A swim and some sailing

Racing the Tri-State this weekend. This is my favorite race of the season (yes, even the Mac falls short for me.)

Tonight it looks good, albiet slow, crossing the lake. Should be in the 70s, we have a great crew, so all is well.

I am heading down to the boat early to scrub the bottom and get some work done on the boat (rig tuning, etc...) but if I get it all done fast, I can go for a little run... gotta keep trying the knee.

Maybe I can squeeze in a harbor swim... a quick 500 yards or so just for fun.

A bad day on the water beats a great day just about anyplace else...

Off to the races!

Scott

The knee thing

So a friend of mine in medical school checked out my knee on Wednesday.

Apparently, a fairly common 'non-injury' is besically one side of your thigh being stronger than the other, cause a-symetrical loads on your kneecap. The result of this is usually what I have been getting during the run portion of the Triathlon, but not really at any other time...

So no pain normally, no clicking in my knee, or locking of the kneecap, etc, just a bit of pain when it loads up (like when I go down a flight of stairs.)

The solution is simple... strengthen the inner thighs!

I did a quickie 1.3 mile run on Wednesday, and I hope to have another run or decent bike or two soon to see how my leg feels.

Either way, as back-up, I am going to see a friend of the family who is an orthopedic surgeon. He used to be the Ortho for the White Sox, he did Bo Jackson's hip replacement surgery... he has his act together. He'll give me a scan on Sep 7th, and we'll see if I have something damaged in there.

Sailing this weekend, so short posts again. Here comes the Tri-State! (something else that is tri-!!)

Cheers!

Scott

Short bike work....

Had a great short ride today; Thomas on the back, and out for Ice Cream!

I'm trying to pay more attention to my pedaling, mainly, I am trying to pedal the entire 'circle' of the pedal stroke.

Why just press down, when you can use all the muscles in your leg to make a circle (push the pedal down, pull it back through the bottom of the ark, pull it up through the back of the circle, and slide it over the top to complete the circle.

More things to work on, obviously.

At least I really have no lingering soreness from the tri, so I think that means I did not put enough into it... guess I'll have to do another one, soon... ;)

Scott

What to do next...

So, what to do next;

I would like to think of maybe a 1/2 Ironman. Any suggestions? I looked at pricing if I wanted to do a trip somewhere, and the bike shipping is ridiculous.

I would like to do more 5K runs, considering I really don't do any. This is my big event of the year... lol.

I slept for 13 hours yesterday... I guess it was a good workout!

Cheers!

More to come.... stay tuned!

Scott

After the Tri...

Wow, that was a good day!

It started nice and early; Had to be in the Transition Area, bike racked and out the door by 0545, so with an 0900 start, had a little time to kill.

So after getting my bike set up, I went to watch the Triples start (They did the Super Sprint Tri on Saturday, then were doing the Sprint Tri and then the Olympic Tri... so 3 triathlons in 2 days.)... They would start their Olympic with my swim wave.

After 3 or 4 starts went by, I continued my wandering, went over to Maskwa, slept a bit, did a quick run, then swam a little bit in the harbor. I was feeling pretty good.

Made it back with plenty of time to spare for my start; Got in the water for the start, and then off we went!

Swimming, even in a pack, is always solitary. I think I seeded myself in the water a bit too far back; it took a long time to get going properly... and it seemed that every time I went to pass someone on the first leg I was getting a foot to the face... so, I just took things steadily and swam my own race.

Swim time: 38:33. (I was shooting for 38... I think I could have done it in 36 or so...)

Biking... I was not as strong as I thought on biking this year. I had had good practice bikes, good leg training, but I think I need to kick it up a notch for next year. The winds on leg 2 kind of knocked me out, and I should have been able to handle them...

Bike time: 1:35:33. (I was shooting for 1:20... I think 1:25 would have been realistic.)

Running... well... About mile #3 my knee started acting up, so I almost walked from mile #3 to #4. After that, I was running till my knee hurt, and then walking until it went away. Unfortunately, my knee kept hurting, so I had to keep walking more and more.

