30 Days Strict and Discussing Paleo

I have been going strict paleo for 30 days now. Besides a few bites of pork juice soaked bread at Woodberry Kitchen, I have been eating great without any urges to cheat. And other than a few late night social outings, I have been getting great sleep. All in all, I feel amazing.

One issue I've had when I've talked to people about how eating paleo has helped me lean up has been the response: "well you run like a 1,000 miles each week." Looking past the fact I would have shot myself long before completing that type of distance in a week, people would always attribute my improved health to my ultra-marathon running and training. They would assume that my ability to once or twice a month go off and run 30-50+ miles of backwoods trail involved a heavy training schedule. Hardly.

30 miles into Highland Sky 40M Trail Race

Having been rocking the paleo lifestyle for a few years, I quickly found the aerobic and anaerobic benefits of sprinting. For minimal time investment each week I was maintaining and improving my performance during my ultra trail races. So if anything, it was not 1,000 miles per week but maybe 10 minutes of sprints that helped me stay in shape. Ultimately though I know it was the high quality fuel I was consuming: high fat, moderate protein, and low to no carbohydrates from local, organic vegetables and grass-fed/pastured meat.

Where I am going with this is simple. With my knee I am unable to run. And although I've leaned out considerably over the years, I am far from having single digit body fat or well-defined six pack. And given I will not be able to run for at least a year, and not play soccer for probably two, I can now show results purely from diet.

That brings up other issues, as to do I care that much about wanting a six-pack and do I need the approval of others as to how I've accomplished my weight loss? First, yes I would like to at some point in my life have a noticeable six-pack and may be a little vain (see item 6). Second, I do not care what others think, however I do like to argue and debate. And when someone overweight gives me fitness or nutrition advice I want to tell them to STFU and smack the low-fat yogurt out of their hand. That is after I explain how they are wrong.

Wake Up Call and Death Sprints

My mornings usually go like this:

Sunrise. Light creeps into my room.

I stretch and yawn.

All hell brakes loose.

When I get up, that means breakfast. Cyprus will jump up and either off the bed or on to me. If Shaman does not move fast enough, Cyprus is back on the bed to move him along. Sometimes I am not ready to get up, so I try to calm Cyprus down and get her back to laying down. This works fairly well, but if I am unable to reign her in before she convinces Shaman it is time to wake, I have to get up.

Having two or more dogs can present issues in and of itself. Individually both dogs are extremely obedient, but in situations like this they can feed off each other and get out of control quickly. I also see this frequently if they are told to STAY and someone or something of interest presents itself. If either dog was alone, there would be no issue and they would not break the STAY command. But together you can watch them start to eye each other. One may lean towards the target, which will cause the other to lean towards it as well. At that point, unless I break out my deep alpha voice, whether it is a twitch of a paw or an all out explosive burst, they are both off after said person or thing trying to be the first to it.

This reminds me of the summer before my senior year in high school. One of my brothers was going to be a freshman and we were both training hard in preparation of the upcoming soccer team tryouts. We would run a half mile loop in my parent's subdivision for up to 10 miles. Yes, extremely boring. Hell, some runs I was solving my computer programing homework in my head as I ran. Anyway, my brothers and I have always been extremely competitive, so when we ran, it would either be at separate times or in different directions as not to cause conflict. One day, at the request of our father, we ran together, side my side. We were supposed to run 8 miles that day and things started innocently enough. However, one of us must have pulled slightly ahead of the other, causing us both to start running faster. Not saying a word, next thing we know we are in an all out sprint, throwing elbows. We did not even make it a third of the way around the first loop before we were both physically spent and on the verge of vomitting. The more I think about this moment, there was no reasoning behind our unplanned sprint. It was pure instinct. We had to beat the other one.

Cyprus throwing an elbow

With time my brothers and I were able to run together, generally peacefully, and definitely without any death sprints breaking out and consuming us. And with dogs I am sure with group rather than indiviual training I could break them of their similar competitive drive to beat the other. It would kill me if they got injured or killed chasing after something simply because one thought the other was going to get to something first. But at the same time, it is this competitive streak that can help one excel and improve in many aspects of life. Of course I am confident that I can train them to ignore the other and stay put and not even remotely damage any innate desire or instinct. Still, when I see the dogs push harder and harder to get one up on the other, I see a glimpse of me and my brothers, our sprints to the death, and have a hard time not smiling.