Wow! I am pleasantly surprised in my body's ability to bounce back from my 23-miler this past Saturday night. I have a little muscle soreness but nothing too bad considering I increased my long run in one week by 5.5 miles! For you quantitative people, that's about a 31% mileage increase in one week. Not your typical 10% increase rule now is it? Well, that really doesn't hold true much when you have more than 10 years in the sport and you really know what works and doesn't with your body. Plus, having migrated into ultrarunning in the past few years, I have noticed that I can handle a higher volume increase while keeping healthy.
Anyway, the body is feeling good. I spent 40 minutes on PowerCranks tonight to loosen up the muscles and will follow-up with a 5-6 mile run tomorrow. By the way, PowerCranks are my "secret weapon" in my running program as they have a tremendous positive impact on my economy and ability to recruit my run specific motor units (it improves my body's ability to utilize my neuromuscular system to improve running pace). If you don't know about PowerCranks, I would highly recommend reading about them (www.powercranks.com).
This weekend will be quite challenging to fit in the long run as I have an early morning LT test to do on one of my athletes on Saturday, then will speed back home to spend quality time with the family before coaching my son's soccer game. Saturday night, however, I fly to North Carolina at midnight to present at a USA Triathlon Level II Coaching Clinic. So, that leaves me with a window of about 7:30-10:30pm to fit in a run. Because of the reduced timeframe, I will make it a much higher quality run with some threshold sets of 6-10 minutes every 30 minutes or so. You didn't know that speed sessions are still important for ultrarunners, did you? Well, yep! They sure are! After all is said and done, I hope to sleep like a baby on the flight to the east coast!
Have a great week! Until this weekend...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Let the race season begin!!!
Well, my recruitment to go to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is throwing a small monkey wrench in my race plans for the summer so I decided last week to "drop" myself into a 50 mile trail running race on May 3. Luckily, my son's soccer team has a bye that week (I am his coach) so I took full advantage of it by signing up for the Collegiate Peaks 50-miler in Buena Vista, Colorado.
Yes, 5 weeks of training to a 50 mile trail race. It's doable, trust me. I have decent base and just need to get my mileage up and get on the trails. Speaking of which, here's how my training has been going so far...
During the week of March 17, I fit in a 17.6 mile trail run in Arizona which took about 3'14" to finish and followed that up by a 17 mile road run on Easter (I ran from my wife's sister's house back home). Felt pretty good aside from my little achilles tendonitis I have been battling since last October.
This week saw a busy schedule at work so I was only able to get in 2 weekday runs. Yesterday I had to drive down to work to give a Nutrition Periodization presentation to a group of National Olympic level coaches at the Olympic Training Center. Then, I zipped back home to coach my son's first soccer game (my little stud scored 4 of our team's 5 goals and had the assist on the last goal-yes I am a bit proud!), came home to make some dinner, hang out with the kids, help put them to bed and then the fun began!
Much to my wife's surprise, I suited up for my long run at 8pm Saturday night. She had a momentary lapse of thinking I was crazy but I politely reminded her that we have been married for almost 12 years and have I not always been like this?! She was of course cool with it and I do my best to try to spend as much quality time with my family as possible. Hence the long run beginning at 8pm on a Saturday night!
My plan was to go out 6.5 miles to a state park that I live close to then come back up to my house, fill up fluids and continue on. However, I was feeling so good on my first out that I kept going and ended up turning around at 10 miles. The night was absolutely beautiful. No moon but a sky full of bright stars. Just me and nature which is absolutely heaven for me! I was armed with my Petzl headlamp, 2 hand bottles filled with First Endurance EFS drink with their Pre-race (for a little caffeine!), a couple of Carbboom apple pie gels (yum!), my cell phone and of course, some toilet paper (you never know when you will need that!). I had to stay low on paved and dirt roads because I am not that stupid to go on the trails at night by myself! I know I have some loose screws upstairs but I am not crazy! :-)
Prior to leaving work this week, my colleague who is a PhD exercise physiologist wanted me to try loading with sodium citrate (a buffering compound used by athletes that is supposed to buffer lactic acid) before we started giving it to our athletes so I loaded starting at 1:30 on Saturday. Off to my run under the Colorado stars and I found myself clipping off miles faster than I had imagined and with a lower heart rate. Hmmm, maybe this sodium citrate really works! I finished my first 10 miles averaging about 7:15 pace with some good climbs and noticed my heart rate was 3-7 beats lower on these climbs where I was really trying to open it up to test out the sodium citrate.
