This will be on the Quiz

A drink or two never hurt anyone...

2014-01-20T11:25:00.002-08:00

As I recently, and unfortunately, reminded of... alcohol use has an effect on your athletic performance. Now many an athletes will tell you that a drink or two before a race actually helps them by easing pre-race jitters or helping them sleep, I am here to tell you that it will slow you down. Evidence suggests that even light but regular alcohol intake will mess with your training and may be the factor that is keeping your from achieving your performance goals.

Maybe not such a good idea.

So what does alcohol do to you exactly? How is your performance curtailed? Well the effects vary with the amount of intake. Also, while one side effect may not seem like a big whoop, the combination of all of the effects will indeed slow you down even if you just drink a little.

Dehydration! We all know this one, drink alcohol and you have to pee. But the hidden danger for us athletic types is that with dehydration (even slightly) comes electrolyte imbalances. This can lead to cramps, muscle pulls and strains. Now mix that in with a hot training or race day and you can see trouble is just around the corner. Now we are not talking about a severe case of dehydration, which could case brain injury, just a moderate 2 or 3 beer case.

Alcohol will also impair your reaction time and mental acuity for up to several days after consumption. The more you drink the bigger the effect. This of course decreases performance and increases injury risk. What if you find yourself drinking regularly? Well the result of all those training days you are putting in is going to be less effective than if you didn't drink. Alcohol also interferes with lactic acid breakdown and can result in increased soreness after a workout, making it harder for you to get out the door for you next effort.

Alcohol, at 7 calories per gram, is stored in the body similar to fat and it will also break down amino acids that are in your system and store them as fat. Therefore alcohol increases fat storage and adversely affects body composition. Yes a beer belly. Plus how many times do you accurately account for the calories your drink from alcohol, maybe for the first one but less and less everyone after that!

Nutritionally alcohol blocks intestinal cells from absorbing vitamins and minerals again leading to electrolyte imbalances and vitamin deficiencies. Also it has a direct effect on your body's ability to control its blood glucose levels. See how things are starting to pile up against you??

Lastly lets talk about sleep. Alcohol and sleep and not a match made in heaven. Yes alcohol has been shown to help you fall easier. But, as with other sedative products, it interrupts you progression to REM sleep. REM sleep is essential for good health, good moods, proper weight maintenance and muscle recovery. Less REM makes an unhappy athlete for sure!

Now teaching Indoor cycling classes I have some first hand experience of the effect of alcohol on your athletic output. As little as two beers the night before a class will significantly decrease my power output on the bike. Because I ride the same bike every class, and I know the routine very well most variables are accounted for so when I do identical classes and routinely average 20 watts less after drinking its pretty solid evidence. Now what about one beer? Are there effects I can't measure with watts? I am sure that not matter how small the intake their is some negative effect on you.

During our little discussion I left out the side effects of long term and heavy alcohol use as it didn't seem pertinent to athletic performance, obviously if you can't stand up you can't do an Ironman, but rather we focused on the smaller and maybe unnoticed effects. Eliminating or greatly reducing alcohol from your diet will improve your performance and maybe get you over the hump toward meeting your athletic goals.

HITT and its role in your training.

2013-12-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

All the latest rage at my home club is HITT or High Intensity Interval Training. Why is it all the rage? Because it has been reported to be the golden ticket to fat loss! The story goes that research has indicated that not only does high-intensity training burn fat more effectively than does low intensity exercise but it also boosts up you metabolism and keeps it revved up for some time after your workout. Well lets examine that statement and determine if HITT can earn a spot in your training schedule.

First, as I indicated before, I am married to a researcher so when someone says research indicates I want to find and read said research. Unfortunately I could not find any to back up this statement. Yes high intensity workouts burn more calories than low intensity workouts because you use more energy. But you can exercise longer at lower intensities and could, in effect, match the calorie burn by just going longer. More effectively, not really, just faster.

