she tries to explain everything in a simply way. I like her approach and I admire her because she managed to give us all necessary details without excluding the basics and using the simple, not technical language all of us can understand. Although most probably she will never read this post, I would still like to thank her for helping us understand our bodies and for providing us with great and useful concrete advices. Since I would really want you to read this book (at least parts that concern you), I will give you a short summary of what I found interesting.

Starting with basics

Suzanne wants us to visualize our plate and fill it with: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein and dairy. So, at the very beginning you can find a list of healthy choices of groceries you can use when making your shop-list. Fun food (fast and junk one) isn’t excluded. The illustration in the book leads us to the page of US Department of Agriculture, ChooseMyPlate.gov. Take a look! :)

Analysis

Try to find out your calorie needs by analyzing your trainings and studying your current eating habits. Listen to your body, interpret the signals it gives you. Find out your weaknesses and where you can improve. Key words are balance, variety and moderation.

My Garmin advices upload my trainings to Garmin Connect that is linked to My Fitness Pall. If you ever thought of writing a food diary and track your calorie intake, you may find this application useful. I do. Suzanne says “If you bite it, write it! A food journal serves the same purpose as a training log. Writing it all down has been shown repeatedly to help people remain committed to a long-term goal. It’s the writing down or recording, not precisely what you ate, that matters. Self-monitoring forces us to be accountable for our daily actions”.

Tips

Include as much as possible “power foods” in your diet:

1. High in vitamin A: apricots, cantaloupe, carrots, kale, collards, lettuce, spinach, sweet potatoes, pumpkin;

2. High in vitamin C: broccoli, cabbage, bell peppers, cantaloupe, grapefruit, kiwi, oranges, sinach, strawberries, tomatoes;

3. High in fiber: apples, bananas, berries, carrots, cherries, dates, figs, pears, spinach, sweet potatoes.

I am anemic. Like a lot anemic. I’ve been struggling with iron for years now, so I find more than useful the list of groceries high in iron: 1.Animal sources: beef, pork, lamb, liver, and other organ meats; poultry (especially dark meat); fish and shellfish; 2.Plant sources: dark leafy greens (spinach, beet, collard and turnip greens, chard), tomato and prune juice, dried fruit (apricots, raisins), legumes (chickpeas, black, kidney, lima, navy and pinto beans), lentils, soy foods, whole-grain and enriched breads and cereals, wheat germ.

Further on, Suzanne talks about anemia and other frequent problems that athletes suffer from, giving concrete advice on how to solve them! She talks about muscle cramps, runner’s colitis, iron-deficiency anemia, food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities, female athlete triad, eating disorders. Moreover, she explains what are hypo- and hyperthermia, hyponatremia, hypoglycemia etc. and how to avoid them.

Endurance sports athletes live mostly on carbohydrates. Suzanne gives some tips on how to go lean with protein: choose lean cuts of meat, use low-fat cooking methods (baking, broiling, grilling), eat more fish, eat more beans, don’t shy away from eggs, toss tofu into soups, stews and lasagna, mash it with cottage cheese, smear your bread with peanut butter.

Weight matters

Surprisingly, Suzanne doesn’t even mention a magic pill that makes you slim and happy in no time. She states (and I hope we all agree about it) that “losing weight is about expending calories that you consume. The total amount of calories burned during the day is what counts-not whether you burn fat or carbohydrate”. The logic is simple, if you want to maintain your weight you have to consume the same amount of calories you expend; in order to gain weight, you need to consume more, while in order to lose weight, you must expend more calories than you take in.

Simple tips: skip the sports food (use energy drinks, bars and gels only on prolonged exercise at a moderate-to-vigorous pace), keep moving (at least 10000 steps a day-8km), weight yourself weekly (on the same scale, at the same time of day and under the same conditions), wat a fruit or vegetable at every meal and snack, eat your calories (don’t drink them!).

Focus on real food and instead of just counting calories, make your calories count!

What to eat, when to eat, how and what to eat while training/racing

These are frequent questions to which you have the answer in the book. These and a whole lot more. Read it and let me know what you think about it! If you have some reading to recommend, I would like to have a look!

