Fast

It has been quite some time since I posted anything to the blog.  And although a  little break has been in order, I'm excited to think that I'm coming up on the 5 year anniversary of my first post!  So now it's time to jump back in with one that is a bit different than my traditional musings about endurance, or beer, or both.  Instead, this post will chronicle my one week experience with a juice "cleanse" or fast.  Over the next five days, I plan to limit my eating to a diet of mostly vegetable and fruit drinks, with the occasional broth or yogurt thrown in for good measure.  Why on earth would I do this?

I've been toying with this idea for a couple of months now.  With the wife and kids away for a few days, it's as good of a time as any.  This way my fasting doesn't interfere with their eating or vice versa.   The main reason I'm doing this is that I really need a reset for my diet.  Despite my best efforts, I've not embraced a healthy eating regimen for quite some time.  As a result, I continue to gain weight and currently weigh the most I have in a number of years.  I suspect that my metabolism has shifted and I'm not as good of a fat burner as I used to be.

In fact, all of this indulging has dampened my overall enjoyment of food.   I still like the taste of food but I don't savor anything.  Fasting will really help me to focus on what I'm eating on a daily basis. By eliminating the snacking, junk food, etc. over the next few days, I hope to gain a new perspective on food.  I don't plan on giving up "treats" forever, but I'd like to get back to eating within reason.  I also want to try eating healthier foods not just for their nutritional value, but also because they taste good.

Most fasting plans recommend that you ease into fasting over the course of a few days.  This way your body adjusts to eating less in a softer, more gradual way.  I've done nothing of the sort.  Instead, prior to starting the fast, I've continued to eat whatever I want.  I am beginning on a Sunday afternoon however, so that when my fast begins, I won't have to endure a full first day without eating.

Ironically, one of the first things I've done to prepare for the fast is to go to the grocery store.  I've stocked up on a few different fruits and vegetables, as well as some different drinks including sparkling water, tomato juice, and low calorie Gatorade.  As I mentioned at the outset of this post, I will actually be eating during this time, but my diet will be limited.  Throughout the next week, I'll reflect on my experience, logging how I'm feeling both mentally and physically throughout the week.

6 hours:  My fast officially began at 2:00 this afternoon.  I managed to eat right up until the deadline so as I write this, I've only been fasting for about 7 hours.  As such, I'm only starting to feel slightly hungry.  I've had a Vitamin Water, some plain H2O, and a cup of Green Tea.  I also spent an hour spinning easy on the trainer downstairs.  My plan is to continue to exercise, though as the week goes on, I'll probably reduce the intensity of the exercise.  A lot will depend on how I'm doing. Current weight is 191.7 lbs. which is about 15-18 lbs. more than I'd like to be.  I use a Withings digital scale to track my weight so all of the data automatically transfers to my computer.

32 hours:  I'm now about 30 hours into this process.  This morning I weighed in again and there was about a 7 lb. difference from the night before.  Hmm.  I'm good but not that good, there was probably a slight error on the scale from the night before.  I'd estimate that  I began today at about 184 lbs. which seems consistent with where I've been of late.  After a morning swim, I had a "green smoothie" for breakfast which consisted of a mix of pureed fruits and vegetables with a touch of fresh ginger.  Pretty tasty.  I also had a coffee.  I know that some fasts include the elimination of caffeine from the diet, but that wasn't going to work for me.  To this point, I've felt fine.  A little hungry at times, but not ravenous.  A bit tired, but not more than usual for a Monday.

56 hours: Tonight I went to yoga for an hour.  They say that in a fast this time frame is the sweet spot in terms of how you feel.  I think that's probably true as I haven't felt terribly hungry or tired and I'm down around 181 lbs. or so.  By morning, I'll be a little more than halfway through the fast.

80 hours: I will officially end this on Friday afternoon when I hit about 120 hours time.  Today was a lot like yesterday.  This morning I did a swim workout, keeping the intensity fairly low.  I have felt a little hungrier this afternoon, but it kind of comes and goes, but what do you expect when you're only eating somewhere between 500 and 800 calories a day?  I have to say that I haven't really had cravings for different things.  I don't find myself daydreaming about specific meals or different foods.