I turned around at mile 10 to head home and sucked down a gel. In the next 5 minutes my stomach began to let me know that that was not a good idea. My body and legs still felt unbelievable but my gut was a bit upset at the introduction of the gel. A quick bathroom stop in the bushes helped but it was still a bit uncomfortable during the last part of the run. At mile 19.5 my body began feeling fatigued. Well, really it was more my joints (time for new shoes!) and my achilles as I still felt like I could run fast but I listened to the body and slowed down to about 8:15 pace.
23 miles and 3'15" later, I rolled up to my front door, did my dynamic exercise cooldown and headed straight to the kitchen for some post-workout food. As you can imagine, I was starving at this point so I went straight to my pre-made First Endurance Ultragen drink (by the way, the best post-workout drink I have ever tried!) and poured it over some Honeycomb cereal. Yes, you read that right! Mmmm, mmmm was it good! Then off to a bowl of Fruity Cheerios (with vanilla soy milk this time!) and my belly was finally satisfied at almost midnight!
Upstairs to take a hot shower to put my uncontrolled shivering at bay then slipped on my compression socks and floated into bed for an anticipated 6 hours of sleep before my kids pounced on me!
Here's my nutrition scoop during my run:
40 ounces of First Endurance EFS drink with 1 scoop of Pre-race in each bottle
1 Carbboom apple pie gel
Post-workout:
24 ounces of Ultragen with Honeycomb cereal
Fruity Cherrios cereal with vanilla soy milk
And I can't forget the 2 cups of water at about 3am when I woke up very, very thirsty!
What a great start to my 50-mile trail race training! Until my next long run...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Yes, 5 weeks of training to a 50 mile trail race. It's doable, trust me. I have decent base and just need to get my mileage up and get on the trails. Speaking of which, here's how my training has been going so far...
During the week of March 17, I fit in a 17.6 mile trail run in Arizona which took about 3'14" to finish and followed that up by a 17 mile road run on Easter (I ran from my wife's sister's house back home). Felt pretty good aside from my little achilles tendonitis I have been battling since last October.
This week saw a busy schedule at work so I was only able to get in 2 weekday runs. Yesterday I had to drive down to work to give a Nutrition Periodization presentation to a group of National Olympic level coaches at the Olympic Training Center. Then, I zipped back home to coach my son's first soccer game (my little stud scored 4 of our team's 5 goals and had the assist on the last goal-yes I am a bit proud!), came home to make some dinner, hang out with the kids, help put them to bed and then the fun began!
Much to my wife's surprise, I suited up for my long run at 8pm Saturday night. She had a momentary lapse of thinking I was crazy but I politely reminded her that we have been married for almost 12 years and have I not always been like this?! She was of course cool with it and I do my best to try to spend as much quality time with my family as possible. Hence the long run beginning at 8pm on a Saturday night!
