Soft- versus Hard-Sell

We know the facts -- a plant-based diet is so beneficial -- it's kinder and healthier.

So why isn't everyone a vegan?

When someone reluctantly admits he eats meat, we may think, he needs the facts.... NOW!  Tell him about how meat clogs the arteries, and plant-based diets reverse coronary artery disease.  Show him pictures of chickens crammed in wire cages, pigs in gestation crates, and cows hanging at the slaughter. And get him to a screening of Forks Over Knives..... STAT!!!

But, that approach can seem overzealous.  Overwhelming people with facts will not lead them to change.

I'm more in favor of the "soft sell" approach.

In my daily life as a cardiologist, I advocate a plant-based diet as a way to prevent and reverse cardiovascular disease in all of its forms -- to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, stabilize or reverse coronary plaque, reduce risk of diabetes, and so forth.  However, I recognize that not every patient who walks in my office is going to walk out a vegan.  In fact, most won't.

When I start talking to patients about diet, a reaction I often get is, "I'll never become a vegetarian."  And expecting a person who eats meat, butter, and cheese for three meals a day to give it all up isn't realistic.  But, I believe we can meet somewhere in the middle.

We can agree that this patient's diet and lifestyle habits have gotten him to the point where he is with his health, that years of animal products, fast food, junk food, lack of exercise, and smoking led him to his present disease.  We can also agree that in order to do better that some of those habits need to change.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.  Eat less meat and dairy.  Walk for a few minutes every day.  True, a plant-based diet is ideal, but let's start somewhere with attainable goals.  Maybe at the next visit we'll talk about taking it one step further.

I'm not going to say I haven't had patients go full-on plant-based at the drop of a hat.  Because I've seen it happen and I've seen the great results that come with it.  But most patients aren't going to do that, and we need to start somewhere.

San Diego ITU Worlds

I raced this weekend at San Diego ITU Worlds in the Olympic distance race -- 0.9 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run.

The week leading up to the race was less than ideal -- the race was on Saturday morning, and at 2 am on Thursday morning, I was doing emergency angioplasty.  So, needless to say, I wasn't well rested before the race.  Then again, patient care always comes first.

This race was the triathlon club national race.  So, this wasn't a small race, and a lot of tough athletes showed up to compete.

Swim
My group, women 35-39, were the third to last wave of competitors.  Behind us were two waves of men in their 30's.  In other words, men to clobber us on the swim, so I was anticipating having rather aggressive men trying to get around me on the swim.

I started near the back of the pack on the swim.  I should have started toward the middle, but since I waited until the absolute last minute to warm up in the water, I was one of the last women in my wave start to gather, and I didn't want to push people to get toward the front.  So, as the gun went off, I ran past a few women into the water and swam around several of them until I got to the right position.

The swim was a bit choppy, and there were some currents, and with the men starting just a few minutes after us, I constantly felt like people were swimming very close to me and past me.

Swim time:  34 minutes.  Slower than my usual time which is closer to 30 minutes.  I blame the currents.


Coming out of the water....

Bike
Toughest bike course of any sprint or olympic distance race.  The road conditions were less than ideal with plenty of potholes and cracks in the road.  We rode two loops up Mount Soledad (I think that's what it's called)!  It's a long hill with some really steep points.  I saw one woman climbing the hill on her bike topple over as she hit one of the cones on the side of the road.  I heard of a couple other bike accidents on the course also.

Most of my pictures on the bike were of me sitting upright, not on my aerobars, because I wouldn't want to topple over from hitting a pothole the wrong way.

Here, I think I saw the cameras, so I got onto my aerobars intentionally for the picture :)

Bike time:  1 hour 31 minutes.  Not so great.  Reflects the hilly course, and my general lack of focus on cycling this season.

Run!!!

My favorite part of a short race.  There were a few women in my age group who I was going back and forth with on the bike.  And on the run, I passed them for good within the first 2 miles.

This is my running game face.  It doesn't look very convincing.

And this is the fun picture:

I was working hard on the run, but I had a good time.  The run course was around Mission Bay.  We saw the residents in their beachfront homes drinking mimosas as we ran by.  I ran by one woman I knew, but didn't recognize until she yelled, "Shenkman stop looking at your watch and run!" and left me laughing for the next couple of minutes.  A crew of my team members were on the course near the finish line cheering us on, which is always awesome too.

Run time:  51:38 -- my fastest 10k EVER!

Overall time:  3 hours, 11 minutes.

30th place out of 66 in my age group.

The race reflected my relative efforts over the past several months.  Excellent run, decent swim, and not-so-fabulous bike.  Great race, tough competitors, and beautiful scenery.

What Next?

Having been a multisport athlete for a few years, I feel like I am still evolving.  I used to love treadmill runs.  Then I found myself enjoying road running.  This past year, I've been introduced to trail running.

Trail running and I haven't necessarily gotten along so well.  I've scraped up my knees and scuffed up my hands from a few falls.  On one trail run that I had intended to be out and back, I ended up completely lost, and were it not for the GPS on my phone, there would have been a search and rescue party looking for me.

But there are some real benefits of trail running.  The views are awesome.  The terrain is gentler on the joints.  And there's a certain sense of adventure to getting on trails.

I did my first trail race in January of this year, the Boney Mountain Half Marathon.  Then last weekend I completed the Malibu Creek Challenge 22K race, 14 miles with nearly 3000 feet of climbing.

Having completed both of those events, I have decided on my next challenge -- an ultramarathon.

I am now signed up for Bulldog 50K on August 25.  It's about 31 miles, basically two loops of the Malibu Creek Challenge, in August, in what could be 100 degree heat.  This is one of the tougher races, but I figure, go big or go home, right?

My Epic Vegan Seder Dinner

I hosted my second annual seder at my home for 25 of my friends.  Growing up, Passover was always a holiday to share with my family.  Living in Los Angeles, I know that there are others like me who don't have their entire family here and want a seder to attend.

A vegan seder isn't the most common occurrence either.  One vegan Jewish guest told me that she hadn't been to a seder in years because as a vegan she always found it uncomfortable.

That said, my guests were a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish, vegan and omnivores.

This is my seder plate -- painted by my 6 year-old niece Samantha.  Instead of a shankbone, I use a beet.  The shankbone represents the Passover sacrifice, or the tenth plague of the slaying of the first born, and a beet in its bright red color resembles blood.  Instead of the egg, I use a flower, which like an egg can represent birth and spring.

I had plenty of appetizers before we had our meal.

This is a "Mock Chopped Liver" from Debra Wasserman's The Lowfat Jewish Cookbook.

 Eggplant Caviar from The Lowfat Jewish Cookbook.

What seder dinner would be complete without Matzah Ball Soup?  This is my one blatant use of kitniyot, or beans, as the matzah balls do have tofu in them.  This recipe came from The Post-Punk Kitchen.  I've tried other vegan matzah ball recipes, and the matza balls fall apart.  If you have a good vegan matzah ball recipe that doesn't require soy, let me know.

