Diet Update

If you've followed along, I have been working on transitioning to a low carb, high fat diet for nearly 2 months now. It was a struggle to adapt at first. I tried to go into nutritional ketosis by limiting my carbs to 50g per day and I just couldn't do it. All of my runs felt terrible and I just had a hard time finding a "happy place" where I had some flexibility with my diet. Ketosis requires zero tolerance for cheating and I just enjoy some things too much to live with zero tolerance.

I have settled on what I would term a "high fat version of the Paleo diet". At this point, I think the Paleo diet is becoming an overused term and has slightly different meanings to all that follow it. For me, it basically means real food: nothing processed or out of a box, no fast food, organic and grass-fed if possible/reasonable, minimal sugar, and no grains of any kind. However, while Paleo eaters eat more fat than most Americans, there is nothing explicit that says it has to be high fat. You could eat meat and vegetables all day, in which case you'd be eating primarily protein and carbs, particularly if you picked lean meat (often prescribed by Paleo followers). What I have done is to go out of my way to eat fat when possible -- fatty cuts of meat, whole fat cheese, whole fat milk, full fat greek yogurt (careful with yogurt, lots of sugar), heavy whipping cream, coconut oil, ghee, almonds, avocados, olive oil, eggs, and bacon are my staples. However, I still eat some carbs in the form of berries, organic apple sauce, beer or wine, vegetables (no limits on Paleo friendly veggies), and a periodic cheat item like a Bing energy drink.

The only real difference between now and 2 months ago is the amount of fat I eat. The benefits of this change are that I am finally eating close to 3500 kcals per day -- which I need to run 55 miles per week at 190 lbs -- without feeling like crap or gaining weight. I haven't had an episode of the "runner's trots" in months. My overall gut health has improved tremendously. One example of a dish that I really enjoy pre or post run is a high fat Paleo hash my wife has been making. The base is sweet potatoes, kale, and onions that are sauteed in oil.  Then it is mixed with cooked 80% lean ground beef (don't drain off the fat) and topped with two eggs. Yum!

On the run, I have started to allow moderate amounts of carbs to keep my energy levels up. For now, I am really enjoying Skratch Labs as a low calorie (but mostly sugar) beverage. I have found that just a minimal amount of carbs coming in keeps my brain from feeling fatigue. For example, I tried to go without any carbs on my Saturday run and my mental perception of the difficulty of the run increased dramatically. Sunday all I had was a few swigs of Skratch (maybe 100 calories) and I felt strong the whole run, despite it being day 2 of a back-to-back and having fatigued legs. I will also enjoy Hammer Bars on the run. Again, they are primarily carbs, but they pass the "real food" test being entirely organic and non-GMO ingredients. Once in a while I use Generation Ucan pre-run, but I don't know that I am sold on that product. It is expensive, difficult to work with, and somewhat limiting because it is ineffective when mixed with high sugar products. I think it works, I just don't know that it works for me. I fully expect that I will take some gels in longer races, particularly in later stages.

Weekly Training Wrap - 4/21 - 4/27

A super solid week of training, finally! In fact, everything lined up really well. I felt strong on just about every run. My heart rate data is suggesting that I am back to near peak fitness -- just one week after complaining that it was lagging. I did both quality (some Progression and Mile Repeats) and specificity (B2B trail runs). And, I got to see the North Fork 50 course on Saturday. I have run CT sections 1 and 2, and I think the course is pretty much on par with what I expected from that area. It is quite pretty, not very technical, and shaded in the areas that aren't burned. Maybe my only complaint is that much of what we saw seems like a mountain biking course. The trail is often narrow and rutted into the terrain. And many of the turns are windy with embankments to allow for fast turns on a bike. That is a pretty small complaint. I think I will love the course. However, it appears to be a course that will be hot and I need to be as prepared as I can for that.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	7	Zone 2
Tuesday	11	Progressive
Tuesday	4	Easy
Wednesday	5	Easy Body Weight Training
Thursday	8	Mile Repeats (6:34, 6:33, 6:33, 6:33)
Friday	Off	Body Weight Training
Saturday	17	North Fork Course Preview
Sunday	13	Deer Creek
Total	65	About 7200 feet of vert

Weekly Training Wrap - 4/14 - 4/20

A solid week of training for me, even though it was a long-awaited cutback. I had an email conversation with my buddy Jon about how to take my training to the next level. And the decision was quality, in particular quality and structure on my long runs. I have been pretty comfortable doing easy runs and building a base, but I think I have reached a point where the gains from that are limited. With that in mind, I did three quality workouts this week. None of them put me too deep in the red, but all of them designed to break me out of the slow miles that I've been logging. This week I return to the higher volume training and some trail specificity this weekend, including a course preview for North Fork 50. Things feel good and I am really happy to be training again!

