Inspiration is often found in the oddest places and when least expected.
It’s been several months since I completed my 90-Day CrossFit/Paleo Challenge. Since the completion, I have pursued various other interests that have taken me away from the CrossFit/Paleo community.
What I have realized is that I miss it, the way it made me feel (and look), and I find myself once again facing some of the same challenges as I did prior to that journey. As I look at goals I have set for myself this year, as well as ones I set for myself in the next five, I realized I need the CrossFit/Paleo community in my life and the inspiration it provides.
One goal I set for myself in 2014 is to run a half marathon in an hour and 45 minutes. In pursuit of this goal, I registered for the SeaWheeze half marathon in Vancouver this August. Having completed a full marathon in 2009, the distance wasn’t the daunting part. The challenge was going to be in learning how to fuel myself.
In 2009, I had not heard of the Paleo Diet. Therefore, I used the “conventional wisdom” of carb loading (rice and pastas) to fuel my training. While I haven’t been strict Paleo since learning about it or after completing my 90-Day Challenge, I have consistently ruled out grains, sugars, and dairy approximately 90% of the time. I didn’t want to digress to “conventional wisdom” and reintroduce grains into my diet just to train for this run knowing the impact grains have on my body and how I feel after indulging in them.
Also, I knew I had the resources to educate myself on how to fuel my training while maintaining a grain- and sugar-free lifestyle.
It was during this time that I learned about and started listening to PaleoCon. Needless to say, I was thrilled to see several sessions regarding athletes competing and performing at elite levels while being grain-free and even while their bodies are in complete ketosis.
I am not an elite athlete (and I don’t pretend to be), but I am going to take the information provided, the inspiration found, and my own determination and willpower and accomplish my goal of 1:45 without eating grains/sugars/dairy. What I will be interested to find out is if my body ever enters ketosis during my training and run.
So, like the first sentence says: Inspiration is found in the oddest places and when least expected (a Facebook “suggestion” to “Like” PaleoCon).