The numbers are in...Badwater

Almost a month ago, I had the honor of serving as crew chief for one of my most amazing athletes, Linda Quirk of Runwell, as she embarked on her journey to conquer Badwater, a 135 mile running race in California.

Badwater is not just another 135 mile race though.  It begins in Death Valley, below sea level and finishes at the base of Mt. Whitney, about 8300 feet above sea level.  The vertical ascent may not be that big of a deal for some but the heat sure is!  I was eager to experience first hand what 120+ degrees felt like when running and it certainly did not disappoint.

We had a six crew team to assist Linda in making it to the finish line and while I will spare some of the details for sake of keeping this blog somewhat short, here are a few things I noticed along the way:

• Running in 120 degrees is hot.  Running on black asphalt adds even more heat, upwards of 160-170 degrees from what I was told.  It definitely felt that hot!  In fact, at one point during my pacing of Linda during the hotter part of the day, I had clothing covering everything except the back of my hands and my cheeks.  When I was out there on the road, I felt like I was running in an oven.  There was no break from the heat until the night time.  Even after taking a pacer shift with her, I would hop back in the air conditioned car and it would take me about 15-20 minutes to stop sweating!
• Our pacers usually carried a water sprayer to cool Linda off while she was running.  I continually used it on myself also to try to keep cool and I remember at one point of spraying my shorts with water, it evaporated so quickly that I couldn't even see the water make contact with my shorts.  HOT!
• Linda got no sleep at all for two days.  In fact, the most she ever stopped was about 10 minutes (and that was to try to get a back adjustment).  I slept for about 40 minutes, all interrupted as car doors where slamming.  It's the nature of the game.  All well worth it though.
• In my opinion, the hardest part of the course was right before entering the last town, Lone Pine.  It was the hottest part of day two, I was running with Linda on black asphalt, carrying the water sprayer on my back and just remember the intense heat coupled with the gnarly crosswind that was blowing fine sand on our bodies.  There is hardly any shoulder on the road that we ran on and running against traffic with an athlete who is sleep deprived can be quite nerve racking.  All of our crew members had to ensure Linda's safety from oncoming cars.  After we made it to Lone Pine, it was much better yet all uphill to the finish!
• I chew gum while I run.  It keeps my saliva response "fresh" and prevents dry mouth.  I cannot even begin to describe how much fluid I drank while out on the road and in the crew car during the race.  Linda on the other hand cannot chew gum so she had serious cases of dry mouth which meant she drank quite a bit of fluids.  I tried to monitor this and her electrolyte intake as closely as possible but in a race like Badwater, dehydration can destroy goals (and the body) thus I wanted her to drink according to her thirst most of the time during the hotter parts of the day.  During the cooler night opportunities, I decreased her fluid intake.  It was quite a hydration and electrolyte circus!
• Food.  Ah, food.  We had the best laid out nutrition plan before the race, tried it throughout training and it worked.  Guess what?  As I always teach, you must always have an A, B and C nutrition plan for races like Badwater.  Linda depended on Generation UCAN as her main source of calories but there were times where she just didn't have a taste for it.  So, I had to rely on plans B and C and get her calories with other food sources.  Luckily, Linda is extremely metabolically efficient and requires very few calories per hour to sustain exercise.  The other sources of calories we included throughout the race were potato chips, peanut butter and jelly, crackers and jam, pretzels, coconut butter, Clif Mojo bar and even a bit of a Snickers bar (if you read my blog about our Brazil 135 adventure in January, you remember that Snickers saved us!).
• In all, to the best of our food recording abilities between myself and my colleague Dina Griffin, Sport Dietitian at Fuel4mance who was part of our crew, we concluded that Linda consumed approximately 80 calories per hour.  How many hours did it take her to complete the world's hardest ultra running race?

Well, Linda's goal was not really to finish Badwater.  Her goal was to break the record in her age-group which was [previously] just over 47 hours.  The cutoff time to complete the race was 48 hours.  With the help of her crew and her sheer determination and competitiveness, she crossed the finish line in 44 hours.  Yes, she not only finished her first Badwater but smashed her age-group record.  All while consuming roughly 80 calories per hour.

