Week nine marks the beginning of my new training strategy: give in to being coached. Pretty liberating, I must say. The miles seem easier when they are imposed by a higher power. My first week with Tim has been my second biggest volume week of the year, and I feel awesome. He even had me walk one day! Check out the numbers:
Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 15 minute warm up, 40 minutes at half-marathon pace, 20 minute cool down
Wednesday: 60 minute MAF test
Thursday: walk 45 minutes faster than 14:00/mile
Friday: 60 minutes @ 9:00/mile effort
Saturday: 45 minutes @ 9:00/mile effort
Sunday: 20 minute warm up, 60 minutes @ 9:00 effort, 60 minutes @ 8:45 effort, 40 minutes @ 9:00 effort
Totals: 50.3 miles, avg heart rate 140
This approach is a shift from the Total Heart Rate Training program I have been using since my injury last year. Changing horses requires a change in paradigm, and although effort is not the same as heart rate, my starting efforts are based on the MAF test, and an effort-based program is better suited to the trail running I plan to be doing next year. Given the differences in trails, elevation and overall difficulty, learning to keep a steady effort will pay off if I can fine tune the process on the flat-lands and road races.
Another difference in the program Tim has laid out for me is my pace. The intensity and effort on my 3 hour run was a change in that instead of holding a steady heart rate and getting progressively slower over the length of the run, I held a steady pace/effort and let my heart rate climb as the run progressed. This mimics races better than the former method, and I feel like it is one of the more positive changes Tim has thrown at me. I learned a lot on that one long run (20 miles in three hours), such as I don't need as much fuel during training as I thought.
Footfeathers and Lucho dish it out (Photo by Margaret Gagnon) |
The week was highlighted by a Footfetish, err, Footfeathers clinic, "Eat to Win". As with past clinics, we met Tim in the Marin Headlands at the Tennessee Valley Trail Head on Saturday morning. He brought with him a guest speaker, Tim "Lucho" Waggoner, to talk about nutrition, which Lucho has dialed in over a 25 year (minus a break or two) career as a professional endurance athlete. His bio from Ultimate Direction:
"Triathlon and Ultra-marathoning 15 time Ironman. 16th over-all and top amateur at Ironman Hawaii in 2000. USAT Triathlete of the year in 2000. 12th professional at Hawaii in 2002. US Ironman Champ in 2004. 2:30 marathon at Denver. 6th place at Leadville 100 run in 2010. 8:37 at Leadville 100 bike in 2011. [Won] Leadman in 2012."
Bottom line: bad-ass who has figured out how not to bonk! He also happens to be down to Earth and an all around nice guy:
The clinic was two and a half hours of anecdotes, information and questions & answers. Pretty informal overall, and Lucho turned out to be like Tim in that he is a "do as I say, not as I do" sort of coach. Some things I took home:
- Food falls into two categories: fuel for training and nutrition the rest of the time
- Personal experimentation is required to find out what works, as we all are different
- We don't need as much carbs as we might think
- Better to focus on protein and fat
- Carbs should be ~40% of daily calories during base training, up to 80% during peak
- Immediately after a workout, avoid protein and fat until liver glycogen is replenished
- Switch to 4:1 carb/protein after initial carb replacement
- Try to eat 4 or more hours prior to workout
- Salt capsules might help with GI issues
- During exercise, 1g carbs/lb of body weight/hour is optimum
- Start simple, then get complex with fuel strategies
- Fat and protein inhibit carbohydrate uptake
- During recovery, max carb uptake is 80-90 grams/hour, some proteins can only be absorbed at 2.8 grams/hour
- It can take 20-24 hours to completely replenish glycogen stores
- Daily protein intake should be about 1 gram/kilogram of body weight/day
- Race night dinner should be 12 hours prior to race start
- Carb loading should be achieved by maintaining steady diet and tapering
- No fuel is necessary if workout is sub MAF or less than 90 minutes
- Some fuel/nutrition options:
- Master Amino Acid Pattern
- Co Enzyme Q 10
- Maltodextrin plus sucrose and beet extract as gel replacement (liquid)
- V-8 is a good addition to the drop bag
There was much more information thrown around, and some good discussions covering common maladies. A lot of my opinions and observations were reinforced, and I really enjoyed the experience and the group. I'm beginning to know people by name, largely due to Margaret Gagnon's compulsive photography and Facebook tags!
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