Eat. Tri. Venture.

Where in the hell am I going to put all this sh*t?  In asking this question as I stared at the space I had selected for myself in transition, I had inadvertently answered one of life’s deepest questions: What sport could possibly be more complicated that the complicated sport of triathlon?  The answer:  Offroad triathlon.

The Xterra World Tour is a series of trail running races and offroad triathlons held at various venues around the world.  In the triathlon series, professional athletes compete for a prize purse while amateurs race for national titles and spots in the World Championship via a points system.  In an Xterra (offroad) triathlon, competitors swim, mountain bike and trail run as opposed to the traditional bike and run on the road.  Last year I started taking mountain biking a little more seriously and began racing in the Ohio Mountain Bike Championship Series.  This year I decided to take it a step further and combine mountain biking and triathlon to see what would happen.  Xterra at East Fork was my first step into this realm.

The Xterra World Tour makes its stop in Ohio at Xterra at East Fork.  East Fork is an Ohio State Park just outside of Cincinnati.  The race was on Saturday, June 21st and consisted of a 1000 meter swim in the park lake, 12 mile mountain bike ride and 6.5 mile trail run.  To the best of my knowledge, there is no set distance in Xterra triathlons although they can be roughly condensed into three distances, America Tour Races (East Fork), EPIC races (long distance) and sprints/super sprints.  The sprints and super sprints do not count towards the points series.  Since I had never been to East Fork and knowing the course is a huge part of mountain biking, JMac and I drove with our number one dog, Holly, down to Cinci on Friday in order to stop at the park and pre-ride the mountain bike course.  On the course maps we had printed out, the course seemed to be a pretty straightforward loop of the “marked” mountain bike trails.  The problem was that the mountain bike trail seemed to intersect with itself and other hiking trails.  We made slow progress finding our way around.  I’m pretty sure there is a color coding scheme to the madness but we did not have that information at the time.  What we did get was a basic feel for the trails.  In doing my own research via Quickdirt (http://quickdirt.com/2014/02/01/2014-ombc-races-top-5-lists-race-summaries/ ), my go to source these days for the nitty gritty in Ohio mountain biking, I learned that the East Fork trails were fast, flowy and less technical by Ohio mountain bike standards.  My only caveat to this would be that if the trails are wet, they become more technical as there are many roots and turns which can become slick.  I know this because about forty minutes into my pre-ride it started to downpour.  While I escaped without incident on Friday, I would not be so lucky on Saturday.  I cut the pre-ride short and we packed up to check into our hotel. 

For dinner I had located a small local brewery called Fifty West not too far from where we were staying (and oddly enough near Route 50W).  They had a nice selection of small, medium and large plates for dinner and a nice range of beers from which to sample. 

Saturday morning dawned overcast and humid—like chew the air humid.  Ich.  I had the standard hotel continental breakfast (oats with raisins and almonds and coffee).  We checked out, took the H Dog for a walk and drove to East Fork.  This race had a late start compared to most triathlons—9:00 a.m.  In an effort to be more spouse-friendly I did not insist that we get there as soon as transition opened.  Instead, we arrived at the late hour of 7:00 a.m.  Well, offroad triathletes must take after their mountain bike cousins because I was still the fourth or fifth athlete to arrive and get into transition.  I checked in, picked up my tech tee and a smattering of sample schwag.  Note, I was asked to produce my USAT card, which although I think that’s the rule for USAT races, I don’t know that I have ever been asked before at a “local” race. 

I surveyed the transition setups around me and tried to take my traditional setup with my tri bike and adopt it to my circumstances for the day.  This is what I figured out:  

JMack had left to go for a ride of the mountain bike course himself so once transition was set up, I did a warm up run, including my new favorite dynamic warm up.   http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/08/training/your-best-10-minute-run-warmup-2_46795   This warm up seems to help the tightening in my hips quite a bit.  I then went to hang with the Holly Dog until JMac returned.  I meant to eat a banana during this time but wasn’t up for it.  I think the humidity was staving off any urge to eat.  JMac returned with a course description:  wet, slick, two smaller loops instead of one large, well-marked and eat on the road section between the loops.  Got it.  We headed down to the beach for the start.  It was a small crowd.  In the end I think there were about forty-five participants in the offroad tri with an additional eight or so in the kayak division (paddle a kayak instead of swim).  These numbers were down about twenty from the previous year.  I think the wet conditions scared some folks off.  The water was calm and pretty warm but I decided to go with the sleeveless wetsuit.  I hadn’t been in open water all season and in the event of a mid-swim panic, wanted the buoyancy of the suit.  I warmed up in the water while they sent the kayaks off.  Then, it was a mass, in water start.  The horn sounded and we were off.  

