So, yesterday, after some work, it was off to some play. Before my son's 0800 basketball game we ran around with my daughter and some other kids -- randomly dribbling, shooting, and going for steals on a side court (my game is ugly, needless to say). I had a blast in those 20 minutes. Granted, I was at my son's game, not mine, but the opportunity to "play" for awhile was right there and I took it.
I will continue to seek opportunities to engage in more play. For example, I am in the process of creating a few "courses" both on and off our property, using the land (e.g. tree pull-ups; cactus sprints) and conventional sources (e.g. a hoop; dumbbells). The courses will be ever-changing; I have enough routine in my life.
Following the hoops, it was 5 shots of wheatgrass (they gave me a bonus shot because I am the only yahoo that orders two double-shots). That stuff is potent: for about 5 minutes I wanted to jump out of my skin -- in a good way. After a little more work and some good Paleo fair, I added an apple and a banana to prep for a two hour MTB ride. In a few weeks I am hoping that prep will be unnecessary as I will be burning more fat, not carbs.
The two hour MTB ride (no calaries; 24 ounces of H2O) was low heart rate -- well below 134 -- except that in the second hour I did about 12 uphill sprints of anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds on canal underpasses. The one exception was a 66 second blast of what is called "Ivan Dragoo hill." I had a definite tailwind, but it hurt. Here's the overall ride: http://www.strava.com/activities/110494621
A bison burger cookout, with massive spinach salad, capped the day.
I am awake early, assessing some carnage from yesterday, brewing some SAC, and getting ready to walk for about 45 minutes before dawn (wife is training at 0600 so I need to be up and back early).
I got a little sloppy yesterday. First the good: felt good and ate a good supply of low glycemic fruits, nuts, and carnivorous offerings. The bad: a Starbucks venti, soy, sugar-free vanilla latte (extra hot) tasted great about 12:35 p.m., but it's not good for me -- soy and too much other crap and caffeine I didn't need. Then, more Artisan Nut-Thins. Then, at night, lots of processed meat with added sugar and carbs (that's right, they put sugar and carbs in everything); not a lot of sugar and carbs, but enough to be very uncool.
I tell my vegetarian friends one can be a bad Paleo devotee or a bad vegetarian -- "bad" meaning ingesting processed junk with no benefit as a convenience or crutch. Note to self: HTFU (harden the fuck up).
The coffee is kicking in. Time to walk. Yesterday's semi-carnage is done. Time to move forward. No looking back.
“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Just as one may revoke bad thoughts, one may revoke bad eating and a bad lifestyle -- with all their attendant downsides. Day III has me feeling solid, and it's no coincidence.
Strong-ass coffee and a really easy run led to a solid morning of work. Here's the run (which entailed much walking to stay below 134 at all times): http://app.strava.com/activities/110173075
Mid-morning "snack" of most of the rest of Wednesday's chicken with some more "Artisan Nut-Thins," which again are gluten and wheat free, and a few gulps of kambucha.
I'll post tomorrow or Sunday on what "happens" the rest of today. In any event:
I awoke semi-fresh and, of course, proceeded to quaff more strong-ass coffee to get the day going.
After some chill time with the family and a 27 minute warm-up, I did some weights and sprints for about 20 minutes -- at times pretty intense. Two double shots of wheat grass then led to a productive morning at work.
At 1100 the 4 eggs that I had scrambled from home (one to three yoke to white) looked too inviting and went down smooth. Then, later, lunch of chopped turkey salad with avocado. More coffee, too.
Afternoon snacks: apple, blueberries, walnuts.
Afternoon walk for 40 minutes.
Dinner: lots of broccoli; tuna fish with vegannese; cashews; a few sips of Zevia
I know: not much variety or spice. But for 20 days I am trying to be pretty strict -- for me. So, for now, I'll leave being a "foodie" to the dorks that like that moniker (apologies to foodies).
The holidays were rough on me. More accurately, I was rough on me. Now it is time to reboot things. Yesterday I started a 21 day period where I intend to revert back to fat burning via Paleo.
I started yesterday with a few cups of strong-ass coffee. Then, a 1:34, 7.6 mile trail run with almost 2K elevation gain -- all at a sub134 heart rate (requiring walking at many points). No food or calories after the run.
Lunch yesterday was going to Sprouts, buying a hot, roasted chicken, returning to my desk, and eating about half of it (the chicken, not the desk). I did imbibe some gluten-free "Artisan Nut-Thin" crackers with the chicken. Later on, mid-afternoon, I had some kambucha with some more crackers and almond butter. Not pure Paleo, but not so bad either. I slipped in an apple in too.
Dinner: grass-fed bison burger with mustard, garnished with some cashews, and some almond milk.
Not too glamorous, but I feel good today. Party on, Wayne.
Important note: In honor of the upcoming Super Bowl, I am using roman numerals to count the days.
