Food, glorious food

With all this training going on, something has got to give. One of the many side-effects for me, from the first week of training in September, was that I started to lose weight. I know, I know, lucky me, but when you're training it's really not such a good idea - not only did I have problems keeping my pants up, but it meant I felt physically tired all the time. My body of course reacted to all this exercise by giving me an enormous appetite - the Channel Hunger. I now eat huge quantities of food, usually directly related to how much swimming I am doing. Supermarket shopping trips have become more frequent, large quantities of cash have been spent, and I benefit from an extra workout trying to lift the shopping bags into the car. When I eat with friends they may be shocked at the amount of food I get through at a sitting, and I suspect some may be reluctant to invite me for dinner for fear I will eat them out of house and home. I know that it's the same story with other aspirants, famously one whose family food bill went down 90% when he was away for a while.


But of course not all food is the same. The picture at the top is from a recent trip to Dunnes Stores. While it may look like a lot of yoghurt, fish, biscuits, fruit, vegetables etc, to me it's like looking at The Matrix - I look and I see protein, fibre, carbohydrates, slow-release sugars, quick-release sugars (and of course beer - don't tell coach). In the days before a big swim, I consume carbohydrates and protein, though I may eat pasta and chicken. This is the new way I think. In fact, while George Orwell uses the word doublethink in his book 1984 to describe the holding of two contradictory views simultaneously, I use doublechocolatechipthink to describe looking at food and seeing swimming fuel.


And while we're on the subject, Michael Phelps, the dude who won 8 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, famously stated that he ate 12,000 calories a day. This is about 9,500 more calories than the recommended average intake for men, and amounts to a serious quantity of food. In a famous article from 2008 Jon Henley from the Guardian newspaper makes a heroic effort to eat like a champion. It's worth a read - here.