How to Succeed on the Whole30

For Sarah and I, Wednesday, October 1st was day 30 of our Whole30. For me, it was my second round of completing the Whole30. But, for Sarah, it was her first endeavor on the Whole30. Our venture started the day after a long weekend away at her family's cabin up in the north woods of Wisconsin. It was a weekend of not only getting away and enjoying time with the family, but also eating rather unhealthily with no real cares. Speaking for myself, I know I drank plenty of beer, sweets, breads, and baked goods. It was ultimately what lead to my decision of going through another round of the Whole30. I wanted to get my diet back on track, especially with my upcoming marathon on October 11th.

Initially when I had come up with the idea and personally committed to doing a Whole30, I brought it up to Sarah, initially she said something similar to, "hell no." I took the strategy of reverse psychology to try and persuade her to join me. I replied to her convincing "no" with a snarky comment like, "I figured you wouldn't be able to do it," and "you're too unwilling to make changes." Sure, it was a risky decision to make some pretty mean comments to a touchy topic for most women, but it ended up paying off. She ultimately agreed to join me, more out of spite to prove me wrong, than to make a positive change in her diet than anything. I must say though, now that we both successfully completed the full Whole30, I think she was glad she did it and not only truly proved me wrong, but proved to herself that she succeeded with something that isn't as easy as it may seem.

As I just mentioned, Sarah honestly proved me wrong, as I had her pegged to make it a week. See, without putting myself at risk for starting a fight, Sarah doesn't share the same motivation and drive when it comes to diet and fitness as I do. Don't get me wrong, she does a lot of good things and it probably still in the minority when it comes to physical activity, but nothing above the general population. She, does her best to find 30-60 minutes a day of physical activity, such as walking with the kids and dog, or riding her stationary bike in the mornings before work. About once or twice a week she'll get in a longer workout in at the YMCA where she will walk on a treadmill and then do a short strength circuit following. As far as diet, she was as I stated early, unwilling to make the changes as, she simply didn't want to. She drank at least a soda or two a day, all diet. She would often snack at work throughout the day, especially when coworkers would bring in candy, cake, snacks, etc for everyone to share. More times than not, she would eat "right," but it was the in-between time that was having the negative impact. So, when she told me she was going to do the Whole30 with me, I was thrilled and honestly proud of her. At the same time, I had my doubts that she wouldn't make it. I thought, she give up and say it just wasn't worth it for her. But, here we are, on Day 31, and she did it, she didn't cheat, she didn't complain, and honestly, I think she kind of enjoyed it.

Apples were a staple throughout our Whole30

I am very proud of what she accomplished. This was a huge change for her. She gave up all forms of soda, coffee creamer, breads, her occasional treats while at work, and going out to eat at some of her favorite restaurants. There were days of frustration, anger, grogginess, and down right crabbiness, but throughout the 30 days I honestly saw a change in her. Not only in her physical appearance, but in her perception of food and food preparation.  In the end we both lost 9 lbs.  I started at 178 lbs and ended at 169 lbs.  I was hoping to be in the 165 ball park, but am happy with how I feel, look, and more importantly how I my training is going.  I also utilized Hammer Nutrition's Phytolean prior to any of my meals which were higher in carbohydrates to lessen the impact on my insulin release and better metabolize fat for energy opposed to carbohydrates (you can also click this link to save 15% off a bottle of Phytolean from Hammer Nutrition).  As for Sarah, I know she took more away than just weight lost over the last 30 days, because she regularly mentioned having more energy at work, especially on longer days.  She also said how she just feels "better."  So, I know if she can go 30 days eating this strict, a lot of you can too!  Below are a couple before and after pictures of myself.

Now, instead of continuing to talk about our experience from doing the Whole30, I would like to offer some suggestions and expectations for those who are considering doing their own Whole30. So, below are 7 suggestions, tips, expectations, and how to set yourself up for success with your Whole30. All of which I have learned from my 2 experiences on the Whole30.

1. Plan Ahead

In my opinion, the only way to succeed on the Whole30 is to plan. At a minimum, you should plan out your meals for each week. When you plan ahead, you know what you will be eating for dinner in advance. This will prevent those nights where you look around and just order a couple of pizzas for dinner instead of making a healthy dinner at home. I planned out a menu for each week and constructed our grocery list off of our menu. This not only structured our meals throughout the week, but kept only healthy foods in our house opposed to just stocking the shelves with random snack foods. In addition to planning your weekly dinner menu, you should plan ahead each individual day. Pack lunches for work, know what you are going to eat for breakfast before you go to bed. When you plan ahead, you basically force yourself to eat the right foods. If you know you are going to be going out to eat for a meal, jump online and check out their menu in advance and know what you are going to order and how you are going to order it even before getting to the restaurant. Having a plan sets you up for success, the more you plan, the more you will succeed.

2. Don't Do It Alone

My first Whole30 back in February was a lonely Whole30. I did it alone. There were some days where I would eat a separate dinner from Sarah and the girls. It was not nearly as easy as it was the second time around when I had Sarah along for the ride. Instead of buying multiple styles and types of foods, I was buy a lot of fruits and vegetables and didn't even have to bother with processed grains and breads. This time around, we cleaned out our cupboards of all non Whole30 foods, which wasn't going to happen my first time. Along setting ourselves up for success inside the home, it was nice to have someone else to talk to who was going through the same things I was. We were able to talk about our cravings and challenges each day. We helped each other throughout the 30 days. It really helped having someone else who is experiencing the exact same feelings you are and would highly recommend you convince someone, anyone else to join you in your journey.

3. Expect It To Be Time Consuming

Yes, cooking takes time. In fact, just about everything during the Whole30 takes extra time. Making your weekly menu. Takes time. Making your grocery list. Takes time. Grocery shopping and having to read just about every label before you buy it. Takes time. Packing all your meals. Takes time. Cooking each and every meal. Takes time. You get the idea, the Whole30 takes patience. But, it does get easier. You get into a new routine, you learn tricks, you adapt. Just about any meal that you will be eating during your Whole30 needs to be prepared in some way or another. There is nothing easy about it, but I will tell you, it is so worth it. You feel good about yourself, almost a sense of accomplishment. Just, be warned, that you need to be prepared for the extra commitment to being successful during your Whole30. It falls right back to planning. When you are planning your individual day, plan on scheduling a little extra time for meal prep!