I stayed to the outside but quickly found my groove.  The water temp was perfect.  It was a simple out and back course (19:19 including the run to transition, 17^th).  This was the best open water swim I have had in a while and I ran into transition feeling pretty good.  I navigated transition fairly effectively and hopped on the mountain bike (1:22, 9^th).  The ride began with a sustained climb on the park road to get to the trails.  I tried to spin it out in an easier gear as to not use up those matches in the first half mile of the ride.  I headed into the woods on the tail of a couple of guys.  As mentioned earlier, the trails really are very flowy and generally non-technical in the scheme of things.  But due to the rain the previous day and overnight, they were very wet and very slick.  I tried to be assertive, sticking with the guy in front of me but unable to decide if I should take the pass.  Unfortunately, in my hesitation to pass I allowed another female to catch me and pass both of us.  I subsequently passed the guy too and found myself in kind of a no-man’s land with not a lot of other racers around me.  I hopped off my bike for a couple of log and sketchy-looking , rocky stream crossings but managed to ride everything else.  Unfortunately, I realized pretty quickly I had not set up something correctly on my watch and I was not getting any heart rate data.  I rely on this quite a bit but had no choice to just try to go with how I was feeling.  I popped out onto the park road and took in some fuel before my second lap.  Since it was hot and humid I opted for a few salted dates, which tasted awesome—sweet and salty at the same time, and some margarita Clif shot blocks.  I was also drinking constantly from my Camelbak.  After my nutrition meltdown in the heat last summer at Musselman I have tried to be super conscious of drinking and getting my electrolytes. 

Apparently, I was the only competitor interested in refueling on the road section because as I slowed down, I was passed by a couple of male riders.  (Note to self:  Need to learn to eat faster on mountain bike).  As I entered the trails for the second loop I was hopeful that the trails had dried out some as it had warmed up considerably in the last hour.  The trails near the lake edge which could catch a breeze had dried out but the ones lower, and completely covered by foliage seemed to be in worse shape.  In a momentary lapse of judgment my handlebar caught a piece of hanging vine, turned sharply and flipped me off on to my left side.  I jumped up, flipped the bars back around, refused a polite offer of assistance from a passing competitor and jumped back on my bike.  Whew.  Nothing appeared to be broken, bike or otherwise.  A little while later, while making a sharp turn I misjudged again, braked when I should not have on a slick hump of mud and went over again on to my left side.  Seriously?  Ugh.  This one hurt.  While I was muddy, it did not look like there was an excessive amount of blood so I flipped my bike over, hopped on and raced toward the end of the course.  At some point during this time I had bumped my watch and stopped the clock entirely so I had no real idea where I was or how much longer I had to go.  It turned out to not be that far.  I popped back out on the road and headed for transition (1:41:13, 31^st). 

Transition was fairly uneventful even though it seemed to take an excessive amount of time to tie my shoelaces and take my biking gloves off (1:08, 13^th).  I grabbed my new handheld water bottle and trotted back up the hill before turning into the woods.  Two items of note here:  First, I opted for the handheld water bottle after listening to Zen Tri’s Ironman Texas report http://www.zentriathlon.com/home/2014/5/18/podcast-ironman-texas-2014.html .  Brett suggested carrying a water bottle on the run just to splash yourself off in the heat between aid stations.  While this (obviously) was not an Ironman, I thought the idea was a good one as it was hot, humid and there were only two water stops on the course.  Given this was a trail run I thought I might be out there longer than normal.  Second, despite my time, I really enjoyed this run.  It was a true offroad course.  I felt like I was running through the Amazon.  The trail was mostly narrow singletrack.  It was rooty, up and down and included log-overs, stream crossings and even some short, steep sections where I could almost put my hands down to help myself up.  There was also a section of very muddy, horsepoopy horse trail and another section of paved multipurpose trail.  But the majority was singletrack.  I had not done a lot of singletrack running in my training so I was worried how my ankles and knees would hold up but they seemed to do fine.  I tried to maintain what felt like a consistent pace and get through.  Looking back, I probably could have gone harder but in the heat, I think I felt more maxed out than I was.  Also, the course was a lollipop with only a little bit of lollipop stick at the end.  So I held back a little bit on the loop section not knowing what would be coming next (1:14:17, 32^nd).  JMac and the H Dog were waiting for me at the aid stations, giving me a nice boost.  

