On Friday night I put out the word on Facebook to see if anyone was interested in doing a 14 mile trail run in the Boulder area. This lead to Donald inviting me to join him in trying to break 4 hours to the summit and back of Longs Peak on Sunday. Challenge accepted!
Due to the snow that we discovered from the Boulder Field up we did not summit. And the winds were outragous on the other side of the Keyhole as you can see in this video.
We turned around shortly after this at just over 2 hours. I think if we would have had our mountaineering gear it would have been game on but being in shorts in 30 degree weather with that wind just was not doable. We ended up with 12.5 miles/ ~4000ft of gain in 3 hours and 5 mins.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Phil Maffetone Interview
I have really been trying to follow Phil Maffetone training principles lately and have been trying to absorb anything that I can find about it. It all came about reading Lucho's blog where he talks about it quite often.
This lead to reading this book which I really seemed to agree with what Phil has to say, it just makes sense in my mind. Since reading this book I started wearing a heart rate monitor and minding how my body feels when running. I started doing this about the beginning of July. Since then I have dropped my 145bpm heart rate pace on flat ground from 8 mins per mile to about 7:20 mins per mile. I am very interested to see where this goes.
Ben Greenfield just did a great interview of Phil. You can listen to it by clicking here.
Let me know your thoughts about this training philosophy. Here are a couple more links with more information.
Mark Allen on Heart Rate Training
Want speed? Slow down!
This lead to reading this book which I really seemed to agree with what Phil has to say, it just makes sense in my mind. Since reading this book I started wearing a heart rate monitor and minding how my body feels when running. I started doing this about the beginning of July. Since then I have dropped my 145bpm heart rate pace on flat ground from 8 mins per mile to about 7:20 mins per mile. I am very interested to see where this goes.
Ben Greenfield just did a great interview of Phil. You can listen to it by clicking here.
Let me know your thoughts about this training philosophy. Here are a couple more links with more information.
Mark Allen on Heart Rate Training
Want speed? Slow down!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
My Last Day Without a Jog: 1971
Very interesting article on WSJ that you can find by clicking here or just read the text below.
And my wife thinks that I am crazy.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Cacciola
On Tuesday, Jon Simpson, a retired dentist from Memphis, Tenn., will have run at least a mile every day for 40 years. He joins five other Americans who have accomplished the feat.
Barring a catastrophe on the order of the Earth spinning off its axis Tuesday, Jon Simpson will rise at dawn and do something he has done every single day since Aug. 30, 1971: He will go for a jog.
This will take place without fanfare at a quiet pumping station adjacent to Simpson's home in Memphis, where he lives with his wife Caroline. A retired dentist, Simpson will cover four loops in 33 minutes on the same well-worn path. When he's finished, he'll become only the sixth person in the U.S. who has ever jogged at least one mile, every day, for 40 years.
In a nation that likes to glorify sports benchmarks—3,000 hits, 1,000 yards, 56 games—it's hard to know what to make of Simpson. A soft-spoken septuagenarian with a bit of a paunch, he doesn't look like anyone's image of an elite athlete. He's not in this for the attention. "I live a pretty mundane life," he said.
The only thing dazzling about his achievement is the almost unfathomable force of discipline that has driven it. "I'm just glad to get my first 40 under my belt," he joked.
According to the U.S. Running Streak Association, which began to chart running streaks in 2001, there are 286 registrants on its books who have run every day for at least one year. But before Tuesday there were only five people, all men, who'd run every day for more than 40 years.
Mark Covert, a 60-year-old college track coach from Lancaster, Calif., owns the association's longest streak. He has run at least one mile "unaided," per the association's rules, since July 23, 1968.
To get there, Covert said he's dealt with a Dickensian list of obstacles. There was the day he got spooked by a rattlesnake, fell and broke his ankle (he spent the next few weeks jogging with a laced-up boot). There was the morning he underwent minor knee surgery and had to "hobble" around the next day—an experience he describes as "not too horrible." A congenital issue with flat feet has caused him severe back pain.
Mr. Simpson's plaque honors the daily run he has done without missing a day for more than 40 years.
After tearing his meniscus this summer, Covert does acknowledge having considered calling it quits, particularly when it has taken him 20 minutes to put on his socks. But he cannot stop, refuses to stop. "What we're doing is not a mark of intelligence," he said.
