A Game of Catch Up

I really need to write on here more often. It seems as though I say that at the start of all my posts lately. I find that every time I start writing a new post, I feel overwhelmed, because of everything I want to talk about. Just looking at this post, I want to talk about so many things. I guess I should have seen this coming since it's been nearly a full month since my last actually post. Obviously, I am not counting my last post of my end of summer video, which was a secondary recap to my previous post "Squeezing Every Last Drop from Summer." As it turns out, I am constantly wanting to do a write up as things in life present themselves, but for one reason or another just put it off, as more and more things come up that I want to write about. Finally, when I get around to doing a blog entry, I feel overwhelmed by how many things I want to write about and feel as though I am just rushing through topics. It's as though I'm selling some of these topics short.

So here we go....

Since mid-to-late August, Sarah and I have been doing as much as possible with what little time remains of summer. The weekend before Labor Day Weekend, we went camping in Door County at Peninsula State Park, which is one of the nicest State Parks in Wisconsin, which also makes it one of the most popular. We got into Peninsula Friday evening and set up camp for the week. For the first time ever, we camped in a tent, opposed to a pop-up camper as we used to. Early Saturday morning it poured. It rained hard for about 1-3 hours, but once it stopped, the day ended up being nearly perfect. We spent much of the day at the beach with the kids swimming and playing in the sand.

Coming off our weekend at Peninsula State Park, Sarah and I both worked shorter weeks at work and spent most the week packing for an extended weekend up at my in-laws cabin in a tiny northern Wisconsin town called Cayuga. We always spend an extended weekend up at their cabin, usually over Memorial Day Weekend. But, this year that weekend was booked with a wedding, so we made plans of going up there over Labor Day Weekend. Their cabin is in the deep woods of the Chequamegon National Forest, about 25-30 miles south of Ashland, WI. The weekend was a nice get away from the busy summer we have been having. We really didn't have any specific plans throughout the weekend, but made plans as the weekend came to us. We spent the weekend riding around the trails on 4-wheelers, enjoyed a day at "Glidden-Fest" (a small town festival), going out to dinner, and just enjoying a weekend with the family. The crazy thing about our 4 day stay in Cayuga, is that we some how managed to cram 8 adults, 6 kids (all ranging from 5 to 6 months), and 3 hyperactive dogs, all into a small 2 bedroom cabin.

Since coming back from our weekend in the north woods, both Maya and Delaney began new endeavors in school this year. Maya began 4k which is a half a day, 5 day a week school, while Delaney began preschool at the YMCA, just as Maya did the year prior. It was easy for me to let Maya go to school as being my big girl who seems to excel in anything intellectual. Delaney on the other hand, I had a harder time letting go, even just to a short, couple hour, 2 times a week, preschool. She has always been my little sidekick since she was able to move. So seeing her with a backpack and watching her go to school was a weird moment for me, almost a slap upside the head reminding me of how fast kids grow up. Both kids absolutely LOVE school and look forward to going each day. They both regularly ask, "when do I go back to school," immediately upon picking them up.

Along with starting school, Maya started Ballet classes once a week along with swimming lessons and flag football through the YMCA. Delaney started gymnastics through the Y and swimming lessons. Maya enjoys football and seems to enjoy the company of other kids more than the actual sport of football. Delaney has been excelling in gymnastics, especially for being so young. She has great body control and awareness and seems to have decent relative strength. Now, with the kids into a routine with school and classes, Sarah and I have kept busy with work. We have been extremely fortunate to have a lot of time away from work with the birth of Harper and spent most of the time together as a family. With summer pretty much gone, we have been back to the normal life of work and just the routine "weekends" as they come around.  

One of the biggest updates for Sarah and I is our recent adventure with the Whole30 (need a reminder of what exactly the Whole30 is, READ THIS - Program Rules). Prior to leaving for Cayuga, I had the idea in my head that once we returned from our extended weekend, I would commit to eating better and dropping as much expendable weight as possible leading up to my marathon on October 11th. As I have discussed before, much of August was spent on vacation, which typically means eating like crap and drinking excessive beer. This was exactly the case for me. It all kind of started during our week long vacation in Rhinelander the week leading up to the USAT Age Group National Championships. I stayed committed to that race solely by avoiding alcohol, but still ate terribly. This continued throughout our weekend in Cayuga. I drank a ton of beer, ate a lot of processed foods, along with just about anything you would classify as "junk food." If you have been following my blog since the beginning, you can attest to how many times I have written about "making a change for the better in my diet." I struggle with maintaining healthy eating habits. Sure, I eat pretty healthy foods, but often find myself snacking and binge eating on processed, sugary foods. And this doesn't even take into consideration the amount of beer I drink. So, I am not here to go on and make claims of how I am going to change and make these extravagant changes to my diet. Anyway, I knew I had to make some changes to my diet patterns if I really wanted a shot at running a sub 3 hour marathon in October. I made the decision to embark on my second stint on the Whole30 after coming home from our weekend up north. But, instead of just me doing the Whole30, I mentioned the idea for Sarah to join me. Initially she shot down the idea immediately. I challenged her and really encouraged her to try it, and offered to help her out along the way. Eventually I was able to persuade her into joining me for 30 days of truly cleaning up our diets with hopes of establishing some new healthy habits.

As of writing this we have made it through 3 weeks (21 days) without any major slip ups. I have noticed that completing the Whole30 is a ton easier when you have your family doing it with you. My first go at the Whole30 was just me, while the remainder of the family ate what they wanted which made it that much more difficult With Sarah doing it along with me, we have cleaned out our house of all non-Whole30 foods and completely restocked our home with real foods. If you are considering doing a Whole30, I highly recommend doing it as a family. I also feel as though, since we are doing this as a family, we have the better chance of making positive changes to our daily diet that will stick, opposed to going straight back to the way things were before even starting the Whole30, which was pretty much the case from my first go at the Whole30. I do plan on writing a review of the Whole30 in the end with some perspective from Sarah, who I would consider a "normal" person, who when left on her own, would have never done the Whole30. I will also include our plans as a family for post Whole30. Below are some of our favorite recipes from our second round of the Whole30 (click on each title for a link to the recipe):

1. Avocado Stuffed Burgers
2. Balsamic Glazed Chicken Kabobs with Strawberry Salsa
3. Pumpkin Spice Lattes
4. Venison Bacon Sweet Potato Sliders
5. Macadamia Nut Chicken Tenders
6. Stuffed Green Peppers
7. Cauliflower Hummus (even better than traditional hummus!)