The final section was a reverse of the original climb so it was downhill to the finish.  In the end, I finished 2^nd AG, 5^th female and 27^th overall (3:17:21).  I had been hoping for a time closer to three hours but every race is a learning experience.  Also, this race served as a reconnaissance mission for the OMBC race to be held at East Fork later in the season.  So, I’ll be back.

All in all, this was a very fun race and I would recommend it for anyone thinking of going off road.  It did not attract the crowds that your typical triathlon does.  But it was well-organized and fun.  I enjoyed the more laid back atmosphere.  The post race food was pasta salad and gourmet-type sandwiches and wraps.  Final thoughts?  Transition continues to be my best event.  If only there was some sort of transition-focused race to capitalize on this. :)  Nutrition?  I’m heading in the right direction.  Course?  Knowing the bike and run course in an offroad race is very, very important and a huge advantage.  Tactics?  I need to work on my bike racing tactics.  Unlike typical amateur triathlons, which are not draft legal, mountain bike success relies heavily on getting in a pack, taking the draft and being courageous in passing when necessary.  These are all things I can continue to work on throughout the season.  Work hard.  Play harder.

 (Obligatory selfie from a short stop at Seventh Son Brewing in Columbus on the way home.  It's just a quick jog off the highway and has outside pet-friendly seating!)

It’s been hectic around here lately.  We have had company staying with us the last couple of weeks, we have been travelling ourselves, work is busy and well, training is sucking up any time that is left.  The result has been that there is less time for cooking and full meals and many more opportunities for snacking that I would generally like.  The first defense against being hungry and snacking is a meal comprised of real food with lots of veggies, good fats and some protein.  That will make you feel full and satiated and negate most of the urge to snack.  But in the event that just is not happening one day, here are some of my favorite snacks, which do a pretty good job of staying lower on the sugars and grains:

·        Dry roasted nut mixes.  (Make sure to check the label, some mixes may have dried fruit, candy, preservatives, chemicals and sugar coatings).

·        Lower glycemic fruits (apples, oranges, berries)

·        Paleo breads (i.e. gluten free and low carb).  I make a loaf or two on the weekends when I have time and then freeze them.  They are perfect to bust out during a week when you’re short on time and need a little extra snack.  My favorites are here:  http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-recipes/breads/

·        Avocado

·        Fresh, cut up veggies with hummus or guacamole.  (If you’re not making your own hummus or guacamole, make sure to check the label to confirm what exactly you’re getting.  Check out Wholly Guacamole http://eatwholly.com/products/wholly-minis/minis-classic.html and Hannah Organic Hommos, both available at Costco).

·        Plain, full fat yogurt.

·        Fresh ground almond or peanut butter.  (It’s easy to go overboard on this, again, watch the label and also the portion size).

·        KIND strong bars—savory and lower carb than the original fruit and nut bars.

Just because you are busy does not mean that you have to toss all of your good food intentions out the window.  Keep these items on hand in your pantry and fridge and you can stay on the real food train, even when life is trying to derail you.

 Have a great week and Eat Real Food!

So the last couple of weeks have really been a great blend for all three.  Let’s start with the tri part.  This week’s recovery wraps up my second block of interval-focused training.  I’ve been working on run drill intervals at 5k pace, painful, long, broken sets of 2000 in the pool, also painful, and a mountain bike race, time trial test and more intervals on the bike.  The time trial test was a bit of a fail as I was just absolutely burned out from the race and intervals I had done a few days earlier.  But in addition to the threshold work, I completed a nice, long run, where I felt strong, even though I have not been running as many miles recently, and several long mountain bike rides.  It’s nice that summer finally appears to be here and the trails are drying out.  That being said, I’m enjoying every minute of my recovery week. 

