I would like to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to announce that Angelo, 13-year veteran bike messenger and my fiancé, is counting down the days to his retirement from the road.
He’s been documenting his last ten days on his own blog, and I HIGHLY suggest you all go over there right now to read it. It’s good, and it’s funny.
This post has been a long time coming. I’ve had it percolating in my little brain for weeks, trying to put into words what I feel in my heart is true and just and not crazy.
As y’all know (oh too well) I’ve had a tortured relationship with food for the last few years. Either I ate too much of it, not enough of it, weird combinations of it, or specific types of it. I have yo-yo’ed between regimenting my food intake to the last nut or seed; to being totally lackadaisical and laisser-faire, eating everything I craved.
It is this pendulum of extremes that’s killing me more than any type of food I might be eating. Problem is, the pendulum is hard to get off. It swings back and forth with such velocity, it’s tough to pick a time to jump.
And the blog seemed to make the swings of the pendulum worse. I was scared that my blog was enabling my eating disorder. Worse, I was scared that I was putting out into the world some messed-up views on eating. The last thing I wanted to do was set someone else off down the dark path I was on. It’s the reason why I stopped blogging for a month. And it’s the reason I refused to mention food on the blog when I started it up again. I figured that if I had absolutely no useful insights on the subject whatsoever, then it was best to remain mute on the subject.
But as I’m getting more and more in tune with my exercise plan and becoming more and more active, I see that it is impossible to ignore food when considering a complete picture of health.
It’s time that I start making some small changes to my eating habits, to get them somewhere along the middle point of the pendulum. (My reintroduction to running was slow and steady and sustainable, and I fully intend to make my reintroduction to conscious eating the same!)
Here are some of my new rules of eating for health. They are really simple and somewhat general. I am determined to stay away from any cute or catchy mottos on eating (such as instilling a “carb curfew” or “Ice cream Saturdays” or something) because that is too close to controlling my eating for my liking. (remember, I’m treading in some dark territory here for me, so you’ll have to bear with me!):
Also, please note that these are Marlène-specific rules. If you don’t like them for yourself, go ahead and ignore or amend!
First rule of eating for health: Each meal should correspond to my particular hunger level at the time. (there’s no point in refusing seconds when it just means that I’ll be reaching into the cookie jar 20 min later)
Second rule of eating for health: Whole foods make better snacks than cookies (cookies and chocolate bars are easy and tempting, and they are habit forming too. But they don’t do much for me, not like a pear, banana, or carrots could do)
Third rule of eating for health: Sugar substitutes make me crave sweet things (I’m better off putting a little real sugar in my coffee than going nuts on Splenda.)
Fourth rule of eating for health: Clocks don’t know when I’m hungry. (just because it’s 12:30 doesn’t mean it has to be lunchtime. Sometimes lunch comes at 11am. Sometimes it comes at 2pm. And that’s okay).
Fifth rule of eating for health: Sometimes eating certain animals (like those that are raised ethically, organically, and that are unprocessed) make my tummy feel good. (there’s no point eating soy that makes me feel like shit, when I could eat a piece of local chicken that makes my insides sing)
So that’s it. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject for now. Though I won’t be documenting my meals or keeping hard-fast accounts of my food intake, I will check in on how I’m doing following the rules every now and then, and I hope these rules become intuitive to me over time.
Want a recap? I had a major setback last fall when I seriously injured my knee. Read all about it in this post, and find out about my MRI results in this post.
Do you know what the real tragedy of all this is? All of these epiphanies I’ve had in the months following my injury have been said MANY times before. There are countless articles on injury prevention in running magazines, on other blogs, and in training books. But it wasn’t until it happened to me, until I got injured, that I really understood what precautions are needed to stay injury-free.
And so, in another attempt to impart some wisdom, share some preventative knowledge, here are some thoughts regarding my injury, and how it’s changed how I look at running and training:
1. Weight training is SO important. Spending a lot of time in the weights section at the gym is new to me and way outside my comfort zone. But I do some sort of weight training at least twice a week now, to compliment my cardio workouts.
These weight sessions often include exercises I learned in physiotherapy to maintain the muscle development needed to protect my joints and ligaments. Many of these exercises are weight resistance training – where you use your own body weight for resistance – and target my “weak” spots (my glutes and the muscles around my knees)
These workouts allow me to run better, more efficiently, and with no pain. Think of the way that Eating well + Exercise = A Complete Weight Loss Plan. If you do one or the other, your chances of success aren’t as high, and you’re bound to come up on a few more pitfalls. Well, the same goes for Weight Training + Cardio = A Complete Training Regimen. Sure you COULD just do one or the other, but both is best for results and sustainability.
2. Protein is SO important. I know that these seem like really simple observations, but really, this is the kind of stuff I used to ignore pre-injury.
Let me paint you a picture: Here’s how a typical 5-day training program used to look like for me. Monday’s run would be great and I’d feel pumped. However, post-run I wouldn’t refuel properly (because I was trying to lose weight). Tuesday’s run would still good, and even though I would feel a little tired, I’d like it because I figured I was creating a “calorie deficit” and losing weight. Wednesday’s run would be tough, but I’d fight to get through it. Thursday’s run would be a disaster and more often than not, I’d get a pain somewhere that would make me stop. By Friday I just wouldn’t be able to muster the motivation to even put on my running shoes.