And last but not least, I wanted to write a little about my training for the Whistle Stop Marathon in Ashland, WI on October 11th. I have been following a generic plan created using the Smart Coach program from www.RunnersWorld.com. The reason I chose this opposed to creating my own plan, as I normally do for races, was two fold. First, I wanted something different from how I normally structure my training plans. And secondly, I only had 8 weeks coming off of the Sprint Triathlon National Championships in August, so I wanted to get a lot of bang for my buck with the limited time. I have been running the most I have run (weekly mileage) since 2011. I have really been focused on my runs and have been taking more off days to ensure recovery and have really limited my swimming and biking. I haven't been scheduling any swim or bike workouts, I've been just sprinkling them into my schedule based on how I feel on each giving day and what is going on in my life on that specific day. Majority of my day to day runs are 9-12 miles long at a pretty aggressive pace with weekend long runs ranging from 16-20 miles, also at a relatively aggressive pace. This has been the first time since starting my career with the Sheriff's Office and working a 6/3 rotation that I have followed a 5/2 training schedule (9 day training week vs a 5 day training week). It really hasn't been an issue as I had initially though back when I started working shifts, especially 3rd shift. The Whistle Stop Marathon is a point to point marathon with all of the race on an old rail road track that has been converted to a recreational trail. The surface is a firm crushed limestone type surface and is mostly downhill or flat. Because of this I have made it a point to do majority of my training runs and all of my longs runs on some of the recreational trails throughout the area. I did 2 of my long runs at State Parks, 18 at Peninsula and 20 at Copper Falls. This is my first time ever taking my training runs off the streets and running on trails. I must say, I have found them to be significantly more relaxing and enjoyable, not to mention the noticeably softer running surface, which my joints have enjoyed.

On September 2nd when I started following the Whole30, I noticed an obvious change in my running. I noticed that I was tiring sooner, and just couldn't sustain a normal steady up beat pace over 8-10 miles. But, after sticking with my training and sticking to eating whole foods, my body has adjusted and my training has been going great! I have been hitting most of my prescribed paces and getting in all of my scheduled mileage. I have been feeling considerably more optimistic for my chances of finally finishing a marathon in under 3 hours. Regardless of how well my training may or may not being going, I will need to have a great day all together and stay extremely mentally strong, as it will be a very tough task no matter how fit and fast I may be at the start of the race. So, at this point I have just under 3 weeks until race day and all I can do is continue to eat healthy and focus on fueling my body and continue to train my ass off and keep a priority on recovery as much as my training.

So, from here on out, I am going to do my best to continue to post on here on a more regular basis and my next post will be a final recap on our Whole30 experience and a final update on my training leading up to the Whistle Stop Marathon.

Until then.... Stay fast, stay strong, and carry on!!!

Oshkosh Half Marathon - Race Report

I have made it no secret that my ultimate goal for the marathon is running a sub 3 hour marathon, especially since qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 2010.  Ever since running the Boston Marathon in 2011, I have focused majority of my efforts toward triathlon.  This year is going to be different.  My main focus for the spring of 2014 is the Green Bay Marathon.  In preperation for the GB Marathon, I scheduled the Oshkosh Half Marathon as a race to gauge were my current fitness is.  I did not plan on treating this race as an "A" race, but a "B" race.  I definitely wanted to put up a fast time and do the best I could, but I honestly had no clue as to what type of time I was capable of.  The last half marathon I ran was in 2008 and I finished with a time of 1:38:43.  My latest marathon time was last year's Green Bay Marathon with a time of 3:10:32.  I often use McMillan Running (www.mcmillanrunning.com) to help predict race times and help set realistic, yet challenging goals.  I first put in a goal marathon time of 2:55:00 and according to their calculator I should theoretically be able to run a 1:23:09 half marathon.  So, just like that, I had determined a goal time for my first half marathon in nearly 6 years.  

Training Plan

My training plan has been geared around one goal in mind.  Running 26.2 miles in less then 3 hours - period.  That simple.....but it's always easier said then done.  Ever since running 30 miles on my 30th birthday, my training plan has focused on strictly prescribed pace workouts.  I have been doing mile repeats, goal marathon paced workouts, long runs, and tempo runs.  Each of these differing workouts have a specific goal pace.  My mile repeats have been done around 5:20/mile, long runs at an easy 7:45-8:00/mile, goal paced workouts are at or below 6:50/mile, and my tempo runs at 6:20/mile.  The days leading up the Oshkosh Half were far from being a taper.  The Saturday before I did an 8 mile run with 5 mile repeats, followed with a 14 mile goal marathon pace run on Monday.  On Thursday I had a track workout consisting of 6x400m sprints with a total mileage of 6 miles.  I took Friday off and then a short 2 mile run on Saturday.  I honestly felt really well on both Saturday and Sunday morning leading up to the race even with my higher training volume/intensity.

Day/Night Before

Saturday was a busy day/night for my family and I.  It started immediately after finishing my short 2 mile jaunt.  Sarah brought the three girls, with her parents, to a Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the Local YMCA followed by an Easter Egg Hunt.  I left to get down to Oshkosh to pick up my race packet and then met up with the family shortly after their breakfast.  After the Easter Egg Hunt, we went to the grocery store for their annual "Bunny Hop."  It's nothing special, kind of a trick-or-treating style day but Easter Themed with the Easter Bunny.  When we finished making our rounds at the grocery store, we went to the same hospital Harper was born at to visit our good friends Pat and Melissa to see their new son, Connor.  We spent about 45 minutes visiting and then we returned home to get the kids down for an afternoon nap.  Later that evening we had plans to go out to dinner with the entire extended family from my dad's side to celebrate the birthday of my deceased grandfather.  This has been a tradition with my dad and his brothers and sisters for the past 10-15 (or more) years.  My dad came from a family of 12...yes, 12!  So, any time they are able to get most, if not all, together, its pretty special.  We went to a local supper club for dinner and I did my best to eat as close to the Whole30 rules as I could.  I drank water, had a salad with tomatoes and eggs and no dressing, and a broiled piece of haddock for dinner.  My only flaw with dinner was the cup of rice which was served as a side.  I figured it was my best option, and certainly better then the other options of white potatoes (fried, hashed, baked, etc.).  My biggest flaw was having 2 small squares of the cookie cake for my aunt's birthday.  Oh well, you need to enjoy life every now and again.  Don't worry, I won't dive into the number of beers I took down Friday night while playing Cards Against Humanity with my in-laws or the number of handfuls of M&M's that I ate with the beer.  :)  Either way, I was in bed and sleeping around 10pm with my alarms set for 4am.....ugh.