Run time 1:19:30. (I was shooting for an even hour... no such luck.)

I think if I had made my planned times, I would have been a bit below dead center in my age group, which I think would have been awesome.

I loved the race; at no time (unlike last year) did I think WTH am I doing out here? lol.... Well, I did question myself during the run, but I never felt winded, I just felt like my knee was letting the team down... That's ok, though... it will get better.

Had a great day, all in all... finished... now on to the next one!

Why haven't YOU??

1,640.42 Yards.

24.85 Miles.

6.21 Miles.

That's a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike, and a 10K run. Back to back to back.

This is what a triathlon is. International/Olympic Length. The Chicago Triathlon.

It is roughly 1/4 of the biggie race, the Ironman.

Bags are packed, bike is next to the car, bike rack is on the car. Helmet on the pax car seat. Wetsuit is on Maskwa, gear bag is ready to be set up just so.

Last year, I did my first triathlon more as a lark than anything else. If you knew me 5 years ago at this time, all you would be is amazed that I had recovered from almost dying.

Mile after mile in the pool... Mile after mile (x10) on the bike. Miles on foot.

This year, I am doing the triathlon because I am hungry for it. Because I have a bike that makes me want to look up the distances again for a 1/2 Ironman (56 miles... I can see that happening...no problem now.) Because I have changed my running technique such that when I went for a casual run 2 days ago, I was 4.5 miles into it before I thought about going from jog to walk. Because I love to swim.

How long is that 1/2 again??

So, what is holding you back from doing something just because you want to challenge yourself?

I used to hate to run. I always tried to like it, but it would snub me over and over.

Now I love running... I loved running in the 110F heat in Arkansas... I love feeling mile after mile slide under my feet in a steady rhythm at 180bpm (run barefoot cadence, so ingrained now that I do it even with those 'foot coffins' on)... although I prefer to run in sandals. Barefoot is for the treadmill.

So, what is holding you back?

I stole this picture from a friend of mine, Kim. Her daughter did the kids Tri today that is part of Chicago Triathlon weekend. It is a picture of a 10 year old with 1 leg... completing the kids triathlon. She also saw a blind 8-year old cross the finish line. Last year, I saw a blind swimmer being helped out of the water at transition and pointed in the right direction with his swim partner for the next leg.

If I were in that situation, I don't know if I would have the balls to do that. Blind swim a mile... yeah, sure, let me get right on that.

What is stopping you from at least trying? Take a little chance. What is it that you really want to do?

As I said in a previous post, how much do you really want it? How far are you willing to go to go get it? Not everything takes great sacrifices... Maybe you are a natural at what you would really like to do, but because you have been held back, or you have held yourself back (we are our own worst enemies,) you just have not had the time, or the ability, or the wherewithall to try.

Are you worried people will laugh at you? I'm still waiting for people to laugh at me... Not athletic rock hard like most of the competitors... After the race last year (which I DNF, because I had a massive tendonitis flare-up in my right knee at the start of the run. I ran almost 2 miles on it... Just was not to be.) So after the race, I was working my way through looking for my family, when one of the women who had just finished had overheard my story to the race official on why I didn't want to take the "finishers" medal. The official still pushed it on me, and the girl who was right there thought it was an honorable thing to try to give it back. Then, she gave me a hug, told me it was her 10th tri, but she remembered her first, too, and that she couldn't complete that one, and I'd come out and kick ass next (this) year.

But she didn't laugh at me, and she encouraged me to do better and come back and just do it.

Here is my wave #; wave 43, inked on my right calf. I start at 09:06AM. I am inked the same as the pros will have their calfs done, the same as everyone will be. I have it because I am doing the Chicago Triathlon... that makes me a triathlete. I've never even been an athlete before, not really.

So, what is stopping you?

confounded by technology and behind the 8 ball all day.

So, I managed to leave my laptop cable at home, burned the battery out, and then made it home at midnight, so technology got in my way.

Just a personal note------

The other day we were taxiing out, had a long route to the runway, but because of the gate we were on, I had to have both engines started to turn out of the gate...

