Tag Archives: Diet & Nutrition

Thumbnail Sketch of My Training – No Wasted Miles

Posted on April 30, 2018 by | Leave a comment

I’m often asked about my training regimen, and while I blog about specifics here and there in various posts, I thought I’d pull together a more complete view of how I train.

This post covers:

  • Suggested books & experts worth checking out
  • LSD vs HIT
  • My “No Wasted Miles” Philosophy
  • Example Run Workouts
  • Example Cross-Fit & Weight-lifting Workouts
  • Breathing
  • Nutrition & Fasting
  • Race Results

DISCLAIMER: Always consult a professional before embarking on any training program or regimen. I am sharing for informational purposes only – I am NOT a professional coach, trainer or medical expert.

Recommended Resources

Books:

Coaches:

  • Power Speed Endurance (PSE) – I’ve worked with the experts AT PSE over the past two years, first in 2016 for Uberman and this year ramping up the for the Zion 100 ultra-marathon. They have a huge bank of free resources, and you can pay $100/year to access their daily workout programs.
  • Kevin Coady at TriForce– I worked with Kevin for most recent two Ironman triathlons in 2011 and 2013. Following his programs, I reduced Ironman time by almost exactly 60 minutes, from 12:59:20 in 2010 to 11:59:49 in 2011 on the same course. Then in 2013, I reduced my time down to 11:20 at IroNman Asia-Pacific in Melbourne.

SWITCHING FROM LSD TO HIT

I used to believe in LSD Training: Long Slow Distance. That got me through my first Ironman races and early endurance running because that’s what everyone told me I needed to do. (“Just get in the miles…”)  Then I made a switch to a High Intensity Training (HIT), first starting during my latter Ironman training when my wife introduced us to Cross-Fit. But still, I wasn’t a full convert. I continued to straddle between weight-lifting/Cross-Fit workouts and still believing that I needed to log long miles.

As I ramped up training for Uberman in 2016, I hit the limit. In a single week in July 2016, my training included (See: “Uberman Training Update”):

  • Swim: 32,000 yards (18.35 miles)
  • Bike: 151.5 miles
  • Run: 20 miles
  • Weightlifting: Two (2) short sessions focused on posterior chain and stability I was out of time and energy to do any more distance in a week.

The final switch was made after a consulting session with Brian MacKenzie at PSE Endurance in July 2016. After sharing my LSD training schedule with Brian, he told me – “The engine is built. You don’t need to do any more distance. You need to build your strength so that your muscles don’t breakdown.” [paraphrase]

Now as a full convert to HIT, I’m baffled by how often people measure progress by their weekly mileage. This is usually the wrong metric to use, because it doesn’t measure how one is improving on their strength, speed and endurance. It’s just a tally. Sure, it’s important to be able to run a fundamental minimum of base miles without stressing or injuring your body. That’s sort of table stakes for any kind of long-distance running.

But after those baseline miles, the rest of the miles are just a vanity metric. Do you really gain that much more from running the extra 20 or 30 miles in a week? Yes, there is marginal benefit, and that comes at a marginal cost of time and injury. I’d rather use that time to strengthen (or rest!) so that when I’m out on the course, my body can withstand the constant pounding it’s taking with every step.

No Wasted Miles

I don’t need to run 100 or 50 or even 40 miles in a week because I’m extremely efficient in my training, and I measure that which matters most to my training.  My workouts and training measure my level of strength and conditioning, because if I’m hitting certain metric on that front, I know that come race day, whether I’m toeing the line for a 50k or 200-miler, I know that I’m ready to have a successful race.

All of these workouts measure conditioning and recovery time, not how long I can run.

A few examples of metrics:

  • Speed maintenance, and improvement, in 200-meter speed on a repeatable basis (10-12 intervals) – Can I maintain or improve my 200m times over 10-12 intervals?
  • Recovery heart rate down to 99 bpm from it’s peak after 800-meter intervals.
  • Ability to maintain nasal breathing at faster running speeds.
  • Recovery (heart rate and pace) after an intra-run interval, ranking from 60-seconds to 1/2 mile.

Example run workouts:

1 – The 99bpm Hear Rate Workout: This is one of my “favorite” (read: painful) running workouts. It’s 6 x 800 meters. After a 1-2 mile warm-up, I go all out for 800 meters (~ 1/2 mile), then stop and wait for my heart rate to drop from it’s peak – usually around 165bpm to 99bpm. Depending on the day and the rep in the set, this can take anywhere from 2-3 minutes. Sometimes a little shorter (90 seconds), and sometimes a little longer (up to 4 minutes).

What am I measuring?

This measures my ability to ramp up to and recover from extended hard efforts. It’s rare on the trail that I ever hit 160+ bpms, and if I do, that should mean that a bear is chasing me…  But knowing that I can push up quickly and recover quickly indicates a high conditioning level.

