Developing the Training Plan for the St. Patty's Challenge

Developing the training plan for a lifestyle

Cville Fall Classic 10K 2013

I started running when I was pretty young and think I ran my first 5K when I was 11 years old. I ran track for a year and cross country for part of a season in high school before getting injured. I then ran to stay in shape on and off most of my adult life. As an adult I routinely found myself getting talked into 5Ks which would get me motivated to head out and run a little more. The goal was always to train for the distance to gain that minimal confidence I could finish without walking or worse. Eventually I ran a couple 10 milers and had the same distance focused approach.  After running a race I would generally reflect back on prior times and determine if I was in better or worse shape. If I had recently ran a few races I had an expectation I would be faster and if I hadn't I just hoped I hadn't lost too much ground. I developed expectations for myself without any plan for getting there and in many cases hitting the finish line meant a met the main goal and was done training for a while, maybe years. This was not a prescription for improving or maintaining my health.  

I talk about lifestyle a lot. If your training plan is too focused on a specific event, isn't something you can maintain before and after an event, or is so intense you run the risk of injury, then it is not going to stick and become part of your lifestyle. Training in these ways almost always results in falling off the wagon. 

One of the main purposes of my St. Patty’s Challenge is to aggresively7 document and find things that work for me and can become part of my family's and hopefully others lifestyles.  These things include how we cook, train, eat, etc and they have to be things my family can sustain so we keep up on that wagon. The following are the key things I have studied and considered when developing the my training plan.

What are the training goals?

Before mapping out any training plan the first question must be, “What are your goals?” Your goals can be a variety things.

• Are you trying to reach a distance, number of reps, or weight?

• Are you trying to hit a personal record for a particular race?
• Are you trying to maintain cardio for general health?
• Are you trying to reach your peak fitness level?
• Are you trying to beat your buddy (BIB 130) at the next race who keeps betting you by 30 seconds? (uh this one is all mine)

Your goals should ultimately drive how you train but without some thought and planning your results will not be optimal.  For me at this point my goal is optimal total performance and the last bullet up there on the list.

What is lactate threshold and why should you care?

Nothing that I am going to say here is new or revolutionary but when I learned what my lactate threshold was and got a little education on how to train based on it, several light bulbs all went off all at once.

Lactate threshold is the exercise intensity at which lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream. Prior to reaching this threshold lactic acid levels stay fairly constant due to the body’s ability to metabolize the lactic acid. As exercise intensity increases lactate acid production increases and at some point exceeds the body’s ability to keep up. In many athletes the threshold occurs at a fairly specific level of exercise intensity followed by a very rapid build-up of lactic acid and in others the buildup occurs more slowly over a period of time. As this build-up occurs one’s ability to perform decreases rapidly. The lactate threshold is one of the best predictors of an individual’s performance. Understanding where your threshold is and the rate of increase of lactic acid at different exercise intensities can help you predict your peak performance over different spans of time and help shape an optimal training plan. An individual’s lactate threshold can be increased over time through an increase in training volume and by training above the threshold.

How can your lactate threshold shape your training?

If you are looking to maintain cardio vascular health it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with consistent or slightly increasing volume. But that’s not very exciting. If your goal is to increase your distance for a race or personal goal, it will likely be adequate to exercise at or slightly below your lactate threshold with a continuously increasing volume of 10-20%. If you are looking to reach your peak performance, hit a new PR, significantly increase your speed or cardio vascular capacity then you need to incorporate training at levels well above your threshold.

What if I don’t know my lactate threshold?

While you may not know your lactate threshold or want to go through the test there are ways to get a good approximation. The Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale and a heart rate monitor can be great tools and give you an idea of where you lactate threshold might be. 

Grab an RPE chart like the one on the right and head out for a run. Start off with an easy jog and slowly increase your pace. At regular intervals note your pace, heart rate, and your RPE. It may help to have someone with you to help record the measurements. When training below or at threshold you should be able to exert yourself for a significant period of time without any notable drop in performance and your RPE is likely to be around 11-12.  For high intensity training your RPE should be around 15-16. 

An individuals RPE should fairly consistently map to heart rate. With the measurements you took you can identify target heart rates for both low (11-12 RPE) and high (15-16 RPE) intensity training sessions. You will want to re-run the test every 6 months or so as your RPE, heart rate, and lactate thresholds will change over time.