The Winter is Coming…

You won’t believe it, but even in Trieste the weather changes after Barcolana. We are already in November, days are getting shorter and it’s cold outside. The October in Trieste was windy and rainy and so were my morning runs. I get up before the Sun shows up in order to do my morning runs and the same Sun goes away almost without saying goodbye before I finish work. It’s practically impossible (at least for me) to go cycling during the week. It’s getting tough to train outside (one can tell by the number of runners and cyclists on streets), but, as my great roommates would say, “it’s a special feature!” of this period of the year! So, don’t include cold, windy, rainy weather in your list of excuses not to train! Learn how to deal with them and how to take the best of them!

What to wear?

The newbie athletes have a lot of questions and doubts. One of the biggest is what to wear from October to April. Massimiliano’s advice (Massimiliano is one of my favourite vendors in Trieste) is to follow “The Onion Rule”: prefer layer clothing to wearing one heavy jacket or shirt. I went to him two weeks ago when I realized I had nothing to wear when going out with Pedro. He advised me to buy a pair of cycling tights (I didn’t find them, so I used a 50DEN stocking and I can tell you that they are doing their job just perfectly) instead of buying arm and leg sleeves and told me that the most important part of cloths is the wind jacket. He confirmed I can use my running wardrobe for cycling, but told me my wind jacket must be close-fitting. Furthermore, he told me I shouldn’t use cotton for trainings, so I bought one Dri-FIT singlet (I already had two of them).

Managing your budget

I thought Pedro would be my greatest investment, but it seems like I spent much more money for the wardrobe and gadgets (ok, I didn’t need all the stuff, they were not all necessary, and some of them didn’t need to be branded). I know a few great athletes from Serbia that cannot afford the latest gadgets, but they still train and they still rock. So, good news is that you don’t really need a fortune for triathlon. On the other hand, you can spend your whole salary on the gizmos you don’t actually need.

Since I had found myself in difficulty to distinguish the investments from the money thrown away, in hindsight, I decided to make a list of my favorite “pieces”. Maybe someone could find it helpful in managing his/her budget:

1. Pedro. Ok, there’s nothing to do, your bike is important. I remember my 170km trip from Pozarevac to Kladovo in hybrid bike with a bad saddle and without cycling shorts. It was terrible. I’m 100% sure that the same trip with Pedro would be a whole different experience! And it’s not just the bike, but it’s about your position on it, too. That few centimeters make a difference.
2. Sport bra. I have been running for 11 years so far and I bought my first sport bra just two months ago. I am so terribly sorry my poor body suffered for all this time because I didn’t realize the importance of a good support and the geniusness of the person who invented the running bra.
3. Running shoes. Your feet and knees will be grateful to you if you treat them right. You don’t need the latest model of the most expensive running shoes, but please, do yourself a favor and try not to run in Old Stars.
   
4. GPS Gadget. I have 3 Garmin devices: Garmin Forerunner405, Garmin Edge810 and Garmin VivoSmart (I have the Fenix3 or FR910XT on my wish-list, but not among my priorities at the moment). It’s me, I like plans, graphs and statistics. The GPS Gadget is not essential, you can perfectly function without it, or with a running/cycling/sports app. There are a lot of them on the market and many of them are free.
5. Dri-FIT RUNNING clothes. I think you need 2-3 pairs of each: shorts, tights, singlet, t-shirts, long sleeve light shirts, long sleeve heavy shirt, wind and waterproof jackets. Since they dry fast, you can easily wash them after use. You can use them for cycling too, but don’t forget Massimiliano’s advice about close-fitting jacket! If you have a limited budget, you can train in whatever you have. I ran with two made-in-china-bras one on top of the other, in cotton suit and cheap (like 30 euros) running shoes for years and I was perfectly fine with them.
6. Headband. This one IS ESSENTIAL. Especially in Trieste, with Bora (or in Serbia, on -10C)! I usually put one of them around my head and the other one around my neck.
7. Gloves. You will need them. I prefer light, cheap touch-screen models. You can put them under your short cycling gloves, so you won’t need the pair of specific cycling gloves for winter.
8. Bike shoe covers. They keep your feet warm. My granny says we have to keep our head, back, kidneys, tummy and feet warm. Let’s trust her on that!
9. Bike Home Trainer. You can cycle in your local gym, or do spinning class, so neither this one is essential, but it’s on my list since it brought Pedro and me together <3 It’s my newest gadget and I really like it! I just hope my neighbors won’t complain when I wake them up at 6am.
10. Tissue papers, hand cream and lip balm. Don’t forget them!