Steve DeBoer, another member of the club who has run every day for 14,694 straight days, said he's taken extreme measures to preserve his streak. When his family took a trip to Australia, he made sure to book a long enough layover in Los Angeles to squeeze in a jog along the Pacific. He was worried about the time change. "What these guys do…" said his wife, Gail, her voice trailing off.
"Most people just think you're crazy," said Jon Sutherland, a 60-year-old writer from West Hills, Calif., who ranks No. 2 behind Covert on the association's list. Sutherland, who once ran with a broken hip that took nine months to heal, keeps a list of his "50 dumbest runs," which he said is under constant revision. He still considers himself more sane than others. "One guy told me he once ran on the deck of a boat in the middle of a hurricane," he said.
Sutherland and Covert, former track teammates at Los Angeles Valley College, are the grand poobahs of streak running. Neither has missed his daily jog since the moon landing. In May 1969, after college, Covert told Sutherland he'd been so inspired by the British distance runner Ron Hill that he'd been running every day for about 10 months. Sutherland laced up his sneakers and followed suit. He's been running daily since, covering some 185,000 miles, which equates to roughly seven and a half circumnavigations of the globe. During one 28-year stretch, he averaged more than 100 miles a week. "I'm 300 days behind Mark," Sutherland said, "and I can never catch him."
If you're wondering how we know these men have run every single day without cheating, the answer is: We don't. The whole enterprise is based on the honor system. "You can't have a notary out there every day clocking you in and clocking you out," Simpson said.
That said, each member of the group knows what the others have endured over the decades. When Covert informed Sutherland, in 2008, that he didn't have any plans to commemorate his 40th anniversary, Sutherland drove out to run with him.
Covert said he's often heard people say they're going to try to join the club—but he knows they never will. If you're 30 years old and would like to equal what he's done, he noted, you'd have to run at least once a day until you're 73.
DeBoer, the dietician, started his streak June 7, 1971, which puts him fifth on the association's list. He often tackles the 11-mile roundtrip between his home and his job at the Mayo Clinic, where he works with patients who have problems such as diabetes and obesity.
He owns 30 pairs of running shoes, he said, including one from 1980 with 6,000 miles on them. When executives from the sneaker company Brooks heard about that, they sent him a free pair. "Of course, now I have about 2,000 miles on the free pair," he said. DeBoer estimates that he has accrued more than 135,000 miles since he began his streak—an estimate he recently had to adjust downward.
In December, DeBoer picked up a watch with GPS and discovered one of his favorite running routes was two-tenths of a mile shorter than he thought. "So I had to subtract 260 miles from my total," he said. "That was unfortunate."
Another member of the elite club is Ken Young, a 69-year-old software developer from Petrolia, Calif., who started his streak July 6, 1970. He said debilitating knots in his leg muscles once turned a 1-mile jog into a 40-minute ordeal. That was nothing, he said, compared to the day after taking a hard fall, when he defied doctor's orders and jogged 1.1 miles with new plates in his broken wrists.
Jim Pearson, a 67-year-old retired high school teacher from Bellingham, Wash., who has a 41-year streak, told of a scary episode with blood clots in his lungs. For him, "streaking" has been a family affair: His 25-year-old son Joel started his own current streak when he was 7 and now ranks as a favorite to someday supplant Covert.
All these men say running is simply something they enjoy. Sutherland said he loves to break a sweat and fill his lungs with fresh air. Covert is drawn to what he describes as the "discipline" of the pursuit.
DeBoer has heart disease in the family. Simpson began running to strengthen his legs after contracting polio as a teenager. Now 73, he still walks with a limp—a limp that is barely perceptible when he runs. He has never stopped.
Write to Scott Cacciola at Scott.Cacciola@wsj.com
And my wife thinks that I am crazy.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Scott Cacciola
On Tuesday, Jon Simpson, a retired dentist from Memphis, Tenn., will have run at least a mile every day for 40 years. He joins five other Americans who have accomplished the feat.
Barring a catastrophe on the order of the Earth spinning off its axis Tuesday, Jon Simpson will rise at dawn and do something he has done every single day since Aug. 30, 1971: He will go for a jog.
This will take place without fanfare at a quiet pumping station adjacent to Simpson's home in Memphis, where he lives with his wife Caroline. A retired dentist, Simpson will cover four loops in 33 minutes on the same well-worn path. When he's finished, he'll become only the sixth person in the U.S. who has ever jogged at least one mile, every day, for 40 years.
