getting started

After turning 44 last week, I have committed to making this a GREAT year. A year where I don't just maintain, but move forward. Make progress.

In order to start this off...I am going to do Kathy Freston's 21 day cleanse. In this I will give up:

*caffeine
*alcohol
*gluten
*all animal products including dairy, eggs
*added sugar

There are a number of reasons why I want to do this. #1 I want to get control over my eating habits. I think I can really look at food a different way.


I also want to see how my body reacts to eliminating these things. Do I feel more energy? Do I recover from hard workouts better? Can I sleep better? Do my stomache issues disappear? Can I tell in my knees and hips that there is less inflamation?

At the end of this 21 day trial, I am sure I will reintroduce some of these things into my diet. Maybe all of them, maybe only some of them.

One thing I will not let this experiment do is make my workouts suffer. I am 10 weeks out from the Boston marathon, and need to be running about 30 miles per week. I am hoping that this experiment will help my running. Of course I would like to lose some weight before race day. If I feel like I need to have some calories during my runs/especially my long run, I may have some sports drink at that time.

I am planning on blogging every day. Reporting how I feel, what I ate, what my workouts were...and will probably keep this blog going as I train for Boston, and then train for Steelhead 70.3 half ironman on July 31st.