All Exercise and No Activity?

I got an interesting email yesterday, describing the difference between activity and exercise. I think it is all-too-relevant to many endurance athletes! Here is what it said:

"This is the big difference between 'activity' and 'exercise':

Activity involves moving your body in all different directions,
being unbalanced, and 'training' your coordination. Activity is
things like dancing, sparring and sports.

Exercise typically involves being static, fairly locked into
position, and moving something in a very controlled manner, (usually
at least partially isolated from the rest of your body). Exercise
is weight lifting, running in a straight line and using cardio
machines.

Typically, EXERCISE takes up way too much of our lives, and
ACTIVITY way too little (Which is why I think we need to bring back
recess!)"

Long story short, I agree, and I ended up purchasing MMA Ripped as a result. I've been having fun the last couple of days doing the workouts and learning new activities and movements. This program is very core-oriented, and I am sure it will improve my endurance output before too long. I am convinced that my months-long battle with shin splints is the result of "TOO MUCH EXERCISE – NOT ENOUGH ACTIVITY". I am working on remedying that starting yesterday.

Low Carb Pancakes

This is a very yummy recipe I eat fairly often, so I am posting it here as a low-carb alternative to the pancake breakfast!

Ingredients (for 6 1/3cup sized pancakes):
1/2 cup almond flour
1 ounce coconut (1 protein scoop)
3/4tsp baking powder (or 1/4 tsp baking soda)
1/4C greek yogurt (strained yogurt)
1 serving of stevia powder or other low-carb sweetener
2 eggs
optional: bacon

Instructions: fry bacon in a pan (skip this if you don't have any). Remove bacon and pour most of the bacon fat into a small bowl.

While bacon is frying (or pan is heating):
Crack and separate the eggs. Beat the whites in a small bowl until they have peaks. Put the other ingredients in a large bowl, and then add the egg whites to that. Put the beater on low speed, and mix all the ingredients together. It should be about the consistency of normal pancake batter.

When pan is ready, pour 1/3 cup of the batter into pan for each pancake (12" pan will take about 3 of these). Cook at medium temp for about 2 minutes per side. Don't burn them! Remove, put on your plate, put some more oil in, and cook the rest of the batter. Eat with some bacon, and enjoy the low carb goodness. These are filling and satisfying and great for someone who works out hard and gets really hungry!

If you still have a head full of Nancy Clark-inspired nutritional insanity, then I recommend that you read the book Good Calories Bad Calories, ignore the mainstream nutritional advice in running magazines (like this month's Runners World, where they have a 'healthy cupcake' recipe with 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 1/2 cups of white flour), and eat real food like you find in the recipe above. The real heart attack foods are not saturated fats and proteins – they are the over-processed, nutrient deprived foods of civilization, like white flour and sugar!

Solo 1/2 Marathon

I did my longest run (time-wise) ever last friday, 1 hour 55 minutes - passed 13.1 miles in 1h52m, and then ran a few more minutes. I was pretty tanked at the end, and my feet were really sore - but I felt pretty good overall! I was planning on running again today, but my legs are still sore (mostly lower legs, as usual) and plus I lifted weights and did a "Tabata" workout on the exercise bike yesterday - so I hit the pool today instead, doing my "total immersion" drills and some swimming. I may still go for a run later today, depending on how I feel.

I was pretty happy that I was able to run for 2 hours comfortably, I wasn't sure how far I was going to go that day, and my knee and shins were sore the first few miles, but then they seemed to relax and I was able to settle into a normal running pace, which was about 8.20/mile for me on that day - this equated to 75%MHR for most of the run. Plus I haven't run over 10 miles in several months.

I am going to try to keep doing one of these long runs 3 times per month, and see if I can get more comfortable with them. I'd be stoked if I could run for 2 hours at 8 minutes/mile comfortably.

I've been pretty consistent about getting 6-7 workouts per week in, but lots of cross training. It's good to see that even running just 2 times/week, you can still maintain fitness by doing plenty of cross training.

marathon training

Well after about 3 weeks of 'short distance training' my shins were really getting sore, so I took a full week off running (cycling and swimming only) and they felt waaay better. I am now going to try the opposite approach -- longer, slower running, to see if the slower pace helps my knees/shins stay happier. Will this training result in an actual marathon attempt? We shall see!

