Nutrition

In my opinion, nutrition is more important than exercise for remaining healthy. This week I will share with you what I have learned over the years from my medical training, coaches, and various publications.

For the past 7 years I have essentially followed the South Beach Diet with a few alterations regarding alcohol consumption on the weekends. In 2008 when I trained for the 70.3 Ironman, I tried to continue on this diet to keep fat percents low and it backfired on me with muscle wasting. I have made a goal not to make the same mistake again. If you put your body through vigorous endurance training then you must add carbohydrates along with protein to keep your muscle mass stable. So far it seems to be working this go around and my concern of adding fat has not happened yet. I have most of my carbs in the early part of the day and I stick to complex carbs or whole grains only. The amount of protein that I consume is 1 gram per pound of body weight that I want to maintain. An easy way to measure protein is that the size of a deck of playing cards of any type meat is equal to about 20 grams.

Here is a sample day of what I eat and drink:

5:30am  10 tablets of MAP( Master Amino Acid Pattern) and one cup of Coffee
7:00am Post workout Protein shake ( 1 scoop Casein protein powder GNC , 1 scoop Whey protein   powder GNC, 2 teaspoons L-Glutamine powder GNC, mixed with 300ml of Skim Milk)
7:30am Either a Banana with English Muffin and nonfat Peanut butter or Low fat yogurt with granola and Blueberries.
10:00am One Muscle Milk Light shake
12:30pm Whole wheat Tortilla Wrap with Mozzarella Cheese and Turkey and some chocolate
3:00pm Diet Green Tea or a Coke Zero
5:00pm Handful or two of Almonds
6:30pm Large Dinner salad with Chicken breast and two servings of vegetables and some chocolate
8:00pm A bowl of ice cream occasionally. ( I have a strong sweet tooth)

In addition to this , I also drink close to 3 liters of water every day. Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplements taken twice daily have kept me free from joint pain for many years now. I also take 1000mg of Calcium and Vitamin D tabs as well.

Hopefully you are staying warm. We are expecting 3 inches of snow here tonight with a high tomorrow of 10 degrees.
Thanks for checking in.
Sloan

Lesson in Humility

Proverbs 11:2 "When pride comes then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom."

Mountain bike riding is always my lesson in humility.  I truly enjoy the sport, but it has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life.  This past weekend due to the strong winds, and with Coach Tim's permission, I spent my scheduled bike training time on the mountain bike both Saturday and Sunday.  I went riding with some good friends in the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.  We single file through the vast amount of trails.  I always go last for multiple reasons, but mostly to hide my comical attempt to navigate the terrain.  Needless to say, my awkwardness on a mountain bike proves that I don't possess any God-given talents in this area.  Luckily I've been blessed with quality friends.  They are always gracious, encouraging, and patient while waiting on me.  They are also amazingly humble, even with their own exceptional talents.

Now, to be completely honest:  this experience is also one of the most frustrating for me.  No one likes to be the worst of the group at something, especially me.  I try to hide my anger at my weakness, but sometimes that is impossible.  Coming in last makes me doubt myself.  It makes me come up with all sorts of excuses to try to justify the weakness.  Should I continue riding with these guys?  Am I too old for mountain biking?  Is it too risky and irresponsible of me as the provider for my family (I kinda need the full use of my hands for my job) to participate? Nonsense.  These are only thoughts and doubts in my mind that are NOT from God.  It just means that I must work harder to get better.  We as men have an indwelling thirst for adventure that needs to be quenched.  Mountain bike riding is great practice for me to try and balance the wild, reckless, and adventurous side of me with the responsible and cautious side. 

On Sunday, the importance of humility was reiterated to me by my pastor as he quoted Luke 3:5 "...every mountain and hill was made low."  So here is another reason for me to continue on the trails.  It will help me find favor with God since "He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  (James 4:6) 

So next time pride causes doubt in your life maybe you, like me, are being taught a lesson in humility. 
Here is to a great week, thanks for checking in. 
Sloan

Here is my good bud , Regan, with the Palo Duro Canyon beyond.  Thanks for a great ride.

Workout Schedule for the Week

The workout schedule designed by Tim keeps intensifying gradually. Here is a look at this week's training.

Monday :  Spin bike 45 minutes
Tuesday :  Swim 2450 yds, Run 40 minutes at Heart Rate 130-151, Core strengthening for 5 minutes
Wednesday : Swim 1500 yds , Bike 90 minutes at HR 126-141.
Thursday : Run for speed 60 minutes
Friday : Bike 60 minutes easy for recovery.
Saturday : Run 55 minutes with drills, Bike 2 hours endurance pace, Swim 1650 yds
Sunday : Bike 3 hours endurance pace.

Here are some other things going on this week that I will need to fit in amongst the training:
Tuesday Bible study at 7pm
Friday Massage (I'm not missing this) at 4pm, My parents arrive in town for the weekend to spend some time with the Grandkids.
Saturday Evie's soccer game at noon. Party with friends to celebrate a Birthday tonight.
Sunday Church at 10:30am and Evie's Soccer at 1:30pm.

I will try to give you an example like this every month along the way.

Thanks for checking in.
Sloan

Coach Key Visits Amarillo

Tim Key was nice enough to drive up from Lubbock for some face to face coaching. Gary, William, and I spent Friday night picking his brain over dinner at our house. Tim covered a wide range of Tri topics but we focused on nutrition, training slower and at a lower HR than we think, and he made us give predictions on our finishing race times based on our endurance currently. He believes that my goal should be to not only finish Ironman Texas but in a time of 11:30 to 12:30. Pretty optimistic but you have to shoot for something.

From left to right: That's me, William, Gary, and Tim.

Saturday morning we headed over to Williams at 7am to get on our trainers for an hour or so. Coach made sure that our bikes were fit appropriately and he observed our riding technique and made minor adjustments accordingly. Next we ran down the street to Austin park where we did some 1Km loops to test our endurance and sprint pace. Tim uses this HR information to further guide his workouts for us in the future.
We also went over some leg strengthening drills too. The rest of the morning was spent on our bikes at Thompson park where we did similar test loops of 1-5Kms.

All three of us were encouraged by Tim and it helped us to keep our motivation and spirits high for the future workouts that will be more intense. We plan to travel down to Lubbock this March to train with some of Tim's local clients as well.

2 Chronicles 31:21

Thanks for the visit.
Sloan

Trail Run New Year's Day

Gary, William, and I had a great run out at GP's land just Northwest of town. Gary had made some great trails for running a few years ago and they were still very well maintained. Thankfully my "On Call" duties allowed for a much needed break to be spent in the outdoors. The weather was a bit chilly at 34 degrees but there was almost no wind and the sun was shining. The 10 miles in 90 minutes went by in the blink of an eye. Sure beats the treadmill any day! Trail running is new to me and I really like it better than hoofing it on the pavement. It seems that the ground is much more friendly to the joints with every impact. It is also a good core muscle workout in order to keep your footing stable.

Hope 2011 starts off great for you!
Thanks for checking in.
Sloan