Primal Journal of VeloCity.X - wheeling through the Mound City page

[VeloCity.X]

Ok, I kept telling myself that I would do an intro and start a journal, so now here it goes.

I’ll probably try to keep this brief and will end up giving a bit more background/intro as I go along. I’m 42, from St. Louis, MO. I was maybe a bit on the chubby/husky side growing up, but not too extreme. I was reasonably athletic as a kid and played several sports in high school. After I decided my size wasn’t going to cut it on the offensive line beyond freshman year, I became a cross country runner. That definitely kept the weight down, though I distinctly remember my coach (this is like senior year) telling me I could handle losing a few pounds.

College I did little beyond studying, drinking, eating bad food, etc. and put on a decent amount of weight. After college I lived at home for about a year until I bought my own place. Long hours, long commute, and free food were a bad combination and I definitely packed on a few pounds. I think I hit my then-high of probably about 210 at 5’-10” or so. When a 38” waist started getting a bit tight I knew I needed to change something.

So, I started exercising every night between 9 and 10. Started with biking then started running again. And started eating more or less vegetarian. It definitely worked. I dropped weight, joined a gym, started lifting. About the same time all that started a chance encounter with an old roommate got me out on a mountain bike ride. Less than half way through the ride I thought I was going to die, so we turned back. But, having ridden a ton of BMX and raced a little as a kid, I was hooked. I started mountain biking a lot and got involved in racing.

Eventually I picked up a road bike (‘cause that’s how you train..) and that really ended up completely taking over mountain biking. In fact, that eventually took over all my fitness for many years. I raced a ton, worked my way up to Cat 2 (basically the bottom tier of the pretty good amateurs) and got to do some national calendar events. My last hurrah was the year before my second child was born where I was given the freedom to do basically as much riding and racing as I wanted, and had an opportunity to go to France and do L’Etape du Tour. Imagine a huge timed mass-start event like the New York or Boston Marathon, but on bikes and doing a mountain stage of the Tour de France.

After my son was born I essentially hung up the bike for 5 years. I went into a bit of a funk where I had a hard time with riding at such a lesser level than where I had been. I also got into a few other things; environmental issues, gardening, some things with my profession, etc. And my weight started to creep back up.

I’ve known/met/read about people I used to refer to as ‘tragedy magnets’. The ones who seemed to have the Sad Sack tales, nothing ever went right. Well, I’ve been going through that for about two years. It’s just been a really rough period involving hospitalization, parental illness, a troubled if not outright failed marriage, strokes and deaths among family members including siblings. Just a difficult stretch.

Like I said, I had slowly crept up over the last 5 years, but I started this year at my heaviest weight ever, over 215 lbs. I was at the point that I realized despite the rest of the whirlwind, I really needed to take better care of myself. I had a few ups and downs but by picking up some more exercise and some CW portion control/less junk, I hit about 195 on June 1.

June 1 was significant because that was when I started my initial 30 days following the Primal Blueprint. A friend (I’ve seen his comments to Mark’s blog posts but don’t think he’s on the forum) has been Primal for a couple years and raves about it. Like most others, I thought what do I have to lose by following the system for 30 days?

I’m just past 90 days and down an additional 20 lbs. with about 12 of that coming the first month. Some of the worst of that whirlwind has been during this time, so there is a lot that I’m not following beyond the diet and some of the exercise concepts. I can’t state it’s been this miracle cure all of abundant energy and ease, but like I said, there’s a lot going on. Plus, I’m still making steady progress. I wasn’t particularly big, so 1 to 2 pounds per week is appropriate and sustainable.
I don’t have any photos from before I started Primal, but I have been taking monthly since then and will put them up when I get them formatted.

Ok, it’s way past my bed time, so I’m going to post this. I hope I keep it up.

[VeloCity.X]

Wow. That ended up a bit longer and more rambling than I expected.