Impossible?  I think not.  Wait until you hear about our next adventure together!  Stay tuned...

Coach Bob

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The Deck of Cards

The Deck of Cards

The four races that I coached this weekend, along with mine, reminded me of a deck of cards. You know what is in there but you are just not sure what will be dealt to you on the day. My seven Teens that TRI all did great in their races, three of whom which completed their first draft legal triathlon. I was hoping to cap off the day with my first ever draft legal triathlon but I was dealt a different card.

A few tidbits of what I learned from this race:

• When I first registered for this race it was designated as an age group draft legal race. USAT then turned it into a U25 Elite Development Race (EDR) which basically means young guns are competing for their pro card. That changed the entire race for me but true to my nature, I was not about to take a DNS, even though I knew the risk of getting lapped out on the bike was very high. Take home message (THM): not starting something is cowardly. No matter what cards are dealt to you, always begin something you signed up to do.

• I spent a very long 8.5 hours on my feet in the sun coaching my youth and juniors before my race began at 3:30 in the afternoon. THM: not the smartest thing I could have done knowing the field I was racing but my priorities were my team. What happened with me was less of a priority.

• The water temperature was 65 degrees at 7:00am and had increased to 72 degrees the hour before my race. Being an EDR race, wetsuits were not legal. THM: I had mentally prepared for this prior to the race so I was calm but I had to add another :45 to my swim exit calculations to account for this. I swim much faster with a wetsuit and this, along with one other thing discussed below, negatively affected my race.  I also was shocked that a body of water could have such a drastic shift in temperature in one day. That doesn't happen in Colorado!

• There were 26 guys that toed the line which meant the top two finishers would receive their pro card. I knew the cards were heavily against me and I also knew that there was a possibility of getting lapped out on the bike. I calculated what my swim needed to be in relation to the top guys so I would be safe on the bike and finish the race. Unfortunately, I did not know of one competitor who, by himself, annihilated the competition and frankly, I did not factor him coming out of the water roughly 75 seconds before everyone else. This created a bigger deficit for me which did not bode well.  THM: talk to the USAT collegiate development person prior to the race to recon the young guns talent!

• I figured on coming out of the swim about three minutes down from the fast swimmers. When I came out 4:30 behind the top guy, I knew I was in trouble (because each bike lap would take about 6 minutes) and I had to make myself hurt on the bike. Out of T1 I peeked over my shoulder and saw three guys behind me.  Perfect! I started pedaling, got my feet in my shoes, looked back and they were gone.  No chance for a pack to develop. This would not help my situation for I needed a pack to ride with to prevent getting lapped out. I time trialed the first lap before a young "kid" came up to me and we began to work together for the next lap. I kept a close eye on the lead pack so to keep ahead of them enough to not get lapped out. Little did I know that the guy who smashed the swim was also riding the entire bike course on his own ahead of the main pack by about 75 seconds. I thought this guy came out of the water behind me and was an uber cyclist. The latter was certainly true and as he passed me, followed closely by the nice lady on the motorcycle telling me my race was over, I was in complete disbelief!  I was not expecting one guy to lap me. If anything, I was waiting for a pack. Turns out I wasn't the only athlete dealt this card. This guy lapped out 8 of us. THM: while I was in my two man pack, we would average between 26-28 mph. This guy had to be going in excess of 30 mph to lap so many of us. Guess I needed more TT training on the bike!

So I ended up doing a modified aqua bike and while I was disappointed, I could not help but think of what a great experience this was but more importantly, this experience in itself contributes tools to my coaching toolbox that I did not previously have. By experiencing draft legal racing up close and personal, I can provide an even better service to my athletes and for that I am extremely grateful.

Oh yeah, that guy won the race by only 3 seconds (he came out of T2 with about a 90 second lead). Turns out his run is his weakness. Figures. Had I had the chance to run, my 5k off the bike would have bettered his.  Not that it matters.  It's all in the rear view mirror now but kudos to him as he had a phenomenal race and deserved the win for sure. You never know what card will be dealt to you on any given day but you must be ready to play it no matter what.

