Tuesday 5 October 2010

Autumn leaves

It's well and truly autumn - my down jacket is out from the back of the wardrobe, the fire has been on and the leaves are starting to fall from the trees.  Maybe it's just the change of seasons but I'm feeling a little bit unsettled at the moment.  This often happens to me when I no longer have a challenge or race to look forward to.  I've been looking into events for next year, and had my heart set on the new Ironman Wales, but going part-time/self-employed means I really can't justify any steep entry fees.  I'm shocked that it costs £350 to enter!  I know these events are really expensive to run and, for me anyway, Ironman may be a once-in-a-lifetime (i.e. so painful I'll never want to repeat it) experience.  It would take a huge amount of training to get ready for, but I've always loved a challenge.  One day definitely, but for now I'll have to look for a slightly cheaper alternative, and keep training just for the fun of it.

I'm going to need all my spare pennies to pay for the latest course I've signed up for.  I just heard today that I've been offered a last-minute place on another Postgraduate Certificate, this time in Sport & Exercise Nutrition.  I start this Friday, and I'm really excited.  Sports nutrition is a field I've always been really interested in, and it willl be great to have a formal qualification.  I'm especially interested in exploring carbohydrate requirements in a lot more detail.  I'm still experimenting with avoiding refined grains and sugar, and am constantly coming across new articles that question existing public health recommendations. For example, an article published this week in Nutrition questions the evidence behind the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) Report.  I strongly believe that carbohydrate is essential for fuelling exercise, but am open to the idea that it might not be as important for everyday living as previously thought.

Through the autumn and winter, I'll be writing about what I learn on my course, reflecting on my own nutrition experiments and trying to keep myself motivated to train for next year's still-to-be-decided-on challenges.

 

No comments:

Post a Comment