One year of triathlon training

A year ago this month I started working with my coach, Steve Pyle, of Boulder, Colorado.  Since then I have completely changed as an athlete, both mentally and physically, to how I approach my training and racing.

My body transformation:
This time last year I weighed 122 lbs and had 20% body fat.  Today, I weigh 113 lbs and have 13% body fat.  That's the same body composition I had when I was an 18 year old running Division I Cross Country and Track for the University of Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns.

This year, last year (sorry I don't have an action shot from last year!)

In the course of the past year, Steve has built me up from 7 hours of training a week to 12-14.  Before starting with Steve, I had never clipped into the pedals on a bike before, or ridden more than 20 miles.  I had never done a sprint workout in the pool or had any kind of coaching in swimming at all.   Now a 50+ mile bike ride is an every weekend activity, and it's rare to swim less than 3000yds every time I'm in the water.  My run workouts are mostly tempo builds, since my run is already very strong.  But these workouts are more than enough to have dropped my 5k back to my peak performance times in college.

With respect to the weight loss - I have met with nutritionist, Dr. Dan Benardot, from Georgia State University, but have made very little changes to my diet.  I've always eaten fairly healthy.  The biggest changes I've made are drinking sports drinks instead of water in workouts, and eating more often, and in smaller portions during the day.  But in general, the weight and fat came off slowly and naturally as my body adjusted to the training schedule.  Not to say I was in bad shape last year, but being lean makes running fast, and riding a bike uphill, a lot easier.