Monday And An 80 Mile Solo Time Trial

So my workout (my only workout today) was a solo effort 80 mile time trial. The actual point of today's effort was to get comfortable being on my tri bike in aero position for extended periods and to start working on my nutrition. I use custom and mostly natural foods during my Ironman races and need to know how somethings work (or don't) prior to race day.

And actually aside from the taste of what I prepared last night, my nutrition worked well. I had no bloating issues and was adequately fueled for an effort that took just over 4 hours to complete 82 miles. Physically I was good until about mile 60 as far as being comfortable in aero position. But to be honest, my comfort level had more to do with it being about 103 degrees outside than any shoulder/back/neck stuff from the ride.

The food/fuel I used was new. I tried a liquid fuel based on coconut water, spirulina powder, salt, dates, sesame seeds, chia, almond butter and two scoops of Perpetuem from Hammer Nutrition. The calories for a single 24oz bottle winds up being around 750 highly nutrient dense calories. This blend is a bit different from what I used last year in Arizona but the overall calorie and nutrient make up is similar. Out on the bike for over 4 hours, and with about a bottle and a half of this blend taken in I was never hungry. The cool thing is with liquid, yet nutrient dense nutrition, I don't get the sense of emptiness that can come from some of the commercial products. I also don't experience the dramatic drop in energy that I get when I eat solid food like bars on the bike. As we get closer to Arizona I'll play with the mixture to see if I can get the taste more to my liking because it can be a bit off putting to drink stuff that tastes nasty when it is also hot.

For my fluids I used some new stuff I saw at the store. When I travel it can be hard to find good coconut water (not to mention expensive). I don't drink gatorade or any of the common electrolyte drinks if I can help it. This year I'm experimenting with dried coconut water. It comes in a powder and thus is easy to travel with. The only negative I can see is that it doesn't seem to have the same nutrient makeup and so isn't as calorically dense as regular coconut water. But since I have a good nutrient balance in my liquid fuel I didn't notice any issues even while riding in 100 degree heat for an extended period of time.

All in all, I'm happy with today's effort and the feedback I got.

Nothing Like Starting Out With A Clean Slate

So here I am at the beginning of my training again. And dare I say, hopefully a more committed schedule of everything from writing in this blog, to my strength and yoga work, as well as a more focused nutrition strategy. This winter after IMAZ, I decided I wanted to deal with making my body as healthy as possible prior to getting back into months of serious training. To that end I decided to do a couple of cleanses.

I'm no stranger to clearing things out. For the past couple of years I've done at least one liver/gallbladder flush and at least one kidney cleanse. But this time I'm also going to work on clearing out my intestines and then progressing on to the other two cleanses. The reason for this is simple. If I can clear out all of the crap in my system that these organs deal with then they will function better and I will be a healthier human being. From the perspective of this blog, what this means to me as a triathlete, by clearing out and improving the function of these bodily systems, my body will be able to handle the by products of training (read waste products).

We start with the digestive system because this is where it all begins. If your digestion is less than optimal, then everything goes south from there. For starters it is estimated that as much as 60% of your immune function resides in your gut function, and as endurance athletes we all know what that means. If your digestion is less than optimal, then your immune system function suffers. This means the potential for infection or allergy is heightened and the potential for unscheduled downtime is greater.

The other thing is if the digestion is affected and sub par then the liver and kidneys have to work harder to do their jobs. So once the digestion is supported then I'll turn my attention to the other two organs. So while this is going on my workouts are quite gentle, but frequent. Today there were two runs and two swims. The first was 30-35 min The second one was 15 min on the treadmill. The first swim was with T3 and about 90 min. The second one was 30 min of drills.

Monday - New Workout Template

So, by nature I'm sort of curious. To that I end a week or so ago I decided to change the structure of my training to see what gains could be had with more frequency of training with more structured recovery and nutrition spaced in between. To be honest, I'm going to make this up as I go along and so the potential for a huge, miserable failure is quite possible. But I believe that failure can provide valuable insights on the path toward success so I'm going to try this out and see how it goes. Basically I want to see how much I can train in a day if I eat and recover in between the sessions. Today there were 4 workouts. 2 swims (1 in a wetsuit in open water), 1 run and 1 bike session. Each workout was done at a comfortable pace though as I get used to it I will intersperse some intensity in the mix. After each workout I ate then took a nap or rested on the couch and watched a video. I also did a bit of yoga after the run to keep myself loose. The last swim is more of a restorative easy continuous 1500 meters after about 1000 meters of drills.

Here is some of the food I had today:

1st Breakfast Vanilla Spirulina Milkshake:

2nd Breakfast, Coconut Chia Pudding:

Race Report Jack's Generic Tri, Austin TX

So yesterday was the annual Jack's Generic Triathlon. I must say this has to be one of the best run big (in terms of the number of participants) little (in terms of distance 500m open water swim, 13.8 mi bike, 3 mi run) around. I think the reason I like Jack's is it reminds me of all the reasons I started doing tri's in the first place - fun, swag, camaraderie, and food. The course is well done, there is ready aid everywhere, and the course is challenging even though it isn't long which means it is as good a race for beginners as it is for seasoned athletes. All of this is probably because this is truly a race done by athletes for athletes and its back to basics formula works.

At any rate, I was using Jack's Generic as sort of a systems/equipment check. I wanted to get back on the the tri bike and see how it felt to fire on all cylinders. And I was using a new tri top and short combo that I bought last year but thought I was still just a bit too big for (everything seems to fit perfectly now ;) ). I was also interested to see if my new diet would have a noticeable impact while my body was experiencing the stresses of racing.

