Bulletproof Coffee

Today is my first full day off, which means I finished work at 6am.  I workout every morning whether I work the night before or not.  This morning, I had my long run scheduled this morning and ran 12 miles at the YMCA.  In order to be able to turn my schedule around and sleep at night, I aim to sleep somewhere between 1.3-3 hours.  I got to bed around 9:30 and was back up at 11:30am.  Turn around days are a drag.   I am usually dragging ass after a couple hours of being up.  I usually turn to coffee for a pick me up after I wake up.  I decided to try something called Bulletproof Coffee this morning.  Bulletproof Coffee is something I learned about on a nutrition podcast I listen to regularly.  It's a high fat coffee that you'll find in many Paleo Diets.  I've never had it before and figured today would be the day.

It's rather easy to make, you first start with a high quality coffee, preferably organic Arabica.  After it's done brewing you add a cupful to a blender and add some (roughly 1 Tbsp) butter, preferably grass fed.  That's the bare minimum.  You can also add coconut butter, cinnamon, vanilla, or stevia.  I added about 1-2 tsp of butter, about 1 tbsp of coconut oil, cinnamon, and a splash of vanilla.  You blend it up to thoroughly mix the ingredients and enjoy!

It was a lot heavier than I expected.  One cup of coffee became very filling actually.  Drinking a cup of Bulletproof Coffee for breakfast as opposed to a high carbohydrate breakfast can help keep you filling fuller longer and leave you energized throughout the morning.  Below are some benefits to drinking Bulletproof Coffee.

1. Cinnamon: helps stabilize blood sugar and prevent high blood sugar spikes.
2. Coconut Oil:  contains medium chain triglycerides which is an excellent source of long term energy and increases your body's ability to burn fat.
3. High Fat Content:  eating (or drinking) foods with high amounts of healthy fats can keep you feeling fuller longer preventing those hunger pangs that usually come 2-3 hours after eating a high carbohydrate meal.  Healthy fats also keep your brain alert and when coupled along with the effects of caffeine can keep you alert and energized longer.

So next time your looking for a new way to start your day, try a cup of Bulletproof Coffee to energize your mornings and keep you full and focused all day long!
 

An Unexpected Twist - Cycle 5

Everything was going just fine, great actually.  I was getting into a routine and really focusing in on what I needed to accomplish within each individual workout.  My nutrition/diet were starting to become a habit.  I hadn't touched a drop of alcohol or a ounce of refined sugar.  That was, until Monday, January 21st.  I was scheduled to do my second Critical Swim Speed (CSS) test followed up by a strength session.  I was in the middle/end of my work week.  I was starting to get sick.  Normally, I don't get sick.  Every once and a while I'll get a sore throat or a runny nose, but nothing like what I had coming my way.  I completed my CSS test with times slightly faster (relatively) than my first CSS test.  But, I just wasn't feeling right.  I was congested, but it was a head congestion, it was more into my chest.  I had a difficult time taking breaths during my swim. Every now and again, I would find myself holding back a cough under water or just flat out coming up out of the water to cough.  I didn't think anything of it and sucked it up to finish both my CSS test and my strength session.  I took some Cold-Eeze along with some cold medicine with hopes of knocking this thing out before it gets the best of me.

Then Monday night came, my last day of my work week and I felt like garbage.  My body was more sore than usual from my swim and strength workouts and I could not take a full breath with out hacking up my lung.  I was planning on getting in an hour bike ride in on Tuesday morning after work.  However, when I got home from work, there was no way I was going to do anything besides rest.  I went directly to bed.  I woke up around 10:30 as I usually do on my first full day off from work in order to be able to go to bed at night.  I was a mess, my chest hurt, my body hurt and I had a 102* fever.  I had the chills one minute and the next minute I felt like I was sitting in a sauna.  My chest was congested, which is a illness I have never experienced.  As someone who strives on a low respiratory rate and relies on my efficient breathing, being congested in my air ways left me feeling like a fish out of water.  It hurt to breath and I honestly struggled just to get a full breath of air in.  I laid on the couch with hopes of feeling better the next day.  I took a hot and steamy bath with some Vick's rubbed on my chest.  I then went to bed in sweatpants and a long sleeve shirt with hopes of producing a self induced fever to help kill off what ever was keeping me down.

I woke up on Wednesday feeling better, but still in no shape to train.  I got several things done around the house that I have been meaning to get done, but have just been putting off.  At the end of the day I did the same procedure of a hot bath with Vick's and over dressing to go to sleep with hopes of burning off this illness.  I woke up almost feeling worse than I did on Wednesday but better than Tuesday.  I decided to try and workout.  I was scheduled to run 12 miles on Wednesday and it was my highest priority workout.  The hour long bike ride I missed wasn't that critical and my relatively short brick workout I had scheduled for Thursday also didn't carry the weight that my 12 mile run did.  There was no way I was going to do my run outside as I normally would have, so I went to the Heart of the Valley YMCA which has an indoor track.  My plan was to not count laps, but just run comfortably for 96 minutes.  When I started, I knew it was going to be a LONG run.  I couldn't run a full lap with out a raspy cough.  I could only imagine what the other runners were thinking.  I was fatigued just 30 minutes in and I needed a short breather.  I walked a lap and started running again.  I made it another 15 minutes before I conceded.  I should have never even attempted a workout.

I guess I should confess and explain what probably, if not most likely, led to my sickness.  On Sunday we had some of our coldest temperatures of the year.  I thought I would be tough, suck it up and get outside to  complete my 5 mile run with 2, 1 mile sprints built in.  The air temp was 7*, which really isn't THAT cold, but the wind chills were at -12*.  I dressed warm, went out, and ran.  I ran a 1 mile warm up, did a 1 mile sprint followed by an easy mile, then another 1 mile sprint, finished with a 1 mile cool down.  I totaled just over 5 miles in just over 35 minutes.  As much as I want to deny the fact that running in the extreme cold had nothing to do with me getting sick, it just seems too ironic that the very next day my immune system fell apart leaving me the sickest I have been in years.