Getting to the Start Line

Without fail, my alarms went off when I told them to...4am sharp.  I was tired, but excited to get my 2014 race season under way.  I finally got my butt out of bed around 4:15 and immediately poured a cup of coffee and ate my traditional prerace meal of boiled sweet potato topped with natural honey and almond butter.  The weather was at the front of my mind all week.  It had been forecasted to be a cold and wet weekend ever since the extended forecast came out.  Saturday was a cool and wet day and rained pretty much all day.  The forecast for Saturday morning called for temperatures near 40 and a 30-40% chance of showers.  That morning it was not raining when I woke up, but the roads and everything else was wet from all the overnight rain.  I immediately jumped onto Weather.com and saw that the rain had a chance of holding off until later in the morning.  Either way, there was little I was able to do about it, at least that's what I told myself.  After a little relaxing and stressing over the radar, I was on my way to Oshkosh (about a half hour drive south of my home) by 5:20.

After getting to Oshkosh, I eventually was able to find my friend Bob and hung out with him until about 15 minutes before the race.  At 6:15am I took my new standard pre-workout supplements from Hammer Nutrition; Race Caps Supreme, Mito Caps, and Anti-Fatigue Caps.  We stayed inside the convention center where the race was based out of to stay dry and warm.  Around 6:45am I started a brief warm up just to get the legs moving and to loosen up.  It was nothing what I would have liked, but hey, it was cold outside and I valued standing indoors in the warmth over being outside in the dreary weather.  By the time I got to the start line it was about 6:55 and I took an Energy Surge for a final boost of ATP just prior to the race starting.  After the National Anthem we receive a pre-race briefing in regards to the current course conditions following yesterdays rain.  No shocker, but there were parts of the course that were flooded, especially the sections that were located on the a trail section of the course along the river.
  

Miles 0-7

Immediately after starting the race, I decided I would make it a goal to go out and just run based on feel and try not to look at my watch for split times.  I wanted to do this because I honestly had no idea if a 1:23 half marathon would be way to hard for me or way to easy and I didn't want to ruin a race by crashing in the final 2-5 miles or by holding back for fear of crashing and burning.  Shortly after mile 1, I had realized that I had gone out way to fast.  My breathing was pretty labored and I knew I had to cut my pace or I would never be able to survive the final 12 miles.  I slowed my pace a bit, but it really wasn't until miles 4 or 5 that I really started to feel like I was at the right pace.  The first 4 miles were ironically the wettest.  This was the section of the race that was run along the lake and river that goes through the City of Oshkosh.  There were sections of the course that were under a good 3-6" of water that were completely unavoidable.  It was at these sections of the course that I tried to make my gait as wide and quick as possible to try and stay as dry as possible.

Miles 8-13.1

I continued to count down the miles to get to mile 10, because at that point I knew I would just have a 5k to the finish line.  Miles 8-10 were the worst miles, mentally.  I had no one in front of me to chase and no one behind me to push me.  I was lonely.  I tried to continuously assess my breathing, my gait, and my overall general feeling, wondering if I needed to slow down, or if I could pick up the pace based on how much of the race was left.  By time I got to mile 10, I was in a comfortable grove.  I knew I could hang on with just enough gas in the tank for a strong push on the final mile.  After the 10 mile mark, I took a final Hammer Nutrition Energy Surge for a little energy boost to get me to the finish line.  I continued to slowly pick up the pace until I passed the 12 mile mark.  It was at that point that I picked up the pace.  There was still no one visible in front of me, but I was able to see another guy behind me.  With about a quarter mile to the finish line I really opened up, I am not sure if it was adrenaline or the Energy Surge, but I felt like I had a whole other gear and pushed hard and finished with a final time of 1:24:31.

Oshkosh Half Marathon - Garmin Details

Post Race

After finishing I was very happy to see my wife and kids (as always) at the finish line and we spent some time chatting about the race and stuck around to watch Bob finish the race.  It was special to see my wife and kids at this race.   I could have been the fact that the weather was cruddy and my wife still lugged 3 girls all 4 and under out to the finish line by herself.  It could have been the fact that we are now a family of 3 with a one month old.  Or it could have been the fact that this was Harper's first ever race.  Either way, It seems like since the Ironman and having our third daughter my family has meant even more to me then before.  I am truly the luckiest guy out there and I wouldn't trade my life for anything.  Shortly after Bob finished, they held the awards ceremony.  I was fortunate enough to finish in 12th place overall and 2nd in my new age group of 30-34.  I was thrilled.  

Other Notes

I was very happy with my time.  No, it wasn't the 1:23 I was shooting for, but really who knows if that was realistic.  Maybe if I had trained specifically for a half marathon and tapered and peaked for this race I could have run a 1:23, but I really don't care.  For me it isn't about this individual half.  It's about the Marathon, specially running that marathon in under 3 hours, and that race is now 33 days away.  I have been training hard for the marathon and ran this race in the heart of my training, so I am very pleased with my time of 1:24:31.  Plus, now when I input my official race time from this race into the McMillan Calculator, it predicts a theoretical marathon time 2:57:52.  Sure, I wouldn't mind a little cushion but that is a definite confidence boost.  A boost that I will take into the final month of my training.

Lessons for Future Events

There are few true lessons that I will pull from this race when it comes to the specifics of the race and strategies.  But I will say, this was the first race that I ran since strictly using Hammer Nutrition products and I will not change anytime soon.  This was also the first time I used Energy Surge and Anti-Fatigue Caps and I am extremely impressed with the results.  I can't wait to continue to use them in future races and triathlons.  I debated what I would eat or drink for my pre-race meal.  I have made a decent effort to eat a diet higher in fat and protein and lower in carbohydrates in an effort to become more fat adapted.  So, I debated drinking coffee with pure coconut milk in it was opposed to my traditional high carb meal that I ultimately ended up eating.  I think I will still eat my sweet potato before the Green Bay Marathon, but might experiment with just coffee and coconut milk for my triathlons and other races this summer.

What's Next

It's time to kick my training into high gear the next few weeks before my final taper before the marathon.  I am scheduled to take Monday off from training in an effort to properly recover before jumping back into pace specific workouts.  I have one more real long run on my schedule of 24 miles and then a final 20 miler before my taper.  I have 2 more goal marathon pace workouts and a couple of shorter, more intense runs on the schedule.  I also have the Jailbreak 5k coming up on April 26th, which has the Bloodhound Challenge for Law Enforcement Officers.  I have won it the past two years and have some high expectations to win it a third year in a row.  I will do my best, but like I say every year, it's only a matter of time before another quick person shows up and steals the traveling trophy from me.

