Thursday, December 5, 2013

#TriathlonThursday: True Grit

What's up friends? Hope everyone's post-Thanksgiving diets are going well. Mine recovered nicely in time for a couple holiday parties this weekend.... Dammit....

Today I want to talk about grit. What is grit, you ask? Well, not only was it a movie (I personally prefer the John Wayne original version... Don't get me wrong, I love Jeff Bridges, but if you're going up against The Duke, you're gonna lose) but it is also a quality to look for in anyone who wants to be successful at anything.

The point is, no matter what you do, there is going to come a day when you don't want to do whatever it is you do, for whatever reason. That's when grit comes in.

Grit, in a word, is toughness, resiliency, and will power. It is a willingness to suffer. It is what gets you out of bed in the morning before the sun, and what gets you to the pool, even though its 19 degrees outside. When the wind grows teeth, your grit grows claws and makes you take that first step of your run. And when the sun packs a punch, your grit hits back and gets you home. As a triathlete, grit does many things, but in a nutshell it makes us train hungover, hungry, stressed, tired, before work, after work, before sunrise, after sunset, etc. A talentless, injury-prone athlete can get far on grit alone.

I've recently re-read a book called The Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle, and in it Coyle explores what makes "talent" as we know it. He breaks the book into 52 tips that will help us all create our own "talent." Essentially, Coyle discovers that "talent" has little to do with birth, but it has much more to do with things like attention to detail, and perhaps most importantly, GRIT!

One of my favorite tips from The Little Book of Talent was "Cultivate your Grit!" This chapter (each of which is about 3 pages long) talks about embracing the sucky days and learning how to thrive on them. In short, motivation is for amateurs. If you want to be any good at anything, you need grit, so start practicing it! (Seriously, go to Amazon and order this book. You can read it in an afternoon, and it has some great insights.)

This begs the question though: Is it more important as a triathlete to be gritty on race day, or on a training day? Does grit lift the tape in victory, or pick you up off the track to try another 800m repeat? If you ask me, it takes both. Racing is always going to be gritty, but how can you suddenly be Rooster Cogburn on the last 5k of your run if you haven't been in training for the past month? Just like anything else, grit takes practice.

Whatever it is that you're chasing, it won't always be easy. Its going to be hard sometimes. There will be days when you're tired, or hungry, or hungover, or want to do something else. One way or another, you won't want to do what you have to do. But, ultimately, that is why you have to do it, or someone else will.

So get out there, and be gritty, my friends! Don't stop writing just because you're not feeling "inspired." Don't half-ass at work because you're hungover. Don't ease up on the toughest part of your workout, but rather pin your ears back, bear your teeth and hit it harder than anything else that day. If you practice that, day in and day out, and when the time comes that you really need it, it will be there.

Oh, you're too tired to go to morning practice from staying up late on #TriathlonThursday to read Sam's new release? Well here's a straw so you can SUCK IT UP!! Until Food Blog Friday, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!!

Monday, December 2, 2013

#FBF: After Turkey Day

Well, most of us survived Thanksgiving, although our nutrition plans probably did not... Yes, Black Friday is not only a day for all of us to spend a bunch of money and get in fist fights with other moms over a Nintendo Wii U, but its also the day of regret for eating the caloric equivalent of a third trimester fetus. (Did I just say that?) However, a long weekend from work, time with friends and family and Rachel, and some seriously good food made it all worth while. I had a great weekend myself, and I hope you all did too.

Its OK to eat like crap every once in a while, as long as we don't do it all the time. Thanksgiving is one such occasion, in my opinion! Everything in moderation, including moderation!

Here are some Thanksgiving fun facts for y'all concerning our eating habits as a culture;
1) The average American consumed around 7000 calories on Thanksgiving day. Only about half of this was from the dinner itself, the other half was from dessert, leftovers, and drinks the rest of the day.

2) Thanksgiving day is first on the calendar for caloric intake by Americans. Second place? Not Christmas, not Easter, but SuperBowl Sunday! Wings, beer, and nachos? Why not!

The important thing to remember is that now that Thanksgiving is over, we can all get back to eating like we normally do. Too often, people have the tendency to throw away their goals and eating plans after one day of bingeing. Just like I always tell my clients, one day of bad eating will not make you fat any more than one day of exercising will not make you skinny. Its what we do on a regular basis that defines who we are. So get back on that wagon!

OK, so you got back to the gym, and are feeling a little better about yourself. However, what are you gonna do with all those leftovers?? My personal opinion? Repurpose them, and eat 'em!

Here are my top-5 favorite Thanksgiving leftovers: (Note; not all are "healthy," so you might want to attend an extra hot-yoga class this week)

#5: Cranberry Sauce- How to Repurpose it: Brown an onion and some garlic in a sauce pan with some olive oil, throw in the cranberry sauce, and add a little salt and pepper. Now, you've got some delicious chutney, which is one of my favorite sweet and savory combos! Spread it on toast, meats, or a nice ham sandwich (See #1)

#4: Butternut Squash- How to Repurpose it: Again, brown an onion and some garlic in olive oil, this time in a soup pot. Add the squash, and a can or two of chicken stock. Season with curry powder, salt and pepper, and finish with a touch of cream. Garnish with sunflower seeds and parsley and you've got some curried soup, son!

#3: Pumpkin Pie- How to Repurpose it: Don't bother. Don't even heat it up. Don't even get a plate, just eat that baby like a slice of pizza. You've earned it, that soup was healthy...

#2: Turkey- How to Repurpose it: Cook some veggies of your choice in a stock pot, add garlic and salt and pepper, add the turkey, and a bunch of stock. At this point, you can add rice, noodles, or dumplings, and you've got yourself another variety of healthy soup... Hey! Easy on the pumpkin pie!

#1: Ham- How to Repurpose it: There actually should be no leftover ham, because all of the leftovers should've been consumed in the following manner over several varieties of beer and wine on Thanksgiving night. Grab a roll, slice it open, maybe put a little cheese on it, and put on a couple chunks of ham. A lot of people like to get fancy here and go and add some mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing, but I am a purist. Maybe its the fresh dinner roll, maybe its the big chunks of real ham as opposed to thin slices of hydrolyzed pork protein and MSG, but this is one of my all time favorite sandwiches... or maybe its the beer?

Well, I hope this helped with your post-Thanksgiving blues! Hey, at least it wasn't as stressful as Christmas will be! (three weeks, people!) But then again nobody got any presents either. Until next time, FOLLOW THE PACE RABBIT!