104 hours:  Tomorrow afternoon will mark the end of this experience.  My current weight is about 178 lbs, which puts me into my goal range.  Today has been the most difficult in terms of actually feeling hungry.  Even after tonight's meal (a bowl of Tomato Soup), I still have some hunger pangs.  Oh well, I can definitely hold out for another 16 hours or so.

112 hours:  This morning I weighed in at 176.5.  I'd planned to go for a swim but wound up working out at home instead.  Again this was a low intensity workout, but  I felt fine throughout.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel all that hungry this morning after my workout but I went ahead and ate anyway and I'm glad that I did.  By about 10:30 this morning, my hunger was back with a vengeance.  To counter this I drank some water which helps to create a "full" sensation. I have a feeling that some of my hunger had to do with the copious amount of food in our staff lounge (holiday season!).  It smelled delicious and I was eager, after five days, to finally get to eat something.

120 hours: My fast finally broke this afternoon around 2:00 p.m.  I'd set aside some of the snacks from our school party including a sandwich and chips.  Just prior to diving in, I remembered hearing that if you jump back into too much solid food too quickly, you can really make yourself sick. I cut what I'd saved by half.  Interestingly enough, eating solid food again was somewhat anticlimactic.  For dinner, I joined our staff for our holiday party where I indulged a little more, enjoying a plate of Nachos and a couple of beers.  I ate a bit more this time, and quickly discovered that I was full.

So how did all of this impact my objectives for doing a fast in the first place? In terms of a diet reset,   I feel like a lot of my cravings have disappeared.  Throughout the fast I didn't find myself fantasizing about any particular food (even beer!)  which was perhaps the most surprising thing.  It's not that different things sound bad, they just don't sound that great either.  As I mentioned previously, I've also enjoyed trying some newer and fresher things, and that's something I'll plan to continue.  I also will be working to eat somewhat smaller portions of food and eating a bit more slowly.  I think that too often I eat quickly and I don't realize that I'm actually full until it's too late.

Coupled with the change in my feelings about indulging  is the fact that I've managed, for the first time in nearly a year, to actually lose a bit of weight.  And while I know that I'll gain some back as I start to eat regular food again, I believe my new habits will help me to stay closer to the weight I want to be.

Thanks for reading!

Nothing to do with fasting, but here's a pic from the RCHM which I did a few weeks back.

Beer of the Week: World Peace Death Ray Imperial IPA

From Bristol Brewery comes this Imperial IPA called World Peace Death Ray.  Brewed in honor of Nikola Tesla, a one time Colorado Springs Resident and inventor of . . . well just about everything.  At only 8% it has a surprisingly boozy taste that I'd associate with something in the 10%+ ABV range.  The hops in this beer remind me of a "wet hopped" IPA. To me, the beer is absent of bright citrus tones, and instead  steers more towards the "dark side" of hops.  Think wet grass, pine, and the like.  The finish lingers too, giving way to bitterness.  This one isn't sessionable, but worth picking up a four pack if you are a fan of the style.

Boulder Sunset RR & End of 2016 Season

Unlike a year ago,  my triathlon season officially ended not with an epic accomplishment, but with an easy outing that lasted just over an hour and a half.  The last triathlon I'd done  took place a little over 2 months ago at the Boulder Sunrise Triathlon.  I'd planned to do another race in between, but unfortunately it was canceled the week prior.  That, coupled with a return to full time work, pretty much sapped any extra motivation that I've had to train with any intensity.  I've continued to work out, but not with any real direction or sense of purpose.  This is just really a long way of saying that I rolled up to the Sunset version of the race yesterday with nothing more than the intention to participate and finish without feeling completely destroyed.  And that's what I did.

Like the June race, my daughter went with me and we spent the night prior with my parents.  Unlike the Sunrise however, the Sunset race starts a bit later in the morning, meaning that we didn't have to be out at the Boulder Reservoir until about 9:30 in the morning.  When we arrived, I also discovered that there were probably 3 times the number of participants, creating a rather long line of cars waiting to get into the reservoir and park.