In a nation that likes to glorify sports benchmarks—3,000 hits, 1,000 yards, 56 games—it's hard to know what to make of Simpson. A soft-spoken septuagenarian with a bit of a paunch, he doesn't look like anyone's image of an elite athlete. He's not in this for the attention. "I live a pretty mundane life," he said.
The only thing dazzling about his achievement is the almost unfathomable force of discipline that has driven it. "I'm just glad to get my first 40 under my belt," he joked.
According to the U.S. Running Streak Association, which began to chart running streaks in 2001, there are 286 registrants on its books who have run every day for at least one year. But before Tuesday there were only five people, all men, who'd run every day for more than 40 years.
Mark Covert, a 60-year-old college track coach from Lancaster, Calif., owns the association's longest streak. He has run at least one mile "unaided," per the association's rules, since July 23, 1968.
To get there, Covert said he's dealt with a Dickensian list of obstacles. There was the day he got spooked by a rattlesnake, fell and broke his ankle (he spent the next few weeks jogging with a laced-up boot). There was the morning he underwent minor knee surgery and had to "hobble" around the next day—an experience he describes as "not too horrible." A congenital issue with flat feet has caused him severe back pain.
Mr. Simpson's plaque honors the daily run he has done without missing a day for more than 40 years.
After tearing his meniscus this summer, Covert does acknowledge having considered calling it quits, particularly when it has taken him 20 minutes to put on his socks. But he cannot stop, refuses to stop. "What we're doing is not a mark of intelligence," he said.
Steve DeBoer, another member of the club who has run every day for 14,694 straight days, said he's taken extreme measures to preserve his streak. When his family took a trip to Australia, he made sure to book a long enough layover in Los Angeles to squeeze in a jog along the Pacific. He was worried about the time change. "What these guys do…" said his wife, Gail, her voice trailing off.
"Most people just think you're crazy," said Jon Sutherland, a 60-year-old writer from West Hills, Calif., who ranks No. 2 behind Covert on the association's list. Sutherland, who once ran with a broken hip that took nine months to heal, keeps a list of his "50 dumbest runs," which he said is under constant revision. He still considers himself more sane than others. "One guy told me he once ran on the deck of a boat in the middle of a hurricane," he said.
Sutherland and Covert, former track teammates at Los Angeles Valley College, are the grand poobahs of streak running. Neither has missed his daily jog since the moon landing. In May 1969, after college, Covert told Sutherland he'd been so inspired by the British distance runner Ron Hill that he'd been running every day for about 10 months. Sutherland laced up his sneakers and followed suit. He's been running daily since, covering some 185,000 miles, which equates to roughly seven and a half circumnavigations of the globe. During one 28-year stretch, he averaged more than 100 miles a week. "I'm 300 days behind Mark," Sutherland said, "and I can never catch him."
If you're wondering how we know these men have run every single day without cheating, the answer is: We don't. The whole enterprise is based on the honor system. "You can't have a notary out there every day clocking you in and clocking you out," Simpson said.
That said, each member of the group knows what the others have endured over the decades. When Covert informed Sutherland, in 2008, that he didn't have any plans to commemorate his 40th anniversary, Sutherland drove out to run with him.
Covert said he's often heard people say they're going to try to join the club—but he knows they never will. If you're 30 years old and would like to equal what he's done, he noted, you'd have to run at least once a day until you're 73.
DeBoer, the dietician, started his streak June 7, 1971, which puts him fifth on the association's list. He often tackles the 11-mile roundtrip between his home and his job at the Mayo Clinic, where he works with patients who have problems such as diabetes and obesity.
He owns 30 pairs of running shoes, he said, including one from 1980 with 6,000 miles on them. When executives from the sneaker company Brooks heard about that, they sent him a free pair. "Of course, now I have about 2,000 miles on the free pair," he said. DeBoer estimates that he has accrued more than 135,000 miles since he began his streak—an estimate he recently had to adjust downward.
In December, DeBoer picked up a watch with GPS and discovered one of his favorite running routes was two-tenths of a mile shorter than he thought. "So I had to subtract 260 miles from my total," he said. "That was unfortunate."
Another member of the elite club is Ken Young, a 69-year-old software developer from Petrolia, Calif., who started his streak July 6, 1970. He said debilitating knots in his leg muscles once turned a 1-mile jog into a 40-minute ordeal. That was nothing, he said, compared to the day after taking a hard fall, when he defied doctor's orders and jogged 1.1 miles with new plates in his broken wrists.