Outnumbered

It's been a while since I last wrote, so now seems like a good time to get caught up.  Harper is now approaching 3 weeks, which sounds like no big deal, but to any parent, it's crazy.  To think that our last baby is already 3 weeks old.  Yes, I said last.  We get asked quite often if Harper will be our last and both Sarah and I, without hesitation claim, "oh yea!"  Not that we don't or couldn't handle a fourth child.  It truly comes down to logistics and finances.  Raising a kid is not cheap (ahhh....duh).  If you would have asked me just one month ago and asked me, personally, if I wanted a fourth kid, I would have laughed, asked, "are you serious," and come right back with a short two letter answer..."NO."  But, with Harper here, and most of the "honeymoon period" over and done with.  Having a third kid around the house isn't half bad.  Sure, it helps having Super Mom around the house all the time, but Sarah and I have adjusted rather nicely to being a family of 5 from the previous family of 4.  Sarah has been at home since Harper was born and will continue to stay home with her and the girls until the beginning of May, at which time, I have taken some time away from work to help out around the house and to keep Harper at home just a little longer, before sending her to childcare.  It really hasn't been all the bad around our house.  Hectic?  Yes.  Loud?  Sure.  Messy?  Oh yea.  Enjoyable?  You bet!  Sarah and I have helped each other out when needed.  Sarah is and always has been the baby whisperer of our relationship.  And truthfully, I don't really "do" babies.  Sarah and I have each taken on our own responsibilities based on our strengths.  Sarah cares for Harper and her around-the-clock needs, while I handle the two older girls, who don't have the same constant needs, but seem to have their own frustrations.

Cousins!

Grandma and Grandpa Kohl

Raising a baby will take a lot outta ya!

Simply adorable

As my title clearly states, Sarah and I are now officially outnumbered, 2:3.  3 munchkins to 2 adults.  It's not fair, not at all.  But that isn't the only way I am currently outnumbered.  There is also a current ratio of 4:1, yes, four to one.  That ratio is girls to boys.  As Three Dog Night infamously wrote years ago, "One is the loneliest number."  But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love having my little girls.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one teammate on my side, but, as I often say, everything happens for a reason.  I think if money was not an issue, Sarah and I would definitely try to have a 4th kid with hopes of my elusive son.  But, let's be honest, money is most definitely an issue and our house is not going to be growing overnight with the size of our family.  So, we are only able to have as many kids as our paychecks will allow.  Trust me, we are really pushing the limits of our paychecks to see just how many kids we can support every other week.  But I know neither Sarah nor I would have it any other way.  We are happy, all 5 of us.  

The first 3 weeks have come and gone so quickly.  Last weekend, we brought Harper and our family to Jennifer Lee Photography in Downtown Little Chute for our family pictures and Harper's newborn pictures.  We have only seen a couple of photos so far, but can not wait to see the rest of them.  That same day was Maya's Preschool Family Night at the YMCA.  For a dish to pass, Maya and I made little fruit bowls that were made to look like dolphins.  It was something I saw on Pinterest earlier that week (shared by my mother) and I must say they turned out pretty cool.    Harper has had a ton of visitors ranging from family, friends, and coworkers.  She is truly a blessed kid and lucky to have the family she does!  

Short Training Update

With it being so long since my last post, it has been even longer since I last wrote about my training.  I have registered for just about all my races for 2014 which means my race schedule for this year is just about complete.  I still need to register for the Door County Fall 50 Ultramarathon, but the registration period for that does not open until April 1st, so I still have a couple days until I even have the ability to register for that race.  There are a couple of other local races I have had my eye on that I have not registered for yet, those being the Neenah Duathlon on May 3rd and the Green Bay Triathlon on June 1st.  There are a couple of stipulations as to why I have not registered for either of these races yet.  First, the duathlon, it falls on the day after my cousins wedding.  Yea, not the best atmosphere to be in the night before a race, but we will see.  As for the GB Tri, I am scheduled to work the night before and the race starts at 7:00am in Green Bay.  I am done with work at 6:10am in Oshkosh, an hour away.  So, once again, it falls into a "we'll see" category.
As far as my training, it has been right where I want it to be for the end of March.  I am on track for the Green Bay Marathon on May 18th.  My shin/calf has been a non-issue ever since I took the three weeks off between January 6th and the 26th.  Since my 30 mile run on my 30th birthday, I have changed gears from a volume focused training plan to an intensity based training plan.  Each of my runs has a specific prescribed pace and purpose.  I have done Goal Marathon Pace workouts (6:50/mile), Tempo Runs (6:20/mile), Mile Repeats (5:30/mile), Long Runs (7:30-8:30/mile) and Easy Runs (6:50-7:50/mile).  I have still been doing intermittent bike and swim workouts between my running.  Today was actually the first day I was able to get my bike outside and actually ride outdoors.  It was about 36* when I went out the door this morning but was windy as hell.  It's always fun to do that first outdoor ride of the year, because it is always a rude awakening to remember the challenges of hills and wind.  It's so easy to forget that when your stuck indoors for hours and hours throughout the winter.

As I said, my training has been going great so far, but I find myself needing to keep myself in check.  I find that am I constantly saying, "Hey, you aren't training for an Ironman this year!"  It's like I am always wanting to do more, go longer, add an additional bike ride or swim when and where I can.  Especially now, I need to just stay focused on my primary goal of running a sub 3 hour marathon, which I think I have been doing a good job of so far.  Tomorrow I have my third Marathon Goal Pace (MGP) workout.  I have been doing these workouts with a total distance between 12-16 miles with built in longer intervals completed at MGP.  For instance, tomorrow, I am scheduled to run 3 repeats of 3 miles done at MGP with 2-3 miles rest/recovery between intervals.  My total volume is 14 miles, so I am planning on running a 3 mile warm up before my first interval and end with an easy 2 mile cool down.  These are challenging, but very rewarding workouts.  I have high expectations for these workouts and hoping that they will properly prepare me for the Green Bay Marathon in a month and half.

My first race of the year is coming up in a couple weeks with the Oshkosh Half Marathon on April 13th.  My goal is to finish around 1:23 (6:20/mile pace).  If I am able to run a 1:23 half, I will feel very confident in running a 2:59 marathon a month later.  The only caveat is that I work the night before and after the race.  So fatigue will definitely play a factor.  I will still go out and try to run a 1:23 race, but my expectations are not nearly as high as they would be if I was not working the night before.

