THE SLAYER RULES-FULL Up (Page 29)

Good weekend for me, after a disappointing week I'm back in the saddle with a PB for my 5k time and a couple of good long bike sessions. 

When you say 25% fruit is that 25% of carbs or 25% total cal intake? Did they mention the base level proportions of carbs, fat and protein? 

I'm interested in what they had to say about total cal intake, the stuff I've been hearing about recently is that many coaches believe that people don't properly fuel for their training and eat too little but when I look at the supposed diet diaries of athletes it looks like they are on a calorie restricted diet for all but the supplements (gels, bars, drinks) i.e. bagel + peanut butter + yoghurt for bfast, grilled chicken salad for lunch and steamed veg with whole grains and baked fish for dinner. This is the kind of stuff I have and I'm still trying to loose so I think that either their portions are huge or the supplements must make up 50% of what they eat. Any ideas? 

Solid weekend of training on my part. 2 hr run saturday morning the just short of 3hrs on the bike yesterday. What pleases me most is the way i've recovered. Legs felt a little heavy for 1st mile or so on bike but once i got going felt good,and this morning i feel ready to go again.

Just to add i got the position i applied for so i'm going to have to get a bit more creative with my training hours.

Congrats on the PB Kate and the job Silverback! Awesome that you are back on track and are able to train more respectively.

Seebohar's Metabolic Efficiency Training is about simplicity in blood sugar control, so its not really percentage based and its heavy on periodization (eat more healthy carbs like whole grains when you are training or racing more).  There is no cal counting or percentages per se. Its not seriously low carb. Think a healthy varying Atkins maintenance phase (not the bacon version everyone thinks he was on to).

It works on a food plate based model and tries to access/improve your efficiency in using the body's fat stores as your primary energy source as opposed to carbs which can lead to health problems, GI distress, etc. Bob claimed if you can train right under your crossover point (think aerobic threshold) where you burn more carbs as opposed to fats you can get more efficient at training and racing off your body as opposed to all the sports nutrition stuff. Lots of obv. benefits if it works!

He gives you 4 columns from left to right that you are to fill your plate up with. In other words kind of like a pie chart. So as your body demands more whole grains than you add them in.The columns are proteins like meats, beans, yogurt and he's ok with whey protein shakes but prefers natural food. Fruits/veg are the 2nd column, and then there is whole grains. The rest are defined as misses (like alcohol, processed food, pastries, etc.). He is not anti fat, big into smoothies, and he was ok with Mix1's but not most of the prepackaged stuff. The book is only 88 pages of text and I'm only on page 25 so give me more time. I am working off memory from the lecture now.

On another note, I ordered the starter pack from Generation UCAN so I will let you all know how that goes. I hear it tastes not too good but you get used to it. I'll be interested in your thoughts too. http://www.generationucan.com/home.html

I hate hills and traveling to ride but thanks for the invite!

This ^^^. Eat healthy, heavy on proteins (beans, nuts, lean meats, avocados), get your carbs from veg (75%) and fruits (25%), limiting whole grains to harder training periods and only as much as needed. 

Areyou sure he didn't mean burning a higher percentage of fat as opposed to carbs by staying under your threshold. You can train your body to use fats by a lot of zone 1-2 training because you form more the enzymes needed for metabolism of fat and it becomes the preferred energy source under stress . People get hung up on this idea because they think they need dietary fat to make this happen. You don't. Another misconception is you will loose weight faster and shed the spare tire faster. You won't.

I think this plan is solid and I hope he inspired you enough to try it for a season.

On another note, good luck on this race filled weekend.

And lastly, I went to the Lucky Star Massage parlor because of my sore neck. Liam asked how my bald friend, who went there 6 times in one weekend, was doing?????

Way to go on the job Silverback, hope you manage the creativity with your hours. 

Slayer - so in summary it's just the basic nutrition ABC, divide your plate and have 1/2 veg/fruit with no more than 1/8th fruit, 1/3 protein and the rest healthy fats increasing or decreasing wholegrain/low GI carbs according to training load? I'm v in favour of the natural way to do things and get the majority of my nutrients in the form of healthy foods. The only thing I used from a synthetic source is nuun electrolyte drinks. I am training at a much lower level than the rest of you and I do wonder if my training suffers as a result of underfuelling but I am still trying to loose weight.

Lots to think about though.   

Good info from the clinic.  With training your body to burn more fat than carbs, did they say anything about training on an empty stomach (I dont know if I missed that part of it or it was implied and I just read too fast)?  I think its coming at the same end goal from a different direction, but the modified diet seems like a better approach to me.  My wife has showed me a couple articles around skipping breakfast for morning workouts (usually weekday ones that are shorter) because your body has more than enough stored energy for the workout, even if your stomach is telling you to eat first.  I dont really do many morning workouts, so I havent had a chance to give it a shot.

Not much training from me this past weekend (or week for that matter).  Spent it all in the lab.  For what its worth, my knee is feeling better.  Hoping that this week will be a little lighter and I can get some extra time on the bike.

peter, thanks for catching my mistake. but no thanks for letting everyone know my secret hankering. i need to get more of those asian massages. i figure when they see my crotch rot, they may reject me so i avoid them. you dont have much rot from the looks of things, but then again you are never on your bike so your taint must be pretty.

Kate: yes i think you are capturing it roughly. i would advise checking into seebohar's stuff. he's at fuel4mance.com i think. its pretty easy to digest, pardon the pun. seebohar had kona qualifiers on sub 100 cals per hour (living off their fat stores)! in contrast, i need to read it all through but i just saw this and there is some contradictory info:

http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/01/30/the-10-biggest-sports-nutrition-myths/

I am not sure what you mean by this. By the very nature of training heavy and eating less carbs, you will lose weight, won't you? DIetary fiber and protien will keep you full longer and you wont have sugar cravings etc.