Once we were parked, we made the long walk to the packet pick up and began cuing up in several lines to get my race materials and to register Maya for the 5 kilometer stand alone race.  It was fairly hectic as folks were picking things up and I heard the PA system announcing the start of the Olympic Triathlon.  By the time I had all of my things, I had maybe 10 minutes to get into transition and get set up.  Since we'd been stuck in traffic, the transition area was packed to the gills and it took me a fair amount of time to find the right numbered section for my bike.  Fortunately, the rack wasn't too crowded and I was able to get everything set up fairly quickly.  I met up with my daughter and made it down to the swim start with about 5 minutes to go.

My swim went better this time than I did for the Sunrise race.  Although my time was about the same, I felt much stronger during the swim and managed to avoid going way off course.  When I came out of the water, I didn't feel too tired. Time: 16:39 (includes the run up to T1).

I hadn't really bothered to look where I'd parked my bike when I left transition prior to the swim, but fortunately I guessed right with the numbers and turned up into the correct row.  My T1 time says 1:40 and I would guess that' s about right.  Not nearly as fast as a sprint should be, but that's okay.

Coming into this race, I was most concerned about the bike.  I just haven't been riding much.  In fact, yesterday's race was only about my third time on a bike this month.  I decided that I would take it a bit easier on the bike, and that proved to be a good, safe choice.  As I mentioned there were many more participants in the race, and that was quite noticeable on the bike.   Turning onto Hwy 36, I heard a couple of sirens coming up from behind.  I pulled off to the far side and waited for a fire truck and an ambulance to go rolling past.  A few other riders just kept going, but I wound up passing them a short while later.  I never did hear what the ambulance was for, but I spotted it again a little further up the road (pulling over again as it made a left turn in front of me).

Unlike a few weeks ago during IM Boulder (where an athlete died when she moved into traffic), there were no cones along the course and we were riding along the shoulder directly next to cars along the way.  It quickly became clear that if you were going to pass, you needed to look over your shoulder to be certain that there weren't other riders or vehicles coming from behind.  After a minute or two on Hwy 36, I just decided to slow down and took it easy.  It didn't seem wise to do too much passing, and since I knew I wasn't going for a PR, what was the point?  For the remainder of the ride, I focused mostly on keeping a consistent pace without pushing too hard at any given point.  Time: 53:24.

Unlike T1, I did not make a good guess in selecting the correct row to rack my bike.  I jogged down a different row before for seeing my transition area one row over.  Finding a gap, I ducked under the rack and quickly switched into my running gear.  As I came out of T2 (2:00), I felt strong starting the run (much better than I had a the Sunrise triathlon where I struggled to catch my breath) and quickly fell into a steady pace. The first part of the run is a slight uphill, and I quickly passed a number of athletes before cresting the hill and beginning the long out and back stretch along the reservoir dam.

My run was slower than typical for a sprint, but that was okay given my race philosophy for the day.  I slowed by about 10 seconds after each mile running 8:03, 8:09, and 8:19 over the course of the out and back run.  Time: 25:48.

Crossing the finish line, I was glad to be done as the temperature was starting to heat up. My total time for the race was 1:39:34.8 which was good enough for 15th in my age group (out of 33 participants) and 89th overall (out of 520 finishers).  Certainly not my best outing, I feel good about how it all went down.  Afterward, my daughter and I celebrated by heading into Boulder for some t/ acos and a stop for her first pair of cross-country racers.  Kudos to the folks at the Boulder Running Company!  They were friendly, helpful and made for a nice buying experience for my daughter and I.

End of the season: For the first time since last December, I'm not registered for any upcoming races.  I have a few ideas about the coming year, but there's still a lot of time to relax and think.  Spending this past season doing shorter races was certainly a departure from what I've typically done and I think that's been a good thing.  I've gotten to spend the summer trying new things like paddle boarding and yoga, and I've definitely gotten a lot more down time when it comes to training.  There was definitely something wonderful about weekends that weren't filled with 5+ hour training blocks.

And that's been fine.  But . . . I didn't get the same level of satisfaction or stress relief from this season as I have in year's past.  I'm not saying that I need to do another Ironman next year, but I do believe that the longer, slower stuff is more suited to my nature. I enjoy the contemplative time that "going long" provides, and I think it helps me to feel more balanced and relaxed.  And so, as the summer turns into fall, and then rolls into winter, I'll keep these things in mind when planning my 2017 season.  You can expect a few longer events, perhaps a spring marathon, maybe a century ride or two, and when it comes to triathlon, probably something in the 70.3 range.