Michael Pollan's 7 Rules for Eating

One of the things that I am slowly coming to realize is that if an athlete wants to compete at the highest level, the athlete's nutritional habits must reflect much of the same planning and execution that is applied to actual training.  Many endurance athletes mistakenly think that because such a high volume of calories are burned during training and racing, that it gives them license to eat whatever they want- all the time.  Sure, runners and triathletes expend more calories than the average couch wrangler- so the occasional extra calories from a coffee shop pastry probably won't push anyone too far down the path to obesity.  Where I feel that some endurance athletes go wrong is when workouts are used as justification for indulging in foods with no redeeming nutritional value.  You know what I'm talking about: "Oh, its cool- I had a crazy 3 hour ride this morning, so I can afford to have a 5th slice of mega meat extra cheese pizza and another Mountain Dew."


I am by no means an authority on nutrition, but I like to read the works of those who are.  So I thought that I would share Michael Pollan's 7 Rules for eating.  These 'rules' can serve as appropriate guidelines for much of America, while allowing for individual nutritional needs/influences. Mr. Pollan is an author and professor at the University of California, Berkley.  His literary contributions include the Botany of Desire (2001), The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006), In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (2008), and Food Rules: An Eater's Manual (2009).

7 Rules for Eating; As recommended by Michael Pollan

1. Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.  "When you pick up that box of portable yogurt tubes, or eat something with 15 ingredients you can't pronounce, ask yourself, "What are those things doing in there?"


2. Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients that you can't pronounce.


3. Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop the perimeter of the store.  Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh food when it goes bad.


4. Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.  "There are always exceptions -honey- but as rule, things like twinkies that never go bad aren't food."


5. It is not just what you eat but how you eat.  "Always leave the table a little bit hungry.  Many cultures have rules that you stop eating before you are full.  In Japan, they say eat until you are four-fifths full, and in German culture they say, 'Tie off the sack before it's full.""


6. Families traditionally ate together, around the table and not at a TV, at regular meal times.  It's a good tradition.  Enjoy meals with people you love.


7. Don't buy food where you buy your gasoline.  In the U.S., 20% of food is eaten in the car.     

Beaverdam Race Report....A mixed bag

I feel like I have to start out this race report by acknowledging the weather yesterday- absolutely crazy!  By far the most adverse weather conditions I have ever had to cope with while racing.  But of much greater importance than any insignificant race- more than a dozen people in North Carolina were killed in the storms that swept through the state on Saturday, and I certainly have been thinking about the damage that was done and the lives that were lost.  

I am not building up the external conditions as an excuse for a sub par performance in this race report.  Far from it, as I actually feel like I managed the conditions fairly well, but the weather definitely played a role in the race for a lot of people yesterday, but more on that later.  

Beaverdam was the start of my 2011 triathlon campaign, hopefully marking the beginning of a summer filled with  personal triumphs and continued growth as a pseudo-athlete.  I had a short list (2) of goals for the day going into this olympic distance race, but as I write this I guess I can say that I didn’t accomplish either one of them.  Earlier this winter when I was mapping out the upcoming race season, Coach Williamson and I decided that the Beaverdam race in mid April would be an excellent place to test my early season fitness.  The primary goal of this race would be to get a baseline gauge of olympic distance swim/bike/run splits while mixing it up with some of the good local competition.  Although I feel like I put forth a solid effort, giving all I had to give on the day, the strong winds and wet course didn’t really allow for me to get an accurate snapshot of my 1.5k/40k/10k fitness.  My secondary goal for the day was to win.  Not to ruin the suspense, but I didn’t do that either.  Actually not even close.

On to the actual race.  I was stoked for the swim, while dreading it at the same time leading up to the starting gun yesterday.  I was pretty fired up to actually swim hard for 1500m, because I have been working really hard on my swimming this winter.  I realized last fall that if I ever want to make it anywhere in this sport, I needed to make improving my swim stroke a priority.  It feels like it has been a long winter/spring of waking up hours before the sun, flogging myself repeatedly in group workouts with much more aquatically gifted athletes.  Anyway, so I was ready to RACE this swim- but I was not so excited that the lake on race morning was measured at 61 degrees!  I’m from Florida, I’m used to floating in the Gulf of Mexico like it is a warm bath- 61⁰ is nuts!  Well, I had a rotten swim- and it didn’t have anything to do with the water temp.  I somehow missed out on connecting with the lead pack in the first 400m, and after that I just couldn’t seem to find a rhythm.  I couldn’t hold a straight line, sighted way too often, and spent pretty much the whole swim trying ineffectively to reconnect with the lead pack of 3.   