Jim Pearson, a 67-year-old retired high school teacher from Bellingham, Wash., who has a 41-year streak, told of a scary episode with blood clots in his lungs. For him, "streaking" has been a family affair: His 25-year-old son Joel started his own current streak when he was 7 and now ranks as a favorite to someday supplant Covert.
All these men say running is simply something they enjoy. Sutherland said he loves to break a sweat and fill his lungs with fresh air. Covert is drawn to what he describes as the "discipline" of the pursuit.
DeBoer has heart disease in the family. Simpson began running to strengthen his legs after contracting polio as a teenager. Now 73, he still walks with a limp—a limp that is barely perceptible when he runs. He has never stopped.
Write to Scott Cacciola at Scott.Cacciola@wsj.com
Friday, August 26, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Quick Pikes Report
Well not a lot to say but that I guess I was sandbagging in my last post a little bit.
I went down the night before and stayed with the wife at the firehouse at the start line where she works. This is so nice to have this option. In the next few years I plan on doing the double and this will hopefully still be an option for free housing that weekend.
Anyways, I started in wave 2 and just cruised on a moderate hard pace up the hill. I did not want to put any real hard effort until after I broke treeline. I caught my first 1st Wave person about 3 miles up and for the next 10 miles to the finish it was 2 1/2 hours of saying "on your left", that got old real quick, especially the A-holes who thought because they were in the 1st wave that they did not have to share the trail or did not want to get passed by a second waver. There was a couple of times I had to elbow my way past someone.
Anyway ended with a 3:03:52 for 60th overall and 11th in my age group. I think that if I would not have had to pass so many people and if I would not have stopped for a beer 1/4 mile from the top of the mountain I would have broke 3 hours. There will always be a next time.
Results can be seen here.
I went down the night before and stayed with the wife at the firehouse at the start line where she works. This is so nice to have this option. In the next few years I plan on doing the double and this will hopefully still be an option for free housing that weekend.
Anyways, I started in wave 2 and just cruised on a moderate hard pace up the hill. I did not want to put any real hard effort until after I broke treeline. I caught my first 1st Wave person about 3 miles up and for the next 10 miles to the finish it was 2 1/2 hours of saying "on your left", that got old real quick, especially the A-holes who thought because they were in the 1st wave that they did not have to share the trail or did not want to get passed by a second waver. There was a couple of times I had to elbow my way past someone.
Anyway ended with a 3:03:52 for 60th overall and 11th in my age group. I think that if I would not have had to pass so many people and if I would not have stopped for a beer 1/4 mile from the top of the mountain I would have broke 3 hours. There will always be a next time.
Results can be seen here.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Pikes Peak Ascent thoughts.
Well this weekend will be a fun new adventure for me. I will be running the Pikes Peak Ascent on Saturday which is about 13.3miles and 7500ft of gain. This a major mountain race in the Colorado region and is what some dudes like this guy live for. My plan is to just go and have fun running it under 4:15 so that I have a Wave 1 qualifier for the next 3 years in case I decide to run this again. The reasoning behind my outlook of not really racing it hard is that I am stuck in Wave 2 behind about 1000 people due to the fact that I did not have a fast marathon or half marathon time in the last 3 years to put me in Wave 1 since I have only been running trails. I had to use a trail marathon as a qualifier and of course it was not fast enough for Wave 1, oh well. I think I am in 3:00-3:15 shape but I expect to run between 3:45-4:00 with all the passing I will have to do even when running at an easy pace.
Should be fun!
Should be fun!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Weekend- Boulder Ironman 70.3
I was planning on doing the Audubon Duathlon this weekend but the wisdom of my wife convinced me that I need to ride farther than 12 miles in a single sitting before attempting this huge climbing bike ride. So on Sunday I rode my mountain bike all loaded up with gear from the house out to the Boulder Rez to watch my buddy Neal finish his first Half Ironman. While waiting for him to come off the bike I was able to get in a good 12 mile run around the Rez. This gave me a good 45 miles on the mountain bike and 12 miles of running, not a bad slow endurance training day.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Louis C.K. is one funny dude!
I came across this on Gary Robbis blog. It is funny as hell. Just make sure that you watch who is around when watching this, lots of f-bombs ect... If you are looking at this in Facebook you will have to go to the blog to see the video, well worth the effort. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Rashad Evans
For those who don't know this (I think only my wife Ashley really knows) I am a huge fan of UFC and MMA fighting. I may never have the guts to give it a shot myself I do enjoy watching and cheering on these great athletes. Here are some videos of one of my favorite athletes Rashad Evans who is just a stud.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Salomon Team Hardrock Video
I know I have been real quite on here lately. Life has been getting in the way lately and I hope to make a better effort of updating this more often the rest of the year. Anyway I came across this today and had to share it. This is the #1 race on my life list of 100 milers. I have paced it twice and have seen 60 miles of the course. Maybe someday I will get picked in the lottery. Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
18:42! Ouch!
