Episode 1 of Hopefully 5

A videographer named Ryan Rombough traveled to South Dakota from Salt Lake City to film this first episode to use a sort of pilot to pitch to Vibram. If they agree to help fund then we will film more episodes, including one at my Ironman, one at my Ultramarathon, one on training, and one on my nutrition. So if you don't mind, and like the video maybe pass it on, leave a comment, or go the Vibram's facebook page and like the link they post. Hopefully with enough views, likes, or comments they will more likely help fund the project. Without their help it is unlikely the other videos will happen.

Thanks all!

-Kyle

A Peak Into My Diet

As a raw plant based athlete, I get many questions about what I actually eat. I thought it would be interesting for anyone wondering, and for myself, to keep track and lay out what I do actually eat.

Normally I do not count calories and watch what I eat. In my opinion my diet is very solid and as long as I am sticking to the vegan diet I basically have allowed myself to eat as much as I have wanted. However with my Ironman fast approaching and the ultra a month after that I have made it a point to watch my intake a bit. My goal is to lose a pound a week up to the ultra.

On my iPod Touch I use a program called Lose It!. The application is easy to use and has a food data base that is very respectable, also there is no need to be on wifi to use it. The app takes my current body measurements, activity, and goals to give me a caloric budget each day. With my height, age, weight, and activity level I have a budget of 1,861 calories. Take for example Sunday July 18: My budget is 1861 to lose 1 pound a week. Now I ate 2134 calories that day, and exercised about 632. So my net calories were 1502, or 359 under budget. Lets say at the end of the week I was 3600 calories under budget, that would give me a 2 pound weight loss for the week.


Here is a three day diet recall to show you some examples of my days.

7-16-10

Breakfast
5 Banana
1 Avocado
1 Plum
2 Peach

Lunch
1 Banana
3 Plout
1 Small Salad

Exercise
10 Mile run
2 Tbsp Milled Chia

Dinner
4 Banana
1 Raisin Serving
1 Large Salad
4 Prune

7-17-10

Breakfast
1 Banana
2 Apple
1 Raisin Serving
2 Sprouted Buckwheat Tbsp
1 Ground Flax Seed

Exercise
3 mile run
53 mile ride
2 Larabar
4 Milled Chia Tbsp

Post Ride
1 Avocado
3 Cantaloupe Cups
2 Banana
1 Footlong Veggie
1 Baked BBQ Lays

Dinner
1 Large Salad w/ Avocado
3 Banana
1 Plouts
1 Raisin Serving
1 Peach

7-18-10

Breakfast
1 Apple
3 Banana
1 Peach
1 Plum
1 Avocado

Lunch
1 Large Salad w/ Avocado
2 Cantaloupe Cups
1 Peach
2 Plouts

Exercise
5.5 Mile run

Dinner
Large Salad
2 Raisin Serving
2 Cantaloupe Cup
2 Banana


I plugged that last day into www.FitDay.com and it gave me a very similar calorie count to Lose It!, around 2100 for the day. That coupled with the 5.5 mile run puts me just under my budget. Looking at vitamins and minerals, I was over 100% in everything except B12(8%), D(3%), Calcium(54%), and Selenium(38%). Most of them were far over 100% and many approaching two or three hundred. I do take Vit D3 pills, not because I am a vegan, but I believe most people should. I have read a column from a dietitian in Texas who tested low Vit D levels. I would easily bet half of the people here in South Dakota are low.

One thing I would like to try to implement is mono meals. This would be to eat one type of fruit at a meal instead of 4 or 5. So simply bananas or cantaloupe instead of my breakfast fruit salad of 2 apples, 1 banana, 1 raisin, flax, buckwheat, and whatever else such as sliced up plum, strawberry, or kiwi. A mono meal would be much easier and simpler to prepare. Of course I would not do that all the time but once in a while I would like to try to get those into my day.

