RackOfftober

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Born and bread.

The bad news does not let up. A super-slow, cautious plod was aborted after just 1.2km and the calf pain continues. Treatment just seems to make it worse, so I'm going to leave it alone and let it mend in its own time, as it seems I have no choice.

This, and other niggling ailments of varying kinds have got me thinking about my health in general and why everything is slowing down so much. I don't believe it's age. Well, while age might be at the heart of the matter, the rate of recovery has now slowed to a crawl, a change that is surely out of all proportion to the actual ageing process. 

So, after a lot of careful analysis and a bit of research I have decided to go back on my 'NBNB' diet; i.e. 'No Bread No Booze'. Well, let's be clear, there will be booze, but reduced significantly, as I've been promising myself for some weeks now. The main problem is the bread, which I've found for a long time to be disharmonious with my health in general. This is sad, because in general I love bread and bread products. However, there's little doubt in my mind that wheat is not good for me, and I'm subscribing to the theory that for an endurance runner carbohydrate is, in fact, our enemy, not our friend as was widely believed for so long.

While I'm at it, and for this reason, I figure I may as well cut back all carbs (including the starchy stuff) for a couple of weeks, and then slowly reintroduce them, and see if I can't work out what it is that's causing me so much needless grief. It may not be the booze and bread, but I aim to find out, and past experience tells me I need this, as a few weeks off the bread (in particular) and a general reduction of alcohol and carbohydrate intake always does me a power of good. 

This decision has in part come about because I've been reading Christopher McDougall's book, Natural Born Heroes, the follow-up to the phenomenal Born To Run, and in which in turn led me to investigate The Maffetone Method, essentially a means of turning the body to fat-burning rather than depending on carbohydrate, and thus of great benefit to the endurance athlete. Fascinating, thought-provoking, and I must say, logical-sounding stuff.

Once this calf heals, I'll let you know how it goes.

              Typical response to the 'NBNB' diet.