Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Good News on Efficiency!!
After painfully avoiding food this morning I re-tested my resting metabolic rate (RMR). The results were positive. I improved the percentage of carbs and fats that I burn at rest. It went from 63% carbs to 55% carbs. This showed me that the Paleo Diet is working so far! It's all worth it when you see positive results!
Monday, November 23, 2009
The Stomach Pains of Metabolic Efficiency Training Pt. 2
The long awaited and much anticipated Part 2 of this two part series is finally here! I know you all have been waiting for this moment, constantly checking for updates. Well here it is!
I can proudly say that I have been sticking with the diet and as far as I know it is working out great. I have not tested my resting metabolic rate (aka RMR) yet, but I will probably do that tomorrow morning. We will know then for sure. Before that, though, I have not had as much of a problem with my "fake hunger" as I was before. Right after my last post I went on the diet (which is actually called the Paleo Diet, forgot to mention that earlier), and was very strict about it. I decided that I would be very strict for about 2 weeks, test myself again and see where I stood. The holidays are coming up, and even though I said I would stick with the diet through Thanksgiving, I have a mind to not be so strict anymore. There is just too much good food out there, and too many people who know how to prepare it! Besides, food is meant to be enjoyed, right?!? Anyway, I was very good about the diet, went two weeks and was about 90-95% strict with it. In that short amount of time, I have more or less noticed my body fat % going down. And this is to the naked eye, so that's when I felt like this change in diet was working the way it is supposed to. Using my crude, yet technologically advanced, body fat analyzer I confirmed that I appeared to be losing some fat. Along with some weight, but that was the goal anyway.
I also tried calorie counting. This lasted one day. I am such a lazy person that I could not get myself to sit down and count all the stupid calories from the food log I was keeping. However, that one day told me so much. It basically told me I was NOT EATING ENOUGH! No wonder I was hungry. I calculated out my calorie needs for one day, and on average I need roughly 3500 kcals per day to cover for all that training and what not. Well, I was significantly below that amount. I looked back at what I was eating, and realized that I should probably eat more than 3 times a day...go figure. So, since then I actually eat something in the mornings (gasp), and I will also eat a couple of servings of fruit and/or trail mix (nuts and berries only) in between breakfast lunch and dinner. Dinner is my major meal of the day, and my primary source of meat, mmm hmmm! But adding those small meals every couple of hours really gets me through the day. I have more energy during the entire day, they help me stay awake and alert, and I feel good eating them!
The real test will be tomorrow, I will have to do a supplemental post tomorrow after my test.
Since I told you I would try and teach you some Exercise Physiology, I wanted to inform you on what really is metabolic efficiency. In a nut shell, metabolic efficiency is a how well our bodies utilize energy. It can also be seen as how well our bodies use oxygen, but energy is the main thing we're after. When we exercise our body is getting it's energy from 2 primary sources, and sometimes 3. Those two are fats and carbohydrates. The third is protein (yes, your body will eat itself if you do not give it what it needs...). Carbohydrates are the easiest thing for our bodies to break down, and they give us 4 kcals of energy per gram. Fats, on the other hand, give us 9 kcals per gram! It doesn't take an exercise physiologist to realize that we would rather get our energy from one gram of fat than carb, since we are getting twice the energy for the same amount. This is what I am doing. I am trying to tell my body to burn that fat, rather than those carbs. And, not only during exercise, but also during resting or everyday life! As an athlete it is very important to always have some source of energy. Since carbs are the easiest to break down into energy, the body will use them up quickly. BUT, if my body knows that it can burn fat than it will save my carb stores for later.
As exercise intensity increases, the rate at which we use carbs as energy increases (wow, that sounded like it came straight from a textbook...stupid PhD...). So, not only do I want to get my body to burn fat first, I want it to burn fat while exercising at a certain intensity. The faster I can run and still burn fat, the more energy I will have, and more importantly, the more energy I am saving for the end of the race when I sprint to finish!