The worst part about being sick, is my diet completely fell apart.  I ate like crap the last couple days.  I'm not sure if it ultimately was due to being depressed about missing workouts and being sick, or if it just made me feel "better" eating "cheat foods."  I was over eating and eating foods that I vowed to not touch.  I had a ice cream parfait with cookie dough chunks on Wednesday night, along with chocolate, and other snack foods we had around out house.  My weight continues to be my most difficult goal to get a firm grasp on.  I have gotten myself into a routine/habit of unhealthy eating habits, such as unnecessary eating late at night, constant snacking, and eating when I'm bored.  It will continue to be at the forefront of my goals moving forward as I try to get back to full strength and rid myself of this virus/flu/bug/infection/whatever it may be.

Brief Recap

 All things considered it was a decent week.  I missed 3 full workouts and only 2 days of no training.  I fit in all my scheduled workouts prior to getting sick.  It may not sound all that impressive, but considering how the weather has been lately here in Wisconsin, it's definitely not something to look past.  Each of my runs were done in cruddy weather.  One morning was cold along with heavy snow fall and the other morning was just bone chilling cold (see above).  Skipping run workouts or forcing myself to do them indoors rarely happens.  Oddly enough, my run in the sub zero wind chills is actually not even my coldest run.  Back in January of 2010 I ran with normal temperatures at -3* and wind chills near -21*.  So running in 7* and -12* wind chills wasn't THAT crazy.  But hindsight is always 20-20 and I honestly really regret forcing that run that morning.  I also still managed to complete a successful CSS test right at the start of my sickness.  My first CSS test was completed in a yard pool and this one was done in a meter pool, so naturally my times were slower.  I did the 400m test in 6:35 (6:00 in yard pool) and the 200m test in 3:07 (2:47 in yard pool).  These times result with a calculated CSS time of 1:44/100m (1:36/100y) which is the exact same calculated CSS time when you convert meter times to yard times.  So, all things considered I am happy with my test results and ultimately feel that I have improving considering I was sick during that test.

Favorite Workout

Tough to pick out a favorite workout from this past week.  I guess if I were to pick one workout from this cycle as my favorite, it would be day 3's run and strength workout.  I drove to the YMCA and ran outside in a heavy snow fall which was peaceful.  I ran a total of 5 miles on the CE Rec Trail.  After my run I had a good strength training session in the weight room.  It was a great workout.  I liked getting outside in the snow fall and hearing the snow crunch under my feet.  There was something about it that made it feel relaxing and made me not even think about the cold air.  

Moving Foward

I'm not 100% sure when I am going to get back on the horse and start following my plan as scheduled.  I plan on doing a light strength workout in the morning on Friday before I leave for training.  It won't be anything exhausting and won't put a lot of stress on my respiratory system.  After that, I will be playing it by ear.  Ultimately, I am hoping I am back to feeling normal no later than 2-3 days into this cycle at the latest.  I have my first race of 2013 coming on in a little over a week.  I registered to do my first indoor triathlon this year.  It's relatively easy and short in duration.  It starts with a 10 minute swim for distance with a 10 minute transition period.  You then go to a 20 minute bike on a preset spin bike with a speedometer measuring distance covered.  After the bike you get a 5 minute transition before finishing with a 15 minute run on an indoor track for distance.  The athlete that covers the furthest total distance wins.  Pretty simple really. It only takes a full hour which isn't bad at all.  It's the complete opposite of what I am used to for the standard triathlon where the distances are set and you race for time.  This time I will be going all out for a set time trying to cover the furthest distance.  With the triathlon being a small local race, I am going in with the lofty goal of placing overall.  I have never finished in the top 3 overall in a triathlon, so we'll see what I can manage to do in this race.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Diet Frustrations

In one of my prior posts I laid out my new diet that I wanted to strictly follow and in my last post I stated that throughout the entire 4th cycle, I followed my diet nearly to perfection. I began following my preplanned diet on January 1st. The first week or two of following the diet were shaky at best. I followed it well, with a few days of binge eating and drinking. However, the previous 9-11 days I followed it nearly to a T. I had no beer, no sweets, treats, unhealthy fats, or processed desserts. I was feeling very good about myself. That was, until, I stepped on the scale this past Thursday morning. It came up with a weight of 177.4 pounds. YIKES.

2 years ago I ran two of my fastest marathons to date. I ran both the Green Bay marathon in May of 2010 and then the Fox Cities Marathon in September of that year. I ran a 3:04 at the Fox Cities Marathon. Both marathons were Boston qualifying times of under 3:10. That same year I raced the High Cliff Half Iron Triathlon in June in 4:40. I had the best race season of my life. Yes, I trained my ass of that summer, no doubt. I was also in the best physical shape of my life. On top of training hard and being in great shape, my weight and body composition were at an optimum level. My body weight would fluctuate between 155 and 160 and my body composition was in the area of 4-5% body fat. In very simple terms I was at the peak of my game. I now want to get back to that more than ever.