What I can say I noticed right off the bat, when I woke up is I felt really relaxed and all of the body tension from the prior week's training seemed to have dissipated. I really didn't feel the need to stretch or create some blood flow to jump start things which is a completely new sensation for me on race morning.

On my way to the race, at about 5:45 AM, the freeway was completely shut down and all traffic was diverted onto the feeder. This didn't look too good but as luck would have it I made all the right choices and was back on my way in pretty short order. I got to the race site a bit later than I would have liked and most of the rack space in my age group was taken but I was able to squeeze my bike in thanks to a kind soul who made some space for me.

I quickly got my stuff arranged and then went down to try out the water. The water was a touch warm considering all the rain we've had here lately but it was also not as smelly as I've remembered it being in the past. I got a good idea of the layout of the buoys and then got ready for my wave.

As I mentioned earlier, this has to be one of the most relaxed pre race mornings I've ever had. The sense of ease in my body was amazing. In fact if I was going to freak out about something it would have been how much at ease I was feeling. I mean there was a lot to I could find to be nervous about. My running though, happening again was way behind schedule due to the dislocated bone in my foot. And the first 3 week block of speed work on the track hadn't happened at all. Work responsibilities had ruined two weeks of training in the pool and on the bike making it possible to only do the bare minimum of work on a single sport per day. Then of course there is the normal apprehension that closely follows a period like that. And I had recently decided to experiment with my diet even more than normal by taking classes from Raw/Vegan Chef Dina Knight. Lower than normal training volume, recent injury, overtime work obligations, and experimenting with a completely new diet all should have added up to a catastrophic racing failure. So there was a lot to be nervous about, but here I was pre race and I was completely at ease.

The swim was pretty uneventful. I was never at all distressed and I came out of the water pretty much in the middle of my wave. Had I pushed the issue I could have finished sooner but I was working on my stroke mechanics and trying out racing using bilateral breathing for the first time ever. I know, I know... Next offseason, I'll start working on flip turns too.

At any rate, I think I had a fairly speedy transition as a result of not being spent on the swim. But the first mile or so on the bike was a bit sketchy and this is where my first small bit of doubt set in. I was feeling some fatigue in my legs and wondered if perhaps my training for the week was going to catch up with me? I had done a couple of sessions of power intervals and a time trial early on in the week. But after a couple of relaxed breaths, my legs loosened up and I settled into a nice cadence. I checked my heart rate monitor and it read 152 - a bit high but way below aerobic threshold so I decided not to fret. My legs felt great and I just started to feel stronger and stronger. The first miles where a blur and I passed about 8 guys in my age group, most as if they were standing still.

Somewhere between mile four and five, I caught one guy in my age group and we battled back and forth. I realized I was a much better climber than he so, I began to really work the inclines. At this point my heart rate had dropped to about 147 and the distress I'd felt at the beginning of the bike was nothing but a distant memory. So I pushed several climbs in a row and lost my shadow around mile 8.

I was still flying, coming up out of a valley and into the last series of hills before the mad downhill sprint to transition when I felt the instability in my rear wheel. Crap! As I rode past a guy in one of the prior waves, I asked him to check my back tire. Yep, he confirms that it's flat. Basically that ended my race. I wasn't able to change the tire because I was running my racing wheels and hadn't brought a tube with a long enough stem.

A couple of days later, looking over the results I saw that at the time of my flat I was in 3rd place in my age group and about 12 minutes up on time from the prior year. I'm pretty happy with that. I felt I was having a good race. And I was enjoying myself. I think the strategy of paying more attention to my diet and recovery this year is paying off.

Can Food Make You Fitter?

So I've finally been able to start running and have done 2 runs in the last 3 days over 30 minutes without foot pain. Basically while seeing my acupuncturist for some help sleeping, I was able to get some help with the last bit of swelling/trauma in my foot from the dislocation in Boulder. 3 weeks off of running doesn't appear to have hurt me at all. Today's run of close to an hour could have gone longer if I'd eaten more. But hey, I'll take what I got. I'll run again tomorrow after my bike ride and swim to finish out the day.

Recently, I renewed my commitment to eat more nutrient dense food. And while I ate relatively well during the week when I was off work, my choices on the weekends while working weren't always the best due to time constraints and energy levels. I think I did a great job last year making changes that made me a stronger and more capable athlete with the eating pattern I used in the 8 weeks leading up to Ironman Arizona. And while I still adhere to those eating principles now, I have wondered what would happen if I went even further? What if I took better care with my meals during my work week? What if I added more variety and nutrient density? What if I gave up things that probably weren't serving my overall goal to become fitter? And could food make me fitter?

Well to find out I hired a personal chef. A vegan/raw personal chef who would not only assist me with making food for me to eat during my work week (Friday through Sunday), but would also show me how make this type of food for myself. Honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into. But as it turned out, this is one of those things you sometimes do with only the vaguest of notions yet becomes something more than you could have ever dreamed.

To put it simply, I have never felt stronger or healthier in my life. Last year when I changed my diet and started my eating pattern in the weeks before Ironman, that change did more for me in 2 weeks than 9 months of training. It was huge. More lean muscle, less fatigue, faster recovery, you name it. But this, change goes beyond even that. The food I have been eating is delicious, and filling, and good for me. It seems both restorative and supportive at the same time. I have more energy and I feel stronger. I know this week I was lifting more weight easily in my workout and running and cycling have felt effortless.