I guess I didn't make it clear. My point was that training your body to use fat as a predominate substrate isn't going to cause an increased rate of weight loss compared to higher intensity efforts that uses a higher percentage of carbs as the fuel source but still burn more calories overall. The activity that burns the most calories will cause the greatest weight loss. The other issue is where the fat is located on the body. It is the intracellular fat that is metabolized. It takes your body a long time to mobilize the poorly vascularized storage fat in the saddlebags to break down and be available as an energy source.

By the way, that is my backside on the photo. I don't want anyone to think I am built like a Ken doll.  

I do all my morning workouts with just a couple of cups of coffee and maybe a couple of berries. I think people get so hung up with carb loading they over indulge in calorie intake. 3 hours of storage sounds a little long to me but we all have a good hour and a half of glycogen in our livers to get us through stress.

There was a belief that running on an empty stomach would cause a more rapid weight loss than eating first. Studies have show there is no difference.

If I had more time I would eat well, digest a little and than run but with getting kids dress fed and off to school it doesn't happen. Overall it doesn't matter.

This interesting topic. For morning short runs (up to 15K) (1.5hrs), I don't usually have anything before hand. For longer I have oatmeal about 2.5hrs before, ensure it is digested and purged and then I'm ok for the longer runs.

I have had issues with GI problems if I eat any closer to a run than the 2.5hrs. I even had a problem where I ended up in the hospital from fainting due to GI issue that cause blood flow to the stomach and away from the brain. Luckly fainted in a coffee shop and they had the EMS come and get me to the hospital. The doc couldn't find anything wrong. Only thing that I can attribute it to was eating 30 minutes before the run. The fainting spell happened about 30minutes into the run too, and it wasn't fast/strenuous run either. Was planning a slow 15K that day.

As with pacing and distance, nutrition and learning what you can eat and when is all part of the training.

I think your physiology is off a little but your conclusion is correct. Under stress your body diverts the blood flow to your muscles and away from the portal (digestive organs) That is why we get cramping and can't efficiently absorb food during intense workouts. Your high osmolarity  oatmeal forced extra blood to be diverted to the small intestine. You didn't have enough reserve so your brain went into survival mode and put you in a horizontal position. You may be able to get away with it next time if you water down the oatmeal or drink more fluids. Overall I think the take away message is to figure out what works for you and stick with it.

In just about every long coarse race I have done a couple of people mention how they tried a new nutritional plan that day and it kept them from finishing the race. Really bad timing

Definitely a rookie mistake there. What are they thinking?

banged out a :50 sec PR on a 1000yd TT this morning! Here is a primer for Seebohar 's MET:

http://m.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/fuel-station/articles/make-your-body-metabolically-efficient-012412.aspx

http://m.usatriathlon.org/about-multisport/multisport-zone/fuel-station/articles/make-your-body-metabolically-efficient-012412.aspx

Open water with wetsuit or pool?

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/02/training/recovery-the-benefits-of-ice-baths_48663

ICE BATH

Can't argue with a good ice bath, can we? Its just a pain in the butt to get it going and to sit in it, but it feels great after!

Update on Slayer and MET Day 4: dropped 9 lbs eating healthy and still training solidly. Love these smoothies!

Today:

blueberries

strawberries

banana

tart cherry juice

Greek yogurt

Arugula

Whey Protein (GNC brand-vanilla)

I'll probably eat a grilled chicken salad for lunch and turkey wraps or veggie omelet for dinner.

Great job on the weight loss Phat! For your smoothies are you using anything like a Vitamix?  I have always looked at one but the price always scares me off. Everyone I know that has one says they are the greatest thing ever, but I always think "How good could a blender be?".

I have been crazy busy at work the last few days. I am still managing to get in some good workouts. Really looking forward to the warm weather, getting outside and putting some serious miles in. 

I made it about 1/2 a mile this morning until my PF slowed me down. I took yesterday off for a little extra recovery time and work related issues. I will try to cross train a little. bad timing with a race in a little over 2 weeks.

Solid work with the healthy diet. I hope it last longer than your 9 day swim streak. It really needs to be a lifestyle change like breaking a bad habit such as smoking.

I  have no doubt ice baths work and I have used them in the past for recovery, but they suck. I am very cold intolerant. I found if I get in a cool bath and then slowly add ice from a cooler and add frozen gel packs I can tolerate it a little better. I can't handle the idea of jumping in freezing water.

i hope it sticks too. i was pretty pissed off with myself on the whole diet/drinking thing. i needed to get serious and so far so good. no more lbs off but no booze since friday night and holding steady at 210. did have a little bonk on my 3 hour bike yesterday so i think i need more whole grains on longer workout days. 

no vitamix Scotty. we have a nicer food processor but not that nice. cant wait to explore different kinds of smoothies. may need to look for recipes.

Peter, hope your PF is getting better. that can be a real nagging problem. i went to clunky heavy very cushioned asics gel kayanos with a big insert and to the flat surfaces of the track after i realized the ball rolling under my foot seemed to be making it worse. likewise the PT excercises weren't helping either.

so Slayer and JrSlayer start the tri season this weekend at a sprint tri in athens after I ditched the Albany Ga mary due to my wife's sore hip flexors. not going to PR there so its hard to justify 8 hours travel and 1-2 nights of hotel for me to go it alone.  really look forward to seeing her finish her first "grown up" tri. she's the youngest participant by several years...

what y'all up to? get back here.