Hungry? Ask yourself these two questions

Like so many other athletes, I gained a few pounds during the pandemic. More than a few. Way too many. Worse still, at least in my opinion, it all went on my belly. I think of someone with excess belly fat as someone who is not active. It certainly does not look athletic. 

I love science, and what is referred to as evidence based training. “Evidence” is not the same as doing something that worked for a friend. It means making decisions based on published, peer reviewed studies along with commentary from world class sports scientists who are using those same resources. 

Science tells us that our bodies are designed to store excess fuel as fat. It is a survival mechanism, in case our three hour boat tour ends up stranded on an island. From adolescence to roughly fifty, give or take ten years, that fat is distributed first throughout our muscles. It’s what you look for when choosing a streak, lots of marbling. When there is plenty of excess it gets stored throughout our body between our skin and muscles. Flabby arms, flabby thighs.

As we age that distribution plan changes. The mechanism that assigns fat storage reverses those priorities. Less fat is stored in our muscles, arms, and legs, while more goes on our belly. Yes, a beer belly is not about beer as much as aging.

Is this inevitable? Yes and no. To some extent we must accept the changes. Gray hair, hair loss, wrinkles. Those things happen as we age. One very important change takes place out of sight. A reduction in reproductive hormones. Apparently it is those hormones that signal fat distribution. 

What can we do about it? As it turns out there is one simple activity that can boost production of those hormones, and that is lifting heavy weights. Not the usual five pound barbell and twenty bicep curls. It takes really heavy lifting. Four reps and you are done. Running won’t help. Cycling won’t help. Standard gym workouts won’t help. Heavy stuff. One light set to practice the motion, then pile it on for three to four reps. By the last rep your muscles should be shaking.

What about the question I opened with? The one about what to ask when you are hungry? Even if we can’t hold onto our youthful body shape, we can make nutrition choices that minimize the damage. Nutrition is a complex topic and I will share some thoughts in future posts. For now, here are two questions you should ask yourself before you eat.

1. Do I need this?

2. What will this do for me?

Context matters. Ask these questions as an athlete preparing for a race. Watch out for traps, like saying yes to the first question when contemplating a chocolate and sea salt bar after a hard yoga session. As for the second question, try expanding on it. Will it help me run faster? Will it improve my endurance?

The sensation of hunger is another challenging subject. What has worked for me in the past is to remind myself that feeling hungry is a reward associated with losing weight, similar to how sore muscles are a reward for hard work. Being active adds an extra dimension. As athletes we must put enough fuel in our tanks to make it through our workout plan without compromising performance. There is a before, during, and after aspect. I, like many athletes, tend to under fuel before and during, then overeat as recovery. That’s because when we are active our hunger signals are suppressed, and after activity they spring up like dandelions. 

Now, whenever I feel hungry I ask myself those two questions and remind myself that losing some of this pandemic belly fat will help me perform better and live longer.

Time is always slipping away

I have a lot to be thankful for. A wonderful wife. Two wonderful boys. Two, well, let’s just say odd, cats. Excellent health, especially for someone my age. I do like our house. Convenient, a patio for grilling and eating, a million dollar view. It does lack two things, a place to use as a yoga wall, and a place where I could set up one of those fancy indoor trainers that let you ride online -- Swift, Rouvy, etc. Of course Mike would like a bigger kitchen and a huge refrigerator, but then I need to stop eating his wonderful desserts. (I wrote “so much of” but deleted it.)

What is bugging me right now is the sad feeling of knowing that 2021 will probably go by with no racing for me. I did manage to get in a virtual half marathon back in April. Three laps of Elepaio to the Aloha gas station and a loop around Diamond Head. But, all alone, no cheering crowds, no aid stations, no celebration at the finish line. That was how 2020 went, even up to a full Ironman in October. So, yeah, I did a full marathon back then. Do I really want to do another one now? Last year the idea of going virtual was novel. That shine is wearing thin.

It helps to think of what I do as a healthy lifestyle. It is, and I have no intention of becoming a couch potato. I continue to be a devotee of Joe Friel and Dr. Stacy Sims. I have been messing up my diet, but I am on the road to improvement there. Dr. Sims’ book Roar has some terrific meal planning suggestions, and I just bought a copy of Feed Zone Portables by Biju Thomas and Allen Lim. Good stuff to eat on the bike. Now all I need is for the hospitals to get back to normal so I can get back to riding on the road.

