Today's run made me more than a little wary of this whole modified Paleo diet shenanigan. About half a mile into my run, I felt drained. I was planning to run at least 10, but it was clear that that just wasn't going to be in the cards. Every time I encountered a hill, my legs felt like lead and I had to struggle my way up. In fact, I had to start taking walk breaks around 2.5 miles (up the final climb to Popperton Park). Although it seems like I just have a bad day every now and again, this felt different. By the time I slumped through the door, I was convinced that the diet was the problem, and that the reason I felt so awful was because my glycogen stores were depleted. Brooke and I talked about it all weekend and she picked up a copy of Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight for me to peruse. It quickly confirmed, more or less, what I was feeling--that an endurance athlete (such as I am) is not likely to do well on a low-carb diet. I've said the same thing a million times to friends who are pumping the latest high-protein, low-carb craze, but after having actually experienced it myself, I was even more convinced. As a result, I'm in the process of tweaking my diet right now. The current thinking is to incorporate whole grains but to continue to load up on fruits and veggies, limit (but not eliminate) dairy, strictly limit processed and sugary foods. I think I'm going to allow myself one dessert on Sundays, just to make the experience a little less spartan. I also went through a calculation in the book to figure out my optimal racing weight (based on current weight and body composition). The goal I set for myself several week ago was 149. After buying a scale that measures body fat (mine is apparently 15.5%) and running my numbers through the formula, the calculations confirmed that number (actually, the number is 149.33333). I was disheartened by the body fat number, since the last time I remember getting my body fat checked was in high school (caliper method, so probably not accurate), and the number was 4.1%. Those days are long gone, but I'm hoping to dip below 10% by the time I toe the starting line in October.
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