I rode 30 miles on Saturday and ran 1 hour 15 minutes on Sunday - it felt nice to run at "normal pace" as I had been following the FIRST plan for the prior few months, which resulted in almost never running at a comfortable pace. Sunday's run averaged 74%MHR, which is 137 pulse for me, and was about 8.40/mile over moderately hilly terrain. Felt great most all of the time and no shin problems. My legs were a bit heavy from the 2 hour ride on Sat, but overall the run felt great and I was pleased with "endurance weekend #1".

The marathon training plan I am thinking about following is here, it has a lot of appealing elements to me. Pretty flexible, not too high mileage, which will allow some good quality cross-training, and the speedwork is not so intense. I am becoming convinced upon reflection that the overly fast speedwork and tempo running I have been doing this past year has contributed to my shins feeling so painfully beat up. I love running fast, but as I have only really been training seriously for not even 1.5 years, I think I should have eased into it more.

I am really looking forward to seeing if increasing my long runs will help me hold a better pace over longer race distances. For now my primary goal is not increased speed, but staying injury free.

10k result

I ran my first 10k yesterday in 44.25, good for 7th place, 4th in my age group. My legs are very sore today! It was a really fun course, lots of hills, not so good for my hopes of a fast time, but I had alot of fun and ran as fast as I could for that day. It was great to run for a cause, I recommend every runner do this if they have the chance. I raised over $300 for the Santa Barbara Cancer Center, and got to run for free! My father is going through cancer treatment right now, so this race had extra meaning for me. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to perhaps make life a little easier for another family suffering the effects of this disease.

I am quickly realizing that I am not very good at longer distances (at least not yet) -- in my training plan I can always run the track repeats at my goal distances, but the longer the run, the slower I get. I think 44 minutes is still pretty good for a first 10k, but it is slow compared to my 5k results, and even slower considering I can run below 5.40 for a mile.

I am going to take some time off to heal up my shin splints and knees, and then focus on shorter distance training -- mile and 5k. Should be fun! Good luck with your training everyone.

Running for a Cause

My next race is planned to be the Cancer Center 10k in Montecito, CA on Sunday October 19. This will culminate my 3 month's training with the FIRST 10k program. My family has been dealing with cancer for the past few months ourselves, as my father was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in August. It has been difficult for us, and we were very lucky to find a hopeful diagnosis for this very aggressive cancer with the Angeles Clinic in Los Angeles. In fact my father has just completed his first round of biochemotherapy, and handled it very well.

The Cancer Center 10k benefits the Santa Barbara Cancer Center. My father was unable to find the specialized treatment he needs here in Santa Barbara, and we are again lucky that he has the money and personal resources he needed to find such a specialized treatment. This just highlights to me the need to support cancer research, to make resources available to more people in more places.

I took the leap of faith and signed up today for the 'fundraising option' which requires me to raise $100 in donations for the center for my race. I am really stoked to be to use my training to get people excited about supporting an important cause. I am excited to do my little part to help all the people who are going through the cancer experience themselves -- it seems to touch almost every family these days.

My goal for the race (besides raising some money) is to run under 41 minutes -- an ambitious goal for my first 10k, but my recent race and training results indicate I should be able to pull it off. If anyone would like to donate to the cause, please click the link above, select "Support a Participant", and enter my name, Gary Dempster. Wish me luck!

Some new pr's in August

Ran a 19.35 5k on August 20, and a 5.38 timed 1600m with my brother on aug 17. I am currently on Week 6 of the FIRST 10k plan, although I've altered some of the workouts due to running with my brother for 2 weeks. It is still hard to hit the paces on every workout, but once you do it for a few weeks you get the point -- I just do my best, and my races indicate that I am improving.

The 5k was my 3rd race of the year, and it felt a lot better than the first 2 -- even though my average heart rate was 3 beats higher than 5k #1, it still felt more comfortable, and I feel like I could run a good 10k now. I think the "chi running" program is really helping me with my form, and it shows in not getting beat up as much during hard efforts. My brother ran the biathlon during the same race, and came in 2nd place, running 3.5 miles in 19.45 - fast! It is great to run with someone who is faster than you, it gives you motivation to see where you could get if you keep on working.

On the dietary front, I have been drinking fresh vegetable juice from my Jack Lalanne juicer -- it really does make you feel great. Drink some juice!

