There are very few people who can pull off an entire blog post dedicated to donuts. But I can.
Donuts are firmly rooted into who I am. As long as I can remember, I have loved these delicious, deep fried rings of saccharine dough. My first job was working at a Tim Horton's in the gold plated suburban wasteland that is Oakville. It was there that my love of this heavily processed treat flourished. You may not know it now, but in grade 11, I was 200lbs. 200lbs on a 5'8' frame, put me well into the category of festively plump.
It was around this time that I became serious with cycling at a competitive level, and learned very quickly that there is no place for fat people on an XC race course. Inclines of any sort, have some serious prejudice against those who are amply proportioned.
It took some dismal Ontario Cup finishes to make me realize that I needed to change. So began the 2nd era of Aaron. I culled 70% of my donut (and similar pastry) intake, and paid more attention to what I ate. In conjunction with more riding, the weight came off gradually, and I weighed in at about 180lbs in first year university.
In second year university, I spent alot of time riding with some of the faster riders on my university team. Chasing the faster riders served as an excellent training platform.You can only get so fast over 'x' amount of time, so to improve faster, I paid even more attention to what I ate. Due to all this riding, and conscientious eating, I was 160lbs by the end of 2nd year.
After this I got serious about training, eating, and keeping some of my unhealthy vices at bay. I fell to around 148 lbs at my lowest, and gradually climbed up the racing categories. However, when given an opportunity to slack off, boy did I ever. Processed crap food was still a big part of my lifestyle. The magnificent donut still played a big part in my life, (as well as around my waist) During the off season my weight would spike up 10-15lbs since my donut habit couldn't be kept in check by doing big miles.
The fourth era you know well if you've followed this blog. The unraveling and general disdain for cycling. Shitty eating habits in conjunction with less riding allowed me to climb up to 176lbs. My highest in about 7 years. The donut won those two years quite handily.
Out of the ashes rose the phoenix and 2014 rolled in. With a new refreshed and arguably more mature outlook on how to approach training, racing and cycling in general I decided I'd get back on the horse and take another shot at being as fast as I can be. At least before I was 30 and sent to the masters categories.
I know for sure that there's an extra 2-3% of speed that I can tap into if I can pick up some healthier eating habits. This means not having a donut for breakfast, skipping lunch, and then grabbing some processed food off the highway. Generally I don't eat THAT bad, and I do eat a ton of whole grains, vegetables and lean meats.. but for every antioxidant, nutritious spinach and red pepper salad, there's two donuts around the corner.
This leads me to the point of this post.
Yesterday morning, enroute to a job site I won this. I posted it to facebook with the hashtags. #fat and #itsnotmyfault facetiously of course. The responses were as expected.
This innocent post got me thinking more than it should have. If I could genuinely eliminate donuts and similar from my diet, it would undoubtedly be the greatest feat of self control mankind has ever witnessed. If I can do this, what can't I do? Those of you close to me know that these sort of draconian, short- somewhat unreasonable goals are common. For example I gave up alcohol in 2012 for 31 days just to see if I could. For some of you that seems like an easy feat, but if you knew the juggernaut of a social nightlife I lead, you'd realize how hard it can be. When I completed that goal, there was certain level of satisfaction and confidence that came with it.
So it begins. I will slay the donut on my back. ( also including pastries, brownies, muffins.. all that unnecessary crap) for the next indefinite future. To add some quantifiable goals. We'll say 60 days minimum. No exceptions. In this time, I'd like to see myself drop 10lbs, while not impacting gains from training. This isn't a diet as much as it is an exercise of self control.
If I'm 150lbs, pushing 300watts at FTP, with the anaerobic capacity that will come from the interval block I'm currently doing. I could really be on to something.
Enter the new era.
