Today I am thankful.
You see, I read an article in Thursday's Portland Press Herald that "expressions of thanks promote health and happiness and give optimism and energy to the downtrodden".
I am not downtrodden, but I could use a bit of optimism and energy.
My mom clipped this special article for me after reading a post I wrote last Wednesday. The post was, admittedly, snotty. And also a little snide. And also lacking in substance. After embracing this fact I began to fear that if you read this post you might believe I am actually snotty and snide, and not the lovely and gracious person you have come to know on this blog.
So I took it down.
Because really, I am a thankful person. Really. Very thankful. Everyday. It's like--who I am. Always. T.h.a.n.k.f.u.l.
Today I am especially thankful that I have cool parents who let my family crash at their house for the entire holiday weekend, and who also took care of our kids and our incontinent old man dog while we went wining and dining with our friends. Thanks Mom and Dad! Sorry you had to step in Linus's crap, Dad. He just slips those little nuggets out...
Anyway.
I had a lovely Thanksgiving with my extremely large family (we're talking over 25 and not everyone was there). It was a pleasant ruckus. I can only tolerate the Thanksgiving ruckus for a few hours at a time, however, and then I need to escape to my chambers and read for a bit before re-emerging in all of my extroverted glory. This Thanksgiving I chose to spend my get-away-reading time with Matt Fitzgerald's text Racing Weight.
In case you were wondering, it's not a good idea to read a book about achieving Race Weight when you are in the midst of digesting a gigantic slice of dark chocolate cake slathered in peanut butter sauce. You already knew this, of course. I'm the only dumb fuck who would read such a book on Thanksgiving Day.
It is a good book. A wise book. A moderate book in which Fitzgerald uses all of the latest research to highlight the advantages of achieving race weight for one's specific sport, and then ways one can safely do this without losing muscle, without becoming a carb-starved bitch, and without becoming homicidal with hunger. (Okay, he really only covered the part about not losing muscle.)
Much of what he discusses is counter-intuitive. For example, "using a sports drink in training may preserve muscle mass and promote a slightly leaner body composition." Or, you might be interested to know, one can help to optimize her muscle-to-fat ratio by eating protein/carb combo immediately following exercise, because fat burning increases while the carbs you take in are delivered to your muscles to replenish glycogen stores. (143) The book is full of helpful little snatches of race weight know-how such as these facts.
I especially enjoyed the section on supplements. I'm planning on upping my intake of calcium and also trying beta-alanine and conjugated linoleic acid. Has anyone had any experience taking the latter two? Beta-alanine is an amino acid that formulates an antioxidant in your body that supposedly helps fight muscle fatigue and increases lean muscle mass. CLA (the conjugated etc...) has been shown to help fight seasonal weight gain (not as in off-season--as in winter season). Taking adequate amounts of calcium reduces the production of a hormone that aids in fat storage. (236-241) It think it's safe and maybe smart to give these three supplements a shot. And has anyone out there tried taking creatine? I'm not planning on taking it, but I'm curious what your experience has been with it if you have.
It's a good read, and one I recommend even if you could give a hoot about achieving "ideal" race weight. It's more a book about how to eat to fuel for your life as an athlete than a book on how to get thin. Still, don't read it on Thanksgiving. I hate to admit it, but after reading it I feel monstrously large and I just want to cleanse myself by eating only greens, fruit smoothies with whey protein, and lean meats for the next year.
Before I sign off I want to give a LOUD CONGRATS to Kim (Teta Equals Booby) who competed in IM Cozumel today. SHE. KICKED. ASS. 12:22--which is a gigantic PR. Also competing was Claire (Speedy) who also had a fantastic race and a PR, finishing in 12 hours flat. I'm so excited for both of them, because they both deserved to have awesome races and they did.
14 comments:
AHHHH that book is totally on my list for the next read. Talk about shitty timing to read it though... worse than reading it on Thanksgiving? How about when you're pregnant and gaining weight every freaking day??? UGH> BUT, I am interested nevertheless on what it says. Thanks for the review.
Oh, and I have not tried those specific supplements, but I did use Amino Vital a lot this year and I swear it did wonders for my ability to mentally concentrate during long training and racing days. For what that's worth. (And nobody is paying me to say that so no disclaimers here.)
Great discussion of the beeok. I am reading it right now. Keep us updated on the supplements. Happy thanksgiving
well I always drink chocolate milk after my workouts -- that's protein and carbs right?
I think I would have liked THAT post:)
I'll def get the book, sounds like another Matt gem. He is writing another one now about running by feel! I've never taken those supplements - I am terrified about side effects, long term (I don't even take Tylenol unless I am dying) - but I do take calcium, 2000mg (more than that and one risks kidney stones, yuck).
Hey Mary! Glad you had a nice Thanksgiving! And, I am interested in that book too - I am always interested in books though. I need to get it, but it is only online and I was not online over the holiday much.
thanks for the review.
And, next time I go away for a week on vacation can you blog more? LOL
And, I am SOO over the moon about KIM too! YAY! She deserved that PR.
interesting read...thanks for the tip!
Yay for wining and dining with friends and having a wonderful family! Glad you enjoyed your holiday
Mary, you might also enjoy Thrive - Brendan Brazier's (former pro ironman triathlete) book. He's a vegan (I am not), but it's a great read - very interesting and very easy to incorporate into a non-vegan lifestyle.
I was into CLA a few years ago and didn't notice any difference in my life, but it's certainly worth a shot. I'm pretty religious about my multi, cal/mag/D, and Omega-3's.
I agree with michelle about the amino vital...good stuff. I take Ca+ but not much more than that, just try to drink milk and eat yogurt ( and ice cream and cheese! ) I Do live in the dairy world next to Wisconsin ya know. Good dairy!
As for the Creatine Monohydrate..I used some shakes from Advocare that had CM in it and they just made me gassy. Supposedly the higher dosages they recommend promote water retention. So not really anything i was interested in.
Tsk tsk on removing the blog post. Blogging is about who we are and what we are thinking right now. Editing posts later speaks more about who we wish we were.
I can honestly say that I found nothing wrong with your deleted post. Actually, I feel much the same, with one exception: I'm thankful for the Google cache. ;)
Okay, you had me cracking up! Love the post :-)
I read that post in my Google reader then clicked to leave a comment, but it was gone from your blog. Now I know why.
Thanks for the book info. I'm definitely going to check it out. I started training yesterday for Mooseman. I had my pie and took a vacation in Slothville, so time to get going.
I did recently add Vitamin D to my diet, but I'd be curious to know how these other supplements work out for you.
My husband used to take creatine a lot back into college when he was seriously into lifting weights. Fast forward about 10 yrs when he is into triathlon and he decided to try it again since he read numerous studies on the benefit of it. Well, about a week before his A race (White Lake half) he put on around 5 lbs and he was totally freaking out! He did end up having a breakthrough performance and won his age group, so maybe it helped? There really is no way to know, but he said he will never take it again due to the weight gain.
I have been slurping fruit smoothies all week. On the first day they even had whey protein. Then they they ran out and didn't replace. I was bummed.. Sounds like a book I would be interested in reading after I finish Angles and Demons.. I had already written "note to self when I get back" start on amino acid (Glutamine) and extra vitamin C.
Cheers.
I met both of those incredible women in Cozumel and they both were so tough and did so great on a brutally hard day. They cannot possibly be as proud of their effort as they should be. They're superstars.
Post a Comment