Eat.  I have managed to stay on track for the most part, even while traveling last weekend to Asheville, NC.  Asheville is well-known for its progressive, local food scene and I was not disappointed.  Our local tour guides took us to several restaurants which catered to all dietary considerations including vegetarian, dairy and gluten free.  Besides enjoying some great local grub, I got ideas for some new recipes to try at home. 

Venture.  JMac and I ventured to several new areas over the weekend.  First, we checked out the mountain bike trails at Mountwood Park in West Virginia on our drive down to North Carolina.  http://www.mountwoodpark.org/Biking_trails.html   While we only had a chance to ride a small part of the thirty mile system, the trails were in good shape, well-marked and fun.  The park itself was very nice as well.  After riding, we enjoyed a picnic lunch there before getting back on the road.  Being only ten minutes off of interstate 77, we definitely plan on going back there again either as a getaway weekend or on our next trip down south.  We next ventured to more new and not so new trails at Bent Creek in Asheville.  http://www.mtbikewnc.com/trailheads/pisgah-national-forest/pisgah-ranger-district/bent-creek/   I had ridden there several years ago on my last visit to the area.  My recollection of my introductory ride there was long, painful, uphill gravel grinding followed by long, sometimes scary downhills.  It’s amazing what a couple of additional years on the mountain bike will do.  Nothing could be farther from the truth than my memory of yore.  While you do utilize a gravel park road to connect the various trails, the climbing was a lot less painful than I remembered.  And the downhills?  So fun.  So. Much. Fun.  There were wide, sweeping, banked turns, allyoops, and on the trails we rode, very few obstacles to navigate.  The trails at Bent Creek were a blast.  I am so very jealous of the folks in Asheville who have access to such a great system right outside their door. 

Fed Up, Katie Couric’s new documentary about the impact of sugar on Americans, particularly children, is now playing in Cleveland.  JMac and I checked it out last weekend.  If you can’t get to see it at a theater near you, I recommend dropping it in the Netflix queue.  Unfortunately, it confirmed everything I have learned over the last six months about sugar. 

The movie opens with the premise that short-sighted and incomplete science has led us down a path of low-fat, processed foods.  However, when fat is removed from a food, the food tastes bad.  So, the manufactured food companies have replaced the fat with sugar and sugar substitutes to make it palatable and encourage consumption.  The problem?  Sugar (in all of its various, fifty-six forms, including “sugar-free” substitutes) wreaks havoc on your metabolic system and entire digestive process.  No fat?  No feeling of satiety.  You eat even more and the process continues.  And through it all, the edible product companies make gazillions of dollars off your downward spiral into sickness.  The rise in obesity can be correlated to the introduction and growth of these low-fat, high sugar foods in the 1970’s. 

In addition to the general notion of how and why we are becoming metabolically broken, two other points in the movie stood out to me.  First, children are deliberately being targeted.  (Think of all of those edible product commercials during children’s television programming).  Other countries around the world have put limits on what types of “food” commercials can be shown during children’s programs.  But there is no such regulation in the United States.  The manufactured food industry has managed to stall all attempts by Congress to regulate this.  The industry has also managed to interrupt Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, which started as diet-focused, and turn it into a campaign for children’s exercise.  Also, having graduated in the near Paleolithic era of 1994, I was shocked to see how much school lunches have changed in the last twenty years.  Fast food and processed food have taken over our children’s schools.  Pizza Hut and McDonald’s are feeding our kids.  Does that even seem right?  In an effort to save money, cut costs and find alternative sources of revenue, our schools invite them to provide “food.”  But while this may solve a short-term funding situation, how much is this costing our society in the end?