In 2010 I was a vegetarian, unless the meat was locally raised. I would only eat hunted deer or fish caught by my family. Other than that I would not even touch meat. My choice not to eat meat had nothing to do with animal rights or PETA, but strictly a quality of food choice. I watched Food Inc, which still to this day influenced nearly all my choices in food and diet. Food shouldn't be a massed produced product, but a source of fuel and locally produced holistically. Another thing had a huge impact on my nutritional choices during this time. Sarah and I had our first child and I wanted to give her the best. So, food quality took on a extremely high priority for not only my daughter, but me as well. After about a full year of eating a vegetarian diet, I quit and went back to eating meat. I did this for a few reasons. One of them being time. It became very labor intensive prepping meals on a nightly basis. In order to eat a healthy vegetarian diet, in which your eating a wide variety of foods to get the most nutrients as possible, it took significant amount of effort to plan out meals and purchase the right foods. Yes, a very simple vegetarian diet can consist of potatoes, oatmeal, rice and other stereotypical vegetarian food. But, I didn't want to eat a bland diet. So, with spending the extra time cooking rather elaborate meals with obscure foods, comes a financial commitment. Our grocery bills increased following an all natural vegetarian diet. So, I went back to eating a stereotypical Wisconsin diet of a meat, starch, and another side. A typical dinner became a steak, potatoes, with a side of vegetables.

After qualifying for the Boston marathon in May and September of 2010 and letting go of a strict diet, my weight increased significantly. I ran the Boston Marathon in 2011 at a weight similar to were I am currently at, in the range of 165-175. This could be due to several reasons. I am not here to make excuses because it ultimately falls onto me and the decisions I made over time. But, my weight gain came right at the time I changed careers and began working 3rd shift. I think the concept of meeting the goal of qualifying and ultimately running in the Boston Marathon, which lead to the feeling of "now what." I'll fully admit that after I ran Boston, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I had reached my ultimate running goal and honestly kind of let myself go. Ultimately I feel the combination of a significant career change, including the start of working 3rd shift, coupled with mentally falling into a rut, led to all my weight gain.

Now, here I am, 177 pounds wanted to get back to my lean racing weight of 155. I am fully aware that my weight could have been higher due to a high level of hydration and/or a larger amount of solid foods still in my system. But no matter what the scale still read 177 pounds. The diet I put together is based mainly on whole foods, but also has flour tortillas, breads, and other carbohydrates worked in. Carbohydrates cause our bodies to store water, which inevitably will cause a weight increase, there's no way around it. Starchy foods, such as baking potatoes, rice, and bananas have this same effect and can also cause a large spike in blood sugar. It doesn't end there either, a protein found in wheat products, called gluten can have a largely negative impact on our health. Gluten is a high inflammatory food, which can reek havoc on our digestive system. I will also fully admit to also having a binge eating habit. I have a huge sweet tooth, baked goods, ice cream, anything with sugar. Once I started eating these items I literally wouldn't stop until they were either gone or I simply could not eat another one. I know this had a huge impact on my weight gain, no doubt. But, on the whole, I eat pretty healthy.

So what do I do now? I am a huge fan of podcasts. I have been listening to podcasts now for at least 2 years. I listen to sport shows and endurance sports podcasts. The type of diet that nearly all endurance podcasts recommend are high fat - low carb diets. This type of diet is similar to a Paleo diet or a Warrior Diet. Eating this type of diet turns your body into a so-called "fat burning machine." A fat burning machine is ideally what you want as an endurance athlete. Eating a high fat diet forces your body to burn majority fat for fuel and controls blood sugar levels. It is a much healthier diet to follow, especially if you are an endurance athlete. I have also read about the highly negative effects of wheat and breads, namely gluten. As I stated before, even if you don't specifically have a gluten intolerance, gluten can still be considerably harmful to your system. Taking all of this into consideration, I have ultimately decided to give up on my diet, and simply start eating more naturally. I am no longer going to follow a "diet" per se and just eat real foods. I am going to work in some days of intermittent fasting and really cut back the sheer number of carbohydrate I eat on a daily basis. I do not plan on following a carb free diet but cut any processed carbohydrates from my diet. I will focus on healthy fats, such as coconut oil, olive oils, olives, fish, and avocados. I will continue to get moderate amounts of protein from lean meats, nuts and nut butters, and various forms of dairy. But, i do still plan on getting a low to moderate amount of carbohydrates from whole grains, such as quinoa, amaranth, rice, and oats. I am and need to change the way I think of food. Food needs to be a fuel, not a comfort item, not a reward, not a mood lifter, but strictly a fuel.

From here on out I need to eat to fuel.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Back to Normal - Cycle 4

This past cycle was the first cycle since I began training were I had no outside distractions. The past 3 cycles before this one, included Christmas, New Years Eve, Holiday Parties, Weddings, and other various get together's with family and out of town friends. I don't want to sounds negative when I use the word "distraction" to describe these events, because I am extremely fortunate to have the family and friends that I have and truly cherish all time spent with them. But, looking at them from strictly a training standpoint, they become a distraction. They require a significant time commitment and often come with unhealthy, detrimental food choices on top of a high consumption of alcohol. I had a great holiday season and enjoyed seeing all my family and friends, but I'll be fully honest, I am rather glad that they are over and am able to get back to a regular routine.

I am the type of person who likes stability, routines, and schedules (imagine that!). I also have a very addictive personality. I get uncomfortable when my routine gets thrown off, especially when the changes come unknown to me. I can tolerate change when I am able to plan ahead to make adjustments. The previous 3 cycles were full of changes, majority of which I was able to make necessary changes ahead of time to work in the commitments I had. This past cycle had no commitments. It was truly "back to the grind." I worked a full week of work, along with a full day of training on my off days. I was personally looking forward to putting the holidays behind me and start really focusing in on my training and start taking it serious. I want to make the most of this racing season. I want to end the year and think, "I gave it everything I had." I would be completely frustrated with myself if at the end of the race season I have regrets.

