November

[glaconman]

November and December have been declared months of longer, slower efforts and a long-overdue attempt to get down to a sensible weight. And after a good Spring and Summer of racing and training it feels like this is the right time of year to change-down a gear and give my 48 yr old body a break from intense efforts.

Over the last few years my weight has fluctuated between 80kg (post 3 week trip to India pretending to be a food critic) and 72kg (post 3 week cycling trip to the Alpes pretending to be a bike rider). I'm currently around 77kg.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Junior's cycling club's presentation night. Handing out the gongs was Keith Lambert. Just inaugurated into British Cycling's Hall of Fame; a local ex-pro who now manages the national u23 squad. Keith had Adam Yate's white jersey from the Tour de France. It was tiny. Adam is 5'6'' and around 57kg apparently. That's 1.5'' shorter than me. And 20kg lighter.

OK, so I'm not interested in challenging for the maillot jaune. And the maillot blanc is definitely out-of-the-question now. But it was still quite a shocking statistic. It's not like I'm a seal, for example, who needs blubber to stay alive whilst feeding in Arctic waters. I'm a middle-aged bloke with an office job who likes a beer.

Or I could look at it like this. If I was on the start line of a race and somebody offered me a rucksack containing only 7 bags of sugar (ie 7kg) and said "Err, can you carry this around with you? New regulations I'm afraid." Then I would just walk to my car. I wouldn't tolerate the burden. But that's what I'm imposing on myself.

So I've only been doing excercise at an easy-to-moderate pace. And I went to the shops the other night armed with a familiar sans-carb shopping list.

Omelette for breakfast. Steak for Dinner. Lentil and tuna salad for lunch. Repeat.

And the chapatis and rice will have to take a back-seat; although we're off to India for 3 weeks in December so that's going to be a challenge. I will allow myself the odd potato. And I have a couple of barrels of homebrew in the basement. One is a Nelson Sauvin pale ale that I've been particularly looking forward to.

Smoke me a kipper. This aint going to be easy.

[Sweder]

Well met, fellow carb-shirker. I wish you well in your quest. I'm not eschewing the Hop, but I'll be with you in all other respects. Here's to the Road to Wellville *clink*

[glaconman]

Well met, fellow carb-shirker. I wish you well in your quest. I'm not eschewing the Hop, but I'll be with you in all other respects. Here's to the Road to Wellville *clink*

Well I'm certainly not giving up Beer. I've invested too much time in my latest brews. Plus I live in Keighley which produces some of the finest beer on this Earth. So we're on exactly the same page.

btw does the 'Road to Wellville' reference indicate a like for TC Boyle? I don't read much fiction these days; but he was always one of my favorite authors.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Smoke me a kipper. This aint going to be easy.

Yes and no ... When you consider you are substituting fat for carbs in the early stages, you're actually eating really tasty, satisfying food. The only hard part is adjusting your habits. And by not eating carbs, you lose all cravings and feelings of hunger (or so I've found). So really, it's not that hard.

But the beer, yeah that could be a problem.

But welcome to the tribe ... we seem to be growing by the day. It is going to be a fascinating journey.

[glaconman]

Yes, that's a good point. I think fat and protein-based food can be much more satisfying.

I have to say I've had a mixed start. The first couple of days were great. But when I got home from work on Friday I was tired and worried about my long run the next day. My wife had cooked some roast potatoes and I must have eaten a dozen.

This wasn't just giving-in to craving; but a conscious decision to prepare sensibly for a 2 hour run in cold winds the following morning. And I have to say the run was very hard, even at a moderate pace, and I'm glad I took on the carbs.

Friday night was also abit of a write-off as the only food available at our Guy Fawkes bonfire was pizza. Then there was the beer.

I'm back-on-track now. Moderate exercise throughout the week and as few carbs as possible.

But I'm wondering if just a reduction in carbs is what I need. Rather than the all-or-nothing approach. Perhaps all-or-nothing is the only way to train the body to work differently. But I'm also trying to acquire realistic habits here rather than those that can only be maintained for a couple of weeks.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Well, I can say from previous experience that just cutting out beer and bread was enough for me to lose a lot of weight in previous endeavours, even if I was eating all other kinds of carbs such as pasta, so it's always worth a shot just doing that.

As for the rest of the low-heart-rate training methods and so on, as I say, time will have to tell as I'm still not sure.