a gallon of kale
http://www.strava.com/activities/100990199
woke up a little slow this morning. kind of a habit lately. started it off with some kale juice (w/ginger) to wake me up. followed a bit later with a couple shots of espresso. starting to get it together now. watching some news and getting my gear laid out. since the seasons are changing and i've been kind of lazy about organizing my shit, it takes me forever to get out the door. i really only had two things to take care of today so i wasn't in a big hurry, so i had a little something to eat. a cut up banana covered in peanut butter and honey. i used to put this in a tortilla years ago before big bike rides and it always seemed to work, figured i would start trying this again.
i finally got out the door and headed for the woods. such a good, honest run. i never really got any big "rush" or anything but i never really crashed either. started to get a little worn toward the end but i actually went back to the singletrack and added another 2+ miles instead of cutting it short like i almost did. i knew i wasn't running tomorrow so thought i should make the most of a rest day. ended up doing a little over 16 miles. worried a little bit. my pace isn't quite what it was last year. i think doing all those doubles back and forth to work everyday really does something. i'm gonna have to work something like that out. it was good to do a little speed work yesterday.
followed all this up with a big pitcher of kale/spinach smoothie w/avocado, mango, ginger, hempseed, vegan protein mix and coconut water. then headed out to walk around town and take care of business.
today was a good day.
a lot of times on these longer runs my mind goes to all kinds of places. believe it or not, most of the time it's pretty quiet in there but no matter what goes on in there, it always comes back to the same thing. my dad. my dad and his family (the males) all seem to die around 50 and usually of some heart disease issue. of course he and my uncles weren't exactly living the healthiest of lifestyles but at one time neither was i. drugs, alcohol, shit food, no exercise, etc. more on that another time.
during my dad's day he was given some shitty medical advice. they didn't emphasize so much then about the dangers of smoking. they told him not to exert himself and diet....fuck. that was NEVER mentioned. he did quit eating country ham except on christmas though. whatever that was about.
about 12-13 years ago i was having some health issues and without any real questions from my doctor he put me on medication and started mentioning surgery right away. when he would see me in the waiting room, he would bring me into another room and have me watch a DVD about said surgery. i was living a somewhat "extreme" lifestyle then. i was a bike messenger. i would go all day without eating and by 3:30 everyday i was getting ice cold chills in 90+ degree atlanta heat from being dehydrated. i was also putting away at least two pots of coffee a day. i brought all this up to my doctor and he just insisted it didn't matter. that sicknesses are usually just random. what the fuck?
i ended up quitting that doctor (and leaving atlanta) and eventually healing myself with home remedies. upon moving to portland i acquired a new doctor who saw promptly to put me on meds for high cholesterol. it went down a little but not so much. i felt like shit and didn't like the idea of being tied to these meds the rest of my life, which my doctor said i would. at one point i changed my diet pretty drastically. nothing weird, just real foods. meats and vegetables only. no breads, rice, pasta or sugar. my cholesterol level actually went down more because of this than the meds but my doctor wouldn't acknowledge that. even funnier was my resting heart rate went from 60's to 50's to 40's but still she wrote down 60. (she didn't, her assistant did). also as my weight went from 185 to 170 to 160 she still wrote 185. when i asked her about this she just said it didn't matter, it was just standard practice. so this is how it's done. i'm seeing more and more this manipulation of the people by the medical community. or maybe it's a larger force just using the medical community. i don't know. all i know is i feel it fix the problems in my body and clear the clouds in my head. food is medicine or poison. whichever you choose.
woke up a little slow this morning. kind of a habit lately. started it off with some kale juice (w/ginger) to wake me up. followed a bit later with a couple shots of espresso. starting to get it together now. watching some news and getting my gear laid out. since the seasons are changing and i've been kind of lazy about organizing my shit, it takes me forever to get out the door. i really only had two things to take care of today so i wasn't in a big hurry, so i had a little something to eat. a cut up banana covered in peanut butter and honey. i used to put this in a tortilla years ago before big bike rides and it always seemed to work, figured i would start trying this again.
i finally got out the door and headed for the woods. such a good, honest run. i never really got any big "rush" or anything but i never really crashed either. started to get a little worn toward the end but i actually went back to the singletrack and added another 2+ miles instead of cutting it short like i almost did. i knew i wasn't running tomorrow so thought i should make the most of a rest day. ended up doing a little over 16 miles. worried a little bit. my pace isn't quite what it was last year. i think doing all those doubles back and forth to work everyday really does something. i'm gonna have to work something like that out. it was good to do a little speed work yesterday.
followed all this up with a big pitcher of kale/spinach smoothie w/avocado, mango, ginger, hempseed, vegan protein mix and coconut water. then headed out to walk around town and take care of business.
today was a good day.
a lot of times on these longer runs my mind goes to all kinds of places. believe it or not, most of the time it's pretty quiet in there but no matter what goes on in there, it always comes back to the same thing. my dad. my dad and his family (the males) all seem to die around 50 and usually of some heart disease issue. of course he and my uncles weren't exactly living the healthiest of lifestyles but at one time neither was i. drugs, alcohol, shit food, no exercise, etc. more on that another time.
during my dad's day he was given some shitty medical advice. they didn't emphasize so much then about the dangers of smoking. they told him not to exert himself and diet....fuck. that was NEVER mentioned. he did quit eating country ham except on christmas though. whatever that was about.
about 12-13 years ago i was having some health issues and without any real questions from my doctor he put me on medication and started mentioning surgery right away. when he would see me in the waiting room, he would bring me into another room and have me watch a DVD about said surgery. i was living a somewhat "extreme" lifestyle then. i was a bike messenger. i would go all day without eating and by 3:30 everyday i was getting ice cold chills in 90+ degree atlanta heat from being dehydrated. i was also putting away at least two pots of coffee a day. i brought all this up to my doctor and he just insisted it didn't matter. that sicknesses are usually just random. what the fuck?
i ended up quitting that doctor (and leaving atlanta) and eventually healing myself with home remedies. upon moving to portland i acquired a new doctor who saw promptly to put me on meds for high cholesterol. it went down a little but not so much. i felt like shit and didn't like the idea of being tied to these meds the rest of my life, which my doctor said i would. at one point i changed my diet pretty drastically. nothing weird, just real foods. meats and vegetables only. no breads, rice, pasta or sugar. my cholesterol level actually went down more because of this than the meds but my doctor wouldn't acknowledge that. even funnier was my resting heart rate went from 60's to 50's to 40's but still she wrote down 60. (she didn't, her assistant did). also as my weight went from 185 to 170 to 160 she still wrote 185. when i asked her about this she just said it didn't matter, it was just standard practice. so this is how it's done. i'm seeing more and more this manipulation of the people by the medical community. or maybe it's a larger force just using the medical community. i don't know. all i know is i feel it fix the problems in my body and clear the clouds in my head. food is medicine or poison. whichever you choose.
