Yes I’m predicting the title of Deepak Chopra’s next book. Actually I’m acknowledging that this particular post is all over the parking lot. Basically we have a book review, some new resources for the two-month focus on mindfulness, a training update and some thoughts about nutrition. Spoiler alert, carbs are not your friend.
Can’t Swim, Can’t Ride, Can’t Run: From Common Man to Ironman by Andy Holgate
I give this book four stars. I place it in the triathlon inspiration category. As the subtitle indicates it is the story of a fairly ordinary guy named Andy Holgate, a British librarian and lapsed runner. With some gentle prodding from friends and coworkers he finds himself entered in a local sprint triathlon. He has a blast. Then practically before he has worked the soreness out of his muscles, he signs up for an iron distance race called believe it or not, The Big Woody, held in southern England. At that time he didn’t even own a road bike. Given the author’s history of health problems and dodgy knees, I couldn’t help but wonder where he found that kind of courage. I also wondered if I would ever find the courage to go long.
His race reports are a delight. He manages to convey panic, pain and satisfaction as the situation warrants. I particularly liked the descriptions of running and cycling through the English countryside. I enjoyed hearing about triathlons and marathons in Europe including Ironman Germany as well as the London and Hamburg marathons. There is a nice variety of events from cycling to triathlons, marathons and mud runs. He even crossed the Atlantic for a triathlon at Disney World. His family and friends give him tremendous support throughout his journey. Several are people he met through the local thread of Runner’s World forums. Community is at the core of his story and it made me aware that I need to reach out and meet more of my fellow triathletes.
British slang may be a stumbling block for some American readers. I could follow it pretty well having met quite a few Brits in my magazine work. I had to Google “malt loaf.” It looks a bit like fruitcake. He took slices of it on bike rides. Toward the end of the book the narrative drags a bit. It is a memoir. You won’t find training tips or core exercises.
He has written a second book: Can’t Sleep, Can’t Train, Can’t Stop: More Misadventures in Triathlon. He blogs at http://ironholgs.wordpress.com/.
More Mindfulness Resources
I hope the podcasts and guided meditations links in Upgrade Your Mental Software were helpful and got some of you started working on learning to tuning out some of mental noise of modern life. A reminder, the goal is to meditate each day and approach at least one of your workouts mindfully each week for two months. My personal favorite mindfulness podcast from that post was Meditation for Health Podcast #103 (a) Meditation – Silencing the Commentary with Meditation.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/meditation-for-health-podcast/id290478854
I thought Dr. Puff’s description of our inner narration distracting us from our lives like the commentary track running on a DVD interrupting and interfering with watching the movie to be most appropriate. I became aware some time ago that I never really stopped thinking. It was several years later that I found out that this was not a good thing and only served to make me ever more “nervous and jerky.”
More mindfulness resources are listed below.
Guided Mindfulness Practices – University of Missouri System
http://www.umsystem.edu/curators/mindfulness/guided
Podcasts from the UK-based Mental Health foundation
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/help-information/podcasts/ or https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/wellbeing-podcasts/id491920404
A third resource I would like to recommend is The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle. You can pick up a used paperback copy very cheap online or download the audio version to your iPod or MP3 for convenient listening. The audio book version is read by the author. I’m told by multiple sources that it is quite good. I read this book last year. I can’t promise you enlightenment but I can promise that after reading the book you will view many of your thoughts and feelings quite differently.
Training Update
My training is going very well this year. This is my fourth week of regular workouts targeted at a sprint triathlon in May. There are rumors of a 5K on St. Paddy’s Day. Every fourth week I ease back on my training to give my body a chance to consolidate gains. That’s the plan for this week. Last week I racked up 65 minutes on the bike trainer, 120 minutes in the pool, and 63 minutes on elliptical, treadmill and track. In addition, I got in three weight workouts. I’m well on my way.
I just started with a new medical group. If you come in for your first visit weighing north of 240 pounds and tell your new physician’s assistant that you got four hours of aerobic exercise last week, she will look at you like you have just grown an appendage not currently fashionable on this planet. Now one of my goals for the new year is to lose enough weight that people will believe me when I tell them I work out.
Training Tweak of the Week: If you’re over the age of 35, plan to lift weights year round to maintain your muscle mass. I like to break my weight workouts into thirds: legs, chest and shoulders, and back and biceps. This way you aren’t spending a hour on each weight workout and each of these muscle groups gets 72 hours to recover. Theoretically you could hit each group twice in one week. Most weeks I only get one workout in for each group. That’s life on swim-bike-stumble island.
New Thoughts On Nutrition
A recent program on NPR really captured my attention. On The Diane Rehm Show, Diane interviewed Dr. Robert Lustig about his book: Fat Chance: Beating The Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease: http://goo.gl/ajrNQ
I direct your attention to a call from a dietitian from Dallas, TX, about 47 minutes into the program. The good doctor slam dunked this woman and completely discredited her calories in/calories out approach to diet. Please listen to the entire program, especially the part where Lustig describes some of the things we don’t know about nutrition and why. We have to completely change our thinking on diet and nutrition in the USA. First rule of holes: when you find yourself in one, stop digging.
My current plan for the the next couple of blog posts include relating my adventures at a weekend swim clinic and some useful information about salads.
Enjoyed the Power of Now. I read it first in random pages and then about 3 years later all the way through. Mindfulness exercising is a great idea. I try to run without music since the idea of running is more appealing as a way to develop mental endurance.
Thanks for the comment. I agree: The Power of Now can really change a person’s perspective if they are ready to read it.