4. Expect There To Be Difficult Days

No doubt, there will be days that you want to quit. Most people quit their Whole30 on days 10 or 11. Just know that better days lie ahead. But there will be days when a coworker will leave a bowl of M&M's sitting on your work desk and they will sit there all day just tempting you to have 1, 2, 50. There will be nights where you will go out to dinner for your parents birthday and then meet up at their house for cake and ice cream and you won't be able to have anything all night. Plan ahead! Plan for this, check out the menu in advance. If there is literally NOTHING on the menu for you to eat, eat something before going. Plan, plan, plan. You will not succeed if you do not plan ahead. Know what you will do ahead of time so you don't just say, "screw it, I want some of that cake!"  Here is a link to a typical timeline so you have an idea of what to expect throughout your Whole30.

5. Be Open To New Things

So, you're used to eating a traditional American diet of breads, pastas, pizzas, grains, and cereals. You are going to have to eat some new foods. You can't eat steak and sweet potatoes each and every day throughout your Whole30. Be open to experimenting with new foods and recipes. During both of my Whole30's I repeated a single meal, Bacon and Apple Stuffed Pork Chops. We tried new recipes like Cauliflower Hummus to replace our traditional store bought Hummus. You have to be willing to try new things and you also need to be willing to accept the fact that you may not like what you made, and have a back up plan in case your new recipe is just unpalatable.

6. Have A Plan For After

When I finished my first Whole30, I just wanted to have a bowl of oatmeal, ice cream, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So, on day 31, I woke up, had a bowl of oatmeal, had some yogurt and cheese, and then within a couple days of finishing my Whole30 I was basically right back to where I was before. I had no plan on how to handle day 31. All I knew is I was done with the Whole30 and no longer had to follow any of the strict diet rules and I took full advantage of that. This time around, I did the Whole30, not just to do it as I did in February, but to put myself into a position to succeed with a new lifestyle and diet. I am planning on continuing with the Whole30 principles until my marathon on October 11th, making it a Whole40 for myself. Coming off the marathon, I will have a beer or two, and do plan on treating myself a little that weekend, especially if I meet my goals.  I will also probably have a piece of cake for my daughter's birthday on Monday after the marathon. But, my plan is to follow a Paleo lifestyle and completely avoid grains, processed foods, added sugar, and focus on high quality meats, fruits, and vegetables, with the occasional dairy (cheese). The main difference between the Whole30 and Paleo, is that Paleo allows real sugars, such as honey and maple syrup, it also allows altered foods, such as Paleo Cookies, Cakes, etc, where the Whole30 does not allow Paleo altered foods. I have not decided if I will just allow myself 2 or 3 "cheat days" each month, or just trust myself to make the right decisions and eat a Paleo/Whole30 lifestyle and eat an occasional treat every now and again. But I do know that I will start following a Paleo Diet coming off the marathon and will make a few exceptions, especially in the week or two coming off the marathon.

7. It's Over Before You Realize It

30 days is 30 days, and sure, 30 days sounds long, I mean it's basically a full month. Its 1/12th of the year. With that being said, it's ONLY 30 days. It is not that long. It WILL be over before you realize it and you WILL be better for it. Have faith in the process and stick with it. I can recall several times throughout our Whole30 that Sarah would say something about how she was surprised that she was already 10, 15, 20, and then 29 days through the Whole30. It goes by quick. For most the second half, it becomes routine and it's just a part of your life. So don't get steered away because you think you could never make it 30 days, or 30 days is just too long. Challenge yourself, prove yourself wrong. Do what my wife Sarah did and make take on a challenge to improve yourself. You won't be disappointed, I promise you. I know that Sarah would also say that it was worth it, that she, at a minimum learned something about herself and her relationship with food.

Healthy Eating 101

I am often asked, "what should I be eating?"  "What's the best diet?"  "How do I loose weight?"  Or some other form of one of these questions.  It's a popular question.  So?  What is the best way to eat?  Should you be avoiding gluten?  Should I follow a paleo diet?

I have no FREAKIN' idea....

But let me first explain.  Ever since I have started taking my racing and training seriously, I have been in search of the best diet for endurance athletes to follow.  I'd estimate that I have purchased at least 10 different books just on this topic alone.  If you were to jump onto my personal computer you'd find very elaborate Microsoft Excel documents entitled "The Diet," "The Diet 1," all the way to "The Diet Version 8."  I think there is even a "The Diet Version 3.2."  I have tried just about everything.  I have followed a high carb diet, a balanced diet, Paleo, I did the Whole30, I was even a "vegetarian" for about a year.  If you just look back throughout my blog, you will see at least 5-6 different articles one my desire to try a new diet with the hopes of losing weight to increase my race performance.  In fact, I am not afraid to admit, my latest adventure with wanting to follow a high fat/low carb diet, or a "ketogenic" diet.  I have also researched just about every other "diet" that is out there and the positives and the negatives of each of them.  To be honest with you, it got down right frustrating.  I would read an article that touts the health benefits of whole wheat grains, just to read a second article claiming wheat to be a major carcinogenic.

It's not like this is anything new, however.  Just look back at our nations past.  We have blamed fat for people being fat, we are currently blaming sugar and carbohydrates as the cause of people being fat.  It seems that we are constantly looking for the one reason why people are overweight and continuing to gain weight, but we are oblivious to the most logic reason, we eat too damn much.

Just using myself as an example, I have tried to follow many fad diets hoping that would be the magic ingredient to shed some pounds easily.  I would eat great for a week or two, just to fall back to my piss poor eating habits of snacking between meals and craving a sweet dessert after dinner.  I would succumb to my cravings and give in.  After the initial week or two I would find myself eating really nutritious, "healthy" meals just to eat crap between them.  Where did that get me?  Right where I am at today, 15-20 heavier than I think I should be.  Is it sugars fault?  Is fat to blame?  It must be that damn gluten!  No, the real reason, is I eat too much.  Pretty simple, almost too simple.

What lead me to this concept is a recent podcast I listened to from Endurance Planet.  They interviewed sports nutritionist Matt Fitzgerald regarding his newest book, "Diet Cults."  The book is not out there to "debunk" or mock all the new diet fads, such as paleo, gluten free, and just about any other diet out there that is claiming to be the "one right way to eat."  During the interview Matt discusses a recent research study where a research group went out to find what exactly was the healthiest diet for humans.  The way they were going to determine this was by finding a group of people who have recently lost 30 or more pounds on their own AND have maintained that weight loss for at least one year.  You figure, if someone has lost at least 30 pounds and have been able to maintain that weight loss, they must be doing something right nutritionally.  They studied these individuals for an extended period of time monitoring everything they had eaten.  So, what did they find?  They found that there was very minimal similarities within their diets.  Some of the similarities they found during their study include; most individuals exercised for at least 60 minutes a day, most individuals increased fruits and vegetables, and most individuals followed a redundant diet - meaning many of them followed a regular routine and repeated meals often.  One guy actually just eliminated his daily lunch...that's it, just completely took out an entire meal! You can listen to the Podcast HERE or below.