Slow-Twitch vs. Fast-Twitch

As you exceed your threshold there is a transition from the use of slow-twitch muscles to fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch muscles are those used to do slow steady activity where fast-twitch are those used for more explosive activity. According to Dr. Weltman, of the UVA Exercise Physiology Lab, recent studies are indicating that fast-twitch muscle recovery times are around 72 hours while that of fatigued slow-twitch muscles is closer to 48 hours.  Keeping high intensity sessions for a particular muscle group or cardio 72 hours apart is likely to produce optimal recovery and forward momentum.

Increasing Volume

To avoid injury due to over training, increase the volume by no more than 10-20% per week. I have ignored this and spent months with a physical therapist as a result! It's also a good rule of thumb to take a few days off to stretch and roll if anything is not fully recovering.

Fueling, Back-Loading, and Protien

This is a subject of pretty wide debate and this is purely my opinion based on the various information I have and personal experience. Even on a fairly low carb diet like paleo you are most likely receiving plenty of carbs and fats to fuel you through low to mid intensity workouts of less than an hour. For those workouts that are of significant intensity or for duration close to or over an hour fueling and back-loading is a good idea.  Fuel before and during for long endurance activities, and back-load with carbs and protein.

The Training Guidelines Emerge

All of this information along with a desire to meet the lifestyle requirement led me to series of guidelines. This post has a bit of a cardio flavor but these concepts and guidelines can be applied to any type of training. 

1. Training for performance should include two high intensity workouts per week well above the lactate threshold, ideally at an RPE of 16.
2. Training can include as many short to medium volume at or under the lactate threshold as desired.
3. Do not exceed the weekly total volume by more than 10-20% week over week.
4. Endurance training sessions at or below threshold should be placed as far from high intensity sessions as possible.
5. Fuel before high intensity sessions with simple carbs
6. Fuel before and during endurance training sessions with simple carbs
7. Fuel after high intensity and endurance training sessions with simple carbs and protein
8. Have at least one full rest day per week or more if not recovering fully.
9. Training should be easily conducted wherever you find yourself.
10. Training sessions should be brief and focused as to ensure they get done.

With these guidelines I developed two primary plans.

• Performance Focus
• Two high intensity workouts per week
• One endurance training session placed at the furthest point between the high intensity session
• One rest day best after the endurance day
• Two days of low intensity training up to weekly volume limits 

• Maintenance Focus
• Five low intensity workouts per week
• Two rest days

Here is the weekly schedule I came up with.  I will be following the performance plan for the challenge unless I am injured or fatigued and will then follow the maintenance plan.  The performance plan brings together both cardio and resistance training intensities on similar days. One could certainly take these guidelines and apply them per muscle group and cardio allowing for low and high intensity training on a daily basis and effectively allowing one to train much more. I did not do this since I was aiming for something easy to follow both in terms of schedule and duration per day, that whole lifestyle thing.

So here goes nothing, let's see if this plan produces results you can see.

Thanks,

Chuck

Should you use Creatine?

I am still developing which and how specific supplements are going to fit into the Brady Nutrition Philosophy. If you want to follow a very strict paleo/primal lifestyle then it is easy to rule out most supplementation.  Our philosophy is not aimed at a truly strict regime but one that provides flexible and achievable guidelines to support a wide range of individuals; from endurance athletes, to families on a budget, to friends and family who may only implement parts of the program. There is a place in our philosophy for supplements that clearly support its primary goals, to be as lean, strong, and healthy as possible.

As part of my Christmas Challenge I decided I would consider certain supplements and first on the list was creatine.  I have a kilo of this stuff sitting in my cupboard staring at me every time I open it up.  My initial reaction was I would take it during my challenge and it couldn't hurt.  I discussed this plan with a friend and following his comments immediately began to rethink the idea.

I have taken creatine several times when I was lifting weights in college. I had notable short term strength increases and while not as clear I think there were also some smaller long term gains.  Mark's Daily Apple has a great write up on creatine and I recommend reading it if you interested in understanding its mechanics in more detail.

So does creatine fit into the Brady Nutrition Philosophy?  To make this decision I asked myself a few simple questions.

