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Effective Masters Athlete Nutrition Strategy

10/24/2015

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MASTERS NUTRITION STRATEGY

So, some of us have our nutrition dialed in, some don't and some keep playing with it in search of the "magic".  As Masters athletes get older, in order to hang out to our speed and performance, it because even more critical to dial things in and avoid making mistakes that the young guns can afford to make but we Masters cannot.  I thought it would make sense to offer some tried and true guidelines that I would highly suggest you start to follow if you do not already. 
 
The body can absorb 4-6 calories per minute, or about 250-350 calories per hour.  Below this and you risk under-fueling, particularly in events lasting longer than 3 hours.  More than this and you risk bogging your GI Tract down and cratering mid-race. Ideally, you would want to hook yourself up to a drip that would dose out 4-6 calories every minute.  That would be the most steady and efficient way for your body to receive its nutrition.  Unfortunately, this doesn't work in the real world. 
 
So, you can approach your nutritional needs in one of several ways - you can take in small amounts often or large amounts less often.  You can take in solids or gels or liquids or a combo among the three.  Keep in mind that the more you take in at any one time, the more energy and blood is going to be diverted away from the working muscles and into your stomach to focus on digestion.  This robs your muscles of the fuel they need to perform optimally and you end up burning more calories than normal (digestion is a calorie burning event). 
 
It would thus make sense to take your nutrition in the form of gels or liquids over solids because the first 2 forms are much easier for the body to digest - read: digested faster and with less blood / energy diverted to the stomach.  It would also make sense to take your energy in more often and in smaller doses.  Those who have trained enough with me know that I live by the clock while exercising.  Sometimes I even set a countdown timer (especially in races) to go off every 10 minutes to remind myself to drink and fuel up. 
 
One way to mix and match your caloric intake would be to get some of your hourly nutritional needs met via liquid form as you drink every few minutes.  Then, you can punctuate things every 30-60 minutes with a 100-calorie gel.  As long as you are in the 250-350 calorie-per-hour range, it's tough to go wrong.  But, you should work on figuring out how your body best responds to caloric intake. Some athletes cannot stomach gels; some get an upset stomach with a complex carbohydrate drink solution; still others have iron gullets and can seemingly consume anything without issue.
 
Now, you need to balance this with the fact that your body can typically only absorb 16-24 oz. per hour of liquid. When it is super hot / humid outside, up to 28 oz. can be processed.  Beyond that, you are risking the shutting down of your GI Tract. If there is too much in the stomach, it goes into survival mode by shutting off the normal digestive process.  Think of your sink drain when it's full of coffee grounds.  The water backs up and you realize you need to hit the disposal button in order to clear it all out and allow the pipes to run clean.  Same goes with your GI tract.  If you've watched the Ironman on TV and see some of the athletes running with a bloated stomach, it is because they ingested too much liquid, thinking "more is better" against the extreme weather conditions Kona can serve up.  They are (almost literally) dead wrong. 
 
The funny thing is, when the GI tract shuts itself down, you get thirsty.  So your first thought is, "Oh, I need to drink MORE."  Wrong!!  Don't drink at all. You know the feeling - upset stomach, sloshing, feeling bloated, thinking that taking another sip of carb drink or water will make you barf, etc.  All clear signs you have ingested too much liquid.  Plus, your performance takes a nose dive.  Your body wants a time out.  Best thing you can do is not ingest anything at all for as long as it takes for your body to reach stasis again.  Could be 10 minutes, might be 30. Point is, you can't force the turn around.  Your body will let you know when it's in balance again. 
 
Follow the guidelines above and you should avoid GI distress during training and racing.  Play with your fueling strategy to find what works best.  For example, you might find that a carb drink works for the first half of a long ride then switching to water and gels for the second half works better.  Or, you may find that water and gels works for a long run whereas a carb drink causes upset stomach.  Whatever.  The goal is to figure all this out before race days comes so you are 100% confident with your fueling and hydrating strategy. 

Bonus tip.  Once you're back to full training after taking some time off after your final race (you are taking some time off, right?), at night right before bed start taking whey protein in 4-6 ounces of water -- one scoop on easier or lighter days and two scoops on hard or heavier days.  The whey protein serves a dual purpose:  1) it spurs the nighttime recovery process into overdrive; and 2) it can have a soothing effect which helps you sleep more deeply.


Happy Training, 
Coach Nate 
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Effective Indoor Bike & Run Training

10/17/2015

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As we progress through Fall and head into Winter, training outside becomes more challenging for many athletes.  Daylight continues to decrease and the early mornings are ever colder.  Safety and comfort both become challenges for most athletes.  In large part, we are forced to move our training indoors for the bike and run.  But, by training purposefully we can minimize the boredom factor and make the time spent on the bike trainer and treadmill very effective, and put ourselves in a better position to perform come next Spring.
 