Brief Recap

This cycle was the first in the Base phase of my training. So I had a new breakdown of each sport along with an increase in training volume. Along with having a successful training week, I was also successful in following my newly implemented diet. I did not have one dessert or sugar filled foods, nor did I have a single beer. I did have a few glasses of wine when our friends came over for dinner on Tuesday night. I was happy with myself with my decision to turn down Cold Stone Ice Cream, cake, cookies, and caramel corn this past cycle. My focus has been and remains to be high. My motivation has been high considering this time of year. My goals are driving me train hard and smart. My motivation level is also aiding in my decisions and commitment to my diet.

The weather this past cycle was unseasonably warm with temperatures in the 40's. The weather has made outdoor running even easier. I really was hoping to get out and bike this past cycle but just didn't workout because the sun set around 4:30pm and I wasn't able to get out and ride during day light. Don't get me wrong, as a guy who hates cold weather and winters in Wisconsin, I love the unseasonable weather we had this past week. But the fact of the matter is - it's still January and the daylight only lasts until about 4:30pm.

My right ankle and foot have began to bother me this cycle. My arch has been feeling as though it tightening up and my ankle on the inner side feels similar to a stress fracture. I really doubt it's a stress fracture, but more of just general soreness that comes with a general increase in training volume. I have been putting an extra effort in my recovery with heavier use of a massage stick and stretching. I have also been rolling a massage stick on the bottom of my foot to workout an potential issues with my tendons. I have not had to make any adjustments in my training, just a more concerted effort in my recovery strategies.

Favorite Workout

Of all my training sessions this past cycle, I would say my favorite workout was my Critical Swim Speed workout. I did the workout at the Appleton YMCA which has a designated lap swim pool. It's a cooler 50 meter pool, with lane lines and is solely used for lap swimming. After doing a brief warm up and build set, my main set consisted of 14x100m starting each rep on 2:04. My 100 yard CSS is 1:36 and I added an additional 20 seconds to come up with an interval time. However, since this is a meter pool I had to adjust my CSS time to reflect the added distance. My 100 meter CSS time is 1:44. This workout really forced me to focus on my pacing. The further I got into the 14 reps the more tired I got and really focused on maintaining good technique to maintain the scheduled pace. After the main set I did a brief cool down and then headed into the weight room for a 30 minute strength workout. This was my first workout at the Appleton Y in their lap swimming pool. There is something cool about swimming in a true lap swimming pool. The water is colder than a normal pool to prevent from getting too hot while swimming. It makes you feel like your a better swimmer, almost like your an Olympic swimmer. Maybe this is just because I have gotten used to swimming in a dirty 3 lane yard pool at X-perience Fitness or a warm 3 lane yard pool at the Heart of the Valley YMCA. But the pool at the Appleton YMCA is nice and makes swimming just a bit more enjoyable.

Moving Forward

My training schedule for this cycle follows the same training template as the previous. The durations increase this cycle, especially with during my off days. Instead of doing 800m repeats this week, I have mile repeat workout scheduled. I have 2 mile repeats (sprints) scheduled within a 5 mile total distance workout. I will run a 2 mile warm up followed by 2, 1 mile sprints at a 5:30-5:45 pace with 3 minutes rest between the two reps, and finish up the workout with a 1 mile cool down to total 5 miles. Mile repeats are a challenging workout, but very rewarding and motivating. Depending on the weather I will try to do these outside and will just have to take the temperatures into account with the slower run times.

My goals this week are to continue making smart choices with my nutrition. I also want to continue to stay motivated and focused throughout this cycle. As long as I can continue to place high importance on my recovery and self massaging I know I'll be able to make it through this cycle with no injury worries.

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

8 Weeks to Your First 5k

Running has never been more popular that it is today. It's evident just by looking at the number of road races, obstacle races, and triathlons (Tough Mudder or Warrior Dash) and the exponential growth in the number of participants registering for these races over the past 5-10+ years. Without at doubt one of the most popular distances is the 5k. It is a relatively short distance. The logistics for setting up and organizing a 5k relatively easy. It has become an easy way for nonprofit organizations to raise funds while promoting healthy lifestyles. Just as it's easy to organize it is conversely just as easy to train and participate in a 5k. Sure, it may seem daunting at this point in your life, but with a little commitment and hard work you can successfully cross the finish line at your local 5k.

A 5k is a short distance in comparison to other road race distances. At 3.1 miles, majority (if not all) participants are able to finish in under an hour, including leisure walkers. Chances are that you will be able to find a local 5k race with in 10 miles of your home this upcoming race season. Some popular times for 5k's include St. Patricks Day weekend (Shamrock Shuffle), 4th of July (Firecracker 5k's), Halloween (Freaky 5k's), Thanksgiving (Turkey Trot's), or Christmas (Santa Scampers or Jingle Bell 5k's). On top of there being countless 5k races in your area, there are many of us who have made a New Year's Resolution regarding our health and fitness. So, make the most of your motivation and give yourself a very defined goal of RUNNING a 5k this year. I have created a VERY beginner's program for not only completing your first 5k, but fulling running your first 5k.  Along with the actually running training I have created 2 strength programs.  One of the two is a introductory strength plans meant to be done on weight machines or the similar free weight exercise.  The second workout is a little more intense in nature and is geared to fat loss.  This program takes in consideration that you have talked with your doctor about starting a running program and that you are healthy enough to begin a running program. Simply click on the link below open the files. Below the links I explain how to use the program.

BEGINNER'S 5K PROGRAM
BEGINNER'S STRENGTH PROGRAM
STRENGTH WITH CARDIO BURSTS

This program only requires you to specifically train 3 days a week. However, I highly recommend adding days of lighter cardio workouts, such as brisk walking, elliptical, or bicycling. I also recommend some light strength training added to your weekly schedule. Here is an example of a 7 day week breakdown following the above program.