Second, the movie discusses the concept of “fat on the inside.”  While someone might not look like they are fat, they can be storing a disproportionate amount of fat in their belly and around their organs, where it is most dangerous.  This, again, is particularly disconcerting in regards to children who appear to “be able to eat whatever they want” but could be getting set up for a lifetime of bad habits and eventually, disease.  Although the movie did not highlight this, I think this can also be applied to endurance athletes, who can easily imbibe on a diet high in processed carbohydrates (bagels, pasta, fruit juice, Gu’s, etc.) in the name of performance.  We could be doing more harm than good to ourselves.

In the end, the movie concludes that the most basic thing you can do to promote health and thwart this onslaught of disease is Eat Real Food.  Talk with your dollars.  Don’t support the companies whose bottom line is more important than your health and the health of your children.  The movie likens the edible product companies to the cigarette industry fifty years ago.  The industry knew the science proved their products were downright dangerous and deadly but continued to lie, deceive and promote their products anyways to the American public.  Do you honestly want to go down this road again?  Or, are you fed up now?

For more information, check out http://fedupmovie.com/#/page/home.  Sign up for the Fed Up Challenge!

I need to work on a quick, snappy response.  The short answer is, I switched to a diet free from processed grains and sugars to lose five pounds after years of counting calories failed to get me there.  But before I lost those five pounds, which I did, I found that once I got off the sugar train, a number of other daily maladies, which I did not even realize were maladies, went away as well.  Here’s the rundown:

·        Weight loss

·        Satiety

·        Improved sleep

·        Dramatic reduction in recurring GI issues (bloating, heartburn, gas—all symptoms of a high carb diet)

·        Reduced inflammation

·        Faster recovery from training, and without the use of “recovery” products

·        Increased, consistent energy, particularly at times of the day when energy used to be low (i.e. after lunch)

In addition, through subsequent research, I have learned that diets concentrated in sugar have been tied to a whole host of metabolic syndromes, cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.  Gluten sensitivity is a whole separate issue but one worth considering as well.  Besides being simultaneously laced with GMOs, which has its own subset of issues (unless you specifically look for organic or non-gmo), gluten products can cause a whole range of inflammatory, allergic responses, which one might not even suspect is the result of the gluten.  I know I did not.  But overall, I just feel one hundred times better.  I did not even realize how much my diet of low fat, “heart healthy” carbs was dragging me down. 

That being said, the easiest way to kick the sugar habit is to Eat Real Food.  As Michael Pollan states in his (life changing, at least for me) book, In Defense of Food, “eat real food, mostly plants.”  That is the best advice out there.  Don’t get bogged down in the details, at least initially.  Some experts will suggest increasing your fat intake.  Others might suggest increasing your protein.  Those are personal choices.  You need to find out what makes you feel your best.  For me, I have found that more fresh produce and veggie fats (i.e. nuts and seeds) work best.  But you cannot make that determination if your metabolic system is clogged from a diet of chemical and sugar laden edible products. 

If this seems daunting, start small.  Give up gluten for a week.  See how it goes.  I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you realize how you are not feeling.  And if that works, or if it does not, take it a step further. Give up soda or diet soda (research shows your body treats them both as sugar).  Avoid anything with corn syrup.  See what works for you.  But give it a try, you can’t lose betting on yourself.

(There are links to some of my favorite resources on the subject of Eat Real Food on my home page…including Fit, Fat Fast (metabolic efficiency for the endurance athlete), Vinnie Tortorich’s NSNG, Jonanthan Bailor’s Smarter Science of Slim, No Meat Athlete and of course, Michael Pollan’s Food Rules.  Have a great week!). 

Whew.  Last weekend was an action-packed weekend.  I told my coach that I need a recovery week this week to recover from my recovery week last week.  It started Friday afternoon with an overcast, hilly 32 mile ride out of Loudonville with my fellow campers.  A few of us in the middle of the pack hooked up and rode together, making for enjoyable group suffering.  I had forgotten just how hard all of those hills are.  They make the distance seem twice as long. 

My hope for Saturday was to mountain bike the loop through Mohican State Park.  Unfortunately, my riding partner suffered a major mechanical and couldn’t ride.  Not being comfortable riding twenty-four miles by myself through the woods, I bailed too.  I was, however, able to meet up with some tri campers checking out the Wally Road ride near our basecamp.  Given that it was overcast to intermittent rain and a little chilly, my shortened ride ended up being a good idea.  Plus, it got me back to camp ahead of the main ride and clinic participants.  I was able to get the lunch spread out for the hungry campers dining in the ranch house.

