The FAF AFAP Digest

I googled "allergic to pomegranates" and came up with a number of interesting hits. Here is one excerpt:

Another thing to consider is that pomegranate is actually used as a certain poison in ancient times. You do not need to be overly concerned about the fruit, as even water can make you sick if you drink too much or too quickly. So you cannot avoid everything that may harm you when it comes to foods or drinks, but you can eat them responsibly and try not to eat too much of any one thing at once. Keep in mind also that most fruit juice of any kind can cause diarrhea or some mild stomach upset. This is why it is always better to try to drink a fruit juice that does not contain as much sugar or additives in it.

Taking pomegranate as an herbal supplement is always a more dangerous choice than consuming the fruit alone.

The latter point, I would like to suggest, is a problem not just with pomegranates but the whole panoply of "magic elixirs" so many people imbibe, ingest, and possibly auto-suppository themselves with in a quest for health.

It seems to me the whole supplement industry is built more on a kind of religious sacrament/purification ritual fetish (one that, at best, invokes a bit of placebo response) and at worst is a waste of money on items that might even be toxic in such concentrations.

I remember watching a play once where one of the characters had decided that peas were the perfect food and was attempting to live on nothing but peas for the rest of his life.

After six months, the approach was showing signs of fraying.

Lesson learned?

I only use 1 oz. of pomegranate juice daily. I don't take it as a supplement. I eat the actual fruit, but not daily. So I definitely don't eat or drink too much of it. And I actually love the taste of it! That is not to say the health claims aren't overstated. I'm sure many of the claims associated with superfood are completely unsubstantiated. (I had a nice stint as a lawyer doing FDA/FTC advertising litigation.)

So, no, lesson not learned because I haven't used it as a "magic elixir." I just try to eat lots of fruits and veggies; this is typically viewed as a healthy eating habit. Much better than gu & country ham. :-P

I'm wondering about our use of the terms "speed work," "race pace'" and "lactate tolerance." Q and I were discussing it in Patrick's blog. I had thought that race pace work could be done either way -- as speed work with mega rest or as a lactate tolerance set w/less rest so you were still (and more painfully so) battling the lactate and building power endurance. I was thinking of "race pace" as perceived effort for X distance. Is there a more specific usage of these terms?

Use whatever terminology you think is right. I never say I'm doing a "lactate" set, because 1. I don't care about "lactate" and 2. it sounds weird. Instead, I would say I'm doing "race simulation" if I'm seriously doing a race or something very similar to it all out for time. Because, yeah, that's race simulation. Pretty simple. "Speed work" to me means focusing on a particular rhythm or feeling at high speed. It means low fatigue, because you aren't practicing the end of the race where you die. That's what race simulation is for...

Does that make any sense at all?

What I want to aspire to when I do "race pace" or "race effort" is "race simulation" like Jazz notes. For all the working out that I have done over the years, I honestly think I've done very little "race simulation" in workouts. I need to do more of this. For me, this will mean going from the blocks, really thinking about race strategy/breathing/turns/stroke count and having (for workout) lots of rest and active cool-downs between race efforts. I'm thinking about 5 x 100 sets on 10-12 minutes where I "race simulate" each one and then probably do 200-400 easy swimming during that interval period.

FYI: This will be new for me. I have never done a set like that.

Originally Posted by Jazz Hands

Use whatever terminology you think is right. I never say I'm doing a "lactate" set, because 1. I don't care about "lactate" and 2. it sounds weird. Instead, I would say I'm doing "race simulation" if I'm seriously doing a race or something very similar to it all out for time. Because, yeah, that's race simulation. Pretty simple. "Speed work" to me means focusing on a particular rhythm or feeling at high speed. It means low fatigue, because you aren't practicing the end of the race where you die. That's what race simulation is for...

Does that make any sense at all?

Absolutely. I think race simulation actually describes what I do better than lactate tolerance.

And your description of speed work meshes with my fast 25s and fast 50s approach.

I think most people view LT work, which has an endurance component different than what you describe as RS, as essential for power endurance, i.e., not dying on the last 25 of your 100 fly.

Originally Posted by Jazz Hands

2. it sounds weird.

Clearly, if I am confusing it with lactose intolerance, it's a weird word.

Originally Posted by pwb

What I want to aspire to when I do "race pace" or "race effort" is "race simulation" like Jazz notes. For all the working out that I have done over the years, I honestly think I've done very little "race simulation" in workouts. I need to do more of this. For me, this will mean going from the blocks, really thinking about race strategy/breathing/turns/stroke count and having (for workout) lots of rest and active cool-downs between race efforts. I'm thinking about 5 x 100 sets on 10-12 minutes where I "race simulate" each one and then probably do 200-400 easy swimming during that interval period.

FYI: This will be new for me. I have never done a set like that.

Yeah, I agree. I just wish I could go off blocks. Even at our masters workouts on weekends, the age groupers have the pool with the blocks. Sigh.

Speedo and I have done 3 x 100 @ 9:00 on a couple of occasions. That killed us. So 5 sounds really daunting.

I really think this emphasis on speed will help your mid D races when you return to that emphasis. At least for awhile until the speed & explosiveness wears off. I wonder how long that is? Not right away apparently b/c I still had speed at Zones after my lolly gagging summer. (What I didn't have was any endurance or speed endurance.)

Ironic that yesterday Pomwonderful or whatever it is called is being investigated for over-reaching health claims.

Just remember, no one has ever been diagnosed with an allergy to Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Originally Posted by aquageek

Ironic that yesterday Pomwonderful or whatever it is called is being investigated for over-reaching health claims.

Just remember, no one has ever been diagnosed with an allergy to Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

Fortunately, I wasn't eating pomegranates to prevent prostate or erectile disfunction! Crazy for people to believe claims like that.