Tips
Put a fan in a position that blows to keep you cool.  The lack of airflow can cause overheating and, thus, inhibit your ability to perform optimally.  Due to a slightly elevated core temperature, drink a little more than you do while exercising outdoors.  Listen to some motivating music to help you stay focused on the task at hand.  Lastly, for indoor running, set the treadmill to 1% gradient to better simulate running outside in terms of a more realistic effort at any given pace.
 
Benefits
The biggest benefit of moving your training indoors is control.  There are no stoplights or stop signs, no icy roads or trails, no traffic, and no other disruptive factors with which to deal.  The ability to control every variable – speed, RPMs, power, HR on the bike, or pace, incline and distance on the run – means you can get an effective workout in less time than if you were outdoors.  Secondly, without the stimulation of the outdoors, training indoors forces you to better focus and makes you mentally tougher.  With the inability to glide along on either the bike or on the treadmill, you are forced to hold pace and can better keep yourself honest.  With the treadmill specifically, if you live in a flatter part of the country or do not have easy access to hills, you can gain some great leg strength by conducting hill workouts on the belt.
 
Some Examples of Effective Indoor Workouts
Each workout should be preceded by an effective warm-up of 10-20 minutes and followed by a relaxed cool down of 10-15 minutes.
Hills and More Hills
Bike
5-10 x 2-5-minute Big Gear reps with half-time recovery.  Big Gear reps are done at L3 and 55-65rpm; recoveries are L1/L2 at 90-100rpm.  These reps simulate hill work and strengthen your hips and glutes by forcing you to better engage your hip flexors and low back.
Run
8-12 x 1-2-minute hard efforts with 90-second recovery.  Hard efforts are done on a 6-8% gradient at 10k effort; flatten out the treadmill for the easy L1 recoveries. It’s important to not jack the gradient up too much and slow your turnover too much.
 
Keeping Tempo
Bike
Start with 30 minutes and build up to a solid hour of alternating 4:45 at L3 with 15 seconds of high RPM spinning (110-120rpm), then immediately settle back in at L3 and normal cadence.  Avoid relaxing into L2 as you allow your cadence to slow.  You may not shift gears or you may shift into one easier gear for the fast cadence intervals.
Run
Perform 2 x 10-15-minute intervals at L3 with 4-6 minutes moderate L1 between. The goal is to settle into a solid pace that is at or slightly faster than half-marathon pace.  Focus on getting into a groove just like you would on a flat trail or stretch of road.
 
The Speed Machine
Bike
Start with 4 x 15-second sprints from a dead stop, quickly accelerating to top speed and 100+rpm before spinning easy for 2:45 after each sprint.  After the final recovery spin, head right into 4 x 30-second intervals at L6 with 1:30 easy spinning.  Finish up with 4 x 1-minute L5 with 1-2 minutes easy spin between.
Run
Start with 4 x 30-second intervals at 10% gradient with 1-minute recovery periods between.  Complete the 30 seconds at an effort similar to running a mile on the track.  Flatten out the gradient for the recoveries.  Take the final minute recovery and then head right into 4 x 1-minute intervals at 6% gradient with 1-minute recoveries.  The hard minutes are run at 5k race effort and the recoveries are again flat.  After the final easy minute, go right into 2 x 2 minutes at 0% with 1 minute easy between.  Run the 2 minutes at slightly faster than 10k effort, really getting the legs turning over when you’re a bit fatigued and your turnover was slowed down as you fought gravity on the previous reps.  If your treadmill can’t get going fast enough here, use the lowest gradient possible to help simulate the proper effort. 
 
Indoors Year Round?
The effectiveness of the bike trainer and treadmill cannot be overstated.  Even during the most perfect Spring and Summer weather, training indoors can continue to be an extremely effective way to conduct your interval work and further spur your fitness forward.
 
I like working out outside as much as anyone.  And, there are plenty of days I do ride outside in the dark and cold as long as it is 30 degrees and the roads are clear of ice.  My lights illuminate the road sufficiently enough so I can even descend canyon roads at full speed.  However, there are some days when I just don’t want to deal with the cold or the dark or putting on layers of clothing, or days when I simply have to ride inside.  These workouts provide examples of a well-rounded mix of durations, intensities and stressors.  Incorporate them into your current training regimen and create variations of your own.  Whatever helps you spice things up and puts you on a more deliberate path to great fitness come next Spring.
 
