Getting back to race wieght
Hmm, thats not really good is it!
There have been a few hiccups: -
- Tib Post injury stopping me from running
- Christmas
- Huge reduction in cycling (fair weather cyclist ;))
- Finally and most significantly, eating like a pig!
Time for change
The vast majority of my training is in the early hours, starting around 6:30, so I tend to do this training on an empty stomach. This is kind of good for teaching your body to use its body fat (Ketosis) The problem is, at the moment I’m doing short HIT work, so I’m burning through already depleted glycogen stores as I have fasted for around 9 hours before the workout. The way I see it, I’m not getting the muscular and aerobic benefits from the training because I’m not adequately fuelled. After the work out and for the rest of the day my body is craving carbs, which is why I’m eating so much and also so much crap food.
Starting tomorrow i’m going to change my diet a little
I get up at 5:05 and have an hour commute to work, training starts at 6:30
I’m going to start the day with a bounce ball and a coffee, this is easy to consume during my drive to work and will get some energy flowing, also, being an hour before the workout, it has time to get into my system.
Depending on the type of workout (bike, run or resistance) I will also add an energy product to my water (phd amino drive, elivar endure, high5 zero, etc)
Finishing off with a recovery drink for convenience (elivar recover)
For the rest of the day, I want to try and get the majority of my daily calories in during the first half of the day, the active part of the day, although sitting in front of a computer all day is hardly active :(
I’m also going to up the protein intake, especially as I’m getting older.
When your body has finished using the digested nutrients from your meal, it stores the excess as fat. Carbohydrates, calorie for calorie will be converted to more stored fat than protein, which is why you cant simply count calories, where those calories come from is also important. so if you are going to over eat, make sure its protein.
I’m still reading up on all the latest, so I’ll keep updating
Refined sugars are off the menu, as are the carton smoothies. Any smoothies from now on will be made at home from fresh fruit, high fibre and consumed immediately.
lets see, hopefully my little experiment will work :D
Recovery drinks
During 2014, I tried a variety of Recovery products
I started in 2013 using PHD diet whey, which is good, low calorie, but aimed really as a meal replacement for dieters rather than a recovery drink after exercise. Its a very nice drink though, nice and thick, not too sweet and no weird aftertaste.
SIS rego and SIS rego night are also tasty, not quite as thick at the PHD, almost a milk like constancy. This is more of a sports recovery product, it contains slightly less protein than the PHD, but it does come from a blend of protein sources, which supposedly releases at different rates giving your body more time to absorb and use the protein.
High5 recovery was another product I used, but I’m not a huge fan. Its very very watery, not very tasty and relatively low in protein. It does however have a 45g of carbs to restock body glycogen.
At the cycle show, I picked up some Torq recovery. Nasty! 65g of carbs, 41g of that being sugar! its very very sweet, so sweet it burns your throat! It is very filling though and you certainly don’t feel the need to eat anything else for quite a while after it. I just think its too much in one hit.
Most recently, I bought a few packets of Elivar recovery (the weekend endurance pack) Its aimed at those of us that are over the age of 35, supposedly tailored for the older athletes needs, whose bodies behave differently to food and exercise. This is what I’ll be using from now on, so I’ll update in a few months.
