Author:
Ultra Bob
The health and diet suggestions, the running and racing ideas, the testing methodology, and the tinkering results discussed in this NOTEBOOK are my own. I am a teacher, a Special Education teacher, by training. Teaching is my profession and my love!
My professional teaching expertise is reaching and making deep connections with the most recalcitrant of learners. Their success is my greatest source of pride. Like many of my erstwhile
students both in general education and in special education, you too can make the connections necessary to reach your highest potential. I know that success is within everyone’s grasp, especially yours, as a Fellow Traveler. You can reach the dream you never permitted yourself to dream. Begin your journey today. Find new meaning and joy in the remaining days of your life. Time is too precious and too short to waste even one fleeting moment consumed in ineffective training and detrimental nutrition.
If some of my health and exercise concepts strike you as too unorthodox, by all means follow this Life Insight. When my students were in similarly uncomfortable situations I usually advised them to, “Practice Your Ignoring!” By which I advised them to simply not attempt anything that seems too risky or too advanced for their present level of development. It is the same recommendation for you, “Practice Your Ignoring!” Before accepting my challenge to become a Fellow Traveler seeking Better Health and Great Running, before you experiment with any of my diet suggestions, training concepts, or products consult a professional. All athletic endeavors assume that the consumer accepts the inherent risk associated with the activity and products. My products and suggestions may not be suited for your level of athletic development. If you experience any pain or discomfort discontinue the use of PaleoShoes or any suggested training technique and consult with a medical professional. Never waste your precious time or jeopardize your health with products that give you apprehensions or indications that they aren’t right for you.
This Website, NOTEBOOK, and running sandals, PaleoShoes, Barefoot…with Sole® are the end products of my philosophy to test everything, to never weaken, and to never foolishly power through an injury. This is the same practice that served me well in teaching. When a lesson wasn’t going well I had to stop and readjust the curriculum. Frequently I would need to back up a few pages or give the students time to catch up. I always view pain and injuries as my body telling me that I am doing something wrong. Paila, my spirit Ice-Age TA introduce in the NOTEBOOK, says that not giving your body adequate time to rest is against, “The Way of Nature”. Injuries, like complaining befuddled students, are learning opportunities. It’s a chance to fix something that needs fixing or to teach yourself a lesson in a different way. Pain and bodily injuries always motivates me to reassess my training methods, to research possible solutions, and test my conclusions. It’s the time to back up a few pages and reassess.
Only after thoroughly testing and evaluating a promising training technique for better running will I suggested it to others for their personal testing and consideration. Sometimes research and investigation of thought-provoking ideas for better nutrition were motivated by the desire to feel delightfully healthy. Occasionally a break through resulted from a compulsion to always do better in the next race attitude. Similar to the classroom teacher’s promise to themselves to teach a better lesson tomorrow. The gem quality ideas found and polished in the NOTEBOOK are authentic. These jewels are the result of thoroughly explored, self-tested notions of effective running techniques and nutrition concepts.
I consider myself an experiment of one. My seasoned methods and products work great! At the very least, they worked great for me. They are not the flowery pontificated narratives of a pompous know-it-all sedentary credential-rich but clueless authority. An authority that is short on practice, big on self-promotion, and weak in practical tinkering skills. It’s not the voice an expert who advertises misleading or unneeded products that they have never personally used.
The fruits of my labor and analysis are offered to my Fellow Travelers. This journey is only recommended for the Pilgrims who are willing to take the risk of a journey with me to better health. These jewels of tested dietary and efficient training wisdom are intended for the student who seeks guidance from a classmate, a fellow eager learner, a peer-tutor, and teacher. It is practiced wisdom from a guide who knows of a path through the tangled jungle of bad health and inferior running results. It is the path through the wilds littered with incorrect assumptions misunderstood theories, and unhealthful distractions.
For over forty years I have sifted through writings, quotes, and comments about health and exercise practices. In works by Hippocrates the Greek physician, Seneca the Romans Stoic, and other ancients I found useful comments. Sometimes the authors commentaries about health and fitness were barely noted in their literature. Some of their casually mentioned practices were common sense notions about health and exercise of the bygone eras and not note worthy of a scribe’s intentional comment. Found in their prose were health gems like this one. Over two thousand years ago the elderly stoic, Seneca, mentioned that he needed a slower training partner for a companion on his daily runs.