Recently I read a distinction between being vegan and plant based. I never thought about this before but this person talked about herself being plant based. She talked about how her diet is vegan but her lifestyle is not. She does not mind leather purses or couches for example. I do not have a leather purse, but do not have a problem with hunting as it's done in a respectful way. Here in South Dakota the vast majority of  hunters have respect for the animals and environment in which they live. They make a kill and will consume that dear or elk themselves. I obviously do not agree with the consumption of meat, but if it is to be done this is the best way.

The most common question asked when on a vegan diet is "Where do you get your protein from" Well here is the answer, from my friend and fellow raw athlete Tim VanOrden.  Check out his other videos if you want, he's a really cool guy!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Vibrams at 700 Miles.

Here is an update on how the Vibrams are doing. They have 700 miles on them as of today, and other then the small hole developing are in pretty good shape.

Looking at that hole, I am a bit worried about the shoes making it to the Ultra. I know they will be retired afterwards for sure. Unfortunately I will have no money to spend on a new pair between the IM and Lean Horse since I still need to actually register for that 100 miler. That and I will need money for September rent, and will miss two weeks of work due to the Ironman road trip that I leave for in a few days.

So I started taping them up as of today : (

At least once Desi and I leave for the road trip my running will be down to a minimum, which will add a bit of life to the Vibrams. And after the IM I will not be running a lot either, so it's all good. Notice my Vibram FF tanlines :)

Here is my previous pair at 750 miles. Those did a lot more indoor running though, and made it past 800 when I decided to retire them. They could have kept going but I simply wanted a new pair and got these.
I am considering purchasing a different pair of minimalist shoes after the ultramarathon, instead of Vibrams. There are many options out there so I have plenty to look into. But then again, I really love the VFF as well. We will see, but that point is a month and a half away still.

You know you have reached race weight when you can no longer pump your bike tires up to 110 PSI by yourself.

The Ironman is just 17 days away, and it's 8 days until I leave for the road trip to Cali with my beautiful girlfriend Desi :) I am SOOO excited! Much more so for the road trip and to finally spend time with my girlfriend then the actual race itself :p

I have been thinking about what goggles I want to wear during the Ironman and both pairs I own have advantages and disadvantages. The TYR Speed Sockets have a good gold tint, but being sweedish goggles would not feel great if I were hit in the face, even slightly. The other pair are a pair of Speedos. I can see through them better and they have a bit of tint, but my nose started to hurt between them. I would like to use the Speedos but will have to give them a bit more swim time to decide.

Latex Tubes are something I want to look into as well. Apparently they decrease the rolling resistance of the tire they are in, thus increasing your speed dramatically. Unfortunately they are about twice the cost of regular butyl tubes. But there is a very real speed increase from their use. There may be about a 5 watt savings using them, which comes out to roughly 20 seconds in a 40k time trial. If I did not have one or two spare butyls laying around I would probably purchase a couple of latex ones and swap them in. Next year, for sure. Don't let me forget!

I did 16 last week at a really slow 11:30ish pace. Every mile I would walk for 2 minutes or so minutes, most of the time the walking coincided with going up a hill. This is common practice in ultra marathons, to walk every now and then on a semi regular basis. When I was running, it was at a pace that I could easily hold even with my mouth closed, somewhere around 120-130 beats per minute, pretty slow pace. It felt great though! Really, really good. I was done and totally felt like I could do it again, no problem. That was a faster pace, but similar style to what I plan on doing for the ultramarathon. A 24 hour 100 mile ultra is a 14:24 pace. I may go out at a 13 ish pace and hold that for as long as I can. If I do 50 at a 13 pace that will give me 50 more miles to run at about a 16 minute mile, to finish in under 24 hours, which is kind of my goal.

My grocery list when I go to Walmart is pretty much purely fruit and vegetables. A couple weeks ago the cashier, who is a friend of mine made a comment. She said "You know, whenever you buy all this fruit and vegetables, you make everyone else look bad." I thought for a second and replied, "No, everyone else never buying fruit and vegetables just makes me look so good!"