 Dinner is served!!!!  With 25 people, we did things buffet-style.  The tray in the middle is Passover Apple Carrot Sweet Potato Kugel, which was the dish that by far got the best reviews.  Originally from family friend Roseanne, I prepare this every year and the recipe is here.  After grating up sweet potatoes, carrots, and apples, which can be done easily in a Vitamix, this is a very simple recipe.  I did not add sugar and I used about half of the recommended amount of margarine.

 Quinoa with Cauliflower, Cranberries and Nuts.  Quinoa is okay to eat on Passover, even for Ashkenazi Jews! 

 Mashed potatoes and cauliflower, courtesy of guests Warren and Michelle.  I thought I was eating mashed potatoes -- the cauliflower makes this a healthier dish with more fiber and nutrients.

 My dinner plate, with salad, Vegetable and Matzoh Casserole from Roberta Kalechofsky's The Vegan Pesach Cookbook, kugel, quinoa, mashed potatoes, and veggies.

Dessert!  No Bake Chocolate Matzoh Roll from The Vegan Pesach Cookbook.  

Chocolate brownies brought by my friend Debbie.  Basically, a chocolate brownie box mix prepared using flax seeds instead of eggs.

A successful evening!  I look forward to hosting another seder next year.

Passover is Coming!!!

I will be making my second annual vegan Passover seder this Friday.  So far, there will be 25 guests at the seder table.  I'll post pictures and tell you all about it once it's done, but in the meantime, here are some previous Passover meals and celebrations:

2011

2009

2008

2007

Eggplant and Matzo Meal Pancakes

And... why a vegan Pesach isn't that hard.

I went to images.google.com and entered the phrase "vegan passover".  Five of the first 21 pictures that came up were from my blog.  Wow, I think that almost makes me an authority on vegan Pesach!!!

LA Marathon -- With a Little Help From My Friends

Today was my twelfth marathon.

My athletic bucket list has just about everything checked off.  5K in under 28 minutes -- check.  Half Ironman -- check.  Olympic tri in under 3 hours -- check.  Half marathon in under two hours -- check.  Podium finish in a local race -- check.  Ironman finisher -- check!!

But one item remains on the list -- Qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  So, I take my running seriously.  I've been dutifully doing my runs as prescribed by my coach.  I go to track once a week and push hard.  I even do my yoga, which I don't entirely love, but know will make me a stronger runner.  But that BQ time (Boston Qualifier) remains elusive.

While my training was on track, my sleep last night was poor.  Before my next race, I will remember to turn my phone off before I go to bed.

 My Race Bib

Having good friends made this race the success it was for me.  My friend Kiki was kind enough to drive me to the start line at Dodger Stadium at 5 am.  Since she would be spectating in Westwood around mile 18, I gave her a bag of Gu Chomps (fast-acting carbohydrate) to hand off to me if she saw me during the race.

The weather for today was projected to be terrible, similar to last year's race.  I was layered up, with gloves, arm-warmers, hat, and tights.  But, just before the race started, the sun came out.  No one expected sun today!!!

In the first mile, which initially was a shuffle as we all piled onto the race course, I saw a sign that read, "Go Vegans!"  Obviously, that got my attention.  Holding that sign was my friend Lawrence Ziese:

I'm not sure where the nickname "Sensational" came from, but I'll take it.

Miles 1-3 were more downhill than uphill.  Miles 4-5 were the biggest hills on the course.  Miles 6-8 took us up Sunset, onto Hollywood Blvd.  Around Mile 8, I saw my friend Trey, gave him a high-five and kept going.  I was on pace at this point and felt good.

Still feeling good, at mile 11 I saw teammate David Wachtel.  He was kind enough to take my gloves and arm warmers.  He was also filming with his IPhone.  He asked me if I had anything else I wanted to say, and for some reason my response was "Booyah!"  Endorphins clearly do not make for intelligent speech.

Onward.  Miles 11-14 took us through Hollywood, past Grauman's Chinese Theater, down the Sunset Strip..  The wind was pretty tough at times.  Then we turned onto San Vicente, a nice downhill, and then right on Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, with great entertainment, including cheerleaders in drag.  Mile 16 took us through Beverly Hills, and Mile 17 was down Rodeo Drive.  Again, I saw Lawrence and his "Go Vegans!" poster.

Shortly thereafter, I saw LA Tri Club friend Byron Lea. Last year, coincidentally I was running with him for about four miles -- he was out doing a training run, and I was running the race.  I ran into him last weekend and jokingly suggested that he should be on the course so he can pace me for a few miles.  He asked where would be ideal and I suggested that the second half of the race would be good.  Now I didn't expect him to actually take me up on this.  But there he was, in his shorts and running shoes, waiting for me!

So I had Byron with me for miles 18-22, through the rest of Beverly Hills, Westwood, and through the VA.  I let him do most of the talking since I was tired.  He reminded me what was coming ahead, to shake things out, be ready for a hill, and so forth.  Having someone with me kept my mind off the pain.

At mile 18, at Santa Monica and Westwood, as expected, there was Kiki with my bag of Gu Chomps screaming some words of encouragement.  The Chomps definitely hit the spot.

Miles 20-21 traveled through the VA Medical Center, my least favorite part of the course.  It's boring and it's uphill and at that point I just can't see that I am going to finish this race off.  My pace dropped off here.  Big time.

Byron left me at mile 22 as I turned onto San Vicente in Brentwood.  Running alone again, this may be where I "hit the wall".  Nothing in particular was bugging me, but I was just tired out.  I struggled just to keep a 9:45-10:00 pace.  I ran up the short hill, and then "everything was downhill", or so they say, because when you've run 23 miles and have three more to go,*nothing* feels like it is downhill.

The next few miles, we were battered by strong winds.  Mile 23 was my friend Carol with a bag of frozen grapes that absolutely hit the spot.  Miles 24-25 had a few other LA Tri Club friends to cheer me on.  Then at mile 25 was the turn onto Ocean Blvd for the final stretch.  I gave everything I had left of my tired legs.  My calves were starting to cramp up, an issue I've never had before in a race.  At Mile 25.5, Fortius team members Kelly, Cynthie, and Bodie were cheering loudly for me, but at that point, I was so spent that I think I tried to smile but nothing happened, and yet I was so grateful for their encouragement right then.  At mile 26, I saw Fortius teammate Hans, yelling for me as I headed toward the finish.

Finish time:  4:11:36.

And finally, a huge thank you to Lisa, my ride home, who surprised me with coconut water, blueberries, and a granola bar.  A perfect post-race snack!

This was my personal best by a minute and 17 seconds.  But, I am disappointed in how my pace dropped off.  Next marathon, the phone will be turned off at 8 pm, and I will be better rested.  In the meantime, I will train like hell, drop the 5 pounds that I need to lose to make me faster, and next time, at the Ojai 2 Ocean Marathon in June, I will kill it!

Red Meat Increases Mortality

There's been a lot of buzz lately about a study that came out this week demonstrating increased mortality associated with eating red meat.  The more servings of red meat consumed, the shorter your life span.

