Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Holding Steady

Over the weekend, I ran another 5K race in close to the same time I ran recently. It was a somewhat harder course and windy, but the day was beautiful. I went into the race on the tired side after a week of not sleeping well and working extra shifts. I wasn't feeling any extra oomph in my stride; that's for sure. My goal was to run with more restraint so that I didn't hurt anything. After the last race, I was a bit tweaked and had to back off things for about two weeks. This time, I felt sore but not as wrecked, so that was good, even though I'm a tiny bit disappointed in my performance. I keep having this idea that I can somehow find my lost speed and pop out a fast race, but the realistic side of me knows that things like that don't happen, especially in a short period of time. A hair over 22 minutes isn't terrible at this point, though.

All this means is that I'm on the right track. There's a hell of a lot of room for improvement, and I seem to be doing a good job of staying fairly healthy while pushing it within reason here and there. I ended up with some aches and pains again after this race, but I'm hoping everything will keep sorting itself out as I continue the physical therapy.

That's about it. I just wanted to put some thoughts down before the memory of racing fades. I can tell I need some extra rest this week, which is what I'm doing. The more winter approaches, the more I want to hibernate anyway. If all goes well, I will have some nice races planned for the spring, summer and fall. For now, I'm holding steady. 


Bad Service

I guess you can say that I can be overly sensitive, but I'm also not one to let others step all over me. Still, situations that wouldn't bother some can leave me upset to the point of feeling shaky. Such was the case today at the Boulder Book Store.

Generally, when there are other things going on in my life that introduce stress, I have a harder time interacting with people, especially those who are haughty. I probably should have avoided unnecessary interactions today, but since the $6.50 candy bar I purchased at the Book Store was rancid, I wanted to return it. I had one other bad experience returning a chocolate bar there a few years ago. In that case, the chocolate was almost like dust. Clearly, this was not how the bar was supposed to be, but I got a voice message from a lady after I had returned the bar lecturing me about chocolate. I assume she had no idea that I spent many years reviewing chocolate and spent time as a pastry chef before that. I know a little bit about chocolate.

I'm the first to admit that I have a sensitive palate, but I also know that a lot of people eat rancid products, especially nuts, without really noticing that anything is off.  Anyone who has any knowledge of the culinary world knows how quickly unsaturated oils in nuts can oxidize, though. It happens A LOT. I happen to be sensitive to the taste. I can't stand it. Some people don't notice it as much.

For the record, I have returned only three bars of chocolate or carob in my lifetime, this being the third. I do not return products if I simply don't like them, but I will return an item that's bad.

This experience was bizarre. The three employees who were there initially were nice, but when they called for someone in the chocolate department to come take care of my return, I had a feeling there was going to be a problem. After the lecture I got a few years ago, I assumed it might be something similar. Instead, the lady who approached me had an arrogant air right from the start. She grabbed the candy and shoved some into her mouth and, after a total of .3 seconds, declared she didn't taste anything wrong. Hey, have at it. I'm not touching your shit bar that tastes like it was left in the sewer. Honestly, after she gobbled up a few more bites and, in her condescending way, said it was fine, sort of shrugging her shoulders as if to say, "too bad" I had had enough. What the fuck am I supposed to do now, take the bar back after you pawed it and ate your fill? I walked out without the candy that I had purchased or my money.

Well, one thing is clear, I will never buy from the Boulder Book Store again. I don't need a fucking lecture about what you think tastes OK, and I don't need the pompous attitude. Fuck that noise. I hope you enjoyed the stale candy you shoved in your mouth, the one I paid for if you recall. You may think that kind of behavior makes you better than others, but all it really does is make you look like a mean fool. Congrats on losing a customer, though.


Friday, November 17, 2017

Science and Eating Disorders

I'm going to attempt to be careful and do my best not to offend anyone as I write this post, but I can't guarantee some won't be upset by the content.

Recently, I found myself in a sticky situation after agreeing to work on a project about eating disorders with someone. As I mentioned in a recent post, I'm doing more speaking events. It turns out that the two of us don't see eye-to-eye on a few issues, though we do share a lot of beliefs about recovery. This isn't the first time I have had something like this happen, but it's the first time I have felt uncomfortable saying anything about it directly to the person involved. Unfortunately, in this case, this person said some things that just aren't true, and I'm not sure how to address the situation because I'm 100 percent sure that, on some level, he believes what he said is true, even though there is zero scientific evidence of his claim. It's the illness talking.

Many of us who have eating disorders have gone down a path of justifying strange behaviors by telling people it's related to a physical ailment or something other than the eating disorder. We rationalize or excuse the unhealthy act and pretend that what we are doing is OK because we are afraid or don't really want to let go of the behavior. If anyone challenges these false beliefs, those who can't be honest with themselves or others, or are lacking self-awareness will often get defensive. I'm convinced there's a part of them that knows the truth, but these are the types who will double down on their position so they can keep engaging in their disordered or unhealthy habits.

There are also many who are aware yet still engage in compulsive behaviors. These types rarely suggest others do the same and almost never bombard others about it on social media.

