Chewsday

I was so exhausted after going to see Bonnie Prince Billy (who is in love now, so he kinda sucks) at the Fillmore last night, and then going to Rock n' Roll Trivia night at Minx (which used to be the Red Room, on Sutter) that I plain forgot to have my usual late-night snack.

So this morning I was starving! I leaped out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7am and cooked up an unholy trinity of chicken, eggs, AND steak... yum!


Just kidding!* Suckaz! I go to work on Tuesdays so the steak was for my lunch. See?



I know what you're thinking... "Chicken for breakfast, steak for lunch... which lucky member of the animal kingdom is he going to eat for dinner?"

Okay, I've got a train to catch. No rest for the wicked!

*like I was about not writing in this blog so much

Unbelievable

I wouldn't believe it if I didn't witness it first-hand...

So Emma and I ran 14 miles yesterday, and I went for 2x 4mile walks as well (not for the exercise but... just coz I'm lonely).

This morning I woke up and had 2 oranges for breakfast, about 10 strawberries and a handful of almondalia. Power Yoga at lunchtime, then a smallish bowl of veal livers and onions, and a smallish bowl of coleslaw with avocado and celery.

I just ran 10 miles easy peasy. Like easy peasy like. I was half expecting to fall over dead.

Something has made me way more efficient.

I wonder if it's the Paleolithic Diet?

Okay, so I concede this blog is getting a bit repetitive. Maybe I'll start posting a little less frequently, so hang in there.

Summary Bullets:

• So far I think the Paleolithic Diet is all it's cracked up to be, and more.

• The benefit of immediate consumption of "sugars" (sports drinks, raisins etc) after rigorous exercise cannot be understated! For me at least. It makes a HUGE difference. I think this is really the only time that they're 'good' for you though...
  

No Problemo Muchachos

14 miles on 2 boiled eggs and 2 bananas. No problem.

Okay, so there was a problem, we (Emma and me I mean I) were meant to run 16 but I got too hot and felt funny so I called it at 14. Just for the record, Emma - who I persuaded to run her first marathon in May with me - could have kept going.

Actually it was a beautiful run, incorporating the Presidio, the length of Golden Gate Park (closed to cars on Sundays), Ocean Beach, Land's End, the GG Bridge, Crissy Field, all on a spectacular San Francisco day! What a weekend this has been! (Yesterday I hit the Farmer's Market and Saturday in Dolores Park for the first time.)

Add to that the feeling of extreme self-righteousness I can now enjoy for the rest of the day!

Lunch. Omelet. That's enough eggs for one day. I think tonight for dinner I'm going to have... wait for it.... PORK you porky porksters!

In other news, I have two followers!

Big shout out to Megan and Stephanie for subscribing to my drivel! Woot!

Dinner

Pork it up you porky porksters! Gimme a P! O! R! K! PORK!

Confirmation Affirmation Ratification

I think I've cracked it. I just got back from a my fastest 10-miler of the year! Not only my fastest since I started the PD, but all year. I was flying! I knocked 4 minutes off my previous '09 best. And this was after 90 mins of one of the toughest yoga classes this morning, and both yoga and a 10-miler yesterday.

The only difference? Last night after the run, and this morning after yoga, I immediately pounded one of those sugary electrolytic sports drinks. Then I concentrated on eating high-glycemic foods for the next hour or so. Nothing crazy, just some raisins, fruit, coconut juice.

It's all about recovery. Gotta get the flux capacity back into the muscles immediately after depleting it all, with some liquid sugar.

I'm so happy I could punch an old lady.

WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!

Okay, I Think I Have This Worked Out...

As I mentioned yesterday I have re-evaluated my approach to this diet. I have now re-read, in its entirety, the section on tweaks for athletes.

Turns out you do need to consume carbs, in the form of glucose drinks, and maybe even the odd potato. Horror!

It also turns out that I had read that bit before, but because I am a certified maniac, I ignored it.

So, a more deliberate and mature James has gleaned the following, ordered into 2 (two) bullet points. The logical extension is explained afterward:

• The Paleo Diet is adequate to maintain glycogen (carb) levels in the muscles, if one is not exercising.

• Immediately after exercise your body is much more receptive to carbohydrate restoration, the good kind. Not the turn-it-into-fat kind.

So, here's what this means. You don't so much carbo load as you do carbo compensate. You 'break' the paleo rules during, and immediately after exercise. According to the theory, this is the best way to make sure tomorrow's run goes well.

(Note that I am not talking about wussy exercise, like going for a 'hike' in Marin, or riding your carbon-fiber bike between coffee shops in your spandex. No, I'm talking about real gutbusting exercise, like running until the screaming pain drowns out the screaming demons, or doing yoga until there's a moat of sweat around your mat on the nice hardwood floor. That's right, the tough kind of exercise, the kiwi kind.)

So it's not about eating carbs in advance, it's about filling the hole afterward.

So I wrote up a wee cheat-sheet and pinned it to my fridge. I can and should consume glucose, simple carbs (like potatoes and pasta) within a certain window (of time) after exercise (an hour or two), and then return to the PD proper.

Right, sorted.

My cheat-sheet is posted here.

Oh Sinnerman, Where You Gonna Run To?

I have been procrastinating writing in my blog today, for reasons that will now become apparent.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

Last night I allowed rice to pass my lips. Rice and beans. Oh the shame! Oh the excruciating dishonor! It wasn't my fault, I swear, there was nothing I could do. I was helpless before the Devil himself (who took the form of a small Mexican man at Poncho Villa's. - again!). There was an order mix-up and my all-meat and avocado dinner was served with rice and beans on the side.

I was not able to resist temptation, and I fell upon the starchy and leguminous abominations like a pack of rabid wolves. Once the delicious ambrosia of Satan's seeds touched my tongue I was no longer in control of my corporeal being. Positively possessed, I pitched the polysaccharide plagues into my pie-hole until there was nothing but plate.

Coming around from my daze I slowly began to realize the horror of what I had done. I considered inducing vomiting, but that's so passe!

Waking up this morning I knew I was at a critical juncture in my noble paleolithic quest. I reaffirmed my mantra, restated my credo, hardened my resolve, and brushed my teeth.

Then I ate eggs and fruit, went for a punishing yoga class fraught with self-castigation. I considered practicing with broken glass in my undergarments, but demurred on the grounds that I sweat enough on the floor at International Orange without adding blood to the mix.

Lunch was salad. Salad with chicken.

My name is James Flynn and I am back on the Paleolithic Diet.