Monday: Off or Strength Training or Cardio Cross Training
Tuesday: Run Train
Wednesday: Strength or Cardio Cross Training
Thursday: Run Train
Friday: Strength
Saturday: Run Train or Off
Sunday: Run Train or Off

I structured the program to have the "longer" workouts on the weekend. Please do that workout on whichever day works best for you on a week to week basis, knowing that weekends seem to fill up quickly with personal commitments. Take at least 1 day off a week and I recommend 2 days off a week for those who are literally starting out with no prior exercise experience. I also recommend 2 days off in the first week or 2 for everyone.

When reading the program you will see that on Tuesday and Thursday I simply just list "WALK TIME" and "RUN TIME." On these two days workouts should last between 30-40 minutes total. Begin each workout with a 5 minute warm up consisting of a brisk walk. After your 5 minute warmup proceed to perform cycles of alternating walk-run intervals based on the prescribed times. End every workout with a 5 minute cool-down consisting of a brisk walk. An example of this would be (following Tuesday's Week 3 prescribed workout) WALK TIME: 1:00, RUN TIME: 2:00.

0:00-5:00 - Brisk walk for warm up
5:00-26:00 - 7 sets of 1:00 walk followed by 2:00 run
26:00-31:00 - Brisk walk for cool down

The workouts prescribed for the weekends follow distances as opposed to time. You can either use a website such as www.mapmyrun.com to map out distances, use a treadmill, or us one of many electronic distance trackers that are on the market today (such as GPS, Nike/iPod, pedometers, etc). Begin and end each of these workouts with the same 5:00 of brisk walking. Do each run interval and then either walk or rest for recovery for 1-5 minutes to catch your breath and recover to perform your next set. You want your recovery period to be as short as possible, but do not cut your time too short, that you hurt your run interval. The goal here is to run the entire prescribed distance.

The Beginners Strength program is a simplified workout for, you guessed it, beginners.  It is designed to be done as a traditional strength program, were you preform 2-4 sets of 8-12 reps of the given exercise and then move on to the next exercise.  Choose a weight that is challenging, but doesn't leave you grunting and struggling to get to the last repetition.  As the exercise gets easier add 2-5 pounds, again avoiding the struggle to complete all the prescribed repetitions.  This specific strength workout is designed to compliment the 5k training program.  So if you are so sore that you simply can not run, then either cut back the number of strength workouts performed in a given week, or cut down the weight or number of sets per exercise.

The Strength with Cardio Bursts is a much more intensive workout.  It is similar to how the Beginners Strength program is to be performed, in that you perform the prescribed number of sets and reps for each exercise and then move on to the next exercise.  The one difference is that you perform a short 1 minute "cadio burst" between each exercise.  For instance after you complete your 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps of Lat Pull Downs, then go do a cardio burst before moving onto the Shoulder Press.  You do not do a cardio burst after each set, just after each completed exercise.  What's a cardio burst, you ask?  Well, it is a short bout of high intensity cardiovascular exercise done for 60 seconds (1 minute).  It can be any form of cardio exercise, whether it be a 1 minute sprint on a treadmill, on a track, or on an elliptical, it can be on a stationary bike, a rower, or even jumping jacks, jump rope, or burpees.  The key is to make it a 100% effort.  Give it everything you got.  Try to minimize rest between the strength exercises and the cardio bursts, but do take 30-60 seconds between each set of strength exercises.

For either of the two strength programs, please either research any exercises you are not familiar with on www.youtube.com or another trustworthy website.  Please, do ever be afraid to ask the staff at your local gym if you have questions, they are there to help.  The biggest mistake I see in the gym is folks performing exercises with poor form, which ultimately puts them at a higher risk for injury.

Running is not easy, if it was everyone would do it. It takes time, commitment, effort, and consistency to be able to run, especially for 3.1 straight miles. Take the time, expect it to be difficult and stay positive. Good luck with your training and please do not hesitate to email me with any questions!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

New Year, New Goals, New Cycle, New Me

One week ago we said good bye to 2012 and welcomed in 2013.  Now, normally, I am not one who creates New Year's Resolutions.  I have always been of the state of mind that there is no real difference between December 31st and January 1st and you shouldn't rely on a change of date to change who you are, or set new goals.  In the past, I have always set goals based on my racing season and started new training plans when my "A" races dictated.  That all kind of changed this week.  I have found myself looking to take a HUGE step in my endurance career (for lack of better word).  There is the obvious race I am schedule to compete in on September 8th, Ironman Wisconsin, which is the biggest reason I started this blog in the first place.  But, there are several other "things" that seem to be happening around me and they all seem to be taking full form in 2013.

If the Ironman is number 1, number 2 would have to be getting my first sponsorship with The Tri Shop (www.thetrishop.com).  My sponsorship is a full year commitment with the company which officially began on January 1st.  Having a sponsorship has brought my motivation up to a whole new level.  It's as though I feel obligated to do everything possible to have my best season ever to not only impress The Tri Shop, but also to uphold the stigma of being a sponsored athlete.  Number 3 is my family.  Simply put, I am not getting any younger and neither our my kids.  It seems like just months ago Sarah and I were getting married, but then along came Maya, almost three and half years ago!  Now, we have 2 girls and are looking to add a third!  Time is precious and I want to be there for my wife and my kids.  I don't want to look back on my daughters wedding day and think, "man, I wish I would have spent more time with them while they were younger."  Number 4 is our family financials.  I won't get into specifics here, but Sarah and I are really trying to hone in our savings to not only set ourselves up for success down the road, but also be able to help our daughters out as they get older.  We set up a very strict budget for our family and kicked it off on January 1st.

