Mar29 3/29/2010 2:51 PM
Rules
Recently, I’ve been reading a few new books on rules around diet (Michael Pollan, Food Rules: An Eaters Manual) and around running (Mark Remy, The Runner’s Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know—and Then Some). It’s been interesting and fun to see how this advice might fit into life, and perhaps into your training for an event like the Colfax Marathon.
On the diet side, all of the rules can be summed up as “eat food, mostly plants, not too much.” Overall, the rules presented are reasonable, largely backed by science, and are consistent with a healthy eating lifestyle. However as with any set of rules, there are exceptions, especially when you’re training for an event/running a race and drinking processed sports drinks (with sugar and other carbs) might be beneficial. These rules present a fun and interesting way to think about what you’re eating. And if the food/drink choices you’re making are the best.
My personal favorite is rule #57: Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does. Thinking about food as fuel to optimize heath and performance, and thinking about what your body needs and doesn’t need to impact short or long-term performance, makes a lot of sense.
On the running side, the rules are not nearly as serious, but many are thought provoking nonetheless. The “wallet-card version” on the last page summarizes key rules like “Have fun” (the first rule of running, but further discussed in rule #1.2: “Expand your definition of fun”), “Be kind”, and “Start slowly.” All is sage advice.
Some other interesting rules that might be helpful at this stage of race preparation:
- rule #1.26: Training plans must go on the fridge
- rule #1.43: Rest is training too
- rules #1.49 and #1.50: There will always be someone slower than you and there will always be someone faster than you
In essence, we are all different and unique, and in the end it is up to you to understand and decide what the right rules of training and eating are for you (unless you would rather just trust the advice of great runner, although long gone, Steve (Pre) Prefonatine). I can tell you that, from the science, there is very little we really “know”, and that in every experiment there are outliers at both ends. So even what us physicians know might not apply to every individual. The fun challenge is to find the rules you must obey, find the ones you can break sometimes, and explore the ones you can break all of the time. Strive to keep the rules you must, but enjoy breaking the rules when you can!
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