Zion Canyon 2011

Zion Canyon 2011
Zion Revisited 2011

How To Approach an Ultra or Ironman

Jordan Rapp quote sums it up!

This Jordan Rapp quote sums it up.
"It's about the process. It doesn't matter what you do tomorrow and it doesn't matter what you did yesterday. It's about today, and making today count. That's especially true in training, but it's the same mentality that I carry into racing. Focus on the task at hand, not on the finish line, or the next part of the race, but what it is that is right there in front of you in the moment."





Saturday, February 27, 2010

Well The Weather Outside is Frightful...........

But my indoor training center is not un-delightful.....

 Not a bad way to go when you really don't want to get cold and wet.Cold I don't mind,wet I don't mind, but cold & wet? I'll pass. It's about 1˚C and sloppy slush, about 6" worth, so I set up the indoor playground. You've got your Tunturi T30 treadmill, your Litespeed Tachyon with Kurt Kinetics Road Machine Trainer, and your 51" Sony Plasma with home theater sound.
   Rode hard for an hour, it felt very good. Now where did I put that Innis & Gunn?

Thursday, February 25, 2010

My Socks,The World's Best Beer? ,My Rides

 Socks-Never buy white socks.     Beer-Innis & Gunn.From Scotland. Aged in used oak Scotch barrels.

The shoes, from left to right-Heavy duty Vasques with Khatoola Spikes for ice (YakTrax are for mailmen and old ladies!)Adizero flats for road racing(6.8 oz), LaSportiva Crosslites that I use 90% of the time, Inov8 X-Talon 212's (7.5 oz) for trail racing 25k or less, Inov8 320's,kind of retired them but can't bare to part with them.The shoes are all insanely light and minimal heels.Except for the Vasques/Khatoolas.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Major Snowstorm Fizzled Out. Good. Bring on Summer!

Before the stormAfter the Storm
Coal cools off in the Hot tub
In one month  that hot tub will have 103˚F water in it!




Ben and Coal seem to be the only snow lovers at our house. The trails have been fantastic all winter, we have been snow free (more or less) this winter, and the cold temperatures have kept the mud frozen for the most part.It looks like I might need the Khatoolas in the ravine today, though.
  Last week I ran just over 8 hours 20 minutes, let's say about 40 miles.No bike and no swim. I felt good all week, but I'm gonna have to increase my carb intake the day before any long runs.Time to start up on the bike again, get a little cross training in.10k tempo runs are going well.

 My tradition has been to open the pool the first weekend of April,and I see that is only 4 weeks from this Saturday.
Sweet.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Icy Day in the Don Valley Ravine

Ran 2:46 with Cyrus and Captain. Captain is training for the Fool's 50k in Ohio on March 28th and took off like a rocket! Same day we ran Bel Monte last year in Virginia.He is going with Phantom, who is also running in peak form.

http://fools50k.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 19, 2010

How Can You Not Love Olympic Curling?

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The "Paleo Diet" I'm Not a Dietician, But it Works For Me.

This diet is based on how humans evolved to eat.

  How it Works, condensed version:
 Fat and protein fill you up without causing a spike in your blood sugar. As long as you can keep your blood sugar levels down, your body will use fat as fuel. Eating carbs, especially refined carbs and sugar, cause a blood sugar spike, making your pancreas produce insulin which signals the body to store fat.The carbs go quickly through you, and you're hungry again.
There is a lot more information at the site below, if you are interested I think you should check it out.This is the website I follow, with slight adjustments for my ultra running/ironman adventures.He doesn't advocate the one cheat day/week we use, but says if you stick to the diet 80% of the time, you will still be successful.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-101/


  I have been eating this way since November of 2008, I don't talk about it unless people ask me how the hell I lost so much weight.It turns out a few people thought I must have cancer or something, so didn't ask. I've walked past acquaintances I haven't seen in a while and they don't recognize me. Nice. It's a  pretty easy lifestyle to stick to, and no need to count calories or plan meals.Plus, I get beer and one cheat day per week.
 As they say, it's more of a low carb lifestyle than a diet. Promise yourself to stick with this for 30 days, and you will see a huge change and not want to change back to what you were eating before. It definitely goes against conventional wisdom, but makes perfect sense if you think about it. I lost 20lbs in the first 12 weeks without going hungry. Actually, the thing is, if you're hungry you eat. Just lots of fat and lots of protein, and if you are in the weight loss stage, really low carbs, preferably under 60 grams a day. Red wine is allowed, Terri ,my wife who is trying Paleo, will tell you she still has a glass or two/night and is still noticeably losing weight. The best part is, we have a cheat day on the weekend where we eat whatever we want. Fish and chips this Saturday. Unlimited beer for me, but I try to stick to 24 on the weekend now. I'm down to 160lbs. , I'll stay there until probably April, then I'll  lose 10lbs more for a 3 day 60 mile stage race we have coming up in Tennessee in June. Here is another inspiring post from the website I've been using,