Our SWAT Team did a Photo shoot with a local newspaper
to recognize our SWAT Team of the Year Award.
This was one of the pictures taken.  Yes, that's me on the left.

With everything falling in place with our family and Sarah and I getting back into a routine, I plan on writing a little more regularly about my family and training life.

So....until next time!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Life After 30

I am officially a 30 year old.  For as anxious and mentally beating myself up about turning 30, now that I am actually 30, there is no difference - other then the fact that I now have to say I am 30 and that I am now in a different age group for races (M30-34), of course.  The time surrounding my actual birthday was fantastic.  It was exactly how I would have wanted it to go.  I spent a lot of time with my wife and daughters, my extended family, and yes, I successfully ran 30 miles on my actual 30th birthday as I had planned on doing.  I figured with so much going on in a couple weeks, I'd take some time to just share everything that went on during that time.

With my aunt Carol (our childcare provider) being out of the country, visiting her sister in Spain, for the good part of 2 weeks, I had taken off from work starting on Thursday, February 27th.  Doing so gave me 4 days off from work, in addition to my already prescheduled 3 off days.  I had a full week off from work!  Come Friday, we planned on getting together with my family and my in-laws and getting together for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Downtown Appleton.  I originally wanted to get dinner at Stone Cellar Brewpub (my favorite) but had to make alternative plans due to the size of our group and the inability to make reservations on Friday nights at SCB.  To make up for this change of plans, I met my mom and dad, JD, and my brother and his girlfriend at SCB for a few beers before heading to Sangria's for dinner.  After dinner we all came back to our house for drinks, cake, and a game of dominoes.  Every year for my birthday, Sarah's grandmother makes me a from-scratch carrot cake, from a recipe she concocted herself.  The carrot cake is to die for - so rich and moist, with a delicious cream cheese frosting.  To go along with the carrot cake, my mom made a batch of Monster Cookie Dough Cupcakes from a recipe that was going around on Facebook.  The cup cakes were very very very rich and heavy.  As per the recipe, my mom scooped the frosting onto the cupcakes with an ice cream scooper....no joke.  So you can imagine the sugar overload on just a single cupcake.  As good as they were, it was almost too much of a good thing.  

Saturday was a more laid back day with no real plans at all.  I didn't do much of anything on Saturday and just hung around the house with Sarah and the girls.  Sarah brought the girls to the Circus in Green Bay in the afternoon which the girls absolutely loved.  Later that night, we went over to my parents house for one of my favorite dinners - homemade lasagna.

Sunday had arrived and my official birthday had arrived.  I stayed in bed as long as the girls would allow me to, which ended up being about 7:15am - which isn't too bad, actually.  The girls and I had breakfast together, which has become a regular tradition of ours.  After I got the girls all set for the day, I headed out the door for my epic birthday run.

I'll be honest with you, when I had woken up, it was damn cold, -4 was the actual temperature with windchills around -17 and there was about a 1/2" to 1" of fresh snow that had fallen overnight.  I was really considering just driving over to the YMCA and running my 30 miles on a treadmill, just to avoid the cold and snow covered roads.  It certainly did not help that it had snowed pretty much every day for the past 2-3 days before my birthday, which lead to the roads being completely covered with snow as it was, not to mention the side walks.  I sat there thinking about how miserable it was going to be out in the bitter cold for over 4 hours straight.  I then thought, on the other hand, how flat out boring and miserable it would be running on a treadmill for over 4 hours.  It was a toss up.  I opted for the fresh air and running outdoors, regardless of how cold it was.  I thought to myself, I would not torture myself on my birthday and would just suck it up and dress warm.

I had all my fuel preset from the night before and kept it all indoors, just inside our front door to prevent it from freezing.  I had my 3 mile route all planned out, and I dressed super warm.  I was finally ready to begin my run.  I brought our dog Bella along for the first lap and she appeared to be having fun and didn't look tired after the first lap, that I brought her along for the second lap.  After each lap, I stopped inside to warm up briefly and grab some fuel.  After my second lap, I figured that 6 miles in the cold was enough for my dog, although the way she looked at me after I took the leash off, I still think she wanted to join me for more.  The run progressed nicely and I never really got too cold.  I never stopped my watch throughout the run so my time included all the breaks I took after each lap.  During one of my breaks my Aunt Carol and Grandma FaceTimed from Spain to wish me a happy birthday, which kept me inside a little longer than usual, but I was ok with it.  During another pit stop, I helped my wife get Delaney down for a nap.  And then on a third pit stop I actually stopped to relace my shoes, as the laces seemed to be bothering the top portion of my feet.  It seemed to alleviate some of the added pressures on the top of my feet because after I relaced my shoes it was no longer an issue.

Throughout the run, I consumed about a total of 850 calories.  I used Hammer Gels and Perpetuem solids during the first 5 laps of my run, and then Perpetuem Drink and Solids during the second half.  I felt great throughout the entire duration of the run, which honestly surprised me.  I finished with a time of 4:21:06 with an average pace of 8:37/mile.  Like I said, I never stopped my watch during my breaks,  so this time is including my downtime.  Based my mile splits of the miles run between my breaks, I's estimate that my actually average running pace would be in the ball park of 8:10/mile.  Looking back on the run itself, it definitely had its ups and downs; its good times and bad times.  It didn't start getting truly had until about mile 21.  It was at this point were I started to actually get cold and that the cold air started to have an effect on my breathing.  The cold air made it difficult to breath and it seemed to tighten up my chest a bit.  Don't get me wrong, I could still breath plenty well, but it was at this point where it seemed that I started coughing more frequently as I attempted to breath.  There was a couple times when I really questioned what the hell I was doing.  I asked myself, why the hell I was out in the sub zero temperatures, running for hours and hours, when I could be inside in a warm house, enjoying time with my wife and kids - and on my birthday of all days???  I really questioned myself around laps 4 and 5, just before and right around the half way point.  It was at that point where I had already ran about 12-15 miles, but still had another 18-15 miles too go.  But then I started thinking about my life and life in general.  It dawned on me that running, especially endurance running, and specifically challenging yourself specifically, has a lot of similarities to life.  Just like my very own life, there were times where life sucked, where I wanted to give up on something, times where you just wanted to quit and take the easy road.  Also, just like in life, I had moments duirng my run, where I was at complete peace, almost a state of euphoria.  I was happy, calm, and relaxed.  I was listening to my breath, focused, and just "there" - in the moment.  Life has the same ups and downs.  It has short bouts of good times and frustrating times, it has just as many times where it seems like you'll never get out of a funk.  It may be days, it may be weeks.  But knowing that it will not stay that way forever can be comforting.  Just like endurance sports, you have to come to expect times where you feel like absolute shit, times when you want to slow down, or even quit.  You need to know that you need to do what ever you can do to get those thoughts out of your mind and refocus your energy on the task at hand.  You need to know, with confidence that those feelings will pass.  You will overcome your struggles and you will be better for it.