The article was published in this week's Archives of Internal Medicine.  The study evaluated over 37,000 men and over 83,000 women who were enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) or the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), with up to 28 years of follow-up.  Subjects were asked about their consumption of processed and unprocessed red meat, fish, poultry, nuts, legumes, dairy, and fruits and vegetables.

One serving per day of red meat, processed or unprocessed, was associated with a significant increase in mortality, including all-casue mortality, death from cardiac casues, and death from cancer.  The risk increased with increasing consumption of red meat.

Image from livetherun.com

 The researchers suggest that 9.3% of deaths in men and 7.6% of deaths in women could be prevented  if everyone consumed less than half of a serving of red meat per day.

Is this surprising news?  No.  But it is one of the largest studies demonstrating increased mortality with meat consumption.

Dean Ornish wrote an excellent commentary.  He discusses the consequences of decreasing our consumption of meat -- not just improved health, but also more grain resources to feed the hungry, and less impact on our environment.

I also enjoyed Kathy Freston's commentary on the Huffington Post, "Meat is the New Tobacco."  It's an interesting perspective.  We now universally recognize that tobacco leads to illness and death.  Now we have strong data demonstrating that meat consumption has the same effect.

This is great motivation to encourage people toward a plant-based diet.  But, in the words of Dean Ornish, "We have a spectrum of choices; it's not all or nothing."  When you exclude some meat and animal products and include more whole-food plant-based foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, and whole-grains, your health will improve.

Pan A, Sun Q, Bernstein AM; et al. Red meat consumption and mortality: results from 2 prospective cohort studies [published online March 12, 2012]. Arch Intern Med. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.2287.

Irony and Dog Bites

Earlier this week I posted about the joys of running with dogs.  Which makes today's adventure an odd turn of events.

This morning, I went running.  When my dogs see me put on running shoes, they get excited, wag their tails, jump and chase me around the house.  So, for my tempo runs, I'll take the dogs with me for my 10-20 minute warm-up, then put them in the house and finish my workout on my own.  And that's what I did this morning.

I started my tempo portion of my run, heading down the sidewalk along Ventura Boulevard.  I turned onto a side street and ran toward a man and his dog on a leash. I was at least three feet away, when the dog lunged toward me and bit my leg.

I stopped, stunned.  The older man holding the leash fell silent.  I looked down at my left leg, a couple inches below the knee, and saw the puncture wound of the dog's tooth.  It was a bit less than a centimeter wide, but there was some depth to the wound because I could see a couple granules of fat tissue.  Blood was flowing down my leg, and I used my black crop pants to try to blot the bleeding.

The man remained silent.  His dog stood still, perhaps even shaking a bit.

I said, "Do you see what your dog just did?  Do you see this?"

He finally said, "I'm sorry." 

My first thought was that I'd look odd finishing up my run with blood dripping down my leg, since ideally I would have had about another 30 minutes to go.  Then reality hit:  I should not be running with a dog bite, I need to get this wound looked at.

I didn't have my phone with me, which I often do since I do a lot of my running when I'm on call.  But, fortunately I have a good memory, and fortunately this was an honest man who gave me his real name and his real address, which I was able to confirm later on the internet.  In retrospect, it would have been good to have the dog's license number as well.  The information that I did obtain was useful for the report that I filed later that day to the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.

I ran home, quickly showered, washed off the wound a bit, covered it in a band aid, and went to Urgent Care.  There, the wound was cleaned up well after some local anesthesia.

Since the Los Angeles Marathon is only 10 days away, I was worried that I might not be able to participate.  But, the physician recommended a few days off my feet for the wound to heal.

I worry about tripping and falling, twisting an ankle, or straining my IT band as the events that can derail my running.  I never thought a dog would get in the way.

Running With Dogs

I've never loved "recovery runs".  They're usually on days when I'm tired out from doing a long run the day before.

I've turned them into an opportunity -- to exercise my dogs.

I have two retired racing greyhounds.  This is Gold.  He is 8 years old.  Once upon a time, he chased a stuffed rabbit around a track.  Now he chases me as I shuffle through the neighborhood.


And this is Curves.  She is 6 years old.  She is a greyhound, but at her petite size of 51 pounds, she was never a racer.

These guys are 45 mile per hour sprinters who can catch a squirrel in my backyard (yes that's pretty gross cleaning up the mess).  But when it comes to distance running, I am a little faster than they are.  We're happy doing a 11-12 minute per mile pace.

We stop a lot.  We sniff and pee and poop on things (well, I don't do those things, but my dogs do).  We say hello to other dogs in the neighborhood.  And overall, we have a good time.

The dogs are great companions.  They get my mind off of worrying about my pace.  They remind me of why I run -- to escape, to feel good, to free my mind of stress and obligations.

And when they are exercised, they are happier.

 Here we are.  One big happy family of runners.

Electronic Medical Record

I have a new friend to carry around with  me at work -- my laptop computer.

For about the past month, I have been on the electronic medical record.  Rather than dictate my notes to a bank of transcriptionists in India, I type them.  Actually, it's more of a point-and-click system, but for many aspects of the note, I prefer to type.

On the first day using the electronic medical record, I wanted to crawl under my desk and hide.  My orientation had been at least four months earlier, and the technical support person on site was clueless -- I'd ask him a question, he'd stare blankly at the computer and tell me that he's "not familiar with this template"

The first few weeks of EMR (electronic medical record) were beyond painful.  At first, it took me far longer to complete a patient visit.  But, now I think it's faster than the previous paper charting.  I don't have to write prescriptions because if the patient's pharmacy is in my computer, I can fax a prescription right from the exam room.  As a patient talks, while I used to write down notes, I can type my notes, which don't need to be subsequently dictated because they are being typed directly into the EMR system.  And, rather than have a pile of charts waiting for me to dictate them at the end of clinic, it's easy enough to finish off a patient note at the end of the encounter with a patient.

While I enjoy the technology, I don't want to take anything away from the personal interaction with my patients.  I try to set up my computer so that it is not directly in the line of eye contact between me and my patient, and so I angle myself toward my patient, and slightly away from my computer.  I have had to learn how to balance the entry of data with making eye contact with my patients, and try to minimize the number of moments of awkward silence while I try to find the right place to point and click.


So, if you have an appointment with me, and you see me in the room with the laptop computer, please know that even though I may be typing, and pointing and clicking, I am listening.  Really.

Pasadena Rock N Roll Half Marathon

I've been suffering from a lack of confidence in my running lately..

Of my last three running events, two were terrible.  Long Beach Half Marathon was run as I was recovering from a stomach bug and I had the opportunity to meet the medical staff as I nearly passed out after the race.  Then, my performance at the Santa Barbara Marathon was dismal after having to skip the marathon that I had wanted to run the week before (Santa Clarita) due to a sinus infection.  I rarely get sick, so to get derailed from two races back to back was unexpected and disheartening.  Boney Mountain Half Marathon was a good race for me, but as I had never done a trail race before, I had nothing to compare it to.

