CIM Training Week Nine & Footfeathers "Eat to Win" Clinic

Dorks, posing. (Photo by Margaret Gagnon)

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!

How else would we wrap up an eating clinic? (Photo by Margaret Gagnon)