Click here to download audio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download 

Ironically, just after listening to this podcast, Runner's World posted an article called, "Study: What's the Healthiest Diet?"  This study followed 424,000 subjects for 15 years - seems pretty legit.  The study looked specifically at an individuals overall diet's effect on morality rates.  What they concluded was there were four diet classifications which were deemed to be "most healthy." The four diets were: the Healthy Eating Index 2010, the alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010, the alternate Mediterranean diet, and the DASH diet.  When you look at the similarities between all four diets, you'll find that they all recommended balanced consumption of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and plant based proteins.

So, with all this considered, what is the healthiest diet, in my opinion?  Well first, I think you need to define what it means to be healthy.  Is it longevity?  Having a healthy body mass index (BMI)?  The ability to race fast?  Or maybe it's something as simple as looking good naked.  In my opinion, I would look at some typical markers which are commonly tested at your local doctors office.  These would include, cholesterol, fasted blood sugar, systemic inflammation, and body fat percentage.  I would also take into consideration of a person's overall feeling of well being.  Basically, does an individual feel better when eating a certain way.  Just looking at some elite athletes, who are often deemed as "healthy," often eat not-so-healthy foods.  You'll find athletes eating pancakes, fried foods, plain white bread, and even fast food.  Yet, so many people consider these elite athletes to be very healthy.  Even elite athletes who follow strict diets, follow a wide range of diets, from vegan to paleo.  So what gives?  Personally, I fully agree with Matt Fitzgerald's opinion, where there is no ONE right diet.  Each diet presents positives and negatives.  The best thing any individual person can do for themselves, is eat what makes them feel better.  Eat healthy foods.  What's considered healthy?  This is not as complicated as it's made out to be.  Just ask any 6 year old what healthy food is and they'll tell you.  Eat plenty of vegetables and leafy greens.  Add a lean source of protein, whether that is animal based or plant based.  Drink plenty of water.  Avoid artificially produced sweeteners if possible.  Try not to drink calories.  Have an drink of alcohol every now and again.  Exercise regularly at a moderate intensity.  Eat as much real food as possible, avoiding processed foods when able.  Do not stress over what you are eating.  Enjoy your food.  And, lastly, indulge every now and then.

So there you have it.  As Matt Fitzgerald says, eat an agnostic diet.  Where you do not follow any specific diet, but follow a little of eat.  You know the difference between health food and junk food, just follow that and exercise, and you'll find your diet to be right were it needs to be.  Plus you will never have to worry if what you are eating is "allowed."

Kale Greens Smoothie

This past weekend Sarah and I picked up a Ninja Professional Blender with Single Serve Cups.  I have gone through 2 blenders now, only to have them last for a couple months before they crap out on me for various reasons.  For what ever reason, the one that we had last, had been sitting in our cabinets for several years without being used due to a crack in the base causing it to leak everywhere when I would use it.  Finally, Sarah agreed to make an upgrade in our kitchen and get a true blender.  We picked up the Ninja from Target which was on sale for $140, plus we got a $25 gift card when we bought it.  Let me tell you, this thing is a BEAST!  It has three layers of blades and comes with two single serving mugs with drinking lids.  One of the main reasons I wanted a new high quality blender is to make green smoothies - or smoothies made with a leafy greens base.  These smoothies use various ingredients, but mainly some sort of leafy green, such as kale, spinach, mustard, or collard greens.  In order to truly blend up the leaves into a drinkable smoothie, you need a decent blender to get the job done.

This morning I was finally able to put the Ninja to work and put together my first greens smoothie, which I had for breakfast.  My plan is to try and replace one meal a day with a greens smoothie and maybe....someday use them as alternative meal for a sustainable low carb diet.  Right now, however, I am just focusing in on real foods and not focusing in on avoiding carbohydrates.  Below is the recipe I used for my smoothie.  It was adapted from the video below which was posted by Ben Greenfield at Ben Greenfield Fitness, who I listen too, probably way too much, but oh well, he's a wealth of knowledge and really knows his shit.  Plus he is not afraid to stray away from the "big dollar diets" which are often formed by our government through deep pocket government interest groups such as corn growers and the milk farmers.

Anyway....below is the "recipe" I used to make my first greens smoothie....

1. Plenty of Kale (about 2-4 handfuls).  But, again, feel free to use what you got, whether it's spinach or whatever.
   
2. 3 Brazil nuts and a small handful of almonds.  Yup, whole nuts...just another reason for a high quality blender.
   
3. Whole fat REAL coconut milk (about 1/2 cup - 1 cup)
   
4. Apple Cider Vinegar (about 1-3 Tbsp)
   
5. Whole Banana
   
6. Generous serving of cinnamon (helps stabilize blood sugar)
   
7. MCT Oil (Medium Chain Triglyceride Oil)...I will admit, this was the closest thing my local nutritional store had for MCT Oil, but it is only 93% MCT's....needless to say I will be ordering my MCT oil online from now on.
   
8. A scoop of protein powder
9. Some Sea Salt
10. And finally, I tossed in my daily dose of Hammer Supplements....feel free to toss in your daily multivitamins or other supplements.  
    

And after a little blending.....

The finished product with THICK, and definitely filling.  The taste?  It was OK, nothing that I would be guzzling by the gallons, but not too bad, tolerable, for sure.  If I would add more cinnamon next time and maybe a splash of vanilla extract.

Here is the YouTube Video from Ben Greenfield about his smoothie:

Sauteed Sweet Potatoes with Apples

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a full week in a classroom for a Crises Intervention Team (CIT) training in Appleton.  For that week I followed a typical Monday through Friday, 8-4 schedule.  Every now and again, I get the opportunity to go a full week with this type of schedule, and I take full advantage of it when it comes around.  During this week, I had my alarm set at 4:45am so I could get up and get my workout in before each day of training.  Since finishing my Whole30 last month, I have been more aware of the damaging effects of grains on my digestive system.  In stead of my usual morning ritual of oatmeal, I have grown to love a concoction I came up with during my Whole30.  I ate this for my morning breakfast each day of my CIT training at the beginning of each class.  It was funny, the first day, before anyone really knew anyone, I just got some weird looks.  But on the second and third day, I got questioned as to what the hell I was eating.  My concoction is rather simple and takes about 10 minutes to whip up, plus it tastes as good warm as it does cold, so you can make it the night before and bring it with you when you're on the go.  It's just a single sweet potato with an apple, sautéed in butter topped with coconut flakes and cinnamon.  It is obviously not low carb, but it is sugar free and is relatively low on the glycemic index, meaning it will not rapidly spike your blood sugar.  Plus, cinnamon has a natural anti-inflammatory effect and has a positive effect on insulin and glucose, meaning it will help control your blood sugar levels, lessening the spike when consuming sugary/starchy foods.  One of my friends at work as also at the CIT training and he wanted to try my morning staple and asked me to make him a bowl for work some night, which I did.  After he tried it, he wanted the "recipe."  I laughed and told him, how simple it was, but insisted that I set him up with some directions.  So, I told him I'd put it on my blog....so here it is.