Your best is good enough

I consider myself a realist, but I like to fly and sometimes I find it difficult to keep my feet on the ground. A few days ago I got a newsletter from Triathlete.com that said exactly what I needed to hear: “Never take yourself too seriously. We do this sport for fun. Very few of us are actually feeding our families via swim, bike and run”. It made me remember a funny quote about life: “Don’t take your life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway”. So, don’t lose your time and mind by chasing something you cannot get. Do your best, so you know you tried and never be scared of mistakes. Better sore than sorry, as they say. On the other hand, don’t hide behind excuses. We need More than words (Extreme)*.

Keep calm and September 2016 Pula.

PVT 

*Sorry

45° 38' 55" Nord 13° 46' 48" Est

There is a Heaven on the Earth and its name is Trieste

It’s not that I have travelled a lot in my life (there’s still time, I hope), but I’m sure Trieste is one of the most beautiful cities that exist! It’s hugged by Slovenia, flirting with Croatia, cuddling with the Adriatic see.  Wikipedia says it’s one of the oldest parts of the Habsburg Monarchy. And, in fact, when visiting the city, you can feel the spirit of the empire of Austria-Hungary (said by someone really bad at history). It’s everything, but Italian. You can hear Italian language, people born here are called Italians and that’s all.

Trieste is a cradle of cultures, a lovely place where Latin, Slavic and German cultures meet. You can see it in the streets, smell it in the kitchen. It’s the place where Nothing SE POL, but everything is possible. There’s something magical in its sunsets, in the air, in Bora (that I still cannot stand), in that wonderful deep blue see, in the colorful and warm Carso. Its main square, Piazza Unità leaves everyone wordless.

I used to meet my great Serbian friend during the spring/summer, after work. We would take a gelato and go to Molo to have our girl talk and watch the sea and the sunset. The sky is different here, the Sun is warmer, the air is lighter. There are beautiful places for trekking, great roads for cycling, lovely ski centers. The only thing Trieste doesn’t have is the city center. It doesn’t really exist. The only annoying thing about Trieste is Bora. Everything else is like a dream.

Today was D-day for sailors. It’s Barcolana, the symbol of Trieste. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.

Training in Trieste

On Strava and Garmin Connect you can find my favorite running and cycling tracks. This summer I used to run to the sea, swim a bit and then go back home running. There are a lot of athletes in Trieste. What I like most about my morning runs is when I meet other runners and we say hi one to another. I like waking up before the sunrise and putting my heels on only after running 10K in the morning. I feel energized, vivid, awake, satisfied and proud of myself. I like running 5K hills before my morning coffee. Ah, that’s another thing about running in Trieste! You can find both flat terrain and great hills, asphalt or ground. Whatever you prefer. There’s nothing more you could ask for. As for swimming, as far as I know, there are just two swimming pools (closed during the summer), always full, so it’s almost impossible to do a planned workout.

Angels  in Trieste

Trieste is famous for its impolite and rude sales stuff. Fortunately, there are a few lovely stores with great personnel. One of them is a bike center Mathitech. You can find everything you need for your riding buddy and amazing guys that will help you take care of him. I like taking Pedro there. Recently, they opened a bike coffee shop, where you can take a break and buy yourself gels and protein bars. I think that was a great idea and I hope their business is running well. I am really grateful for all advices they gave me and all time they dedicated to me and Pedro. I will be happy to go back there and I will certainly advise everyone to visit them!