I certainly can't speak for everyone, but in my experience paying attention to my diet is paying a lot higher rate of return than killing myself with volume and intensity. Who knew?

Wednesday Is Fuel Day

So there was no training today. Well that's not entirely true. I spent the afternoon and early evening "training" with vegan/raw food chef Dina Knight. She is working with me to optimize my nutrition while simultaneously reducing my food preparation time. No small feat. But she managed to help me organize my kitchen and show me how to make these tasty raw fajitas.

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How I Eat Now & Why

So lately, I've had a few people asking about my diet. Aside from the weight loss perspective, which is way overrated, most of the people asking are the ones who've noticed the benefits I've enjoyed from it. Personally I look at how I eat as less of a "diet" and more of a "pattern of eating" that allows me to do what I like doing which is to work out "A LOT". But aside from allowing me to workout more frequently and with higher intensities, there are other benefits too.

These are some I've noticed:

• Lower resting heart rate
• More restful sleep in less time
• More lean muscle/strength and flexibility
• Healthier skin/hair
• More energy
• Better concentration
• Better moods
• Faster recovery

I started using this pattern of eating about 8 weeks before Ironman Arizona with the intent of reverting to a more conventional style of eating once the race was over. The changes I noticed in 2 weeks were so staggering, I decided to keep eating the same way after the race. I think the reason for the change was I had a sense that I was short on training time and my body wasn't ready for the physical challenge of an Ironman. Because I felt I couldn't "work out" enough, I had to figure out a way to create the necessary transformation in the time I had left. It occurred to me if I could pack my body with as many nutrients as I could leading up to the race, then at least my body had a chance to be "nutritionally" ready even if it wasn't physically up to the task. But after 2 weeks I was so much stronger, more flexible and visibly fitter, I knew I was on to something. So the eating "pattern" is pretty simple. I start the day with food in liquid form (fresh juices of fruits and veggies) moving from juice to smoothies. Snack on nuts and seeds. As the day progresses fruits and salad are eaten depending on appetite. Eat what I want for dinner.

Now some details.

The juices are from seasonal fruits and vegetables, particularly leafy greens like kale, collards, spinach, and chard. But also there are things like carrots, broccoli, asparagus and parsley. I also always include beets because they promote healthy liver function which aids in systemic detoxification. The fruits used can vary according to personal taste and seasonal availability, but they also add volume to the total juice yield. I like to use grapes, oranges, blueberries, grapefruit, pineapple and watermelon. The goal is to make the juices as nutrient dense as possible creating a liquid food that is high in quality but low in calories. I drink about 24 to 32oz of juice like this daily and this is typically "first and second" breakfast. I don't worry too much about calories but from past experience 8oz of juice is probably about 150 calories which is enough for me to start my day mildly satiated for a couple of hours before drinking more juice. It also allows for a morning workout not impeded by feeling stuffed and sluggish. But more importantly if you were to take the term "Break Fast" literally, you would start eating after a fast, even one lasting 10 or so hours, moderately allowing your system a chance to "warm" up to heavier digestive work later on.

Once the liquid food is done, then I'll make a smoothie. There are some similarities between the juice and the smoothie in terms of what goes into making it but as a base I start with a blend of coconut water and coconut milk. The coconut water provides a good supply of electrolytes while the coconut milk adds some base nutrients and needed fat. From there frozen fruits and veggies are added again. One difference from smoothies you may by around town is I add lots of leafy greens (usually frozen, but not always) to this. Typically as it is easier to juice the stalks of the greens in the juicer, so I save the leaves for the smoothies. Aside from fruits and veggies and I few things I don't or can't juice, I add goji berries, stevia (if I need something a little sweeter), a blend of hemp, rice, and pea proteins, powdered chlorella, E3 Live (a green algae superfood), chia seeds, flax seed, pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts and dates.

Interestingly the combination of vegetable proteins from the greens and the hemp, rice and pea protein powder seems to work better for me in building muscle than when I used a single source like hemp or soy alone. Also there is some new research on pea protein that suggests it aids in efficient kidney function. Better kidney function = healthier system overall. Again think detoxification.

Basically, if its good for me or has a purpose nutritionally its either in the juice or the smoothie. If I won't eat it cooked or raw but is healthy, its probably in either the juice or the smoothie where I can disguise the taste enough to drink it. Between the juice and the smoothie, I get more than enough servings of fruits and veggies and a whole slew of things I probably should eat but couldn't get enough of if I was eating solid food all day. And that's the reason I started eating this way. From everything I've read, we don't get enough quality nutrition in the typical American diet to support optimal health hence widespread issues our society faces with obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Also by drinking juice and smoothies, I save my system the trouble of having to break down a bunch of solid food and nutrients are available in greater amounts more quickly. Its a question of time and energy. Energy I'm now not using to break down food is energy that is saved for other things like working out, recovery, or just reading a book. Less energy and time spent digesting food is more energy and time to do other stuff that is more important to me. If I save an hour this way, that's an hour I could be working out or recovering from working out. The solid food I eat at the end of my day, a few hours before bed, provides fiber and gives me the sensation fullness. It lets me eat normally and socially and keeps me from feeling as though I'm depriving myself of the foods I enjoy. I still eat things I like, just not all day long. Also by eating this meal last and before bed, my body has all night to digest the food while I'm asleep thus eliminating the feeling of drowsiness I used to feel when I ate solid food all day.

