Hi folks,
Deb is admiring the new artwork in Johnny’s in Carrboro, as I admire her admiring the artwork.
I was in Johnny’s today, just looking at the latest artwork on display, and at Deb looking at the artwork, as I wondered what to ‘blog’ about, so I looked around and noticed all the carbs in so many things, and thought I’d write about that. I’m currently preparing for the New York City Marathon, which I am going to run as part of a fundraiser for the American Heart Association organized by Heartosaurus (all help appreciated). This race takes place in a few weeks, and one thing you do not want to do is carry excess weight for 26.2 miles. Furthermore, it is important to make no major changes to your metabolism this close to a race. A few weeks ago I decided to experiment with reducing my carbohydrate intake in response to encouragement to do so from my eldest son, Nick, of Shirts that Go fame.
Carbs abound at Johnny’s, but so do proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and the choice is up to you. Photo by Meghan Truesdell.
I did this slowly and carefully, gently reducing my carbohydrate intake, day by day rejecting an increasing amount of the bread, rice and potatoes that came my way, and slightly increasing proteins and fats (eggs, meat, nuts, and so forth) if I was at all hungry. One thing that rapidly became apparent was the general absence of hunger pangs between meals, with no apparent decrease in my energy levels, in spite of fairly intense training. A few weeks later, I noticed that I had lost five pounds already (I rarely weigh myself, I just forget). I told Nick, and he informed me “that reducing carbs will reduce my fluid retention, but this will stabilize after a little while.” This is both fascinating and worth watching, as I don’t want to run into dehydration problems, whilst weight control is critical for effective running. All of this made me wonder if I could complete an Ironman race purely on my own body fat stores without bonking, because that stuff really goes a long way – sure would save a lot of hassle on the bike and the run.
Maybe dependence upon liver glycogen is overrated? Working out the answer to such questions, which are widely discussed on ‘The Web,’ whilst requiring personal experiment to resolve one’s own case (we are all slightly different), is exactly what my work on safe exercise for better health in relation to aging and health challenges, such as aortic aneurysms, is all about. More interesting things to explore and test during my training.
Life is good and never boring!
-k @FitOldDog
But don’t you have to carbo-load before a race?
That is a good question, which is related to the issue of the use of short-term versus long-term storage energy. -kevin