More. Better

For the past week and a half, I've adopted a radically different athletic and nutrition lifestyle. Why? Spice things up, I suppose. I started feeling the burn-out of longer workouts. And I've always been curious about the Primal Blueprint way of thinking.

So at the beginning of last week I:
1) Put away my Garmin watch
2) Stopped running junk miles
3) Eliminated grains from my diet
4) Increased my saturated fat intake by bringing meat back into my life
5) Increased my daily movement in the low HR zone (lots of walking, hiking)
6) Started lifting heavy things.

For a type-A endurance athlete and coach, this was a challenge!

The first three days I experienced a 'low carb flu' which pretty much means I felt foggy and tired. I confirmed the normalcy of this feeling with my friend Jules, who is a paleo Ironman. Paleo is similar to Primal, with the exception of grain allowances and dairy intake.

After day three, around the end of last week, I started to feel ... well... AMAZING! The fog lifted and all of a sudden I had energy. So. Much. Energy. The rollercoaster of sugar/carb crashes were gone from my day-to-day. I no longer beat myself up (or had any ammo to) with running paces/goals/times. Lifting made me feel much stronger and leaner. And - bonus points for vanity - I can see my abs. Huh, I have abs. Who knew?

My relationship with food has changed, too. I eat things I haven't let myself eat in years - bacon! avocados! turkey! olive oil! lots of salmon! steak! coconut oil! You want a perspective shift in your life? Mix some heavy whipping cream into your coffee. Holy Beans.

I won't sit here and preach the gospel about how this lifestyle is perfect. Frankly, it's been a about 10 days and I very well could get smacked in the face by something 2 or 3 weeks (or 10 months) into it. But for now, I continue to feel amazing.

I get more:
1) Rejuvenating sleep
2) Pleasure walking around the neighborhood
3) Endorphins from doing 15 (assisted...) pullups and 100 pushups
4) Energy and happiness at my job. We laugh A LOT in this office
5) Time to cook and experiment

I have better:
1) Focus
2) Strength
3) Understanding of biology from the caveman point of view
4) Dinners

I am, at least for the moment, happy and at peace. And full of bacon.