Book Review: The Thrive Diet

A few weeks ago I read The Thrive Diet by Brendan Brazier. It took me all of 3 hours. Not to say I read fast. The time spent reading just flew by because so much of what the book talks about, I've believed for some time. I just wasn't implementing it all. So for the last 2 weeks I've been applying what I learned from the book and implementing what I already knew and have to say I'm hooked. At first I only committed to eat this way until after IMAZ. But as I write this blog I realize I'm probably going to eat this way from now on. Bottom line is not only do I feel better, but my training has gotten better as well.

The book in a nutshell is Brazier's contribution to the nutrition side of training, racing and recovery. Normally when I read books about nutrition, especially about training related nutrition, I come away more than a little disappointed. Having been a vegetarian for more than 20 years, I get a little disturbed with what I consider largely as misinformation about athletes choosing a completely vegetable based diet. Unfortunately, it is its vegetable based nature that is probably why Brazier's book isn't discussed and considered as a serious option for optimal eating, training, and racing more.

Brazier takes time to explain that eating in the majority of North American culture is not for function but other emotional and social reasons. This is why the typical diet is one of excess in quantity and lacking in actual nutrition. He points out that eating less is an option when the body has the proper nutrition to fuel its activity and recovery. Brazier explains a lower caloric intake is actually beneficial to an endurance athlete in particular because when higher nutrient sources are used in easily digestible forms, the body has more energy available for recovery and performance. It is his opinion that it is because of improper nutrition that people find themselves craving things like sugar and fat in excess which then throws the body out of balance. Over time the accumulated stresses of training and racing loads along with suboptimal eating patterns combine to set up a vicious cycle of poor eating, impaired or interrupted training and recovery, and a lower overall quality of life that many simply call burn out. Prolonged, the state of imbalance caused by faulty eating and the resultant stresses sets up a cycle leading to illness, premature aging and increased body fat. The accumulated stresses Brazier links to poor eating become more and more noticeable to the athlete as they begin limit the ability to train consistently and recover adequately. Though personally I find his tendency to lump the myriad of consequences of poor eating under the singular umbrella he refers to as "stress," I found his knowledge on the subject of nutrition and its effects on health and athletic recovery very sound.

Essentially Brazier looks at food as fuel, some fuels burning cleaner and more efficiently in the body than others and thus take less energy to digest fully while creating less waste, or in Braziers language, stress in the body. He is careful to state that training and racing are also forms of stress placed on the body noting that some stresses are beneficial for growth and development. What Brazier attempts to do with the Thrive Diet is to have our food support that growth by taking the wasteful and stressful aspects food can have on our bodies out of the equation of nutrition and performance. This in his words leads to not only a stronger, leaner body capable of racing better, but a person who is healthier and happier overall and more likely to reach and experience their true potential.

While the Thrive Diet in practice is not complex, it is vegan and largely raw, and it does run counter to what most Americans would consider a balanced meal. And overall it is probably lower in calories. But after following just a couple of the guidelines in the diet closely for the last couple of weeks a few things stand out.

The cover of Brazier's book claims by following this way of eating you will be leaner (have a lower body fat percentage), while increasing lean muscle mass, sleep more restfully, experience increased energy, and have a stronger immune system. From my experience over the last few weeks, I can honestly say Brazier's claims have all been on the mark. I have lost about 5 pounds and definitely look more muscular. But what is most amazing to me has been the recovery time I've seen. Workouts that would have left me using the railing in my house to get up and down the stairs for about 24 hours because my legs were so trashed are now a thing of the past. I am also getting by on far less sleep and still feeling rested. Daily runs are also looking more and more possible which would be a huge boost to my future overall fitness I'm sure. And all I'm doing is adhering more strongly to the notion that the more nutrients in my diet the better. I'm drinking several glasses of organic fruit and vegetable juice a day along with a protein smoothie. I have also lowered the consumption of Soy where possible. I have found I need to be more conscious of the quality and amount of beneficial fat in my diet and I'm looking into sources to include this. But to say I've seen a dramatic transformation in just 3 weeks would be an understatement. If you are serious about your triathlon performance, and just the overall quality of you experience of your life in general, I highly suggest you give Thrive a look.

What a Difference a Little Persistence Can Make

Wow!!! There is nothing like visual confirmation that something you've been working at for a very long time is coming to fruition. For me this year was really about doing some races and addressing the area of changing my body composition so that I could see some economy benefits in cycling and running. What a difference a year and three months, some exercise, more sleep and about 60 days of counting calories can make. Even I am shocked by these pictures. The cool thing is I haven't been training more than a few hours a week since Thanksgiving. And I haven't counted calories since then either. I've been taking things pretty easy, enjoying my unstructured training time and doing a little yoga here and there.

A little over a year ago, I started out with just a goal of becoming fitter and healthier, and maybe doing a few races. I can't begin to tell you how many times along the way I was sure nothing was happening or that I was sliding backwards instead of moving forward. So whatever your goals are for the coming year keep working at them and you will see results. Here's a bit of proof and hopefully some inspiration. Happy New Year everyone!

Photos on the left taken 08-17-07. Photos on the right taken 12-29-08

Fueling By The Numbers

This is day 47 of eating according to caloric necessity. I must say, I've marvelled at the changes in my body composition from the simple mathematics involved in eating only as much as necessary to reach a fitness goal. As I mentioned in my other post about the calorie counting, I arrived at the conclusion to start doing this because there was really no other alternative that I could see to get the results I wanted. My food choices were already almost totally organic. I'd adopted and adapted a vegetarian paleo diet with a Warrior diet schedule. I was sleeping more, and more consistently. And my training was good, my intensity varied. I did P90X for Pete's sake! But still my weight wasn't dropping below 156 pounds. And this was about 14 pounds heavier than my prior racing weight.

