First post

I’m new to the running world, about a year and a half in now. I came to this sport through a desire to complete an Iron Man event. It was a strange goal for me to set, but I do strange things. After having a couple too many glasses of wine, I declared I would do an Iron Man by my 40th birthday. And in the wise words of Hemingway, I felt I had to do sober what I said I’d do drunk. And the journey began.

Since making “the statement”, I have had to go from couch potato to endurance athlete in pretty short order. Now I do understand that Triathlon consists of more than just running, but my focus for this blog is about nutrition. And specifically nutrition for runners.

My eating habits coming into this new challenge were way off the mark. As a fine food chef, my family and I eat very well, but there was no counting calories. We made sure to eat lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean meats (ok maybe not lean, but tasty) and plenty of seafood. But with an ever expanding waist line my first order of business was to change some of our eating habits. Going from eating whatever I felt like making,( and I have access to great food) to lean cooking, has been difficult to say the least. I started this venture at just over 200lbs, and realized that to be fast and have any hope of completing some longer distances, I needed to drop some weight.

I have accomplished this (or at least pretty close, I am now 183+-lbs), by first getting rid of all the crappy snacks that have made their way into our house. We focus on whole foods, and shun man-made pseudo food. Hopefully I will show you how to do it too.

We will also discuss how to get the necessary nutritional input during endurance events, an area I am still researching and figuring out as I go along. I have access to many first rate athletes to help me and you along the way. My trials and tribulations in this category will be documented for us all to see and discuss here.

I will also feature some local (to where ever we may be) farmers and producers worth taking note of. And one recipe every couple of weeks that is sure to get you up for your run, or fill up the void after one. I hope you all enjoy our food/run banter, and please ask any question you like. If I cannot answer it, I will endeavour to find the right person to do so.

Thanks and keep running.