Voracious Appetite

As I continue to lighten my training load in the days leading up to my race on Sunday, I’m finding one of the most difficult things to control (when I have the time to think about it!) Is my insatiable appetite. I’m voracious.

Perhaps I’ve been trained over the last months to eat tonnes – perhaps I’ve had to, to some degree, in order to fuel the workouts I’ve been putting in … It makes some sense that my body is, perhaps, craving the consistent input of calories and volume of food – given its had it for some time. I guess there’s something to be said about coming back from a 5+ hour bike ride and saying “what’s in the fridge” and then looking five minutes later at the disaster that is your kitchen counter as food crumbs and bits of every conceivable edible item in your fridge is the only evidence of your passing …

But also, you’d think the body would be smart enough to understand the caloric usage has been consistently dropping over the past days, and a regulatory system somewhere would be kicking in to say “enough already – we don’t need that many calories!”. I guess that regulatory system isn’t so strong in the body… And right there might be the primary explanation of the epidemic of obesity in modern societies — where calories are so plentiful… And hard work and exercise so rare.

The only saving grace, if you can call it such, is the sheer craziness that is work these days. Just yesterday I realized as I was caught in (construction) traffic on my way home from work at 10pm that the headache I was suffering from was related to the fact that I’d not eaten since breakfast. It was the first I’d actually thought about that fact. And no wonder I had a headache. It was more than 12 hours since my last meal – as yummy and filling as it had been.

So… When I have the chance to sit … To write… To think… To take a deep breath and relax… I’m hungry as a horse. Balanced by the long hours where I’m highly strung, moving at light speed, and have barely a moment to think, let alone to eat.

In the end, I’ll end up with a couple days of consistent, planned meals before my race. So I’ll be in good shape for Sunday morning… Just deciding now what my last supper should be.

Any suggestions?

As with all my posts this week, I am closing them with an appeal for your support in helping me raise funds for the American and Canadian Cancer Societies.  I appreciate and thank all those that have already given.  I thank in advance all those that will give now or in the coming days.  And I ask that if you cannot give… please simply share the links to this post or others with your friends and family to give them the opportunity.

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