From the Training Table: Nothing Good to Eat
I’m living a dream of abundance, and as can happen with dreams fulfilled, it’s not exactly all it’s cracked up to be.
With my training in full swing these days, I am a calorie incinerator. My six or seven weekday workouts alone burn through a lot of energy, but my long weekend ride and run are just calorie wildfires. On my most recent Saturday ride, I probably burned 3,000 calories, and on my Sunday run, I probably came close to 2,000.
At face value, this seems great. The opportunity of a lifetime to eat and eat and eat, almost whatever I want, whenever I want. In reality, though, it’s far from the land-of-milk-and-honey ideal you might think.
Yes. I’ve become a regular at the Kispy Kreme drive through (glazed crème filled rocks!), and I buy packages of Mother’s Cookies four at a time. But these crème filled dreams are much more the exception than the rule.
Sadly, eating in many ways has just become part of my training--often driven more by what I need than what I want to eat. I may be hankering for foie gras and pork loin on Friday night, but that’s not going to take me too far down the road on my Saturday ride. “Guess it’s beans and rice again.”
Over and over, my nutrient needs avoid my gustatory yearnings. It’s hard to fathom, but when I really need to eat--like just after a long run or ride--I’m not at all hungry. And when I’m hungry, many times I can’t really eat because I have a hard workout coming up.
Obviously, I fit the calories in and many of them are enjoyably consumed. Yet, I also eat a lot utilitarian calories (Power Bars, plain bagels, Fig Newtons ad nauseam) and drink a lot of startling colored, awful tasting sports drinks. But, just like all those long runs and rides, it should pay off in the end when I toe the line. I only hope someone will have foie gras and pork loin waiting for me if and when I finish.
With my training in full swing these days, I am a calorie incinerator. My six or seven weekday workouts alone burn through a lot of energy, but my long weekend ride and run are just calorie wildfires. On my most recent Saturday ride, I probably burned 3,000 calories, and on my Sunday run, I probably came close to 2,000.
At face value, this seems great. The opportunity of a lifetime to eat and eat and eat, almost whatever I want, whenever I want. In reality, though, it’s far from the land-of-milk-and-honey ideal you might think.
Yes. I’ve become a regular at the Kispy Kreme drive through (glazed crème filled rocks!), and I buy packages of Mother’s Cookies four at a time. But these crème filled dreams are much more the exception than the rule.
Sadly, eating in many ways has just become part of my training--often driven more by what I need than what I want to eat. I may be hankering for foie gras and pork loin on Friday night, but that’s not going to take me too far down the road on my Saturday ride. “Guess it’s beans and rice again.”
Over and over, my nutrient needs avoid my gustatory yearnings. It’s hard to fathom, but when I really need to eat--like just after a long run or ride--I’m not at all hungry. And when I’m hungry, many times I can’t really eat because I have a hard workout coming up.
Obviously, I fit the calories in and many of them are enjoyably consumed. Yet, I also eat a lot utilitarian calories (Power Bars, plain bagels, Fig Newtons ad nauseam) and drink a lot of startling colored, awful tasting sports drinks. But, just like all those long runs and rides, it should pay off in the end when I toe the line. I only hope someone will have foie gras and pork loin waiting for me if and when I finish.
posted by Hank at 9:58 PM