My plan was to go out 6.5 miles to a state park that I live close to then come back up to my house, fill up fluids and continue on. However, I was feeling so good on my first out that I kept going and ended up turning around at 10 miles. The night was absolutely beautiful. No moon but a sky full of bright stars. Just me and nature which is absolutely heaven for me! I was armed with my Petzl headlamp, 2 hand bottles filled with First Endurance EFS drink with their Pre-race (for a little caffeine!), a couple of Carbboom apple pie gels (yum!), my cell phone and of course, some toilet paper (you never know when you will need that!). I had to stay low on paved and dirt roads because I am not that stupid to go on the trails at night by myself! I know I have some loose screws upstairs but I am not crazy! :-)
Prior to leaving work this week, my colleague who is a PhD exercise physiologist wanted me to try loading with sodium citrate (a buffering compound used by athletes that is supposed to buffer lactic acid) before we started giving it to our athletes so I loaded starting at 1:30 on Saturday. Off to my run under the Colorado stars and I found myself clipping off miles faster than I had imagined and with a lower heart rate. Hmmm, maybe this sodium citrate really works! I finished my first 10 miles averaging about 7:15 pace with some good climbs and noticed my heart rate was 3-7 beats lower on these climbs where I was really trying to open it up to test out the sodium citrate.
I turned around at mile 10 to head home and sucked down a gel. In the next 5 minutes my stomach began to let me know that that was not a good idea. My body and legs still felt unbelievable but my gut was a bit upset at the introduction of the gel. A quick bathroom stop in the bushes helped but it was still a bit uncomfortable during the last part of the run. At mile 19.5 my body began feeling fatigued. Well, really it was more my joints (time for new shoes!) and my achilles as I still felt like I could run fast but I listened to the body and slowed down to about 8:15 pace.
23 miles and 3'15" later, I rolled up to my front door, did my dynamic exercise cooldown and headed straight to the kitchen for some post-workout food. As you can imagine, I was starving at this point so I went straight to my pre-made First Endurance Ultragen drink (by the way, the best post-workout drink I have ever tried!) and poured it over some Honeycomb cereal. Yes, you read that right! Mmmm, mmmm was it good! Then off to a bowl of Fruity Cheerios (with vanilla soy milk this time!) and my belly was finally satisfied at almost midnight!
Upstairs to take a hot shower to put my uncontrolled shivering at bay then slipped on my compression socks and floated into bed for an anticipated 6 hours of sleep before my kids pounced on me!
Here's my nutrition scoop during my run:
40 ounces of First Endurance EFS drink with 1 scoop of Pre-race in each bottle
1 Carbboom apple pie gel
Post-workout:
24 ounces of Ultragen with Honeycomb cereal
Fruity Cherrios cereal with vanilla soy milk
And I can't forget the 2 cups of water at about 3am when I woke up very, very thirsty!
What a great start to my 50-mile trail race training! Until my next long run...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
The Day After
I left the triathlon training camp to go to Salt Lake City (SLC) to present to a Level I USA Triathlon coaching clinic. I left my hotel in Arizona at 6:00am and arrived in SLC at 10:30. I hopped in a taxi to the University of Utah where the clinic was and ate a little lunch before I was "on". I presented about Nutrition Periodization and Functional Training for Triathletes. As usual, it was a great group of coaches who were very interactive with great questions. I like to challenge coaches to think outside the box when it comes to nutrition and strength training and they did very well.
After my presentations, I was extremely tired as the week finally caught up to me but still managed to get out with the group for a social get together and some grub. We went to a local pub and who would you think I had the pleasure of sitting with and chatting during dinner than the one and only 2007 Ironman World Champion, Chris McCormack. It turns out he was attending the coaching clinic to seek his coaching certification. I have to say, I have met quite a few elite triathletes and Chris is a class act. Very down to earth, tell you like it is and quite entertaining. He is a great overall person who has a great head on his shoulders. He gives back to the sport quite a bit and puts a lot of energy into focusing on kids. I totally respect that and him as a person.
Dinner lasted until about 11:00pm and then it was back to my hotel to try to muster up any sleep I could before heading off to the airport the next morning early to get home to the family for the Easter weekend.
What a great week for Coach Bob. I was in my element in the field with top-notch athletes doing what I truly love doing...helping athletes learn about their bodies, have fun and improve their performance through nutrition!
Happy Easter everyone!
