Experimentation

Last month, Rob and I took on a new challenge. Inspired by a friend who was doing a cleanse, we devised a little “cleanse” of our own. Ours didn’t involve cutting calories or relying on any special tonics, shakes or supplements. In fact, we could eat as much as we wanted. It was quite simple really. No meat. No dairy. No gluten. No processed or refined anything. No alcohol. And for me (though not Rob), no caffeine. We were going vegan (plus) for a week.

Why were we doing it? Good question. Mostly I think because we like a healthy challenge. We like a little bit of suffering to make us feel alive. And we were just plain curious. Lots of people swear that even if you’re not technically lactose intolerant or allergic to gluten, that they’re still tough for the body to process and can lead to myriad not-niceties, everything from bloating to acne. So, while neither of us was ever aware of any issues, we were curious to see if we felt any different after a week without.

To kick things off, I did some preparatory cooking. I made a big pot of quinoa porridge, and a big pot of my Antioxidant Bomb Vegetable Soup, (recipes coming soon) and put single servings of each in containers to bring to work. Breakfasts weren’t too bad. I wasn’t feeling very deprived as I ate my quinoa porridge, with a handful of dried fruit and soy milk. It was both filling and tasty. My morning green tea did get somewhat of a downgrade though, as I switched to a decaf green tea kombucha blend, and had to forego the generous squeeze of honey I typically use. Still, not awful.

Lunch was somewhat more challenging. I love my vegetable soup, but missed having a grainy hunk of something glutenous on the side to soak up those last drops of broth. My organic red grapes were good, but not quite as satisfying. Afternoon snacks were rather torturous. No sweets, no baked goods, no treats. Carrots and hummus.

Dinner wasn’t too bad, but definitely required some creativity. Many of the vegetarian recipes I found involved wraps or flour or eggs or yogurt, all things off limits for us. The first night I made a white bean soup with rosemary (and no parmesan, even though the recipe teasingly called for it), and served it with a salad. It was good, but given that Rob and I are both athletes accustomed to a generous intake of protein at each meal, we polished off the whole pot, meant for 4-6 people, in one sitting. The next nights included a black bean chili, vegan burgers with sweet potato fries, tempeh and vegetable stir fry and, most interestingly, a West African Groundnut Stew. I added a package of extra firm tofu for some extra protein power. It was a surprisingly delicious success!

So, overall, how did the week go? How did we feel? Did it change our lives forever? Well, by the end of the first day I was verging on a migraine. I think my daily cup of green tea left me more accustomed to caffeine than I’d realized or hoped, so I’ve since switched to decaf green tea permanently. As for everything else…well…I was kind of miserable. I really did feel deprived and sad and unsatisfied (especially in the first couple days). I could have done the vegetarian bit pretty easily, it was going without dairy and gluten that presented the true hardship. Dairy and/or gluten are in EVERYTHING. Everything good at least… But, I’m glad we did it. I’m glad that, when I wanted to throw in the towel with all of my being on the second day, we didn’t. It proved that it was possible. It made us more aware of alternate options. It broadened our vegan horizons. And at the end of the week I was feeling pretty “streamlined.”

So, what did we do to celebrate our accomplishment? We enjoyed our Valentine’s Day dinner at a fabulous local vegetarian restaurant, Leaf, and capped it off with a well deserved glass of wine.

Wider is better

Looking back, it’s no surprise to me that when I began this little endeavor last November, coming off of my third marathon, there was far more focus on cooking than running. That’s been pretty much the pattern each time I’ve done a marathon; intense, focused build up, training nose to the grindstone, eating simple but balanced carb/protein fare for a few months. Then, with the race over, a comfortable relaxation period, heavy on cooking and sparse on routine. After all, my Friday night-before-long-run meal of udon or soba noodles and a turkey burger patty didn’t leave a lot of room for creativity.

Anyway, it seems the third phase in this progression this year has turned to work, and after November I wasn’t running OR cooking (or blogging) enough! At any rate, I now find myself at the end of March, less than two weeks out from my first half marathon of the year, and with a renewed lust for mileage. Well…maybe “lust” is a little strong, but “commitment” feels about right. I’ve committed to this race, and I’m committed to not failing miserably, thus, I’ve committed myself to some mileage over the past couple months.

Unlike a marathon, in my world, a half marathon doesn’t require much training in the sense of “can I do it?”, but, while I am masochistic enough to sign up for these things, I’m not masochistic enough to want to suffer through them, so I do ramp up enough so that I can complete them comfortably and usually with some goal time in mind. This time around, I’d say I’m ready for the distance, less so for the time.

My running year got off to a bit of a rough start, hindered by my least favorite injury, iliotibial band syndrome. It’s a pain, literally. (The IT band is a thick stretch of tissue that runs down the outside of your thigh, connecting your hip to the outside of your knee. It can get tight and make things hurt anywhere in that vicinity. Yuck.) I’d had a bout of it four years ago, which landed me in five months of intense physical therapy and with some heavy duty prescription orthotics in my running shoes ever since. I’d not had a glimmer of a relapse until this year. After alternating trying to ignore it and trying to fix it myself with some of my old moves from PT with no success, I broke down and saw my Sports Med Guy. I fully expected to have to commit to months of PT or get new orthotics, or both. However, this time, a new approach.

Tim videotaped me running from all angles. He took measurements, watched in slow motion, watched the top half of my body with relation to the bottom, the hips with relation to the knees with relation to the feet with relation to the elbows and on and on… Within minutes he had a diagnosis (and solution!) and was quite excited about it. Turns out, my foot plant was quite narrow, thereby emphasizing the angle of my hips to my feet, and, as a result, putting more stress on the outside of my legs. The fix, he said, was quite simple – run wider. Umm…are we sure I can’t just put something new in my shoes, or do some exercise to fix this? Do I really have to consciously CONCENTRATE on my running form? The form I’ve had for thirteen years? Please tell me no! Yes. I had to change my running form.

The plan was simple. The first two weeks I was supposed to alternate “old” and “new” running forms evenly every thirty seconds during my runs. By the fourth week it should be more like 75% of the time in the new form, and after two months, almost exclusively new form, with just the occasional hit of the old, “to remind my body what it was like,” presumably so the difference remains clear and I don’t revert back into the old. I was skeptical and nervous, but I complied. The hardest part for me was just being cognizant of anything in particular while running. It has always been my mindless time, where I drift through passing thoughts, with the occasional glance at my (beloved) GPS watch. But no more – focus! And to my surprise and delight, it has actually worked. Like, immediately and dramatically. In fact, after a couple weeks of alternating, I was actually MORE comfortable in the new form, and found myself reverting back less and less, until I now try to do my entire run in the new form because it just feels better. It still requires concentration, but it’s feeling more and more natural by the day. Hoorah! Platte River Half Marathon, here I come… And after that, Bolder Boulder, and a handful of summer races and ultimately, this year’s premiere event, the Chicago Marathon. Eek! One at a time…

As for the cooking, I’m getting there, too. But more on that next time.