2 – 200 meter interval times: Another “favorite” is 10 reps x 200 meters, with a 2-minute rest between intervals.  For someone that runs 50, 100, and 200 mile races, doing speed work like this might sound strange. It builds muscular strength and speed, and builds on lactate thresholds and metabolic conditioning.

What am I measuring?

How much I’m able to hold, and improve, on every interval  my time throughout the workout. If I can maintain or improve throughout the workout, I know that I’m in good conditioning and strength.

3 – “Every Mile Faster” (while nasal breathing throughout): This is a good workout for both shorter and longer runs (6-9 miles), and useful anytime I need a way to push myself while assessing my overall conditioning.

After a one-mile warm-up, I slowly ratchet up my pace by 15-20 seconds every mile for the duration of the run, leaving a mile at the end for cool down and recovery. Example times (which I realize may seem either remarkably slow or fast depending on who’s reading this post…):

Mile 1: 8:15 min/mile (warm-up)

Mile 2: 7:50 min/mile

Mile 3: 7:30 min/mile

Mile 4: 7:15 min/mile

Mile 6: 7:00 min/mile

Mile 7: 6:45 min/mile

Mile 8: 6:30 min/mile

Mile 9: 7:30 min/mile (recovery)

What am I measuring?

I use this workout as a means to assess my capacity to handle an increasing workload, while maintaining nasal breathing. If I can hammer down into the sub-7:00 min/mile and sustain that pace while pulling in enough oxygen by nasal breathing, I know my conditioning is in a good place.

4 – Long Intervals

During a longer run, I’ll push myself for anywhere from 1/4 mile to one-mile intervals – going as hard as I can for that prescribed distance, then giving myself that same distance to recover before starting another interval.

Cross-Fit & Weightlifting

CAUTION: You MUST be VERY, VERY careful with any sort of weight-training Absolutely, positively work with a trained professional on form and workout structure. Here in Davis, we’re fortunate to have a kick-ass CrossFit gym – CrossFit Davis. Even light work with kettlebells and dumbbells can cause injury if you don’t have the right form, or if you’re stressing your ligaments and tendons before they are ready.

Muscles strengthen much faster than you ligaments and tendons, so while you might have the muscular strength to lift a certain amount of weight, your ligaments and tendons can tear because they’re not used to the stress and weight.  Again, working with a coach that teaches you the right form and balance, and knowing the form trumps absolute weight is critical here. Check out this Tim Ferris Podcast with former US national team gymnastics coach Chris Sommer on this topic.

Over the past few years, we’ve accumulated a variety of equipment for a home gym. We started with kettlebells, then dumbbells, then a wall ball, then a box for box jumps,  then a squat rack with a pull-up bar and barbell, and finally weight vest.

The good news, is that I’ve found that you don’t need a big inventory of equipment to make a major impact in your strength and conditioning.  Even a few kettlebells couple with body weight exercises go me plenty of gain in strength and conditioning. A couple of years ago, I had knee surgery and could only do push-ups, sit-ups, and dumbbell snatches for weeks on end, and those alone helped me retain some semblance of conditioning. When I’m traveling for work, hotel gyms offer very little in terms of equipment, yet I can get a plenty good workout while on the road.

A basic starting body workout looks something like this:

4 x 25 reps:

Even if you have to rest intra-set, i.e. do 10 then 10 then 5 pushups to get to 25 in the set, don’t stress. 🙂

Eventually I worked in some light weights so a typical workout was something like:

4 rounds of:

  • 25 kettlebell swings
  • 25 Wall balls
  • 25 Dumbell snatches
  • 25 Burpees

Now with a squat rack and weights, a pretty standard workout is something like:

Lifting: Deadlifts (4-5 rounds of 5-6 reps @ 70-80% weight)

Conditioning: 4-5 rounds of:

  • 5 pull-ups
  • 25 burpee box jumps
  • 25 kettle bell swings
  • 25 jumping squats

Then there are the two-a-days….

Some days, I’ll do both running and lifting, either as two separate workouts, or as a single workout with running then lifting. For example this week, I did a 6-mile run with long intervals, then in the garage did 8 x 6 pull-ups and 5 x 5-10 deadlights.

Even without the “full” workout, after a run, adding 100 kettlebell swings or 100 Wall Balls will really kick your butt and goes a long way for strength and conditioning.

Breathing

Working with PSE this year, their training program includes breathing as a cornerstone to all training, with pre-, during, and and post-workout breathing protocols. Check out a few videos here on YouTube on this topic.