It was almost 10pm, the weather was good, so there was no need to shut an engine down to conserve fuel (can be a big deal with some long taxi routes) not to mention that the start cycle basically costs money, too.... everything costs money.

So we were told to follow a Skywest who was following 'company' (another of my airline.)

I don't know (but I am pretty sure) why this captain was taxing so slow, but for all you pilots out there, listen up.

Taxiing like a douchebag to 'punish' the company is unprofessional, pisses off our passengers (who, btw, pay our salaries... piss off enough of them, and they will stop coming back,) and aggravates your coworkers. It is a waste of money (both engines running, etc...) time, and energy.

This flight took off 2 ahead of us, and we managed to pass them by Detroit. For those of you who are not in aviation, passing the same aircraft (make, model) in the air is almost impossible because we all fly at the same speeds (unless the pilot is an asshole and is sandbagging the company) We landed 6 minutes late in Rochester, NY, because of this jerk, but his flight landed almost 20 minutes late.

Way to go, asshole, you annoyed a planeload of people, you cost the company money, and you delayed the 7 flights that got stacked up behind you on your protest taxi.

I was too pissed off last night to write this, because I was ready to name names. I know who you are, though...

Scott

After midnight

So I get in after midnight in Rochester, NY... and I don't have my charging cable for my laptop (whoops!) so I missed my post yesterday... crap.

A resolution for a year, that lasted exactly 6 days.... lol.

Things have been really busy lately with the run-up to the triathlon and my father-in-law being in town. It's great to have him visiting... Thomas loves his time with Opa, we were able to get in a fantastic round of golf, and it is always fun just sitting around and talking with him. Nicole, of course, appreciates the time with her father, too... Great visit no matter how you slice it.

Yesterday I did something silly.... I went down to the lake to get in a swim and a bike. I jumped in off of Maskwa with my wetsuit, swam down to the firehouse and back (.3 miles, or about a third of what I will do Sunday,) did a quick change, and hopped on the bike.

My goal for the bike ride was to hit the south end of the Lakeshore trail. They finally tied all the lakefront paths together, but the south end is considerably less travelled. Here is the South Shore Lakefront Trailhead, at 7100 South and Lake Shore Drive.

I pedaled out of the BPYC parking lot, and started tryign to figure out why my legs were so fatigued. I had just done a swim, but really, you barely move your legs when you swim. In fact, on a triathlon, it is usually the opposite problem, that you have no oxygen enriched blood flowing to your legs when you get out of the water; that is a problem. Most trainers tell you to take fast tiny steps when you first get out fo the water to maximize blood flow to your legs and get them ready for the longest part of a triathlon, the bike (which is obviously, all leg work... then again, so is the run...  :P  )

So a mile into my ride, I was just flummoxed. What the heck was going on?

Finally, I got off my bike and checked; I had bumped the brake caliper when I was getting the bike onto the rack on my car, and I had been basically pedaling with the rear brakes on. No wonder 11 mph was a challenge! Getting passed by a rollerblader was the killer, though.

So I grabbed my bike tool, did a little work (on both calipers... no sense repeating the goof,) and shazaam, I was back in business, ticking off the miles at a steady 18 mph.

Sigh... sometimes, we are our own enemies... lol..

Cheers!

Scott

Golf

I got to take my father-in-law out golfing today, so I did a little advance planning and took him to Cog Hill.

Cog Hill's famous Dubsdread course is where the Western Open was played from 1991-2006, and where the BMW Open will be played this year (and was played for 5 of the past 6 years,) Most important course, etc.. etc... etc...

It is one of the only places where the pros play that is open to the public.

Well, that is Course #4 of the 4 courses (18 holes each,) but we played course #3, which is famous for water and lovely greens.

My dad was a big golfer. Most of you have never met my dad (he died in 1995, complications due to smoking... cancer of pretty much everything, etc...) He loved golfing. Somehow I got the bug from him, and some of the best days we had were golfing together when I was in 8th grade through high school.