Ingredients:

1 Medium Sweet Potato Diced
1 Apple Diced (Gala, Pink Lady, Honey Crisp, or Similar)
1-2 Tbsp Grass Fed Butter or Ghee
1 Tbsp Cinnamon (or to taste)
2-3 Tbsp Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

Directions:

1. Saute sweet potato with the butter/ghee over medium-high heat.  Add apples and cook the two until soft.
2. During last 1-2 minutes of cooking stir in cinnamon and coconut flakes.

The Whole30: Final Overview

February 18th was my final day on the Whole30.  My 30 day adventure (or how ever you want to phrase it) began on January 20th.  I had no idea what to expect.  Would it be hard?  Would I struggle? Would I really feel any different?  Would I even make it the full 30 days?  When I started, I was at a point in my life where my eating habits were progressively getting worse and worse.  I found myself binge eating foods that I have had no issues saying "no" to.  I was drinking more beer then I have in the past and just found myself in a downward spiral of uncontrollable cravings that I would regularly give in to.  I had lost all my self control and discipline when it came to food and diet.  My weight had exceeded 180 pounds, which for me was well above even my high end of where I wanted to be.  I needed to do something.  I knew that I had to do something or I'd continue going the wrong direction.  I had tried simply cutting the amount of food I would consume during meals, but then would find myself eating between meals or before meals to satisfy my hunger.  I also knew that working third shift had a significant impact on my eating habits and knew going in that I would need some flexibility in what ever diet/program I decide to attempt.  That's is when I pulled up the Whole30 and read up on it.  I remember hearing about the W30 from a gal at work who attempted it last year, but I never really dove into exactly what it was about.  So, I did some reading and figured I would give it a try.  It sounded simple in terms of rules and the format.  While at the same time, sounded pretty challenging, in terms of actually accomplishing the Whole30 for the full 30 day period.  Basically, you eliminate all added sugars, artificial sweeteners, sugars, grains, dairy, legumes, and white potatoes from your diet and rely solely on veggies, fruit, and high quality meats.  Again, simply, yet challenging.  And hell, I like a good challenge.  I was asked quite frequently, why I chose to do this Whole30 when I really don't need to lose any weight.  Well, first my main reasons for doing the W30 were not weight loss, as I just explained, but I knew that would also happen and I would definitely welcome the weight loss.  I weighed myself at the start of my W30 and was 184.4 pounds.  The first thing I did the morning after day 30 was jump on the same scale.  I weighed 172 pounds.  I lost 12 pounds on the Whole30!  I was happy, and definitely can tell I had lost some body fat over the past 30 days.  

The final 9 days (days 22-30) were actually the easiest of the days.  It hit me on day 22 or 23 that I really feel better, or so I thought.  During the final week and 2 days of my W30, my work schedule had changed a bit.  I was scheduled to train our department on our new CAD system for our in squad computers, and was assigned to "normal" work hours of 8-5.  It was great, I was sleeping at night, going to bed early and getting up earlier for morning workouts before leaving for work.  I felt great during my workouts and never really felt sore or tired throughout the day while at work.  I was getting up before 5am and usually working out before 5:45am.  It was during this week that I reintroduced caffeinated coffee to my diet after abstaining from caffeine for 3 full weeks.  I have only been making my own partially caffeinated coffee by using one scoop of decaf with 2 scoops of regular coffee in my morning coffee.  I would drink a small cup of coffee on my way to the gym in the morning and then would not eat until while on my way into work.  I made a simple breakfast of diced sweet potato and diced apple sauteed in a small amount of clarified butter topped with unsweetened coconut flakes and cinnamon.  This has become one of my favorite simple meals for post workout.  I would also have a couple of hard boiled eggs as a source of protein.  I stayed satiated without cravings until lunch which I would eat around 12:30.  I packed my own lunch of a salad, sardines, and some veggies.  I would then have a simple afternoon snack of nuts and a piece of fruit (either grapefruit or a kiwi).  At night we would have dinners as a family and then I would do the same thing the very next day.  We had some of my favorite meals during this past phase of the W30; some of which include, Mocha Rubbed Beef Roast, Chicken Bacon Mushroom Quiche, Zucchini Noodles with Pesto topped with Baked Spiced Chicken, Crab Cakes, and a Slow Cooker Whole Chicken.  I even took the time to make my own mayonnaise, almond butter, and ketchup.  

Delaney helping make the pesto sauce

On Tuesday, we went out to dinner with my in-laws for my Father-in-Law's birthday.  I chose to order their Liver and Onions, something that I had not had in years.  It was surprisingly good and a successful W30 meal....a win-win!  The hardest moment came on Valentine's Day, Day 26 of my W30.  I was damn close to just saying 26 is close enough, I am not going to let my W30 ruin my Valentine's Day.  Sarah and I had made plans to go out for dinner with our good friends, Pat and Melissa for a couple's date.  We went to a high end Latin restaurant- Osorio's Latin Fusion.  I read each individual menu item and chose to order the Baked Sea Bass topped with a lime, cucumber, cilantro sauce, with two sides.  I chose to order their vegetable medley and a salad for my two sides.  My salad came which was fine, I ordered it with out cheese and no croutons.  Then my meal came, it looked soooooooo good, it smelled amazing.  The fish was flaky and done perfectly, but it was topped with a cream sauce, obviously made with dairy.  The veggies, were a Mexican/Latin inspired veggie mix with spinach, beans, corn, and cheese - basically a lot of things I can't eat.  I sat there and just stared at my dinner, trying to decide what to do.  Do I just not eat it and get it to-go and then eat it after my W30 is done?  Do I say screw it, and just eat it.  Luckily, Melissa ordered fajitas, which came in a large lava rock bowl and consisted of just meat, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and seasonings.  She offered her dinner to me, which I gladly accepted.  I gave her my fish and veggies and I just ate the meat and vegetable portion of her fajitas.  Yup, I did that, part of me thought, how pathetic, while the other part of me thought, nice work, you're still going strong and only have a few more days left.