That is the exact reason why I do what I do.  I love the challenge of it.  I love the excitement of it.  I love knowing that the benefits of my sport far exceed better cardiovascular health.  I know that I am a better father, husband, employee, friend, and community member because I run.  I am a better person overall because I put myself into challenging, uncomfortable situations and work my way through them.

My girls and I at our hibachi dinner

After my run, I was sore....duh!  I took a warm shower and sat down with a bottle of Sah-Tea Beer, brewed by Dogfish Head Brewing along with 2 pieces of that homemade carrot cake.  For dinner that night, we went out as a family, just the 4 of us to a local Japanese hibachi restaurant.  I wanted to surprise Maya by taking her there for dinner as she has been asking to go to "the restaurant with the fire on the grill."  Once there she was so happy and surprised.  Her joy made my night.  

By the end of my birthday I was in a great mood.  I was happy.  I was again reminded how lucky I am in life.  That I have 2 absolutely adorable, beautiful daughters, a caring, supportive, and loving wife, and a wonderful family including my in-laws.  I may be turning 30 and getting older everyday.  But, I know that each and every day is another day I get to spend with the ones I love and that I truly have the greatest life I could ask for.  I am truly blessed and fortunate to be were I am in my life and to have done everything I have done to this date.  But, rest assured, that I am not done.  I am not satisfied where I am and have plenty I still want to accomplish, places I want to see, and things left to learn.  I may be 30 and I may have had a great life to this point, but by no means am I depressed about getting older, I am excited and motivated about what is left for me to accomplish and experience!

With my 30 mile run under my belt, it's time for a rest/recovery week from running and training.  Truthfully, it really isn't even going to be a full week.  On Tuesday evening our SWAT team received an award from the Association of SWAT Personnel - WI (ASP) for the SWAT Team of the year.  It was a cool award to receive and an honor to be recognized by our peers.  I returned back to the routine of working third shift on Thursday night which is the start of a new training "week" for me.  When I started training/running again back in December, I was training specifically for the Green Bay Marathon.  Since then, my main goal was to build a strong base.  One that would help sustain another two and a half months of marathon specific training.  I also wanted to build a large enough base to allow me to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday.  So far, I'd say I'm doing pretty good with my base building (considering I can cross off half of my list).  So with the birthday run behind me, it is now time to shift gears from the easy long runs to more speed, tempo, and threshold running.  I have revamped my original training plan slightly due to my recent "injury" to my right calf.  I say "injury" (with the quotations) because, I am not 100% sold on the fact that I was ever truly injured to being with.  I still think it could have just been some significant wear and tear, inflammation, or something along those lines, as opposed to a full blown injury.  Basically, I tend to believe I was in the realm of an "overuse injury" which almost always leads to a full blown injury if not treated with care.

All the teams that won SWAT team of the year

My new training plan follows my standard 9 day work week, as opposed to the traditional 7 day, Monday - Sunday week, like my original plan did.  I also spread out the running days more to avoid more back-to-back run days.  My total volume is actually pretty close to where it was with my original plan and many of the same workouts are still in my new plan.  I will still be relying on weekly easy long runs, mile repeats, tempo runs, and long intervals.  I also inserted more swim and bike days to make up for the days the used to be run days.  So all in all, there was minimal changes to the plan, more of a shifting around of workouts, to allow more thorough recovery from the pounding of running high volumes.

I brought the girls to the YMCA to swim on Monday after running

As far as my diet and nutrition, I have recently fallen right back into my piss poor habits of overeating and having little to no self control with sweets and treats.  After completing my Whole30 back in late February, I felt great, probably the best I have ever felt.  From that day through today, I progressively ate worse and worse, culminating on the days following my birthday weekend.  I won't include my birthday weekend as that has always been a special time for me and I do not try to limit what I take in and how much I take in.  I just try to enjoy the treats on the few days that surround my birthday.  But after my birthday, we had leftover cake, cupcakes, cookies, snacks, and on top of it all, Sarah brought home Girl Scout Cookies on Tuesday after work.  Needless to say, I ate and ate and ate plenty of Girl Scout Cookies, cereal, processed foods, chocolate covered cherries, anything that was made with or from chocolate, I ate.  My plan was to enjoy the week before my birthday with no diet restrictions as a reward for eating so well during the Whole30.  Shortly after my birthday, I wanted to conduct an experiment of 1.  I wanted to eat a diet comprised of nearly the exact opposite foods that are allowed on the Whole30.  My plan was to eat a high carb, grain and plant based diet void of any and all meat and animal products.  I would eat this way for 28-30 days and monitor how I felt day-to-day along with how I felt throughout my training.  I would then compare those 4 weeks to the 30 days I spent on the Whole30 back in January/February.

Ultimately, I am backing out of that decision.  I am doing so, because, when looking back at my W30 experience, I felt so good.  I had no digestive issues, no discomforts, no bloating, I slept good, I recovered from my workouts faster and felt great during my workouts.  I also find it ironic that by the end of my W30, my calf/ankle issue was nearly gone, but now that I have been eating less-then-healthy foods, I am starting to feel more pain in my lower right calf area.  So starting today, I plan on jumping back on the W30 band-wagon and eating a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet.  I will focus on eating REAL food, specifically lean, organic cuts of meat, and fruits.  I will allow myself to eat some grains, an occasional bean/legume, full fat dairy, and some foods that have minimal added sugars.  I will avoid milk, gluten, and proceeds grains, such as bread, crackers, etc.  I will focus on eating square meals that are satiating and avoid eating anything my meals.  I will schedule my eat around my training - which means, when I do opt to eat grans, such as oatmeal rice, or amaranth, or other foods that are higher in carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, squash, etc, I will eat then shortly before or just after training.  All other meals will consist of little to no carbohydrates.  It'll be an extremely clean form of eating again, with a few exceptions which will definitely be the acceptation, not the norm.  Eat this way, will allow me to eat meals without being overly concerned if it is indeed "Whole30 approved."  Also, eating this way, will give me a strict guideline to follow with a little more leeway in the plan to allow me to live my life without stressing over whether or not something has 1g of added sugar.