That is the basics on why I am changing my diet. The hard reality about it, is that I can't just do the Paleo Diet for two weeks and go back to eating whatever I want. Its a complete lifestyle change, which is never easy. I decided, however, that when I became more efficient while being strict, I would allow myself to reintroduce complex carbs (i.e. pasta, bread, etc.) back into my diet, but at a much less amount. That is what I have started to do already, and let me tell you, the nachos I had last night were awesome! Truthfully, I love the new diet. Fruit and meat are awesome together. I just want to eat my mom's bread when I go visit! The best bread in the world according to me. The compromise is that I will stick with the Paleo Diet for the majority of the week, and allow myself to eat some non-Paleo once a week. I look forward to when the training plan allows for more than once a week, but I will save that for a future post...
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
I can proudly say that I have been sticking with the diet and as far as I know it is working out great. I have not tested my resting metabolic rate (aka RMR) yet, but I will probably do that tomorrow morning. We will know then for sure. Before that, though, I have not had as much of a problem with my "fake hunger" as I was before. Right after my last post I went on the diet (which is actually called the Paleo Diet, forgot to mention that earlier), and was very strict about it. I decided that I would be very strict for about 2 weeks, test myself again and see where I stood. The holidays are coming up, and even though I said I would stick with the diet through Thanksgiving, I have a mind to not be so strict anymore. There is just too much good food out there, and too many people who know how to prepare it! Besides, food is meant to be enjoyed, right?!? Anyway, I was very good about the diet, went two weeks and was about 90-95% strict with it. In that short amount of time, I have more or less noticed my body fat % going down. And this is to the naked eye, so that's when I felt like this change in diet was working the way it is supposed to. Using my crude, yet technologically advanced, body fat analyzer I confirmed that I appeared to be losing some fat. Along with some weight, but that was the goal anyway.
I also tried calorie counting. This lasted one day. I am such a lazy person that I could not get myself to sit down and count all the stupid calories from the food log I was keeping. However, that one day told me so much. It basically told me I was NOT EATING ENOUGH! No wonder I was hungry. I calculated out my calorie needs for one day, and on average I need roughly 3500 kcals per day to cover for all that training and what not. Well, I was significantly below that amount. I looked back at what I was eating, and realized that I should probably eat more than 3 times a day...go figure. So, since then I actually eat something in the mornings (gasp), and I will also eat a couple of servings of fruit and/or trail mix (nuts and berries only) in between breakfast lunch and dinner. Dinner is my major meal of the day, and my primary source of meat, mmm hmmm! But adding those small meals every couple of hours really gets me through the day. I have more energy during the entire day, they help me stay awake and alert, and I feel good eating them!
The real test will be tomorrow, I will have to do a supplemental post tomorrow after my test.
Since I told you I would try and teach you some Exercise Physiology, I wanted to inform you on what really is metabolic efficiency. In a nut shell, metabolic efficiency is a how well our bodies utilize energy. It can also be seen as how well our bodies use oxygen, but energy is the main thing we're after. When we exercise our body is getting it's energy from 2 primary sources, and sometimes 3. Those two are fats and carbohydrates. The third is protein (yes, your body will eat itself if you do not give it what it needs...). Carbohydrates are the easiest thing for our bodies to break down, and they give us 4 kcals of energy per gram. Fats, on the other hand, give us 9 kcals per gram! It doesn't take an exercise physiologist to realize that we would rather get our energy from one gram of fat than carb, since we are getting twice the energy for the same amount. This is what I am doing. I am trying to tell my body to burn that fat, rather than those carbs. And, not only during exercise, but also during resting or everyday life! As an athlete it is very important to always have some source of energy. Since carbs are the easiest to break down into energy, the body will use them up quickly. BUT, if my body knows that it can burn fat than it will save my carb stores for later.