I met a guy who told me about one triathlete club in Trieste named Sport Pool Trieste. I found them on FaceBook, wrote to them, telling them I was looking for other triathletes in Trieste who I could train with and who I could ask for help regarding trainings and races. They were happy to give me a warm welcome to their club. I am not yet their member, but I’m on their mailing-list and I hope I will meet soon some of them. They seem like a really nice group. I am already friend with some of them on Strava and we always give Kudos to each other. It’s nice to have such a support.

I used to go running with a group of people from work before they left Trieste and moved to Milan and Paris. I got to know better a few people this summer when I was considering whether to try my hand at triathlon or not. I asked them for advice when choosing my bike and my equipment and all of them were eager to help me! My Ireland friend even went to the store with me, helped me choose everything I needed and went for a very first ride with me, teaching me how to unclip my shoes and not fall from Pedro. He had a lot of patience.

I cannot but to mention the guy from Sportler, a triathlete, that helped me choose my new goggles and swimming cap. He was so enthusiastic when I told him I was a triathlete beginner. Although the store was closing, he was full of patience and incredibly gentle.

I haven’t met yet impolite athletes in Trieste. They were all angels, ready to help. Please, make them your role model, be someone’s support, be someone’s role model, someone’s angel in your city! Don’t forget that the more you give the more you will get!

HAKUNA MATATA

About my blog

When my dear French friend asked me why I had decided to write a blog, I told him my aim was to keep myself motivated, to motivate others and share some thoughts from time to time. But, practically, it was all about triathlon. While chatting about blogging, he gave me some great advices and very useful feedback, but told me to re-think about my writing and about what motivates me to write. He was sure there was something behind.

I have the answer now. I write because I LIKE to write and I’m sorry if you were expecting more complex answer, but it is really that simple. I do sports because I enjoy doing sports. I do my job because I like doing it. And I am happy. I have never been happier in my life! I’m pretty sure it’s because of my attitude towards life and my choice not to do what I don’t like. I will continue living my life this way as long as I can.

Now I can tell you that this blog is all about me and about my life. It’s not about triathlon, it’s about how I see it, about the way I live it. I am not a professional triathlete, nor a coach, so I cannot give you technical advices. I am a 27 years old girl with a full-time job (well, with two part-time jobs, to be more precise), a few friends and a family scattered around the world. A girl who is living her dream and is aimed to continue living and dreaming big. Really big.

This blog is about me and my path to the finish line of a Half Ironman race. In Pula, or somewhere else, it doesn’t matter, but I will cross that line! You can chose to stop reading my eDiary, to support me like volunteers that give water to athletes every 5km, or you can train and race with me. I will try to entertain you and myself by writing this blog. I won't advertise it as I started. I will try to write one post per week, so I fix appointments with you on Sunday evenings. I was also thinking about hosting someone else’s post, so, if you want to share something here, with me and with the others, please do. I will be happy to post your story!

About coaches

When it comes about sports, I have three role models: my lovely Dad-Miroslav, my great friend and the coach of TKP-Mateja Markovic and my coach Dejan Patrcevic. My dad was playing handball when he was young and he was coach of some handball teams. He has been my greatest support in (almost) everything I was doing and it won’t be wrong if I tell you that he has been my life coach. I met Mata (Mateja Markovic) when I was 16. I was making sandwiches and pancakes in a fast-food bar in the swimming pool in Pozarevac where he was training with his team. When I was 17 I started training with them occasionally. I didn’t like cycling and didn’t have a bicycle, so I avoided going on a ride with them, but a few times Mata made me come, he gave me one of his bicycles. Mata and my Dad are both very generous men. They are young and playful, they enjoy sports and helping others. I admire them. I don’t know Dejan very well yet, but I admire him for his results in triathlon and, when I met him for the first time a few days ago, I saw some similarities with my Dad and Mata.

All three of them think the same about sports: you have to enjoy while training! You have to love it! It mustn’t be a pressure, it should be a game! And you should enjoy playing it. If you don’t, it doesn’t suits you and you should better be doing something else.

