2010's first post

I have been thinking about the thing that people do called resolutions. I find it a bit arbitrary and transparent. If the calendar and the months start over so should I? I don't get it and I am happy to say nothing for me is going to change. I have made my "resolution" a long time ago and have stuck to it regardless of where it falls on the calendar. And by resolution I mean get healthy and stay healthy. I am starting to wonder why I speak so much of what I used to do. I am learning to live in the present and think of where I am going to be in the future. I just think that it is funny to see a crap load more runners out there. HEY...WHERE WERE YOU 2 WEEKS AGO (when it was freezing)? Who knows may be they were out there. Just saying.


Blood sugar is the key to weight loss by far and away. Here I am 4 weeks since I began to eat a bit differently and I am reaping the benefits. Down 3 pounds a week for 4 weeks is 12 pounds and 4 cm off the circumference of my belly! For a guy who couldn't lose weight I think I finally figured it out. It is not like it is a destination, I realize I will never arrive there. It sure feels good to finally have a plan for ME and have it work. Here is a day in the life of RON these days with regard to food as requested.

7:30 am breakfast: A combination of fruit and protein. Here are some options I have. Small orange or pear, or small bowl of berries with a small source of protein; 2 eggs (I like them poached), small hand full of nuts with no salt, or to combine them with a protein shake.

10:30/11:00 feeding #2: Yogurt with nuts, or celery with peanut butter, or small fruit with beef jerky, you get the idea...
12:30/1:00 lunch: Salad with lots of veggies try for at least 5 serving of veggies, easy dressing with lots of chicken or turkey or some lean protein

4:00ish-same as #2

RUN/BIKE/SWIM....then immediately have some source of protein. I like the little Muscle milk lite shake that comes in a carton (its easy to mix because you don't, tastes good, very low sugar) or string cheese

6-7:00 Dinner: VEGGIES VEGGIES and lean protein cooked with healthy fat.

If I feel like it occasionally a same snack as before#2, but I have found that the better dinner I had I don't need a snack.

Here is what I am thinking, in part me and part what Bob thinks:
-Every meal has some carbs in the form of fruit or veggies and protein.

-Overall less calories in, in a healthy and comfortable way
-When you consume sugar you also consume protein to prevent a large insulin reaction
-No Gu's or during training nourishment (except for water) to ensure that your body will use fat for a source of energy in training or competition less than 3 hours.
-If there are less sugars around my brain actually functions better, I am able to eat small meals. Before I was sooo hungary that I would eat and eat until I wasn't hungary. Actually what happens with metabolically inefficient people is hunger is controlled by an area of the brain in charge of a chemical called serotonin which is secreted as a response to sugar. Therefore I am not hungary, I do not have unrelenting craving like I did, which means I can get less calories and still feel ok. before I was so damn hungary that It literally ruled my life. My relationships suffered as a result of this phenomenon. I am in control. First time ever.
-My food tastes so alive. If you eat a baked potato and you use a ton of butter and sour cream, why eat the potato? Its everything else that you like. So tasting fat is now negative and tasting fruit or vegetable I get the same rush I used to get with a burger or something. I think thats fun. Experimenting with new foods that previously were off limits because of taste or sheer self-limitation.
-OK so what about training with this way of eating? Its easier and cheaper. No special bars or gu's, on a training of less than 3 hours. If your out longer you need some nourishment. Studies show that you can only absorb 10-15% of what you consume during competition. Ya know that sloshing that goes on during the run? The excess that is not getting absorbed and quickly turns into GI stress. Over consumption. Having GI distress? No losing weight? perhaps you are YOUR METABOLICALLY INEFFICIENT TOO. If you get a metabolic efficiency test you can find out just what you should consume during training or racing. Then train that way and race like that...no issues. Also when I finish I am not super jittery and totally hungary. How did my week go?

Monday-4 mile recovery run
Tuesday-Spin
Wednesday-5 mile run
Thursday-4 mile run
Friday-rest
Saturday-Was supposed to be 16 miles long. Hung em up early secondary to wife's calf issue. We are training together and she will be happier if we keep a schedule together so I didn't go the distance. I went 7 or 8 or so. We will modify the schedule and get her calf better and move on.
Sunday-Bike ride of 20 miles or s0. My wife's first ride with clips so we practiced on some hills changing gears and managing clips. She seemed to into it. It took her a lot to get that going. She is stepping it up and I am proud of her. Meanwhile, I felt awesome. Are my bike legs rested? Hell yes but I also did not feel a muscular thing that I used to be limited by. Was my metabolic inefficiency limiting my bike? Time will tell, time will tell. I didn't look at the number yet but I felt fast. We will save that comment for a later post. QUOTE:

“Success, happiness, peace of mind and fulfillment - the most priceless of human treasures - are available to all among us, without exception, who make things happen - who make "good" things happen - in the world around them”
Joe Klock

Yes, ill take that. It IS available if you want it bad enough.

BAITER and Nutritional Paradigm Shift

My brother has a pet peeve. BAITING. People who attempt to lure others into a conversation by using leading comments or statements. I apologize for my baiting....=). I did not intend to do that. Here is my book review. I must start by saying the following is MY OPINION. I am not a nutritionist so I should not give anyone else any advice, I am simply sharing my paradigm shift with regard to my fitness. Oh and its gonna be a long post.

Another bonus to starting this blog is getting to read the experiences of other endurance athletes. I am well schooled in anatomy and physiology, especially exercise physiology but not as experienced with fitness as some of the bloggers I read about. This may not be new information to someone who naturally does this but from a former OVER eater and over eating horrible foods this is new. I am hoping this spawns questions and conversation we can all learn and grow from. So please do not hesitate to comment even if think this is baloney.