So, heading into Pasadena Rock N Roll Half-Marathon this weekend, I was a bit apprehensive.  Having decided to dedicate the coming year to becoming a stronger runner, I wanted to prove that in a race I really have gotten better.  In order to run faster, I have been following Coach Gerardo's running plan, got back to my track workouts with the Los Feliz Flyers on Wednesday evenings, and have accelerated my usual winter weight loss of excess pounds that I tend to gain in the Fall "off-season".

So, better trained and leaner, I approached the start line.  I started with my friend Tom, who I've done several long runs with.  But, knowing he's a faster runner, I let him go at the beginning.

One of the runners in front of me had a shirt with a picture of a pork sandwich and the words "Runs on Bacon".  At that point, I had two thoughts:  1) It's a shame I don't carry business cards with me when I run because this is a man who just might need me in the future, and 2) I cannot let a man who gloats about his love of bacon to beat me.  So I passed him.  :)

Coach Gerardo gave me a plan of what paces to keep, to gradually get faster throughout the race.  This was going to be tough to stick to since there are so many hills in Pasadena.  However, it became a moot point when somewhere in the first mile my watch broke and for my pace displayed "3:00" per mile.  I was a bit panicked by this, but I thought back to my track workout this past Wednesday, where as a pre-race workout I ran three 8:30 miles with a short rest in between, to give me an idea of how I would feel on race day.

Miles 1-2 had some significant uphills.  I started feeling good around mile 3, which is where I spotted my Dad on the course.  It's rare that someone comes out to a race just to support me, so it felt good to see a familiar face.  Miles 4-6 were a little too fast, averaging 8:30 per mile, but I felt good.  I slowed a bit during miles 7-9, maybe to 9:00/mile.  Then I picked it up a bit, and as we ran the last loop around the Rose Bowl and the golf course, I charged it into full gear, huffing and puffing.

Ten more minutes of pain for the confidence gained from a well-run race.

Finishing time:  1:55:18.  My best half marathon time ever.  And on a hilly, challenging course.  Average mile splits -- 8:48 per mile.

What is coolest is that this race put into perspective for me how far I've come.  When I first came to LA almost 5 years ago, I remember posting to LA Tri Club's web page my big goal, to "Finish a 5k at a pace faster than 9 minutes per mile."  I have just finished a half marathon at a pace faster than 9 minutes per mile.  Wow!!!

This is exactly what I needed to give me confidence heading into the LA Marathon next month.

Me and Tom Ackerman, friend and long-run training partner.

Really, Paula Deen?

One of the most decadent chefs of the Food Network has recently announced that she's had diabetes for three years.

If you go to her web site, she talks about how she'd like to help her fans see "Diabetes in a new light."  Click on that link and it takes you to an advertisement for Victoza, the new diabetes drug that she is endorsing.

It's like me putting a cigarette vending machine and a hamburger stand in my waiting room, and then subsequently doing angioplasties on those patients.  But then again, unlike Paula Deen, I took the Hippocratic Oath to "Do No Harm".

When interviewed by Al Roker last week, she claimed, “Here’s the thing, you know, I’ve always encouraged moderation,”  But seriously, since when is a hamburger inside of a glazed donut moderation?  And does someone who proclaims that she can't live without butter or a deep fryer have the right to say she encourages moderation?

 This is moderation?   

from http://todayhealth.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/16/10170320-did-paula-deens-diet-cause-her-diabetes

"Moderation" is about the biggest cop-out there is.  Who can't legitimately claim they eat "in moderation"?  Compared to a stick of butter or a tub of lard at each meal, anything is moderation.

What do you do if you're a chef who has earned her reputation as providing recipes for decadent food, and you yourself end up succumbing to one of the diseases that results from eating that food?  I don't know, but signing an endorsement deal with a medicine to treat type 2 diabetes is not the ethical answer to that question.

Devil in a Black Can

In my daily living, my habits are good.  I eat my veggies.  I exercise.  I don't smoke.  I manage my stress.

And yet, I was polishing off 4 or more cans of diet soda every day.  I wrote about my Coke Zero Habit a year ago, a habit that I've only had for a few years.

After my morning workout, I would crave soda.  Then midway through my morning clinic.  Then midway through afternoon clinic.  And then with dinner.  And then if I went out at night, another Coke Zero or Diet Coke.

It was all getting to be a bit much.

There are many reasons to stay away from it.  Diet soda may increase cardiovascular risk, it is acidic which is not good for the body or for an athlete who is training, it has no nutritional benefits, it can leech the bones of calcium, it deceives the body into thinking that it wants to eat more calories than it should, and as someone who has an annoying condition called interstitial cystitis it irritates the bladder and increases frequency of urination.

I thought back to seven years ago when I went vegan.  My last holdout was my love of chocolate brownies.  Once I realized how silly that was, I ditched dairy and eggs and never went back.  (In the meantime, I have perfected my own decadent vegan chocolate brownie recipe.)

On New Years Day, I decided to do it, to give up diet soda.

That first day was tough!  I came home from a morning bike ride, and I wanted that black can!!!  I loved the fizz, the taste, the way it gave me energy.  All I could do to keep craving that can was to leave the house and go to yoga class.

And somehow, after yoga, I felt calm.  I didn't need the soda.

The next few days were tough.  I went back to work on January 3, and instead of my soda can, I brought a small thermos of mango tea.  That actually got me through my morning fine.

And on January 4th, there was one can left in my refrigerator.  I posted this picture on my Facebook page, with the caption, "Honey I miss you xoxoxo".

And here we are, on January 15.  No diet sodas for me since the new year.  And I feel good.  No more ups and downs in my energy level.  I don't have to use the restroom as often since I'm drinking less caffeine.

I think I've kicked the habit for good.  And I think I can stick with my no-soda lifestyle.

Boney Mountain Half Marathon

Today, I ran my first trail race, the Boney Mountain Half Marathon

I chose this event at the suggestion of Coach Gerardo.  I wouldn't have decided on my own to do a trail race.  My goal is to be a faster runner and eventually qualify for the Boston Marathon.  When planning my season of races, Coach G told me that by doing trail running that I will become a faster road runner.  So, while I feel a bit like Ralph Macchio's character in "The Karate Kid" blindly doing his wax-on wax-off drills at the behest of Mr. Miyagi to become a karate champ, here I am stumbling along trails to become a faster marathoner.

And sadly, stumbling is not an exaggeration.  I am not terribly coordinated., which has led to a number of spills while running trails.  This is why, in spite of my height at 5 feet 10 inches, I am not a skilled volleyball or basketball player.  In fact, were it not for the coordination that I acquired during my four years as a high-school cheerleader, I likely would not be able to walk and chew gum to this day.

On Wednesday morning, I took not one, but two, spills on Dirt Mulholland and the single track trails nearby., leading to a bruised chin, scraped up palms, a chunk of skin sliced off the tip of my right pinky finger, skinned knees, and a scraped up and bruised left thigh.

So, I approached today's race at Boney Mountain with some trepidation and yet with the advice of many trail-running teammates about how much I will love running trails, how much easier it is on the knees and joints, and all the beautiful scenery.