About my program

Ok, life is made of ups and downs. So was my sport life. I started hard, really hard after a great pause. Everything was wonderful the first three weeks, since the day I wrote about 21-day-rule. A few days after I wrote the post, I started feeling exhausted and started skipping my trainings. As I wrote the last time, when discussing about gnocchi failure, on Sunday LSD training with my Ireland friend, I felt really bad. It was then that I realized something was going wrong. Besides, I gained 3kg and I started waking up tired. I had a look at my calendar and I realized I had three periods in 50 days (Ops!).

I made a four days pause and talked about it with Dejan when I saw him. He made my training plan for the next period lighter. Last Sunday I went running and hurt my knee, so I skipped running this week. I realized how to do my swimming trainings, so they became a whole lot more interesting now! I found joy in trainings again!

About gnocchi

I linked my gnocchi failure with my bad period at sports. Since I’m not the one who gives up easily, I stopped, analyzed my trainings and the current situation and started again. I went to the supermarket, bought gnocchi and made them. I can tell you that I see my progress! I am better at swimming, I am better at cycling! And my home-made gnocchi were far more better than the one I bought! My gnocchi were natural, made from three ingredients and love. You could taste potato and love. They will become soft with time and with right potatoes and so will my results at sports. I will just continue trying. As my Mom says, the first hundred times are tough, from the 101^st everything becomes easy.

 

About love and happiness

Enjoy what you are doing and don’t be afraid to be yourself! It doesn’t matter how silly it is and how stupid it sounds to someone else. If it means anything to you, as long you are doing something that makes you happy and doesn’t influence negatively to someone else’s happiness, you have my support J  Visit my blog whenever you need a motivation, or positive energy. I will be happy to share it with you every week! If you want something more “instant”, don’t hesitate to write me a comment, contact me on FaceBook or email me to sonjasavic@live.com.

Life is my love, sport is my drug. Now officially.

Gummy Bears & Gnocchi di patate

Gnocchi di patate

Gnocchi di patate is an Italian classic. Before moving to Italy, I thought Italian cuisine was all Lasagne, Pizza and Pasta. Starting from two years ago I discovered the whole new world of dishes and flavors! One of my favorite is Gnocchi di patate. All you need is potatoes, an egg, some flour and a pinch of salt. You can find a recipe here. Despite being so simply to prepare and so “poor” in ingredients, they taste divinely.

It was Sunday and it should have been my special Italian lunch. I was so enthusiastic about it! I chose to serve my Gnocchi with Funghi & Brie sauce. I heated the oil, added an onion (sorry, I’m Serb) and after a while, I added chopped mushrooms. I spiced everything and left it to cool. When it was cold enough I chopped Brie on it (Is the crust edible? I always throw it away). I put my boiled Gnocchi into the sauce, mixed everything on light fire for a few minutes and my dish was ready to be served.

As simple as it sounds, but the result wasn’t as I expected. My Gnocchi were heavy and gummy. The sauce was perfect, the result wasn’t bad, but that’s just not what I wanted.

Gummy bears

When I think about gummy bears, I think about Mateja Markovic (coach of TKP Pozarevac).

It was Sunday. Not the Gnocchi Sunday, but the previous one. A great friend of mine and I went running 15K. At some point, after the 10^th kilometer, I felt really bad. I felt cold, a shiver down my spine and I started feeling dizzy. My friend took my hand and was surprised how cold I was. In just a second I was covered by cold sweat. I didn’t know what was happening. We walked for 10min and when I felt fine again, we ran the last 5K.

I was afraid. I have never felt that bad before, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that I don’t know what caused that awful feeling! Maybe I was dehydrated, maybe I was too tired, I don’t know. Besides, I realized I was low on energy those days, I was always hungry and I put on 3kg(?!). I decided to cut on trainings (and ice creams). The first week I trained less and the second one (the one that we have just left behind) I made a four-day-pause. I didn’t give up, nor I was thinking about giving up. But I felt the need for some rest.

I restarted today. My training was 15K running and I felt good. I even lost 3kg that I had put on (What? How? Dunno). I feel fine now and I am ready for new adventures!