Three (3) breathing practices I’ve instituted:

1 – Nasal Breathing. Nasal breathing is an addition to my training regimen this year.  I first heard about nasal-only breathing from Scott Jurek in his book “Eat and Run.” Now I ONLY nasal breathe when in my run workouts, no matter hard I’m running. On much longer runs (i.e. 20-mile trail runs), I’ll let myself mouth breath if I need the oxygen, but mostly I’m nasal breathing. Even during the Zion 100, I was nasal breathing most of the way.

As it was described to me, nasal breathing is more natural and your nasal breathing filters your oxygen intake, while your mouth is designed for eating and emergency breathing. When you nasal breathe, you’re pulling in higher quality breaths, and helping your body remain calm.

2 – Pre- and Post-Workout Breathing Exercises – This usually means 10 deep inhales and exhales, followed by a 30-60 second hold. I’ll do 1-3 rounds of this to oxygenate my body before exercise.

3 – Morning Breath Holds – ONLY do this if you know what you’re doing. I meditate most mornings, and after a 15-20 minute silent meditation, I do a breath hold which means that I take 2-3 deep breaths, then hold after the last intake. I typically shoot for three (3) minutes on each hold and can usually get there. Some mornings, I can go a bit longer. My record is 4:15. This helps build lung capacity and helps you realize how much farther you can push your physical limits.

Again… ONLY do this if you know what you’re doing. Take it slow, and consult a professional. Check out The WimHof Method for more on breathing if you want to get really, really serious on this.

Nutrition

I’m a low-carb person. I define this as consuming fewer than 50 grams of net carbs per day, and increasing to 100 grams of carbs per day based on when I’m consuming more carbs. (More on this below…)

My primary goal is to train my body to be fat-adapted – burn stored fat for fuel as much as possible.

I started with a low carb diet without realizing it after reading the book “Running Weight” a few years back (see above) as I started training for Ironman #2. I weighed about 200-205 lbs for Ironman #1, and while on a bike ride with a friend, I was complaining about a climb. He told me – “You’ve need to lose to some weight.” Message received. (Thank you, Michael L.!)

Using the book “Running Weight” as a I guide, I was able to get down to 190 lbs over 6-8 weeks and I’ve kept that weight off, and then some. My “racing weight” is now 183 lbs, and I can consistently stay under 185 lbs throughout training. As Lena introduced Cross-Fit into our lives, we adopted a Paleo Diet.

I’ve experimented with a Ketogenic Diet twice – first is April 2017 then again in January 2018, but I’ve had a hard time getting down under 20 net carbs per day, even when tracking every calorie and food morsel I consumed. Plus I found that as I experiment with timing my carb intake post-workout, my recovery times and energy have improved. Most days, I keep to the 50 net carbs target, but will increase my carb intake immediately after particularly hard running workouts and weightlifting – ideally within the first 15 minutes and for sure within the “Golden Hour.”

Check out this podcast interview with Art Zemach (founder of Tailwind) on Trailrunner Nation for more on this. If you’re concerned with the validity and bias of the founder of a company that sells high-carb products, there is plenty of alternative sources that also support this, such as this article on BodyBuilding Magazine. Post-workout for example, I’ll eat a tablespoon of honey, 1-2 tablespoons of jam or jelly, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, a handful of jelly beans, and then wash all that down with a whey protein shake (I used 3Fu3l, a PSE product). Again, I do this immediately after the workout and only do this after difficult  workouts – following long, hard runs and weight-lifting/Cross-Fit workouts.

This is a topic of much debate, so I suggest doing some more research on your own and experimenting. Even if the effects I’m experiencing are placebo, that’s good enough for me. But I believe them to be more than placebo, as I have felt improved recovery times and improved energy levels when I consume high-glycemic carbs just after a hard workout.

I absolutely recommend the Cronometer App for tracking your food intake. They have an excellent free version. (I use the paid version so that I can see trending reports on my diet). I’ve found this app useful in several ways:

  • Shows me actually calories and the breakdown of caloric intake by macronutrient (protein, fat, carbohydrates).
  • You can set the app for a particular type of diet – Keto, Paleo, etc. and it will show you daily macronutrient targets.
  • It’s taught me to properly estimated quantities of food – i.e. How much is 2 oz of cheese? What does 1 cup of milk look like in a glass? How much salmon or chicken is included in restaurant salads?
  • It’s shown me how to improve micronutrient intake – Vitamin A, B, C, etc. For example, Lena discovered that cooked spinach drastically increases the micronutrients released vs raw spinach.