As I told people that this was my first trail race ever, I got a lot of reactions of, "You picked this one???"  If I'm going to tackle trails, I might as well do one of the toughest trail half marathons out there.  Go big or go home, right?

The gun went off shortly after 8 am.  Dressed in a tank top, hat, trail shoes, and most importantly, running pants to protect my knees, I took off with the crowd.  The first mile was on pavement, and was mostly downhill.  The second mile had a few rollers, and about that time we had some single track trails.  This means that you can't pass.  You're as fast as the person in front of you, unless he or she lets you pass.

Then at mile 3, we had our first real climb, which was about a mile long.  I held back -- I could have gone faster, but for a first trail race, and more importantly so that I didn't trip and fall, I didn't go too fast.  So, for much of that climb I was walking.  And then there was a nice downhill from there.  A lot of people passed me.  I was cool with that.

What I liked about this race is that people are friendly.  They aren't competitive.  It's like we're all out there to conquer the mountain as one big happy family of trail runners.

I would say that the race really began at mile 6, with four miles of a steady incline, over 1300 feet of climbing.  To those of you who don't run trails, the best analogy I can think of is Masada in Israel.  While on vacation, I'm the one who went ahead of my group, ran to the top of the mountain, turned around and ran halfway down, then ran back up, while others in my tour group struggled to just get to the top. Imagine three Masadas stacked back to back to back.  That is what miles 6-10 of this course was.

Again, I walked much of this, trying to be conservative.  A few people passed me, and toward the top, I passed a couple of them.  Those four miles of climbing were tough.  But, I felt okay.  I felt like I was exerting myself, but didn't feel like I was suffering.  Maybe that means I could have pushed harder, sure, but it means I didn't push too hard.

At mile 10, we started to descend.  Now, I'm not that confident about my footing on trails, so I let plenty of people run by me. My right iliotibial band, just above my knee, started to ache, but I was able to run through that.  Around mile 11.5, I tripped, landed on my hands and knees, and without missing a beat pushed myself up from the ground and kept on running.  I knew I likely scraped up my right knee, but I ignored it and pressed onward.

At mile 12, there was a little hill.  I ran about half of it.  And then the last 3/4 mile was flat to downhill.  As we made the last turn toward the finish with about 1/2 of a mile to go, I was hit with a headwind that must have been 40 mph.  Whoa!  But, I pushed through it, running for the finish line, where my friends and teammates greeted me.

That's me slapping a high-five to teammate Chris Fisher, who had finished so much before me that he had time to change clothes and come back to cheer us on.  Bodie Olmos and Mark Shainman were also waiting at the finish line.

Finish time:  2:42.  Well ahead of my goal of 3 hours.

Me and teammate Alison Chavez, who is far more experienced in trail running, and had run 11 miles of trails the day before the race.

I stopped at first aid and had the cut on my right knee irrigated.  It should heal okay, it's not too bad.  A teammate decided to take a picture of my booboo, but I will spare you and won't post it here.

Overall, a good experience.  I need to gain more confidence on trails, which may lead to me taking fewer falls.

Happy New Year!

I hang my head in shame.... it's been a month since my last post!

I'm on a little break from work, and will be back on January 3.  In the meantime, I'm relaxing, spending time with family, and doing some fun workouts.

With my extra time, I had the chance to try out Barry's Bootcamp.  It's a challenging aerobic workout that mixes in bursts of cardiovascular exercise with weight training.  Try it!

Happy new year!!!!

Not a Great Day at the Santa Barbara Marathon

My first question to the organizers of the Santa Barbara Marathon:  Where's my shirt???  You ran out of shirts, and your volunteers asked me for my name, bib number, and t-shirt size, and said it would be coming in the mail.  It hasn't.  Size medium in women's, please.  Thank you.

I was ready.  Or, better yet, I was ready to run the Santa Clarita Marathon the week earlier, but I ended up sick and missed it.  So I was still sort-of ready.

I signed up for the Santa Barbara Marathon three days before the event, knowing that I wanted to do a race with the fitness I had accumulated from months of marathon training.  Hence the high bib number of 1348, not otherwise accounted for by my name being at the end of the alphabet, and no name on my bib either.

Luckily, my friend Lenny was going to be running the half marathon, so I had a travel companion.

I stayed at a chain hotel in Carpinteria, the closest hotel that I could get to the race parking area, about 20 miles away.  The hotels were all booked up with race participants and the two hundred or so weddings taking place in the greater Santa Barbara area that weekend.  So I was stuck at said unfancy chain motel.  Cars on the freeway kept waking me throughout the night.  So, I wasn't terribly well rested.

On race morning, I parked at UCSB, then took a shuttle to Dos Pueblos High School, which is where the marathon started.  Unfortunately, the buses dropped us off a half of a mile away, which is a minor annoyance when you are running, oh, another 26.2 miles later that day.

Someone must have been reading the comments about the race because contrary to previous complaints of lack of facilities, there were more than enough port-o-potties, an important matter for someone like me who likes to empty her bladder three or four times before the start of the race.

With only eight hundred or so of us running the race, it felt a little silly to line up under a "Start" banner.  Nonetheless, off we went, to run a 9-mile loop around Goleta.  Boring.  Completely boring.  The first few miles were a slight downhill, then a slight uphill for the next few miles.  At mile nine, we pass the high school again, and I'm thinking, have I really gone anywhere?  I wasn't feeling terrific, perhaps a bit tired, and I was struggling to keep my mile splits at 9:30 per mile, which was my goal.  I was worried because my heart rate was staying in the high 160's, which I knew for me was a bit high.

Around mile 8 was a photographer.  I'm not sure what came over me, but I decided I needed an interesting race photo of me with my arms stretched out and my tongue sticking out.

In spite of not feeling awesome, I figured I'd stay the course.  Miles 10-12 felt like I was moving downhill, and after downing a Gu gel or two I felt a second wind.  I enjoyed all the locals standing out on the roads cheering us on.  I smiled and thanked them of course.  I was annoyed by the guy on a mountain bike who passed me within just a few inches, to then ride next to his girlfriend (presumably) for the next three miles, passing her food and water.  Granted, this girl wasn't going to win anything, and neither was I, but seriously, if we want food or water when we want it, we have to carry it with us, and I didn't want any near misses with this guy's stupid mountain bike crashing into me.

So perhaps my annoyance with Mountain Bike Guy was a bit over the top.  I may have been getting cranky because I was feeling tired and lousy.

The "wall" came around mile 16.  My mile splits had dropped off and I decided from then on that any time goal was out the window and I was going to ignore my Garmin.  The goal at this point was to put one foot in front of the other and run the rest of this race, avoiding the temptation to walk, and just get this 26.2 miles done.

The next 7 miles were no fun.  The scenery continued to be uninteresting for the most part.  And I maintained my fatigued shuffle of a jog, walking only through aid stations.  Then at mile 23 was a huge hill, which I managed to run up, or more accurately shuffle up at a whopping pace of 15 minutes per mile.  But the reward at the top of the hill was what a marathon based in Santa Barbara should be -- a nice view!!!!  The ocean!!!!  Finally!!!