The last couple days came and went and I had continued to feel pretty damn good.  I am curious however what was causing me to feel noticeably better.  It is either one of three things or a combination of the following.  1. It quite possibly could be my very strict diet I had been following with the W30 guidelines.  2.  I had started supplementing with several of Hammer Nutrition's top daily essential supplements specifically formulated for endurance athletes.  3.  It very well could have been the fact that I was on a normal sleep pattern for the first time in a long while.  My personal feelings are that it was ultimately a combination of all three things.  There is no way I would just look past how clean I had been eating over the past 30 days.  But at the same time, Hammer's essential supplements are highly engineered and formulated to allow athletes to better recover and perform at a higher level more frequently with less built up fatigue.  Even with those two significant facts, having the ability to sleep at night and live a normal life for more then just a day or two, no doubt, had a positive effect on my body, recovery, and mood.

Maya at Gymnastics class.

My training had continued to progress nicely over throughout this past 9-10 days.  The past week, I had a total training volume of over 10 hours.  My running is back to a high level.  During this past week were I had a total volume over 10 hours, I ran a total of over 46 miles.  I ran 8 miles twice during the mid week and then had two key workouts on the weekend.  With my sights firmly set on running 30 miles on my 30th birthday, I had planned a back-to-back long run on Saturday and Sunday.  On my training plan I had a 12-16 mile run on Saturday with a 10-12 mile run on Sunday.  I did my run outside on Saturday and felt so good, I opted to run 17 total miles on Saturday.  After my run, I felt fantastic.  I was not sore (relatively speaking) and was moving great.  Sunday I woke up feeling pretty good.  My quads were a little sore, but more of a fatigue-based soreness as opposed to a painful-soreness.  We got a decent about of snow over night and chose to run indoors at the YMCA on a treadmill.  I again felt pretty darn good and ran a total of 13 miles on Sunday for a total of 30 miles covered in two days.  I was thrilled with how I ran and how I felt during and after both runs.  I left that weekend feeling confident for my 30 mile run which was now just two weeks away.  My plan is now to complete a 20 mile long run this upcoming Sunday to work on my fueling strategy and then cut my mileage and rest the next week before running a 3 mile loop 10 times for 30 miles on my 30th birthday, March 2nd.  After running my 30 mile long run, I will begin focusing my efforts on running the Green Bay Marathon in under 3 hours.  I am extremely excited and confident right now and am feeling motivated again, especially coming off my shin/calf injury last month.  I have been in a great mood lately, similar to how I felt throughout most of last year as I trained for Ironman Wisconsin.  At times, I feel that I am setting myself up for more success then I had last year.  I feel this way mainly because I think my extended rest period I took immediately after finishing the Ironman and even the extra break I took following the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  I also can't look past the 3 week hiatus I took from running in January.  I just need to be careful not to get overly ambitious and end up pushing myself too hard/far too fast.  I have taken the mindset to listen to my body better and pay attention to any possible signs of injury or fatigue and have been using that as a way for me to formulate a day-to-day training plan as I build up to my 30 mile run on March 2nd.

Delaney and I at my cousins hockey game.

All that is left at this point is to figure out where do I go from here in regards to my diet and nutritional decisions.  I have just spent the past 30 days eating extremely strict.  I would read nutritional labels closer than I ever had and simply said "no" to so many foods that I regular consume without ever thinking otherwise.  So now what the hell do I do?  Do, I reward myself for doing a good job and eat food that I had wanted to eat the past 30 days but didn't allow myself to?  Do I continue to eat this way with out the same level of paranoia and allow for slips and a few non-Whole30 approved foods?  Or do I slowing reintroduce specific food groups and see how my body reacts to that specific food to see if I have a reaction or intolerance to specific food groups (gluten, oats, dairy, legumes, etc).  I will tell you that on my 1st day off the Whole30, was already a pretty busy day as I had SWAT training from 8a-4p and then I had to work third shift that night from 10p-6a, so I had little room for snacking or treats.  I woke up Wednesday morning at 5am to go to the YMCA and run.  I ran a solid 9 miles and made myself a small bowl of oatmeal (one thing I REALLY wanted throughout my W30).  I made it was whole oats, full fat coconut milk, banana, almond butter, chia seeds, wheat germ, and unsweetened coconut flakes.  I also had two hard boiled eggs.  I then attended our SWAT training which we worked through lunch and did not eat lunch until close to 2:30p.  I never once had any noticeable stomach pains or issues and never felt hungry or low on energy.  For lunch I ordered a Greek Salad which had feta cheese, kalmata olives, artichoke hearts, and a vinaigrette dressing with two pieces of pita bread (2 things I was not allowed to eat while on the W30).  After getting home from training I had a clementine orange at home and a small partial handful of a trail mix (nuts, raisins, and m&ms) and then went to bed and slept from 5-9.  Before leaving for work I ate a slice of my left over Quiche, another small portion of trail mix and then I dipped some banana chips in peanut butter.  Again, more food that are not that inherently unhealthy, but definitely do not live up to W30 standards.  Honestly, up to this point I have not felt any different in the 24+ hours after finishing my W30.  I have had the same energy levels, same cravings, same hunger pangs, and same overall feeling.  Personally I am going to continue to eat with an awareness of what I am putting in my body but will definitely eat some non-Whole30 approved foods (peanut butter, some foods with small amounts of added sugar (pickles), and high quality breads).  I will monitor how my body reacts to these foods and make note of specific food that cause my digestive system issues/discomfort.  I will continue to eat freely for the next week or two, at least through my birthday.  I will not restrict myself the weekend of my birthday and eat freely that weekend and have some beer as well.  After that weekend I think I may try another diet experience to see how my body reacts to a different diet philosophy.  I think I will follow a diet recommended by my sponsor Hammer Nutrition.  Their diet is basically the exact opposite of the Whole30's diet philosophies.  Hammer's diet recommendations are more plant/grain based as opposed to meat/vegetable based.  Hammer recommends that you minimally eat meat, once a week at most.  And focus on fruits, vegetables, and grains as the main staples for your diet.  I would still limit if not continue to avoid any added sugars and artificial sweeteners in foods.  But not nearly as strict as I have been.  I will start using fuels and supplements which I had avoided the past 30 days due to the added sugars in them.  I will continue to avoid junk food and limit between meal snacking.  This will be a dramatic switch in my nutrient breakdown from a higher fat higher protein lower carb diet to a high carb, moderate fat, low protein diet.  I will follow this protocol for 30 days and see how my body reacts.  I will compare my body weight, overall feeling of health, recovery, sleep, and overall mood over those 30 days and compare them to how my 30 days of following the W30 protocol to see which style of diet is better suited for my body.  I have attached the PDF file of a simple breakdown of how I plan on eating while following the recommendations set forth by Hammer Nutrition.  I am really curious to see how my body reacts.  I really think it won't have a large impact on my body as I feel I have a rather strong stomach and have had very little issues with my digestive system when I eat highly nutritious foods including gluten, grains, dairy, and other typically sensitive foods....but there is only one way to really find out and that's to experiment, which is exactly what I intend to do.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HAMMER NUTRITON PHYTOLEAN NUTRITION PLAN FROM HAMMER NUTRITION'S PUBLICATION "ENDURANCE NEWS ISSUE #88"