The idea formed slowly. It came almost as a whisper.

"What if you are eating too much food?"

There was only one way to find out. That was to do the math and look at the numbers. Then I could compare the numbers with what I was actually eating by keeping a food diary. Needless to say the numbers were depressing. But the information was valuable because it was the truth. I think as human beings and as athletes we all can have an enormous potential for self deceit. It isn't something to be ashamed of, but we need to be aware of it and face the consequences squarely if we are to grow both as human beings and as athletes. To me that is what the journey of triathlon is really all about. It is about coming to understand who we truly are in both success and failure.

So what did I find out about myself? I found that I was eating on average around 3500 to 4000 calories per day. This was way too much. For simple weight maintenance on with my normal workout volume 2500 should have been adequate. 3000 if my training became really intense. But not only did I need to reduce my caloric intake, I would also need to lose weight to get back to my ideal size to race well. The math basically says 3500 calories equals 1 pound. So in order to lose a pound a week, I could either work out more to burn an additional 3500 calories. This equates roughly into about an extra 7 hours of workout time per week. Or I could subtract 500 calories per day from my diet, also totalling 3500 calories. Naturally, I took the latter approach.

After 47 days, my results so far speak for themselves. I currently weigh 146.5 pounds. But what I was unprepared for was the incredible increase I've had in both stamina and energy. I'm actually sleeping about an hour less per day. I've also noticed increased flexibility without additional time spent practicing yoga. I noticed a similar increase in flexibility when I changed to a totally organic diet. I don't really have a scientific reason for this but I think our bodies are more flexible and energetic when they aren't burdened with the chore of having to digest the excess food we sometimes tend to consume. I'd also like to point out you don't even really need to drop the additional 500 calories per day if you felt you wanted to lose a pound or two. All that might be necessary would be to find out what the difference is between your current/normal food intake and the suggested caloric intake for your body type, weight and activity level. Just eating the proper amount of calories if you find you are eating to much will have the effect of normalizing your weight. But I will also say, don't do any of this without first consulting a dietitian or your health care provider.

After a Week of Tracking Calories...

I only have one thing to say. OK. That first sentence is a lie. But if I could keep my comments about tracking calories down to a single item, I'd probably say I should have done this a long time ago. I know I should have done it while I was doing P90X last winter (so if you are going to be trying P90X, take the time, calculate the calories, and watch the new you emerge). And I certainly should have done it when I was transitioning from racing to off season training. Jeez. The funny thing of it was, I had an inkling the off season weight gain was the result of my appetite and my training being out of sync. Basically my food intake was still at summer/racing levels, but my activity had gone into recovery/off season mode. The big thing that I find so amazing is just how little food 2000 or even 2500 calories actually amounts to. With that information alone, I'm able to better assess portion sizes and make better judgements on how much food is needed to fuel my body appropriately without excess.

I'm not really sure why I never looked at the discrepancy between how much I was eating and how much I actually needed to eat more closely. Perhaps it was no big deal a few years ago to shed 8 pounds in a month and start racing. Now of course losing that last 8 pounds has been like pulling teeth. And since I've already eliminated most culprits for stubborn and unwanted weight like HFC's (high fructose corn syrup), junk food of all persuasions (chips, cookies, desserts, ect.), and any and all processed foods from my diet, there actually wasn't much else I could do other than quit my job and work out more.

After a week of limiting my caloric intake, one thing is blatantly obvious. I was just eating way too much food. Based on my estimates from what I'm eating now and my current activity level, I'm eating about half of what I was eating before on some days. Granted there is about a 500 calorie deficit in the equation for losing a pound a week for 8 weeks. But as near as I can figure based on the size and frequency of meals I was eating prior to this, I had to be consuming between 3000 and 4000 calories a day. That's great if triathlon is your day job and you work out over 20 hours a week. But not if you aren't. The net result of this has been I'm simply amazed at how little food 2000 calories is. I'm not starving mind you. But this has really opened my eyes to how much food is necessary versus how much I was habitually eating.

Fortunately, it wasn't always this way for me. I'm also feeling 2000 calories was probably about what I was eating per day when I was younger. This all changed with the advent of a live-in girlfriend. When she left unfortunately my eating habits didn't go with her. Oh well. Live and learn. Hopefully, none of you will have to learn this lesson the way I did. I definitely chose the "hard" way on this one.

Oh, in case you were wondering what 2000 calories looks like, here is a day from last week. Another thing this has brought to my attention is the invisible "liquid" calories I was consuming.

Lemonade 8oz 110
Super Protein Juice 45
mushrooms 100
4 baby carrots 16
3 strawberrries 6
½ banana 50
pineapple 15
hemp protien 30
green food 20
Super Protein 6oz 95
Super Food 2oz 42
Greens Bar 12:30pm 250
Lemonade 8oz 110
½ veggieburger 8:30pm 170
½ fries 200
Lemon/Chive Drsg 1tsp 25
Switch Soda 140
Grapefruit 10:00pm 62
Smoothie 11:30pm 394

Total Calories: 1880

Your Body Is Precision Instrument

I would be well advised to keep that sentiment in mind. For the last couple of weeks I've been attempting to deconstruct my body's apparent mutiny against all things training related. Honestly, it wasn't really all that difficult and it didn't take a PhD to figure it out. My work schedule at the latter part of the summer was abysmal. (You know, maybe there is something to my mom's assertion that the use of profanity is for those who lack the vocabulary to express themselves appropriately. (Did you notice my use of the word "abysmal?" If you did can you tell my mom?) At any rate if that wasn't enough, when both my Naturopath and Acupuncturist used the same phrase to describe my sudden onset of chronic fatigue, "Low Kidney Chi," I knew I wasn't gonig to like what came next. But don't ask me what the phrase means exactly. All I know is that in their traditions the kidneys are the energy stores that come into play AFTER the adrenals. So when you burn through the adrenals and deplete the kidneys, you've essentially dug through the bottom of the well. When they both looked at me with those, "You poor, poor dear" eyes, I knew my season was done. Crap.

