1 – Canker sores.  Yes, breakdown of your mouth [...]]]> I was doing my nightly website blogging and came across Joe Friels: Overtraining article.  Much to my displeasure, he never came up with a clear answer.  Honestly I’ve come up with a small list of things that happen that typically lead down the road to being overtrained.

1 – Canker sores.  Yes, breakdown of your mouth as well as your muscles.  This is caused by eating too many sugary foods..

2 – Craving carbs.  Sugars especially!  The body in the overtrained state craves energy.  It will take whatever it can get but I find it’s the simple sugar it wants the most.

3 – Wake up in the middle of the night to pee like an old person.  Yup, another sign your on the overtrained wagon.  Your body just can’t get the full rest it needs.

4 – No libido.  Not the worst thing in the world if your done having kids or do not have a girlfriend/boyfriend.  But I think this is very unnatural.

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/

4:34pm – Completed a 20K time trial on the bike at a dismal speed.  I was spent.  To rub salt in the wound, I went out way too hard an suffered for it.  [...]]]> 5pm – I could be found in a Mac’s eating fist fulls of candy.  Energy levels were lowest of the low.

4:34pm – Completed a 20K time trial on the bike at a dismal speed.  I was spent.  To rub salt in the wound, I went out way too hard an suffered for it.  Cruel world.

4:00pm – After a quick warmup (only 5mins to get ready for a max effort!) I started at what I thought was a steady effort.  The tank really felt empty but this was torture to keep pushing it.

12:00pm – Finished up my max efforts.  No puking and I doubled the other guys time on the bike!  Now I get refreshments for the next 2 hours of…. some drink that they’ve made to taste like chocolate milk.  I’ll take anything at this point.  Oh, and I also have to piss in a bucket for the next 4 hours.  Yippee.

10:30am – Man I just watched a guy puke twice doing this!  It’s time for 90% efforts (2min effort then a 2min recovery).  The point of this is to sap my legs of glycogen (stored energy) so I have nothing left to ride on later.  I’m thinking its going to work….

10:25am – Get a 5min break before the 90%, 80%, 70% efforts.  Feeling ok but starting to feel the effects of not having food in my belly.

9:45am – Starting the day off with: a V02 Max test.  I mean I feel like crap already why not add in a test that pushes you to the absolute maximum.  Riding on fumes from not eating as well…  Oh Boy.

8:30am -First bite of food (a couple of hard boiled eggs)  in over 8 hours.  Famished.  To rub it in, I blew one of them up in the microwave.  Remember kids, eggs should be reheated for less than a minute!

5:00am – Wake up for work.

Test overview

Here is a funny word: Osmolarity.  If your a science nerd chances are you’ve heard of it.  Osmolarity is basically how much solute (think salt) is in a give liter of solvent  (think water).   So ocean water would have a higher osmalarity level compared to lake water.

Why is this important?

Well, if you want your [...]]]>  

Here is a funny word: Osmolarity.  If your a science nerd chances are you’ve heard of it.  Osmolarity is basically how much solute (think salt) is in a give liter of solvent  (think water).   So ocean water would have a higher osmalarity level compared to lake water.

Why is this important?

Well, if you want your gut to be happy when your exercising, then osmolarity is very important.  The ‘number’ seems to be ’300mosm/kg of water’ (mosm = milliosmoles) that your stomach can digest while exercising, anything higher and you can cramp or get indigestion (basically causing you to slow or go to the porta potty).  This number came from a couple of different studies, so it is probably valid.

So what does 300mosm/kg of water mean for a sports drink?   Heck, what does that number mean for any drink?!

I couldn’t find the exact number for Gatorade but I believe it’s half of a typicaly pop so right around the 300 mark.  Interesting that an alternative drink could be Fruit Punch Kool Aid. 

Basically a watered down can of pop could work as a sports drink (except you’d have to add another liter of water!) but it might taste awful!  Anything realistically can be used but can you really stand ingesting large amounts of it?  Just to make sure to avoid grape juice when your out on course!

About a month ago I experimented with Creatine (a Rivalus product called Encharged).  My goal was to gain 5 lbs of muscle quickly and listening to the reviews on creatine, I knew that it could be attainable.

Why would you want to add weight when your an endurance athlete?  Doesn’t really make sense [...]]]>

About a month ago I experimented with Creatine (a Rivalus product called Encharged).  My goal was to gain 5 lbs of muscle quickly and listening to the reviews on creatine, I knew that it could be attainable.