Here is my race rig. Other then bar tape she is pretty much ready to ride :)

The two more important things when participating in endurance sport are pacing, and nutrition. I have discussed what I plan to do nutrition wise for the Ironman, and here is my pacing strategy. I would like to do a 7 hour bike, but I'm not going to to fuss about speed. More importantly is the heart rate I will be riding at, since that gives a look into my effort. As long as I can keep my effort under control I am set for a solid run. A good race comes from a good run, which comes from a smart bike. If you think you had a good bike, but expired on the run, you had a bad bike leg.

Someone once said; "The Ironman run course is littered with fit dudes walking and talking about what a great bike split they had. Don't join them."

My purpose is not to compete with any of the athletes at the event but myself. However having a nice easy bike will hopefully allow me to pass the athletes that did not eat the paste and exercise their patience on the bike.

I have picked up a sponsorship from a really cool company, Nature's Chemistry. They call their chia seed Running Food, and there website can be found HERE.

They are the largest chia supplier, milling, and packaging operation in the US. They have specialty milling capability to mill chia in all different mesh sizes and for all different applications. Their cold fracture milling process is a proprietary process that does not apply any significant pressure of heat that could effect the nutritional factors of the chia. They also have a high volume oil processing cold press operation that produces Liquid Gold Chia Oil. They blend chia flour into smoothie mixes, meal replacements, and pre-bake mixes

From their website; The Running Food is packaged and distributed by Nature's Chemistry. The equipment they use to mill the chia is only used to mill the chia, so there is no risk of contamination. They also work with fifth generation chia farmers in Bolivia. Running Food is traceable from the fields to the customer.

Their mission is to "Bring only the purest chia to our customers in the most environmentally responsible way possible. Nature's Chemistry is dedicated to products that purify our bodies and packaging that won't damage our planet."

Nature's Chemistry is really cool in that they have a paperless work environment and use bio compostable packaging.

I have never used the milled chia until they sent me some samples and I really like it. I often put ground flax on my salads but have never done so with chia seeds because of the texture. However the chia flour goes well on the salads and in my fruit or vegetable smoothies. Also when training and racing Chia has been my main choice for fuel. The milled chia goes through the bottles better compared to the seeds, but still gelatinizes like the whole seeds do, so it is pretty smooth still.


This is completely off subject but I'm considering moving to Barbados after school. That way I would almost certainly be guaranteed a slot on their Olympic triathlon team and maybe the marathon as well. I'm also fairly confident I could win their national time trial championship, and maybe the road race.

My training has been pretty mellow this summer, but I'm really liking that. I have only been doing about 40mpw on the run, and two rides and maybe two times in the pool each week. Like I have said before, I am not going to get stronger during the month or two before my event. Two things can possibly happen. I can wear myself out from too much training, or maintain fitness and stay healthy with a more modest amount.

In the next few weeks I will be doing even less running. Studies have shown that when injured (not saying I am injured) cycling or an elliptical type workout is nearly as effective at helping you maintain run fitness as actually running for a period of time. That week of road trip before the IM I may get a few miles of running in, probably more walking to tell the truth. I am not concerned though, my training is just on coast right now and I'm enjoying the ride.

Here are a couple pics from my ride yesterday with Johney. It was either test our luck with going through a road blocked off for construction or adding way more miles then we were prepared to go. I gave the last quarter or so of my water and chia mixture to Johney since he was running low and both of us were getting pretty hungry.

I am so proud of Johney! His first year of really riding and he averaged 16mph for 43 miles! It was a very up and down ride, many steeper climbs. Kudos to him :)


Well Desi and I leave on the 22nd. I am not sure how much internet access and/or time I will have to do any updating before the IM so this may be it. I plan on taking lots of pictures along the way so hopefully I have plenty to show and tell :)

Later everyone!

50 Ways to Identify a Triathlon Obsession

I found this on a forum, not sure the source though.

50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as “coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a mile.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop knows more about you than your next-door neighbour.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle helmet on.
31. You have a vanity licence plate with the word “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to know how fast they can swim 100 metres than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room. and bedrooms
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of “drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.