And yes, if you are wondering, another draft legal race will be in my future. I don't give up without a fight!

Coach Bob
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Daily Nutrition Update

As some of you may be following, I have completely changed my dietary habits beginning last October moving from a vegetarian eating plan to being a carnivore again, after 10 years.  You can check my old blog posts for the quantitative proof of my heightened metabolic efficiency and improved blood lipids but I wanted to write a short post on how this has affected my performance.

I employed a controlled carbohydrate eating plan which significantly improved both my metabolic efficiency and blood lipids but that was during a time in late 2012 when I wasn't training too much.  I consistently ate 60-80 grams of carbohydrate per day, moderate protein and higher fat (roughly 60% of my total daily calories).  Since then, I have been training with more intensity getting ready for my short course triathlon season.  With this, I have strategically placed more carbohydrate in my plan as it correlates with my training load and objectives (this is called nutrition periodization).  While I have surpassed 80 grams of carbohydrate on some days preparing for higher quality training or racing, I have never gone above 120 grams in one day (if you recall, many believe the body and brain need a minimum of 130 grams per day to function properly).

I believe myself to be living proof that a controlled carbohydrate daily nutrition plan can be employed in a non-long course endurance athlete's plan.  I have competed in two sprint triathlons so far and my performances have exceeded my expectations.  My body weight remains unchanged since March, my functional threshold power has increased by 30 watts in the past 8 weeks and my running velocity threshold is on par for being faster than it was last year.  At this time last year, I could only manage holding roughly 6:15 per minute per mile pace for a 5k off the bike.  Last weekend, I was able to hold 6:01 averages.

What does all of this mean?  Well, you can read between the lines but between my experiment of employing a controlled, yet strategic carbohydrate nutrition plan for short course triathlon training/racing along with my colleague, Dina Griffin (Sport Dietitian at Fuel4mance) who is utilizing this same approach in her Ironman training, I do believe we are beginning to not only understand a bit more of what the body is capable of but we are also chipping away at many sports nutrition fallacies (such as ingesting a ridiculous amount of carbohydrates) that are becoming a thing of the past.

Stay tuned as Dina and I continue our experimentation and be sure to keep up with Dina's blog as she will be providing some great updates on a handful of athletes whom she is working with in terms of their metabolic efficiency and performance.

Until next time...

Coach Bob
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ME for You

Interesting blog title, eh?  Well, I was talking with a Team EMC athlete today at functional strength and conditioning practice and got to thinking which sparked a blog idea.  This triathlete is also a firefighter and I have had the pleasure of assisting him with his nutrition plan leading up to his half Ironman earlier this month.  Of course, as I always do, I addressed his daily nutrition first before his training nutrition.

As I am sure you can guess, I implemented a metabolic efficiency nutrition plan that was periodized to support his energy expenditure from training needs.  With his feedback, we eliminated all grains and increased fruits and vegetables as well as his fats.  Many athletes are asking about how to implement a high fat diet but in all reality, what forward thinking sport dietitians are doing now is approaching athletes from a nutrition periodization perspective and controlling carbohydrates to support training and health needs.  So, where he was at in his training cycle at the time of our first nutrition meeting, it made sense to lower his carbohydrates and increase his fat intake to support his goals.

What happened?  Well, it worked.  Plain and simple.  He shed body fat, became leaner, had more energy, was able to sustain better energy levels throughout the day and had a positive impact on his family also.  Oh yeah, and he smashed his half-Ironman time!  His wife and kids also adopted some of the principles of metabolic efficiency with similar effects (most notably increased energy levels and better moods).

The point of this blog is not to share his success story (although it is fantastic!).  The point is to look beyond the athlete where implementing metabolic efficiency nutrition plans could have even more benefit.  Where?  In you, your parents, kids, neighbors.  Whomever.  But specifically what made me think a bit more about this topic was the fact that this triathlete is a firefighter in Colorado.  We have a very active fire season coming up that is often characterized by these guys and girls being deployed in mountainous areas with little resources and working around the clock to keep the public safe.  They are on the line in shifts and often cannot fuel themselves as adequately as say, athletes, can during a training session or race.  Very similar examples can be found in police officers and our military.

