Four Hour Body and Tri's

Last week I got a newsletter from the USAT, and there was an article singing the praises of Paleo, and an endurance athlete doesn't have to carbload with starches and get addicted to powerbars to succeed.  This was, of course, utterly heartbreaking.  Why run races, if not for the giant bowl of pasta?  Sweet potatoes are grand, but penne they are not.  Yet lately-- especially after the holiday sugar overload-- I've been thinking a lot about what dietary choices I can make that will help me out, and considering some new sort of regimine.  If you tell me what to do, with specific instructions, I'm pretty great at following through.  I'm the eternal student.  I did, after all, get through all my past races simply by copying down a training schedule from a xerox my friend gave me.

So with this in mind, my roommate's excitement over Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Body and the Slow Carb diet made a lot of sense.  I'm not so sure if I'm ready to commit to a life of Paleo, but a restricted diet for six days and a cheat day a week is something I jive with.  Otherwise you just cheat in little ways randomly, and feel bad about it.  But this?  You get to glutton out and it's "required".  Yeah!!  I've been giving it a shot, if only to slim down and have less weight to lug around, and because, after all, this is Hollywood.  Can't be too thin or too rich.

I figure it was best to do this during my yoga time, because from what I can tell, it's not so conducive to an intense training schedule.  No fruit, no carbs, no dairy, just veggies, loads of legumes, and a handful of nuts.  And so I'm considering, as it was endorsed by Mr. USAT, to go Paleo once I get heavy into the training, if it proves impossible otherwise.  (Though I did just find a sweet recipe for a Slow Carb protein bar!)  I'm pretty interested in the regimen Tim's figured out, and even if it's not totally my thing, it at least is inspiring me to see if I can train for my super long race with less time.  Because time's something I don't have a lot of...

So yeah!  Inspired by the idea of smallest possible work for greatest gains, I'm switching it up.  More track workouts, more spinning, more drills in the pool, but less time eaten up over all.  So harder work, but lesser time.  Also can help prevent injury! Sure, a long bike/run on the weekend, to gauge improvements and such.  But wouldn't it be neat to apply that whole idea to a full triathlon?  And someone on a time and money budget like me seems like an ideal Guinea pig.

I'll keep track of it as I go...