New Year, New Strategy

You can imagine how depressed I'd be after spending 6 weeks without running and another 6 in a boot only to find out I was told I need ANOTHER 6 weeks in the boot. I mean, seriously, I've had friends who have had foot surgery come back faster than this. I don't get it - I don't feel like I even had a real injury! And with the boot means not just no running, but there are a lot of things I've had to completely stop: stair climbing, cross country skiing, push ups, lunches, plyometrics....need I go on?

So what is there to do? Aside from a lot of time on the bike and one-legged flip turns in the pool, I've now focused on changing the diet up a bit. I am now working on the Paleo diet - well, I'm trying! I cannot believe how wierd it is to not have bread, rice, pasta, bagels, etc. And I don't think I've eaten this much meat since I even started this sport. I actually bought a WHOLE chicken the other day. It almost makes me gag thinking about it. But we'll see how this goes - I'm game to try anything once. The real test will be to see what happens to my power numbers on the bike. Last time I made a drastic change to my eating habits, I just about lost all power on the bike. This was when I went RAW for an entire 4 months. I figured 4 months was enough time to decide if that was the right diet for me. It wasn't.

So Paleo it is - for how long, who knows? I'm trying new recipes and learning what to order when I actually go out to eat. Paleo is like the "caveman" diet. Wait, caveman didn't have First Endurance? OK, I guess I'm not going to be 100% on Paleo - there are some things I just need to have! I mean, have you tried the Wild Berry yet??

Happy New Year!

Just like the last 4 years, my tradition has been to get out first thing in the morning for a New Year's Day run. We had less people at today's run than last year, but that was probably due to the challenging weather here in Chicago this morning. The snow from the night before had piled up and I didn't really see many plow trucks out this morning on my way to the run.

The snow was driving directly into our faces as we headed west. Other than that, the temperature wasn't really bad. It was the built up snow on the streets that made this a tough workout. Another runner commented that it was like running in sand. Yep, very difficult to get traction.

After I came back home, took a shower and put some nice, warm clothes on, I looked out the window and wondered what the heck I was doing out there running in the first place. It's COLD and nasty out there! But there was little that could've stopped me from getting out there this morning. It just feels like the right way to start out the new year.

Happy New Year!