The Whole30: Final Overview

February 18th was my final day on the Whole30.  My 30 day adventure (or how ever you want to phrase it) began on January 20th.  I had no idea what to expect.  Would it be hard?  Would I struggle? Would I really feel any different?  Would I even make it the full 30 days?  When I started, I was at a point in my life where my eating habits were progressively getting worse and worse.  I found myself binge eating foods that I have had no issues saying "no" to.  I was drinking more beer then I have in the past and just found myself in a downward spiral of uncontrollable cravings that I would regularly give in to.  I had lost all my self control and discipline when it came to food and diet.  My weight had exceeded 180 pounds, which for me was well above even my high end of where I wanted to be.  I needed to do something.  I knew that I had to do something or I'd continue going the wrong direction.  I had tried simply cutting the amount of food I would consume during meals, but then would find myself eating between meals or before meals to satisfy my hunger.  I also knew that working third shift had a significant impact on my eating habits and knew going in that I would need some flexibility in what ever diet/program I decide to attempt.  That's is when I pulled up the Whole30 and read up on it.  I remember hearing about the W30 from a gal at work who attempted it last year, but I never really dove into exactly what it was about.  So, I did some reading and figured I would give it a try.  It sounded simple in terms of rules and the format.  While at the same time, sounded pretty challenging, in terms of actually accomplishing the Whole30 for the full 30 day period.  Basically, you eliminate all added sugars, artificial sweeteners, sugars, grains, dairy, legumes, and white potatoes from your diet and rely solely on veggies, fruit, and high quality meats.  Again, simply, yet challenging.  And hell, I like a good challenge.  I was asked quite frequently, why I chose to do this Whole30 when I really don't need to lose any weight.  Well, first my main reasons for doing the W30 were not weight loss, as I just explained, but I knew that would also happen and I would definitely welcome the weight loss.  I weighed myself at the start of my W30 and was 184.4 pounds.  The first thing I did the morning after day 30 was jump on the same scale.  I weighed 172 pounds.  I lost 12 pounds on the Whole30!  I was happy, and definitely can tell I had lost some body fat over the past 30 days.  

The final 9 days (days 22-30) were actually the easiest of the days.  It hit me on day 22 or 23 that I really feel better, or so I thought.  During the final week and 2 days of my W30, my work schedule had changed a bit.  I was scheduled to train our department on our new CAD system for our in squad computers, and was assigned to "normal" work hours of 8-5.  It was great, I was sleeping at night, going to bed early and getting up earlier for morning workouts before leaving for work.  I felt great during my workouts and never really felt sore or tired throughout the day while at work.  I was getting up before 5am and usually working out before 5:45am.  It was during this week that I reintroduced caffeinated coffee to my diet after abstaining from caffeine for 3 full weeks.  I have only been making my own partially caffeinated coffee by using one scoop of decaf with 2 scoops of regular coffee in my morning coffee.  I would drink a small cup of coffee on my way to the gym in the morning and then would not eat until while on my way into work.  I made a simple breakfast of diced sweet potato and diced apple sauteed in a small amount of clarified butter topped with unsweetened coconut flakes and cinnamon.  This has become one of my favorite simple meals for post workout.  I would also have a couple of hard boiled eggs as a source of protein.  I stayed satiated without cravings until lunch which I would eat around 12:30.  I packed my own lunch of a salad, sardines, and some veggies.  I would then have a simple afternoon snack of nuts and a piece of fruit (either grapefruit or a kiwi).  At night we would have dinners as a family and then I would do the same thing the very next day.  We had some of my favorite meals during this past phase of the W30; some of which include, Mocha Rubbed Beef Roast, Chicken Bacon Mushroom Quiche, Zucchini Noodles with Pesto topped with Baked Spiced Chicken, Crab Cakes, and a Slow Cooker Whole Chicken.  I even took the time to make my own mayonnaise, almond butter, and ketchup.  

Delaney helping make the pesto sauce

On Tuesday, we went out to dinner with my in-laws for my Father-in-Law's birthday.  I chose to order their Liver and Onions, something that I had not had in years.  It was surprisingly good and a successful W30 meal....a win-win!  The hardest moment came on Valentine's Day, Day 26 of my W30.  I was damn close to just saying 26 is close enough, I am not going to let my W30 ruin my Valentine's Day.  Sarah and I had made plans to go out for dinner with our good friends, Pat and Melissa for a couple's date.  We went to a high end Latin restaurant- Osorio's Latin Fusion.  I read each individual menu item and chose to order the Baked Sea Bass topped with a lime, cucumber, cilantro sauce, with two sides.  I chose to order their vegetable medley and a salad for my two sides.  My salad came which was fine, I ordered it with out cheese and no croutons.  Then my meal came, it looked soooooooo good, it smelled amazing.  The fish was flaky and done perfectly, but it was topped with a cream sauce, obviously made with dairy.  The veggies, were a Mexican/Latin inspired veggie mix with spinach, beans, corn, and cheese - basically a lot of things I can't eat.  I sat there and just stared at my dinner, trying to decide what to do.  Do I just not eat it and get it to-go and then eat it after my W30 is done?  Do I say screw it, and just eat it.  Luckily, Melissa ordered fajitas, which came in a large lava rock bowl and consisted of just meat, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and seasonings.  She offered her dinner to me, which I gladly accepted.  I gave her my fish and veggies and I just ate the meat and vegetable portion of her fajitas.  Yup, I did that, part of me thought, how pathetic, while the other part of me thought, nice work, you're still going strong and only have a few more days left.

The last couple days came and went and I had continued to feel pretty damn good.  I am curious however what was causing me to feel noticeably better.  It is either one of three things or a combination of the following.  1. It quite possibly could be my very strict diet I had been following with the W30 guidelines.  2.  I had started supplementing with several of Hammer Nutrition's top daily essential supplements specifically formulated for endurance athletes.  3.  It very well could have been the fact that I was on a normal sleep pattern for the first time in a long while.  My personal feelings are that it was ultimately a combination of all three things.  There is no way I would just look past how clean I had been eating over the past 30 days.  But at the same time, Hammer's essential supplements are highly engineered and formulated to allow athletes to better recover and perform at a higher level more frequently with less built up fatigue.  Even with those two significant facts, having the ability to sleep at night and live a normal life for more then just a day or two, no doubt, had a positive effect on my body, recovery, and mood.