I guess it helped that I was a pretty good golfer. I tried out for the Freshman Golf Team at Marist High School, made the team, and got bored practicing putting on our first practice meet, so quit the team (although I found out later the coach really wanted me on varsity, since I was hitting so well at the ripe old age of 13.) Practice was boring. (This is the difference between professionals and amateurs... the professional continues going even though he is bored as crap... It is a mindset, not just because you are making $$ at something.) I hated practice.

I got a job caddying at Ridge Country Club, for the princely sum of $6.50/round. A round could take a good 4 hours when play was slow. Nothing like that $1 tip, too.. thanks, Mr Successful Business Man for the wad of ca$h!

Actually, that is just sarcasm coming out. Most of the guys (and gals!) would hire out the caddies and we learned a ton on the course. We would show up at 0530, get slotted for a spot on the roster, and then play foozball until we were called out (This is where I first started playing fooz regularly, it is a very common table in the caddyshack.)

I was a "B" caddy, #330 (amazing some things you remember. Of course, I answered to "330, up!" probably 200 times that first summer.) We would do a fast round with the early birds, and then usually follow that up with another round with the noon crowd (on weekdays, business peeps skipping out at lunch for a sandwich which turned into a 3+ hour round of golf.)

My dad was a member at the club, too, so after 2 sweaty rounds of humping bags around the grass I would take a break and go jump in the pool. After 5PM, children of the members could play a round for free, so I would usually grab a "Caddy Bag" (Driver, 3-5-7-9 Irons, Putter) and go play a round on my own or with one of the Cunninghams or Ed Hayes.

So three rounds of golf... on a slow day... with a swim break in the middle. Do that for a full summer, and you'll be a relatively wealthy little 13 year old who knows his way around a golf course.

My second year caddying, I was promoted to "A" Caddy, and answered to #161. I caddied an early tournament for Don Birmingham, and he won. The following week, he requested me, and he won... a big 2 day tourney... again. He gave his lucky caddy a $100 tip (woohoo!), and I was promoted to Honors Caddy #60. (Honors went from 1-60, A from 61-180, and B from 181+, if I remember right.) If you were promoted to Honors, someone else was demoted to A, usually pushing a slackard to B. Honors Caddy was a big deal. It was based on reports from the members, being requested, etc... etc... They used to actually keep track of all these things.

Realize, this was back in 1981-1984. Nobody who was a decent golfer at a country club used a cart. You always walked. It is a walking sport. Although, for the guys who used carts, you got a caddy for 2 golfers, so you would wash golf balls, clean clubs, and 'fore'-caddy. This was running ahead of the golfers as they went to the next tee, so you could be downrange and spot their shots when they landed in the rough, etc. You could also measure off distances (to this day I can take a pretty regular 1-yard stride) to the pin, and if there was a big back-up at the tee you could even wrangle a nap.

This is stream-of-consciousness, so I'll add something else. I noticed that old habits die hard. Today, I was judging golfers around us by how they positioned themselves around the greens, on the tee, etc. For instance, on the tee, you always stood at least 2 or 3 lengths in front of the golfer hitting the ball. (not in the direction the ball travels, but directly in front of their body, if they stood up straight and looked forward.) You can sense someone within a few bodylengths behind you, and that would cause a player to jerk his swing. You also froze from the moment the golfer finished practice swings til the ball was gone and away. Little motions are caught by the eye, and cause the swinging golfer to flinch. On the greens, you don't step in the path that a golfer's ball will most likely take, you don't let your shadow cross it, and you also stop moving when a golfer is ready to putt. Little things, but I could tell people who had certainly never been a caddy!!

Caddy Golf... It was a great thing. We would just take a pocketfull of golfballs and a 2-iron and maybe a 7 iron, and play the entire course. You can putt with a 2-iron, and if you flare out your grip, opening the club face, a 7 makes a passable pitching wedge. Gives you all kinds of control. My long iron game is still the best part of my playing. Today I was taking shots with a 2- and 3- iron that my father-in-law was taking with a 5-wood (which are not wood, anymore.)