Happy Training,
Coach Nate
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HOW A MASTERS Endurance ATHLETE SHOULD STRUCTURE THE TRAINING YEAR

10/11/2015

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Over 20 years ago, in my early-20s and still wet behind the ears in terms of coaching other athletes to success, I thought back to my collegiate swimming days and hit upon an idea for structuring long-term training that, to my pre-Internet knowledge at the time, flew in the face of all the other coaching practices about which I was reading.  At the time, my focus was on triathlon -- for my own pursuits as well as those of the athletes with whom I worked. 

My thought process went something like this.  Swimmers put in an inordinate amount of work compared to the length of their races, which mostly last between 20 seconds and 2 minutes, with 3 events lasting between 4-16 minutes.  At the height of training, I recall putting in 100,000-yard weeks.  We would build up to this massive volume before dropping off as we hit the back-half of the racing season, added more race-specific interval work and tapered down into NCAAs.  Races were short, and as the season progressed, training became more specific to each swimmer’s specialty events.  In triathlon, every article I read and every coach I spoke with followed a similar trend – start with a lot of base miles, then progress through more and more race-specific intervals as volume dropped to compensate for the uptick in intensity.  Yet, Olympic distance races were taking us pros anywhere from 1:45-2 hours.  The premise every coach was espousing (again, to my knowledge) just wasn’t making sense to me. Which is why I chose not to work with any of these coaches -- I could not buy-in to their programs.

Part of the reason the athletes with whom I work achieve their successes and enjoy the program, especially the Masters athletes for whom I have a particular knack, is that when everyone else is zigging, then we zag.  Triathlon is mostly an endurance sport, even at the Sprint distance.  So, way back when, I decided to begin my preparation for the following season by first lowering the volume and drastically increasing intensity. Then, simply, I reduced intensity as race season approached and increased volume.  20-plus years ago, I called it Trickle Down Training.  Today, you read about Inverse Periodization or Reverse Periodization.  Same thing.  The hypothesis is that it’s better and easier to build endurance on top of speed rather than the other way around.   

Once I took this approach with my own training (because I experiment on myself before I ever have my athletes follow any approach), I hit the following season’s early races with turbo jets on.  I went from winning one small race and placing top 10 in a good number of others to winning 7 races against top-caliber fields.  But what I was too young to grasp at the time was how to best structure a multi-peak season and when to know when too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing.  As I tried to refine the approach, I hit the following year’s early races in even better form.  But, come mid-season, the wheels fell off and I cratered.  Luckily the season didn’t end until late-November that year and I was able to rebound for some podium results in October. 

With time and experience has come the knowledge of how to better structure training for an entire calendar year, regardless of the racing season’s length and regardless of a single or double peak for myself or one of my athletes.  As I've continued to innovate my coaching approach, I’ve gravitated away from and now back to my Trickle Down approach.  I find that it is especially critical for the Masters endurance athlete to follow this structure.  As we get older, our speed – both raw and sustained – wane more quickly than our endurance.  And, if we ignore that top end speed in favor of endurance work, we are actually facilitating our slowdown rather than fighting it. 

Here is a high-level overview of how a Masters triathlete focusing on 70.3 or Ironman races could structure his/her training program (or any triathlete for that matter). 

5-Cycle Trickle Down Approach: 
CYCLE I Strength & Technique: (8wks, 6-10hrs): low volume/low intensity; strength training -- weights, hill repeats, low cadence, pull with paddles & kick with fins 

CYCLE II Speed & Strength (8-16wks, 8-12hrs): medium volume/very high intensity; endurance mainly thru S & B; L7 sprints (short sessions, Max effort) & L6 (anaerobic capacity) 

CYCLE III Aerobic Power & O2 Economy (6-12wks, 10-18hrs): medium volume/med-high intensity; SST/L4/L5 across S/B/R; maintenance work in weight room 

CYCLE IV Aerobic Capacity (4-8wks; 20-30hrs): high volume/low intensity; L1-L3 with L7 sprints 

TAPER (2-3wks; 40-60% hrs): lower volume/med-high intensity; L3/SST/L4 on hard days; taper down long workouts -- R first, then B, then S; final week use Cutdown Intervals (1min S, 2min B, 90s R) 

You will notice there is a wide range of weekly hours.  This is because each of us has different constraints on how much we are able to train during the week and even on the weekends.  Finding an appropriate balance of workouts and how those workouts flow day-to-day is important to the approach succeeding.  Also, if you are a Masters runner or Masters cyclist, the premise for this is the same, but you’re simply focusing on one sport instead of three. 