But I digress. Looking back at my year, I can see that my training, when following a set pattern yields consistent fitness gains. What I can also see is that when my schedule is changed I begin to "wing" my training attempting to fit in the same number of workouts with less recovery and/or sleep. I also notice when this compression of my workouts comes into play, my carefully crafted diet also gets shot full of holes. It is just one short fast downward spiral from there. "Game over, player one."

But now after a couple of weeks of low intensity work, consistent rest and restoring my prior eating habits everything seems to be looking up. I've upped the intensity of my workouts recently but kept their duration modest. Nothing much over 2 hours and I've been consciously finishing my workouts with plenty of energy left.

This winter I want to spend some time addressing some things to get ready for next season. I'll have to deal with my job because this is be biggest challenge I face not only with regard to my training and racing, but simply with my overall health and well being. I also want to deal with my body composition. I made a lot of headway in this area over the last couple of years but I could still lose about 7 pounds. Losing this weight would go a long way to improving my running speed/economy. To do this I put some of that Personal Trainer knowledge I've acquired over the last couple of years and started some serious calorie counting. Don't worry, its all very scientific. I don't plan on losing more than a pound a week.

The next area I plan to address is my swimming. My swimming was affected by my decision early in the year to take the Yoga Teacher training class. This was followed by the 6 weeks of recovery and rehab after my bike wreck. For some reason I wasn't comfortable putting a lot of stress on the arm so, I pretty much babied my swims in races and in practice. Over the course of the winter I'll be doing a lot of long sets for base/strength to address my lack of actual time in the water this spring.

Last but not least my cycling has to get much better. I'd like it to be better than when I stopped racing 6 years ago, but at this point I'll settle for just as good. Thanks to aging, most guys in my age group can't ride as fast as I was riding so that's fine with me. :) This winter I'm going to focus on power more. My pedal stroke doesn't appear to break down so I'll spend less time on economy. I'll do more sets with turning over bigger gears faster now. We'll see what happens with that. As I get more specific I'll keep you up to date with what I'm seeing as far as results are concerned. Well, I'd better get back to work.

How Are You Gonna Eat?

The other day I was hanging out at a Tri shop when a couple of the local pro's came in after their day of working out which from their conversation was a brick consisting of a 4 or 5 hour long ride followed by a 10 mile run.

When asked by someone in the shop if they were going to eat something, one of the athletes said he was okay for another 30 minutes or so because he'd had a sports drink and a bar within the last hour or so. After hanging out for a bit the two then discussed what they would eat for dinner. Long story short, they were eating pizza. Yep. Pizza. The kind you get from Dominoes or Mr Gatti's.

I think it was then I started thinking about the questions we ask ourselves in life. Basically, I'm coming to understand that it is far more important to ask the right questions than to know the "right" answer. When we finish our training, or race, or even when we wake up in the morning the question that comes to mind immediately is "What am I going to eat?" Seems like a logical question. And most of us will answer it with a mental inventory that is a mixture of what might be on hand, our learned eating habits, and our cravings. Because of the conversation the two in the tri shop had, I have decided to ask myself a different question, "How am I going to eat today?"

By asking myself "how" I am going to eat as opposed to "what" I am going to eat I find I am opening myself to other possibilities and choices. For instance, am I eating to fuel, or to recover, or to detox? Or some combination of the three? And once the "how" is answered then I can move to the "what." The "what" at this point supports the "how" which in turn supports me and my goals.

I think it is common for most people to assume that because they exercise, they can eat as they wish. I know I once did. But now I'm beginning to feel that exercise should allow us to tune in to our bodies so that we come to refine our eating much as we refine our equipment based on race conditions.

Wish You Were Here

This was an awesome day to be in Austin, Tx.

Aside from the weather, today's workouts were pretty good.

I rode for about an hour and a half with DuShun and his buddy Dave. For the most part this ride was pretty tame except for the parts where DuShun found the motor on his bike and hit the gas. Hard. I have sort of a love/hate relationships with these rides. They are excellent tests of my fitness and my cycling skills. And today showed I have improved a lot. There was no watching DuShun roll away from me on the slightest incline. There was no heart rate explosion while trying to catch DuShun. There was no falling off his wheel when he went to sprint. Today I covered every move. And I didn't go into my red zone to do it. I was right there with his wheel as my single point of focus for every single move except the last climb to the finish. It wasn't that I didn't go for it because I did. I didn't get a flat tire either. No. What happened was I got completely owned by a better rider.

I really need to see if I can get a bike shop to loan me some sort of power meter to put on DuShun's bike. Because the speed that he flew up that last climb today was just unreal. X-files unreal. My guess his he had to be pushing well over 1000 watts. And he was seated. Did I mention DuShun doesn't climb out of the saddle much? It was just plain scary.