Why would you want to add weight when your an endurance athlete?  Doesn’t really make sense right?  Well, my thoughts were that I wasn’t strong enough in the pool; I struggled to ‘rip the water’.  Ideally I wanted to put all my muscle into my lats!  Basically making my body into to an upside down triangle.  Since I was in my off-season, I could lose the weight if it didn’t help me in the end.

Studies on creatine supplementation have shown that you can increase sprint speed (think your fastest velocity).  Were not talking minutes, we are talking seconds; like 10 tops.  Again, what the heck is the premis for doing such a ridiculous thing when all of my events are measured in minutes and hours?

In the off-season, your body is resting (or should be) which in my opinion is one of the best times to set new gains for the next year.  I’m talking small, very subtle gains.  These little changes could help you swim, bike, and run faster as  you show your body a new top speed.  Adding creatine is like putting gas on the fire.

Results

Start Weight = 131.6 lbs

Body Fat = 7%

After 1 month of taking creatine:

End Weight = 137.2 lbs

Body Fat = 7.7%

Muscle = 4.25 lbs

Fat = 1.35 lbs

Discussion

This study of one showed that yes, creatine does work to put on muscle.  My diet didn’t change much; I ate when I was hungry.  I did notice the side effect of requiring to drink more.  Other than that, it was harmless in terms of effecting my day.

I wrote down my strength gains and some power outputs so it will be interesting to see how these change in the ‘in-season’.

One negative about this experiment has to do with running.  I bonk a lot.  It seems my new hungry muscle likes to be fed; all the time.  It’s amazing, just a 45 minute run can leave me ravaged afterwards!  My pre-workout nutrition, which was previously ok, is now inadequate.  Crazy.

So my conclusion is this: creatine works to put on weight.  There is no doubt that I would not have gained a single pound without supplementation.  The strength and speed gains will be a work in progress.  Let’s see what the new season brings!

My light reading material at the moment is “Biochemisty Primer for Exercise Science”.  If you want the hardcore science in what your body is doing, without the physics, have a gander.  Although if your not interested in reliving your high school or University days, let me share some of the interesting thoughts.

The [...]]]>

My light reading material at the moment is “Biochemisty Primer for Exercise Science”.  If you want the hardcore science in what your body is doing, without the physics, have a gander.  Although if your not interested in reliving your high school or University days, let me share some of the interesting thoughts.

The book starts right from the single cell, how it exchanges ions to make you move, right to what macronutrients help you perform.  I think the carbs, fat and protein would be of some interest; especially to the Worden side of the family.

• Importance of being fueled – If a person does exactly the same amount and intensity of exercise with full muscle and liver glycogen stores, they will use more glycogen and produce higher level of muscle and blood lactate compared to the same exercise performed with low glycogen stores.
• Fat for recovery?  – The oxidation of fat can play a major role in ATP formation by an active muscle.  Because of the limited rate at which fatty acids can be oxidized, their use is more important to a rested muscle or a muscle that is moderately active.
• Protein: the missing link for dieting? – The content of protein in the adult body remains remarkably constant.  Most adults take in about 10-15% of their dietary energy in the form of protein, an equivalent amount of amino acids must be lost each day.  The body cannot store excess amino acids.  Amino acids are removed from the body in the form of urea.  The simple urea cycle eliminates amino groups that cannot be oxidized.

There are many other key points but these 3, at the moment, struck me as the most interesting.  My only knock about the book is it talks more on short term as opposed to long term effects (change over time).

After making a delicious first round, I changed up the reciped a bit for trial 2.  I used chocolate chips again but cut the amount in half and increased the glucose content.  What I created was…  bareable.  Just. 

Taste wasn’t as good as the first trial.  This is probably due to my decrease [...]]]>

After making a delicious first round, I changed up the reciped a bit for trial 2.  I used chocolate chips again but cut the amount in half and increased the glucose content.  What I created was…  bareable.  Just. 

Taste wasn’t as good as the first trial.  This is probably due to my decrease in choco-chips.  What made this product “suck”, was that I had lots of globby bits from the corn starch and glucose which didn’t mix well enough. So back to the drawing board…

So after this dissapointment, I made a switch from choco-chips to cocoa powder.  This should be a cost saver in the long run as they both cost $4 but you can get a lot more product with the cocoa.  Kept the similar properties to the 1st batch but I increased the amount of glucose. 