Fasting

Fasting is a new addition to my nutrition plan this year. I started with a morning fast back in February – going until 2pm on a Sunday before I ate anything. Then did a daily fast through dinner for four straight days in March. By late March and into April, I did a daily fast each Tuesday for 3-4 weeks because Tuesdays are usually my rest days in my workout schedule. I found that this had a huge benefit for me in several ways:

  • Reduces my mental dependence on food. When you know you’re not going to eat, it teaches you other ways to cope with hunger – water, green tea, or talking a walk. This is also huge when I’m out on the race course, knowing that I don’t have to take in a huge amount of calories – I can take in 200-300 calories per hour and avoid feeling hunger, while still maintaining the energy I need to keep going out there.
  • Reduces my physical dependence In the past, I’ve eaten constantly during my training – always hungry. I remember during Uberman, I was ALWAYS eating. I’d eat dinner, then be hungry an hour later. I didn’t need the short-term calories – I just needed to teach my body to burn a different fuel source.
  • Keeps my weight down. I generally lose 2-3 lbs in a day when I fast, and while some of that is water weight. The body stores 3 grams of water for every gram of carbohydrate. Eating fewer carbs, and burning through the glycogen stores in your muscles on fasting days then reduces the amount of water your body needs to retain.

On most workouts, I only take water with me, mostly because few of my workouts are more than 90 minutes so my body already has all of the glycogen stores it needs for fuel. But even for longer workouts, I’ll purposely reduce caloric intake to train my body to burn fat for fuel. For example, I did a very hilly 5-hour, 19.5-mile trail run a few weeks back, and I purposely kept my total caloric intake to 600 calories throughout the entire run.

I started this during Uberman training after reading Sami Inkinen’s blog post – “Becoming a Bonk Proof Triathlete: Fat Chance!?” I’d go on 4-5 hour bike rides with only water. I usually feel some hunger around 60-75 minute into a workout session, and found that if I can push through 15-30 minutes of hunger, then my body switches and I’m good to go without a hit of carbohydrates.

The Results

I can’t say what my results would be if I were to take another approach than what I’m describing here. I do know that my overall speed, fitness and rankings in my Age Group and Overall have improved over the years, and I’m now consistently in the top 15-25% of all racers in most races.

That could be simply because of the additive effect of training over time, plus general intelligence I’ve accumulated on how to race, but I suspect there’s something more to it.

Here are results from my races over the past year.

Zion 100: 34/195 Overall; 2/10 40-49 AG

Ruck a Chuck 50k: 37/158 Overall; 10/29 40-49 AG

Tahoe 200: 36/191 Overall; 13/45 40-49 AG

Mt. Diablo Trail Marathon: 8/31 Overall; 1/9 40-40 AG

The Ridge 60k: 17/90 Overall; 6/19 40-49 AG

San Francisco 50k: 6/27 Overall; 2/10 40-49 AG

For your typical 40-something just getting out there to challenge myself, I’ll take these results. I like to think of myself as one of the fastest of the slow runners. I’m never going to be a top 10% runner, but given the reduced time I put into training compared to most runners, and my recovery times and ability to maintain fitness without race-day injuries, I’m pretty darn happy with where I am.

Go Farther.

 

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What’s my final prep look like for big races?

Posted on April 2, 2018 by | Leave a comment

I’m now less than three weeks away from the starting line of the Zion 100. I’m often asked how I prep for these big races, so I thought I’d share how the last couple of weeks go leading into a big race.

This isn’t everything, but it’s most everything…

Diet & Nutrition

On Saturday’s trail run (~20 miles and 6500’ of climbing over 5+ hours on the Western States Trail), I intentionally took in fewer calories along the way to teach my body to respond to the need for fuel by burning stored fat vs short-term carbs.

I drank two coffees before the run – one with coconut oil, the other with heavy cream, then drank 200 calories of 3Fu3l. During the run, I drank 400 calories of 3Fu3l and 200 calories of Tailwind – not a completely fasted workout, but definitely low fuel, no solid food and I fought some hunger out there. After the run and yesterday on Easter, I did my last face-stuffing – too much in fact. I’ve gained about 6-7 pounds. Some of that weight is food weight, some is water retention from the gluten and sugar, as I can feel some swelling in my joints and extremities.

So today begins the last push – no more cheat days. No more alcohol. I’ll do day-time fasts today and tomorrow to cleanse from the weekend, drop a few pounds and get back to racing weight. From here, it’s all about a low-carb, high-fat diet to help myself stay fat-burning out on the trail. This includes lots of super food like organ meat (liver and onions!), cooked spinach, and tons of greens and healthy oils.

About a week leading into the race, I’ll also try to ween myself off of coffee because I’ll need the caffeine boost get through the night on the trail.

Training

Starting back with Ironman training, I learned from the traditional tapering methods that once I’m about three weeks out from a race, there’s really no more gain that can be done. And while I don’t follow the traditional 2-3 week tapering method anymore, I do accept that once I’m about 2-3 weeks out from a race, the idea of generating more gains from training adds more risk than reward.