Which is something that I want to complain about. I always played with wood "woods." Today, they are made of metal, have humongous clubheads, and all go "Ping!" when you hit your shot. OMG, I hate that sound! There are very few things like the sound of a true wood clubface connecting with a golf ball. All those metallic pings flying around the course made me think of college baseball, and that horrible aluminum bat sound. Ugh... I guess they are so much better, but still... yuck.

Where was I....

So my dad loved to golf. The way they 'handicap' a course, is they take the 18 holes, and they are rated toughest to easiest. So, the hardest hole on a course (not necessarily the longest, but usually one of the longer holes) will have a rating of "1." That means that if you are a "1" handicap, that is the only hole you get a stroke on. That continues down to 18, the 'easiest' hole on the course.

My dad was a 24-26 handicap. That means that on a par 72 course (pretty standard,) he could shoot up to a 98 and basically be 'even' with the golf course. The hardest hole at Ridge Country Club was #4. #1 was a straight par 4 away from the clubhouse, #2 was a little chipper of a par 3, Hole #3 came westbound along 103rd Street down the hill, and hole #4 was southbound along the railroad tracks on Sacramento Ave. (this is all from memory... I knew this course like the back of my hand at 13 years old.) My dad had never made par on Hole #4. He was just not a consistent enough player. It was a long par 4, and the train track on the right meant that if you were right handed and prone to 'slicing,' you were 'out of bounds' 7 times out of 10 (smart caddies always went down the left side of the fairways, since you were less likely to get smacked by a golfball. Righties rarely 'pulled,' or went to the left, since there are so many ways to 'slice' a golfball to the right (not turning your hands, open the clubface, lift your head, etc...)

On my best days, I could play to about a 4 handicap (FYI, this was at 15, on the golf course every day. You can get into a Pro-Am with a Handicap like that. God, I hated putting practice, though!) I did get semi-officially rated by the Club Pro, and he gave me that "4." Got me respect from the other caddies (we knew how each other golfed... at least one went on to a Chick Evans Scholarship, which was cool) but made me give up entirely. I was terrified of success, I think. More than likely, being honest about it, I was just lazy. Why do all that putting???

We were in the Father-Son tournament that summer (my best golfing summer,) and we were on hole #4. We were actually shooting par together at that point (It was best ball off the first tee, then alternate shots, with the putter getting the drive on the next tee.) My dad hit a little squirrel chaser that wandered up to barely reach the fairway, but was in the rough on the left. He wanted me to take the 2-iron, but I used a new wood called a "Ginty," which was a wood with a little metal flange at the bottom, so you could use it in the rough.

I smashed the ball... I absolutely crushed it. I popped the ball right up on the runup to the green, giving my dad a little chip shot for pin placement (although the pin was close to his side of the green)

He skulled the shot, hitting it off the toe of his club, sending it flying past the hole, giving me a good 20 foot putt for par.

Ok, if you are not a golfer, you have to realize, that only the pros regularly make shots longer than 6 feet. That is the dreaded 6 foot putt. It is just short enough that you know it should go in, but long enough that there is a LOT of grass between you and the cup. That is why shot placement is so important coming up to the green... shorter putts leave less room for error.

So my dad was really apologetic, but was just happy that we were on the green in 3. Many many times I had caddied for him and had to dig golfballs away from the fence on the right, by the train tracks, etc...

So he said to just get the ball close enough so that he had an easy putt, and we'd be 1 over par, and on to the next damn hole.

I sank it. I dropped it in like it had a little magnet and it just drew the ball right in. I am pretty sure you could hear my dad whooping and hollarin' across most of Chicago (Useless trivia-- highest point in Chicago above Sea Level is at 103rd Street and California, the NE corner of Ridge Country Club.)

We took second place in the tournament (to one of the Cunninghams, I am sure... Bobby, I think.) and my dad just ate it up. It was wonderful.

Some of the best times I had with my dad were on the golf course. Probably one of the reasons why I love a good round of golf (even though I almost never go...) is the memories of my dad being so proud of the way that I played, and having that time with him.. just us.