I have 5 weeks to get my cycling under control. Then my only limiters will be my swimming and running.

So I was sitting on my bed, eating raisins when it occurred to me that I was eating dried grapes, and that grapes are really expensive, and you are mostly paying for water. I thought to myself, "I wonder how many grapes are in a pound of raisins?" But let the thought slide. Then later that day I was with Johney and we actually put it to the test. What we discovered will blow your mind!


One serving is 1/4th cup or 40 g of raisins, which comes out to 60-70 raisins. There are 17 servings in the 1.5 pound of raisins I bought. That's 725 raisins in a single pound! I paid 3 bucks for 1100 dried grapes! That is just mind blowing, I would have said there was maybe 500 raisins in that container, not over a thousand. You get what, 30 grapes in a pound for $1.50. I got 550 for that price. AND most of the water was removed, so I'm getting more grape then you do when you buy grapes.


Mind blowing, I know.

Here is my breakfast most mornings. I use a food chopper to chop up an apple into small pieces. Next I mix in about a tablespoon of natural peanut butter, a table spoon of ground flax seed, and I sprinkle on some sprouted buckwheat. Then maybe I slice up a couple strawberries and a banana to put on top. Sooo much better tasting then oatmeal, which I used to think was amazing. Not any more. 

I am going to let go of my ego for a moment and show you all my post ride picture:

All the more reason to make sure I wear a helmet. Which I lost for two weeks. I found it behind my wetsuit actually. And do not worry, the beard has been trimmed. 


Speaking of the wetsuit, a couple weeks ago I did a test run. I had not swam in it since summer of 2008 at my Half Ironman. Thursday night I got it wet so hopefully it would soak up a bit of water. Over time they dry out and shrink. Anyway I fasted from 6:00pm before the group ride until 9am after a 5 mile run. Ate, went to clean out the old apt, and then went to the pool.


I was hoping to get 2.4 miles in, just to see how it felt. Unfortunately I bailed at 54 laps :( The swimming was totally fine, no problem with that. However I likely did not soak the suit long enough, so it was tighter then I remember. That or my chest is getting buff, that's actually probably the problem. Also the 100+ flip turns were a killer on my head. I get car sick easy sometimes and in the past have even gotten that same feeling from flip turns if I do a really long swim session. During the open water swim this will not be an issue, so no worries. That and the wetsuit will be soaked longer so hopefully fit a bit better. 54 laps and there were no hot spots from the suit rubbing, which is excellent. Even though I ran into problems and quit before I wanted, I am happy with the swim. Still, two or three weeks before the IM I would like to get a 2.4 mile swim in at the pool in the suit. 

This last week was pretty slow, I actually only did two small days of training. Desi came to town for a few days so I took the Wed through Sunday off. It was a blast and good to see her for the first time in three months since she got back from Mexico. I stopped all training and let my diet slide a bit. We went out for food, have fun cooking at our apt, and I even had smores when she took me camping for my first time ever. I subbed in peanut butter for chocolate and it may have even tasted better! My normal diet is vegan and pretty raw, but we had spaghetti with my parents, the left overs the day after, some chinese, ect. With the extra food and the lack of exercise I weighed in about 7 pounds more then what I have been. This can easily be attributed to water weight since the day after getting back into training I was down a bit over a pound, and the next day I was down another four. Now I'm back under 150. 

Recently it came to me that because I am a vegan I actually eat a larger variety of food then if I did not care and ate as much animal products, gluten, grain, cake, or processed crap as I wanted. I can't just eat the regular meat and potatoes dinner, or the same sandwiches or breakfast items. When I go to the grocery store, out to eat, or even to prepare something at home I have to be creative sometimes. When I became a vegetarian my diet variation improved. And it improved further when I recently became a vegan. I eat things I never would have thought of or looked into five years ago. It is interesting to think that because I have completely cut out animal products and almost completely cut out grains that I my diet has grown so much.




