Archive for October, 2010

Keeping the fire stoked – Caloric intake and the Paleo Athlete

Posted: October 29, 2010 in CrossFit, CrossFit Endurance, Paleo
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I AM a paleo endurance athlete. It’s enabled me to recover faster, retain muscle better, reduce inflammation, drop body fat comp (<3%) and increase my energy levels. I have reestablished insulin sensitivity to the point that just looking at cotton candy will put me in a sugar coma. While all of these benefits have been monumental in my continued high performance as an athlete, I have noted one draw back to this diet; I’m rarely hungry!!! What, drawback?? Please read on…

When nutrition falls off (think roller coaster insulin levels), performance is negatively affected. Energy levels decline. My mood shifts from rainbows (yes, double rainbows and I don’t know what it means) and puppies to “the darkness” and/or “who added water to Mahoney because he just turned into a Gremlin” mood. Paying attention to mood is a great measurement of not just overall wellness but also nutrition.

When nutrition is dialed in, my energy levels (thus insulin levels) are humming. It’s like an engine firing on all 8 cylinders. The body is burning stored fat, recently ingested food and is not craving sugar nor calories. This can be problematic for the crossfit/endurance athlete who often enough is nearly in a constant state of “recovery.” For example, my morning usually consists of 1 cup of coffee with 4-5 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream. That’s a good 2-300 calories of pure fat…mmm, perfect. The caffeine cranks my metabolism into overdrive while my system will work off those calories with no effect to insulin levels. Unfortunately, this causes a negative feeling of complacency with respect to caloric intake. If I drink my coffee at 5:30 and don’t eat something substantial until after my workout at 11:30-12, that’s nearly 15 hours before my last meal!! This is obviously very bad. Why is it bad? At this point the metabolism slows down. Because my body has recognized a state of “starvation”, cortisol levels (stress hormone) will rise and produce “belly fat” in anticipation of a future with no food. That’s right, the body will actually create fat when it doesn’t receive enough calories. Muscles, which are expensive for the body to maintain, get burned to keep the essential life processes (ie your kidneys) to continue functioning properly. I think it goes without saying that in such cases, going by the usual “eat when your hungry” mantra doesn’t work very well.

Buckle Down

This is the part where focusing on a total caloric intake is very important. Keeping a free log at FitDay will ensure the athlete knows exactly how much he’s eating and in what ratio’s. Most think food logs are for people who only need to lose weight. Not true. They are every bit as important as the athletes daily programming schedules. AKA, get a f’ing log!

Eat Every Two Hours

If I’m working out at 8am, I know I won’t be able to throw down a 1000 calorie breakfast. My coffee w/ heavy cream and an additional light snack of hard boiled eggs/blueberries no later than 2 hours before is right on the money. Within 30min of my workout, I’m looking to get .5-.75g of total body weight of carbohydrates. Carb to protein ratio should be 4:1. Chocolate milk is usually right on the money and easy to grab a pint of at the local grocer.

Brunch

Post recovery meal at 12pm usually looks like a smorgasbord. I’m combining the calories I missed from my breakfast meal with the calories from lunch. If done properly, that’s about 2000 calories. Whammy! A hungry athlete is a healthy athlete. This will keep me” full” until about 3:30-4pm. If my second workout of the day is around 5:00-30, that means I have to eat another 200-300 calories by 4-4:30 to perform well, even if I’m not hungry! Coaching at the gym can last until 8:30pm, which means dinner isn’t until 9:30pm. If I’m on a 5000 calorie diet, where/when do I fit in all this food???

Be Prepared

Ala my thinkThin post, prepare your meals everyday! Not being complacent about nutritional and caloric needs is vital to athletic performance. Keeping a food log will help you gauge where you are during the day. While I may go to “paleo hell” for recommending this, I believe grabbing calories from a sandwich is 10x better than a settling for a few nuts/beef jerky to help tie you over. 5k in calories is a lot. Eating can become a full-time job when considering prep time in addition to everything else. This is where meals from places like Chef by Request are clutch. Already paleo packaged, fresh and constantly changing, they help take the guess-work and prep time out of eating well. (BTW, we have 3 lunches in the gym!)

Calculating Caloric Intake

Studies show that the Cunningham Equation is the best fit model in gauging day to day caloric needs of the endurance athlete. Here’s how to calculate your own caloric needs. Thanks goes out to the StrongLifts.com forums for making this easy!

