It is winter time in Morgantown and
it is not being quite as friendly as last year. In fact, I was so frustrated by
the cold, freezing rain yesterday that I decided to look up on my Strava
account to see what I was doing last year at this time. Turns out it was warm
enough to get in a 75 mile ride and I was able to leave at 10:30 AM so it must
have been pretty warm (and if I remember correctly it was).Contrasting with the
current situation where I was able to suffer in the freezing rain for about an
hour but after your face begins to sting with freezing pain you just have to
call it a day. I ended up riding the rollers and watching some great TED Talks
for a while longer. Although I hate riding inside, I can’t complain about the
balmy 68 degree temps!
Besides the weather though, there
isn’t much to complain about around here. I have a super light class schedule
that is also quite easy leaving plenty of time for riding and relaxing. I have
also filled the void of time that comes with cutting your class hours in half
with lots of research into training and nutrition. I am really trying to just
absorb as much information as I can about the ancillary things to sport. Topics
like nutrition and hydration have really had my attention lately and I have
already polished off a few good books in the past few weeks.
One thing in particular that has
grabbed ahold of me is the Paleo Diet as well as the research and nutritional
guidance of Dr. Tim Noakes out of Cape Town, South Africa. To keep it simple,
he basically turns moot the idea of fueling our bodies with copious amounts of
carbohydrates. He not only says that fueling with fat is better but also much
healthier and will make you leaner. Now, I am not talking Little Debbie and
Oreo fats but good, healthy fats. Eggs, fish, and good lean meats should become
the staples of the diet and be accompanied by many good vegetables. He actually
advocates that we minimize our carbohydrate intake and he himself eats less
than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day! Granted, he also minimizes his fruit
intake and that helps him keep these low levels.
My approach is not entirely Noakes
based (which is actually based on the Harvey-Banting Diet of the late 1800s)
but more of a Paleo approach with a Noakes influence. In that, I don’t plan to
give up fruit because it is very nutritious and as a long range endurance
athlete I need the carbohydrates. However, I have cut certain things on a daily
basis. Instead of my religious morning oatmeal I have “notoatmeal” which tastes
just as good but does not have all of the carbohydrates and instead supplies
more fat. Snacking proves tougher but I get by on almonds as opposed to apples
as frequently. Basically, I have increased my intake of meats, fish, and eggs
and cut back on the carbs like grains even the unprocessed ones. All of this
has to do with the idea of Carbohydrate Resistance as proposed my Noakes and,
if you have an interest in it, you can either use the interweb to search for Noakes
and Carbohydrate Resistance or shoot me an email and I can point you towards so
helpful link. This is very much so a condensed version of the theory and you
really must do some further reading to understand it. I will be the first to
say that I thought it was a bunch of crap until I actually did some reading and
then tested it on myself.
The weather is starting to break
here finally though and it looks like I will be able to begin grinding away the
day long rides again soon. I am actually dealing with a recent injury now as
well which could have been serious but was luckily assessed soon enough that it
will be fixed in no time at all. More importantly, it hasn’t stopped me from
grinding away on the hamster wheel and the frozen singletrack. A big thanks
goes to my coach Mike Shultz for turning me on to Dr. Noakes…..and yoga…..and
the teach a man to fish method of training. Basically, I have learned a lot
from the man behind Highland Training since we began working together a few
short months ago and I am already feeling faster, stronger, and more motivated
than I ever have in my life. Also, I seem to always say this but this time I
mean it: Weekly blog posts are going to start coming out of me. I always put it
off and then decided that I have all of these thoughts to spill. However, I am
also aware that no one has the time or patience to sit and read a 30 minute
novel about the last 3 months of my life. So, I will try to start picking a
topic and keeping it to a page double spaced. If you did make it this far,
thanks for reading and come back again please!