1. Does creatine occur naturally? Yes
2. Are supplementation levels an order of magnitude above natural possibilities? No
3. Are there any performance benefits? Yes but only slight temporary ones
4. Are there any health benefits? No not really, although some studies point to benefit for specific medical issues
5. Does it address any specific deficiencies? Yes sort of but not truly
6. Is it something that someone could acclimate to causing other adverse effects?  Yes it's possible

I probably had a few more questions but this was all it took for me to have a clear answer.  No, there is currenlty not a place for creatine in the Brady Nutrition Philosophy.  With no tangible long term health or performance benefits and no real deficiency being addressed it doesn't make much sense to consider this supplement as part of our lifestyle, at this time.  Now what am I going to do with a kilo of this stuff???

Update: A good friend of mine forward me the following link on creatine.  While very pro creatine, it is also very informative and goes into some detail about the Krebs cycle.  I certainly think for some individuals creatine is a perfectly reasonable supplement based on their specific training needs and lifestyle.  I am going to keep my eye on the research and am very interested in seeing where it all goes.

http://athlete.io/3562/the-ultimate-guide-to-creatine-supplementation-part-1/

Glen Arnold Memorial Special Olympics 10K Results

Wow it was a beautiful morning for the Glen Arnold Memorial Special Olympics 10K.  We spent most of the hour before the race trying to stay warm.  It was in the 50's and although everyone was clearly uncomfortable most of us knew this was perfect race weather.  My crew drank some Brady Nutrition Endurance drink and headed to the start line.  The race started out in a bit of a bottle neck leading out to the main road.  The racers were all mixed up so I spent the first half mile trying to work into my pace group.  The first mile was a gentle down hill that was perfect to get warmed up on.  The second mile was back up the same hill and reminded me that I still had a ways to go.  The road was beautiful with stately homes and the sun rising over dew covered fields with crisp cool air occasionally rolling by.  I finished in 53 minutes easily 10 minutes faster than my best expectations and the whole crew I was running with absolutely crushed the run.  Congrats to the the soldiers out there running the 10K with full rucks on and thank you for your service. Thanks to the Albermarle police department for keeping the road clear and safe.  And finally congrats and thanks to all those that ran the race and supported such a great cause!

Here comes the 10K

I got up this morning at 0500 and have a 10K race today.  This is going to be an easy going run since I haven't ran that far in a while.  I did get a 5.25 practice run that wasn't too painful so I should be OK.  I decided to keep things light and had a piece of homemade paleo bread with almond butter and some fatty coffee inspired by Able James the Fat Burning man.  I also mixed up some Brady Nutrition endurance race mix for 30 minutes before the start.  Today I hit the scales at 175.4 lbs even after a cheat carb load last night.  I will let you all know how things turned out on my next post.

The Brady Nutrition Paleo Philosophy

Like many Paleo protocols, diets, etc. The Brady Nutrition Paleo philosophy is based on the roots of the Paleo movement to include Loren Cordain's "Paleo Diet", Mark Sisson's "Primal Blueprint", and bits and pieces of other variations of the diet. My wife and I have both always blazed our own trails and our adoption of Paleo is no exception. This is our general philosophy and guidelines we are following and having exceptional results with. I am certain we will be evolving this as time goes on and as we continue to learn and research. Please let us know what you think or if you have any questions.

The general philosophy is simple, our anatomy has evolved over many thousands of years to optimally utilize the foods available in our natural environment. The bounty of agriculture, more recent industrialized agriculture, and processed foods have only been around for an exceptionally small percentage of our evolutionary timeline. The introduction of these agrarian diets and processed foods have resulted in average diets that are far from optimal for our health. For the human body to function optimally we need to consume a mix of natural foods that are as close to what we might have found in nature as hunter gatherers. This philosophy extends to how we determine food type ratios as well as physical exercise type and duration. These theories are increasingly backed by science but most importantly by individual results.  This philosophy is meant to be a framework that coupled with science and self evaluation bring each individual to his own optimal lifestyle.