That one really hurt! Last night I ran the first race in the Dash-n-Dine series that they hold out at the Boulder Rez after work on Tuesdays in the Spring. I think that the main purpose of this series is to get people qualified and ready for the Bolder Boulder.
Quick report:
Weather- perfect! It was cool and overcast
I did a 4.6 mile warmup jogging the course plus some extra around Coot Lake before the race. This is the first time that I have warmed up that much. I usually jog about a mile and just stretch. I felt loose and ready to race.
The actual race was all kind of a blur, it really hurt is about all I really remember. Especially that last 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. The split times below are what I remember when looking down at my watch, I may be way off with them.
Mile 1: 5:52
Mile 2: 12:00 (6:08 mile pace)
Mile 3: 18:02 (6:02 mile pace)
Mile 0.1: 18:42 (6:40 mile pace) for a 5K PR for me!
As you can see I really died that last bit but I still finished 5th overall and 3rd in my age group. The results can be found by clicking here.
Hopefully next week I can bring that number down a few more seconds and not be as sore as I am today. I am not use to that much lactic acid being in my system. I am a long slow hilly running type of guy. But it sure was fun to battle it out at the front of the pack.
Quick report:
Weather- perfect! It was cool and overcast
I did a 4.6 mile warmup jogging the course plus some extra around Coot Lake before the race. This is the first time that I have warmed up that much. I usually jog about a mile and just stretch. I felt loose and ready to race.
The actual race was all kind of a blur, it really hurt is about all I really remember. Especially that last 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. The split times below are what I remember when looking down at my watch, I may be way off with them.
Mile 1: 5:52
Mile 2: 12:00 (6:08 mile pace)
Mile 3: 18:02 (6:02 mile pace)
Mile 0.1: 18:42 (6:40 mile pace) for a 5K PR for me!
As you can see I really died that last bit but I still finished 5th overall and 3rd in my age group. The results can be found by clicking here.
Hopefully next week I can bring that number down a few more seconds and not be as sore as I am today. I am not use to that much lactic acid being in my system. I am a long slow hilly running type of guy. But it sure was fun to battle it out at the front of the pack.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A QUICK GUIDE TO THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES
I just finished reading Paleo Diet for Athletes and really liked what it had to say. I am going to make an effort to keep Paleo in my mind when I look at food for now on. Here is a short version of the book. You can go straight to the website on TrainingPeaks by clicking on the name of this post. Enjoy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A QUICK GUIDE TO
THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES
© 2005 Loren Cordain, PhD and Joe Friel, MS
The Paleo Diet for Athletes was released in October, 2005 from Rodale Press. Written by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., author of The Paleo Diet, and JoeFriel, M.S., author of numerous bestselling books on training for endurance athletes, the book applies the concept of eating as our
Stone Age ancestors ate to the extraordinary demands of training for serious endurance sports. Although it is now the 21 st century, athletes still have Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) bodies. There has been no significant change in the human genome in the past 10,000 years. Physiologically speaking, we are still Paleolithic athletes.
THE PALEO DIET
The basic premise of Dr. Cordain’s research on paleolithic nutrition is that certain foods are optimal for humans and others are nonoptimal. The optimal foods are those that we have been eating for most of our time on Earth—more than 4 million years. Only in the last 10,000 years, a mere blink of the eye relative to our species’ existence, have we been eating nonoptimal foods. Unfortunately, these foods
comprise the bulk of what western society eats today and include such foods as grains, dairy and legumes. Given that our bodies have not changed, we are simply not welladapted to these nonoptimal
foods and they moderate health and peak performance.
On the other hand, we have been eating optimal foods – vegetables, fruits, and lean
animal protein – for hundreds of thousands of years and we are fully adapted to
them. Science tells us that these foods also best meet our nutritional needs. Eat
these and you will thrive. Avoid or strictly limit them and your health and performance
will be compromised.