The book is called "METABOLIC EFFICIENCY TRAINING: Teaching the body to burn fat" by Bob Seebohar. He is an exercise physiologist/nutritionist/triathlete/coach/lecturer. He works with the Olympic triathlon team and is quite the endurance athlete himself. He has a lecture series (I have attended) and this brand new book. Here is his website: www.fuel4mance.com . He is a very personable guy and has answered my emails with questions.

OK...here it goes. Basically we use 2 types of macro nutrients for energy. FAT and Carbohydrates (CHo) or sugar. The energy derived from fat is better than the energy derived from CHo. However, the body will use CHo energy because it is easier to break down. We are always using both nutrients at the same time but the percentage of each nutrient depends on the intensity of exercise. The lower the intensity of exercise the more fat you use compared to CHo. The harder the intensity the more CHo you use. The stage (heavy training=more CHo used) in your competition year depends on the intensity of training. He refers to this as "periodization of nutrition." Basically its the same as exercise periodization but with how you eat. I am in the "preparatory cycle." The others are in order: competition cycle, taper, and transition cycle.

Here is the nutrition aspect. If your goal is to lose weight or burn more fat then training at a high intensity is not the system of energy of choice. He says "train to eat not eat to train." No cheap sources of energy. No pasta, no rice even if its healthy CHo as whole grains. Its too readily available and your body will choose that first. If there is none available then your body will have to choose fat for energy. THIS IS NOT A LOW CARB DIET. This is utilizing the nutrients in fruits and vegetable as your source of CHo. It is enough to be just fine, its smarter carbs. Basically if you think of your dinner plate it should be 60% lean protein with healthy fat. The other 40% fruits or vegetables.

The name of the game is controlling blood sugar. If there is no sugar or CHo placed into the system and you train at a low intensity then your body will choose more fat then CHo. NO GELS, GUs etc. your body needs to utilize fat and you will have better performance if you do use fat. If you train at high intensities then you need more CHo to sustain that activity. If you are metabolically INefficient then you will require more CHo. So you can nourish yourself into the corner by using too much sugar while you train. This time of year is perfect for building a cardiovascular base. Long low intensity training while eating accordingly. No carbs before or during and utilize the cleaner more energy rich FAT. TIMING and consistency will result in your body letting go of fat. Nutrient timing is a very new concept to me. You ever get done with a long ride or run and have the shakes? Not enough CHo, if you replenish with CHo your brain will trigger you to over eat. Instead if you have a protein to control blood sugar you will curb the jitters and you wont overeat. Small protein shake, nuts, or yogurt will do the job. Snacking the same way will keep your blood sugar low and in control. WHY THE PARADIGM SHIFT FOR ME?

Because I didn't necessarily correlate them together. I thought I ate so healthy. I must be eating healthy if I don't eat anything "bad." I did not eat any fast food and If I did it was the healthiest (subway) you can find. But almost every meal contained too much CHo and not enough protein. When I sought out nutritionist help I was finally instructed to lessen the CHo and up the protein. Then I experienced major cramping issues. My intensity of training was too high to support not enough CHo. Then I went back to eating more CHo even though they were very healthy. The result was good performance (for me) and NO WEIGHT LOST. DUH...I wasn't using the right system for energy!!! When I made the decision to get faster and perform better is the last time I lost any weight. When I dropped the 50 or so pounds I lost I was working at much lower intensities....hmmm wish I would have seen that earlier.

Your next question is how high or how low is your training supposed to be? Well you need to get a metabolic efficiency test to be 100% sure. The test will generate a heart rate that will correspond to the most efficient fat burning intensity and you should work at that intensity for a long time. As your season progresses you change your eating style ever so slightly to match the intensity you need to train at. If I had to name flaws I see in this book is that it is mostly anecdotal information. He is working on studying this using double blind, good studies but it does not see to be available at this time. He does list references that I will pull and see what else I can gather. I highly recommend this book to the frustrated endurance athlete who is not getting the results he or she is looking for. There is obviously a lot more in the book and he is the EXPERT so order his book from his site! I hope this is easy to read and helpful. If it isn't let me know and lets learn together!!! QUOTE:

“Sometimes I’m confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn’t obvious…”

Micheal Stipe

reflection....

As the "off-season" moves along so does my brain. Its actually what I am most famous for; an active brain. Todays run has produced some very interesting discoveries. Unfortunately I do not have all the information but my preliminary theory seem legit. I am in the midst of researching all of the weight loss literature. I have began reading a book called "Metabolic Efficiency Training." It is written by the nutritionist who trains the US Olympic triathletes. He is touring around giving a few lectures. When I finish the book I will review it and relate to my lack of weight loss. The early theory though seems very plausible. I will explain later. Here is how my week went:

Monday-Rest after Las Vegas half.

Tuesday-Pushed run to wed secondary to work and home responsibilities.

Wednesday-20 min run followed by new strength training program. I hope to build that up to twice a week. Holy crap I could hardly lift my arms. Funny how my muscle strength as been so poor.

Thursday-3 mile run. No watch, just run. Felt great.

Friday-Rest

Saturday-Pre christmas preparations or Rest.

Sunday-8 mile run in 1:20. Just a low intensity easy run and thats what I had planned. No fatigue no pain no nothing.

Physiological response to thinking and to pain is the same; and man is not given to hurting himself.

— Martin H. Fischer

Funny how physiologically speaking, you get what you pay for.