Product number 3 tasted really good!  It was a bit more solid as compared to the first batch, which creates problems because it won’t leave the gel tube.  But beyond that it worked really well.  I still get some gobbly bits which I try to siv out.  This I have to work on a bit but I’m pumped after this success!

Designing a meal plan can be as hectic as you wanna make it.  Recipes, shopping lists, calorie counting, weight measurement, etc; these are all things that can be accounted for when it comes to losing weight or eating right.

The basics though, sometimes get overlooked.  Think about what you really need.  Food and [...]]]>

Designing a meal plan can be as hectic as you wanna make it.  Recipes, shopping lists, calorie counting, weight measurement, etc; these are all things that can be accounted for when it comes to losing weight or eating right.

The basics though, sometimes get overlooked.  Think about what you really need.  Food and water, right?  Okay, there is a little more to it than that!

Food can be broken down into its 3 main components: carbohydrates, fats and proteins.  Now, let’s think about where you should put these in your given week.

Here are some facts to help you build a schedule:

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Fat is better eaten at the beginning of the day so it can be burned all day.

Protein is processed slower than carbohydrates making it more desirable for people looking to lose weight.

When working out, energy reserves shouldn’t be low.  If exercising more than an hour, consider having an energy drink.

Post workout, the body craves carbohydrates.  Having protein with carbs has been shown to yield the best results in terms of recovery.

Eating large amounts of fiberous carb rich foods such as beans help in digestion but also attracts water and turns to gel during digestion; trapping carbohydrates and slowing absorption of glucose.

Choose fats higher in Omega 3 acids (increases HDL cholesterol).

Veggies are the most important nutrient to be eating.  High in vitamins, minerals and almost impossible to get fat from eating too much.  Protein is obviously an issue.

Fruits I think, have faster burning carbohydrates than just plain sugar cane.  For this reason I think fruits are a better source (besides the vitamins and extra water content) than any candy when you have a sweet craving.

From these details above, lets build a table.

I think the above is fairly accurate submission of how a good calorie overview would look.  Think I missed something?  Let me know!

So my picture at the top, my little triangle of food, would actually be wrong!  The bottom of the triangle should consist of vegetables, the next row would be protein, followed by carbohydrates and finally fats.

Let’s put this into perspective for three meals: breakfast, lunch and supper.

Breakfast – 700-800 calories

Lunch – 700-800 calories

Supper – 700-800 calories

These meals provide everything you need, balance of protein, grains, fruits and most importantly; veggies.  Do I recommend eating a cup of veggies at every meal?  Well, no.  What I’m showing is how little veggies contribute to the overall calorie count.  So eat up!  Because if you’re not feeling full, try eating another cup of veggies.

Happy Trainin!

Cliff

Gel 1009131

After my Jello creation, I decided to change the recipe.  Out was the package goods and in was the bare essentials:

Cornstarch

Dextrose

Salt

Chocolate Almond Breeze

Chocolate

Electrolytes

This yielded quite a powerful result.  With a whopping 4.5Ls of “gu”, the calorie count was near 1600 calories.  Not that your [...]]]>

Gel 1009131

After my Jello creation, I decided to change the recipe.  Out was the package goods and in was the bare essentials:

Cornstarch

Dextrose

Salt

Chocolate Almond Breeze

Chocolate

Electrolytes

This yielded quite a powerful result.  With a whopping 4.5Ls of “gu”, the calorie count was near 1600 calories.  Not that your going to eat it all in one sitting… Although in a race you’ll come pretty close though!

Basically my recipe gave me 16 servings (70mL) of gel.  The entire gel is mostly sugar (17gms) but the fat count was a little high for my liking; 3gms.  Next batch I’m going to try and lower this to <2gms or if I can <1gm.

So how’d it taste?  Compared to the Jello, this stuff was awesome!  I think its on par for taste with Powerbar.  Although in the gel flavour world, Acclerade chocolate is my favorite.  I’ve got a ways to go before I can touch them.

There are a couple of advantages right now, I can crank out the gel for about $0.25.  It’s suprisingly not that time consuming.  And, you don’t have to carry all those needless gel packs.  You can just use a little bottle because my recipe is more viscous than the markets.  Also makes it easier to know how much you need to carry (I hate using 2.5 gels on runs!).

If you have any suggestios please share them!

How to Make Your Own Supplements