It is really horrible that the race is 5 weeks out and I just rode my race bike for the first time yesterday. The shifter piece I need arrived a few days ago. I posted a (Want To Buy) thread at beginner triathlete.com saying what I'm looking for. A member sent me a msg saying he has the piece. I asked how much and he said the cost of shipping it will be enough. That amazed me since I have come to the conclusion it would cost me 30 bucks for the single piece or 50 for the set, and he is sending it to me for what, 10 dollars? I give him my addy and he mails it off. He decides he does not need the shipping pays for. That's right, this guy sent me a piece that I expected to pay 30 dollars for, for free!




I am not entirely sure what I am going to do with my IM nutrition. Since my current training nutrition does not include any type of Gatorade sports drink or GU type gels, I would prefer not to consume them during the event. In the past I have done a 26 mile run on nothing but chia seeds and apples. Also the the 26.2 mile warm up for the Brookings Marathon was done with nothing but Lara Bars. So I know the two calorie sources work just fine for me, plus Lara Bars taste amazing. 


300 calories an hour is the rough guideline for such an event, since that's about all most people can comfortably stomach when cycling and running. The bike course is two laps, and lets say I'm on each lap for 3 or 3.5 hours. I can do about 200 calories of Chia Seed per bottle. After one bottle is gone I can take water from the aid stations. Along with the seeds, 3 LaraBars come to about 600 calories, probably a bit more. Apple Pie flavor is 190kcals, Banana Bread is 230kcals, Cherry Pie is 200kcals. That's a bit over 1000 cals, which should work out just fine. 


At T2 I will likely have another couple Lara Bars and maybe my Amphipod with some water and chia in it. The run is 3 laps so if Desi would be so kind, she could hand me a couple things during the marathon. I also thought for a bit of flavoring I could put Habiscus Punch tea in with the chia seeds in the bottles. That flavor tastes amazing so will likely be welcome during the IM. 




It is funny but I have not even completed my two A races of the year and I'm already looking forward to next season. I can remember back to last winter and I was all excited to be running a ton of miles this summer, and I have only done about half the training that I was hoping for. The biggest part of this was my injury at the beginning of the year and me simply feeling I should be taking it light this summer to avoid any more injuries. This approach will help me in the long run for next year since I have gotten a good base in this season. After the Ultra I will likely do the Jack 15 out and back, and then take a couple weeks off before getting back into training during this fall. Someone once said that ultra running and triathlon are winter sports that are merely played out in the summer. I think I have realized this now. There is no point in me running too much right now as I am not going to get stronger five weeks before the IM or the month between that and Lean Horse. I can only hurt myself. 


With taking this summer lighter then I thought will be more ready for this off season, when the training really matters. Bret at ZenTri has done a schedule where he does two weeks of hard running followed by a week of light running with more cycling and swimming added in. This allows for a week of recovery for your running legs and gets some extra cycling and swimming in there to help maintain that fitness. This may be a setup that will work well this fall and winter after the races come to a close. 

Here's a picture of my Trek Y-Foil. The Scott Extreme bars feel good. I would like to get them a tiny bit lower and am still watching ebay for a stem to use. My neck was definitely feeling not riding in the aero position for a long time. It will be a bit until I put bar tape on to make certain that the cabling set up works and everything is where I want it to be. When not in the aero bars and holding on to the sides, it is not as bad as I thought. I can still stand and climb (not that I really ever do). Here's a view from above before it was complete:

Sorry for the long lag between posts. There have been days in the last few weeks that I did not even check my email. Kind of nice actually. 


I'll leave you with Hanson's (yes, that Hanson) new single to their latest album. It's actually really great and I hope you enjoy it.