So I am not nearly that good anymore. I put down my clubs while I was still in high school (summer of 1985 was my last year as a caddy)(so long lucrative golf career, hello penury!.. kidding...) and I can name the times I played golf after that.

Rich's bachelor party (probably 1991)
Jason's bachelor party (in Jamaica, in 1996)
with Nicole's Uncle Klaus, in Germany (2006)
with my father-in-law in Germany (2008)
"" in Chicago (2011)
This morning.

So I am picking up the pace again!

Cheers!

Scott

Food and Freedom

Hi there!

I am sure there will be a way to make this end up in a larger post, but for right now, I just need to burn off a little steam.

I had another conversation with a friend of mine (who is quite learned,) about raw milk. Basically, it came down to this-- "It's poison."

Really.

I mean, honestly, it's poison. How so? People die from it all the time. Again, really?

So... I did a little digging...

Here are the food stats for food related deaths for all reasons, compiled from a number of sources: The CDC, FoodNet (run by the CDC,) MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,) DBMD (Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases,) etc...

*all numbers are estimated, or averaged yearly between 1995-2010

Salmonella - 1,000/year
Campylobacter - 500/year
Cholera - 1/year
Shigellosis - 10/year
Rotavirus - 20-100/year
Non-ulcer dyspepsia - 49 in the 1980s (later stats are hard to find, basically on the level
of cholera in the Western World)
Food poisoning - about 5,000/year
Listeriosis - 500/annually

I'm skipping over the people who get sick from food poisoning, or any of the above diseases, but the CDC website says 1 in 6 Americans, or about 55 million people... every stinking year... get sick from something food-borne.

So look at those numbers for the dead.

Raw milk has contributed 0 deaths since 1980.

ZERO (in bold, for the hard of hearing.)

Most deaths from food are from:

Spinach
Cantaloupe
Undercooked/Raw Poultry
Undercooked/Raw Meat
Raw Vegetables/Fruit

Hm. But no raw milk. Surprise, surprise.

However, all over the CDC website, they have warnings about raw milk, and that it should be pasteurized, no matter what. Even though they cannot back that claim up...

So here is where it all comes together for me.....

I get my raw milk from the Boge family (of Golden Guernsey of Illinois.) They have lovely Guernsey cows that produce just the most amazing milk. Higher fat content, the works. And the spring milk just tastes divine... oh, my oh my... lol. Thomas even knows that it is REAL milk. He loves it (we both have a glass a day, and so far with my triathlon training, I get the best recovery when I have a glass about 30-60 minutes after the hardest workouts.)

However, Illinois law say that raw milk producers cannot advertise, and purchases of their 'product' must use their own containers.

Needless to say, you cannot purchase it in stores (from what I recollect, only 3 states allow that... California being one of them. Go Cali!!)

They are not trying to stop the purchase of sushi... or produce... or Burger King (anyone remember the salmonella outbreak at the BK on 79th street in the 1980s?)

20 states had a recall on cantaloupe after an outbreak of salmonella that hospitalized 140+ people and killed 2 (the headlines all say that over 30 died, but the stats don't back that up.) The cantaloupe were grown in Indiana, and the produce was shipped across the country.

A year ago, it was lettuce. About the same numbers....

Green onions have also been linked, as well as tainted meat, tomatoes, and peanuts.

Every year, all these foods are linked to salmonella, however only raw milk is on the list to get banned if the CDC gets their way.

In Kentucky and Rhode Island, you cannot purchase raw milk under any circumstances except for raw goat milk, and that only with a prescription for it by a licensed physician.

So, as an adult, I cannot enter into a contract, written or verbal, with someone whom I know, to buy raw milk from them under any circumstances.

More to come......

Chicago Triathlon!

This Sunday, August 23rd, I am doing my 2nd Triathlon.

I'll be doing the Olympic/International length race, which is----

a 1.5K swim (.93 miles, or 1740 yards.) followed by
a 40K bike (26.8 miles) followed by
a 10K run (6.2 miles.)