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
After my presentations, I was extremely tired as the week finally caught up to me but still managed to get out with the group for a social get together and some grub. We went to a local pub and who would you think I had the pleasure of sitting with and chatting during dinner than the one and only 2007 Ironman World Champion, Chris McCormack. It turns out he was attending the coaching clinic to seek his coaching certification. I have to say, I have met quite a few elite triathletes and Chris is a class act. Very down to earth, tell you like it is and quite entertaining. He is a great overall person who has a great head on his shoulders. He gives back to the sport quite a bit and puts a lot of energy into focusing on kids. I totally respect that and him as a person.
Dinner lasted until about 11:00pm and then it was back to my hotel to try to muster up any sleep I could before heading off to the airport the next morning early to get home to the family for the Easter weekend.
What a great week for Coach Bob. I was in my element in the field with top-notch athletes doing what I truly love doing...helping athletes learn about their bodies, have fun and improve their performance through nutrition!
Happy Easter everyone!
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Training Camp: Day 3
Well, this was the final day with our tri team and it was a great one to say the least! We started the day with 6:05am hemoglobin testing. I brought down a hemoglobin analyzer and took a bit of blood from the athletes so we can monitor their drop from altitude. Then onto the pool for a 7am practice where I did more fluid balance testing and I have to say, every single member of the team improved their hydration status since I have been testing them and showing them the amount of fluid they lose and need during a swim workout.
Then it was back to the hotel and out to the store to get all of the food for the team dinner. We split into 5 teams of 2 athletes and I chose five recipes from the cookbook I made them. After whizzing through the grocery store, it was back to the hotel to get suited up ready to assist in their combo workout. My role was on the mountain bike and as the team did their bike workout, I was scoping out a good (and safe) run route for them to do their run-off. They transitioned at the vehicles and I led them off on the hilly out and back run. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to see elite triathletes train, they make their aerobic runs off the bike look like there is no effort being spent at all. It is simply amazing and a pleasure to watch!
After spending 4 hours in the Arizona sun on the mountain bike, it was back to the vehicles to get back to the hotel to prepare them for the dinner festivities. After I partitioned each team's ingredients, I sent them to their respective kitchens and they had 45 minutes to prepare and cook their meals. I roamed around to every room to check the progress and was pleasantly surprised that each team was having a great time!
We all sat down to dinner, enjoyed each other's company and ended the night on a great note of sharing friendship, stories and food. I have to say that this was a fantastic bunch of athletes. In fact, my biggest success story was with one athlete who did not like to cook and his comment to the group was that although he was dreading the cooking portion of the day, he had a great time and he didn't realize that cooking healthy, performance foods was so easy. That solidified why I do what I do!
I will end this post with one of my mantra's: "Simple is sustainable". Remember, make it too complex and it's difficult to implement.
Until next time...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Then it was back to the hotel and out to the store to get all of the food for the team dinner. We split into 5 teams of 2 athletes and I chose five recipes from the cookbook I made them. After whizzing through the grocery store, it was back to the hotel to get suited up ready to assist in their combo workout. My role was on the mountain bike and as the team did their bike workout, I was scoping out a good (and safe) run route for them to do their run-off. They transitioned at the vehicles and I led them off on the hilly out and back run. For those of you who have not had the opportunity to see elite triathletes train, they make their aerobic runs off the bike look like there is no effort being spent at all. It is simply amazing and a pleasure to watch!
After spending 4 hours in the Arizona sun on the mountain bike, it was back to the vehicles to get back to the hotel to prepare them for the dinner festivities. After I partitioned each team's ingredients, I sent them to their respective kitchens and they had 45 minutes to prepare and cook their meals. I roamed around to every room to check the progress and was pleasantly surprised that each team was having a great time!
