Sunday, December 20, 2009

A good week...

This week has been a productive one. I have put my new nutrition plan in place and I am feeling very well. When I look around at ALL the complex carbs I used to eat I am mortified. As "healthy" as each one of them were, straight sugar all the time. SO crazy. I am noticing a few things. My blood sugar is not on a roller coaster, my taste is not super syrupy and seems more accurate, and when I exercise I feel more in control. Now the exercise more in control could be because I am going very slow. I am slowing my run down pace wise. I am shooting for 9:45 or 10:00. I am guessing that is slow enough to elicit more fat utilization than carbohydrate. Here is how my week went:

Monday-Recovery run of 3 miles followed by my "triathlete" weight lifting circuit and abs.
Tuesday-Rest
Wednesday-Training run of 3 miles
Thursday-Training run of 4 miles followed by abs and push-ups
Friday-Rest
Saturday-Long run of 12 miles. I am proud that my longest training run ever is not hard enough to make me sore. No fatigue, no pain, slow but I felt great minus the dehydration. I have run 7 halves and today was the longest I have run without a medal or race. Funny story: You know you are a runner in las vegas when.....a guy stops you in your tracks while you are running for directions to the GRAND CANYON. THE GRAND EFFING CANYON is 100 miles away. I also ran by Wayne Newton and Mike tysons house and for good measure a man riding a unicyle in the bike lane like it was a regular old bike ride. Whew running in Las Vegas is interesting.

The nutrition will require discipline. The weights and running require persistence. I feel my new goal of running a marathon becoming more and more doable. IF that is the case then so is IM. Today I watched yesterdays showing of IM Hawaii. Kona is such an amazing event. My life bucket list includes this race. Some day will I race on that stage? An age grouper for sure. Years away, I know...but possible?

“Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.”
Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens

This phoenix will continue to rise and how far will it go?

11 comments:

XTB-XAVI said...

I like Cardinal's statement...and good training week! Congrautlations!

"XTB" Xavi from Hong Kong!

Karl Stutelberg said...

Ron, some marathon training advice. Try not to make your long run more than 50% of your weekly mileage. It will decrease chance of injury and be less stress on the body. I have heard some programs say no more than 25% of weekly mileage but that seem too hard to me. I say no more than 50% but to stay around 40%. That means if you are running 20 miles that week then your long run would be around 8 miles and your other three runs would average 4 miles. If your long run is 20 miles then your weekly mileage should be around 40-45 miles. I know it sounds like a lot but that means that your other three runs average 5-6 miles. It really isn't that much. You have the time to build up slowly so just be consistent and you will be fine. I guess my suggestion is to build up your other weekly runs for a few weeks before increasing your long run.

Jason Andrew Mellet said...

good work, keep it up.

San said...

Glad your training went well.

When it comes to carbs I realized the following on myself, especially last week. Carbs mean tiredness. If I eat any kind of starchy or sugary foods I get really tired afterwards. It goes so far, that I have to lie down and sleep. At the moment this isn't a problem, but when I'm back working, I'll have to make sure, that I have a proper lunch without any carbs.

Happy Holidays.

Mike Russell said...

Great week. Keep updating us on the dietary changes.

Karl Stutelberg said...

San, I think you may be having some other kind of problem that is making you so tired. Your statement, "carbs mean tiredness" makes no sense to me.

"Carbohydrate is arguably the most important source of energy for athletes. No matter what sport you play, carbs provide the energy that fuels muscle contractions. Once eaten, carbohydrates breakdown into smaller sugars (glucose, fructose and galactose) that get absorbed and used as energy. Any glucose not needed right away gets stored in the muscles and the liver in the form of glycogen. Once these glycogen stores are filled up, any extra gets stored as fat."

Carbs=energy it is pretty simple. Maybe you need to go to bed earlier, or seek the help of a registered dietition. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Sounds liek you are definitely makign some solid changes....I applaud you for that, it definitely ain't easy.


Good luck with it all!

Karl Stutelberg said...

Ron
At lower intensities or speeds you will burn a higher percentage of fat, but you will also burn less calories overall. This means you have to put in more time/miles at the lower intesities to still burn the same amount of calories. Keep that in mind. Marathon training is a good time to do stuff like that anyway.

Thomas Bussiere said...

We are only limited by our minds. The body can go so much further but often our mind convinces us to stop short. Great job with the training!

Trishie said...

merry xmas !

Heidi Austin, PT, DPT said...

good week! and of course good luck with the changes! hope your holidays are fabulous!