PALEO FOR ATHLETES
Serious athletes, however, when it comes to immediately before, during, and directly
after workouts, need to bend the rules of the Paleo Diet a bit since we're placing
demands on the body that were not normal for our Stone Age ancestors. Hour after
hour of sustained high energy output and the need for quick recovery are the serious
athlete’s unique demands. This requires some latitude to use nonoptimal
foods on a limited basis. The exceptions may best be described by explaining the athlete’s 5
stages of daily eating relative to exercise.
Stage I: Eating Before Exercise
In brief, we recommend that athletes eat low to moderate glycemic index
carbohydrates at least two hours prior to a hard or long workout or race. There may
also be some fat and protein in this meal. All foods should be low in fiber. Take in 200
to 300 calories for every hour remaining until exercise begins. If eating two hours
prior is not possible, then take in 200 or so calories 10 minutes before the workout or
race begins.
Stage II: Eating During Exercise
During long or hard workouts and races you will need to take in high glycemic index
carbohydrates mostly in the form of fluids. Sports drinks are fine for this. Find one
that you like the taste of and will drink willingly. Realize that events lasting less than
about an hour (including warmup) don’t require any carbohydrate. Water will suffice
for these. A starting point for deciding how much to take in is 200 to 400 calories per
hour modified according to body size, experience and the nature of the exercise
(longer events require more calories than short).
Stage III: Eating Immediately After
In the first 30 minutes postworkout (but only after long and/or highly intense
exercise) and postrace use a recovery drink that contains both carbohydrate and
protein in a 45:1 ratio. You can buy a commercial product such as Ultrafit
Recovery™ (www.ultrafit.com) for this. Or you can make your own by blending 16
ounces of fruit juice with a banana, 3 to 5 tablespoons of glucose (such as CarboPro)
depending on body size, about 3 tablespoons of protein powder, especially from
egg or whey sources and two pinches of salt. This 30minute window is critical for
recovery. It should be your highest priority after a hard workout or race.
Stage IV: Eating for Extended Recovery
For the next few hours (as long as the preceding challenging exercise lasted)
continue to focus your diet on carbohydrates, especially moderate to high glycemic
load carbohydrates along with protein at a 45:1 carbprotein ratio. Now is the time to
eat nonoptimal foods such as pasta, bread, bagels, rice, corn and other foods rich in
glucose as they contribute to the necessary carbohydrate recovery process. Perhaps
the perfect Stage IV foods are raisins, potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.
Stage V: Eating for LongTerm
Recovery For the remainder of your day, or until your next Stage I, return to eating a Paleo Diet
by focusing on optimal foods. For more information on the Paleo Diet go to
www.thepaleodiet.com or read The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain, Ph.D.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN, CARB AND FAT SHOULD I EAT?
The macronutrient requirement changes with the demands of the training season and
so should be periodized along with training. We recommend that athletes maintain a
rather consistent protein intake year round. As a percentage of total calories this will
typically be in the range of 20-25% for athletes. This is on the low end of what our
Stone Age ancestors ate due to the athlete’s increased intake of carbohydrate in
Stages I to IV which dilutes protein as a percentage of daily calories.
On the other hand, periodization of diet produces significant and opposing swings in
the athlete’s fat and carbohydrate intake as the training seasons change. During the
base (general preparation) period the diet shifts toward an increased intake of fat
while carbohydrate intake decreases. At this time in the season when a purpose of
training is to promote the body’s use of fat for fuel, more healthy fat is consumed—in
the range of 30% of total calories—with carbohydrate intake at around 50%. During
the build and peak (specific preparation) periods the intensity of training increases
placing greater demands on the body for carbohydrate to fuel exercise. At this latter
time of the season Stages III and IV become increasingly critical to the athlete’s
recovery. Carbohydrate intake increases accordingly to around 60% of total calories
with fat intake dropping to around 20%.
During times of the year when training is greatly reduced (peaking/tapering and
transition periods) the athlete must limit caloric intake to prevent unwanted weight
gain.
WHY IS THE PALEO DIET BENEFICIAL?
Health and fitness are not synonymous. Unfortunately, many athletes are fit but
unhealthy. Frequent illness, injury and overtraining reduce performance potential.
The Paleo Diet for Athletes significantly improves health long term. Compared with
the commonly accepted athlete’s diet, the Paleo Diet:
● Increases intake of branched chain amino acids (BCAA). Benefits muscle
development and anabolic function. Also counteracts immunosuppression common
in endurance athletes following extensive exercise.
● Decreases omega-6: omega-3 ratio. Reduces tissue inflammations common to
athletes while promoting healing. This may include asthmatic conditions common in
athletes.