We all sat down to dinner, enjoyed each other's company and ended the night on a great note of sharing friendship, stories and food. I have to say that this was a fantastic bunch of athletes. In fact, my biggest success story was with one athlete who did not like to cook and his comment to the group was that although he was dreading the cooking portion of the day, he had a great time and he didn't realize that cooking healthy, performance foods was so easy. That solidified why I do what I do!
I will end this post with one of my mantra's: "Simple is sustainable". Remember, make it too complex and it's difficult to implement.
Until next time...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Training Camp: Day 2
What a second day of attending training camp for our triathlon team in preparation for their second Olympic trials! My day began with a modest 3 hour and 14 minute trail run in the Tucson mountains, covering about 17.6 miles. It was very beautiful terrain but technical with good climbs and gnarly descents. I was not fully prepared to run this long from a hydration standpoint so I only had my one hand bottle for the entire run (about 20 ounces of fluid). I had to partition this wisely along with the two gels I had but it all worked out in the end. I was dehydrated and did pre and post body weights on me. I managed to lose only (ha!) 3.7 pounds which actually isn't bad considering my higher sweat rate. We did get on the trail at 7am before the sun peaked. We ran down Seven River Trail which is conveniently name for its seven river crossings and my feet where a bit warm so I decided to start my water crossings at the third crossing. Boy did that feel good and it brought back some good memories of Leadville!
After the run it was back to the hotel for a quick shower. Then the compression socks went on (and they have been on most of the day...great recovery technique!) and I was out the door to talk to the tri team about taper nutrition. By the way, this is a huge concern for most athletes and my underlying messages for short course athletes were:
1. Master your nutrition plan in training so you don't do much (if anything) different in your taper week that may lead to GI distress, unnecessary weight gain or bloatedness.
2. Shift your macronutrients as volume goes down and intensity is moderate (remember my mantra, "eat to train") to favor just a bit more protein (not high) and focus on a bit less whole grains. I know this may be a paradigm shift and you may be somewhat skeptical but trust me, for short course athletes, this works!
3. Don't have to think about your nutrition plan during the race. You should have mastered this during training so that you can focus on the race rather than nutrition intervals and quantities. Remember, this is short course racing...you have better things to spend your brain energy on during the race!
After my talk it was back to my room for a little rest and work then off to swim practice for more fluid balance testing and leading the dynamic warm-up before practice. I have to say, all of the athletes listened to my hydration points and the net fluid loss for the 90 minute swim practice was much improved versus the day before. Gotta love it when athletes listen to their sport dietitian!
And there you have it. Day three of training camp begins for me at 6:15 with testing hemoglobin in the athletes then heading off to swim practice at 6:45.
Until the next post...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
After the run it was back to the hotel for a quick shower. Then the compression socks went on (and they have been on most of the day...great recovery technique!) and I was out the door to talk to the tri team about taper nutrition. By the way, this is a huge concern for most athletes and my underlying messages for short course athletes were:
1. Master your nutrition plan in training so you don't do much (if anything) different in your taper week that may lead to GI distress, unnecessary weight gain or bloatedness.
2. Shift your macronutrients as volume goes down and intensity is moderate (remember my mantra, "eat to train") to favor just a bit more protein (not high) and focus on a bit less whole grains. I know this may be a paradigm shift and you may be somewhat skeptical but trust me, for short course athletes, this works!
3. Don't have to think about your nutrition plan during the race. You should have mastered this during training so that you can focus on the race rather than nutrition intervals and quantities. Remember, this is short course racing...you have better things to spend your brain energy on during the race!
After my talk it was back to my room for a little rest and work then off to swim practice for more fluid balance testing and leading the dynamic warm-up before practice. I have to say, all of the athletes listened to my hydration points and the net fluid loss for the 90 minute swim practice was much improved versus the day before. Gotta love it when athletes listen to their sport dietitian!
And there you have it. Day three of training camp begins for me at 6:15 with testing hemoglobin in the athletes then heading off to swim practice at 6:45.
