Swimming is hard

My training for the Vancouver Triathalon has begun,

One thing I have already learnt, which I imagine many other triathletes discover, is that the swimming section can often be the most daunting.

The run and bike sections are very achievable, but the swim scares me.

I have started doing lengths at the local swimming pool.  I can do a length no problem but need to catch my breath before I do the next. 

It is either my technique or lack of fitness that are holding me back.

Looking at the swim map, the most I need to swim between buoys is 200 meters.  That's eight lengths at the local pool.

Lotsa laps ahead of me methinks,

Focus

A challenge should be scary.  it should be attainable but push yourself at the same time.

My 100km run was just that.  It was hard and required day to day slog, but I got it done.

Time for a new challenge.

I have decided to do the Vancouver Triathalon.

That'd be a 1.5km swim, a 37.6km bike, and a 10km run.

That is very scary for me.  Especially the open water (!) swim.

Time to get the bike tuned up and renew my pool subscription.

Crunches

As stated previously, I have started going up and down the Coquitlam Crunch.

So far so good, but it has reminded me how incredibly out of shape I am now.

I used to run up the damn thing and now I am huffing and puffing all the way out.

A lot of small steps ahead to get back to where I was.

Up and down and up and down

Having regular exercise is important.  Making it part of your routine can help this as it is just "what I do".

I had excellent routines when I trained for my 100km race.

In that spirit, I have started walking the kids up to school every day followed immediately after by the Coquitlam Crunch

It's not Rocket Surgery

Simple rules attached to my bedside cabinet.

It's not hard.

Intermittent Fasting

Your body is a wonderful thing.  It does a wonderful job of repairing itself. 

Tick tock

I cut my finger while cooking a couple of days ago.  The wound is almost gone.  That's pretty darn incredible if you ask me!

I have certain ailments inside of me that are similar to the cut on my finger.  While not life threatening they still need to get dealt with.

To deal with them my body needs energy.  Luckily, I have large stores of energy stored around my body, aka fat.

Unfortunately, my body just doesn't have the time to do the necessary repair work because it is just too damn busy digesting the food that I shove down my gullet.

It's not surprising that my body prioritizes.  For approx 200,000 years, humans have struggled for calories.   They needed every calorie they could get.  Natural selection sorted this out to ensure those most adapted to prioritizing calorie processing survived.

In modern most people have an abundance of calories to consume.  So much so that our bodies spend so much time digesting and not enough time to repair.

With all this in mind, I am going to start intermittent fasting, which will mean eating between noon and 8pm.

The research on the benefits of intermittent fasting is growing and points to the numerous benefits not the least of which is weight loss.

Let's see how this goes!

I can smoke if I want to

Few t-shirts have even made me genuinely laugh-out-loud, but one I saw in New Zealand did just that.

It read:

I can smoke if I want to, so f*** off. 

I think that sums up the attitude of many smokers.  You can drone on and on about the negative health effects of smoking, but it is their body, and the rest of us can just f***off.

The "it's bad for your health" argument is just not an effective one.

What I do think is a good argument is this: For decades, Big Tobacco has systematically lied to the public. They have pushed cigarettes onto children, funded bogus studies to confuse the public, lobbied hard to deny secondhand smoke is dangerous and done all they could to promote a product that when used correctly will kill you.

Do you really want to give your money to line the pockets of such people?  I certainly don't.

I think similar arguments can be made in regards to food.

I can eat sugar-laden processed food if I want to, so f*** off

Same idea.  Sure I can eat the bowl of fruit loops.  Yes, I know it is bad for me, but I can eat it if I want to, so f*** off.

Let's take a peek at the breakfast cereal game and see what is revealed.

General Mills came up with a cereal called Super Sugar Crisps which was 44% sugar. Caring about the health of children so much the reduced the sugar, meaning the reduced the font size of the sugar.

Before

.

After

And then in a whole other level of deceit, they renamed it Honey Smacks.

Same product.  Different levels of deceit.  Click here for more gory details.

I think we all can agree that that amount of processed sugar is good for no one, let alone small children.

So, yes, you can eat this cereal if you want, but you'll be supporting these very unscrupulous people.

Cereal is an extreme example.  But you can find similar arguments across a whole variety of processed good. 

For an excellent breakdown about the lengths Big Food industry goes to get the public addicted to their salt-laden, sugar-laden, and fat-laden products, check out the excellent book Salt Sugar Fat.

I am addicted to sugar.  It is my Achilles heel.   But hey, I can eat it if I want to.

But, if I want to not support Big Food and their manipulative ways, then I will stay well clear.

It's the food, man

Do you want to significantly reduce your risk of:

• Coronary heart disease
• Lung disease
• Brain disease
• Digestive Cancers
• Infections
• Type 2 diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Liver disease
• Blood Cancers
• Kidney disease
• Breast cancer
• Suicidal depression
• Prostate cancer
• and Parkinson's disease?

Then eat

• Beans
• Berries
• A variety of fruit
• Cruciferous vegetables
• Greens
• Other types of vegetables
• Flaxseed
• Nuts and seeds
• Herbs and spices, especially turmeric
• Wholegrains
• Beverages such as water and tea

and throw in some exercise and you'll be good^*.

Notice that all of those are plant-based foods.  Not a drop of dairy or a modicum of meat is present.

I know this stuff. I listen to hours of podcasts of this stuff.  Yet I have a habit of eating sugar-laden highly processed crap.  Not even a modicum of meat though. I am so over meat.

If I am to get healthy again, then that will require eating a whole-food planted based diet and incorporating all of those foods above.  If I nail this, I'll be 80% of the way there.

Not more sugar-laden crap, which is, without doubt, my kryptonite. 

I went grocery shopping yesterday so I could stock on healthy foods.

Today I am eating

• Summertime oatmeal for breakfast
• Curried chickpea wraps with a juiced vegetable blend for lunch
• Super salad with Garlic Caesar dressing and Alfredo Zucchini noodles for dinner
• Strawberry Banana Nice Cream for dessert

Yum.  Can't wait!

---

^* I link to all of the scientific articles, but it'd take too long.  For more info check out the excellent "How Not to Die" book

Malcolm Gets Healthy

Getting a helping hand with 40km
to go at Tarawera

Back in February 2018, I ran the 102km Tarawera Ultramarathon in New Zealand.  Since then I've been woefully out of shape.  I've barely done any exercise and put on a ton of weight.

Not good.

I think I was so mentally and physically drained after the race I just had to stop for a while  Stop being so regimented in my eating,  Stop running crazy long miles.  Just stop.  For a bit.

Turns out I just stopped for too long.

So now more than a year removed from the race it is time to turn things around.

Time to get healthy (again).

I want to run and I want to run far. 

This blog will document my journey back to health and the pitfalls and accomplishments along the way.

Stay tuned

Note: This is part of an elective assignment I am doing for Toastmasters.