• Macro Nutrients - Throughout this blog you will find reference to macro nutrients. This is referring to fat, carbs, protein, and sometimes alcohol.  There is much debate as to what these ratios should be in the Paleo community.  The standard american diet (SAD) is 60%+ carbs, as little fat as possible and the rest protein.  I have found our ratios run around 50% fat, 25% carbs, and 25% protein. 
• Carbs - Paleo is not inherently a low carb diet.  However, if you have a good balance of foods that are Paleo then  you will likely be eating far less carbs than the standard american diet (SAD).  If you do any kind of endurance activity then you will likely need to plan for greater carb intake.  There are plenty of places to find carbs on Paleo with sweet potatoes being a #1 staple.  There is plenty of evidence that some hunter gather societies had fairly high carb intakes but unlike the SAD there carbs came from roots, tubbers, and fruits.  These societies were also located in equatorial regions where days were longer and sun exposure greater (more on why that is important in another post).
• Fat - From time to time you will hear people mention healthy fat.  How many people know what that is?  For the Paleo community this means fats that are high in omega-3s or more importantly have a good omega-3 to omega-6 ratio.  We should all be striving to have as close to a 1:1 ratio as possible. Food with high concentrations of Omega-6 fats include highly processed vegetable oils, grains, nuts, and grain fed meats.
• Meat - Eat as much meat as you want but with every meal try to make it a 1/3 meat to 2/3 veggies. This ratio will keep your overall nutrient mix at a good level. Stick to grass fed beef, pastured pork, free range chicken, wild caught fish, game meat, and any other natural varieties you can find. The fat and nutrient content of these naturally raised meets is superior and the methods of raising and harvesting the animals is far more ethical resulting in far healthier animals. Occasionally straying on your meat quality due to budget constraints, availability, or because your out at a restaurant is fine just try to make it the exception rather than the rule and stick to leaner cuts. Why leaner cuts? grain-fed meat has higher concentration of omega-6 due to the omega-6 contain grain fed to the cattle.  Feed lot cattle have concentrations as high as 20:1 omega-6 to omega-3.  Grass-fed and pastured animals exclusively ingest plant matter that is rich in omega-3s and their fat generally ranges from 2:1 to 1:1.
• Processed Meats - Some Paleo followers will say go crazy on bacon, we say make it the exception not the rule.  While bacon is delicious some of the preservatives are not great for you.  Don't fall for those cured without nitrites as they use high concentrations of celery juice that is really just nitrites. There are some processed meats we bend the rules on and say go for it.  Those are meats that are actually fermented, like salami, corned beef, etc.  Fermented meats like other fermented foods have many benefits these benefits balance out the high salt content of these foods in our opinion. Completely avoid mystery meat like standard hot dogs, etc.
• Veggies - Keep your veggies to 2/3 of each meal and mix it up. Variety is the key to getting a broad array of nutrients and keeping your diet interesting. Rather than buying 10 lbs of broccoli buy 1 lb of 10 things. The diversity of veggies that are available to our society is amazing and you will be surprised how delicious they all can be. Sweet potatoes are OK but avoid potatoes and corn, more on that later. Don't limit yourself to the one veggie per meal plan. Try cooking two or three for a single meal. Stay fresh and local if you can, live food brings benefits to digestion and health. Try to stay organic but again don't be afraid to stray if necessary, just make it the exception.
• Fruits - While many Paleo diets advocate limiting your fruit intake to avoid the carbs, we say tear it up. Most fruits are packed with great nutrients, carb levels are relatively low, and the fruit can give you a great boost. Fruits are great supplements to breakfast, simple healthy deserts, and especially great for daytime snacking. Again, variety is the key. Don't just go buy 10 lbs of strawberries, buy a little bit of everything and mix it up. Stay fresh and local if you can, live food brings benefits to digestion and health. Try to stay organic but again don't be afraid to stray if necessary, just make it the exception.
• Grains - This is a tough one for most people since it flys in the face of all we have been taught and also means no bread. Bottom line here is don't eat grains! Even if you are not obviously allergic to wheat it is likely to be least mildly inflammatory to your digestive track which can lead to a whole host of nutrient absorption issues. Even more importantly grain once cracked and used in the products we consume is pretty much pure carbohydrate. That means it breaks down to sugars promoting a high insulin response. Most people don't recognize how many carbs they get from grains and how little nutrient for that cost. This is where packaged foods really fall off the table. Just about every processed food contains some kind of grain by-product. No wonder our country is obese.
• Eggs - You can't go wrong with eggs. Spring for cage free with omega 3's. We eat eggs just about everyday. Wholefoods and Trader Joe's have some of the best deals on high quality eggs.