What is really getting me down is the idea -- call it a realization -- that I may not get the chance to do another Ironman race. I signed up for Honu 2022, but with Kona postponed and no end in sight to this pandemic, well, I have doubts. This year’s race, which I did not even consider doing, was severely curtailed. That is not the race I want to do. If it is on, I’ll go, but if it is on this year’s course I doubt I will feel satisfied.

Then there is the goal of doing a full Ironman. Besides all the training, which I did last year, it requires a lot of travel. To be honest, I still have concerns about my back. I know that is normal. The memory of one's frailty remains long after the body has healed. Will my body get me to that level again?

Last of all, there is that relentlessly ticking clock. I am already 71. I feel like 40, maybe 45, and my sexy side still thinks I’m young and attractive. There was a time when I would not hit on that pretty barista because I was married. Now, well, that too, but also because I would look pathetic. There is still a part of me that wags its tail, and I have to remind it to sit and behave. 

Which part of my brain is so infatuated with triathlon? Is it that young guy who wants to hit on the barista? Nobody wants to be that pathetic old guy way off the back. At what age will I be satisfied saying “I always wanted to do an Ironman?”

I’ll start by reminding myself that age is just a number. But, no hitting on baristas!

How to coach and how to run, lessons from Bobby McGee

On many afternoons when Pattie and I go for a swim we watch a swim instructor working with beginners. He has to be the world’s worst coach. Nothing but negative comments. I have never seen him demonstrate anything. He just stands there in the water and yells. 

“No no, what did I tell you?”

“Where is your head?”

“Why are your arms going all over the place?”

You have probably heard of the complement sandwich. Say something nice, then criticize, then finish by saying something nice. I prefer to express it as a percentage, as in eighty percent of what you say is supportive, and only twenty percent is negative. Ninety/ten would be even better. Just as important, if not more so, is tone. The goal should be to sound supportive even while pointing out mistakes and shortcomings.

There is no better example of how to talk to athletes than Bobby McGee, the famous running coach. Here are two short videos in which he coaches a pair of runners on how to do some running drills. Pay attention to how positive he is. Quick to make corrections, but never mean or angry.

https://youtu.be/5ZKA2-Sb0Tk

https://youtu.be/6f6zWwW4kJA

While I was gathering videos for this post I came across this instructional video, in which Bobby does an excellent job of explaining how triathletes should run. Most importantly, the role of the tendons in storing and releasing energy. This is of utmost importance to endurance athletes. This is not as clear of an example in how to work with athletes, but even here you get a sense of his positive style

https://youtu.be/Xnsii2H-HxM

A little something every day

If you have been around the sport of triathlon very long you have probably heard this phrase many times: "Listen to your body." It's good advice, especially since our sport attracts high achievers who would rather push through a fog of fatigue than cut a workout short. Training while seriously fatigued can lead to repetitive stress injury and burn out. 

I happen to like a companion expression, which is "A little something every day." The reason I like this phrase is that I know too many athletes, myself included, who overcompensate when they feel fatigued. It’s as if we listen to our bodies with a stethoscope. 

This is not to say we should go all in every day. Far from it. The way I design a training plan for senior athletes is to place three "must do" hard activities in a week. Two of those are high intensity, the other long and slow. Everything else is easy peasy. 

Easy does not mean optional. It means to keep the intensity and duration low. Of course those are relative terms. I mean low for you. At the end of the workout you should feel all warmed up and ready for more. If you feel more fatigued than you did at the start, you went too hard.

Senior runners may find it difficult to run slow enough. In that case, a brisk walk is all you need. In triathlon, especially, there is no such thing as a recovery run. 

The one exception to the easy peasey rule is strength training. Early in the season senior athletes should schedule two or three hard strength training workouts per week. As the season progresses that should be cut to two, with shorter duration, then one, and finally none during the taper for an “A” race. I am not going to go into detail here about what to do, only to say that reps should be fewer than normal gym sessions, with high loads. The goal is not so much increased muscle mass as improvements in hormone levels and bone density.

Back - to Normal

 What Fun!

 

If you have been following my blog you know that last April I put my back out of kilter. Not a fall. Not from over training. All it took was a return to sitting cross-legged on the floor after a year of sitting exclusively in chairs and sofas, while maintaining a normal training load. My hip flexors did not like it and pulled my sacrum out of position.

This type of injury takes a long time to heal. At first I tried training through it with very easy bike and swim activity, and while at first there was improvement, it all went south again. After that I went to see my acupuncture guy, Mike Zanoni, and just did the morning flex routine my physical therapist Sonya at FluidBody Training prescribed. That continued until the last week of May, when I began to water jog and do thirty minutes slow cruising on the bike. 