After my ride I came home and ate a small bowl of oatmeal, a banana, a glass of fresh juice, and some almonds. Then I went for a 10 mile walk. This took about 3 hours. I like long walks like this because they seem to help my legs recover faster from the daily running. This is the second 10 mile walk I've done this week and I've still managed to run every day as planned. After the walk I stopped at Daily Juice and had a small Cosmic Trigger.

This was a really, really good smoothie. But an even better long workout day fuel source. I had no problems with fatigue or dehydration or nutrient deficiencies after a small cup of this stuff. These are the ingredients: blueberry, cherry, banana, fresh coconut water, raw cacao, raw maca, hemp protein, raw almond butter, flax oil, extra virgin coconut oil, vanilla, spirulina, Himalayan Salt, raw agave nectar, camu camu powder, msn sulfur.

All I know is after this thing I was able to run 3 miles then swim for 3000m.

I finished off the day with a big salad. Now I'm going to bed.

Book Review: The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler

I finished reading The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler about 3 weeks ago. So I've had some time to try it out. To be honest, while a good deal of the book is devoted to the diet, a good 1/4 of the book talks about working out. In this context the book details not so much a diet or eating program but a way of living and thinking.

The basic premise of the book is similar to what I've heard about the Paleo Diet. Basically if you aren't familiar with that particular viewpoint, it works something like this. Modern society, with its abundant food and all of the chemicals that go into creating and cultivating it, has basically stripped humans of the diet they were intended to eat. By having an endless, readily available, and highly synthetic food supply, we have created many of the health issues we now experience like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and cancer. By moving to a diet that emulates the foods and portions that our ancestors ate we can eliminate many of the ills we suffer. In this regard the Paleo Diet and The Warrior Diet agree. Where they differ in small detail is the types of foods that are eaten. Where they differ in larger detail is the size, timing and spacing of meals.

The Warrior Diet advocates what the author Ori Hofmekler (a sort of latter day renaissance man, being an author, former soldier, a painter, and a scientist) calls the "Warrior Cycle." The cycle is made up of an "undereating phase" where minimal calories are consumed in the form of fresh organic fruit and vegetable juices, some nuts such as raw, organic almonds, fresh water, poached or boiled eggs, whey or milk protein shakes. The goal is to simply sustain and not to satisfy your body's hunger until the evening meal.

The evening meal is what is called the "overeating phase." During this phase, you are allowed to eat as much as you can until you are full. But there are some caveats about what to eat and in what order that are pretty detailed. Too detailed to describe or explain adequately on my blog. But the basic gist of this approach is to consume most of your calories during the overeating phase prior to retiring.

The reason Hofmekler gives for this constant cycling from undereating to overeating is that this is probably the way our ancestors ate when they awoke each morning confronted with the task of finding food. Throughout the day they ate enough to sustain their hunt and feasted at night when they caught their prey. Hofmekler posits it is the cycle of eating that allowed their bodies to remain lean and their systems to purge the toxins of eating and living from their systems more frequently and easily. He makes a strong case for the toxic build up seen in people living modern societies being caused by the practice eating large meals throughout the day which do not allow our bodies time to cleanse themselves. Couple this with the advent of readily available processed foods in super sized portions and the current obesity epidemic becomes completely understandable when viewed through Hofmekler's eyes.

I tried the diet for about a week. I found it doable but difficult. Especially for an active triathlete. After 3 days I was so hungry no amount of juice, fruit and nuts was going to sustain me until dinner. I will admit Ori does advise more food during the undereating phase for active people and professional athletes. But even with this in mind, I was not able to train at pre diet levels. I just found the choices presented in the diet's undereating phase too limited for me to sustain the level of training I was accustomed to. What surprised me was that while I had no problems with the hunger portion of the day, by day 5 I had lost my desire to train. To me this was a sign of nutrient imbalance. This is not to say Hofmekler's claims of clarity and more energy were wrong. I had plenty of that. What I lacked was desire to go outside and work out. I also lacked the desire to work out inside. So I knew something for me was amiss nutritionally. I wound up after a week of eating more in the "spirit" of The Warrior Diet than in actual hard core practice by keeping the food I consumed during the day on the lighter and rawer side. But I didn't restrict my caloric intake in any way going back to a more intuitive consumption pattern which I felt was already working for me.

I also found it somewhat hard to consume the lions share of my calories in one meal. Eating so many calories at one time not only started to make me nauseous, but also tended to make it hard for me to sleep unless I had my main meal earlier in the evening. To be fair, this could have contributed to training lethargy I experienced. But I also found having such a large meal earlier, due to the prep time necessary, also conflicted with the timing of my evening workouts. In theory, I think The Warrior Diet offers some insights which are worth considering in anyone's fitness journey. I would recommend the book on the soundness of some of Hofmeklers diet insights alone. However, in practice for my training requirements, I found the way of the warrior not so much my personal cup of tea.

If you want to see some of my personal thoughts on eating click here.

My Thoughts on Fueling - Real Food for Real People

I tend to separate my thinking about time this way. "Before Triathlon Hiatus, or BH" and After Triathlon Hiatus, or AH" The ability to view my tendencies from both perspectives has given me more than a few insights. Getting back into triathlons made me think a lot about training. When I look back on the type and amount of training I did before or "BH," all I can say is I did a lot of things very, very wrong. And it showed in the results I got. But I can say that I had started to change before I got sidetracked by my life. What stands out now, and what was beginning to become apparent back then is triathlon is really about being able to grasp "wholeness." In life we spend so much time taking things apart, breaking them down into their unique components that we sometimes do not see the bigger picture. Triathlon falls easily into this category. We often see it as three different sports and train according to this view. Our workouts mimic those of the swimmers, cyclists, and runners we sometimes try to emulate.