FIRST 10k Program - First Week Comments

Key workouts in Week 1 FIRST 10k Program:
1. 8x400 w 400 rest (10k goal pace -1min/mi)
2. 3 miles @ST pace (10k goal pace)
3. 6 miles @LT pace (10k goal pace +35 seconds/mi.)
(+ 2 days of cross training)

My current 10k goal pace is 6.45/mile.
My workout times were: 1. 8x400 w200 rest - avg speed 1.25.5/400 (5.44/mi avg)
2. 3 mi @20.36 (6.52/mi) 3. 6.3mi@47.40 (7.34/mi)

So I was a bit slow on the tempo runs, and at or below target pace for the 400's. Typical for me, reflecting the fact that I have more speed than endurance (even with me cutting the rest period in 1/2). Overall I was happy with the workouts -- I expect my tempo pace to drop as I continue with the program and learn to run at the proper (hard!) pace.

Also, I have been greatly helped by my recent purchase of the "CHI Running" DVD, which has really helped me improve my form and stride rate, which made the runs much easier on the legs than they would have otherwise been, especially the 6 mile tempo run, which I did on a hilly pavement loop. I highly recommend this DVD!

FIRST Program

I just found a program on Runners World, that claimed to help people to set a marathon PR with only 3 days per week of running! Finding that hard to believe, I read the article (here), and found it very impressive. I went on over to the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training) website and downloaded all their plans, and ordered their book from Amazon.com too. This program really appeals to me -- 3 (hard) days of running per week, with 2-3 days of cross training. Very similar to what I've been doing, but their programs are proven and organized, unlike my program, which is kinda pasted together from about 4 different programs. I am very stoked to have found this, as I cannot seem to run more than about 4 days per week without suffering from all kinds of lower leg problems. Now I can focus on high quality running without having to go through all kinds of hell trying to "build my base" and getting injured along the way. I will post my progress here as time goes on, but the "first" FIRST program I am following is their 10k program... I am hoping to have equally good results in the 10k as my first 5k, where I broke 20 minutes. I am hoping this program will put me into the 40-41 minute 10k area, which I'd be very happy with. Wish me luck!

speed walking as cross training

I have discovered a new way to work out when the running muscles are too sore... speed walking! I first tried it on Sunday night when my friend wanted to go for a run, and my legs were to sore to even go slowly... so I walked at her 12 min/mile pace, and found that not only was I able to do it, but it was fun!

The next day, I went to the park to see how fast I could actually walk (and also to avoid walking on the street, since I was kinda embarrassed at this strange-looking mode of locomotion). To my amazement, I was able to walk 5 miles in 48 minutes, and my heart rate was nearly the same as a normal run! I am sore today, but not as sore as I would have been from a run of the same amount of time (I ran 35 miles last week, my legs are shot!).

If you are looking for something that is almost as intense as a run, but with less pounding, than I encourage you to give it a try. maybe try it at night or in a non-crowded place at first, because let's face it... to most people speed walking looks downright strange (or worse). But hey, did you know that 30 years ago, drivers used to intentionally drive joggers off the road because they just couldn't stand how they 'looked'?! It's true. I predict a return to popularity of speed walking in the future, because it is really a great form of exercise. Here are a couple you tube videos of speed walking competitions... these guys and gals are walking at near or under 7 minutes per mile, amazing! (ignoring the ridiculous comments is advised)
speed walking video 1
speed walking video 2

15K... not so good!

I've been training hard the last month in preparation for the Utica Boilermaker, which I ran with my brother last Sunday. I was having some major shin pain the week before, so I ran very little the 6 days before. My track workouts had been great, but my lactate threshold workouts (which I did at the end of the week) were pretty inconsistent and mostly not so great!

Based on my 1 race time this year (5k - 19:52), I theoretically could run under 64 minutes, so I put "65" on my estimated time, which put me in the top 1,000 seeds. Pretty ambitious, considering it was my first 15k ever, and I really haven't done many long runs (I did one 12 miler 2 weeks before in 1h 45m).

The day dawned fairly warm and very, very humid. I know from my high school years that I tend to run poorly in humid weather, and since I live on the coast in California, I am not adapted to humidity. I went through the first mile in 7:10, a bit off pace, not too bad... and then at about 1.5 miles, the wheels started to come off fast. I was overheated already, and my pulse was above where I wanted it to be. So... I started to slow down. I wanted to find a pace that felt comfortable... unfortunately my pulse would not get below 160, where I wanted it to be, even at nearly 9 min/mi pace! So I switched into "survival" mode, and ran the last 10k at just over 8 min/mi pace. My 5k/10k splits were about 25min per 5k, and I finished at 75:05, About 9 minutes slower than I had hoped. Oh well, I still finished, and was proud to tough it out on an off day. I learned that you have to take what the race gives you... and even if you don't run well, you can still try to race those around you! I enjoyed several beers at the finish, and chatted it up with the peeps around me. I also developed a nasty skin rash on my legs from pouring so much water on myself during the race! I was very sore for a couple days after, but now I'm back into training again. My brother kicked ass, finishing in 57:30, top 200 in a 12,000 person race. I don't plan on tackling any more 15k's until I feel I feel comfortable at the 10k distance, which I also haven't tried yet (I did a 10k in 37:20 in high school... is there still hope?).