Ok, on to the journal part:
Yesterday morning - 178.5 lbs. 24% BF (not sure I trust this electric scale thing...)
B - 2 1/2 pieces of bacon, 3 scrambled eggs.
L - None
D - Sirloin kebob, 1 chicken drum stick, peas, and bell peppers/onions. All but the peas done on the grill. Oh, and one Schlafly Special Release AIPA.
Did take the kids out for ice cream for desert and had a kiddie size for myself. Hey, I get 20%.....

Kids and I were up late night before so we slept in and had a lazy morning. Ended up hooking up the trailer to the trail-a-bike to the cyclocross bike and rode the 4 or 5 miles to the Science Center to see a planetarium show. Had a good time running around there.

Ended up staying up way too late typing my journal intro. Ha!

[VeloCity.X]

Holiday for kids and I so we slept in again.

Breakfast - 1 piece bacon, 3 eggs cooked in bacon fat w/ a little butter thrown in for good measure. Few pieces of cantelope.
Lunch/Dinner - Party at my parent's house and not the most primal. Did the best I could. Couple burger patties, 1 brat w/ lots of saurkraut. Some broccoli/cauliflower salad and a mixed green salad, I'm sure w/ unhealthy dressings loaded with sugar and vegetable oil. Mixed fruit salad and some delicious peaches a friend brought back from Colorado. Thought I did pretty good skipping the buns, potato salad, baked beans, 3 bean salad, pasta salad.... Did have a hand full of tortilla chips and a small piece of gooey butter cake for dessert. (It's a St. Louis thing...)

Didn't do any of the bike races this weekend, but did run down to pick up the key from the kid that I was providing host housing to for a couple of nights. Man that course lights the competative spirit... I really want to do that race. We'll see how next season goes.

Body weight work-out while the kids watched TV. 5 rounds of:
5 to 7 decent (not perfect form) pull-ups
20 mountain-climbers
40 alternating crunches and twist/bicycle crunches
30 push-ups
20 lunges
40 second side plank on each side

Time for a few pages of Good Calories/Bad Calories, then bed.

[VeloCity.X]

First day back to school for the kids and we were running a little late, so I didn't get to walk them. Their mother was dropping stuff off and ended up driving them so they wouldn't miss the bell.

But, I still got to ride to work. Right at 5 miles from the new place, and cool enough this morning I just did it in work clothes and ended with cold ears.

B - 2 eggs scrambled in butter and bacon fat, bit of white potato and onion sauteed in bacon fat. Probably 1.5 cups of grapes.
L - 1 sirloin skewer, 1 chicken leg, some of the left over peas with butter, and fire grilled onions and bell peppers. Mixed green salad.
D - Made spaghetti and meatballs for kids, had sauce and meatballs on mixed green salad. Did have 3 or 4 forkfulls of the spaghetti. First time for any pasta in 3 months.

Snacks - Unshelled sunflower seeds nibbled through the day. Are these a problem? Have them most days. Probably about a cup unshelled.

Cheats - Ok, beyond the few forks of spaghetti, I did have 4 peanut and 6 plain M & M's. Think the little bit of dessert I had at the party yesterday ramped my sweet tooth up again.

Exercise - 10 mile commute counts as move slowly, though I did push the way home a bit to make sure I got to school before after-care shut down. Also taught a 40 minute Spinning class. Couple climbs, muscle tension work, Tabata sprints. Didn't feel like I was working that hard, though....

Random musings - Really glad to see the question about jogging on Monday's Daily Apple. In my brief experience here I've seen a lot against CV type workouts. I think a lot of that can be really individual. I know I can certianly ride, and even could race, within the bounds of 'move slow'. Significant amount of time at sub-maximal conversational pace. Of couse when the intensity ramps up......

I think Mark said it directly, and I know I've heard similar things said when comparing pro races to recreational riders that the biggest difference is the pros' easy rides are much easier and their hard rides are much much harder. Intensity and recovery.

Last thing.... Do I want to be Al Kavadlo or Erwan Le Corre? Two of the biggest studs around and my inspiration.