I have included my personal observations and testing results learned during running, watching, and discussing health and athletics with some of the finest race champions. It is difficult to get information from a champion. Partly because they are reluctant to divulge their training secrets but generally because only a few who have mastered running like the wind can write prose from the heart. Typically, if an elite runner authored a book they had assistance from a “co-author”.
If the champ is inarticulate the writing process loses some authenticity. Even with the help of a co-writer it often goes wide of the mark. The co-writer has to interview the champion then write the book. The prose resulting from probing the racer for a description of what he does and how he does it seldom gets to the heart of the champion’s skills. The co-author usually isn’t in the position to test the champion’s techniques to get a firsthand understanding. At best, the information is second hand information. However, I do read their books in search of buried ideas. Many times I find a hidden gem deep within the murky showy prose. In the NOTEBOOK I have identified some successfully self-tested health and exercise jewels discovered from reading some of the co-author’s and champion’s collaborative prose. Other gems were learned running and associating with a local Huntington Beach champion.
Not surprisingly other workable training gems were discovered while reading popular researchers. Many professional health and fitness authors are empty suits for the most part. They typically haven’t tried the ideas that they are writing about. Their greatest achievement is excelling at sounding knowledgeable, exuding credibility, and getting their prose published. It took an abundance of patience to sift through the chaff generated by these copiously credentialed masters of smoke blowing. Mostly they are all theory or rehashed old ineffective theories with no practical experience to validate their recommendations. These are the research professionals with great sounding theories that should work. They never left the classroom to “practice what they preach”. They are skilled at offering untested advice in great detail. They can extol all the nuisances of running a fast marathon or achieving great health however they never personally have run a fast marathon and are often in questionable health. Summarized in just a few unkind words, most are phonies. Occasionally when I tested some of the interesting sounding concepts generated by these professional self-promoting PR machines, I did find a sparkling jewel for inclusion in the NOTEBOOK.
The lifetime of running, searching, and testing of promising concepts resulted in a program with three simple effective time saving training and nutrition levels. The levels were developed from my self-verified training techniques. The program is adaptable to everyone’s level of dedication and time availability. The training programs have levels appropriate for the busy person who is seeking better physical and mental health to the dedicated athlete who wishes to become an age-level champion or to be Boston Marathon qualified.
Also discussed in the Notebook are some common techniques that my peers, my predecessors, and I have successfully used since I began jogging during the running resurgence in the 1970’s. Some of the tried and true old fashioned techniques have been long abandoned by the contemporary multitudes of half marathon runners. It is easy to be enchanted by the new, the shiny, and the often misleading great sounding notions that seem to work. The old tried and true methods are often overshadowed by modern corporations. These advertisers are compelled by the immediate need to make a steady shareholders profit and by the competitive need to bury cheaper and more effective solutions.
Other often ignored simple but effective training concepts discussed in the NOTEBOOK have been discovered or rediscovered in obscure long forgotten practices from our ancestors of old. One important training notion was derived from an ancient account of a warrior’s plight in Homer’s Odyssey. Finally, modern anthropological research also contributed to my research.
My investigations are discussed and simplified into digestible morsels for you the Fellow Traveler. Here you will only find the concepts that work for me I have tested them on myself. Stay mindful that a technique that works great for one person, namely me, may not be effective for another person, you. It is imperative that you carefully test and evaluate promising ideas for yourself. In the astute words of author and running guru Dr. George Sheehan, “We are an experiment of one”. His admonition means be careful and be mindful that not every training idea works for everyone.
Always be self-contained when training and experimenting with new concepts. Carry food and water when it may be needed. Be prepared for any potentially precarious situation. Always proceed slowly, have a backup plan, and definitely carry your cell phone. It’s a handy access point for emergency medicine should the occasion arise provide and you are traveling in a good service reception area.
Most of the discussed training and eating practices are not controversial. I have carefully selected, dusted off, and in some cases re-polished and re-faceted the ideas that needed it. Updating by gone exercise procedures using current technology has exposed sparkling gems submerged in the murky matrix of the massive data swamping us. I have disregarded the shiny popular fake ideas that advertisers and their adherents claim to believe are true (I suspect mostly for personal gains). The resulting jewels presented to you are solid, well researched, and thoroughly tested by myself. Many were sifted from renowned practitioners, authors, researchers, and medical professionals.