• Dairy - Pastured butter and pastured heavy cream are thumbs up. These are nearly 100% fat and will not cause digestive issues in most people.  Look for pastured again to get the healthy fats. Many people have issues with dairy due to lactose and may not even know it. Cut all dairy (butter and heavy cream the exception) out for your first 30 days. At that point if you can introduce small amounts of fermented dairy (yogurt and high quality cheese) and see if any issues develop. Fermented dairy has very little lactose following the fermentation process and has good fat and protein content.  If things go well incorporating small amounts into your diet long term should be fine.  Avoiding milk is probably a good idea due to the high lactose content.  Even if you handle lactose well it does cause a high insulin spike that is not all that desirable.
• Nuts - Nuts provide a great snack but should be consumed in moderation. Try to stick to nuts with a high omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. Consider that in nature nuts can be a challenge to find and get into so were likely consumed in very small amounts.
• Legumes- This includes all beans and peanuts.  Do not eat them!  Legumes have compounds (phytates and lectins) that are gut irritants and inhibit nutrient absorption.  While these compounds can be minimized through cooking thoroughly there are far better protein options like meat.
• Supplements - I have been a supplement hacker every since I was a teenager and am just now starting to decide what I want to start rolling into the diet. While I am still developing my stance on many supplements I have a couple recommendations. Take a good multi-vitamin, consider a vitamin D supplement if you do not get enough time in the sun (20 min per day), and consider fish oil if you are not getting much fish in your meat selection.
• Potatoes - Potatoes are not the worst thing in the world but sweet potatoes are a far better option. While potatoes are fairly nutrient dense they do contain some anti nutrients which reduce the benefit.  
• Corn - Corn is OK occasionally.  While it is a grain it does not contain gluten and is generally not disruptive to digestion.  It is however fairly sweet and can throw your progress off track if you are trying to lean out.
• Fasting - I have had some spectacular results with intermittent fasting. I don't think it is something that most people should embark on until the second month. The first month will involve so much adjustment in eating habits, shopping, your physiology, etc that adding in fasting may prematurely sabotage any positive behavioral progress. After you are very comfortable with the diet and have reached some sort of homeostasis try some short term fasts and then increase to what works for you. I currently fast about 3 times a week for 16-18 hours. I also start those days with my own fatty coffee variant inspired by Able James the Fat Burning Man.
• Alcohol - In american society suggesting the elimination of alcohol in any way is blasphemy.  We post recipes for some of our Paleoish drinks.  Keeping drinks natural as possible and avoiding grains is ideal.  This means beer is generally out.  If you have to drink beer try and make it a treat.  
• Cheats - Everybody needs a cheat. This diet is not intended to completely remove your ability to interact socially or go out for a meal. 3 meals a week is what many Paleo Diets suggest and we think this is the perfect balance for the start and provides the full health benefits and give you enough outs to keep you on the path to success. As you get more comfortable with the diet and you begin to fully feel the benefits you will find your cheats are less substantial.  At this point I have pretty much no desire to eat grains or sweets so cheats are not as much of an issue as they once were.
• Exercise - We all need exercise for optimal health but what we have discovered is that you don't need to kill yourself to get into great shape. Some activity everyday is ideal. Take a walk, park further from the building, use the stairs at work. Just do things that keep you active during the day. In addition to just staying active put in some time for regular workouts. If this is not already part of your routine keep workouts short and simple. 3-4 times a week for 10-20 minutes; play with your kids outside, jog a mile, walk a couple miles, do some body weight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, or body squats, anything to get your muscles firing and your heart rate up a little. I will post more detail on my exercise routines in some separate posts. As you get past the first few weeks you will find yourself feeling energized and wanting to get out and do more things, that will be the time to start ramping up the intensity.
• Budgeting and Finance - One big driver on our day to day diet is budget. We have put a lot of effort into sticking to our conservative budget and financial goals and continuing this was a prerequisite for our Paleo transition. Many people assume that eating Paleo is going to be much more expensive. The reality is that it can be but doesn't have to. It is easy to try out Paleo for a month by downloading 30 days worth of gourmet Paleo recipes and moving out. A friend of mine that recently decided to try Paleo spent $400 on his first week. My first question was, "Did you eat and cook gourmet meals like this before?". The reality is there are plenty of simple delicious options that won't kill your budget. You will also stop buying all the junk you normally fill your cart with and head to a restaurant much less often. Instead of chips, dip, and a fast food hamburger you get blue berries, veggies, and steak. At the end of the day we still have to make some sacrifices to stick to our budget. We don't buy 100% organic, we don't buy 100% grass fed pastured meats, but we do the best we can. We watch for deals on meat to stock up and we try and buy as much as we can from local farms which can be very cost effective.  On the flip side if you don't mind spending the cash those gourmet Paleo recipes are awesome!