I think the next couple miles were downhill, and were kind of pretty since we could see the ocean.  I slugged through, and finished as strong as I could.  One benefit of doing all these races is that I know a couple of the local race announcers through the LA Tri Club.  Tim Bomba was announcing finishers, and typically he'll give me a shout out, which is kind of cool, "Here comes Heather Shenkman, of LA Tri Club, cardiologist, so if you want your heart checked...." or something like that.  It's good to hear when you feel like crap, completely spent, and need an extra push to get across the finish line.

My finish time:  4:27 and a few seconds that actually put me closer to 4:28.  But let's round down and call it 4:27.  I feel better about that.

I believe that under better circumstances, I could have pulled a 4:05.  So what happened?  I have learned to never take a trans-continental trip within the weeks before a marathon.  I think that led to me getting sick  And I can't say I was completely recovered, even if it was a week later.  There was an extra week of taper and being sedentary, which may have helped an extra pound or two creep onto my frame.  The peak of my training was too far in advance of this race.  And then there was the noisy freeway in front of my motel.

I've learned my lessons, and I will continue on in my quest to become a faster marathon runner.  My next full marathon is the LA Marathon in March.  I have two half marathons in the meantime.

My suggestions to the people who run the Santa Barbara Marathon:
-Please make the course more interesting.  Goleta is beyond dull to run through.  Last I checked you have an ocean nearby.  Can we maybe run near that instead?
-Your volunteers are enthusiastic, along with the locals.  They couldn't have been nicer.
-Thanks for ample port-o-potties.  Really.
-More aid stations with Gu and food.  And how about some banana or orange slices at aid stations?
-More food at the finish line.  No, I don't mean places where we can spend money and buy lunch.  I mean, more than just orange and banana slices.  How about granola bars, fruit salad, something a bit more filling so we don't have to binge on food from the vendors giving out free samples?  Note to Pure Bar people -- thank you for letting me take 4 bars.  They were awesome.  I'm sold on them.
-Please send me my t-shirt, women's medium.  And that's how I'll start and end.

IronDoc Reporting for Duty!

 I went to another Ironman race.  But, this time, unlike in July 2010, I came as a volunteer, not as a participant.

Several members of my Fortius team were racing at Ironman Arizona this weekend.  Twenty-five of us (!) came along to support.  It's a cheap, quick flight from Los Angeles, I was excited to support my team, and it's always been my dream to work in the medical tent for an event like this.

From 10 am - 3 pm, my team worked at the Bike Special Needs station.  Because the race consists of a 112-mile bike ride, many participants might want to have their own special items available, like a specific bottle of sports drink, a sandwich, a spare bike tube, and so forth.  Our whole Fortius volunteer crew -- all 25 or so of us, stood out on Beeline Highway, yelling out race numbers and handing off bags.  Overall, people were grateful (except for one athlete who chose to yell at us for not having his bag available immediately as he whizzed by at 20+ miles per hour).

That's me and my teammate Nikki holding an athlete's bag while he finds exactly what he needs.  It's a great feeling to help an athlete during a tough race like this.

For more about the Bike Special Needs volunteer experience, I refer you to my teammate Ryan "the Ironmadman" Schneider's terrific blog.

Following our five hours at Bike Special Needs, I spent a couple hours sitting and relaxing by Tempe Town Lake catching up with an old friend who lives in Arizona while cheering for athletes running by.  Some looked strong, some looked a bit tired, and others appeared completely ragged.  I yelled as loud as I could for my friends who were racing, and yelled for many strangers.  I think they all appreciated the encouragement; I know that I did when I raced Ironman Lake Placid last summer.

Later in the day, I volunteered in the medical tent.  This was a very different experience from what I ever imagined.

The tent was basic -- multiple folding chaiselounges covered in white sheets, with IV poles nearby.  In the middle of the tent was a table covered with basic medical equipment -- IV fluid bags, band aids, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and aspirin.  There was no cardiac monitoring equipment, no anti-nausea medications, no I-Stat machine to check electrolytes.  Just the basics.

Our volunteer team consisted of all sorts.  There was a crew of nurses from one of the local ER's, a paramedic instructor who loved putting in IV's, a smattering of other medical professionals, a very eager aspiring medical student, and a couple of physicians.  I worked alongside a pediatrician, a family practice doc, and a physicians assistant.

I saw a lot of dehydrated athletes.  He or she would come in, propped up by 1 or 2 volunteers, eyes glazed over, pale.  We would obtain vital signs.  Then I'd wander over and introduce myself, "I'm Heather, I'm one of the doctors" (no need for formalities in this setting).  I'd see if they could drink -- broth, Ironman Perform electrolyte drink (which they had been drinking all day long during the race and most laughed if I suggested it), or water.  If they couldn't drink, they'd get an IV.  We'd give up to a liter of normal saline.  If, after that, they were vomiting, or unable to tolerate oral liquids, or if they had been in the tent for over 20 minutes, they were sent via ambulance to the hospital.  In my six hours in the medical tent, I sent three athletes to the hospital.

There are some tough people who race the Ironman.  I think some are too tough for their own good.  One woman, in her late 40's, raced with a stress fracture and some sort of gastrointestinal issue that was requiring an endoscopy the following week.  She was badly dehydrated, and teammates who saw her cross the finish line hunched over looking like she was in terrible pain.  She was racing against the instructions of all of her physicians, and I think she got her Kona slot, but at what cost of tearing apart her body.

Another man, a physician in his 60's, with multiple medical issues including a recent prolonged hospitalization, also raced.  He finished spectacularly, I believe in under 12 hours based on his arrival time in the medical tent.  After a liter of IV fluid, he was doing fine, but should he really have raced that day?

One woman received a liter of fluids and still couldn't keep any liquid down.  I gave her an hour to perk up and then told her we needed to send her to the hospital.  At her request, I went outside to update her husband, who told me that she ended up in the ER dehydrated after last year's Ironman.  What????  If you do something once and you end up in a hospital, should you do it again???

The Ironman is a grueling race, based on the distance covered in one day.  I finished my race last year with a severe tendinitis that kept me from running for two months.  That was nothing compared to some of the stuff I saw during my day in Arizona.  This is an event where one third of all participants require medical attention in one way or another, only 95% finish, and about 100 athletes end up in the hospital.

Is the human body meant to do this?  In addition to the oxidative stress placed on the body from the hours of training and the long race day, there is such a huge potential for injury and illness.

I've sworn in the past that I would never do another Ironman.  However, a part of me has always wondered, if I'm more fit now, could I blow away my finishing time of 14 hours and 45 minutes?  I could.  But, I don't want to destroy my body to do it.  Watching the race has definitely changed my perception.

