A dose of nutrition and running!

Whats been going on as of late
Hey everyone.  Long time no talk.  I've been training hard for the Cranmore hill climb this weekend which is also the sole qualifying race for the USA Mountain Running Team. That means I'll be lining up next to the best mountain runners in the country  to challenge the mountain.  I'm unbelievably excited and feel ready as I ever could be, Bring on the hills!

Western States 100 this weekend!
In addition to the USA Mountain championships this weekend the race that started ultra running is also this weekend, the Western States 100 Miler.  For those of you that don't know this is the first 100 mile endurance event to ever be raced.  Last year the field was stacked, course records where shattered, and we saw some of the best head to head racing over 100 miles ever (yes I said head to head racing over 100 miles, crazy). This year promised to be just as competitive with many of the same runners once again lining up.  Here are a couple links to introduce you to this amazing race.  The first is a video trailer of last years race which is amazing.  The second is the event web site for some history of the race. Enjoy!

Video Trailer

Western States 100 website

A little bit of nutrition for you
A short while back a friend of mine posted this article on his own blog and I have been meaning to post it up for all of you.  This is a short article on the nutritional value of egg's.  It is full of great information about where the true nutrition of an egg comes from.  With all the diet information out there today it seems to be the general consensus among most that to lose weight you just cut out calories, the less you eat the more you lose.  Well this is one thing I can't stand.  Not only is it completely false for the most part(yes initially you'll lose weight but in the long run its a bad idea, and no one wants to lose weight just for a couple weeks or months).  With this mentality nutrition is completely ignored which is much much more important than loosing a few pounds.  One food that takes a big hit from the diet craze is eggs.  So check out the article and let me know what you think in the comment section below.  Mean while I'm going to go cook up some eggs.

The Article

Endurance = Strength = Speed
Happy Training,
Matt

A Couple Diet Mistakes

So before I go into recommended daily values, and calories I want to look at some of the current info out there for the general public. After all everyone wants an athlete’s body don’t they.  Not only that but we want it with as little work as possible, a single pill would be nice wouldn’t it.  Unfortunately we’re living organisms and aren’t that lucky, but with the right knowledge it can become a whole lot easier.

First up is the most obvious one that everyone has probably tried or seen someone else try.  Hell it may have even worked for some, but definitely not for long.  Cutting calories.  Yes cutting intake is obviously going to make you lose weight.  That is until you hit deminishing returns.  The only way to lose weight by cutting calories is to have a deficit of less calories in than are being used throughout the day as energy.  The problem with this is that it can cause some bad side affects, and these side affects are what make people think they found the greatest diet.  Without the calories as energy your body goes into survival mode.  First it starts to conserve.  That’s right It starts to store as much fat as possible for future energy needs.  Second once the body hits a point that it can’t get the energy from the fat it stored it moves to the next best thing, muscle.  That’s right good bye muscle mass and toneness.  Your body starts breaking down your muscle to lower caloric need.  Essentially it starts making you skinny-fat(think of bed ridden elderly,  their skinny but frail due to zero muscle tone).  There are times when calorie cutting does work but cutting isn’t a good word for it.  With a low calorie diet and exercise you can get the same result except this way you can still enjoy eating and you avoid the dreaded skinny-fat.  The key is to not go below the calories needed for daily activity(this is different for everyone).  The more active you are the more calories you need to keep from going into a negetive caloric expenditure.

The second myth that really bothers me is the fad of high protein, low carbohydrate diets.  Right away I will say carbohydrates are the body’s energy, no carbs no energy.  The biggest argument for this is that evolution shows early neanderthals ate an almost completely meet diet and where the superior organism of their time.  Yea well the neanderthals went extinct for a reason.  As humans we evolved from erectus humanus not neanderthals, and erectus humanus survived where others couldn’t.  Why they survive isn’t completely clear, but one thing is obvious.  With their evolution they adapted to a gatherer lifestyle.  While the neanderthals went extinct searching for meat on the barren plains their weaker less smart counter parts moved into the forest and took on a hunter gatherer diet.  With a diet mostly made of wild vegetation, and root vegetables that was only mildly supplemented with meat they survived.  Now since we evolve from erectus humanus and not neanderthals  why would a high protein diet be best if our ancestors evolved to sustain off the opposite.  Alright enough bashing protein I guess it does have it benefits like muscle repair, increases the full feeling, and increased metabolism function to break it down.  With that we need protein but not as much as most think.  For an active individual the diet should be about 60% carbohydrate vegetables and fruit, heavy on the fruit and vegetables and whole grains.  The other 40% should be a mix of healthy fats and protein.

Alright that’s enough ranting about the two dieting mistakes that I see way to often.  Next up I will give a run down of what a truly healthy diet looks like for an active individual with recommended nutrient intakes.  Just remember healthy doesn’t mean eating less, it means eating better.

Endurance = Strength = Speed

Matt

Back at it again!

Hi everyone its been to long.  After a busy few weeks of nonstop busy I can finally get back to work on the blog. 

Aside from school and work the past month I've upped my training intensity a bit and run a couple races.  First I ran the Olde Salem Greens 5k cross country race.  Let me tell you this is the hardest 5k I have ever run period. The half marathon on nordic ski trails I did in september doesn't even compare to the challenge of this course.  Hell when all was said and done my arms were more sore than my legs from pumping so hard to get up the constant hills.  Now aside from the challenging and extremely fun course I have to give high praise to the Wicked Running Club.  They did it yet again.  I havn't done a whole lot of their races mostly just the turkey trot and I'm disappointed I havn't.  This club knows how to put on a race.  It's laid back yet completely organized.  The start is always exactly when they advertise, never late, and the volunteers are amazing. Definitely great races put on by a great club.  If your from the area looking for a group to join definitely check them out.  I'm not a memeber now but know I will be joining in the very near future.  Check out their site for more info http://wickedrunningclub.com/

The second race I ran was the Yukan Run road mile in Gloucester MA.  This was another good one.  Being the first time this race is being put on it was also run extremely well.  Tons of volunteers made registration and the whole race go super smooth.  The course for this race I really liked as well.  It runs right down main st. from Stage Fort park, over the draw bridge, and past the fishermans statue to the end.  Then you turn around and go back.  Its flat fast and the turn around makes pacing easy as pie.  This is also the first part of a great looking series which every race gets a little longer each time.  For more info on the series  check out their site http://www.yukanrun.com/

Thats it for now.  Look out for my next post on exercise nutrition and proper diet coming very soon.

Endurance = Strenght = Speed

Happy training
Matt

Welcome to the blog

How’s it going everyone?  This is my first ever blog post on my first ever blog.  I’m hoping that through this blog I can look at different beliefs and methods in Endurance training and shed some light on how to apply the gazillion methods out there.  Everything is fair game on this blog from general training to nutrition to product reviews and opinions. Not every method of training works for every person so I hope to show through my articles that with a little knowledge and thought any training method can be adapted to work for most people.  I’ll use examples from my own training often and probably even write about some of the many scenic runs I go on throughout the year.

Hopefully we can all learn something new and take our fitness and running to the next level.  Just remember Endurance = Strength = Speed. 

Oh yea and feel free to send me an email or leave comments below on any topics you’d like to hear about.  I look forward to hearing your ideas.