With all of these changes in my life, it only felt right to take advantage of the new calendar year to put a couple of resolutions into place.  As I explained earlier, I have never been one to make New Year's Resolutions and have always encouraged others to set goals for change when they are ready and committed to make those changes.  Honestly, the more I have thought about it, I feel that if something such as a new year can offer up the additional motivation to make a lifestyle change or a personal goal, then take advantage of that motivation.  But the truth of the matter is, if you truly are not ready to make a change and simply make a lofty goal because "this is the year I make that change," you are more then likely setting yourself up for failure.  

So with the new year upon us, I put my resolutions into writing to not only be a better endurance athlete, but also be a better friend, father, and husband.  Here are my resolutions for 2013.

1. Be a better husband and father 

     A. Take a deep breath before saying something you may regret

     B. Do not get frustrated when the girls are acting up

     C. Tell them each that you love them and kiss them daily

2. Spend more quality time with Sarah and girls

     A. Take the girls to the YMCA at least 2-3 days a month - outside of class

     B. Have a date night with just Sarah at least once every other month

3. Reduce debt and increase savings

     A. Stick to planned budget

     B. Limit or no longer use credit cards

     C. Plan ahead and save to spend

4. Stay better connected with friends

     A. Call friends at least once a month

     B. Continue to plan monthly dinners with nearby friends

5. Stabilize weight between 155-165

     A. Have self control to avoid overrating

     B. Avoid binge drinking

     C. Treat your body like a machine rather than a garbage disposal 

     D. Train consistently and fuel yourself at every meal
     E. Stick to your planned diet when possible

6. Stretch every day, no matter how long or short of duration

In reality, they are all relatively easy to achieve.  The key is simply not to forget about them.  I honestly think that is the number one reason we so often fail in relationships and other attainable goals.  All too often we get caught up in our jobs, lives, and outside factors that, realistically, won't matter even a week from now, and we then lose sight of what's really important in life - Family, friends, and time spent together.  So, if you have made one or many resolutions, stay focused and the best of luck with achieving your desired outcomes.  Just remember, anything worth achieving is working hard for and will require hard work.  Don't get discouraged along the way and expect there to be rough times and know it may take longer than expected, but with a little perseverance you will achieve your goals and do not be afraid to adjust your goals along the way.  

Now that I discussed my personal resolutions, I'll jump right into my update on my training.

Brief Recap

As I expected going into my 3rd cycle, I was met with the challenges of finding time to get my workouts in along with the poor nutritional choices I would be faced with.  I was able to fit in all my workouts, even with all of our holiday commitments we have had scheduled for quite a while prior to my training schedule began.  Not that it mattered, as it's not like I was going to NOT spend time with my family to get in a short bike workout or other training session.  The area I lacked, as I am sure many of us do this time of year, was in my diet.  I wont spend any more time discussing my diet choices as I have discussed several times already.  Needless to say, I am glad the holidays are past, although I am glad they came, because truthfully, I love the candies, cookies, and chocolates, that come with them.  But, now its time to buckle down and really start getting focused on the task at hand.

This cycle was my last Anatomical Adaption phase.  The purpose of the Anatomical Adaption phase is simply to prepare the body for what lays ahead.  Along with being the last cycle of this phase, it was also had the lowest volume thus far in my training.  There were no real difficult workouts, physically or mentally as all workouts were low in intensity and low in duration.  My family joined the local YMCA on January 1st as part of their New Year's Day special in which they waive their $75 joiner fee.  I have been looking forward to joining the YMCA as a family not only to train at a much nicer facility then I have in the past, but also for our kids.  We now have a place to take our kids for something fun and different to do.  So all of my swim, some of my running workouts, and all of my strength workouts are now done at the local YMCA.

Favorite Workout

This is easy this cycle.  With the holidays come and gone, I got just about everything on my wish list from my family for Christmas.  Majority of these items were triathlon equipment.  I got an entire new cycling outfit for cold weather.  With majority of the main roads around our house clear from snow and ice, I was able to dress warm and get out on my road bike.  The weather was cold, but it was SO nice to get back outside on my bike.  It was 26* with a strong South wind.  In the past, I wouldn't even think about taking my bike out unless it was over 35*.  I was warm and actually sweat quite a bit.  My toes got cold and that was it.  I went for an out and back ride for just an hour and covered just over 20 miles.  It was so nice to finally get out of my basement and get back outside into the fresh air.  I have never taken my bike out in January before, so there was something kind of neat about being out on the bike in the dead of winter.  It was actually kind of peaceful with all the snow around.  Another great workout, wasn't even a planned workout.  Shortly after showering from my run on Sunday (8.26 miles) Sarah and I brought the girls sledding for their first time.  I was personally in a funk since I woke up, for whatever reason and my run gave me a small boost, but for whatever reason was still down.  We brought the girls to a nearby sledding hill and I had a blast.  I ended up pulling our oldest daughter up to the top of the hill for over an hour straight!  Her and I did not stop once.  My legs were shot after all that hill climbing, but it was so worth it.  Just listening to her laugh and say, "thank you daddy" and "Can we go down one more time" brought me right out of my funk and put me in a great mood for the remainder of the day.  I hadn't had that much sledding probably since I did the same thing with my dad.

Moving Forward

With the Anatomical Adaptation phase now behind me, I move into the Base phase.  Along with more specific workouts, I will have longer sessions and more total cycle volume.  I also start to introduce two-a-day workouts.  I start with just one two-a-day this upcoming cycle and will really test my time management.  I will need to avoid wasting time that day and try to streamline my productivity to manage my training to not interfere with my family responsibilities.  Along with the addition to two-a-day workouts, I will start introducing brick workouts.  Brick workouts are single session workouts consisting back to back sports.  This style of workout is a staple for triathlon training.  Traditionally you do two workouts in the order you would do them in a race.  For example, you would swim followed immediately by a bike workout, or a bike workout followed by a run workout.  I have done swim to run bricks and bike to swim bricks, but ultimately as you get closer to race season, the more specific the better.