Maya at Gymnastics class.

My training had continued to progress nicely over throughout this past 9-10 days.  The past week, I had a total training volume of over 10 hours.  My running is back to a high level.  During this past week were I had a total volume over 10 hours, I ran a total of over 46 miles.  I ran 8 miles twice during the mid week and then had two key workouts on the weekend.  With my sights firmly set on running 30 miles on my 30th birthday, I had planned a back-to-back long run on Saturday and Sunday.  On my training plan I had a 12-16 mile run on Saturday with a 10-12 mile run on Sunday.  I did my run outside on Saturday and felt so good, I opted to run 17 total miles on Saturday.  After my run, I felt fantastic.  I was not sore (relatively speaking) and was moving great.  Sunday I woke up feeling pretty good.  My quads were a little sore, but more of a fatigue-based soreness as opposed to a painful-soreness.  We got a decent about of snow over night and chose to run indoors at the YMCA on a treadmill.  I again felt pretty darn good and ran a total of 13 miles on Sunday for a total of 30 miles covered in two days.  I was thrilled with how I ran and how I felt during and after both runs.  I left that weekend feeling confident for my 30 mile run which was now just two weeks away.  My plan is now to complete a 20 mile long run this upcoming Sunday to work on my fueling strategy and then cut my mileage and rest the next week before running a 3 mile loop 10 times for 30 miles on my 30th birthday, March 2nd.  After running my 30 mile long run, I will begin focusing my efforts on running the Green Bay Marathon in under 3 hours.  I am extremely excited and confident right now and am feeling motivated again, especially coming off my shin/calf injury last month.  I have been in a great mood lately, similar to how I felt throughout most of last year as I trained for Ironman Wisconsin.  At times, I feel that I am setting myself up for more success then I had last year.  I feel this way mainly because I think my extended rest period I took immediately after finishing the Ironman and even the extra break I took following the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  I also can't look past the 3 week hiatus I took from running in January.  I just need to be careful not to get overly ambitious and end up pushing myself too hard/far too fast.  I have taken the mindset to listen to my body better and pay attention to any possible signs of injury or fatigue and have been using that as a way for me to formulate a day-to-day training plan as I build up to my 30 mile run on March 2nd.

Delaney and I at my cousins hockey game.

All that is left at this point is to figure out where do I go from here in regards to my diet and nutritional decisions.  I have just spent the past 30 days eating extremely strict.  I would read nutritional labels closer than I ever had and simply said "no" to so many foods that I regular consume without ever thinking otherwise.  So now what the hell do I do?  Do, I reward myself for doing a good job and eat food that I had wanted to eat the past 30 days but didn't allow myself to?  Do I continue to eat this way with out the same level of paranoia and allow for slips and a few non-Whole30 approved foods?  Or do I slowing reintroduce specific food groups and see how my body reacts to that specific food to see if I have a reaction or intolerance to specific food groups (gluten, oats, dairy, legumes, etc).  I will tell you that on my 1st day off the Whole30, was already a pretty busy day as I had SWAT training from 8a-4p and then I had to work third shift that night from 10p-6a, so I had little room for snacking or treats.  I woke up Wednesday morning at 5am to go to the YMCA and run.  I ran a solid 9 miles and made myself a small bowl of oatmeal (one thing I REALLY wanted throughout my W30).  I made it was whole oats, full fat coconut milk, banana, almond butter, chia seeds, wheat germ, and unsweetened coconut flakes.  I also had two hard boiled eggs.  I then attended our SWAT training which we worked through lunch and did not eat lunch until close to 2:30p.  I never once had any noticeable stomach pains or issues and never felt hungry or low on energy.  For lunch I ordered a Greek Salad which had feta cheese, kalmata olives, artichoke hearts, and a vinaigrette dressing with two pieces of pita bread (2 things I was not allowed to eat while on the W30).  After getting home from training I had a clementine orange at home and a small partial handful of a trail mix (nuts, raisins, and m&ms) and then went to bed and slept from 5-9.  Before leaving for work I ate a slice of my left over Quiche, another small portion of trail mix and then I dipped some banana chips in peanut butter.  Again, more food that are not that inherently unhealthy, but definitely do not live up to W30 standards.  Honestly, up to this point I have not felt any different in the 24+ hours after finishing my W30.  I have had the same energy levels, same cravings, same hunger pangs, and same overall feeling.  Personally I am going to continue to eat with an awareness of what I am putting in my body but will definitely eat some non-Whole30 approved foods (peanut butter, some foods with small amounts of added sugar (pickles), and high quality breads).  I will monitor how my body reacts to these foods and make note of specific food that cause my digestive system issues/discomfort.  I will continue to eat freely for the next week or two, at least through my birthday.  I will not restrict myself the weekend of my birthday and eat freely that weekend and have some beer as well.  After that weekend I think I may try another diet experience to see how my body reacts to a different diet philosophy.  I think I will follow a diet recommended by my sponsor Hammer Nutrition.  Their diet is basically the exact opposite of the Whole30's diet philosophies.  Hammer's diet recommendations are more plant/grain based as opposed to meat/vegetable based.  Hammer recommends that you minimally eat meat, once a week at most.  And focus on fruits, vegetables, and grains as the main staples for your diet.  I would still limit if not continue to avoid any added sugars and artificial sweeteners in foods.  But not nearly as strict as I have been.  I will start using fuels and supplements which I had avoided the past 30 days due to the added sugars in them.  I will continue to avoid junk food and limit between meal snacking.  This will be a dramatic switch in my nutrient breakdown from a higher fat higher protein lower carb diet to a high carb, moderate fat, low protein diet.  I will follow this protocol for 30 days and see how my body reacts.  I will compare my body weight, overall feeling of health, recovery, sleep, and overall mood over those 30 days and compare them to how my 30 days of following the W30 protocol to see which style of diet is better suited for my body.  I have attached the PDF file of a simple breakdown of how I plan on eating while following the recommendations set forth by Hammer Nutrition.  I am really curious to see how my body reacts.  I really think it won't have a large impact on my body as I feel I have a rather strong stomach and have had very little issues with my digestive system when I eat highly nutritious foods including gluten, grains, dairy, and other typically sensitive foods....but there is only one way to really find out and that's to experiment, which is exactly what I intend to do.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE HAMMER NUTRITON PHYTOLEAN NUTRITION PLAN FROM HAMMER NUTRITION'S PUBLICATION "ENDURANCE NEWS ISSUE #88"