The key here is to plant a stake in the ground from you first key race and count backwards from there.  This is why there is a broad range of weeks for each cycle.  The point is to fit the pattern to your goals while spending more time on those cycles which better focus on your weaknesses and less time on your strengths. 

There you have it.  Trickle Down Training, or Inverse Periodization, or Reverse Periodization – or whatever you want to call it.  Maybe it’s best to call it just Periodization.  If this is a new approach for you and you decide to try it, I wish you the best of luck.  I’d love to hear about your successes.  If you have questions, feel free to drop me a line through the website and I’ll be happy to respond. 

Happy Training, 
Coach Nate 

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How To Determine Your Max Heart Rate

10/4/2015

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Masters endurance athletes are consistently being warned about training too hard or being advised to focus more on their aerobic systems (i.e., train more conservatively).  Forget for a moment this advice is coming from a good place regardless of how flawed it is.  What goes hand-in-hand with it is the determination of training zones based on Heart Rate.  The premise is that as Masters athletes hit age 40 and then get older, our Maximal beats per minute (BPM) decreases by about 1 beat per year.  We're getting older and slowing down and our bodies are slowly eroding so we can't push ourselves as hard -- or as maximally -- as we used to.  

I completely and wholeheartedly disagree.

Throughout this article, I will be referring to Heart Rate (HR) and appropriate percentages of your Maximum HR (Max HR) at which you should be racing. To ensure that you are racing at the proper HR, you first must know your Max HR. If you do not know this value, then you need to perform a test so you can determine this value.  
Using 220 - age is a common way to determine Maximal BPM.  My Max HR is 191, but using 220-age my Max HR would be calculated at 173.  Huge difference.  There are other estimations that require you to know the square root of lightning as well.  But here's the problem -- these formulas are estimations at best, and poor ones at that.  A quick test can be done at the running track.  This is a tough test.  It will be uncomfortable and you have to go all-in if the goal is to register an accurate HR value from which to accurately calculate your training zones.

 
On a day when you're fairly rested, warm up as you would for a track workout. Then run 800m as hard as you can. If you don't have access to a track, then run for 3:00. You should run as hard as you can while maintaining a steady pace. Immediately jog easy for 100-200m or roughly 1:00. Then immediately run another 800m repeat as fast as you can. Really sprint the final 200m so you are running flat out to the end. When you cross the finish line, watch your HR monitor for a maximum HR registration. It will take several seconds to register, so keep an eye on your monitor. If you gave a 100%, honest effort, then you can take this value and add around 5 beats to figure an accurate Max HR from which you can work. 
 
Next, you need to know how to accurately determine your HR zones. The first step is to take your Resting HR and subtract it from your Max HR. Ex: 195 (Max HR) – 35 (Resting HR) = 160. The next step is to calculate the HR zone in which you need to race (or train). Ex: 84-92%, which would be 134-147 (84% and 92% of 160, respectively). The final step is to add your Resting HR back into the equation to come up with your final HR zone values. Ex: 169-182 (Resting HR of 35 added to 134 & 147, respectively). So, in this example, the 84-92% zone for someone with a Max HR of 195 and resting HR of 35 would be 169-182. This is strictly for running. For cycling, you can subtract 4-10 beats from this value so that you are obtaining a HR at a similar level of effort (LOE).  The reason is that due to the pounding of running, that you are standing straight up and using all your limbs to move, your HR will be higher running than it will be in either cycling or swimming.
 
I personally subtract 6 beats from my running values and use this for my cycling values. As for swimming, I use the same values as I do for cycling. The main thing to remember is that your LOE should FEEL similar from sport to sport. If it doesn't, then you need to adjust your HR zone up or down accordingly. So, if racing/training at 70-78% on the run feels a specific way, then you need to adjust your HR on the bike and in the swim so that these specific HR zones reflect a similar LOE as you put forth in running. If running at 70-78% feels comfortable and you can carry on a conversation with your running partner, then you shouldn't be out of breath and gasping for air when you hit the wall while swimming at 70- 78%. 
 
For more comprehensive information on HR, blood lactate levels and overall physiological aspects of training and racing, “Training Lactate/Pulse rate” by Peter Jannsen is a valuable resource. 
 
Take the time to quantify your specific HR zones and learn about how important they are to maximizing your success. Until you do, you won't be reaching your full potential. It is important to understand how HR zones and LOEs affect your performance at any given distance of race.  By calculating HR zones, Masters athletes will have a much clearer picture of their proper training zones and how those relate to racing more effectively.

Happy Training, 
Coach Nate

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