Nancy Clark is the Low-Carb Anti-Christ

The title of this article refers to one of the “queens” of sports nutrition, Nancy Clark , who is prominently featured on many sports-oriented websites loudly propounding the benefits of high-carbohydrate nutrition. If you peruse any typical athlete website, like www.runnersworld.com, www.athletesadvisor.com, www.roadcycling.com, etc etc, you will inevitably find “hit piece” articles that exclaim loudly that “trendy” low-carb diets are unhealthy, terrible and damaging for endurance athletes! These articles are of course founded on the concepts of mainstream nutritional dogma, and assume that everyone can and is willing to follow their recommendation to always make sure your muscle glycogen stores are 100% full by eating large quantities of carb-laden food throughout the day.

So how then do you explain the large and ever-growing number of athletes who follow a low or moderate carb diet and still manage to compete successfully? In my personal case, I would have to be on acid-reducing medication for life in order to follow these dietary recommendations! Can you imagine actually voluntarily going on expensive prescription medication that makes you feel like crap 24 hours per day, just so you can follow mainstream nutritional dogma?! That is truly insane thinking. I have never eaten more than 200 grams of carbs in a day since I started running (that is less than 25% of my daily calories), and I am making great progress so far. Normally I get 15-20% of calories from carbs per day. According to Nancy Clark and other nutritionists, that would be utterly impossible… yet here I am. I look forward to getting stronger and faster over time, and proving them wrong again and again!

There is no established protocol for low-carb athletes to follow – we must each find our own way. There are runners out there like Kent Altena who do not supplement carbs at all, even during exercise, and still finish marathons and half-marathons! Kent keeps getting faster, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he qualifies for Boston eventually. Another runner on Jimmy Moore’s low-carb discussion page says he only eats meat and fat, and he has run some pretty impressive times himself!

Stuart Trager, who is famous for being the medical director for Atkins Inc., has done 10 Ironman Triathlons, and I saw it written somewhere that he “never ate more than 300 grams/day of carbs”. This is from a man who has gone under 10 hours for Ironman, and had to have trained at least 15 hours per week, and probably eaten over 4,000 calories per day in the peak of his training! 300 grams would be about 25-30% carb calories max.

I have spoken to several runners on running forums who say that they do extensive training on “zero carbs”. Many others like myself do supplement carbs to some degree, but still eat low-carb during non-exercise times. The bottom line is that it is done, it can be done, and that it does work!

I hope I can make the way a little bit easier for some low-carbers who have gotten to the point of wanting to pursue serious athletics, but who don’t want to sacrifice their health and weight loss by thinking that they “need” to eat a high-carb diet in order to participate in sports. What makes you an athlete is training in a sport over time, not eating bagels! Your body will make the necessary adaptations to use protein and fat for fuel (for the most part, or all the way, depending on your individual makeup). The important part is putting in the time in your sport, just like every other athlete, whether they are chowing down on steak and veggies, or brown rice and tofu!

How to Make Your Own "Recoverite" Beverage At Home for 30 cents per Serving!

I just mixed up 40 servings of homeade "Recoverite" at home for about $12 (30 cents/serving)! This recovery beverage costs $50 on the Hammer nutrition site for 32 servings. "Recoverite" is a Hammer nutrition product made to "minimize post-exercise muscle soreness, rebuild muscle tissue, and restore muscle glycogen". It has a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein, and a "whopping 3 grams of l-glutamine per serving, which is called "the key recovery amino".

I have been mostly using fruit smoothies after workouts, but the advantage of this beverage is that the nutrients are exactly measured, and it is very quick and easy to drink right after a workout, ensuring that you take rapid advantage of the "exercise window" when the muscles are extremely receptive to fuel.