As exercise intensity increases, the rate at which we use carbs as energy increases (wow, that sounded like it came straight from a textbook...stupid PhD...). So, not only do I want to get my body to burn fat first, I want it to burn fat while exercising at a certain intensity. The faster I can run and still burn fat, the more energy I will have, and more importantly, the more energy I am saving for the end of the race when I sprint to finish!
That is the basics on why I am changing my diet. The hard reality about it, is that I can't just do the Paleo Diet for two weeks and go back to eating whatever I want. Its a complete lifestyle change, which is never easy. I decided, however, that when I became more efficient while being strict, I would allow myself to reintroduce complex carbs (i.e. pasta, bread, etc.) back into my diet, but at a much less amount. That is what I have started to do already, and let me tell you, the nachos I had last night were awesome! Truthfully, I love the new diet. Fruit and meat are awesome together. I just want to eat my mom's bread when I go visit! The best bread in the world according to me. The compromise is that I will stick with the Paleo Diet for the majority of the week, and allow myself to eat some non-Paleo once a week. I look forward to when the training plan allows for more than once a week, but I will save that for a future post...
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Stomach Pains of Metabolic Efficiency Training Pt.1
If you thought doing a triathlon was hard...try metabolic efficiency training! What is metabolic efficiency training you ask??? In the most basic of terms it is "going on a diet." Now in reality its CHANGING my diet, since we all are on a diet already. Some diets just happen to be better than others. Changing my diet so that my body will burn primarily fats while at rest and almost exclusively while exercising at a low-moderate intensity is metabolic efficiency training. I am not doing this because I thought I was fat, or was eating junk food 24/7. The whole idea behind choosing to do this was to become a better triathlete with a more ideal body composition. In the end I hope to become a healthier me at the same time.
This may be the hardest thing I've done in my short triathlete life so far. I love to eat. I love to eat pasta and breads and potatoes. Unfortunately I am cutting all three of those to a minimum if not all together. Needless to say, I haven't been sticking to the plan 100% either. The point is to train my body to not want carbs all the time. To do this I need to take away extremely carb dense foods, and replace them with other foods that have carbs, but also contain other stuff, like fiber and water and other nutrients. The goal is to eat TONS more fruits and veggies. I also eat more fats as well to try and get my body used to them (enter 4 grams of fish oil a day). Protein is probably right where it always has been. I sure do love my meat! What is hard about all this is that my body is so used to using carbs as it's energy source that the reduction in readily available carbs causes my body to scream.
For example, I will eat what I think is a pretty large dinner. A whole plate of spinach salad with an array of veggies on top and several pieces of fruit on the side (mostly apples because they are cheapest). After that I will also have a relatively large piece of meat or other protein, like eggs, that is on par with a regular restaurant serving size of the same. So that's basically two whole courses, right? Well, why after eating them do I feel so hungry!?!? This is what I like to call my "fake" hunger. I tell you what, the discipline it is going to take to get past this is going to be a lot. Especially with the holidays coming up. My goal is to stick with the plan, without fail, for the next month and a half (before Christmas roles around). Hopefully by then I will have achieved some kind of progress and will allow myself a cookie on Christmas day ;-)
That's all for Pt.1 of this story. There is more to tell, but I am saving that for another post. If you have any questions about this topic don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to use this opportunity to help teach you all a bit about exercise physiology!
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
This may be the hardest thing I've done in my short triathlete life so far. I love to eat. I love to eat pasta and breads and potatoes. Unfortunately I am cutting all three of those to a minimum if not all together. Needless to say, I haven't been sticking to the plan 100% either. The point is to train my body to not want carbs all the time. To do this I need to take away extremely carb dense foods, and replace them with other foods that have carbs, but also contain other stuff, like fiber and water and other nutrients. The goal is to eat TONS more fruits and veggies. I also eat more fats as well to try and get my body used to them (enter 4 grams of fish oil a day). Protein is probably right where it always has been. I sure do love my meat! What is hard about all this is that my body is so used to using carbs as it's energy source that the reduction in readily available carbs causes my body to scream.