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Body Weight Training
Tuesday	8	Progressive Bluffs Loops
Wednesday	5	Easy
Thursday	7	Tempo
Friday	Off	Strength Training
Saturday	14	Structured Long
Sunday	10	Easy
Total	45	About 3500 feet of vert

Weekly Training Wrap - 4/7 - 4/13

I am pretty darn happy with where my training is at. This week finished off a 4-week block that totaled 230 miles and almost 25K of vertical. After a long, technical, big vertical trail run on Saturday, I pretty much feel totally back to my pre-surgery self, functionally at least. I still have a little work to do to get fit, but I feel I can train the way I want to finally -- just in time for trail season to really kick off. Tuesday's run (a GA-effort w/ some Fartleks) gave me confidence that my overall fitness is nearing 2013 levels on the road, but Saturday's long proved I have a bit of work to do on the trails. My body really freaked out in the warm afternoon weather.

I have a pretty aggressive cutback week (down to around 45 miles) that I plan to make use of to rest up and reinvigorate my cross training routines. And, I am traveling a bit for work.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Rest
Tuesday	11	MLR w/ Fartleks
Tuesday	4	Run Club Recovery
Wednesday	5	Easy PT and Body Weight Training
Thursday	10	Hill Repeats
Thursday	5	Bluffs @ Lunch
Friday	Off	Rest
Saturday	19	Long @ Deer Creek
Sunday	7	Easy
Total	61	About 7700 feet of vert

Weekly Training Wrap - 3/31 - 4/6

On my original plan, this week was a cutback week. However, I've only had one tough week in my last training block because I lost parts of two weeks to my pulled hamstring. And, I am traveling next week for work. Those things combined made this a hard training week so that I can put off my cutback week to my travel week. Overall it went really well. I am starting to implement two to three "key" workouts per week. This week I did some Mile Repeats and Hill Repeats on the treadmill to dodge poor weather. Neither workout was killer, but I felt both were effective. I also had a nice long road run (hilly with about 2K of vertical as well) in which I have more of a typical long run effort -- not just a MAF/super easy effort. I felt strong through out and good enough to run 10 more miles the following day. With a little less than 2 months to go, I am need to continue pushing some intensity to round out my fitness.

I finally have had some time to break in a couple of my new Altra shoes. At this stage, I think I can honestly say that I love my Olympus (55 miles) and they will be my shoe choice in the "max cushion" category. (Though I still have some Mafate that I need to find a way to rotate in.)  I am somewhat undecided on my Instinct 2.0. I like the shoe on the whole, but I find it kind of a "tweener" shoe. There is too much cushion for everyday use. And I have other cushioned shoes for super long stuff. Right now, I prefer the Instinct 1.5 as an everyday shoe to the 2.0, even though I like the fit of the 2.0 way better. When I retire my Instinct 1.5, I'll have to find another shoe to fill that void. Perhaps the The One2 (Squared)? As soon as the blog mentioned a comparison to the original Kinvara, my interest in this shoe doubled. The original Kinvara are my favorite shoes of all time.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Rest
Tuesday	8	Mile Repeats PT and Body Weight Training
Wednesday	5	Easy
Thursday	8	Hill Repeats PT and Body Weight Training
Friday	5	Easy Yoga
Saturday	20	Long Road Run
Sunday	10	Easy
Total	56	About 4700 feet of vert

Weekly Training Wrap - 3/24 - 3/30

A pretty darn strong week for me. In fact, I set a PR for TRIMP points with 1027 point on just a little over 9 hours of training. I think that number was aided slightly by a small change to my zones -- I lowered my Zone 1 cut off to 143 -- and an unusually high HR day on Wednesday. Things settled out a little bit with my weight training and diet. However, I think the diet is still a work in progress and may take another few weeks to really engrain for me. My terrible HR day on Wednesday was likely a result of too little sodium to go with this high fat diet.