I look at the last few weeks of training as a block of training episodes – I have about 10 more workouts in total, and there’s a certain mental lode lifted knowing that I only have that many workout sessions left, and that each one is just checking the box to keep me sharp and strong and ready for the race.

That means about 6-7 runs, and 4-5 lifting sessions. Yes, that adds up to more than 10 training sessions in two weeks, which brings me to the next part of training.

I’ve learned not to stress too much about missing a training session or two during these last couple of weeks. I usually have to load up a little on work-related activity to help me make up ahead of time for the time that I’ll miss from work. These big races can take at least 3-4 workdays away, and in the case of Zion, it’ll be a full week, so I want to make sure that clients have what they need while I’m away. While they’ll all certainly survive and thrive without me for a week, there’s a mental aspect that’s important for me to know that I’m fulfilling my duties to them.

Physical

As I scale back on training, I’m also looking for ways to get healthy. There are a couple types of injuries:

  1. Debilitating: These are injuries that make the race a no-go altogether. Last year, for example, I had hamstring problems in January and February that forced me to call off the 100-mile race I had resisted for in March.
  2. Manageable: This year, I have two of these. My left pubic tendon is strained. This is the same injury I had on my right tendon for nearly two years – a year leading into Uberman and a year after Uberman. It finally healed a couple months ago, and for some unbelievable reason, I have the same injury now on my left tendon. My second manageable injury in a mid-hamstring knot in my left leg that cropped up a few months ago, and despite weekly efforts, it just won’t go away. Both of these are annoying, and probably impact performance at some level, but I don’t feel these injuries when I’m training or racing, so it’s a matter of managing these injuries to make sure they don’t become debilitating.
  3. Recoverable: These are chips and nicks I’m feeling that have cropped up or come and go. Right now, my left calf has a strain. This crops up from time to time, and it’s tender and sore, and I know that paying attention to it these next two weeks will get it back close to 100% before race day. My left quad has a bit of knot in it – same as my calf, I know it’s recoverable if I keep rolling it and working on it.

Packing & Equipment

I use a large plastic storage tub to accumulate various items that I want to pack for the race. This includes all of my gear and nutrition, just to take stock of what I need. For big races, there’s too much to remember in a single packing episode (besides the stress of it), so I’ve learned to spread packing over a couple of weeks. As I think of something I want to bring along, I grab it or buy it and throw it in the tub. Not everything in the tub makes the cut, but at this approach prevents me from forgetting something I really wanted or needed to pack.

I’ll also do a final look at whatever equipment I may need to buy. Surprisingly, no matter how much I race, there’s always more to buy. For the Tahoe 200, the list was large – trail-running shoes, a hydration pack, rain gear, and trekking poles led the list.   This time around, I don’t think I’ll need much new stuff because of the amount of stuff purchased for Uberman and the Tahoe 200, but regardless I’ll stockpile now so that I’m not forgetting anything I’ll really need like iodine pills or nutrition (I just bought more of both this morning…)

Mindset

During training, and particularly leading into a race, I like to read books related to training and racing. Leading into Uberman, one of my favorites was “Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer” by Lynne Cox.

Last year, I read “The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success in Business, Sports, and Life” by John Hanc Travis Macy and “The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion” by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson.

This year, I’m reading “Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance” by Alex Hutchinson. I’m also reading books more generally about the topic of resilience, which is an an area of personal interest for me right now.

I’ve also read and re-read books like “Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner” by Dean Karnazes and “Going Long: Legends, Oddballs, Comebacks & Adventures” by David Wiley & The Editors of Runners World.  Leading up to the Tahoe 200, I took a regular dose of the Trail Runner Nation podcast to learn specifically how to train, prepare and what equipment to use for the 200-mile distance.

These books and podcasts remind that however crazy I might seem to the people around me, there are always crazier, tougher, stronger people out there that leave plenty of room for me to claim sanity in my race endeavors.

The Larger Plan & Next Race

There’s something about knowing that this race won’t be my last, that it’s a stepping stone to something else, or part of a larger plan.

Zion will be my first 100-mile race, so there’s a clear “check the box” aspect to this distance.

It’s is a part of a larger plan:

  • Zion a Western States 100 qualifier, so Zion earns me a lottery ticket for the 2019 race, plus having completed a qualifier I can apply to the spot available to our local running club for running an aid station at the race.
  • It’s a six-point race towards qualifying for the 2019 UMTB, and it’s also a six-point race as part of the ITRA system towards Patagonia-Chile.
  • Later this year, I’m planning to do the Castle Peak 100k, which is a five-point race for both UTMB and Patagonia, which will round out qualifying for both of those races.