It’s all about Gnocchi

I had Dejan on my side, his professional help and his training plans. I was eating (more or less) healthy, I was sleeping enough, I wasn’t stressed. Generally speaking, my sauce was just fine. I think that the problem is that before starting this program, I wasn’t very active. I didn’t run for more than a month because my foot hurt me and I ran just 2-3 times per week before that because I had to think about my Master thesis. From the moment it was all over, I just started being hyperactive, spending all my spare time in the movement. From a coach-potato, I wanted to become a great Gnocchi. But I turned to be a gummy bear made of potato starch. I have nothing against gummy bears, but it’s not what I wanted to make! For great Gnocchi dough, you need the best and very special kind of potato, a genuine raw material. I decided to build my basis slowly, from the scratch. I will listen to my body and have a rest when I need it. As for Gnocchi, I will search for the right potato and once I find it, I will make a great Gnocchi blindfolded.

Bon appetite!

What I talk about when I talk about running

Déformation professionnelle

“What I talk about when I talk about running” or “Hashiru Koto ni Tsuite Kataru Toki ni Boku no Kataru Koto”, translated in Italian as “The art of running” is a memoir by Haruki Murakami. Wikipedia says it’s about long-distance running. The book’s title was inspired by Raymond Carver’s “What we talk about when we talk about love”. Why the Italian translator chose to entitle it differently, I don’t know.

I like the style: simple and smart. Short sentences, but clear, so that even a kid could understand what Haruki wanted to say. The reading is fast, with a constant short rhythm that describes Murakami’s heart beat and short breath while running. I was attracted by the Italian title, “The art of running” and I liked the reviews I found on the Internet, too. I liked the book because it made me think, it evoke emotions and inspired me. On the other hand, there are a few things I didn’t like. First of all, the book is not about running, neither about the Art of Running. It’s the autobiography of the author who was preparing himself for his big race. He talks about himself, about his daily routine, about the music he listens while running, about him being a writer, about his habits and philosophy, about his trip to Greece and about him running the original classic course. He gives us just a glimpse of his training, and then gets back to himself. He tells us which race he ran with what pace, if he suffered or not and then gets back to his thoughts. There are no further explanations. It’s more like a diary. I would call it “A diary of a runner”, or “A writer who goes running” or something. When I first saw this book, Andre Agassi’s “Open” came to my mind. I expected to find the same description of his trainings, tournaments, joy and suffering, hate, passion and devotion with a glance at his private life, explaining how he managed to organize his time, putting together his career with his spare time, love life, friends and family. Instead, we have a Japanese writer who is a runner. A writing runner. Simple, clear, essential.

Solitude

At the very beginning, Haruki explains why he loves running: he enjoys spending quality time with himself, introspecting his life, thoughts and decisions. Sincerely, I found myself in these lines, but then he continues on insisting on how he likes being alone, and how he doesn’t feel comfortable when in a group. At this point, I realize it’s not my case (or I got scared because these lines could be referring to me, too?). His solitude turns into loneliness, into Saudade. But running is not about loneliness. It’s not a sad activity, a sport of poor souls, puzzle pieces that just do not fit. On the contrary!

I have been thinking a lot about psychology of runners. When I say “I am a runner”, what does it tell about me? A runner (as I know it) is motivated, passionate, devoted, goal-oriented, disciplined, constant, persistent, ambitious, determined, adventurous, spunky, organized, self-critical. He/she is also often a strict, rigid, stubborn, arrogant, self-oriented narcissist. Feel free to add good and bad adjectives.

Running in a group is great. Every time I would move from one city to another, change school, job, or just a group of friends, I would seek for runners, trying to organize a new running group. When running alone, with no plan, you can lose your motivation and see no progress. Group running, on the other hand, allows you to change your rhythm, go further and faster, compete, learn and teach, exchange opinions and ideas, chat, have fun, get to know someone better. I would like to thank all my running buddies for sharing their kilometers with me!