PS I have several gurus for this mission, whose websites are:
I had the privilege to be running up Giant Mountain on a beautiful
and sunny day in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York on a recent
vacation when a funny thing happened.Just as I was nearing the summit, I came across
a middle-aged husband and wife.Excited
to see someone I said, “wonderful day, isn’t it!”The woman, however, looked at me with a
pained expression and complained “but there’s no wildflowers.”
Shocked that someone could ignore all the beauty in their
midst in favor of complaining about what was allegedly “missing,” I quickly said
to her husband “please buy her some wildflowers when you get back down into
town.”I am positive, however, that even
if he bought her thousands of the most brilliant wildflowers, she would find
something that was missing – something to make her unhappy or unfulfilled.Perhaps that is why the husband was chagrined
by my comment.
As I continued on to the summit, the views opened up and the
day became even more special as a panoramic scene of the Adirondack mountain range came into
sight.The woman’s comment and
expression, however, stayed with me.She
confirmed a fundamental truth: that we
can always conjure up a reason not to be happy at things that are apparently “missing” from our lives –
even in the best of places.
When my wife Sarah Jane summited, we rejoiced in the
day.I figured that if one could make
themselves unhappy by perceived inadequacies in their environment, one could reverse
this black magic by doing the opposite – reveling in what is present.
Atop Mount Giant
Henry David
Thoreau once said that “[a] man is rich in proportion to the number of things
he can afford to let alone.” Here's a pledge to try and be happier with what I have, and less worried about what I do not.
I went for a four hour run with my longtime friend Neil about 11 weeks ago, in December 2011.A problem arose quickly:I couldn’t run for four hours.I ended up walking much of the “run,” which didn’t last four hours for that matter.I was a tad deflated, but not too bad, because I figured the passage of time -- I turn 50 this year -- and life’s demands cause “_ _ it” to happen sometimes.
I was wrong.Things have changed in the last 11 weeks.With about the same amount of training -- averaging 2-4 runs a week -- I was able to complete a 50 mile race called the Old Pueblo 50, taking 9th place in a time of (oldpueblo50.com).In the buildup for the race I had no lackluster sessions like the one I had with Neil.What happened?I went against the grain in two fundamental areas:I stopped doing all hard running -- no speed work -- and started eating Paleo.
In stopping all hard running and by only running aerobically, I adopted the philosophy of Dr. Philip Maffetone, who developed and coined “The Maffetone Method” of training.The method is counterintuitive:run easy, at a relatively low heart rate, to achieve the highest level of health and fitness (http://philmaffetone.com/home.cfm).The triathlon great Mark Allen adopted this approach in much of his training; this led to multiple world championships.However, Maffetone’s method is generally eschewed and ignored by the mainstream, which touts speed work and hard running as the fastest and best way to fitness. I disagree.
I employed the Maffetone Method based on past knowledge of it.However, my adoption of the so-called “Paleo diet” was pure luck and serendipity.In December, we were having dinner with friends Thad and Missy Reeves.Both were Division I athletes -- Thad in baseball and Missy in gymnastics.With the built-in respect that I give anyone who played at the top level of college sports, I listened carefully when Missy mentioned to me that “you might like the Paleo diet.”After asking a few questions, and after our dinner guests left, I hit Google to find out more about “Paleo.”I found marksdailyapple.com.There I found an intelligent, world-class athlete who had adopted the Paleo lifestyle and could articulate its benefits and, in a dignified and professional manner, refute its critics.I was hooked on figuring out whether it would work for me.
The Paleo diet incorporates meat, vegetables, and fruits as its core foods (http://altmed.creighton.edu/Paleodiet/Foodlist.html).Fat is not feared when one eats Paleo; it is embraced.Philosophically, Paleo diet followers generally believe that “man” ate this way as he/she evolved over the past two million years.It was only approximately ten thousand years ago that man cultivated grains on a regular basis, and grains are largely worthless, even anti-nutrition, agents (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-grains-are-unhealthy/#axzz1opoCyfs5).Paleo followers believe that grains and/or low fat diets are causing many health problems, and that those who promote grains and the like are wrong and misguided (for a scholarly debate on the topic, go tohttp://crossfitcoronado.typepad.com/files/proteindebate.pdf) (for an excellent discussion of how Americans came to eat a high grain diet, read “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Taubes).
Within days of starting the Paleo diet my body shed fat and inflammation.I became stronger and fitter.Recovery time from training sessions was significantly reduced. I was hooked.In 11 weeks I dropped 14 pounds and was able to run a 50 mile race I could not have even finished in December… in just over 9 hours.Thanks, Missy, Mark Sisson, and two million years of evolution.
For most Americans, going against the grain -- literally -- is against everything they have been told. Whether running, eating, or anything you do or think, question what you have been told. This ex-vegetarian does.
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