Finally, after finishing the Tahoe 200 last year, I realized that with some planning and staying healthy, I could run the complete series of running distances in one calendar year:

  • Trail Marathon: Mt. Diablo (2017)
  • 50K: Ruck a Chuck (2018), Mt Hood (2018)
  • 40 mile: Pacing at Javelina (October 2017)
  • 50 mile: TBD (May 2018)
  • 100k: Castle Peak (August 2018)
  • 100 mile: Zion (April 2018)
  • 200 mile: Tahoe 200 (September 2017)

This feels like a really solid personal accomplishment and a good story to tell, so why not give it a shot?

Recently, I read about the North Pole Marathon. I also looked at Boston Marathon qualifying times and realized that I’m not far from hitting those times, so I might give that a shot with CIM in December.

Last night, while reading Alex Hutchinson’s book, I learned about the Tor des Géants – a 200-mile race with 80,000’ of climbing and a 150-hour time limit. It’s in September and still has spots open.

Hmmm… So many races, so little time…

Logistics & Race Planning

I learned this from Kevin Coady, my triathlon coach for Ironman #2 and #3. He had be write out a complete day-by-day, hour-by-hour plan for the 2-3 days leading into the race.

I worked with Simon Marshall (book above) before the Tahoe 200, and he had me write out all of the things that could possibly go wrong during the race and how I would respond to each situation.  I’ve got that work to do, as well as the actual race plan – breaking down the course section-by-section, mile-by-mile to know where I’ll be by when and where I might be able to have Lena meet me for race support, though I’m expecting to do this race self-supported because we’ll have an RV and it’s out in the desert. No pacer either – just me, my drop bags and the course.

Most of the big travel logistics are handled – plane tickets to Las Vegas, RV rented, campsite booked. Now it’s time for the minutiae – what can we pack vs buy when we arrive to Las Vegas, including cooking equipment and food that I absolutely need to bring from home.

 

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I started over a week ago. Here’s what happened…

Posted on March 11, 2018 by | Leave a comment

A week ago, I gave myself permission to start over. My training was off. My body was revolting. My training was off. I felt physically discombobulated. I needed to hit the reset button, and did.

The highlights:

  • I did a daily day-time fast from Sunday-Wednesday, with almost no food consumption before dinner each day, and keeping to 1500-2000 total calories per day.
  • I dropped my weight from 190 lbs on Sunday AM to 181.7 labs on Saturday AM
  • My muscular and joint inflammation is completely gone.
  • I feel like I’m back on track for the last 4-5 weeks of training before the Zion 100.

Most of all, the experiment with daily fasting was a HUGE successful for me. There are many ways to do fasts – some people just go a day without food, others go as much as a week. For me, I simply wanted to reduce caloric intake, and see how well I’d do going the day without food. Dropped eight lobs in a week and proving to myself that I could train, travel, and maintain a decent training schedule was a BIG boost of my confidence and results.

Caloric intake by day, week of 3/04/18

The details…

It started with a simple, slow six-mile run on Sunday built from there. Monday was a rest day. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were running days. I don’t usually do three days back-to-back-to-back, but my schedule necessitated this.

Sunday

Sunday, 3/4/2018

After my Sunday run following a Saturday evening dinner of burgers, fries, and beer, I just wasn’t hungry in the morning, even after the run, so I skipped breakfast and lunch, and maintained relative sanity through a trip to IKEA. I staved off any food until a steak dinner on Sunday night, which I cut back and only at e about 60% of the meat portion I usually eat, finishing the day just under 1500 calories.

I felt pretty good physically and mentally. While the hunger throughout the day was noticeable, it was far from intolerable. I was pretty damn proud of myself, as that’s the longest I’d gone without food in a day. Ever.

Just goes to show how fortunate I am in my life – here I’m nearly 44 years-old, and never before in my life, not for a single day, have I gone more than 20 hours before my last consumption of food of any kind.

Monday

With the success on Sunday, I figured I should try the same again on Monday. Again, I went the whole day without any food or calories until dinner, with the exception of some coconut oil in my morning coffee, keeping to under 1500 calories for the day. Again, while I might have displayed a few signs of hanger and discontent, I managed pretty well through the day. Remember though, this was a rest day, so no real physical activity, aside from playing tag at the park with my son, which did end with me insisting the game was over and it was time to head home for dinner.

Tuesday

Tuesday, 3/6/2018

Tuesday rolled around, and I figured – “why not?” So I skipped breakfast and lunch again, but with an early afternoon run planned in my training calendar, I drank a scoop of sports drink before the run so that I had some decent short-term energy and to make the most I could from the time logging miles.

Overall, it went pretty well. I did some short intervals, and while I felt some energy drag, the run was passable. Afterwards, I drank another scoop of protein drink and ate a Quest bar just to make that I had something for my body to use for recovery. I finished the day at 2500 calories, which was still about 1000 calories below my normal daily calorie base, and at a ~1000 calorie deficit as compared to what I likely burned that day.