The skies started to clear over lunch and although there were feelings of weariness, excitement grew for the afternoon brick.  Unfortunately, the clear skies were short-lived.  Shortly after departing, the skies opened up in to a deluge.  In a moment of rare opportunity, I managed to find myself on a fast wheel and was making good time through the ride.  The one to two miles of gravel road was in better shape this season than in past years and I was able to navigate through it without issue.  Once the gravel ended, the hills started, as did the wind.  The area around Mohican is interesting in that it’s both hilly and windy.  The wind picked up to a point that I was actually alternatively being blown back up hills while descending or almost being blown over completely.  That, coupled with the ever-changing sun, rain, hail conditions made for a character-building ride for everyone.   The “brick” part of the workout ended up being a “brick” pretty much in name only for me.  I ran for about a mile after returning to camp and then abandoned the effort in preference of the hot tub.

The food at camp was excellent all weekend.  Most of the campers enjoyed a continental breakfast, fruit, salad and sandwich fixings for lunch and a catered dinner both Friday and Saturday nights.  A few of us with “alternative” dietary needs enjoyed a mix of the standard camp fare and homemade gluten free/vegan dinners.  Overall, I was able to navigate past the snacks and stay mostly true to my dietary goals.  Having lots of Marsita-approved snacks and the mentality that this was not a cut loose weekend, helped in achieving that goal.

All week leading up to camp I had debated driving to Chilicothe Sunday morning for Tecumseh’s Revenge mountain bike race.  I wanted to get some points on the board toward the OMBC series but 1. It had rained most of the week leading up to the race 2. I was completely unfamiliar with the course.  And 3. I would be racing on very tired legs.  But Sunday dawned sunny and I took it as an omen to race.  I packed up my gear, bid farewell to my cabin mates and drove south.  It took me longer than anticipated to drive down there and I arrived in just enough time to unload my bike, register and get a quick course description from the guy parked next to me.  (Thanks Random Guy!).  I had also read Quickdirt’s fabulous course preview (http://quickdirt.com/2014/04/28/scioto-trails-ombc-race-preview-with-photos-charts/) the week before.  Armed with that knowledge and some more route detail generously provided by a few of my fellow female novice racers at the start line, I completed the novice race in fourth place.  Considering my earlier weekend exploits and unfamiliarity with the course, I was happy with that.  Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable on unfamiliar territory is a goal of mine this year and that goal was definitely met. 

All in all it was an exhausting but fun-filled weekend.  I tested myself, had the chance to spend time with friends and meet a lot of great new people.  I look forward to doing it all over again next year!

Well, it’s off to tri camp this weekend.  Three days of “living like a pro, only more fun!”  This is my fourth year at camp and I am so excited.  With a weekend dedicated to cycling, running, mountain biking, meeting new people and yapping about triathlon, it’s sure to be a fun-filled time.  It’s also a weekend full of temptation, as evidenced by the Nutella-covered Rice Krispie treats I indulged in last year.  When you’re surrounded by food, some healthy options and some not so healthy options and doing multiple training sessions a day, it’s easy to adopt the mindset, oh, I’ll work this off.  Even if that is the case, you may be hindering your recovery by indulging in foods which spike blood sugar and create inflammation.  So on top of a heavy training load for the weekend and most likely less than ideal sleep due to shared sleeping quarters, you could be stymieing your true potential with the foods you’re eating.  In an effort to stay on track this year, I have planned ahead for my meals and am bringing some of my own food to supplement what is being provided as part of camp.  I think these options could apply to any time you’re travelling or are in a situation with “group” meals.

