nothing has happened lately, ha.
In the middle of September, I suffered an injury to my foot that made me stop running. I managed to run 3 - 4 times a week after I suffered the injury with the hoped that I could still compete in the Rev3 South Carolina race but I wasn't able to hold it together that long. Tri for Sight was on Labor Day weekend and I felt I had a decent race without much foot pain. I did run in some very minimalist shoes to race in which probably didn't help, but at the time, it didn't hurt. The following two weeks consisted of some pretty solid training. Then on a Wednesday, I did a track workout in some racing flats, and that night I was barely able to walk. I talked it over with Casey, who's in her last year of PT school, and she told me it sounded like Plantar Fasciatis. Many people have told me horror stories about this injury, but I've never had any problem with it at all. I have been lucky with the health of my feet but it finally hit me late this summer. My training this summer has mostly been in racing flats and I increased my mileage late this summer, so I believe these both had the effect that it did on my foot. The RJ Corman Duathlon was my last race, and I barely made it through that race. My second 5k was extremely painful. That 5k is the reason that I pulled the plug on the remainder of my season and decided to get healthy.
I am now running again, but noting like I used to yet. I ran a total of 11 miles last week, and am sitting on 9 miles this week. Swimming has been my focus as of late while I continue to take time off of the bike. My bike training will probably resume in the following weeks.
The month of October has been pretty laid back and relaxing. If I wanted to workout, I would. If I didn't, then I wouldn't. It feels great to do this sometimes. I went to Keeneland, stayed up late some nights, caught up on some of my favorite tv shows, and have been reading some interesting books.
On the weekend of October 15th, I was able to reverse my usual roll and play support for my brother and Casey who competed in the Columbus marathon. I made sure to go out of my way and do whatever I could for them as this was their big race. They both finished their first marathon and finished right around their goal times. Ben ran a 2:56 and Casey was 3:49.
Back to the book subject, I more recently finished "Wheat Belly" which was very interesting. The author proposes the idea that today's version of "wheat," that is in almost every triathlete's/runner's favorite dishes, isn't able to be processed by our body. He claims that wheat in 2011 is some genetically modified strain of wheat that has hundreds of chromosomes that our body can't break down, thus causing all kinds of negative effects to our body such as weight gain, memory loss, acne, increase blood pressure, increased cholesterol, the onset of Pre-Diabetes and Diabetes, and much more. He proposes the idea of eating a "hunter/gather diet" meaning to eat only what a cave man would have eaten. A cave man would eat only what he could kill or gather, such as meat, nuts, fruit, and veggies. Now you can also eat things such as rice and potatoes but he warns to do these in limited quantities because they can spike your blood sugar just like a wheat product would thus causing the negative effects in your body, #1 being the storage of visceral fat. They say that 2 slices of whole grain bread can spike your blood sugar higher than a spoonful of white sugar because the Glycemic index is higher.
It is very thought provoking, but is heavily intended for someone with Celiac Disease. Most of his arguments against wheat products are all supported by studies that have been done with people who suffer from Celiac Disease. I'm sure that there are some negative effects on someone who doesn't have this disease, but not nearly as lethal. I know that I'm definitely cutting back my intake of Gluten and wheat products, but I don't know if I'm able to completely cut it out just yet. Mostly just getting rid of the "extra" calories at meals such as bread and desserts (I'll still eat some ice cream).
I'm now reading "The Shining" which is a good read so far. I've never read it before and it's a classic so I figured it would be a good read.
I have nothing planned for the rest of the year, except for getting healthy and getting back into a routine, but until then I will continue to enjoy my time off.
Tony