The problem is we aren't just swimmers, cyclists, and runners. We are each of these things and we are more. And our body's requirements for training stimulus, fuel and recovery, while somewhat similar, can still be markedly different from the requirements of athletes concentrating only on one of these sports. We need to acknowledge that and then plan/train accordingly.

Looking at my own life I had to start with a long look at the foods I was eating. For physical and personal reasons, I had already made a choice to eat what I felt was the best diet for me by becoming a vegetarian after college. But a vegetarian diet, while being good for overall long term health, can be lacking in essentials like B vitamins and iron. There is also the question of making sure I got enough quality sources of protein. Now I supplement these to ensure my overall health.

As I planned my "AH" transition back into the sport I started some new dietary habits and let go of some old ones that I think have helped. Things I have changed:

1. I no longer drink energy drinks that I do not make myself or are not 100% natural. Yep, no Gatorade, no Powerade, no AllSport, and no RedBull (I never drank this stuff anyway. It had way too much sugar and caffeine to be useful in training which is why they now market it as liquid speed). In place of these I use Ultima. There are a couple of reasons for this, my main one being my teeth will probably thank me when I'm older. But I also just started drinking a lot more water (on the order of 10 - 15 8oz glasses a day depending on training load, eating more fruits, and riding with a Camelbak on rides lasting over 2 hours. I've used this hydration protocol for over 2 years now and so far I haven't encountered any problems except a recent ride that had disgusting water so I was forced to use Powerade.

2. I no longer use refined sugars. No more cookies, candies, or cakes unless I make them myself, are 100% organic and use low glycemic sweeteners in place of sugar. Instead I eat more servings of fruit, on the order of 8 to 10 servings daily, both whole and in smoothies. I am finding my caloric needs as well as my hydration requirements are being better met by doing this than using sports drinks. In place of refined sugars I am using Agave Nectar and Stevia. I am finding I have fewer sugar cravings these days and my energy levels are more consistent.

3. No more fried foods. No potato chips, no french fries. These just made me feel gross no matter how good they may smell or taste.

4. Eat more frequent meals throughout the day. Once I started doing P90X along with my normal workouts, it became very apparent three meals was not going to be enough. This is where extra servings of fruit and vegetables comes in handy. These extra meals are "nutrient dense." And once I made the shift to more natural organic foods I found my actual meal sizes decreased. I assume this is because the foods I now eat provide more actual essential nutrition allowing me to eat smaller portions while getting more actual usable food. This is just a guess but I think it is probably correct. The big reason for larger and larger portions in our societies is probably because the foods we get from fast food chains or processed/manufactured foods is calorie dense and nutrient poor.

5. Take more meals in liquid form. This is by no means every meal. But out of 6 meals I shoot for at least one smoothie and one glass of fresh juice daily. I currently use both a Vitamix (Yeah, I own a blender that can mill grain or knead bread) and a Juicer to prepare nutrient dense juices and smoothies made from fresh organic fruits and vegetables. I use various recipes for fruits and veggies as recovery drinks, snacks, and full meals depending on the combinations of the foods I choose. I am also making and eating more soups year round. The reasons for this are many but the two that stick out most are that by taking more meals in liquid or semi liquid form, I am making it easier for my system to digest the food and get the necessary nutrients into my system more quickly.

6. Buy organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible. This was one of the easiest changes I think I made. For a long time I didn't think the expense and effort necessary to find organic foods was worth the trouble. The major selling point for me, aside from the possible health benefits, was simply taste. I cook most of my meals myself and I found the taste of the food I was preparing was superior when I used organic foods in my dishes. This in turn made it more appealing to prepare my own foods and stick with eating them.

7. As much as possible drink only pure water from a trusted source. This is sort of an add on to the first change but I feel it deserves its own mention. I came to this conclusion after I stopped using the common sports drinks. When I drank sports drinks, I often still felt thirsty. That sensation of thirst ceased when I relied only on water and Ultima. Then I noticed I drank more water when I started having my water delivered in glass containers. I also noticed I stopped drinking water out of fountains and other sources and started to carry extra bottles with me or in my car. I can only assume the reason for the change in my behavior was taste. If the water you drink tastes good, you drink more of it. Drinking more water also allows you to flush toxins from your body which is necessary for optimum health.

8. I no longer use gels or many of the common bars on the market. I either make my own training foods for rides and runs or I eat Garden of Life Whole Food Bars. Aside from being made from whole fruits and vegetables, these bars include probiotics which aid digestion. Healthy digestion is essential for a properly functioning immune system. And for endurance athletes especially, a strong immune system is a must.

In addition to the benefits to my training and recovery, these changes seem to have enhanced my overall sense of wellbeing. I just feel better about everything now and honestly tend to get a lot more done both in my training and in my personal life. It makes you wonder how much social and personal emotional turmoil could be caused by poor nutrition alone. Personally, I believe everyone's nutritional needs vary widely so developing a fueling/nutrition plan is something that requires as much attention and insight as you would put into any other area of your life you find meaningful like your training/racing or your work. But I also feel most people, whether they are athletically minded or not, would benefit just from drinking more pure water, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, and limiting the use of processed foods (especially sugar) whenever possible. And hey, Chuckie V says as much on his blog so it must be true.