Why was this happening, I’d ask myself? I’d beat myself up for being so weak. But in reality, I was wearing out my muscles and not properly refuel after each and every workout. As a result, I certainly couldn’t get through more than 3 workouts in a row before having a serious crash. This is where Protein comes in. Muscles require water and protein for fuel, and they are more responsive to refueling soon after a workout (where they get depleted of their water content). So I’m not advocating eating steak for dinner after every run. (By the time you’ve gone home, cleaned, cooked, eaten, and digested that sucker, your muscles aren’t in the mood to absorb the protein anymore) I’m talking about ingesting a source of protein right after your workout that is easily digested and refuels those muscles so that they’re raring to go the next time you are.
I’ve recently added a protein supplement to my training regimen, and the results have been AMAZING. I’ll dedicate an entire post to protein in the next few days, so come on back and check it out!
3. Pacing is SO important. John Bingham blew my mind when he described how lungs, muscles, and ligaments all have HUGELY different progression timelines.
You can improve your cardio in a matter of weeks, but your muscles will only catch up a few weeks later, and your ligaments won’t reach that same plateau for another few MONTHS! So just because your lungs are telling you that they can run for an hour straight doesn’t mean your joints can. This was really huge for me, since I was so concerned with heart rate and calorie burn, that I wasn’t paying attention to my muscles and joints. Nowadays, when I do wear my heart rate monitor, I don’t care too much about the number at the end. I know that every run I log, every kilometer I run, every weight I lift is helping me build a base a stronger, and become a fitter person.
4. Accepting my body shape is SO important. Truths about me: I don’t have much of a defined waist. I don’t have much of a rack. These are things that won’t change (without surgery, anyway). More truths about me: I’m practically 6′ tall. I’m surprisingly strong and easily get defined muscles. These are good things!
So at the end of the day, I should stop worrying so much about trying to look like I have a 28″ waist and spend more time thinking about how I’m improving, how much fun I’m having, and how great I feel after each workout.
So, armed with these new insights, this new knowledge of how my body performs at its best, I’ve been able to maintain a healthy training regimen and I have seen amazing improvements in my performance, and in my overall health.
Last weekend Angelo and I took a field trip out to the Mid-East Food Centre.
This is a great market in the East end of the city. We stopped in around lunch time, so we grabbed a bit to eat there (a falafel pita the size of my head for me, and a shawarma for Ange – sadly, unphotographed). I love any place that puts hummus and tahini on their pitas and not that gross “garlic sauce”.
After eating for what seemed like an eternity (seriously, such a filling meal!) we perused the aisles.
First up: the sweets. It’s no secret that middle eastern sweets make up a huge part of their food culture, and it was certainly reflected here. So many pistachio, nugat, and honey filled things to delight the senses.
Speaking of delights, there is an entire aisle dedicated to Turkish Delight.
That’s serious business!!!
Ange and I were so surprised to see this in the bathroom product aisle:
Nobody is happy with what they have, are they??? 
cans and cans of beans
bags and bags of beans
spice aisle!
I could seriously put a dent in my wallet walking down this aisle!
We left with a pretty meager stash of stuff, on account of we had already done our grocery shop for the week, but it was still a super fun outing!
The handful of sweets we bought never made it home! We ate our Turkish Delight right in the car. Yum!
turkish delight
It had been a while since I’d picked up the needles, and I was itching to get at them, if only to prove to myself that I hadn’t forgotten how to knit.
I wanted a project that straddled the fence between being too easy and boring (scarf) and too labour-intensive and confusing (fair isle sweater). Mainly, I wanted a project that could be done in a few hours, and that could boost my knitting confidence.
I found this:
The pattern came from one of those “knit a project every day” calendars that my mom gave me one Christmas. I kept a bunch of patterns that seemed interesting, and this doily style dishcloth really caught my eye.
The pattern was very easy to follow, and can be found (for free!!) at www.sugarncream.com Unfortunately, you have to log in to see the pattern, but if they give me permission, I’ll post it here later.
Here’s the dishcloth, just starting out:
The pattern requires you to do a WHOLE BUNCH of YO’s (Yarn Over).
This was pretty much knit entirely while listening to the hockey game on the TV – I’m not good enough yet to knit without looking at my work… One day. Sigh.)
The whole thing took me about 3-4 hours (I wasn’t keeping track). I was very pleased with the finished product.
I don’t know about you, but I’m always amazed at the women and men who create these patterns. I mean, how do they figure out that a series of stitches is going to make something look like THAT??? They are mathmagicians, for sure!
The yarn I used came from a thrifted sweater I bought YEARS ago, specifically to use the yarn to make some felted slippers. Once I brought it home and frogged it, it made huge balls of yarn, which was great, but I was such a newbie at knitting that I didn’t realize that the yarn was COTTON and therefore wouldn’t felt! What a rookie mistake!!
Anyway, the cotton works fine for a dishcloth, as evidenced by tonight’s drying rack…
This project definitely whetted my appetite for knitting… I might just tackle that fair isle sweater after all!!! (and if I start now, it MIGHT just be done in time for winter. 
)
Runner; Knitter; Cyclist; Sewer. I am a starter of many projects.