After a sluggish T1, I was off on the bike to hopefully chase down a few of the fast swimmers.  The wind from the looming squall line had been picking up all morning, and it had a pretty big impact on the bike course for all the competitors yesterday.  Ask any cyclist and they will tell you that there is something very ungratifying about putting massive effort into the pedals only to crawl along on a windy day, which at times felt like exactly what we were doing out on the bike course.  There were several racers that had a hard time with bike handling in the windy conditions, and I actually saw one poor dude with  a disc wheel get blown right off the road into a ditch!  Thankfully I was able to avoid any catastrophies on the slick, blown out course.  Coach D has had me riding lots of big miles to prep for some upcoming longer races, so I felt pretty confident that I could mash pretty hard and still have some legs for the run.  After pressing hard on the bike and a much cleaner T2, I had picked up 3 spots heading out on the rolling, 2 loop run course.

The run was solid but fairly uneventful except for the rain, which started and stopped a few times while I was out on the course.  Being a winding, two loop afair, I had several chances to see how much of a time advantage those ahead of me had.  I fought hard with the eventual 5^th place finisher, overtaking each other several times before he faded at mile 4.  I tried hard to reel in some other peeps on the run, but to no avail.  I started the run in 4^th place, and that’s where I finished it, coming home with a 38:08 run split.

All in all, I am satisfied (if not pleased) with my efforts yesterday.  It was a tough day to race, but I didn’t give in to myself or the conditions.  I am coming away from this event keenly aware of some things I need to work on, and I was eager to get back to work today.  The Gulf Coast ½ Iron Triathlon is 20 days from today, and I will need to put forth a stronger effort across the board.  Congratulations to everyone who raced at the Inside-Out Sports Olympic at Beaverdam, it was an experience I won’t soon forget.  A huge thank you to all the race volunteers, as well as the FS Series Race Production crew- who put on another great event and managed to keep all the athletes safe.  Another big thanks Brooks Running, Durata Training, and my wife Leigh.  Without you guys I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do this stuff.

Thanks for reading….

Early season jitters

This Saturday marks the start of my competitive race season, and I have to say that I am starting to get nervous.  I have jumped in a few early season events so far this spring, but the Inside-Out Sports Olympic at Beaverdam this weekend is the first race that represents the style and intensity of what I hope to find some competitive success at in 2011.  Coach Williamson isn’t prescribing much of a taper for this race (as we look ahead to more important things coming in early May), so outside of the usual thrashing I am taking in the pool and on the bike, I have tried to rest whenever possible, and keep my activities pretty mellow the past couple of days.  I guess I can attribute most of my nervous energy to the excitement of mixing it up with some of the great athletes in my new hometown, as well as the symbolic end to the off season that this first race represents.  

Given time to reflect on the body of work I have put in since early December, I feel pretty confident that I have taken care of both the big workouts, as well as the small ancillary details necessary to produce a successful result this weekend.  The long preseason training block has been done, and now it’s time to put faith in recent efforts to get an accurate gauge of my fitness against some quality competition this weekend.

Trust the training, execute on race day.

Too Much of a Good Thing?

“Americans are drowning in a sea of very bad nutrition information” – T. Colin Campbell, Cornell University.

Dr. Campbell couldn’t be more accurate in his assessment of the western diet, and athletes are no more immune to commonly held misconceptions about diet and nutrition than the morbidly obese.  There are numerous topics one could take issue with under the umbrella of nutritional habits of endurance athletes, but I would like to focus this discussion on the most sought after macronutrient in the the sports world- PROTEIN.  I readily admit that there are many components of the protein debate that are well beyond the scope of what I am discussing here.  Methods such as protein intake during prolonged endurance efforts, or exact post-training protein requirements are better left to those much more qualified than I.