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/get-real-achieve-your-health-goals-lose-weight-get-ripped-stay-motivated/

 You can spend days reading all the stuff on there. biggest things are no sugar, no bread(not even whole wheat or low GI),no pasta,no rice, no potatoes while you are losing weight except for 1 cheat day/week. No grains(wheat, oats corn etc.) Nothing that comes in a box. Nothing that is refined, like flour or canola/vegetable oil. Olive oil for eating but not cooking. Coconut oil for cooking.
  It takes a while to kick in, but your body starts to burn fat for fuel rather than carbs, because you aren't providing your body with carbs to burn. Terri has complained about a lack of energy, which I think is normal until your body adjusts to fat burning.We use coconut oil to cook, eat unlimited meat ,fish, cheese, bacon,eggs, non starchy vegetables,fruit,(berries are best) use full fat yogurt, cream cheese, table cream, no "light stuff or "low fat"" allowed, as they simply replace fat with sugar, not good.
  Here is another version, easier to follow, only difference seems to be lentils are allowed on this one.This is where the cheat day comes from.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/04/06/how-to-lose-20-lbs-of-fat-in-30-days-without-doing-any-exercise/

 For exercise, Paleo emphasizes long and slow, like hiking/walking or short and intense, like sprinting or Tabata workouts on a bike or rower or circuit training with weights.Tabata workouts are 20 seconds at your max,10 seconds rest for 4 minutes, it's a killer.
  From Mark's-"Make your long and slow execrcise longer and slower, and make your short intense workouts shorter and more intense."

http://www.crossfit.com/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-intensity_interval_training

Not a bad idea to take before pictures and compare after a couple weeks. You may gain muscle as you lose fat, and you can see that more than notice it on the scale (if you use one).
Good luck, I am very happy with this,I can't see myself going back to the way I was eating before. Knowing I have a cheat day coming makes a huge difference. Cheat day works because once your body starts burning fat, it won't switch back to burning carbs in 24 hours, so all those carbs you take in on cheat day go right through you, (that's the theory).

 A Typical Day's Eating For Me

breakfast-
lots of coffee with 18% fat  table cream

 omelette (3 eggs,bacon,cheese,onion, peppers fried in coconut oil)
or
full fat yogurt, cottage cheese,apple, kefir , grapefruit, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, walnut, almonds, and a fig.

or sometimes nothing but coffee if I'm not hungry.

Lunch
Big salad (lettuce,peppers,onion,tomato, broccoli etc.) with can of tuna/salmon(olive oil/vinegar/mustard type dressing, no  sugar allowed!) Check your balsamic vinegar to make sure they don't sneak some sugar in there.
or
another omelette  or a hunk of chicken and some veg.

snacks
can of sardines, carrots,peppers,walnuts,almonds,cheese, celery.

Dinner is usually meat of some kind with vegetables. Just no rice,pasta, bread or potatoes.

Once you get down to your goal weight, there is low carb bread and pasta you can eat if you like.

I'm guessing my diet is about 50% fat, 30% protein and 20% carbs,  about opposite what the Canada Food Guide suggests, but that's why we have so many fat people,IMO. But that's another discussion!
 The adjustments I make for Ultra running or Ironman training is if my workout is going to be over two hours, I will use "Vespa"* as directed and then consume "Hammergel"* sparingly after the first hour. I add "Nuun"* tablets to my water for the electrolytes.

*Vespa
 http://www.vespapower.com/Using-Vespa_ep_36.html

*Hammergel
http://www.hammernutrition.com/products/hammer-gel.hg.html

*Nuun
http://www.nuun.com/

And that's about it! Thanks for Reading.
Digger

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Shaking the Cobwebs Out





Well I'm finally getting back to feeling good about my training, it's amazing how fast a 51 year old body can get out of shape. I was probably in the best shape of my life for Moab mid-November, and after a few months of just going half-assed, it's taken a while, but I had a great week.

Monday-Trail Run-Home-Double Captain's Loop-Home-Total 2:14
Tuesday-Work- Did weights, squats,pushups,pull ups stretch the hamstings/calves....Moooooooo
Wednesday-Easy Road Run-cemetery 10k-49:49-Quads very sore from squats Tuesday
Thursday-Got my bike fitted- felt really good, did 1:00
Friday-Curling!!
Saturday-Trail Run-Home-Double Captain's Loop-Home-Total 2:08
Sunday-Trail Run with Terri and Ben 30 minutes-Measured 10k Tempo Run,cemetery 44:40