With a small effort you may enjoy the blessings of better, possibly good, or maybe like me even great health. Good health is a genetic gift from our ancestors to all but a very few unlucky souls. Don’t throw it away for the delightful sweetness of easy living and modern comfort. If you have been neglecting your health or even throwing it away it’s time to attempt to recapture it. I achieved better health by exploring and testing an Ice Age diet and following a simple jogging and running program. I rejected the mentality of the, “Just Take a Pill!” crowd (it seems they make a pill for everything these days).
Don’t take the daily pill for non-emergency, non-life threating conditions. Every medicine has side effects. You may be the one to have a little known adverse reaction and be harmed by unknown hidden risks associated with daily pill treatment programs. Some drug downside risks take years to become obvious. Don’t choose the pill mainly because it is easy and convenient. Ask if your condition responds to diet and exercise. If so shouldn’t the Ice Age diet and jogging or running option be explored before accepting the downside risks associated with medication?
Have all your questions answered before starting any daily pill regiment. Have a competent professional explain all known risks and side effects. Finally, think for yourself. Carefully read the fine print. Read the precautions that are always included with the prescription pill container. Even if it seems like a college graduate couldn’t understand and fully appreciate the risks associate with prescribed medication it’s always your decision, your responsibility, and your consequences.
Don’t be one of those sad contemporary creatures that live a long painful life of slow and protracted dying. Your life needn’t be like an extended stay in a modern pre-hospice. Save that mentality for the days when hospice is your best and only viable option. For a small, but psychologically challenging effort, you can take control of your learning, your body, and your life.
Fellow Traveler, the journey begins by simply putting on mental blinders shielding your eyes from delightful temptations. Don’t be enticed by an irresistible submission to the wonderful sweetness of sugar, carbohydrates, and shiny new things. Figuratively stuff wax in your ears to the point of deafness to ignore the beautiful sirens’ seductive calls to join them in a carbohydrate feast. Don’t listen to their pleas to purchase their overpriced and unnecessary products. “Practice Your Ignoring”, by ignoring the advertiser’s flashy ads and slick promotions. Carefully assess the magnificent promise of magic pills and other easy solutions that promise to make you fast, cool, or even sexier. Many splendid promises come with incomprehensible and unknowable downside risks.
Treat your body to the exercise it needs and will soon crave. Focus your mind on a magnificent immediate future. Mentally start the new journey by getting on your belly and slowly crawl like a marine on a precarious mission. Marshal all of your mental and physical energy to crawl towards a future where feeling good again and being healthy is yours to enjoy every single day.
Fellow Traveler, I’ll teach you the tricks needed to “Learn to Crawl”. Your body’s longings for the easy way will quickly pass when you focus your mind on “Just Feeling Good Again”. That’s enough motivation for most people! Follow my lead as you begin to crawl away from temptation. Shortly your personal strength will increase. Soon the pace of the painfully slow crawling towards your bright future will increase to a quick walk. Then before you know it you will be running free, free as Paila, her dog Falo, and our Ice Age ancestors on a mastodon hunt.
Take your soles on a personal journey. Travel on this wonderful shining path. It’s one with heart and soul. It’s the journey back in time to your younger healthier self. It’s your future self, living the longer robust life of your dreams. Nourish your body with the food that nourished human bodies for untold millenniums. Listen carefully, look closely, and feel the “The Way of Nature”. Take a daily moment to appreciate the messages nature is quietly sending you to live an ancient healthy lifestyle. Use your modern cognition to take control of your body and your life. Graciously accept our ancestors’ gift of a healthier life. Don’t procrastinate, start today for a healthier tomorrow.
Learn from my Life Insights. Test my training concepts, try my dietary suggestions, and explore my offered creation, PaleoShoes, Barefoot…with Sole®. They were developed, tested, and perfected during my research into a healthier happier life of feeling good one more time before I died. You may experience the same benefit. Accompany me as a Fellow Traveler on this journey. Together we can all learn more of, “The Way of Nature”. Be a part of this revolution for to Better Healt