capultra

Winter running in Canada is awesome. It’s extreme, refreshing, and challenging but you do need to apply some common sense.

You have to be flexible with your schedule - it’s rarely a good idea to run during/after a fresh snowfall because you have to run so slowly that there’s no workout, so you get cold, and you slip-and-slide into an injury. It’s kinda fun to do it once or twice though, especially if it’s a clear day.

I just watched an excellent BBC documentary titled Eat, Fast, and Live Longer. Michael Mosley investigates the health impact of various forms of Intermittent Fasting including a prolonged 3.5 day fast, alternate day fasting, and 5/2 alternate day fasting.

The science is irrefutable - the health of this 55 year-old man was dramatically improved through short-term fasting. Lower blood glucose, lower IGF-1, lower body fat etc. This should significantly reduce his likelihood of developing cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

It’s been a year since I suffered a Grade 3 AC separation in my left shoulder - 3 ligaments in the AC joint were completely torn, never to return.

It put me out of the gym for about 5 weeks, and the shoulder remained weak for a long time. Looking back through my training log I can see that it took about 5 months for my strength to return for most lifts.

What effect does fasting have on endurance performance? All the conventional wisdom says that you need to eat at least once an hour during endurance training otherwise you’ll run out of energy and “bonk”.

This is certainly true for athletes who are unaccustomed to fasting. Their bodies are conditioned to use carbs for energy during exercise but the body can only store about 1,000 calories of carbs at any time. 1,000 calories is about an hour of running, so once depleted, these stores need to be replenished in order for the athlete to continue.

If your cardio workout is long and boring, then maybe you’re just not doing it right.

Let me guess, you’re probably running or cycling on a machine in the gym. Yeah, that’s boring. Maybe you’re running along the streets in your neighbourhood. Slightly better, but still dull.

Try trail running.

I find I can run for hours on a trail - it’s long and exciting. I can feel the anticipation building as soon as I decide I’m going to run some trails.

Fasting has been getting a lot of buzz in the fitness industry lately. It is great for fat loss and is associated with many health benefits including increased longevity and improved insulin sensitivity. However, it’s often met with derision by friends and family. Try explaining to a four-year-old why you’re not having breakfast.

I followed Martin Berkhan’s intermittent fasting protocol for about 9 months, with an 8-hour eating window between 12pm and 8pm. I did my workouts around 5.30am and took BCAAs until my first meal at 12pm.

My brother and I have recently started discussing the idea of running an ultra-marathon in 2013. 50 miles (80 km). Holy shit.

I’ve read a few books about ultrarunning including “Born to Run” and “Ultramarathon Man” but never really thought that I’d be able to do it myself. Sibling rivalry kinship practically demands that we follow through with this. I’m not going to be the one to back down.

The first question that came to my mind was, “How the f*ck do you train for an ultra?”. It seems that that it boils down to a few simple things:

A while ago I saw a video clip of an Olympic coach preparing “super” oatmeal - a recipe he invented for his athletes. I find oatmeal can be a little hard to digest, so I substituted quinoa and the result was a gluten-free delicacy.

This makes 4-5 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 cups almond milk
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds
• 2 tablespoons of chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons of almond butter
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon

Method:

It has now been 2 months since my shoulder injury (a grade 3 AC joint separation).

I am pleased with the progress that I’ve made to date, but was expecting the pain to have subsided more than it has.

The Good
I can now do 15 pushups. My squat and deadlift are back to their pre-injury weights, and my bent-over row is improving. Last week I was able to pick up my 35 lb pre-schooler for the first time.

This morning I did my first weights workout since my Grade 3 AC joint separation 5 weeks ago. I didn’t push it hard, the point was to start building some strength slowly while trying to avoid further injury. Most of the weights were around my previous warmup levels. i.e. around 60%.

I was focusing on my legs and back, so the exercises were: Squats, bent-over rows, seated rows, deadlift, incline press. I tried doing some lat pulldowns but there was way too much movement in the AC joint for my comfort. I was surprised I was able to deadlift at all but it was quite comfortable. The rowing exercises required the most concentration to keep the joint stable, as did the incline press.