Runners like seeing other runners on the street. #YouKnowYouAreARunnerWhen you are in a car/bus, going to work/school, see a runner from the window and wish to join him/her. Even if it’s more common to say hi when cycling, sailing, or hiking, there are gentle runners who say hi, encourage you, or smile at you when see you running. I have to notice there are more gentle runners in the morning, although you would expect them to be more grumpy and rude at 6AM. Please, if you have nothing to say, or don’t want to spare your energy to move your thumb up, give a smile. It costs you nothing, but will boost another runner’s energy. Keep in mind Dale Carnegie’s words: “A smile costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever”.

Music

At one point Murakami talks about his running playlist. Do you listen to music while running? What’s your playlist like? I ran for years listening to Break Beat Era and similar. I ran my first half marathon listening to Radiohead. A friend of mine listens to podcasts. There was a long period of time that I wouldn’t run if my player wasn’t charged. If battery died during my running, I would stop the training. I was music addicted. When running in a group I didn’t always need music. Now I can run both with and without it. Let’s say that now I listen to the playlists from 8tracks , MTV UK top 100 chart, or similar. I rarely listen to the radio. Whereas I saw cyclists listening to the music on road, I prefer paying attention to the traffic and never listen to music while cycling outdoor. When cycling in the gym, I bring my kindle with me.

Trainings

Murakami runs every day. He likes talking about kilometers he ran during a week or month. He makes no pause and remembers very well a few days of his life that he wasn’t able to run. It’s true that if you want to run better, you have to go out and run; if you want to learn how to paint, you have to take a brush in your hand and if you want to learn how to cook, you have to put your hands into the dough and start kneading. At the beginning it’s important to go out and run, make a habit, find pleasure in your routine. As soon as you become a runner (Q: “When do I become a runner?”; A: “When you feel like one”), you have to do different types of trainings. You have to do tempo run, hills, long slow run, recovery run, intervals, or you won’t see any progress. I remember the time I was living at the Doorms in Belgrade and I was running 45minutes 3-4 times per week. Same time, same place and it became a habit. It was nice, but at some point I wasn’t getting any better. As soon as I started doing different trainings, I noticed the improvement. If you don’t know what to change and how to improve, try downloading a running plan from the internet. There are a lot of sites with great plans, explaining every single training. From time to time I buy “Runner’s world”, where you could fine nice tips for improving your running, admirable motivating stories and the calendar of races!

Motivation

Murakami was asking himself if he is the only one who, from time to time, doesn’t want to train. He interviewed one famous Japanese runner asking him the same question and the response he got was rather obvious: he neither feels like running every day. As I wrote once in my tweet, I like running when lazy, upset, angry, disappointed or exhausted from school/work. It just purifies me, charges me with new energy and allows me to go beyond my limits. I ran my fastest 5K and 21K when I was feeling upset.

Running is a drug, but the nice one. It’s legal and you need no prescription for it. As #Asics campaign says “It’s a big world. Go run it”.

The Awesome 21 Day Rule

It wasn’t once I heard that if you want to change something, to make a nice habit, or to extinguish a bad one, you need to follow a 21-day-rule: you should repeat your new (non) habit for 21 days and voila, it becomes your new (non) habit, you become a better person! As simply as that! If you don’t believe me, just google it, but don’t read Forbes, known for writing things you don’t want to believe in ;)  Read this instead! 

I have just concluded my 21-day cycle! It’s been three weeks since I have started training with Dejan and I feel great! I am an athlete, I am a triathlete wannabe, I am a Bananaman!

My trainings

I notice I am getting better at running! I can’t wait to run my next half marathon and see what pasta I am made of! I spiced my trainings with hills, I did one great interval training Dejan told me to do, today’s running training was awesome and it’s incredible how fast I am getting better. I am getting better at cycling, too. It would be horrible if I wasn’t because I have just started, so it’s normal to watch yourself progress. My problem is that I don’t know how to “train” cycling. Maybe I should spice it with some hills, too. It’s that my normal and my recovery training are same to me! None of them seems more difficult or more easy, they are all same! As for swimming, I’ve always liked swimming, but I think it’s my weakest point at the moment. I have watched speedo’s videos on youtube and I realized my technique sucks. Since swimming pools are open now, I could do my trainings very well there, but, as I told Dejan, I don’t understand his swimming abbreviations, so I have no idea how my swimming training should be like! On one hand, I am happy about how I am doing and I really notice the great progress; on the other hand, I feel a bit confused.