[VeloCity.X]

Strange coincidence that today's Daily Apple would be on reflux/GERD. Last nigth I made spaghetti and meatballs with red sauce for the kids. Ended up eating a lot of the red sauce and meatballs (only on mixed greens, not pasta. Surprisingly good, actually.) Normally red sauce would upset my stomach all night, but no issues at all. I still take my daily Prilosec, but certain foods still can cause problems. Even during these 12 weeks of primal I'd have occasional issues. Wonder if it's an issue of finally clearing out all the wheat based inflamation? Think I need to read that post a bit closer and follow a few links....

On to today... Close to the same as yesterday.
B - Scrambled eggs with a bit of onion and Yukon Gold potato sauteed in bacon fat. Banana. Cup or cup and a half of grapes.
L - More left over sirloin kebob, chicken leg, few peas with butter and bell pepper/onion in bacon fat.
Snack of maybe a cup unshelled sunflower seeds throughout the day.
D - Deluxe sashimi from some sushi joint I'd never been to. Did add one piece of Unagi (eel) and had the miso soup. Ate maybe 1/2 of the rice.
Late snack of an apple. Really hungry this evening.

Couldn't ride to work today due to my counseling app't right after work. Oh so many issues with my beloved smother. I mean mother!!

Taught a spin class today. 40 min. Well varied, but not overly intense.

Started packing for MS150 this weekend.

Guess that's about it....

[VeloCity.X]

So exhausted. Adrenal fatigue? Is this even a real thing? I know I've certainly had enough stress over the last couple years......

Intermittant Fast day. So no food to report. Couple little bouts of hunger pangs around lunch time and later in evening, but other than that, no problems. And exhaustion/overwhelmed/depressed and all of that has definitely not be brought on by today's IF. Been going on for a while.

But I did the IF today because I was noticing that my 'little cheats' were becoming more and more often. Thought this might be a good way to get over that little hump.

Rode to work today. Cool enough both ways that I just wore my work clothes. Felt good on ride.
Walking around project site all afternoon reviewing punch lists. Should probably stop carrying my bag all the time. Back got a bit tired. Along with the rest of me.
Open house w/ E's teacher. She's just the best kid.
Then cleaning house for tomorrow and getting stuff together for the MS Ride this weekend. Put off signing up for it for so long 'cause I didn't want to ride in the rain for 4 hours each day. But now it looks like there is a good chance I will be. Stupid Hurricane Lee. Who gets weather moving in from the east? Sheesh. Where are we, the southern hemisphere?

[VeloCity.X]

Let's see... Last update was Thursday night. Now Monday morning.

Broke my fast Friday morning, so it ended up being around 36 hours. Felt great, actually. Was not famished by the time I finally had breakfast at work. For food I was cleaning some of the last left-overs.

B - Scrambled eggs with a bit of onion and Yukon Gold potato sauteed in bacon fat. 2 Bananas. 1 plum
L - More left over sirloin kebob, chicken leg, few peas with butter and bell pepper/onion in bacon fat.
Snack - Another 2 scrambled eggs with the onion/potatoes.
D - 2 cheese-filled deep-friend mushroom caps, 8 oz sirloin medium-rare, baked potato with plenty of butter and 3 or 4 asparagus spears. Seriously? 3 or 4 spears is the full vegetable service? I was really disappointed to see so few.

Rode to work in the rain. Clothes were wet for most of the day.
Taught my 40 min Spinning class. Kept it pretty light but kept the cadence high.
Left work a bit early to head to Columbia for the Bike MS (aka MS150), drove in a lot of traffic and rain.
A product rep was taking care of the team dinner that night at Houlihan's. I don't eat in chains that much but they have really changed their image. Much more upscale. Used to be a TGIFriday's/Ruby Tuesday's/Applebee's/Chotchkie's clone. Was really funny seeing everyone ordering the pasta dishes to 'carb up' while I'm having my steak. I would have been right there with them a few months ago.

