Dessert, You Ask? Why Sure!

It's very complicated, it is, the relation between my training and all the other bad habits I refuse to give up. Most people adjust their bad habits to maximize their training and race-day performance. I, on the other hand, maximize my training so I can indulge the bad habits. Well, why not? I'm almost 50 and it's not like I'm gonna win the freakin' Olympics or something.

So the other night I had 6 ice cream sandwiches for dessert (yes, I have the wrappers to prove it) and it felt great. No guilt, no morning-after recriminations, no vows of "I'll never do that again" because I will, whenever the tri-wife restocks the freezer.

Why stress about a habit you have NO intention of giving up? I have a night like that maybe once every three months, and, incidentally, it's usually a sign that something's amiss in my diet. A nutritional consultation last year actually ADDED 1,200 calories to my daily intake. I wasn't recovering from workouts and I was always hungry and tired. So I started eating more, though not ALWAYS ice cream sandwiches, mind you. Five meals a day became the norm and things got better. Cravings are now a sign that I haven't been kissing the diet Gods' feet. But what fun they are.

And lo and behold, cravings and all, my performance improved...for a geezer. My body fat is at an all-time low. My weight is where it was 25 years and numerous tri-daughters ago. Yes, all those indicators might be a thousandth of a percentage better without the ice cream, but where's the fun in that? Life's too short to eat tofu except in an emergency. Today's definitely not an emergency. Tomorrow doesn't look like one either.

Right now, there's a Dove Bar calling my name and it'd be rude not to answer. And that mid-pack geezer with the well-fed smile on his face? THAT'S ME!

Go WHITE SOX!