Rolf Devinci

Last season I had bought a pair of mid distance sprinting cleats to facilitate my focus upon sprinting as opposed to distance running. Extremely light and very minimalist in design I actually adjusted to them quite well.It resulted in me becoming a mid foot striker as opposed to my usual plodding heel striking self while wearing "modern" runners. http://rolfdevinci.blogspot.com/2011/08/barefoot-sprinting.html Since I have been contemplating the return to duathlons for the 2012 season the issue of minimalist running has resurfaced of late. I have been doing some research and basically narrowed down my potential buy list to the Nike Free and Saucony Kinvara 2. In the process of evaluating these performance trainers as A - a bridge to true minimalist shoes and B - whether they would be capable duathlon shoes* it occurred to me that I should also evaluate my footware choices for ball hockey. (*Note - I went for a run this morning in my traditional runners and it was miser

Well the holidays are coming to a conclusion or at least they are for me as I head back to work tomorrow. The chaos that is the season has subsided back to the usual daily routine of domestic anarchy so everything is now right with the world. In terms of diet I actually did well this Christmastime and limited my exposure to "bad things". With the exception of a couple Guinness and one Keiths I stayed away from the beer. I had a couple rum and cokes on one particular day but otherwise my alcohol consumption was red wine. The down side was I drank lots of it. Food was not really an issue which was quite surprising. In previous years I was constantly tempted to eat the abundance of sweets, pastries and treats but not so much this past week. I'm not sure if my fasting regimen has improved my will power but I was able to limit my snacking - the key being able to enjoy a treat but then walk away. As a result I think I managed to limit weight gain this December despite a d

 Today is probably the coldest day yet as we awoke to a dusting of snow and -6C temperatures made all the worse by a windchill.My adopted murder of crows were hanging out in the back yard awaiting breakfast and I did not disappoint - on the menu this morning were trimmings from a cross rib steak, a dinner roll and peanut butter sandwiches.Once recognized(yup - they know me) the sentinel crow then "caws" the dinner bell and the rest of the posse arrives in short order.   Fortunately they enjoyed the steak and leftover roll before the gulls made the scene and gulped down the sandwiches after having chased off the Starlings. Gulls are definitely the T Rexes of the local bird population.Two of them singlehandedly finished off the cubed sandwich in short order. Generally my crows will either pick up a cube of sandwich or offal and scoot off to enjoy the meal or fill their beaks and then depart the scene completely. My understanding is the male crow will take food back to the

 Sometimes delicious yet simple food is just an "aha" moment away yet one never seems to discover them. The proverbial "can't see the forest for the trees" scenario. I headed down to the farm yesterday to visit my mother and during our meal she placed a couple baked apples on the table. Baked apples! It has been years since I had a baked apple. It just never occurred to me.  Tonight I cored two apples, placed some butter in the centres and sprinkled with cinnamon. Wrapped them in tin foil and placed in a hot oven. When soft I placed one hot apple on a dish, added heavy cream and more cinnamon. OMG! How tasty was that little treat.Apple pie without the wheat and added sugar.  Delicious, easy and fast to prepare. A perfect Primal treat.

 I started a week of Intermittant Fasting yesterday with a 19 hour fast. I have been struggling with some sinus issues of late that has not developed into a full fledged head/chest cold but has not cleared up either.Symptoms periodically include a runny nose, inflammation of the sinus cavities, phlemy throat and pressure around the eyes and cheeks.The plan will be to adjust my usual daily meal frequency to give my body some extra fasted time.Aiming for 19 hour + fasts this week by pushing my eat window back to late afternoon/early evening.  Fasting and Hormesis I do find interesting the hormesis aspect of fasting. Hormesis, in layman's terms, is the application of limited stresses to the body which over the long term would be detrimental to wellbeing. Over the short term they make us adaptive and stronger. Exercise is the classic example - we become fitter but over training eventually makes us ill and/or broken. The periodic stresses of exercise have many beneficial outcomes..

I guess the title pretty much sums up the body of this blog post. I was feeling good heading to hockey today and was seeing the ball well so I have no excuses. The first game was tied when a late comer arrived and defaulted to the other team who had one less player. Problem was he is inarguably the best ball handler and playmaker we have on the roster. His presence quickly un-leveled the playing field as the opposing squad began to dominate. We kept the first game competitive but lost 10 -8. Second game began badly as we dropped three consecutive goals but did rally to make it a close game. The other squad were dominating the match forechecking, passing and taking advantage of our lack of a backcheck.We kept it close thanks to one of our forwards singlehandedly scoring at least 6 of our 8 goals. It quickly was becoming one of those days for me. Despite my best efforts I was unable to make that critical save or control that important rebound and the frustration in my game became evi

 Last winter I picked up an American hickory Modoc style longbow and self taught myself(with the help of You Tube) the basics of traditional archery.Heading into this winter I decided to expand my knowledge by purchasing a 55# traditional Chinese recurve hunting bow. Much shorter than my Modoc bow it will facilitate indoor(basement) shooting much better so I am anxious to string and shoot it. Unfortunately it is a Christmas gift to myself so will be off limits till Christmas Day. Stay tuned.....