I’m back – as my post-boot-camp workout pic here shows you.
So… how’s it going? Been a while, hasn’t it? Yeah, other than my race reports (Tough Mudder, Indian Mud Run, and Mud Ninja), I’ve been scarce this year. Well, here’s what’s going on with me since our last real post.
Frankly, I’ve been a bit depressed and down about things. I’d started earlier this year on my 100-day Gong of running at least a mile a day, as you may or may not remember, and that was quite a bit after I’d gotten into the Wim Hof cold/breathing stuff. Well… the running ended in an injury when I stepped on a nail. It sucked and it got me down for quite a while. Tough Mudder helped to bring me back up, but the depression wasn’t going away. Indian Mud Run was similar – great race, lots of fun, but the feeling didn’t last.
So I backed up and looked at what it was that had really gotten me going way back in 2008 when I truly started on this path of reclaiming my health and fitness and realized that I had strayed way off the reservation as it comes to my diet and practices therein. As many of you know, I started on the Primal Blueprint plan for diet back then and it really revolutionized the way I look at all this stuff. But it wasn’t only that… I discovered that I just overall feel better when I do a low-carb, high-fat plan and stay away from the carbs. So, even though I was avoiding the gluten-containing grains, legumes, soy, and seed-based industrial oils (and still looked pretty healthy compared to most folks), I was getting myself down with too much of the up-and-down sugar rush stuff. And yes, even the white rice and potatoes that I was allowing myself (and are considered “safe” carb sources by many in the ancestral health community) were causing me to have some neurological issues – depression and such. I laid off the cold showers, allowed myself snacks like “healthy” chips (like avocado oil and olive oil potato chips and such), too much ice cream, and more. It wasn’t good.
I’ve talked a ton about how you need to figure out what the best way for you to eat is, and then ignored it myself for convenience and such.
So the past couple weeks, I’ve been getting back on the wagon. I’ve been doing the diet again VERY strictly, and started a regular supplement regimen. I’ve incorporated a lot of regular movement practices into my life (which I’ll talk about more in coming posts). I’ve worked hard to make myself sleep better (and it’s been helping). I joined a three-times-a-week boot camp class at the YMCA and gotten some community into my life. And I’ve been working on my mindfulness and self-awareness to make sure that I’m taking care of myself as properly as I should be.
This “reboot” of my life is something that I’ll be talking about a lot in the coming weeks. And yes, I’ll probably falter here and there, but my goal is to make sure that I notice it and correct it before it becomes chronic again like it did the past few months.
But let me say this: I knew I could bring myself out of it because I had done it before. And remembering just how awesome it feels to really be healthy both mentally and physically (and hell, emotionally and spiritually, too) is a great boost.
So, I’m back. We’ll be attacking these issues a little bit at a time over the next few weeks and also talking about my goals coming up over the next few months. Tough Mudder Kentucky 2018 in June is my next race right now, and I’m going to be more than ready for it.