 Unfortunately, you see all kinds of people, especially on Instagram, inflicting their unfounded beliefs on others. You also see people flaunting their illness. They often claim how healthy they are, how far they have come, and how much they have learned, all while showing the world how little things have changed. These situations are bad enough, but it becomes even more problematic when someone tries to scare others into following the plan they have set in place for themselves by using pseudo-science to back their claims or simply ignoring science altogether.

There was a virtual round of applause on one woman's Facebook page recently when she posted the findings of the "Sugar Addiction" study, listed below, which found that there is no such thing. Further, there is no such thing as an allergy to sugar, something people often claim affects them. An allergy is an immune response to a substance. As far as anyone knows, this has never occurred to any human being in response to sugar. I believe people can react strongly to certain substances, but addictions and allergies are not the same as having an emotional or even a physiological response. Obviously, sugar will cause glucose levels in the blood to increase and cause an increase in the production of insulin, but these responses don't have anything to do with an allergic response or addiction. How powerful our minds can be.

Obviously, I'm not suggesting anyone go out and suck up a pile of sugar through a straw. I'm merely saying that most healthy bodies can handle an occasional dose of sweets without much damage. Mostly, stop teling me and others that we need to cut sugar out of our diets. Go ahead. Live dangerously. Have a Snickers.


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/27372453/


RESULTS: We find little evidence to support sugar addiction in humans, and findings from the animal literature suggest that addiction-like behaviours, such as bingeing, occur only in the context of intermittent access to sugar. These behaviours likely arise from intermittent access to sweet tasting or highly palatable foods, not the neurochemical effects of sugar.
CONCLUSION: Given the lack of evidence supporting it, we argue against a premature incorporation of sugar addiction into the scientific literature and public policy recommendations.



I feel like dropping this here:

"Choose... designer lingerie, in the vain hope of kicking some life back into a dead relationship. Choose handbags, choose high-heeled shoes, cashmere and silk, to make yourself feel what passes for happy. Choose an iPhone made in China by a woman who jumped out of a window and stick it in the pocket of your jacket fresh from a South-Asian Firetrap. Choose Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and a thousand others ways to spew your bile across people you've never met. Choose updating your profile, tell the world what you had for breakfast and hope that someone, somewhere cares. Choose looking up old flames, desperate to believe that you don't look as bad as they do. Choose live-blogging, from your first wank 'til your last breath; human interaction reduced to nothing more than data. Choose ten things you never knew about celebrities who've had surgery. Choose screaming about abortion. Choose rape jokes, slut-shaming, revenge porn and an endless tide of depressing misogyny. Choose 9/11 never happened, and if it did, it was the Jews. Choose a zero-hour contract and a two-hour journey to work. And choose the same for your kids, only worse, and maybe tell yourself that it's better that they never happened. And then sit back and smother the pain with an unknown dose of an unknown drug made in somebody's fucking kitchen. Choose unfulfilled promise and wishing you'd done it all differently. Choose never learning from your own mistakes. Choose watching history repeat itself. Choose the slow reconciliation towards what you can get, rather than what you always hoped for. Settle for less and keep a brave face on it. Choose disappointment and choose losing the ones you love, then as they fall from view, a piece of you dies with them until you can see that one day in the future, piece by piece, they will all be gone and there'll be nothing left of you to call alive or dead. Choose your future. Choose life."

Sunday, November 5, 2017

Race Recap

Yesterday, I jumped into the Sole Mates 5K in Longmont. Actually, I wasn't allowed to enter officially, but a race official said I could join the race. Instead of being a true bandit, I offered a donation and toed the line sans number. It wasn't clear on the website that there wouldn't be race day registration, but officials were casual and super friendly, except for one nasty and rude individual who very clearly wanted to prove to the world just how grumpy she could be. Other than that encounter, the day was filled with pleasant moments and nice interactions.

I have a list of excuses as to why I'm not where I want to be that includes but isn't limited to the wind, my hormonal situation, and my usual mechanical issues that haven't completely been resolved, but, as everyone knows, we all get to the start line with our own set of problems and race with whatever baggage we are carrying that day. If I'm honest, it was a pretty nice day on a fairly fast course.

As far as the race, I surprised myself in some ways and was left feeling disappointed in others, probably a typical experience for many runners. Since it has been about a year since I last raced, I wasn't sure about pace, so I started out strong but not like a maniac. My hips won't allow any wild movements anyway, so I'm forced to start out on the slow side. In a few places, I made some bold moves and decided to pass people. It was only in the last mile that I started having some doubt about whether or not I could go with one lady who blew by everyone. That moment of hesitation and a lack of confidence left me simply holding steady rather than picking up the pace to go with her. I might have had enough fitness, but mechanically, I think I was pretty close to the maximum my body could handle, unfortunately. That just means I have more PT to do before I can truly race. Having two miles of race experience, though, got me excited about possibilities, even if it left me a bit tweaked and sore the following day.

The final result was that I ran just under 22 minutes and placed 5th or would have placed had I been able to enter. Since I started my watch at "go" and wasn't at the starting line, my chip time would have been a hair faster than what my watch read, but I can't imagine it would be significant. I know my final time isn't great, but considering I was on a scooter after having surgery this spring, I shouldn't complain. Plus, I'm old. That's really not a terrible result, all things considered. On the other hand, I would love to shave off a few seconds... or a lot more. For now, my main focus remains on staying healthy, doing the right PT, and eating well.