● Lowers body acidity. Reduces the catabolic effect of acidosis on bone and muscle
while stimulating muscle protein synthesis. This is increasingly important with
aging.
● Is high in trace nutrients. Vitamins and minerals are necessary for optimal health
and longterm recovery from exercise. The most nutrientdense foods are
vegetables and seafood. On average, vegetables have nearly twice the nutrient
density of grains.
EXCERPT FROM THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES
Training for endurance sports such as running, cycling, triathlon, rowing, swimming,
and crosscountry skiing places great demands on the body, and the athlete is in
some stage of recovery almost continuously during periods of heavy training. The
keys to optimum recovery are sleep and diet. Even though we recommend that
everyone eat a diet similar to what our Stone Age ancestors ate, we realize that
nutritional concessions must be made for the athlete who is training at a high volume
in the range of 10 to 35 or more hours per week of rigorous exercise. Rapid recovery
is the biggest issue facing such an athlete. While it’s not impossible to recover from
such training loads on a strict Paleo Diet, it is somewhat more difficult to recover
quickly. By modifying the diet before, during, and immediately following challenging
workouts, the Paleo Diet provides two benefits sought by all athletes: quick recovery
for the next workout, and superior health for the rest of your life.
For more information on The Paleo Diet for Athletes go to…
www.thepaleodiet.com
www.trainingbible.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A QUICK GUIDE TO
THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES
© 2005 Loren Cordain, PhD and Joe Friel, MS
The Paleo Diet for Athletes was released in October, 2005 from Rodale Press. Written by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., author of The Paleo Diet, and JoeFriel, M.S., author of numerous bestselling books on training for endurance athletes, the book applies the concept of eating as our
Stone Age ancestors ate to the extraordinary demands of training for serious endurance sports. Although it is now the 21 st century, athletes still have Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) bodies. There has been no significant change in the human genome in the past 10,000 years. Physiologically speaking, we are still Paleolithic athletes.
THE PALEO DIET
The basic premise of Dr. Cordain’s research on paleolithic nutrition is that certain foods are optimal for humans and others are nonoptimal. The optimal foods are those that we have been eating for most of our time on Earth—more than 4 million years. Only in the last 10,000 years, a mere blink of the eye relative to our species’ existence, have we been eating nonoptimal foods. Unfortunately, these foods
comprise the bulk of what western society eats today and include such foods as grains, dairy and legumes. Given that our bodies have not changed, we are simply not welladapted to these nonoptimal
foods and they moderate health and peak performance.
On the other hand, we have been eating optimal foods – vegetables, fruits, and lean
animal protein – for hundreds of thousands of years and we are fully adapted to
them. Science tells us that these foods also best meet our nutritional needs. Eat
these and you will thrive. Avoid or strictly limit them and your health and performance
will be compromised.
PALEO FOR ATHLETES
Serious athletes, however, when it comes to immediately before, during, and directly
after workouts, need to bend the rules of the Paleo Diet a bit since we're placing
demands on the body that were not normal for our Stone Age ancestors. Hour after
hour of sustained high energy output and the need for quick recovery are the serious
athlete’s unique demands. This requires some latitude to use nonoptimal
foods on a limited basis. The exceptions may best be described by explaining the athlete’s 5
stages of daily eating relative to exercise.
Stage I: Eating Before Exercise
In brief, we recommend that athletes eat low to moderate glycemic index
carbohydrates at least two hours prior to a hard or long workout or race. There may
also be some fat and protein in this meal. All foods should be low in fiber. Take in 200
to 300 calories for every hour remaining until exercise begins. If eating two hours
prior is not possible, then take in 200 or so calories 10 minutes before the workout or
race begins.
Stage II: Eating During Exercise
During long or hard workouts and races you will need to take in high glycemic index
carbohydrates mostly in the form of fluids. Sports drinks are fine for this. Find one
that you like the taste of and will drink willingly. Realize that events lasting less than
about an hour (including warmup) don’t require any carbohydrate. Water will suffice
for these. A starting point for deciding how much to take in is 200 to 400 calories per
hour modified according to body size, experience and the nature of the exercise
(longer events require more calories than short).