Burn Fat not Fuel

I am doing a training format experiment with my summer and year. As far as future goals go, each year I would like to do one ultramarathon, one shorter ultra/or marathon, and one long course triathlon that is preferably an Ironman. That is a nice even spread I believe. A short prep race at the beginning of the summer such as a marathon, 12 hour race, or 50 miler. Then two long course races at the middle and end. This year I have the Ironman at the end of July and the ultra four weeks later at the end of August. As far as training goes I would like to keep it mainly ultramarathon specific. This year I am testing to see if ultra training along with 2 or 3 months of heavy swimming and cycling on top of the running is enough to carry me through an Ironman. A Kona qualification is not something I have any desire to seek in the immediate future. I simply do not want to put that much time into cycling and even less desire for the swim. I want to do them to the best of my ability, but I'm not shooting for spots. After that IM race I would stop the swimming and cycling. During the winter I would probably do some swimming but it's unlikely I would incorporate any cycling into my schedule. I would like to eventually become competitive or at least get some nice places at some of the lower key ultras. Take it one step above the "just finish strong" approach that I sort of have for the Ironman races and actually compete for spots. This will probably take 5-10 years but given my youth I can hopefully make that happen. Eventually once school is out I would like to go to some of the larger races as well.

This was the first week that I incorporated a low glycogen training session into my schedule. There are a few ways I have heard to do so. The first is complete your workout as you normally would. Next instead of a recovery meal wait an hour or two and go out for a short and easy 3-6 mile run. That first workout along with the two hours will usually be enough to deplete most or all of your glycogen stores. Thus for the second workout your body must work towards using fat as fuel. If you look at elite or pro level endurance athletes you will see that their bodies are actually more efficient at sparing glycogen and using more fat. This is an excellent skill to have since you only have about 2,000 calories of glycogen in your body, stored in your liver and muscles, while you can easily have 80,000 calories of fat to use.

A second way to "train low" so you can "race high" is after a late day workout, fast until the end of the next morning's training. This is the approach I did. The previous recommendation just takes up too much time with two sessions. I did a few hours of riding and then the next morning did a half hour of rowing and a half hour on a stationary bike. No lie, the last 15 minutes on the bike were kinda tough.

The third way that I recently heard about is to eat a good recovery meal after your workout and finish the day like you normally would. Then all of the next day and up until your morning workout a day later, only have water. That seems the most difficult since you are going 24 or 36 hours with no food. Where I went 15 without food and I was asleep for most of it.

One other good point that this type of training makes, is it really really sucks. That short easy workout while you are depleted of glycogen is kind of crappy. It is also training to get you a bit more used to that feeling.

Whatever way you do this, many athletes incorporate this into their weekly training. Along with the hopefully speed/distance increase that more efficient fat utilization will bring, there is a not so obvious way this will make you faster.

Simply eating less.

Boom, the easiest and cheapest way to go faster.

Your frontal profile is smaller if you weigh less, so you will be more aerodynamic. Also flexibility and ability to get into a better aero position will be improved with weight loss. Weighing less will allow you to climb hills faster when cycling and running. Also decreasing drag in the water. While the vast majority of triathlons are generally pretty flat, marathons usually consist of some hills. And when you get into ultramarathons many of those are excessively hilly.

Torbjorn Sindballe is a ogre of a man hailing from Denmark, and nicknamed Thunderbear. The man could eat me. He's 176 pounds and stands 6'4, huge for an elite distance athlete. He has acceled at the IM distance but has had to overcome many issues due to his size. Other then being less aero when cycling and much heavier when running his major problem has been heat. He was one of the first elite triathletes to utilize arm coolers when racing. These are white arm sleeves or tops that reflect heat and wick moisture off of your skin. This type of clothing has been used in ultras for years, mainly during the Badwater race. This event goes from Badwater Basin, Death Valley at -282ft and ends at Mt. Witney at 8300ft. Temperatures over 120 F are not uncommon in the shade during this event. Instead of wearing as little as possible many athletes run covered in white cloth, using it's reflective properties.

Another way eating less food will make you faster is that with the money saved you can purchase new, cooler bike stuff. It of course depends on what you eat now and what you could be saving. But a wheel cover from www.WheelBuilder.com is only 100 dollars. It would not take long for food money to add up to that. If any triathlete ever asks how to make their bike faster for the lowest amount of money, this is usually top three. 