Wednesday

Wednesday, 3/7/2018

I had a work trip for the rest of the week, starting with a very early AM flight to Los Angeles on Wednesday morning after only four hours of sleep. I was staying in Redondo Beach, with access to a bike/running path that goes for miles and miles and miles.

After a day sitting in a workshop, I hit the running path and knocked out a decent six miles. Again, not awesome, but passable. Best of all, I went the entire day without food again, except for a bit of coconut oil in my morning coffee. This meant skipping breakfast, traveling, skipping lunch and all of the yummy treats that are served when one is attending a professional workshop (you know… cookies, fruit, and such…) I had a solid dinner by way of the local Whole Foods, and an evening yogurt snack because I was up late working, and finished the day just under 1800 calories.

Thursday

Thursday, 3/8/2018

Thursday came and I planned to go for Day 5 as the final day of my daytime fasting exercise. Lunchtime came and I was invited to join some colleagues, and did, and at a Cobb Salad. Daytime fast officially broken, but I kept the intake low, and even with a big group dinner, I finished the day under 2200 calories.

After I got back to my AirBnB after the big group dinner, I hit the running trail and knocked out a VERY solid six mile run – my “every mile faster” run that I love to do… One mile warm-up then slowing turn up the dial to make every mile faster, with a one mile cool-down. Even with only four miles of actual workout, it’s a grinder and that I ate so much compare to previous days, I felt great even thought it was my third running day in a row, and this run was at 9pm after dinner and a long day in the workshop.

Friday

Friday, 3/9/2018

Friday was a rest day, and I started the morning with breakfast – a can of sardines, whipped butter and a couple of scoops of peanut butter. When I sat down at my table for an early morning workshop session, my plate stacked with whipped butter balls, the women next to me said – “You know that’s butter, right?” I said – “Yep! I eat a high fat, low carb diet. I love butter.” She just said – “You’re from California, aren’t you?” Mixing butter with peanut butter is one of my favorite yummy treats. (Maybe I’ll have some right now…) I kept the rest of the day light until I got home just past 9pm, when I ate a bigger meal and finished the day at 3500 calories.

Saturday

This morning was a garage workout – my first lifting in more than a week – a solid 20-minute EMOM workout (every minute on the minute).

5 rounds of:

  • Deadlifts (4 x 6 reps, 1 x 3 reps)
  • Pull-Ups (5 x 8 reps)
  • Lateral bench back-and-forths (5 x 50)
  • Kettle bell swings (5 x 25)

… followed by a 0.67 sprint. I felt spent, and I felt like I was back in the flow. I kept the rest of the day reasonable, and even with dinner at the local brewpub, I avoided pizza and stuck with a poke bowl with less rice and more salad.

So… A week later after starting over, I’ve lost eight lbs, I’m back running, and feeling really good about my readiness for this next big race.

One week after starting over, I’m back on track with a full week at home to keep the momentum going.

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This is the hard part #gofarther

Posted on March 7, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Day 7 of my 31-day writing challenge – a self-imposed challenge to write for one hour every day for 31 days.

It’s the lunchtime break at the workshop. I have exactly 65 minutes before we start the afternoon sessions. Everyone else headed to The Cheesecake Factory, and I’m choosing to spend this time sitting in the hotel lobby to fulfill my daily writing commitment. As much as I don’t feel like it now, I know I won’t feel like it later.

I’ve got plenty of excuses to skip today, some of them are even borderline legitimate.

I’m hungry. It’s Day 4 of my daytime fasting experiment to help my body fat-adapt and to lose a few pounds I let pile up last week. I’ve eaten 5500 calories over the past four days. That’s one day for me when I’m in heavy-duty training mode.

I’m tired. I slept four hours last night, rolling out of bed at up a 4:15am for a 6am flight. I’m mentally depleted – I know this because I took a Lyft from LAX to all the way to Santa Monica before realizing that I needed to be Redondo Beach instead. That was awesome.

I’m now without an executive assistant because she resigned this morning. I understand her decision, and I’m in full support, yet someone that doesn’t make the magic elves appear to check off the unfinished tasks that need attention.

I’d rather be eating with the rest of group at The Cheesecake Factory.

I’d like to take a nap.

I need to spend time working on company tasks and recruiting a replacement EA.

But somehow all of that can wait because I made this commitment to myself. That’s the magic in throwing this challenge at myself and when I’m done this writing block, I’ll have words on the page.

I knew it would hard. My schedule is my schedule. Life is life. No day is perfect.

That’s the magic of commitment, and the purpose of this challenge to myself. I wanted to see how I could manufacture the time to do that which brings me joy: Write every day.