So, I pose the question..."is metabolic efficiency training really just a fad that is used in endurance athletes?".  I think not.  In fact, I know not.  This triathlete/firefighter told me that he has begun teaching the firefighters at his station how to become more metabolically efficient and they are having great success so far as measured by body composition changes and energy levels.  These are the guys and girls who protect us and in the case of our military, provide us the freedom that we enjoy.

Perhaps we should begin looking outside the box a bit more and utilizing the concept of metabolic efficiency with those individuals and groups who are required to be more efficient with their nutrition plans.

Just a thought to ponder...


Coach Bob
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Racing Weight?

There has been quite a bit of talk in the endurance athlete and coach arena regarding racing weight and I have been experimenting with this during my higher fat, controlled carbohydrate nutrition experiment.  First off, I think it is important for me to explain a few things before getting too much into the body of this blog.

Point 1: There is no such thing as an "optimal" weight.  As a Sport Dietitian, I work with athletes to find that weight that supports good health, a strong immune system, quality and uninterrupted sleep patterns and for females, regular menstruation.  As athletes, do we sometimes give and take a little in these categories?  Of course!  But that is the important part of experimenting with your individual body to see what is right for it.  Do not compare yourself to others from a quantitative (scale number) or qualitative (aesthetics) point of view.  What is important is the point at which your body weight and body composition supports optimal health and performance (read: the combination of both is utterly important).  Now, I have seen many athletes get too low in their body weight and while they may run well, they start to get sick more often or they cannot recover as fast.  There is no secret equation that professionals use to determine if your weight should be different during race season versus the preparatory or pre-competition training cycles.  This is a journey that you must explore on your own and I recommend keeping good quantitative and qualitative data to help you in this process.

Point 2: If you are a triathlete, too low of body weight and fat (while it may be aesthetically pleasing), may actually compromise performance.  You should not measure your racing weight (if there is such a thing for your particular body) in terms of the number on the scale.  Rather, you should look at your quantitative performances for the swim, bike and run.  You can use your 100 yard/meter time or a field test such as a 3x300 time trial set for the swim.  The run can be a threshold test done in the field or in a performance center to measure velocity and lactate levels and having a power meter on the bike for field testing in or out of a lab is crucial to determine threshold power movements.  It is these data that will help you quantify if and where your body weight and composition should be for optimal performance.

Point 3: If you aren't healthy, you cannot perform.  Far too many athletes try to get their body weight or fat levels so low that they compromise health and get sick.  If you are sick, you can't train.  If you can't train, you can't race.  If you can't race, you don't have a season and thus you cannot really be an athlete.  Take care of your body and think of improving and supporting good health first.

Back to Coach Bob.  As I have been navigating this higher fat with controlled carbohydrate nutrition plan with higher intensity short course triathlon training, I have been playing with my body weight and composition as an experiment.  Interesting what I have found.  I noticed that I initially lost about 8 pounds on this nutrition plan and while I was pretty lean, I also noticed that I was not swimming well and had a hard time generating power on the bike.  My run was great but as a triathlete, that is only 1/3 of the game.

So, I started shifting my body weight and fat a bit while measuring my performances (quantitatively as noted above).  What I found was that my body was not efficient in generating power in the swim or bike when my body weight was too low.  I have noted that, at this point in my training (very important to consider due to nutrition periodization), that my quantitative performances and recoveries are enhanced when my body weight is only about 4 pounds lower than my "normal" (meaning when I was not eating higher fat and controlling my carbohydrates) body weight.

Interesting data so far and even more fascinating since I am soon entering my triathlon race season.  As I continue to dial this in and experiment with my swim, bike and run numbers, I will report back my findings in hopes that you too can learn more about your body and at what physiological markers it is most efficient.

Until next time...