So the ride was interesting, and kind of an experiment. First real long and hard ride I've done Primal. Other longests had been 3 to 4 hours solo, but not group ride intensity. I did have the baked potato for dinner, and lacking a lot of Primal breakfast options (mass-produced pancakes with HFC syrup? No thank you!) I ended up having a couple of turkey sausage links and a lot of fruit. During the ride itself rest-stop food for me was apple and banana slices. At one stop I had a couple little dixie cups of a trail mix with peanuts, almonds, cashews, raisins, and a few M&M's. At lunch I peeled the roast beef and turkey from the sandwiches and more apple slices.

Did the centrury the first day and rode pretty much over my head with guys with many more miles in their legs than me. Held on pretty good though. Felt strong most all the time and was able to take some strong pulls. Could tell I really wasn't in race shape, but still felt good.

The team was providing pizza for dinner that night, which pretty much knocked me out, so I picked up some stuff from the official event dinner. They were having pasta, but I was able to put something decent together with green beans, meet balls with red sauce, the cut up chicken for the alfredo, and a good sized cup of salad. They advertised the dressing as gluten free. Sure it had some nasty oils, but still had a bit. Nectarine for dessert. Did break down and have one small slice of pizza, though.

Felt pretty good the next morning. Actually felt a bit hungry during the night. Again with limited options of cereal, biscuts and gravy, and pancakes, breakfast was a couple of bananas, apple, nectarine, and plum. Bit smaller than yesterday's so I started getting the banana portions and apple slices at the rest stops but would go over to where they were making the PBJ sandwiches and have them put a nice dollop of peanut butter on there. Not the most primal, but just felt I needed something. Lunch was turkey sandwiches peeled from the bread. Left the american cheese slice on, and made a little salad from the shredded lettuce and tomato slices for the sandwiches. After the ride I grabbed a couple of bun-less hamburgers and a hot dog. Not a lot of options, but I needed something.... After I got home I grabbed 3 eggs and 3 slices of lovely lovely local bacon before bed.

Was feeling it a bit the second day. Paying for my irrational exuberance of the day before. I'm sure I could have slogged through the century, but I opted to do the 75 instead. Legs tired, lungs fine. Got in with a big group about 10 miles from the end, but the range of experience ended up scaring me, so I ended up going off the front. 3 or 4 miles left a young kid from that group caught up to me and we worked pretty hard coming in. He took the last pull in, sprinted hard after the last corner. Hadn't expected to have a drag race to the line ('cause it's not a race..), but I got on and came around him. Backed off a bit to keep from crashing in to all the people waiting beyond the line, but think I still had him. Kinda funny. Really strong kid, turned out to be only 14 years old, I think. So a young kid just starting to find his legs and a out of shape 42 year old guy going like it's Champs-Elysees.

[VeloCity.X]

Monday night.
B - Last of the steak skewers with peas, bell peppers, and onion.
L - Left over turkey and pulled pork from the office picnic I skipped. Resisted the chips, potato salad, cupcakes, etc.
D - Grilled up a couple of nice St. Louis style pork steaks and some green beans. Pork steaks nice and clean from one of the local guys at the farmer's marked, as were the green beans. It was all I could do to keep from eating them both though. Ate just a bit of the 2nd and the rest is for tomorrow's lunch. Did eat all the green beans and had a couple of slices of fresh hand pulled mozzarella cheese.

Guess I'm down a few calories from the weekend, 'cause I've been starving all evening.

Rode to and from work, very easy. Knees feeling tired.
Did the circuit training/cross fit class at the Y. Don't know why Dale had to do so many squat/leg exercises today. Guess he's trying to kill me. Even the on your back, exercise ball held in your ankles, and passed back and forth to your hands move was much rougher on my thighs than my abs like it was supposed to be.
Hung a couple of things on the walls. It's a start I suppose.
Going up stairs. Going to read a bit of Good Calories Bad Calories then to bed.

Chicken thighs thawing for tomorrow.