Unlike last year, I have not had any training problems slowing me down. I am really ready for this, and I am looking forward to it. I am not looking forward to getting up at 0330 to get my gear down there, but I am looking forward to the race.

I am much better prepared than last year, and I have better equipment, too. I have a triathlon wetsuit, and a nice new road bike to zip around the course on. I also changed my running style... I am jsut so much more comfortable now.

I think they have pretty much given up on the tracking attempts for the race, but I know the results will be up as we transition from course to course. My bib# is 6329, I start at 09:06AM. I should be done with the swim about 09:45. I am hoping to be done with the bike by about 11:20, which means I should finish the run straight up at noon. IF you want to try, you can see my results pop up on the results page here.

Wish me luck Sunday morning!!

Off to bed, so I can get up and knock out a little bit of training tomorrow morning....

Cheers!

Scott

Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity

This is an interesting post by Melissa at HuntGatherLove on a new study.

A really well controlled study (as well as it can be controlled) on non-celiac wheat sensitivity. The study starts with people who have already been segregated from the general population by a number of categories, so they have already been tested for and scored as far as--- IBS-like symptoms; both of the common tests for celiac; negative biopsy from an intestinal test; negative skin prick tests for wheat sensitivity; 4 weeks of gluten free diet, with (as far as I can tell) all food supplied for the time period.

Let's face it, as far as food testing goes, this is as good as it gets!

So the results were interesting, and Melissa has a much better take down than I can give, but from what it looks like, even with all those markers for celiac testing coming up negative, you can still have an intestinal reaction to wheat or gluten.

This, is what they call in science, a big deal.

Think of that... you can come up totally non-responsive to medical test after medical test (the common celiac tests, the anti-tTG and the EmA tests are considered the "gold standard" of celiac tests. Most doctors do not go further than that (from what I have read... I don't 'know' most doctors.)

Wheat can be a much bigger problem for many more people than we thought. The fact that our major food companies put it in damn near everything might help explain some of the health issues we are facing. 

So, even if you don't have celiac disease, wheat can cause you problems.

Here is some more reading on this, courtesy of Stephan Guyenet.

I like his section where he lists his takes on the study, so I will quote them here:

Wheat gluten can cause symptoms in susceptible people who do not have celiac disease.

A lack of circulating antibodies against gluten does not necessarily indicate a lack of gluten sensitivity.

People with mysterious digestive problems may want to try avoiding gluten for a while to see if it improves their symptoms**.

People with mysterious fatigue may want to try avoiding gluten.

The second point is a great one--- Just because you don't have a classical celiac reaction to gluten (your body releases antibodies, since it sees it as an intruder,) that does not necessarily indicate a lack of sensitivity.

I would do a variation of Robb Wolf's 30 day Paleo Solution. Just simply cut wheat and gluten from your diet for 2 weeks, and see how you fare. Reportedly, most people actually notice differences almost immediately, from reduced gas pains after eating to losing their GERD completely.

Cheers!

Scott

Sleep

I'll find a way to footnote this later, but first... sleep....

There is something about sleep. We don't get nearly enough of it. We need it to survive, and they have fairly well documented results of good studies where they completely mess with people's sleep rhythms, and all kinds of bad stuff happens to their bodies;

Loss of sleep leads to weight gain.

Lack of sleep leads to memory loss.

... leads to other health issues (both physical and mental.)

If you are not getting a good 8 hours of sleep a night, nearly every night, are you at least sleeping in a completely blacked out room? Your eyes can register almost anything brighter than starlight in the dark.

Try blocking out your clock radio. Do you need to get up with an alarm every day? Are there any days that you cannot? Sleep in the blackest black room, and see how well you sleep. If you are the kind of person who needs to fall asleep with a TV on, try out blacking out everything. Take your time with it... see if you can make your room blacker than anything you have ever been in. Cover the clock radio, and wait to see what is bright in your room now. Now you can see that that nightlight is so bright... unplug it. Work your way down to the tiny lights you forget are on.

Eventually, you will reach the point where the little light from the charger for your cell phone will seem to illuminate half your room. Black that out, too. Find a way to make your shades completely dark, or try out a set of blackout shades/liners.