Coach Bob
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Intensity

Hello world.  It's been a while.  I apologize for the long lag time in between posts but I have been doing a bit of "body inventory" as I have been ramping up my short course triathlon training.  If you recall from my posts in late 2012, I began implementing a controlled carbohydrate nutrition plan where my daily carbohydrate intake ranged from 60-80 grams per day.  I saw tremendous results in metabolic efficiency, body composition and blood work.  The holidays went by along with the new year and I go the flu.  My exercise program did not exist and I had a rough go about with my nutrition plan.  Sometimes I ate, sometimes I had no hunger response or urge to eat anything.  That went on for 5 weeks so definitely a bit of a set back.

I have spent the last month really trying to rebound from the after effects of the flu and while it is almost out of my system, I still notice a bit of burning in the chest as my intensity goes above my threshold for a sustained period of time.  It was also pretty cold in Colorado and I attribute the cold response to part of my chest burning response.  Luckily, I have turned the corner and am about 90% now and have been introducing some very good intensity.

Of course, you are wondering about my nutrition...when coming off of the flu, I tried to get food in my stomach and the higher fat foods were not appealing to me for a few weeks.  I didn't not go crazy with carbohydrates but I included more frequent breads and trail mix to my daily plan.  While I did not meticulously log my daily nutrition, I estimated my daily carbohydrate intake between 120-160 grams per day on most day.  Thankfully, I put an abrupt halt to this higher carbohydrate intake but not before having blood work done.  I was curious what adding roughly double the amount of carbohydrates to my daily nutrition plan would do to my blood lipids.  I had a much more comprehensive blood analysis done, one that looked at the particle size of my LDL and HDL, among other things.

Here's a quick snapshot of my bloodwork changes when I added more carbs into the plan:

• My total cholesterol went up
• My LDL went up
• My HDL stayed the same
• My triglycerides went up
• While I have never had my particle size assessed before, my HDL particle size is fine but my LDL particle size is high in the small dense particles (promoting a higher risk for heart disease)
• Aside from blood lipids, my testosterone was fine, cortisol and DHEA normal, iron level good but my vitamin D levels were extremely low (low for athletes)

Taken altogether, this indicates that my body responded poorly from a blood lipid standpoint with adding more carbohydrates into my daily nutrition plan.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Guess what I am back doing again?  And yes, in the heat of high intensity training for sprint and Olympic distance triathlon training.  My fitness is improving and in my next blog, I will discuss my dietary nutrient timing strategies and thoughts regarding following a controlled carbohydrate nutrition plan for high intensity endurance training.

Stay tuned!  It's just getting good.

Coach Bob

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Prehab not rehab

I coach a limited amount of athletes so I can provide a high quality coaching experience to each one.  With this comes methodical athlete monitoring of each to ensure that my training plans are working in their physiological adaptation process.  As you read in my last post, balancing stress with recovery is very important but another aspect that is often overlooked in the athlete equation is allotting time for prehab.

Prehab, or better known as pre-habilitation, introduces an opportunity for athletes to reduce the risk of injuries by introducing specific movement pattern exercises that improve muscular balance and typically introducing the concept of myofascial release.  I would be willing to bet that one of the reasons that contributes to injury in endurance athletes is the lack of planned prehab exercises.  These exercises are usually not deleted on purpose from the training plan (like, say, strength training is) but are simply not included due to a lack of knowledge pertaining to the efficacy and the "how's" and "when's" of implementation.

There are many ways to fit in prehab exercises but what I have found works best for most time crunched endurance athletes is scheduling 5 minutes upon waking each morning and using something like a foam roller (I'm a big fan of the TP Therapy Grid) to do a few exercises to improve tissue tolerance and implement myofascial release.  The latter will help break up muscle adhesions and scar tissue that is common among endurance athletes along with improving blood flow.

Take 5 minutes each morning and roll the following areas, each for about 5-10 seconds and repeat throughout the 5 minutes (if you have more time, even better!):

• Gluteals (maximus, medius and minimus)
• Hamstrings
• Calves
• Quadriceps
• IT band
• Lower and upper back

Do this once and you will feel good.  Implement this on a consistent basis and you will be on your way to reducing your risk of injury!

Coach Bob

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