Often I am asked how much protein one should be getting to adequately support athletic pursuits; from the weekend warrior to the serious runner logging 100 miles a week, and I'm shocked at the wide range of assumptions people hold about the ‘right’ amount of this misunderstood nutrient.  Based on my experience, the most prevalent thoughts on protein in the endurance sports world seem to be:

a)      Protein must be consumed after all workouts

b)      As a general rule, more is better

The best way to combat misinformation, rumors, and ‘hype’ produced by magazines or for-profit supplement companies is with unbiased science.  Here are some known truths about daily protein requirements.  The current Dietary Reference Intake for protein is 0.8/g/kg/day for adults- regardless of physical activity status.  This standard satisfies the protein requirements for 97% of all American adults, but is probably not exceptionally relevant to this audience.  The American Dietetics Association (ADA) recently put forth revised protein requirements for recreational and competitive athletes, (but what might come as a shock to those slurping protein shakes daily) the dietary protein needs of endurance athletes are not all that different than those of society at large, when expressed as a % of total calories consumed.  The ADA Sports Nutrition Manual for Professionals (4^th Ed; 2006) advises the following (male & female):

Individual Demands	g/kg/day	Approx % of Daily Energy
Sedentary	0.8	8%
Endurance	1.2-1.4	9-10%
Strength	1.6-1.7	14-15%

    

Based on the above model, a 154 lb (70 kg) male endurance athlete consuming 3800 calories daily should be striving for 84-98 grams of protein a day.  With a diet rich in whole grains, legumes, fruit, vegetables, and fish or some other animal source, reaching 85-100 grams of protein is a fairly easy task…WITHOUT the aid of protein bars, shakes, excess meat or supplement consumption.  With regard to protein consumption, more is not always better! 

It also concerns me that many athletes think that after any training session/workout, protein is a critical and immediate need.  Yes, after a hard 2.5 hour brick workout or tough 3500 yards in the pool, glycogen replenishment (and a little protein) should certainly be the first thing on your post workout agenda.  Where most go wrong is in thinking that a protein bar is a necessity after a 35 minute recovery run or light strength training session.  If you are taking in small, nutritionally balanced meals frequently throughout the day- hydrate and skip the extra calories, you might be lighter and faster for it on race day!  

The take home message is that protein is not a magical nutrient that unlocks athletic potential. Although protein is a necessary component of the diets of athletes and non-athletes alike,  carbohydrates are substantially more important to athletic function/success for endurance athletes.  The vast majority of endurance athletes eating a well thought out diet of minimally processed foods are more than likely meeting their respective protein requirements without the use of protein supplements.  Lastly (and most importantly), be critical of where you get your nutrition information.  Gravitate towards peer reviewed journals based in science, NOT health or fitness magazines from the local news stand.

Some great nutrition resources:

The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell (2006)

Sports Nutrition; A Practice Manual for Professionals, Marie Dunford (editor) (2006)

In Defense of Food; An Eater’s Manifesto, by Michael Pollan (2008)

Thanks for reading,

jw

Dipping my toe in the water

Hello World, thanks for taking a minute to check out my humble site.  I never thought I would be doing this- and by this I mean blogging.  I have always been of the belief that there is too much social media being forced upon us, and for the longest time I was turned off by the idea of putting my thoughts and ramblings out there for the world to see.  I don't have a facebook page, and I just recently joined twitter (where my primary motivation was to follow Lance Armstrong's tweets).  I mean, there are only so many hours in a day, and why should I expect some busy soul to take valuable time out of their day to read what I have to say anyway?  Will I even be able to make modestly informative/positive contributions to the blog-o-sphere, when there are so many intelligent writers out there who do this for a living day in and day out?
 

Well...here it goes, I guess I will find out soon enough.  My promise to you, the reader is to not entirely fill this space with recounts of my daily struggles, but instead to strive to report on relevant methods, people, and science within the realm of endurance sports.  Hopefully I can share with you current topics and inspiring people- and yes, I may from time to time throw out some updates on my journey to try and make it in the world of professional triathlon.

Thanks for taking the time to look, and check back soon.