The Cunningham Equation

Step #1 Determine Resting Metabolic Rate
Sample trainee is 200 lbs at 5% bodyfat, so 0.05 equals 5% bodyfat

Take your weight in pounds and divide by 2.2 to get your weight in
Kilograms (skip if you use metric). E.g. 200/2.2=90.91 kg

Next take your fat percentage and multiply by your mass in kilograms,
this will give you your fat mass (FM) E.g. 90.91×0.05=4.55 kg

Subtract your (FM) from your total weight in kilograms to get your fat
free mass (FFM) E.g. 90.91-4.55=86.36 kg
Now enter your (FFM) into this formula
RMR = 500 + [22 x (FFM)] E.g. RMR=500 + [22 x 86.36]
RMR=500 + 1,899.92
RMR=2,399.93 cal

Step #2 Determine the Thermic Effect of Food

If you eat a moderate protein diet your factor will be 0.10
(roughly 1g/lb of body weight), for a high protein diet your factor
will be 0.15 (roughly 1.5 g/lb of body weight) .

TEF = RMR x factor (0.10 or 0.15) E.g. TEF=359.99

Do not add this to your RMR yet.

Step #3 Determine Activity Thermogenesis

The first part is to determine your Non Exercise Activity
Thermogenesis (NEAT)
You’ll need to use one of these NEAT factors (or one in between, like 1.45):

1.2- 1.3 for bed- or chair-ridden individuals
1.4- 1.5 for sedentary occupation without daily movement
1.5- 1.6 for sedentary occupation with daily movement
1.6- 1.7 for occupation with prolonged standing
1.9-2.1 for strenuous work

RMR + NEAT = RMR x NEAT factor E.g. RMR+NEAT=2,399.93 x 1.45
RMR+NEAT =3,479.88

Now add in your TEF

RMR + NEAT + TEF = Non training day caloric needs E.g. RMR+NEAT+TEF=3839.86

Now determine your Exercise Related Activity Thermogenesis (ERAT)
For intense free weight lifting the Metabolic Effect of Training (MET)
is 6. Use your total weight, including fat. For the duration use a decimal
to represent the amount of time (45 min = 0.75, 90 min = 1.5).

ERAT = Body Mass x duration x MET E.g. ERAT=90.91 x 1.5 x 6
ERAT=819.19

On training days you add in your ERAT number for your total calories
E.g.RMR+NEAT+TEF+ERAT = 4,659.05

Our sample trainee would eat 3,839.86 calories on a Non Training Day and 4,659.05 for a Training Day.
Round down to 3,800 and 4,600 and our sample trainee knows how much he needs to eat to maintain his weight.

Using this calculator, my non-intensive training days (ie recovery days) = 4566cal/day. Intensive training days = 5008cal/day.

Overall, finding this calculator has been huge in my performance. Everyday I have a number in my head to shoot for. Recording everything on FitDay helps dial it all in a little better. For the performance athlete, I believe overfilling the tank is much better than underfilling. Not getting enough calories will lead to burn out very quickly.

Look at the above equation and post your caloric needs to comments. I think you’ll be surprised.

Never let it rest…

Brendon

Fructose Malabsorption and Tales from the Crypt

Posted: October 25, 2010 in CrossFit
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“I’m not the only one!” I thought, as I looked at the gaping hole in the shelf of where all the Immodium AD was supposed to be at the local Walgreens. For the past week and inparticular the last 3 days, I’ve had no energy and terrible bouts of diarrhea. As an individual, I know I am susceptible or have experienced fructose malabsorption before, especially after workouts. If I have fructose ie. fruit after a workout, I am guaranteed a trip to the bathroom. It has also occurred regardless of a prior workout. I am usually wrecked for the rest of the day. Apples and honey are the worst. Banana’s don’t affect me the same way, however and seem to process well because of their higher amount of glucose.

From Wikipedia:

Foods with high fructose-to-glucose ratio (NB: Glucose enhances absorption of fructose, so fructose from foods with fructose-to-glucose ratio <1, like bananas, are readily absorbed, while foods with fructose-to-glucose ratio >1, like apples and pears, are often problematic regardless of total amount of fructose in the food[11]

unfortunately, this wasn’t a case of fructose malabsorption. So I googled diarrhea for a week (seriously) and came up with a number of answers, including IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and celiacs disease. All of my symptoms led me to a parasite wreaking havoc on my system. Without going to a doctor and aside from a cork in my ass, the best answers I found were probiotic (yogurts, Kefir, supplements), lots of water and Immodium AD. And then I found this regarding sorbitol and chronic diarrhea. Sorbitol is an artificial sweetener found in diet sodas, chewing gums and lots of other stuff. Word to the wise: don’t sip on diet soda if your tummy aches, something I wish I knew yesterday!

Wow, you had no idea this post would be ALL ABOUT DIARRHEA. Seriously, I didn’t even know how to spell the word before. I do now.

