The Last Time I was This Fit
It was 2014.
Which comes to no surprise because I haven’t really trained since 2015. Just been riding my bike, swimming, and running, tweaking my fun to participate in events; while I got settled into my new life, and new routine.
I am starting to feel human again.
I was a zombie for 10 days to 2 weeks.
It has been a long haul, with some incredibly high Training Stress Scores, and some very Negative Training Stress Balances.
And some AWESOME EPIC ADVENTURES. Please note Strava, and Instagram: Zoefitness1
Saturday is Breck 100.
5 Mountain Passes over 11,000 feet.
With a total of 13,000 feet of climbing.
I haven’t been this scared of a race since my 1st attempt at Leadville. And my 2nd attempt of Leadville.
I wouldn’t have so many reservations, except last year Breck 68 was on my calendar, and I was not able to attend it. I was sick, and the weather was horrible. So I decided, after much deliberation, that I would go all in for the Hundy.
So unlike last year, I forewent heat exhaustion and too many miles at the 24 hour of Enchanted Forest to continue with my periodized training that could focus on specificity.
Don’t get me wrong, I missed my friends!
My biggest concern for Breck 100 has been technicality of the course at altitude.
I have only done one loop of Firecracker 50. That is my only experience in Breckenridge.
I have had some inhibitions going into it, thinking Leadville 100 was only 10k of climbing. I had the wherewithal to check, over 12,000 feet. That laid that head worm to rest.
Time to do Race Prep:
Time to Make my Magic Potion: Linked is not my actual recipe, just a quickie put together. My Magic Potion is magic so I’m not able to share the recipe in full.
My Date and Nut Rolls: Press Link
One interesting aspect to this race is redefining my meal plan.
Back in March I was very sick. I had to bow out of El Paso Coyote Classic XC race, because I was having diapoopoo problems. No one wants to have diapoopoo for a race, no one wants to have diapoopoo. This scenario went on for 2 months.
During that time I developed an aversion to meat. All meat.
I don’t think I have eaten meat since the end of March. It may have slowly developed into not eating meat. It’s hard to say exactly what day it was because I didn’t document it. So it has been roughly 3 months. And look at me, I’m still alive! And my belly has all but disappeared! With all the fat and toxins!
Back in the 90’s when I was working in Cardiac Rehabilitation at Presbyterian, is when I first learned about Dr Pritikin. I learned that you can actually reverse cancer and heart disease with the foods you eat.
Prior to getting sick, I found myself asking the question a lot:
Why would I wait to start eating the Disease Free way??
For 23 years I have heard myself say:
If I get sick, I will definitely change the way I eat.
Why, I had to ask myself, would I wait to get sick….
I eat healthy.
I do have some fun every once and awhile.
I definitely time my carbohydrates, using the theories of Nutrition Periodization and Metabolic Efficiency developed by Bob Seebahor. I eat some, not a lot of refined carbohydrates. Those of you who know me, know I call cake, cookies, and the like, crack.
I did eat a lot of meat.
So along with a more vegetable protein based diet, it should actually help with my auto-immune disease. It should help my liver, my skin, any candida, aka fungus that is growing in my system.
I would like to take a side note about some interesting cancer research that is trying to make it way mainstream. Just to plant the seed. And that is, we know cancer fuels on glucose, and that it thrives in a fatty environment. There are some theories, that are emerging that cancer is a fungus. Just based on the metabolism of cancer tumors, I will say, it is possible.
I think, I got sick, because I ate sick. This is becoming more and more of a up and coming situation by the American Food Consumer.
I rarely eat out, and I eat primarily grass fed, with some grass fed and corn finished red meat.
At about the time I was bombarded with a video similar to the one below.
I don’t know if this is actually a cancer tumor. I doubt it, it’s probably an abscess, however, there is plenty of information out there how sick Industrial Meat is. Industrial meat that cancer tumors make their way to butchers, and the butchers, just cut around the tumors. The abscesses that are being drained, which is a bacterial infection, while animals are being slaughtered. And even while they are being butchered.
This food is making our way into conventional grocery stores, and fed to people.
Americans are eating sick food, or food that is making us sick, or both.
As of now I am a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I don’t actually drink milk, I do occasionally have some organic ice cream, I use some butter in recipes, and I have a limited amount of cheese. My dairy intake has not changed with nutrition plan.
I’m not saying that there will be no meat in my future.
For now I am eating instinctually. and my instinct is saying, get healthy. My skin is healing at a rapid pace, I’m losing fat, when I am not overreached from my exercise training, or lack of sleep from my teenagers, my brain is working better. I feel better than I have in years (minus the last two weeks, 🙂 HAHA!)
An interesting side note is that fat; besides stored energy, has two roles, thermoregulation, and protection from toxins. I am losing fat, releasing toxins, healing; I am finally truly healing. I will continue this eating plan until I am 100% healed. It will be interesting to see how my Celiac’s responds, as this way of eating has been proven to help with many diseases, including auto-immune diseases. I don’t see myself being able to eat gluten again, as our wheat is sick. Our wheat in America is very, very sick. Even the organically grown wheat, has been recently documented to be sprayed with round up to increase yield, at the time of harvest.
So my biggest challenge, besides dealing with the fear and negative self talk about my abilities to be successful at Breck 100, has been designing a plant protein based on real food, that will keep shape, and be easily digestible during the race. After some experimentation, I’m rolling with a Black Bean (maybe Pinto because I LOVE pinto beans) falafel.
Thanks for checking in.
See you on the other side.
Of Breck.
In the meantime, may all of your adventures be fun, and maybe, just maybe hard enough, to make you cry.
Coach Zoe
p.s. I cannot wait to swim and run again. And yes, I see a triathlon, or two in my near future. I would like to have some fun and do a 70.3 before the end of season. So watch for my transition!