Breaking the Wall

Sasha,

I've always been impressed with your fast recovery, and I know that you attribute some of this to your diet and other living habits. What, if any, supplements do you take? Do you know of any good natural anti-inflammitory supplements? I'm looking for a non-drug method of reducing pain and inflammation.

Paul:

I do not take any supplements. I believe the quick recovery is a result of a long-term healthy lifestyle. I was a weak kid and got sick often before I started running. However, early on, in spite of not having a religion, I learned about the harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco, and made a firm decision to stay away from both completely.

When I was 13, I ran a bad race once after drinking coffee. So I decided to not drink coffee before any kind of serious running, and drank it very infrequently after that. At the age of 19 (1992), I joined the LDS Church and made a commitment to live the Word of Wisdom. This eliminated tea and coffee altogether on top of what I was already doing.

A year later I came to America, and decided that now that I had more choices in my diet, I was going to eat only what I believed would build my fitness - even if I can deal with unhealthy food, I just cannot afford to make room for it in my stomach. This eliminated soda pop, sweets, fast food, and other forms of junk food.

This gave me a better than average American diet, but still in 2002 I began slowing down. I searched for answers for a year, until I decided to change the diet even more. This time I paid particular attention to the do's of the Word of Wisdom: fruits, vegetables, and grains, while using meat sparingly.

So in short, the quick recovery I am seeing now has a deep foundation of nearly a lifetime. Even back before I gave the diet much thought, I was not exposed to the overload of junk food - it was simply not available in Russia. My body has never received any alcoholic drinks, no caffeine for the last 14 years, no junk food in the last 13, and only the highest quality nutrition in the last 3.

I think another reason is that I have trained very consistently. My body knows it cannot slack off on recovery, and has adapted to the routine overtime.

Regarding a non-drug method to reduce inflamation, I have had some success with BF & C, in addition to the tough it out method I have explained earlier. The idea is that you refuse to surrender to the pain, and somehow find a way to tell your body to heal or else... One time in 1994 I had a pinched nerve in the back after some improper training. For a month, I limped to class and back on campus, and every step of it hurt, but somehow managed to run 7.5 miles a day. It somehow became bearable after 2 miles of limpy running. And after a month it went away.