So, back to me at Walgreens. I find the Walgreens generic brand of Immodium AD, there was like 3 left. Done and done. It’s one thing to see a guy walking down Burlingame Ave sipping on I-AD, its another to see him chasing it with pro-biotic pills and greek yogurt. While the yogurt and Kefir helped a ton, the Immodium was the only thing that snuffed the fire out in my belly.

*I made sure to clean the restroom at the gym fully* Please remember to wash your hands!

Today was 800m repeats which will have to be made up tomorrow morning. 2x800m on grass @ 2:28, 3x800m @ 224, 222, 220 on the track, 1x800m @ 228 on grass, 3x800m @ 222, 220, 218. All with 2min rest between. Then 4x200m @ 28 with 130 jog between. After a week of laying low I’m looking forward to getting after it !



Long run agenda

Posted: October 22, 2010 in CrossFit, CrossFit Endurance
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Every time I go out for a run, pick up a barbell, stretch, eat, sleep, etc., I have an agenda. My agenda is to become faster and stronger. Specifically, it’s to run 3:55 in the mile. So when I put on my shoes and hit the trail for my long run, I’m focused on a specific task. For my long runs, I’m focused on an intensity level of about 75% (just below tempo effort) for a period of 90minutes or more. Some days that looks like 5:50/mile pace, others it looks like 7:50/mile pace. The key is adjusting the intensity according to how I’m feeling for that day within the above parameters. When finished, I should feel relaxed and comfortably tired.

Before my long runs (within 1hr before), I like to do a 5×3 max effort back squat or deadlift. This gives me two different domains for the day. A fast/explosive work coupled with long moderate intensity. I believe the strength/endurance gains are absolutely unmatched and I also feel recovered quicker than when I don’t perform something heavy.

For a better part of the week I’ve been dealing with a stomach bug Joss brought home from day-care (an easy scape-goat guess), so today’s LR was going to err on the light and easy side. I managed about 10 miles averaging just below 7min pace. Actually at around 45min, I was still feeling like dirt and decided it might be better to head in. At that moment I made a conscience decision to feel “light and relaxed”. Before long, my pace quickened and another 25min was tacked on the clock. Feeling like I could have done more, I erred on the side of caution and shut it down.

Ideally, I would head back to the gym after a LR and perform 100KB swings in addition to the CrossFit Endurance prescribed recovery movements (3×10 of squats, GHD’s, situps, pushups) all in an effort to regain range of motion (ROM). Hip flexor stretches (deep lunge position with my back foot on a box, outside arm reaching as high as possible), hamstring/quad stretches are also a part of the regime. In my mind, inarguably the greatest detriment to running form I see is loss of ROM caused by tight hip flexors/psoas. Not only does this pitch the athlete forward (breaking at the hips), it causes the runner to land at the top of the foot (rather than midfoot), putting greater strain on the plantar and achilles. In other cases the athlete will just stick his foot out in front of him to “catch” himself, thus the heel strike. Both scenarios are bad and lead to many of the common runner injuries.

See why your back is hurting??

 

Much of what we do in the gym is trying to reclaim loss of ROM. Sitting or being in a fixed position for long periods of time (cars, desks and running) destroys hip function over time if not properly addressed. As we know now, hip function is crucial for the endurance athlete.

See you in the gym,
Brendon

PS. If you scroll through some of my earlier posts, I talk about stretches and exercises to help open up the hips.

Blog is back baby!

Posted: October 21, 2010 in CrossFit
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Just a shade under a decade, alright…

Well, in effort to catch you up on my current status, here is the abridged version:

  1. I successfully opened CrossFit San Mateo in February of 2010. Always a work in progress (check out the title of the blog) but a culmination of where/how I want to bring true strength and conditioning back into the hearts and minds of all people; young, old, fit and unfit. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful job coaching and training with a such a wonderful group of people. Big things are on the horizon for CFSM!
  2. I competed last year as an open athlete (brief stint with NYAC). It was my comeback year after taking 2009 off from competing on the track. I trained myself and learned a lot in the process…mostly that even the best coaches have coaches!
  3. I’m currently back with Frank Gagliano, a man very near and dear to my heart. Many of his athletes, past and present, would tell you the same. When considering my options, Gags was the only coach who knew me best and I knew would give me Olympic caliber training while taking care of my best interests. ‘Nuff said!

Training has been going very well. I’m looking forward to updating the blog daily and providing insight into elite level track and field training coupled with CrossFit methods.

This morning was a 1.5mile recovery swim in the Bay. 56 degrees and no wet-suit! I’ve been practicing taking cold-showers when I haven’t been able to go surfing, something I found leaves me feeling rejuvenated for the week. I call it my “reset button”. As it turns out, there’s actually health benefits to cold showers. Check it out here.