It's a Messed-Up, Unhealthy World

Americans are fatter than ever.  Nearly a third are obese, and two thirds are overweight.  Michelle Obama leads a campaign against obesity.  And yet, the same US government has funded Domino's Pizza to produce a pizza with 40% more cheese, of which one slice has two-thirds of the limit of artery-clogging saturated fat as a person should consume in an entire day.  And you can bet that slice of pizza is loaded with sodium, leading to elevated blood pressure and increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

You'd think we would feed our kids healthy meals in school?  And yet, the National School Lunch Program meals are laden with animal fat and fried foods.  A third of kids are overweight and obese, and half of all children between the ages of 2 and 15 have fatty streaks in their arteries.  Often, the meals that a child gets in school are the only meals that he or she eats in an entire day.

And, being busier than ever, Americans are eating more food outside the home than ever.  In one fast food meal, there may be more than a day's worth of blood-pressure raising sodium and a huge quantity of artery-clogging trans and saturated fats.

There's a big lack of physical activity, which leads to health problems.  Only half of Americans exercise regularly, and the definition of "regular exercise" is a pathetic three sessions per week of thirty minutes of exercise.

And then, as a result of being heavy and eating all this junk and not exercising, our patients come in and they're obese, and their blood pressure is high, and their cholesterol is too high.  What do most doctors do?  Do we ask what our patients are eating?  Do we ask if they're exercising?

No, usually we don't.  We look at the unfit, overweight specimen in front of us and we assume, often incorrectly, that this person is set in his ways, that he doesn't have the capacity to change.  We as doctors might even have the same physique as our unfit patient.

We reach for that magic cholesterol-lowering pill that we can give "when diet and exercise aren't enough," a medicine that might very well give our patient debilitating muscle cramps.  And, your doctor probably won't tell you this, but if you have never had coronary artery disease, that magic pill likely won't prevent an event. 

In low-risk patients with elevated cholesterol levels and no prior heart problems, you would need to treat 250 of them with a cholesterol-lowering statin pill every day for five years to prevent a single cardiac event!  In the most optimistic of studies, you would need to give a statin drug to 40 people every day over the next five years to prevent just one event.  This pill won't prolong your life and probably won't improve your quality of life either.  This is why I rarely prescribe statins for primary prevention of heart disease.

And then rather than counsel our patients on the benefits of fruits and vegetables and decreasing dietary sodium intake, we hand over a prescription for atenolol, the most commonly prescribed blood pressure medicine.  Atenolol lowers blood pressure in the arms and legs but not the pressure seen by the heart and brain, increases risk of diabetes and stroke, and does nothing to reduce risk of cardiovascular events.  Or, the second most prescribed blood pressure medicine, hydrochlorothiazide, also known as HCTZ, which when given at "appropriate doses" raises glucose levels and increases risk of diabetes, has limited evidence to demonstrate prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Or maybe your doctor does tell you to eat healthy, exercise and lose weight.  But what's the drug rep bringing the doctor and his or her staff for lunch today?  Pizza?  Barbecued ribs?  A tray full of cookies and brownies?  Take a peek in the break room.  You may be surprised by what you see.

We seem to have become a pill-pushing profession.  We give our patients a band-aid in the form of atorvastatin or atenolol, and we refuse to address the poor lifestyle habits that make our patients sick in the first place.  And as a whole, we're pretty lousy role models too.

I believe we have clout.  I believe our patients aren't stupid, and I believe they're receptive to us.  If we with our MD or DO or NP or PA initials after our names talk to our patients, I think they'll listen.  And, if more of us do this, then I think we have the power to heal.

Eating (Sometimes) Healthy in the Holy Land

I just got back from a weeklong trip to Israel.  Beside all the great historical things to see, the food was amazing.

One thing to observe in Israel is that the people there are thinner than they are here.  Part of it may be how much they smoke, but I think much of it has to do with diet.  They seem to eat a lot of salad.

Breakfast was our biggest meal of the day.  The hotel had an abundant array of cheeses and yogurt, and an omelette bar, which I didn't touch.  But, there was also a huge salad bar, with fresh lettuce and vegetables, and also with prepared salads that had nuts and seeds and fruit.  Another thing I loved at breakfast was a date and sesame spread to put on bread, which was absolutely delicious.  I also enjoyed a couple slices of halvah, which I won't even suggest is a health food, but it is a mixture of sesame and sugar.

Here's a typical lunch.  We had fresh hummus, baba ghanoush, pita bread, salad, chik peas, and I indulged and had a little bit of falafel.

Another treat for lunch was a Sabich sandwich.  Inside the pita, we had grilled eggplant, tahini, mango chutney, cabbage, and some other veggies.  Normally it comes with egg, but I had mine without.

I enjoyed some street falafel in Jerusalem.  I wasn't a big fan of the greasy french fries on top, so I didn't eat them.  Inside the pita was some of the best falafel I've ever eaten, along with hummus, tahini, and veggies.

Another bonus of eating in Israel, where most of our meals were kosher, is that if it's a "fleshig" meal, also known as a meat meal, there will be no dairy.  So, any ice cream served with a fleshig meal is by default dairy-free and vegan!

There was only one meal where I had no options, a bag lunch with "American-style" cheese or tuna sandwiches.  Luckily, we stopped at a gas station (!), and this is what they had to offer:

A gas station with a whole bunch of salads, hummus, and baba ghanoush.  I asked for hummus with some tomato and cucumber slices.

Needless to say, I ate well on my trip.

Plan B

I signed up to run the Santa Clarita Marathon tomorrow.

My training was spot-on.  I ran 20.5 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes, including a jaunt up Temescal and up and down the hills of the Pacific Palisades.  I've been doing my track workouts, strength training, cross training, listening to my coach, staying on my program.  If it's 5:15 am on a weekday, odds are I'm up and getting ready to workout before a long day at work.

Then, I spent 8 days in Israel during my two-week "taper" before the Santa Clarita Marathon.  In spite of a few evening indulgences of alcohol, I had some amazing runs -- 6.25 miles, and 8 miles, as morning runs along the Mediterranean coast in Tel Aviv just after sunrise.  I ran ten miles one morning in Jerusalem, where even in warm weather and on a hilly course I was able to keep a 9:30 per mile pace.  I even "ran" Masada -- up to the top, turned around and came halfway down, then back to the top, in 80-90 degree heat.

At the top of Masada

My taper running in Israel couldn't have been better.

Then, I flew back home on Monday night.  The flight was about 15 hours, and I sat next to an older man who kept sniffling.  Maybe he got me sick, I don't know.  I had a heck of a time adjusting to the time change -- the first few nights home, I found myself falling asleep by 8 pm and waking up at 3 am.  Then I developed a cold.

I thought this cold would pass, but it hasn't, and I feel lousy.  I don't get sick very often, but during the last race I ran, the Long Beach Half Marathon on October 9, I was getting over a viral gastroenteritis.  I finished with what most would consider a good finishing time (2:09), but it wasn't up to what I should have done.  After the race, I landed in the med tent for half an hour, unable to stand up for fear of vomiting or passing out, and it took an hour to walk the mile from the finish line to my car.  Long story short, I should not have run that race. 