Whole30 Update: Week 3

And I'm on the home stretch!  3 weeks down and just a little over 1 more week to go.  Day's 15-21 were without a doubt, the worst days of this journey to date.  They sucked.  They were hell.  They were miserable.  I want my homemade oatmeal.  I want some yogurt.  I want a cookie.  I want a bar.  I want a beer.  I want something other than eggs, sardines, and salads.  I brought up The Whole30 Timeline in last weeks update and will do the same this week.  Per the timeline the third week falls between Boundless Energy -Now Give Me a Damn Twinkie and Tiger Blood.  First, during days 12-15 they say that typically cravings come back, stronger then ever.  Then, from 16-27 it's said that these are the days that you do this program for.  Typically these are the days were you feel great, you thrive on the program.  To quote the Boundless Energy Phase (days 12-15):

"All joking aside, though, this phase gets really intense and for some people. This is the part of the program where our minds try to drive us back to the comfort of the foods we used to know. Our food relationships are deeply rooted and strongly reinforced throughout the course of our lives and breaking through them is really big deal. Journaling can be especially enlightening and helpful during this phase, and helpful for reflection later. Take some time to jot down what you’re craving, how you’re feeling and what tools you’re using to work through the cravings."

That pretty much sums up my past week.  That with a combination of a typical early phase (days 10-11 - "The Hardest Days").  During this phase typically, this is where you really start to experience the true psychological hold that your food habits have on you.

I don't know what it was about the past 7 days, but I really started to question this whole "Whole30" thing all together.  I mean, do I REALLY feel better?  Did I REALLY eat all that bad before starting this?

Monday was a breeze as I still was in my little mid-week work routine.  It has been that any day/night that I have had to work, I have been able to stay busy enough with my life to not have any meaningless cravings.  But Tuesday was the start of one hellish week.  Tuesday was my first day off and I started the day with a nice long swim (3,500 meters).  I came home and ate a couple of our leftovers from the previous week as my post workout snack.  I caught about an hour or so nap and then was back up into a long rest of the day running on little to no sleep, just trying to make it to 8:30pm to go to bed and crash.  But, as I mentioned in last week's update, my sleep deprived turn-around days are the worst mentally for cravings and just feeling hungry all day.  Again, I went throughout the day with moderate snacking, but mainly all vegetables just to try over my mental hunger until dinner.  On Wednesday, I had one of our regular standby dinners, (even before I started the W30) of spaghetti squash with seasoned chicken breasts, all topped with pasta sauce.  I even went out and bought pasta sauce that was all natural with no added sugars, sweeteners, or artificial sweeteners.  So, as I was putting our dinner together I grabbed the sauce from the fridge and on a random whim, I checked the ingredient list, just to double check.  Sure as shit, I grabbed the wrong pasta sauce.  Ahhhhh!  I was so frustrated!  I had already assembled all the dishes and topped them all with the sauce.  One of the dinners I had been looking forward to has now become uneatable for me.....juuuust grrrrreat.  So instead of a nice salad and dinner, I just topped my salad with some tuna and ate my salad.

This leads me to my first gripe - what the hell is it with all the f-ing added sugars in just about EVERYTHING?!?!  If you haven't ever looked, next time you go grocery shopping just try and buy something with no added sugars.  Yup, that means, you'll have to actually turn your product around and see what exactly you are putting in your bodies.  If you see Sugar, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Fructose, Glucose, basically anything that ends with "ose" - it's off limits - Good luck!  Sure, I knew that your typical products such as cereals, breads, prepackaged oatmeals, bars, etc all had added sugar, no surprise there.  But, now, I'm looking for atypical stuff, such as seasoning blends (all have sugar), "all natural bacon" (has sugar), many beef and chicken products (have sugar), literally damn near EVERTHING has some form of sugar somewhere in the ingredients.  Why you ask?  Well, to feed our culture's sugar addiction.  If you didn't think sugar was addictive, here is your proof.  Food companies add sugars to their products, no only to make it more palatable, but also to create that endorphin release that causes things to becoming highly addictive.  So, like I said, good luck finding anything that doesn't have any added sugar.  And then, when you do find something with no added sugar, you end up seeing that it is loaded with preservatives or artificial sweeteners.  So FRUSTRATING!

Eventually I got over the fact that I screwed up my dinner that night and just looked forward to Thursday night's dinner.  My brother-in-law recently was hired at a new job and to celebrate we planned on getting together for a celebratory dinner at my favorite restaurant, Stone Cellar Brewpub.  I knew going into this that, one, it would be a test for me mentally to be in that setting with some of the best beer and damn good food and not be able to order any of it.  And, two, that if there was any one place in the Fox Valley, that would have numerous choices that would meet the W30 criteria, it would be Stone Cellar, who is known for locally grown, minimally processed, local grass-fed beef, and mostly organic food choices.  I had scoped out Stone Cellar's menu that morning to get an idea of what I might be able to order and had it narrowed down to a couple choices.  Once at the Brewpub, all I wanted as a beer and to be able to just order something without having to worry what it was made with.  I was officially starting to get extremely frustrated with the W30 style of living.  It was a minor state of paranoia - always reading ingredients, always checking what you order, asking family what they will be having for dinner in advance.  Yea, it was getting old.  On top of that frustration, Thursday was bill paying day for us and as usual, we hadn't done nearly as well as we had hoped, which added an additional stress on myself and Sarah.  So, here I am, going to literally, my favorite bar/restaurant with my family, worried/concerned/stressed about our family finances, and now I'm pissed that I can't just order fish tacos, with their 6 Grain Pale Ale, or their limited edition 666 Grain Pale Ale.  Plus, we all ordered two appetizers of spinach and artichoke dip along with a pub basket.  Now, normally I don't go crazy with all the deep fried goodies that come in the pub basket, but seriously, all I wanted was a cheese curd, or a kettle chip.  It was seriously hell.  I ended up ordering their grilled sirloin with a side of sweet potato fries, which came with a house salad and balsamic vinaigrette.  Don't get me wrong, the food I had ordered was absolutely delicious, once I ate, I was satisfied with my choice, but still wish I had just 1 cold beer to wash it down with.  For the first time since starting, I was seriously contemplating just giving up on the W30 and just getting a beer and ordering what I really wanted, not what I should want.