I started doing this on my overnights, and we pretty much do this at home now, too. You will sleep so much better....

When you sleep, your body recharges, rebuilding and healing itself. It releases HGH (human growth hormone,) which is the elixir of life. In various studies, people who age well, always looking younger than their age, wrinkles develop a decade later than on anyone else, etc... invariably have higher amounts of HGH in their blood naturally. You want to visibly age slower? Provide your body a chance to release this regularly.

Your mind also needs the time to recharge. It needs time to heal. Give it that time.

Sleep well.

Scott

How much do you really want it?

Sigh... so long between posts!

I just noticed that my last post was in June... 2 months ago. Eek.

So, given that, I will try to make a blog post every day. That is my August 17th resolution. What's funny, is I have been thinking of doing that for a few months now.

I actually have a number of posts rattling 'round in the old noggin', but I just not have really the urge to put 'pen to paper' and set my thoughts straight.

So how much do you really want it?

I use to have someone involved in my life who would always talk about how much she wanted to rehab houses, or get involved in teaching, or yadda yadda yadda.

But she never really did anything about it. I would tell her "well, your dad is a contractor, work a day a week with him and go put in a porch, or tear down a few walls, or find out how to change a light switch, or whatever. Take a class in home remodeling, and see what is involved."

Now there are 100 shows on cable about home makeovers, but at the time, "This Old House" was pretty much the only game in town, so you always had the impression that the only houses people rehabbed were victorian mansions and old barns in New England. This was also before the housing boom (and bust) that took over from 2001-2008, so maybe things have changed.

But I doubt it.

Something has to get you moving, and it has to come inside. It didn't matter what was said, suggested, prodded, etc, unless the will comes from inside, people will not change; they have to make the changes on their own.

If you really are interested in something, you will find out more about it, and then just go do whatever it is that interests you. Until you are least start finding out more about something, it's just lips a' flappin'.

I thought of this as I got up this morning, on an overnight in RDU (look it up,) when I could sleep in instead of getting up with my Little Guy; did an hour of biking on the exercise bike (using fartlek training,) then 30 minutes barefoot on the treadmill, then went for a nice 2 mile stroll in the sunshine here in the Carolinas.

I didn't have to get up early, but I did. I am doing my second triathlon on the 26th, and last year I had problems because of a little fight with plantar fasciitis that set me back a good 2 months. Now that I am running barefoot (at least on the treadmill,) and have a decent road bike, I am enjoying the run-up to the event.

Maybe last year I decided to do it as a challenge, but this year I am doing it because I really want to do it. I want to swim well, so I have watched dozens of swim coaching videos online, and tried to incorporate a number of suggestions into my stroke. The new bike has really changed how I ride, and I love putting mile after mile on my bike. I even took it down last Wednesday to get a good ride in (13 miles) before we sailed that night. And changing to barefoot running (Thanks, Holly, for suggesting "Born To Run"!!) has put me in the unfamiliar position where I actually like running.

So, if you say you want something, how much do you really want it?

Are you willing to get up at 0400 to get your workout in so it does not take time away from your family?

Are you willing to go back to school, or study online, to better your credentials so you can advance?

Are you willing to take a chance that the knowledge you have might be outdated or even completely wrong, but are willing to learn or relearn sometimes basic concepts?

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to take chances, just like there is nothing fundamentally wrong about wanting to look good, feel good, rest, live, and love. There is nothing wrong with being lazy, unless you are unhappy with your life and are too lazy to do anything about it. That is fundamentally wrong.

Now I get to go fly for the rest of the day. I love my job. I had a great job before, gassing up airplanes for mainline AA, but I wanted something more, so I went out and did it. Refueling was a great job; dozens of my coworkers put their kids through college doing it, paid for their houses, put food on the table. I still consider myself to be part of the 'brotherhood of the hose' even though I have now been flying for Eagle longer than I fueled for AA (That'll make me feel old... yeesh.)

So, really, how much do you really want it?

Scott