Along with the new phase and an increase in volume, I am implementing a very thorough pre-planned diet.  I have attached a copy of this diet.  By now means do I claim to be a dietitian or nutritionalist and it probably isn't a perfect, by any means, diet.  But, I do know, it is very high in nutrient dense foods and will supply all the necessary nutrients to aid in recovery and fueling high volumes of training.  As a guy who has a very addictive personality and is extremely determined and goal oriented.  Having a strict diet in writing will prevent me from overeating and mindless snacking when I get board.  I realize that sounds strange, but it just seems to work for me.  I would compare it to a strict training plan.  If I have nothing in writing, I am like a lost puppy, I end up taking time off and struggle with figuring out exactly what to do on a day-to-day basis.  But with a training plan, I know exactly what to do and how to do it, and treat it like holy scripture.  I rarely miss workouts and often just find a way to squeeze workouts into where ever I can to get them in when I am overly busy.  Similar to a planned diet, with it all written out, I will know exactly what to eat and how much to eat.  I am really hoping this gets me back on track and refocused on proper eating habits.  

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY DIET

Happy New Year and the best of luck with all your endeavors in 2013!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Using Technology to Improve Your Health

I use my iPhone for just about everything. From online purchases, reading books, managing my (crappy) fantasy football teams, managing my email accounts, keeping up with the Brewers and Packers, and even renting movies. But I never really thought I would be using it to help me achieve my health and fitness goals. I have several apps on my iPhone that help me manage my weight, nutrition, stress levels, and track my sleep patterns. Below are some apps and websites that you can use for little or no cost to help manage your health and fitness and help you reach your goals.

Stress Check (Azumio)
Just as the title sounds, this app helps you better track and monitor your current stress levels. Specifically, it tracks your heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is a marker that, in simplistic terms, monitors the variances in the time between your heart beats over a relatively short duration (roughly 2 minutes). By monitoring these variances, this app can determine a rough idea how much stress your nervous system is under at any given point. Everybody responds to stress differently. There are two different types of stress, good stress, or eustress, and bad stress, or distress. Something as simple as seeing a picture of something can trigger stress in your brain, and release hormones that effect your flight or fight response, which in turn effects your heart rate variability. Even something such as eating a meal can effect your HRV. This marker is becoming more and more popular among the athletic world to help track overtraining. By tracking changes in your HRV when taking this measurement at approximately the same time everyday can help show when your body is reacting negatively to too much training or poor recovery habits. With this app all you need to do is place your index finger of the camera lens and flash of your iPhone for about 2 minutes. You are then given a reading on your current stress level given as a percentage. A low level of stress is reflected in a lower number and visa versa. By setting up an account with Azumio (free) you can log all your readings and monitor changes within the app.

Sleep Time (Azumio)
Have you ever wondered why you wake up feeling more tired then you did when you went to bed even though you "slept" for 8 hours? This app monitors your movement throughout the night to determine your sleep cycles. You can also use this app as an alarm, which will go off when your body is best suited to wake up based on your current sleep state. The alarm will not go off if you are in a REM cycle of sleep unless it reaches the latest time to go off. It will wait until your body is ready to wake up for the alarm to go off. All you need to do is set your alarm for the latest time you want to wake up and then place the phone face down on your bed next to you and fall asleep. You will be provided with a chart of your sleep cycles and sleep efficiency rating given to you in a percentage. The higher the number the higher quality of sleep you had. They claim ideally you want a sleep efficiency rating of 85% or higher. Again, if you set up an account with Azumio, you can log and track all your sleep patterns and find how your training cycles, diet, bedtimes, and levels of stress effect your sleep.

Heart Rate (Azumio)
This app uses the same technology that you'll see in hospitals with the little finger clip they will place on your index finger to determine the concentration of oxygen in your blood. All you do is place your index finger over the camera lens and flash for about 30 seconds and you will be given a heart rate, which you can choose to log if you have an account with Azumio. Personally I use this app to check my resting heart rate every morning I wake up. I use this number in conjunction with the Stress Check app to help me monitor my stress levels in relationship to my training volume to prevent any potential overtraining.

SweetBeat (SweetWater Health)
SweetBeat is a more accurate and more technical app that helps track and log your heart rate variability. Personally I do not have or use this app, but heard nothing but good things about it. To use this app you will need two items above and beyond just the app. You will need some sort of heart rate monitor chest strap and a doggle that plugs into your iPhone to pick up the chest strap. This app will naturally be more accurate as it uses a chest strap to monitor your HRV, rather than just placing your finger over the lens on your phone. It also has a food log feature that allows you to track how your HRV reacts to food. By doing this you can actually find any potential food allergies you may be unaware of.

MyPlate (livestrong.com)
This app works in conjunction with the myplate.com website, with is operated through livestrong.com. It can be used to track your daily food intake and track your caloric intake and expenditure. Both the website and app are easy to use and have a large data base of most foods. This app also allows you to track your daily weight to help motivate you to reaching your goals. It also allows you to create meals made up of multiple types of foods and save them to your account to save you time for commonly eaten meals. Once you set up your free account, you input your personal numbers (height, weight, goal weight, activity level, etc) and you are given a daily calorie goal and you do your best to follow the guidelines you achieve your goal weight.

TrainingPeaks.com
This is another great website that allows you to track your food intake. I have never used this log, but have also heard a lot of good things about it. This website also allows you to track your training/workouts along with your daily food intake. You can also purchase training plans for a variety of goals as well as nutritional plans to follow to help achieve your goals.

NutritionData.com
This is a free website with no needed account or membership. Just as the name suggests, this website is a large data base of nutritional information for just about every type of food. The nice thing with this site over pretty much every other nutrition database online, is the amount of information you get. This site provides the most in depth nutrition information from specific amino acid breakdowns, fat breakdowns, and overall food rating, even glycemic ratings and inflammatory ratings on all foods.