It is very frustrating seeing cyclists outside who I do not know. I wish there was a way I could get a hold of them so we could get together for group rides. Most Tue and Thursdays there are rides, but these guys have no idea. I  see them ride by on main when I sit inside Cottonwood Coffee or when I'm out for a run but can't really yell out HEY STOP!!.



This may have been mentioned in an earlier post. I have found that I am really good at just letting go. A very Tyler Durden/Zen Buddhist thing. Something does not go your way, it is in the past and there is nothing that can be done. Let it go, let it slide, let it be. You are wasting energy dwelling on the past when as Qui-Gon Jinn told Obi Wan, keep your concentration on the here and now.

Things always work out in the end. If things have not worked out, it's not the end. Almost everything you will ever fear in your life will never come true. Again, more wasted energy.

If you let go a little you will have a little bit of peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.



When I awoke at 6am on Sunday it was raining and a bit windy outside, making the apartment with the windows open quite chilly. As I was standing in the kitchen looking down upon the main west-east street thinking how I could just go to the Wellness Center and jump on a stationary bike for three or four hours. I did not want to ride my borrowed bike in the rain. Usually things you ride being wet and dirty are good, but not in the case of road bikes. As I was contemplating how mentally draining three hours on a stationary bike would be, a runner goes by on the sidewalk below. "Ah shit" I think to myself. He did not know I was even watching, but still managed to tell me to HTFU. Since, as I am fond of quoting, "There is no such thing as bad weather, only soft people."

Then I realized it was a holiday weekend and I hate holiday weekends. First, not being much of a holiday person myself, I rarely celebrate. Second, holiday weekends mean local health clubs are usually closed. This is the main reason I depreciate holidays though. Luckily the weather cleared, so there was no HTFUing involved.

The ride was a super good one. It really stood out as very relaxing. I went north and west out of town to Oakwood lake, which I think may be a state park. I took some pictures:

And I found a campfire

And this is the Bruce hill. Going up it sucks. Going down it, sometimes we play the fatman race. Everyone gets one pedal stroke down the hill and then coasts. 

I also almost ran over a fish too! You are lucky I did not snap a picture of it though! The fish was half rotted and laying on a gravel road :p Yeah, I did some off roding. People think roadies have to stay on pavement but sometimes it's fun to downshift and spend some time on gravel, going where no roadie has gone before...

And finally, here is the bike I have been borrowing this week since the Y-Foil is being worked on:

I'm so grateful that she offered to borrow the bike to me, since it was just hanging in her garage. She has since updated to a 2009 Madone. It is really nice to be on a road bike again, mainly for the multiple options it offers me for my hand. However I feel like a huge noob for a number of reasons. Mainly I do not have my pedals on the Pilot, so am riding in my Brooks ST4 running flats. Second, there are giant reflectors and a dork disk on the rear wheel. Also you may notice the seat bag and slack geometry. If Kendra reads this, thank you so much for the bike and I am not sure what I would be doing without it since I have no money to get the part I need right now.

The blue and white pain does look really nice though, I am digging that.

I asked a friend who is also a raw vegan runner for some suggestions on easier ways to get calories in. He recommended Avocados and sprouted buckwheat. Luckily I LOVE an avocado with some cayenne pepper sprinkled on it, and a single one has upwards of 250 calories. That evening I also took a trip to Hyvee and purchased some raw buckwheat. The buckwheat was soaked in a jar in my kitchen for 20 minutes and then placed on a pizza pan and spread out between two damp dish towels. The next morning and later that evening the towels were dampened again. The next morning, this is what I had:

They have a really great nutty taste, very good. The sprouts can be put into pretty much anything. I have put them into pasta, salads, and my morning apple/banana/peanut butter/flax mixture, which I may take a picture of and show you next week. Being about 600 cals for a cup of these suckers, they are a very efficient and healthy way to add fuel to my day.

Here's the new art being put up at Cwood. This photographer is in here all the time. He may be retired and use this place as his "office" where he does whatever he does. I had no idea he did this though. So far what he has up is very good.


I'm going to head out for a bike ride and maybe a short brick run afterwards. Peace out all :)