This led me to my second gripe - Is this Whole30 thing, really making a difference - I mean, now that I have been doing this for 18 or so days, is it REALLY that different from how I was eating?  Sure, I did have an unhealthy relationship with sweets, I will certainly cop to that.  But, to say that I ate unhealthy, would just be foolish.  My downfall came when I would succumb to my cravings.  Not only would I give in and have a treat, but I would not know when to stop.  But, is this Whole30 thing going to fix that?  Or is that something that I will just need to get a grasp on and just stop allowing myself to not be a better athlete?  Then, I began thinking of foods like oatmeal, my whole fat plain unsweetened greek yogurt, and other minimally (if at all) sweetened health foods that were deemed unhealthy by the fricken "Whole30 Food Gods."  And, what I really feeling better?  Can I even tell a difference from a month ago?  To be honest, other than not overeating and that "stuffed" feeling you get from just stuffing your face, no, I felt pretty much the same.  As far as my gut and digestive health - that might be the one difference.  Previous to starting the W30, I usually went to the bathroom once a day or so.  Now, it's more like once every 3-4 days.  Yea, not sure about that, but what ever.

After leaving Stone Cellar, I was feeling better, knowing that I had made the right choice not to scrap all my progress.  I started this thing for a reason.  I started it for me, to learn about my relationship with food and to hopefully develop some new healthier relationships with my food.  I was on day 18 of 30, over half way.  I knew that I would hate myself and truly regret giving up, so I was, in the end, happy with my choice, no matter how frustrated I was at the time.

Friday was another similar day to Thursday evening.  We had SWAT training during the day and then I was off Friday night.  We always go out for lunch on SWAT training days, and on this day, it was decided we would go to Red Robin for lunch.  So, once again, I was left to scour the menu for a W30 approved dish.  There was not one single meal that I could order outside of getting a chicken sandwich with nothing on it wrapped in lettuce as opposed to a bun.  Sounds like an expensive salad right?  I just went with their plain chicken salad with no cheese or croutons.  It wasn't bad actually. It was simple and tasty.

The remainder of the week came and went with much of the same issues as previous weeks, dealing with hunger pangs from higher than "normal" training volumes (in comparison to majority of folks who do the W30) and random snacking throughout the days.  The past week I had a total training volume of over 9 hours (about 1:20 average per day).  I had quite a lot of almond butter this week, more then I probably should have.  It was my "coping" treat.  I was eating it as opposed to my typical chocolate or baked treats.  I was eating it either on celery or on a banana.  But, man, I'm freakin hungry!

My training has finally found a consistent routine.  I ran 10 miles on Wednesday and did 7 of those miles in my Newtons.  I had to stop at home after 7 and swap out shoes because I could feel my calf getting tight.  I realized that I need to ease into my Newtons due their their lower heel drop in comparison to what I have grown accustomed to with my previous shoes.  For example, my New Balance 890 V3's have a 7mm heel drop (28mm heel height and 21mm toe height), while my Newtons have a heel drop of 5mm (28 heel height and 23mm toe height).  Sure, that's only a difference of 3mm, but you couple that with the dynamic shift in a full foot, foot strike to a exaggerated forefoot striking shoe such as the Newton, it will put more stress on your calf muscles.  The final 3 miles of my 10 mile run felt good in my old pair of NB 890's that I wore at Ironman.  I took a couple days off between my 10 mile run and my next run.  I filled those two days with a swim along with a 2:00 ride on my indoor cycle.  Saturday, I was nervous to go back to running.  During those two days away from running, all I could feel was my calf/shin, and I thought for sure I would be stopped almost immediately after starting to run.  I went to the YMCA Saturday morning to do an indoor brick.  I rode on their indoor cycle for an hour and then jumped on a treadmill with hopes of running 6 miles.  I started running at a conservative pace and then just kept going.  My calf was never an issue.  It felt normal the entire time.  In fact, I felt so good, I decided to stay on the tread for a couple additional miles, for a total of 8.  With a good volume of training already in my log book, I opted to cut Sunday's workout a little shorter and just focus on recovery.  I jumped on my indoor bike after getting home from work and just rode super easy for 30 minutes just to move my legs.  It felt good.

Maya got a much needed haircut this week!

The final 9 days of my W30 will be the real test.  I am working day hours Monday through Thursday and will be working out in the morning before work.  I think those 4 days will be relatively easy to get through as I will be so busy to just get home and then cook dinner, prepare for the next day, and then get to bed early enough to get up early enough to get a decent workout in before work.  Friday I am off from work, but we are getting together with Pat and Melissa for a couples Valentine's Day dinner at a new local up scale Latin Restaurant.  So, yet again, I will test myself (on day 26 - so close!) with no beer and having a very limited menu to choose from.

The good news, is that as of today, I have made it a full 3 weeks with absolutely NO CAFFEINE!  I will start back up again with regular coffee and green teas starting Monday.  I will mix my coffee 2:1 with decaf coffee just to keep my caffeine consumption down from what I was at previously.  I am just looking forward do drinking regular coffee again!  :)

Whole30 Update: Week 2

14 of 30 days are done.  And today is in fact the half way point.  When I first started the W30, everything I read talked about how it was only 30 days, or just 30 days.  I thought to myself, sure, it is just 30 days, but that's still 30 days, over 4 weeks, a full month - they only say that it's just 30 days to make it sound easy.  But here I am, nearly half way through my 30 day journey.  According to a post on the Whole30 Blog titled, The Whole30 Timeline, week 2 consists of "Days 8-9: My Pants are TIGHTER?!," "Days 10-11:The Hardest Days," and "Days 12-15: Boundless Energy."  I have pretty much followed this timeline pretty closely.  I wouldn't say I ever felt as though my close were tighter, leading me to believe I gain weight.  Most of the time to this point, I have felt about the same or slightly thinner, never heavier, or thicker.  To be honest though, I hadn't really had a feeling of this process being difficult.  It has been a big change in my eating habits, no doubt.  But for the most part, I have eaten similar to this, just with more snacking.  Basically, The only change I have made during these past 14 days has been eliminating my excessive snacking.  Yes, I have eliminated many of my regular foods, including yogurt, rice, oatmeal, peanut butter, and bread.  But like I said, the biggest change has been my elimination of excessive snacking of junk food.  I hadn't really had any cravings....until day 13 or 14.

During days 10-12 I began to have thoughts about comfort foods or foods like I can't eat...and shouldn't eat, such as cake, cookies, ice cream, and pizza.  It wasn't ever a craving or a thought of, "Oh, I just have to have _________!"  It was more of a generalized thought of, "If I stick with this style diet after the 30 days, I will never have _________ again. <sigh>"  I truly think the whole reason I have been thinking like this is the idea of falling back to my poor relationship with junk food; where I start eating some junk food with an acceptable portion, but then end up going back for seconds....then thirds....then - oh wait, I just ate it all....  Let me tell you, I do NOT want to fall back into that cycle.  I won't fall back into that cycle.  