Until the next post...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
Training Camp: Day 1
I am down in sunny Tucson, Arizona for a few days with our National Olympic Triathlon Team for their training camp leading up to their second Olympic Trials.
I didn't get in until late morning but day one included fluid balance/hydration testing the team pre and post swim practice (3-4:30pm) followed by a grocery store tour and food finding mission at Trader Joe's. The day ended with giving a presentation to the team on performance nutrition, of which the topics I will share briefly as they are pertinent to almost any athlete.
Bob's Performance Nutrition Model: SAINT
S: Supplements (mostly including sports drinks, electrolytes, gels, bars, VO2max enhancers, powders, etc.. The goal is to find safe, legal and efficacious (ones that actually work!) supplements that would improve, not deter, performance. Are they needed for all athletes? That debate is for another blog!
A: Antioxidants to help quench free radical production that happens with training. Focus on fruits, veggies and whole grains.
I: Inflammation. Focus on eating foods that have anti-inflammatory effects such as omega-3 fats. Good sources include fatty fish and flax products. Fish oil capsules are justifiable depending on the source an the quality control of manufacturing.
NT: Nutrient Timing. Really, when it comes down to it, this is what it is all about. Eat to train, remember (Bob's first and foremost mantra!). Recovery nutrition begins before a training session starts (yes, it's true) so focus on good daily nutrition and then the 4 hour window surrounding a training session. That is, the 2 hours before and after along with during the workout. I'll list the specific nutrient amounts in a forthcoming blog.
The day ended with me making 9 post-workout smoothies so the team could begin their post-workout nutrition immediately after their morning run tomorrow. Easy stuff really. Raspberries, blueberries, skim milk and salt in one and mango juice, rice milk, pineapples and salt in the other. Just what the body ordered after a quality session!
That's it for today. My tomorrow starts at 6:45am with a 3 hour trail run with an elite 70.3 and Ironman athlete, a taper nutrition talk to the team, fluid balance testing and some individual athlete meetings. Maybe I will even get to sneak a short nap in sometime! :-)
Until the next post...thanks for reading!
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
I didn't get in until late morning but day one included fluid balance/hydration testing the team pre and post swim practice (3-4:30pm) followed by a grocery store tour and food finding mission at Trader Joe's. The day ended with giving a presentation to the team on performance nutrition, of which the topics I will share briefly as they are pertinent to almost any athlete.
Bob's Performance Nutrition Model: SAINT
S: Supplements (mostly including sports drinks, electrolytes, gels, bars, VO2max enhancers, powders, etc.. The goal is to find safe, legal and efficacious (ones that actually work!) supplements that would improve, not deter, performance. Are they needed for all athletes? That debate is for another blog!
A: Antioxidants to help quench free radical production that happens with training. Focus on fruits, veggies and whole grains.
I: Inflammation. Focus on eating foods that have anti-inflammatory effects such as omega-3 fats. Good sources include fatty fish and flax products. Fish oil capsules are justifiable depending on the source an the quality control of manufacturing.
NT: Nutrient Timing. Really, when it comes down to it, this is what it is all about. Eat to train, remember (Bob's first and foremost mantra!). Recovery nutrition begins before a training session starts (yes, it's true) so focus on good daily nutrition and then the 4 hour window surrounding a training session. That is, the 2 hours before and after along with during the workout. I'll list the specific nutrient amounts in a forthcoming blog.
The day ended with me making 9 post-workout smoothies so the team could begin their post-workout nutrition immediately after their morning run tomorrow. Easy stuff really. Raspberries, blueberries, skim milk and salt in one and mango juice, rice milk, pineapples and salt in the other. Just what the body ordered after a quality session!
That's it for today. My tomorrow starts at 6:45am with a 3 hour trail run with an elite 70.3 and Ironman athlete, a taper nutrition talk to the team, fluid balance testing and some individual athlete meetings. Maybe I will even get to sneak a short nap in sometime! :-)
Until the next post...thanks for reading!
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
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