And I'm taking that lesson to heart -- Santa Clarita is an important race for me, and I want to have my best marathon finisher time yet.  If I try to run tomorrow, I will feel lousy and be disappointed with my performance.

So, I'm completely bummed out, but I am skipping tomorrow's marathon.

However, I will not let my base training go to waste.  I am contemplating three different options:
--Santa Barbara Marathon -- Saturday, November 12, next weekend.  Rolling hills, similar to Santa Clarita, a point-to-point race that isn't all too scenic until the end.
--Malibu Marathon -- Sunday, November 13, next weekend.  Very hilly, especially over the last 8 miles.  Not a race where I will post a very fast time, but at least it's local and I might be able to talk my family into cheering me on at the end.
--California International Marathon -- December 4, a month from now.  It's relatively fast, with great crowd support, and a few rolling hills.  But it's in Sacramento, it's cold (28 degrees at the start line when I did the race 2 years ago!) and would require flying to the race.  And I don't feel like waiting another month to run.

I am leaning toward doing Santa Barbara.  In the meantime, I'll be resting (which I'm not very good at) and hoping this cold passes.

Coney Dogs and Detroit Lions

When I heard that Coney Dog, a Detroit-style hot dog joint, was opening up on Sunset Boulevard, I had mixed feelings.  It's always good to see my hometown represented in Los Angeles, but not as a restaurant that typically offers nothing for a vegan.

But.... when I heard that the place serves vegan hot dogs and vegan chili, I knew I had to try it out.  Tonight was the Detroit Lions' first appearance on Monday Night Football in ten years and seemed like an appropriate time to visit.

I had a California Jack.  Actually, I had two.  It's a vegan hot dog on a bun, topped with vegan chili, grilled onions, and mustard.  It's got a bit of a spicy kick to it, and it's good!!!  As the owners and their daughter worked the huge crowd filling the restaurant on this momentuous evening, one of the owners explained that they have a relative named Jack who moved to California and became a vegan, and hence the name of the hot dog.

You can also get several Detroit standards like Faygo cola (by the way, it's POP not soda), Vernors, and Stroh's beer.

Now, I'm not about to suggest that this is the healthiest food option around, but compared to a cholesterol-laden chunk of saturated fat that is a beef and pork hot dog, I'd say this is a pretty tasty choice.

P.S. The Lions won tonight!!! 5-0!!!

Malibu Triathlon 2011

This was my last triathlon of the season... and while it's been a great season, I couldn't have asked for a better race to end things with.

I decided to race as an Athena (women 150lbs+) -- Malibu Classic Triathlon is a competitive race, and here is a place where I could have a chance of placing high.

Conditions were perfect, with the day starting a bit overcast, air temperatures in the mid-60's, and a water temperature of 65 degrees.

Swim
One of the down sides of racing Athena is that I start the race in the absolute last wave group.  As the gun went off, I ran into the ocean.  This is my first ocean race since my mishap south of Venice Pier a couple of months ago where I nearly drowned.  My once fearless approach to ocean swimming is now tempered with a significant amount of trepidation.  As we ran into the ocean, I dove under one wave.  Then a larger wave came, and I said, out loud, "oh my g-d", dove under it, came up hyperventilating.  It was quite a crowd of us swimming, so until I got around the first buoy, I stuck with breaststroke.  Once that turn was made, my breathing calmed down, and I swam toward the last buoy, sighting every four strokes.  After making the last turn and heading to shore, I was grateful to the lifeguards who yelled to us that there were big waves behind us.  I turned around, panicked for a second, dove under the wave, then turned around and came to shore.

Picture taken by Paul Hekimian of LA Tri Club, as I'm trying unsuccessfully to yank myself out of my wetsuit and run at the same time.

Coming out of the water, I was a bit disoriented, and I started running in the wrong direction.  I couldn't get my wetsuit zipper open, and once I finally did, I couldn't free up my left arm.  So, running into transition with my left arm pinned inside my wetsuit, I looked like a woman in a straitjacket.  It was an awesome look.  After that, to complete the whole klutz act, I couldn't get my bike off the rack, and then in moving my items one of the snaps came loose off my race belt and went flying off (I found it when I returned after the bike ride).

Swim time -- 16:09.  Last year's time was 18:55.

Bike
As I ran in from the swim, I saw one of the Athena racers running off with her bike.  As the bike has always been my limiter sport of the three, I considered her to be gone in all likelihood, with the possibility of maybe catching her on the run.

I guess I've gotten stronger on the bike, because I passed just about everyone on the course.  Over the entire 18 miles, only three passed me.  And, at mile 7, I passed the Athena woman who I knew was ahead of me.

And a point of bike etiquette:  When you pass, say "On your left".  Or "Hi."  Or "I'm passing you."  I spent many years being the slow girl on the bike (and amongst some groups I still am) and having people whizz by me within inches and not say a word to warn me.  I said "On your left" maybe a hundred times.  Clilmbing PCH out of Leo Carillo, gasping for air, it was shortened to "Left."  But, out of courtesy, I still warned those that I passed.
Bike time -- 58:49.  Last year's time was 1:03:37.

Run
I love the run course -- along Zuma Beach and back.  The fact that it's out and back means I get to see many of my friends and teammates who are both slower and faster than me, which is always fun.  My first miile was 8:13, and I got slower from there, which wasn't good, but I still averaged 8:34 per mile over 4 miles.

Photo courtesy of Paul Hekimian of LA Tri Club

Run time -- 34:16.  Last year's time was 36:45.

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Crossing the finish line.  Photo courtesy of Marvin Suntonvipart.

Overall time:  1:55:11.  Last year's time was 2:05.

I won first place out of 32 women in the Athena category!  But it gets better -- had I raced in my age group, I would have taken 8th place out of 83, which is the top 10% of the age group, which means that I have qualified for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals 2012!!  The race takes place in Burlington, Vermont, and I've always vowed to myself that if I ever qualify for an event that I will go there and do it, so it looks like I have a little summer vacation for next year!

Some fabulous friends who raced, and even more awesome friends who cheered us on today.

I could not have asked for a better ending to my triathlon season.  Thanks Coach Gerardo for your coaching wisdom, thanks Team Fortius for being awesome training partners, thanks Kiki my personal trainer for pushing me to be stronger, and thanks to all the plants that I eat that give me the fuel to be an athlete. :)

Vegans are the ONLY Normal Weight Population!

When classified by diet, a recent study found that people who are omnivores, who follow the Standard American Diet, are the heaviest, with an average body mass index of 28.8.

Flexitarians, who eat meat infrequently, weigh less, but are still overweight. 

Vegetarians, who do not eat meat, but may eat dairy or eggs, weigh even less, but even they are on average within the category of being overweight.

Vegans, who do not eat any animal products, are the only one of these four groups who are on average a NORMAL weight!

Watch a video discussing the findings from this study from the Journal of the American Diabetes Association here:

And while you're there, explore Dr. Michael Greger's web site, http://www.nutritionfacts.org/.  There's some great information there, and Dr. Greger delivers the facts with his unique sense of humor.