Breakfast options:

• Plain quick oats, not flavored instant, with some crushed nuts and sunflower seeds.
• Fresh fruit
• Smoothie with combination of fruit/veggie/fat

 Lunch options:

• Salad
• Nut mix
• Kind bars (check for lower glycemic options)
• Paleo bread with nut butter
• Olives

 Dinner options:

• Veggie burger, no bun
• Salad
• Homemade veggie chili/stew, prepared ahead and easily reheated
• Mashed sweet potatoes, prepared ahead
• Gluten free, vegan, chocolate peanut butter balls (recipe http://ohsheglows.com/2013/12/16/peanut-better-balls/  I omitted the rice krisp cereal since I didn't have the gluten free version).

Fueling/Hydration:

• Dates
• Fruit
• Peanut butter packets
• Gluten free bars
• Clif shot blocks and Gu, for use in fueling emergency
• Nuun

Hopefully, these options will allow me to maximize the opportunities for training while indulging a little and not falling completely off the NSNG wagon.   Until next week, train hard and recover hard.  Eat real food!

I would imagine that, at some point, I will have enough mountain biking experience where the first few miles of the first trail ride of the season don’t leave me twitching with nervousness.  That point is getting closer but has not yet arrived. 

Last Sunday, JMac and I packed up the gear and drove down to Mohican for our first mountain bike ride of the season.  It was also my first ride of the entire twenty-four mile loop as earlier attempts were cut short by time constraints.  The weather could not have cooperated more perfectly.  It had been dry for a couple of days and Sunday brought clear, blue skies with temperatures in the 70’s.  There were no tough clothing decisions that morning such as hat or no hat, pants or leg warmers or exactly how many layers do I want to wear on top.  It was shorts and short-sleeve jerseys the whole way, baby.

But as we started out, turning over the cranks those first few miles, it was back to mountain biking 101.  And so I kept replaying all of the lessons I have learned over the last few years in my head.

1.       Look twenty feet ahead, not at the ground immediately in front of you.  This is probably the most helpful piece of advice I have been given for riding.  Being in a position to anticipate the terrain allows you to go faster and avoid nasty surprises.

2.      Trust your bike.  After being on skinny wheels for so long, I initially feel a little uncertain hitting some loose rock, off camber roots or wet spots.  But then I remember, oh yeah, I’m on a mountain bike with big fat tires and full suspension.  I can roll over that.

3.      Speed is your friend.  Oh.  I am so bad at this one.  Use your momentum to gain traction over obstacles. 

4.      No overgripping.  It’s wasted energy and makes your whole upper body hurt.

5.      Don’t be afraid to get dirty.  It’s just fun.

6.      Concentrate.  No multi-tasking.  One of the cool things I like about mountain biking is one of my favorite things about climbing—it demands all of my attention.  There is no thinking about that problem at work, what we’re having for dinner, a cure for cancer, nothing.  Last summer I rode off a bridge wide enough to accommodate a Smart Car into a dry, rock-filled creekbed while contemplating what I needed to accomplish during the upcoming week.  Don’t do that.  It hurts and passersby look at you like the gumby you are.

7.      But relax.  You’re riding your bike, for heaven’s sake!  Last weekend, after somehow not crashing through a series of sharp, loose, downhill turns, I finally popped off at a rock garden.  Before jumping back on my bike, I took an extra second to take just a deep breath and regroup mentally.  That’s all I needed to steady my nerves.

8.      Yell Woo!  Woo! on all of the alley oops.  Because alley oops are so much fun.  And isn’t fun what this is all about anyways? 

Have a very fun week.  And don’t forget about that nutrition—eat real food so you can live longer, better and have even more fun.

So…What’s going on with training?  This week has been the second week in a block my coach is terming VO2.  We have added some intervals and upped the intensity.  Due to a late season snowstorm (!), the first track workout of the season on Tuesday had to be moved to the treadmill.  But it was done easily enough inside, alternating thirty seconds of 10k pacing with thirty seconds of recovery.  Wednesday was one mile repeats at a max but steady effort on the bike.  Swimming has been long broken sets of a mile plus, followed by shorter intervals.  On tap for the weekend is a brick, consisting of a road ride for endurance followed by a forty minute run.  And Sunday!  I am so excited.  Sunday is the first mountain bike ride of the season.  JMac and I are driving down to Mohican to ride the twenty-four mile loop.  Although I have ridden most portions of the trail at some point or another, this will be my first attempt at connecting all of the pieces together.  It’s not supposed to rain between now and then so the trails should have a chance to dry out. 