These are just a few of the resources available for the tech savvy health nut. I think most of these apps are at least worth checking out, as all of them are either free or $0.99.

Good Luck! Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

Cycle #2

It seems as though I just finished writing about how it seemed all too early for my first training cycle a thing of the past and here I am writing about getting though a second training cycle. This cycle was busy one, with Christmas being right in the middle of it. So I knew my nutrition would be sub par at best and I would be left searching for time to get my workouts in. I made it thought the holidays and didn't have to skip any workouts or cut back on the duration of any of them either. On top of the holidays falling right in the middle of this cycle my sister-in-law's wedding and all of the festivities of a wedding fell right at the end of this cycle and the wedding itself was on day 1 of the 3rd cycle. So, I'm sure you can believe me when I say that this past cycle was a hectic one to say the least. I am also writing this post 4 days already into my 3rd cycle, if you didn't believe exactly how busy things have been.

Brief Recap

This past cycle was almost identical to the 1st cycle with some minor differences in duration. I had my first "track workout," which I did on a treadmill due to Wisconsin being buried in more than a foot of snow. My standard track workout during my marathon training is a simple set of 800's or a half mile sprint. I start with 3 sets of them and work up to a set of 10. In the past I have always done these on a track. The idea behind it is, if you can complete 10 sets of 800's, all within your goal marathon time converted into mins and secs as opposed to hours and minutes, you can successfully run a marathon in that time. For example: my goal is running a 2:59:00 marathon (sub 3 hours). So when I do 800 meter repeats, my goal time to complete the 800 meters in 2 minutes and 59 seconds. After each set, you either jog or walk for recovery for the same duration (a 1:1 work to recovery ratio). I may change this up a bit this spring, however. After reading a short article on some random website regarding 800 repeats done on a track, I may do a nearly identical workout on the road. Basically you just sprint for the time and don't get caught up in the distance. The thought process according to the website was that it avoids the mental aspect of running in circles for nearly 10 miles as I have done in the past. Another compelling argument is there is better cross over from actually doing your track workouts on the road where you race as opposed to a circular track. So, we'll see what I ultimately decide to do once the snow melts and I can get on a track again. Because, honestly, I have always enjoyed getting on a track and beating myself up with a hard track workout as a good change of pace from the usual countless miles tracked on city sidewalks.

This cycle also included my first CSS (Critical Swim Speed) workout. As I discussed in my recap of my first cycle, I did a CSS Test and determined that my CSS was a 1:36 pace per 100 yards. Which, seemed slow to me. So during this past cycle I did a CSS workout with a main set of 8x200 yards done at CSS pace with 20 seconds rest between sets. I was surprised at how tiring that actually was. I ended up having to break up the 8 sets into 2 separate sets of 4 with an extra minute of rest between the 2 sets of 4. So my main set looked more like 2x(4x200), which still left me exhausted by the end. I ended up swimming a total of 2300 yards.

As I hinted at from the start, my nutrition had been subpar throughout the holidays. Between the beer consumed and the holiday treats, I'm sure I packed on a few extra pounds that I am going to have to dedicate time and effort toward removing. Part of me wants to say, "hey, you gotta live once and a while," which is totally true, but I need to start having a little self control and need to learn when enough is enough. Over the past week I have found myself eating to the point of feeling like absolute crap, and not just mentally for eating like crap, but literally to the point where you just can't eat another bite. With the holidays behind us, I am going to really start dedicating my efforts to taking control of my diet and start attempting to get the most out of it. Personally, I have always found myself saying, "well, tomorrow I will start eating better." or "I can splurge a little tonight, I'm working out for a couple hours tomorrow." I have also noticed that I usually find my self saying "oh, I have XX months until that race, thats plenty of time to loose the extra weight." And what happens is the obvious, I get to race day and I'm the same weight or more and hating myself for the decisions I made the previous months. And that NEEDS to change.

Favorite Workout

It would either have to be the 800 repeats I did on the treadmill (which I explained earlier) or a bike workout I did in the basement on my spin bike. I was scheduled to ride for 70 minutes. Personally, anything longer than 45 on an indoor trainer is mindless, so I need something to keep my focused and keep my mind occupied. So I started to ride with a moderate warm up and then starting at 10 minutes in I did a 1:00 standing climb followed immediately by a 1:00 sitting hard tempo ride. I then dialed it back to the moderate intensity I was at during the warm up and repeated the climb and tempo ride on every 10 minutes until the 70 minutes was up. I was a hard workout and never found myself wondering how much longer will I be sitting on this bike.

Moving Forward

Like I said, just because Christmas has come and gone doesn't necessarily mean I'm in the clear. My sister-in-law's wedding is on December 29th and we have 4 of our closest friends coming from out of state to visit and come to the wedding as well. The 4 friends are 2 married couples that we have met in college and been close friends since. One couple moved down to Georgia and the second returned close to their hometowns in the Twin Cities. Along with the wedding and all the festivities surrounding the wedding, New Years Eve is right around the corner as well. So like, I said, my diet doesn't look like its going to be improving anytime soon. As far as my training plan goes, I am actually decreasing my total duration over the 9 day cycle to avoid over training and is my last Anatomical Adaptation phase. After cycle 3 I will be jumping right into my Base phase, where workouts begin to get more specific and longer in duration in preparations for the Marathon and really long workouts to get ready for the Ironman. Plus, I am writing this on January 2nd, which is day 4 of cycle 3, I only have 5 more days of cycle 3 left. So, I will be writing an entire other post in the very near future. My thoughts are to discuss my resolutions (not all fitness related) and about our time spent with family and friends!

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