Stage III: Eating Immediately After
In the first 30 minutes postworkout (but only after long and/or highly intense
exercise) and postrace use a recovery drink that contains both carbohydrate and
protein in a 45:1 ratio. You can buy a commercial product such as Ultrafit
Recovery™ (www.ultrafit.com) for this. Or you can make your own by blending 16
ounces of fruit juice with a banana, 3 to 5 tablespoons of glucose (such as CarboPro)
depending on body size, about 3 tablespoons of protein powder, especially from
egg or whey sources and two pinches of salt. This 30minute window is critical for
recovery. It should be your highest priority after a hard workout or race.
Stage IV: Eating for Extended Recovery
For the next few hours (as long as the preceding challenging exercise lasted)
continue to focus your diet on carbohydrates, especially moderate to high glycemic
load carbohydrates along with protein at a 45:1 carbprotein ratio. Now is the time to
eat nonoptimal foods such as pasta, bread, bagels, rice, corn and other foods rich in
glucose as they contribute to the necessary carbohydrate recovery process. Perhaps
the perfect Stage IV foods are raisins, potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams.
Stage V: Eating for LongTerm
Recovery For the remainder of your day, or until your next Stage I, return to eating a Paleo Diet
by focusing on optimal foods. For more information on the Paleo Diet go to
www.thepaleodiet.com or read The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain, Ph.D.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN, CARB AND FAT SHOULD I EAT?
The macronutrient requirement changes with the demands of the training season and
so should be periodized along with training. We recommend that athletes maintain a
rather consistent protein intake year round. As a percentage of total calories this will
typically be in the range of 20-25% for athletes. This is on the low end of what our
Stone Age ancestors ate due to the athlete’s increased intake of carbohydrate in
Stages I to IV which dilutes protein as a percentage of daily calories.
On the other hand, periodization of diet produces significant and opposing swings in
the athlete’s fat and carbohydrate intake as the training seasons change. During the
base (general preparation) period the diet shifts toward an increased intake of fat
while carbohydrate intake decreases. At this time in the season when a purpose of
training is to promote the body’s use of fat for fuel, more healthy fat is consumed—in
the range of 30% of total calories—with carbohydrate intake at around 50%. During
the build and peak (specific preparation) periods the intensity of training increases
placing greater demands on the body for carbohydrate to fuel exercise. At this latter
time of the season Stages III and IV become increasingly critical to the athlete’s
recovery. Carbohydrate intake increases accordingly to around 60% of total calories
with fat intake dropping to around 20%.
During times of the year when training is greatly reduced (peaking/tapering and
transition periods) the athlete must limit caloric intake to prevent unwanted weight
gain.
WHY IS THE PALEO DIET BENEFICIAL?
Health and fitness are not synonymous. Unfortunately, many athletes are fit but
unhealthy. Frequent illness, injury and overtraining reduce performance potential.
The Paleo Diet for Athletes significantly improves health long term. Compared with
the commonly accepted athlete’s diet, the Paleo Diet:
● Increases intake of branched chain amino acids (BCAA). Benefits muscle
development and anabolic function. Also counteracts immunosuppression common
in endurance athletes following extensive exercise.
● Decreases omega-6: omega-3 ratio. Reduces tissue inflammations common to
athletes while promoting healing. This may include asthmatic conditions common in
athletes.
● Lowers body acidity. Reduces the catabolic effect of acidosis on bone and muscle
while stimulating muscle protein synthesis. This is increasingly important with
aging.
● Is high in trace nutrients. Vitamins and minerals are necessary for optimal health
and longterm recovery from exercise. The most nutrientdense foods are
vegetables and seafood. On average, vegetables have nearly twice the nutrient
density of grains.
EXCERPT FROM THE PALEO DIET FOR ATHLETES
Training for endurance sports such as running, cycling, triathlon, rowing, swimming,
and crosscountry skiing places great demands on the body, and the athlete is in
some stage of recovery almost continuously during periods of heavy training. The
keys to optimum recovery are sleep and diet. Even though we recommend that
everyone eat a diet similar to what our Stone Age ancestors ate, we realize that
nutritional concessions must be made for the athlete who is training at a high volume
in the range of 10 to 35 or more hours per week of rigorous exercise. Rapid recovery
is the biggest issue facing such an athlete. While it’s not impossible to recover from
such training loads on a strict Paleo Diet, it is somewhat more difficult to recover
quickly. By modifying the diet before, during, and immediately following challenging
workouts, the Paleo Diet provides two benefits sought by all athletes: quick recovery
for the next workout, and superior health for the rest of your life.
For more information on The Paleo Diet for Athletes go to…
www.thepaleodiet.com
www.trainingbible.com
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