If you are ready to experience "rapid recovery" from hard workouts, you can head on over to the Hammer Nutrition website and pick up some Recoverite, or you can "mix it at home" like I do. Hammer nutrition makes the highest quality sports fuel products on the market, here is a great page describing their various products. I guess imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery: here is my "home brewed" recipe:

Homeade Recoverite (makes about 40 servings)
1 lb. (450g) Whey Protein (the flavor you use will determine the flavor of the mix)
3 lbs. (1350g) Maltodextrin (I use "carbo gain" from NOW)
4 oz. (120g) L-Glutamine powder
20 "scoops"of Hammer Endurolyte powder
6T Stevia powder (for sweetness - any low-carb sweetener can be used)

(if you don't have a scale, 1 cup=about 120g)
Measure all ingredients, and mix together in an empty 5 lb Whey Protein Container or other large plastic container. Shake it up well! 1 serving is 2 "protein scoops" worth. Blend in a blender for about 5 seconds for best consistency.

You can buy all these ingredients easily at my favorite online supplement store, bodybuilding.com. Warning: this beverage gives you a gnarly insulin rush -- that is the point - it is the insulin that drives the nutrients deep into the muscles for "instant recovery". Only to be used by serious athletes after a hard workout!

Simple Rules for Low Carb Athletic Performance

The “pre-rule” is that your body has adapted to burning fat for fuel in place of carbohydrates! This varies person to person, but usually takes 3 weeks. If you are just starting a low-carb diet and were eating higher carbs before, you will need to take supplemental carbs during exercise in order to feel ‘normal’.

1. If you exercise under your aerobic threshold (about 70% max HR or less), you will not need to take any supplemental carbs for exercise, and will suffer little to no performance loss -- in fact, because you are now a fat-burning machine, your aerobic performance will likely improve!
2. If you exercise ABOVE aerobic pace, your performance will suffer if you do not supplement carbs during exercise! This does not mean you have to “carb load” in the day(s) before – I am talking about DURING exercise only. This varies by the person, but because fat is less efficient than carbs as a fuel (meaning it takes longer for the body to convert to fuel), regardless of how long you have been eating low-carb, you will be slower if you don’t supplement carbs. How much slower? My personal experiments resulted in about 20-30 seconds PER MILE performance loss at 85% max HR, as well as feeling crappy (this feeling lifted as as soon as I was back at aerobic heart rate).
3. My recommendation for how to supplement carbs is listed in an earlier post – to recap, you want to start taking carbs 30 minutes before, and continue until 30 minutes after exercise (up to 2 hours after intense/long exercise will be helpful) – the idea is that during this “exercise window” all the sugars will be used by the body and not stored.
4. Outside of exercise time, your normal low-carb meals will provide your body with the raw materials it needs for recovery. Once your body is adapted to burning fat for fuel, fat can replenish muscles equally as well as carbs outside of exercise times when insulin levels remain low. All the zillions of books and articles that say you need to eat a diet of 70% carbs to replenish muscle glycogen are all wrong and all use the same poorly-designed studies to reach this incorrect conclusion.
5. I personally take in carbs before during and after every exercise session I do, whether or not it is high or low intensity. I try to take 50-100 grams per session, depending on length and intensity. If you have a higher tolerance to carbs than I do, you can also eat a few high-carb meals throughout the week as an alternative. I HATE having high insulin levels when I am not exercising, and so I find this ‘meal cycling’ approach to be intolerable. Through experience, you will learn how much you need to consume for the type of exercise you do. However, in general, you do not “need” to worry about carb supplementation unless you are racing or doing harder workouts at above 70% max HR. If you do take supplemental carbs, they will only temporarily affect fat burning, as the carbs will be used during exercise, or go towards replenishing muscle and liver glycogen stores.

My First 5K

Congratulations to, well, me!  I did my first 5k race tonight, Night Moves in Santa Barbara, and the first race I’ve tried since I was 17 years old (a loooong time ago).  My goal was to break 20 minutes, which I thought was a bit ambitious, but I did succeed, in 19:52.  Had to go into the ‘red zone’ a few times to get under 20, but it was worth it!  I was lucky to have the 1st place woman near to me, so I could pace off of her.  It hurt, but it got me there.  Now I have to get back to the grindstone and keep working on my vo2 max, so I can get into that red zone a bit more.  See, you CAN follow a low-carb diet and still run reasonably fast! I ate 1 banana, 1 bottle of my sports drink (see previous post) before the race, 1 quick sip of my drink during, and after I ate another banana, and another 16 oz of my sports drink.  I also confess to eating the post-race pasta plate and a serving of delicious Firestone Ale. After that, back to the usual low carb fare. Targeted nutrition people!