 

My fears

I was afraid I wouldn’t succeed. I thought I would feel exhausted after 7-10 days of every-single-day-a-training-or-two program, but I have never felt better! Before that, I was wondering if it was a silly idea to spend a great amount of money for a bicycle and equipment, since I was never fond of cycling, but now I realize that my dear Pedro is worth every penny I spent for getting him! It’s relatively easy to get addicted to running, but it’s far more easier to get addicted to cycling! I was also afraid of going social and sharing my ideas and thoughts, but that fear was totally unfounded! I got great feedback from my family and friends, but also from people I didn’t know! So, guys, thank you for reading me and thank you for writing me back! I really appreciate it! I hope I will be able to keep your attention while trying to reach my goal!

My life

You won’t believe it, but I still have family and friends! While it’s true that I train a lot, I still have time for some social life. My first though was that my life would become all work and trainings, but it’s not (at least not yet) like that. Amy Klipin verbalized my thoughts about the (half) Ironman race (September 2016 Pola!) in one interview for The Guardian: “So, I signed up. Deep breaths. It’s  only a year of intense training,a funeral for my social life and a potential fatality on race day, no big deal. I got a coach, subscribed to the I’m-a-boring-triathlete-with-no-social-life-and-a-one-dimensional-conversation-pattern-revolving-entirely-around-training club, and dug deep. Very deep”.

I was told that I exaggerate with sports, that I should be more girlish and that there is no femininity in what I am doing. I was told that a guy who liked me at first lost his interest in me because I was too competitive with him. I realize that I am a sport companion for the guys, but I enjoy the feeling! I have a lot of friends to do sports with and I like not being considered a weak girl, but one of them, tough guys.

Habits

I started getting up earlier and going to bed earlier. I don’t need to sleep as I used to and my body recovers really fast. The more I train, the more I want to train, it’s amazing! I don’t  get that logic. It must be magic, there is no other explanation. I noticed that I’m awake and full of energy all the day, that I’m more concentrated at work and more vivid. I was talking with some friends of mine about the full-activity days and lazy days and we came to the conclusion that more things one does, more things he/she wants to do, making his/her day last longer than just 24h. On the other hand, if one does nothing, he/she ends up not being able to do anything. He/she becomes lazy and then just lazier and so on… What’s your opinion on it?

 

Special powers

I am Bananaman! I think most of athletes are. Bananas are great. I eat them every time before running and I often opt for a banana for a snack during the day (here the answer to your question: “what can I eat before my training?”). I am still that delish creamy white chocolate ice cream, too. What are you?  

I asked Dejan what does he think, what is my ideal weight, but I have never got a response. Until that day, I will tell you that your ideal weight is the one you feel comfortable with. It’s not expressed in numbers, nor in centimeters of fat around your belly. Your goal should be to feel great in your body. Your body is your temple, so take care of it!

I cannot tell you a secret of 6 packs because I don’t have them, but, as Bananaman, I can share one of my favorite cake recipes, although you probably know it already. Anyway, repetitio mater studiorum est, so:

You need: ladyfingers (God blessed them! They are the best solution for all lazy housewives in the world!), whipped cream, orange/apricot/ananas juice, bananas, jam and chocolate. Make the base of your cake with ladyfingers. Put some juice on them (not to much, just a few drops on every piece), spread some jam on it, put banana slices and cover it with a whipped cream. Put another base of ladyfingers, put a few drops of juice on every piece, spread some more jam, put slices of bananas, and whipped cream. Decorate your cake with chocolate. Put it in the fridge and after a few hours, you have a delicious banana cake! Of course, you can use other fruit (strawberries, ananas, apricot,..), or make different creams by adding some fruit jam in it. Explore, play, add, mix,… it’s difficult (almost impossible) to make it bad. Keep it simple and September 2016 Pula, that'all.