Even now, with 14 days under my belt, I am still trying to figure out the right strategy to eat right while working 3rd shift.  As if figuring out the right sleeping pattern isn't challenging enough, now I have to find how to eat right without overeating and leaving myself craving junk food?  I heard on The Ben Greenfield Fitness Podcast, that sleep deprivation can produce false signals in your brain telling you to eat more, on top of that, sleep deprivation induces cravings for sweets and sugars.  You want to talk about stacking the deck against you.  Working 3rd shift leaves you tired on most days, especially on my first days on or off (turn-around days).  So now, besides, being tired, cranky, and lethargic, now I have to deal with cravings and hunger-pangs.  I have been handling this by drinking tea and water.  

Kombucha...with chia seeds....Brilliant!!

Last week I discussed needing to decrease the amount of fruit I was eating on a daily basis.  To help with this, I purchased less sugary fruits when I went grocery shopping, picking up kiwis and grapefruits.  I have cut back the amount of fruit I have been eating considerably, down to just 1-2 pieces.  For the most part, my eating has been very good.  I never really over ate during any one meal. My pre and post workout meals have been going good.  I have been eating some nuts with a small fruit about 1-2 hours prior to my morning workouts when I work.  On days when I worked the night before working out, I will just have a can of coconut water to replenish and rehydrate.  During my off days this week, I had some combination of sweet potatoes and eggs.  If there was one thing I need to focus on for the final half of my W30, it would be my between meal snacks.  I have been snacking pretty regularly, but still on healthy vegetables and nuts.  I think to stay in spirit of the W30 program, I need to cut out all between meal snacking and focus solely on the main meals throughout the day.  I still plan on eating a couple of smaller meals during my night shifts at work, just to better handle the unknown factor with my job.  I just never know when or sometimes even if I will be able to eat.  What I do know is just eat a small meal of sardines and veggies earlier during the shift and then some nuts and a small piece of fruit later for my pre workout meal.  Most of those foods are easily eating on the go, which is perfect.  

A new staple in our home, 100% Organic Grassfed Beef

This past week, we have had some more really good Whole30 approved meals.  On Tuesday, I made a crock pot chili which was easy and very good.  Wednesday was my first night back at work, plus I had training for most of the day from 8-4pm.  I did have a decent break between a morning session and my afternoon session and took advantage by going for a quick run during my lunch break.  For food, I packed a salad topped with salmon along with some vegetables.  It really wasn't too difficult and tasted really good.  After training I went home and grabbed a couple hours of sleep before returning to work for my first night back.  Wednesday, I tried something new, with making blueberry turkey breakfast patties.  Surprisingly they were a hit.  We did a breakfast theme dinner and fired up some potatoes for the girls and had pancakes, while I had a small sweet potato.  On Friday, we had one of my favorite simple meals of fried butternut squash with quartered Brussels sprouts.  Saturday I had picked up overtime and went in early to work and just packed a salad and chili left overs for my dinner and then my regular work lunch for the remainder of my shift.  For Super Bowl Sunday, I kind of fell off the wagon, but still stayed true to the Whole30.  I baked a filet of cod topped with salsa for dinner, and steamed green beans for a side.  I also finished the little remains of the chili left overs and then went on to the squash and Brussels sprouts left overs.  I didn't stop there though, I had a banana with almond butter for a dessert, and started getting the same cravings I used to get before starting the Whole30, where I would go dive into the candy jar and finish anything and everything I wanted.  I resisted the temptation to quit the W30, and just had a second banana with almond butter.  This was the first actual thought I had of just scrapping the entire Whole30 thing and just eating some Rolo's my wife has sitting in the pantry, or a granola bar, or some Scooby Snack graham crackers.  I wanted to eat the junk food that previously controlled my eating.  After eating so much food, I still wanted to eat some treats.  I ate a small clementine orange then a kid's sized box of raisins.  Yes, I realize that this was way to much food and was completely NOT what I should have done.  But at least, I am still on track to finish my W30 and didn't jump off.

I have been getting used to not consuming any caffeine, almost to the point were I am considering staying caffeine free for the remaining 16 days.  My plan as of today, is to stay caffeine free until Saturday, day 20, and my first night back to 3rd shift.  My thought is that not only will I limit the amount of coffee I drink at any one time, but also start mixing decaf with caffeinated coffee to blend my own half-caf coffee.

First run in my Newton Gravity's

My training has been going surprisingly well.  The past two weeks my training has been right at 9 hours per week.  I have been in the pool quite a bit and on a bike more then usual.  My running is slowing building back up.  After first returning back to running last week Sunday, I followed it up with a 5 mile run on Wednesday, a 3 mile brick run on Friday, and then another 5 mile run on Sunday.  I am starting to put together a plan to get me back on track to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday March 2nd.  On Monday, I plan on biking for an hour and then running 3 miles immediately after.  My thoughts are, that I have two tests to determine if I am able to dive head first back into running.  1 - running frequency and 2 - running volume.  For frequency, I started first with taking a 2 day break between my first and second run, followed by 2 day break between the next couple runs.  Now, I am running on back to back days, from Sunday to Monday.  With my volume, that will be a little more tricky to figure out.  Because, with volume, you need to consider proper rest between runs following more damage to my legs.  I plan on trying an 8-10 mile run on either Wednesday or Thursday.  Based on both, how my shin feels during that run and how my legs feel the day or two following that run, I will play it by ear when my next run is.  My fear right now is that I either re-aggravate my shin injury, or worse, produce a new running related injury from rushing back too quick.  It's really tricky for me, who just wants to plan everything.  I need to know what I am doing next week.  I need to know where I am going.  But, realistically, I need to really listen to my body until I can run consistently without any issues.  Once I reach that point, I can start putting together a training plan.  I have the knowledge to train on the fly and do it smart, it just makes it that much more challenging.  It's hard enough planning out 3 months worth of training on a blank calendar, not to mention basing the next day's training schedule on the how the previous day went, all while keeping the following day and the next race in mind.  

Running out of room to put the snow!

Maya got to play while Daddy worked

Week 3 of my Whole30 looks like it will resemble more of a "normal" human's schedule.  Tuesday-Thursday are my scheduled off days and then Friday I have SWAT training from 8-4pm which means I am off that night from 3rd shift.  I then work 3rd shift on Saturday, only to have Sunday off for more training.  I am going to focus more on decreasing, if not eliminating, my snacking and focus on eating during main meals only.  I think this week will be the hardest week of the W30.  I have a feeling I will be most tempted to abandon ship during the next 7-10 days, but if I can stay focused, the last 7-10 days will fly by.