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Relaxing legs in the Skytrain (with Matcha frappe) #duathlete

Notes: Dr Robert Lustig talks with Jimmy Moore

Back in early 2011, podcaster and low-carb advocate Jimmy Moore interviewed Dr Robert Lustig on the subject of fructose and carbohydrates (episode #429 of his podcast). I though it was interesting enough to warrant sharing the notes I took while listening to that episode:

• low carbs diet: can be good but is it necessary for the majority of the population (on a long time scale)? Most people get tired of it after 6 months (see Dr. Gary Foster's study), some people may requires more or less carbs, depending on their physiology
• fiber plays a crucial role in your metabolism and: 
• high fibre intake lower the chance of colon cancer
• slow the rate of absorption of sugars (improves hepatic response and helps regulate insulin release)
• helps with satiety signalling
• helps with fatty acids absorption (which helps limiting insulin release)
• what prohibit leptin signalling? High level of insulin does (fructose contribute to that) and that make you eat more
• obesity : not everybody problem is linked to fructose consumption (everybody is different)
• we cannot change our biochemistry, we can only change our environment (food and food consumption)
• blood sugar goes up when the liver cannot keep up with a sudden sugar load
• whole grains: good because of the fiber (even better if the grains are intact, e.g. not flour)
• normal fructose consumption isn't the problem, high intake is (7 times more than our ancestors)

Consider this as a follow-up to a previous post on the subject of fructose.

Notes: "Up close with Allen Lim"

Greg Kopecky over at slowtwitch.com published today an interview he did with Dr. Allen Lim of Skratch Labs, which, I though, was an interesting read for anyone researching the complex subject of sport nutrition.

Here's my notes:

• during a race, you have to get the calories in to offset your glycogen depletion, BUT you also have to stay hydrated; energy depletion really is only a problem for elite athlete, amateurs usually have plenty fuel "on-board"
• "Drink your hydration and chew your calories": separate hydration and electrolytes from calories intakes (for a more efficient ingestion)
• for less than 3hrs event: taking in a bit of sugar (e.g energy drink) to maintain blood glucose level will help feeling "energized" [without having to load-up on actual (un-needed) calories]
• average stored calories glycogen pre-race: 28 to 42 kcals per kg of body mass
• elite athletes will burn from 800 to 900 kcals per hour or race
• an athelete should aim to replace half of the energy expenditure per hour
• 1g carb = 4kcal
• what to eat during a race:
• simple/normal food
• high glycemic index
• low fiber content
• athletes should experiment in making their own race food

So, it looks like I have been doing it right so far, except taking on too much calories during our longer run. Maybe this week-end I'll lower my calories in-take (during the run) and see how that goes.

Tapering

With a flu and another long training run (30 km) coming up this week-end, I'm tapering a little. I'm still cycling to work (but on easy mode), but yesterday was our last run. Which, BTW, was crappy:

Just like the past week, I felt low on energy (I had a bit of food during the day) but in reality it was the flu (which my kid gave me, thanks ...) which was hitting "hard". Contrast the average pace of 05:24 with Tuesday's 5:04:

Oh well ...

Labour day long ride

For today ride, I headed out to climb Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver (technically, it's in West Vancouver). This is a pretty popular climb for local cyclists with about 910 meters of climbs from the shore (Marine Dr). Since I was going to leave from home, I knew it was going to be a relatively long ride ... and it was with a moving time clocking at just over 4 hours:

I wasn't disappointed by the ride, it was pretty nice. The Cypress' climb was easier than I was expecting and while it is somewhat long, it's a pretty constant grade. In fact, I though the climb from Marine Drive to the Highway (on 21st street) was a lot harder than the actual climb. Passing trough downtown on the way back was a bit less fun since the traffic had picked-up in the couple of hours since I had gone in on my way up north. The temperature was pretty constantly dropping as I climbed and it was clearly chilly at the top. The downhill was pretty fun (with a top speed of 75kph, wheeeez!) albeit freezing (I was dressed warmly for the late season). 

Here's a few shots I took (on the way down):

To fuel myself, I prepared my usual energy drink and packed 10 dates. I didn't have any eating schedule in mind and just snacked on some of the dates here and there. At no point in the ride did I felt low on energy not did I feel any digestive issue. I made sure to drink some of my drink each time I had dates. Since I had gotten-up to close to the start of the ride (5:30am wake-up time) I didn't eat anything before starting the ride. Probably not optimal, but I have an hard time eating so close to a ride (or run).

The n00b's recovery drink

We went for a 10k run this morning after taking Saturday off. When we got back I thought about making a recovery smoothie. However, since I have not yet looked into details to what are the things such a drink should contain for post workout, I mostly worked off things I recalled from what I heard in the (sports) podcasts I listen to (e.g Zen and the Art of Triathlon) and it was yummy:

Here's the recipe:

• 1.5 cups of Almond Milk
• 2 small Plums
• 1 medium Banana
• 3 tsp Chia Seeds
• 4 Dates

I used SparkRecipes to estimate the nutrition info, and it seems pretty decent to me (carbs, protein and electrolytes) but hey, what do I know? ...

I shared the smoothie (about 2 cups) with the wife and the kid, but I had probably 2/3 of it.