As training, or life in general, picks up, the one pot meal can be a valuable tool in your dinner arsenal.  There are endless options for veggies, protein and a side dish.  And, it comes together in one pot, eliminating extraneous dirty dishes.  You can throw in pretty much any vegetables you have on hand.  Here is my recipe, if you can call it that, for Easy Peasy Mexican One Pot.  I made this on Wednesday, after one mile bike repeats, and it hit the spot of being filling but still clean.

Easy Peasy Mexican One Pot (Vegan)

1 red onion, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced or a few slices of roasted red pepper, from a jar (I used Trader Joe’s roasted red pepper)

1-2 cloves garlic, crushed

Olive oil

Cumin

Protein (tofu or Beyond Meat, cut into ½” pieces or tempeh, crumbled)

Jar of your favorite minimally processed salsa

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

2-3 sweet potatoes, depending on size

Rinse the sweet potatoes and cook them in the microwave on your potato setting.

Heat about 1 tsp of olive oil in a deep skillet.  Cook the onions, pepper and garlic on medium-high heat until softened and starting to turn brown.  (If using roasted pepper, add the pepper a little later, after the onion and garlic have started to soften).   Sprinkle with ½ tsp-ish of cumin.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add the beans and protein.  Stir.  Add about ½ a jar of salsa or to taste.  Stir and heat everything through. 

Scoop out the baked sweet potato into an individual bowl. Serve the One Pot over the mashed sweet potato.  Add a salad trough et voila!  Dinner is served. 

Have a great week.  Fuel yourself for life, eat real food!

A couple of nights ago I was rooting around the bathroom closet, looking for a new stick of deodorant, which, unfortunately, for the rest of the world, I was not able to find, when I found something else.  I found my crack cocaine, which I had not used or even thought about in months.  It’s not real crack cocaine, Silly.  My crack cocaine is what I used to call my assortment of “natural” and not so natural over the counter sleep aids.  Prior to going NSNG (no sugar, no grains, for the newly initiated), for about as long as I had been hungry, which is about as long as I can remember back in my adult life, I had also not been able to sleep all of the way through the night.  I would have no problems falling asleep but at some point in the middle of the night, I would wake up, my mind would start wandering and I might be up for fifteen minutes or an hour or two.  For someone who starts their day before sunrise, the loss of even fifteen minutes of sleep is disastrous to overall daily productivity.

In the past I always chalked this problem up to too much stress at work, since my 2:00 a.m. mind would generally wander there first or too much life in general, as my mind would wander to my mental list of daily activities and tasks next.  But could my mid-night awakenings have actually been caused by my diet?  I say yes.  Here’s why.

Life has not been simplified or become less stressful in the last six months.  The only thing that has been simplifed is my diet.  And now I sleep through the night.

Pre-NSNG, a typical work night might look like this:  Get home from work.  Do a run or bike workout for one to two hours.  Snack on “recovery” drink while making dinner.  Eat dinner, possibly with a glass of wine, and definitely with some type of dessert.  Get hungry.  Eat a bowl of “healthy” cereal.  Go to bed.

Looking back, I realize I was spiking my blood sugar with all of those carbohydrates, in particular that cereal snack, so close to bed.  Recent studies show that when you eat sugar, whether in the form of a “heart healthy grain” or refined, processed sugar, parts of your brain light up.  The response is very similar to the response you would get from taking heroine or another hard drug.  In addition, your body starts a series of hormonal processes to break down the sugar.  Knowing what I do now, I have to imagine my sugar-happy brain fell asleep easily while my body worked overtime in the background to process all of the carbohydrates forced into it in the last four hours of the day.  Then, when that process was complete, my no longer sugar-satisfied brain woke up.  This pattern of insomnia becomes a self-fulfilling circular error for a lot of people, including myself, when the next day, tired and mentally foggy, they reach for a soda, piece of candy or double caramel Frappuccino to spark some energy. 

If you are having problems falling asleep or staying asleep, I would suggest backing off of the sugar and starch, at least in the evenings.  Try it for a few weeks.  What have you got to lose except for that flock of sheep you have been counting?