It’s is forcing me to concentrate, forcing me to adapt, forcing me to do the best I can with whatever haymakers come next. These conditions are my choice – I could have changed my flight. I could eat the tin of sardines and chomp on the energy bar sitting in my backpack. I could have built a backup system for the work that needs to be done.

I tell myself that this will make me stronger and more tolerant. I imagine this will aid my training and strengthen my mindset for the next time I’m on the trail, miles from the next aid station low on water with aching quads and a turning stomach.

But maybe this thinking is just absurd and I should eat lunch or take a nap. But I don’t, and I won’t, because this is important to me – to stretch myself a little longer, a little farther.

Given everything, I’m surprised I don’t feel worse. I’m here, awake, sitting and writing, and that brings me joy.

Go farther.

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Giving my Self permission to start over #gofarther

Posted on March 5, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Yesterday, I recorded a video in which I shared that I was starting over.

What does that mean, and why am I starting over?

Because I’m now six weeks away from the Zion 100 and my body is revolting, and it’s because my mind lost control of my daily habits.

The past week and a half have been a tough slog on the training front. Going back to the Wednesday before last, a speed workout ripped my legs to shreds. I was so sore that I needed an impromptu midweek rest day. Two heavy lifting sessions, including max weight deadlifts on Friday and max weight shoulder presses on Saturday, revealed their consequences.

I toiled through my long run on Sunday morning – my hamstrings felt like frozen piano cords.  By Monday, I was sensing a tendon tear near my pubic bone on my right leg. Tuesday morning, I headed out for an early AM run only to be hamstrung by my left hamstring, struggling just to get myself home while preventing it from tearing completely.

I’d label last week’s training regimen “maintenance” at best, and more likely, it was more like “slowing the pace of attrition.” Monday’s workout was medication for an anxiety-ridden day. Tuesday was the unpleasant morning run. Wednesday and Thursday were self-prescribed rest days. Friday and Saturday were garage workout days to avoid any injury that would prevent me from reaching the Zion 100 starting line.

While my training load decreased, my diet got worse. Last Saturday, I demolished a sticky bun at the Farmer’s Market – a mental breach of the dam. I was using food to cope with stress. Lena had been away for a couple of days and I was feeling the effects of a week of after-school pick-ups, daily meal prep, and evening after-dinner bedtime routines.

In the week that followed, I nibbled on dark chocolate squares, munched on leftover mac and cheese, then scarfed Girl Scout cookies while working late on Friday night. Saturday’s burger-fries-beer combo (along with demolishing the last of my son’s chicken fingers…) and the frozen yogurt covered with Heath bar crumbles were the final blows.

So Sunday morning, after seeing 190 lbs on the scale (my ideal racing weight is 182-183 lbs), I decided that I was giving myself permission to start over – an act of acceptance for where I was and an act of forgiveness for the last week and a half. With six weeks to go, I’ve got enough time to reset and push through on last training cycle before Zion.

I took my time with a slow run to introduce my legs just feel the motion of running again. After the run, I decided I would fast for the day. I’ve experimented with some intermittent fasting recently to reduce total calories – skipping breakfast and keeping to a very light lunch – but that led to overeating at dinner and still reaching 3500+ calories in the day. Not good.

Yesterday, I fasted all day through dinner – a day that included house cleaning and a trip to IKEA as a true test of my resolve. I kept dinner disciplined, consuming less that 1500 calories for the day. Throughout the day, I drank a lot of water and a couple of hot tea drinks in the afternoon to stave off the feelings of hunger.

This morning, I awoke at 4am to head down to Palo Alto for the day, and so far I’ve had only coffee with just a bit of coconut oil and water infused with apple cider vinegar and sea salt. It’s past 8am now, and my plan is to go the whole day without food until I get home this afternoon. I feel a little jittery from the coffee, so it’ll be interesting to see how this workshop goes today… 🙂

This is all in an effort to reset my mental dependence on food as medicine for stress relief, and to give my body a chance to clean out the deposits of gunk and grime that I feel like are jamming up my joints and muscles. I dropped to under 50 net carbs daily throughout most of January, and in the past, when I drop carb intake, I feel a reduction in inflammation throughout my body.

I remember during the Tahoe 200, when I was feeling at my absolute worst with aching legs, I decided that I would not let my body rule me – that I would be in control – that I would decide how to respond to my situation. This week, I’m choosing this again. This is a choice to restore to myself to a place where my mind rules over my body. (Check out “When it starts to hurt, pick up the pace.”).

So I’m starting over this week. Maybe today, this choice will prove too difficult and I’ll decide to eat, or later this week I’ll end up injuring myself on a training run. If I do, I’ll give myself to start over again.

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