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Fueling your body (not your body weight)

Smiling as we go into race week! (Picture from 2018 St. George 70.3) It feels great to know that we are finally approaching race week. Six months without racing had made me miss racing and I am so excited that we get to kick off the season with a half Ironman in Haines City, FL along with 15 of our athletes. Although I'm most excited to dust off the rust and experience the hurt that comes with racing, I'm also anxious to see what my new training (thanks to my new coach - my first ever hired coach) has done for my body. I feel fit and healthy and I'm thankful to my body for letting me train for my races. Over the past seven days, I've completed 21800 yards swimming (5 hours), 10:37 hours cycling, 3:52 hours running and one hour of strength training. Thank you body! Throughout every session, I've made sure to fuel and hydrate my body to support every training session. Not only does this help me master my race day nutrition but I also view fueling/hydr...

Two simple swaps for more real food

Over several years, I've slowly changed my lifestyle habits and moved myself more and more away from a heavy processed and convenience-food diet toward a very real food diet. Some dietary changes happened quickly whereas other changes required a different appreciation and time to create new habits. I really value what real food can do for a body, when it comes to health and performance so I've worked really hard over many years to make some swaps when it comes to incorporating more real food into my diet. I'm not against processed food and don't cringe at the thought of "food" in a bag but I do believe that some foods, like well-fortified foods, help to keep people healthy in all parts of our world. And since I don't have an off-limit food list, I never feel guilty, anxious or remorseful if I eat something processed. I have a most of the time diet and then there are foods that I eat some of the time/on occasion. The great thing is that neither one i...

Pre-workout fueling - part II

Pre-workout fuel Training is your gut is one the most (if not the most) important concepts when it comes to perfecting your pre-workout/race snack/meal. Eating before every workout (30-90 minutes before) will not only help boost your performance (ex. time to fatigue, mental focus, recovery and energy production) but you will also recognize what foods work/digest the best so that you can use those similar foods, in a larger quantity, on race day. Karel and I eat before every workout, every day in our season. Absolutely no workout is started without some type of pre-workout snack.  If you aren't use to (or comfortable with) eating before a workout, start very small in terms of quantity and carbohydrates for 7-10 days by selecting the most appropriate low-residue food/foods that you feel will work the best, depending on the workout. You may find that your pre-workout snacks may vary workout to workout and that is ok but try to keep it simple and have no more than 5 st...