This week certainly helped to salvage a frustrating month that had me fall about 50 miles shy of my goal. The final stats for March:

• 21 runs totaling 194.3 miles (once again a little shy of my per month goal for 2014)
• 18,670 feet of vertical gain or slightly more than my per month goal for 2014
• Two 20 mile runs and two weekends of B2B long runs

As I look at the big picture, it is pretty hard to complain. I have increased my miles each month since recovering from knee surgery. And, I have compiled 7 weeks of at least 47 since the beginning of the year and 557 miles YTD. I think I am in a good place. The meat of the trail running season is still in front of me and I persevered through Winter -- my least favorite time of year to run. That said, I only have 13 weeks to North Fork 50 and likely need to start pushing both volume and intensity a touch. I think intensity will be harder if I continue to worry too much about HR training. This ultra low carb diet is proving to be a challenge as well. I'll find a way to make it work.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	5	Easy
Tuesday	10	Hill Repeats Strength Training
Wednesday	5	Easy
Thursday	7	Progressive PT and Body Weight Training
Friday	Off	Rest
Saturday	20	Long Road Run
Sunday	14	Bluffs Loop
Total	62	About 6100 feet of vert

My New Altra Arrivals

I am generally a big fan of Altra shoes, though there are some complaints that I have had in the past 12 months. Despite those complaints, I am super excited to try many of the new shoes they are producing. And I continue to recommend them to my friends and family. (I would guess that at least 2-3 dozen pairs of their shoes have either been purchased by me or as a result of my recommendation.) Now that I am ramping up for 2014 and running injury free, I have restocked my supply after retiring pairs of Instinct 1.0, Superior 1.0, and Torin 1.0. And I currently already rotate pairs of the Lone Peak 1.0 and Instinct 1.5.

My New 2014 Line Up

The shoe I was maybe most excited about is the Instinct 2.0. The Instinct 1.0 was my second favorite shoe ever (other than the unappealing looks). While the Instinct 1.5 are a decent shoe, they seem  to be a bit narrower than the original to me. However, I really like the balance of cushion and road feel in them. Anyway, what appealed most to me about the Instinct 2.0 is the addition of some more cushion and the re-worked upper. It has only been three runs and 20 some miles, but I am very impressed. The mold/last is much more inline with what I hoped and feels closer to the 1.0 to me. The cushion is very pillowy, bordering on Hoka soft. This may push this shoe more into a long run category for me, but that is fine. I like my Instinct 1.5 as a strength and speed shoe. At some point when I have a few hundred miles on them, I'll write a review. But I expect these shoes to get more than their share of love in my rotation.

Instinct 2.0 are pillowy soft right out of the box

The other shoe I was super excited about is the Olympus. Like everyone, I have become enamored with cushion and wanted badly to have a viable alternative to the Hoka. I own a pair of Hoka Mafate because they are the only model that comes close to having enough forefoot room for me. But, the Mafate weigh nearly a pound each!  Yikes!! The Olympus weigh in at close to 11 oz for me, or just a little heavier than my everyday shoes. That extra weight is worth the cushion. Similar to the Instinct 2.0, my initial impressions are very positive on this shoe. Looking at the Altra website, it appears the shoes are built on the same last (SD5-M). And that explains why they both feel like a perfect fit to me -- no issues with width or toebox.

In addition to the weight and last, I am super excited about their rocker technology. The Hokas feel like bricks to me and I doubt I could ever run fast in them because of the rigidness of the outsole. Altra did a great job with the rocker technology and allowing for the shoe to feel like you can toe-off. It is an odd sensation when you first put them on, and they almost don't feel zero drop because of it. I already took these shoes on a 13 mile, 2500K technical trail run and was very pleased. They currently have 50 miles on them. I will write a more thorough review once they have some more miles on them. My only complaint so far: how will I ever wear out my Mafate with these shoes in my closet?!

A good looking shoe for having so much cushion.

The other shoe I recently purchased was a pair of the Lone Peak 1.5. I have yet to log a mile in them because I have a pair of 1.0 that I want to wear out first. I bought them in part because the changes between the 1.0 and this model were minimal. It seems the majority of changes were improving the material and the drainage in the upper, both are welcome changes for me.