[VeloCity.X]

B - Haven't had time to make much from home so grabbed some of the turkey left over from the company picnic. Had a few grapes as well.
L - Yeah, still not much... The rest of the pork steak and a small-ish salad. Some mixed greens, mostly iceburg lettuce, a bit of mozzarella, bad wedge of tomato, and 1/2 boiled egg.
D - Ate late. 1 small chicken thigh, bit of parm cheese.
Snacks and Cheats - Wei Min's b-day today and I couldn't resist the Oreo ball thing. Sweet, chocolate-y, but really not as decedant as I would have liked. Either I made a poor choice in a cheat or sweets like that just aren't as good as I remember... Also had 2 tortilla chips, 1/2 cup or so of unshelled sunflower seeds, and apple before WOD, and a can of Strongbow Cider afterwards.

Rode to work nice and easy. Cool comfortable temperatures.

Taught a Spinning class and got some good HIIT in. Couple good sprints, some climbing. While fairly high intensity overall I'm sure, I try to vary the intensity, switch from CV to muscular focus, have heart rates go up and down rather than just pegged the whole time.

This evening I went to my first Cross-Fit WOD that the St. Louis Primal Living Meetup group puts on a couple times a week. What a fun time and what an awesome group of people! Got a good workout in, got all nice and sweaty, then hung out afterwards at a near by bar and discussed all sorts of Primal things. Thankfully I brought a dry t-shirt with me.

After the Meetup Hangout I rode to the grocery store. Gotta start switching the kids to better breakfast choices, but it can be hard at their age. Hard enough to get up and out the door in time without trying to cook in the morning too. But if it wasn't for their cereal, nothing in the basket would have been from the center of the store, beside the laundry detergent and the sunflower seeds. Perimeter only!!

Luckily all the groceries fit in the bike bag. Rode home, put stuff away, and made a late dinner plus lunches for the rest of the week. G.rilled chicken thighs with roasted broccoli. Yum.

And now.... bed.

Got the kids for several nights starting tomorrow. Was hoping to get a short evening run in on one or two nights in prep for the Warrior Dash. Guess that will have to wait...

[VeloCity.X]

Gonna try to be quick with this one.

B - Bought 2 scrambled eggs and 2 slices of bacon from the cafe in the building at work. Sure, all industrial farmed stuff, but can't let the perfect be the enemy of the good or whatever that saying is. And she completely filled the container with eggs! Must have been 4 eggs worth in there.
L - Grilled chicken thigh and grilled broccoli. A bit meager...
Snack - 1 apple and maybe 1/3 cup of unshelled sunflower seeds.
D - Ok, fell off the wagon here. Had to pick up the boy from my parents house after hitting Target and Costo. He was watching some old western with my dad (Kris Kristofferson and Bob Dylan??!!??) and I ended up having a couple of the left over chicken enchiladas. Bunch of cheesy sauce and 2 tortillas. Could have been worse, I suppose. Noticed I was just about out of bacon fat so I ended up making some bacon and scrambled eggs for a couple of breakfasts. Had a couple of pieces of bacon, too.... And after I was done I noticed some mold had gathered in my grease jar, so I guess that's the end of that jar... Is that common? Never saw that before.

Had to drive in today due to going shopping and getting kids. Just as well as it rained all day.
Taught my Spinning class today. HIIT. Focused more on high cadence and snap than on real intense efforts.

Bought a couple of size medium polo shirts and undershirts today. Yay!! Larges are just starting to look silly. And I guess I've got to do something about some new pants. Funny. They must have been messing with sizes or something. The older 34's I have - 5/6 years are wearable but snug. (Like I said in the 'share a triumph' thread there's not enough room to tuck in an oversized shirt.) But 36's that I've bought within the last year or two are just falling off me.

I've added a new thing based on a suggestion on the forum somewhere. Will try to keep this going. Every time I walk through my bedroom door I do one good pullup on the door gym. Had it forever and used to use it a good amount before I got married. It was also up most of the time before the boy was born and took that room. Back on my own again it's now in the doorway to my bedroom. One everytime through. Probably close to 20 pullups today spread throughout. Not shabby. Curious to see how that will affect my max.

Next challenge is more sleep. Probably one of my biggest shortcomings in PB. Too much stress, not enough sleep.

Gonna go try to change that right now.