For example, I will eat what I think is a pretty large dinner. A whole plate of spinach salad with an array of veggies on top and several pieces of fruit on the side (mostly apples because they are cheapest). After that I will also have a relatively large piece of meat or other protein, like eggs, that is on par with a regular restaurant serving size of the same. So that's basically two whole courses, right? Well, why after eating them do I feel so hungry!?!? This is what I like to call my "fake" hunger. I tell you what, the discipline it is going to take to get past this is going to be a lot. Especially with the holidays coming up. My goal is to stick with the plan, without fail, for the next month and a half (before Christmas roles around). Hopefully by then I will have achieved some kind of progress and will allow myself a cookie on Christmas day ;-)
That's all for Pt.1 of this story. There is more to tell, but I am saving that for another post. If you have any questions about this topic don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to use this opportunity to help teach you all a bit about exercise physiology!
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Bittersweet Half-Marathon
Race Update! I set a new PR for the Half-marathon distance, and took 2nd place in my age group! The Norwalk, WI half-marathon race went well, but not without some dissapointment. My goal was to run a 1:31 and I ended up running a 1:38. You might say, that's only 7 minutes difference. You are right, but a 1:31 is right at 7 min/mile pace and a 1:38 is 7:30 min/mile, which to me is a big difference. I ran a half-marathon way back in early May and did it in 7:37 min/mile pace. After a whole 6 months of training I was expecting to run an amazing time. Only a month ago I ran 10 miles in roughly 7:10 pace, what's 3 more miles??
After a lot of thought and discussing the end results with Coach Rick, we concluded that it all came down to poor timing. The training seemed to be there, the taper and nutrition seemed right on, and the desire certainly was there. We believe that a down performance was due almost completely to trying to do too much in what is supposed to be a low training period. All the experts will tell you that trying to have 2 peak seasons in a year is pushing it, if not impossible. I never thought of it as trying to peak. All I wanted to do was run my best time ever...which if you think about it is...well, trying to peak. We just came off an excellent summer of training. A lot of effort and was put to good use as I had my best year ever as a triathlete. However, we all need some down time to rest up, recover and start building for next year. I believed that I was rested and recovered, so when I started training for this race I thought I could just pick up where I finished off from race season. As we found out, it doesn't quite work like that. I'm still confident that I will run a 1:31 or even faster in the future, but I need to give my body more time to build back up.
You should always come away from a race with something positive! I did in fact set a new PR, and I did win an award for 2nd in my age group. I'm very pleased to have done both of these, and just think about it...the next time I run a half-marathon I will be 100% ready, and will be ready to hit that 1:31 goal, but this time with more experience and another race under my belt.
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
After a lot of thought and discussing the end results with Coach Rick, we concluded that it all came down to poor timing. The training seemed to be there, the taper and nutrition seemed right on, and the desire certainly was there. We believe that a down performance was due almost completely to trying to do too much in what is supposed to be a low training period. All the experts will tell you that trying to have 2 peak seasons in a year is pushing it, if not impossible. I never thought of it as trying to peak. All I wanted to do was run my best time ever...which if you think about it is...well, trying to peak. We just came off an excellent summer of training. A lot of effort and was put to good use as I had my best year ever as a triathlete. However, we all need some down time to rest up, recover and start building for next year. I believed that I was rested and recovered, so when I started training for this race I thought I could just pick up where I finished off from race season. As we found out, it doesn't quite work like that. I'm still confident that I will run a 1:31 or even faster in the future, but I need to give my body more time to build back up.
You should always come away from a race with something positive! I did in fact set a new PR, and I did win an award for 2nd in my age group. I'm very pleased to have done both of these, and just think about it...the next time I run a half-marathon I will be 100% ready, and will be ready to hit that 1:31 goal, but this time with more experience and another race under my belt.
www.NorthwoodsEndurance.com
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