From mid-July on I have gradually gone back to normal training. The big thing I noticed was a lack of endurance. Even a thirty minute run felt hard. But I could feel my strength returning. Last Sunday I rode for 2:30 including the Makapu’u lookout, and it didn’t kill me. This past Sunday I ran for 1:30 and felt fine.

Besides feeling weak, the other thing I noticed was that my training zones are off. Way off. On the bike and run I am going easy just like always, and feel like I should be in low zone 2, but my Garmin says I am in zone 4, which would be going flat out. This means my heart is beating faster than it used to for the same effort. Could be lack of fitness. Could be SVC.

So, in light of that I have scheduled my standard run and bike zone setting workouts for this week. The first test will be if I have enough stamina to get through them. If I do, well, I will have to wait and see what the data says.

 

The rush to race

 In just the last couple of months I have seen a surge of races and the desire to race, no doubt an expression of a year’s worth of frustration. As vaccination rates move past 50% racing becomes viable, aided by the fact that we do it all outdoors and without bleachers packed with drunk, cheering fans.

This is having a direct impact on Hawaii. Specifically, Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, a.k.a. Honu. Registration for the 2022 race opened even before this year’s race. For some reason the Ironman organization thought people needed encouragement so they threw in a free hat. I don’t think the hat was necessary, as Tier I closed soon after this year’s race ended and Tier II is almost full. 

In the past I would wait until late in the year to make plans for the following year. The last time I did Honu in 2019 (see pic above) I must have waited until maybe March to decide. When I saw a note a few days ago that Tier II was almost full I decided I had better act now, so I fought my way through the complex sign-up process and got a spot. But no hat.

If you have any thought of doing Honu next year, act now or you may not get the chance. If you think you could do better with a coach, drop me a line at windsofhawi@gmail.com. I specialize in senior athletes and am happy to provide whatever level of support you need.

Polishing up my first IM training plan

Or is it my second?

Ok, to be fair, this is my second Ironman distance training plan. I got through -- as in doing -- most of the base portion of my first attempt when my back went out. I was not very pleased with it anyway -- too much activity for a senior athlete -- so I chucked it and started over. This one covers twenty-four weeks. Twelve base, nine build, two peak, and race.

I find much in common with writing training plans and composing music for ensembles. There are myriad details to keep track of. I have to use my imagination a lot, holding a bunch of stuff in my head as I imagine how it will progress, aided by scribbled notes and cross-checks. I feel like this one is almost done. Will it ever be done? I think not. Like a score, it is the starting point for a new round of exploration.

This plan follows advice from Joe Friel in his book Fast After 50. For example, a typical week is built around this framework:

Monday - Strength Training

Tuesday - Aerobic Capacity Intervals

Thursday - Lactate Threshold Intervals

Sunday - Aerobic Threshold (long, slow, distance)

Throughout the plan the relative strength of these workout types varies. For example, at the start of the plan strength training is maximal while aerobic capacity work is minimal. By around nine weeks in these are reversed. The framework stays the same, but the relative intensity changes.

Everything else is low intensity, and when in doubt, rest. As we age our bodies require more recovery time. There will be times when you can recover on the bike or in the water, but if you feel bushed, take a break. Listen to your body, and when you do, park your ego.

I made it a point to include regular, short flexibility workouts. For these I use a YouTube video channel called Yoga by Adriene, who happens to be the most popular yogi on YouTube. A weekly yoga class is great, but not enough to offset twelve hours of triathlon work. Better to spread a little bit out over multiple sessions per week.

Another important piece missing from most training plans is core flexibility work. Strength training can cover some of this, and so can yoga. What works best is a simple daily routine that takes no more than thirty minutes, done first thing in the morning, every morning. I see no point in adding it to this plan as it will just clutter up the calendar. Every day is every day. If is isn't short and simple it won't get done.

Friel's book feels like it was written for cyclists. He does mention triathlon, but leaves it to the reader to work out how to distribute the three activities -- swim, bike, and run -- across that framework. My solution is to alternate focus between run and bike in the first two weeks of each three week mesocycle, and to alternate the testing the same way. Swimming gets treated mostly as recovery time, with one lactate threshold swim per week. Let's be real, for age group athletes the goal is to swim efficiently, and what is needed most is time in the water with a focus on technique.

In my first plan I tried inserting race-like activities on some of the weekends during the build phase. I think I'll do a version of this new plan that uses that format. Should be fun.