HITT proponents also point to the short recovery periods you get as the key to burning more fat. Well what in fact happens is that you are able to maintain a high output of energy for a longer period of time than if you did the workout straight through. More calories were burned due to the increase in exercise time, not the varied efforts.

But what about the fact that you will burn more calories/fat due to higher post exercise metabolism. Well there is a study that did research this effect and they called it Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. In a 2006 article in the Journal of Sport Sciences researchers found that more intense exercise creates a higher EPOC than low intensity workouts but that this number was only 6 to 15% of the net oxygen cost. That means if you pushed really hard for an hour or so and burned a 1000 calories, post exercise burn could add another 60 to 150 more calories. About the same as if you went at a lower intensity for another 10 min or so. More importantly the better shape you are in the less post burn you get, because you recover faster.

So it doesn't burn fat what good is it. High Intensity Interval Training makes you faster! Used wisely and not over done it is a great tool to have in your training schedule. The problem comes when athletes over use it thinking the benefits are greater than they truly are and wind up injured and exhausted.

Want to trim fat before next season, eat better and pile on the low intensity/longer workouts. You will get more calorie burn at a lower risk as well as at a pace you can maintain for a month or two. Save the HITT for the fine tuning and speed gain later in your training calendar.

Man, I'm BEAT!!! The Cumulative fatigue factor.

2013-12-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

Okay let's get one thing straight from the get go, long runs (those over 2:30) are killers! They kill you training, because you have to recover from them before you can train again. They kill your day, what you gonna do after running for 4 hours?? And they kill your relationships!! They are bad to the core.

But Coach Bobo I am getting ready for a marathon/70.3/Ironman I need to run long!?!? Pish Posh I say! Lend me your ears and let us try and save that relationship, while we still have time.

First off how could I say such bad things about such a time honored tradition. We've heard it all before, "LSD (long slow runs) are where its at man," "the Eagles (The Long Run) knew what they were singing about," "Length is everything!" Well it seems research does not back this up and, since I am married to a researcher, I have learned a thing or three about studies. Recent research has shown that your body doesn't see a significant increase in training benefits after running 3 hours. IN FACT the majority of the physiological stimulus of the Long Run occurs between the 90 minute mark and the 150 minute mark. It further goes on to say that if you do run longer than 3 hours the aerobic benefits (capillary building and mitochondrial development) begin to actually stagnate or decline instead of getting better. So let me distill that for you, running more than 2:30 makes no freak'n sense.

So what's an endurance athlete to do?? Well meet your new best friend: Cumulative Fatigue!! Now this isn't my idea but I have been studying the concept for awhile now. This idea is one of the building blocks of Hansons Marathon Method. In short it employs the idea of active recovery in the form of easier, but still pretty good distance, runs scheduled on consecutive days. Then you head out for a semi-long run that approaches you goal race pace. The consecutive easy days (which themselves usually follow a tempo day) allow for partial, but not full, recovery. Then by the time you hit that semi-long run the primary muscle fibers are fatigued and require you to recruit secondary ones to help complete the run. In essence your semi-long run more closely resembles what you will feel like at the END of your marathon. Where as an old fashioned long run more closely resembles how you feel at the BEGINNING of a marathon. And so where do most runner fall apart during long races.... yeah you got it at the end.

Let me tell you from first hand experience, athletes FREAK out when you take their long runs away. They FREAK out even more when you tell them to run easy 2 days in a row. But once they start to follow the plan and hit that first semi-long run with a little fatigued, BAM the light bulb goes off and they see the method to the madness. This is especially important when training for tri as it allows us, as coaches, to keep things moving instead of having to schedule 2 or 3 easy days.

So as we head toward the off season and are starting to look to build endurance, save the time and muscle damage of those old runs and start cozying up to cumulative fatigue. And as always write us here at RPM for advice, to answer any questions you might have or if you are looking for that coach to take you to the next level.

How did you do?? Actual time vs Training time

2013-11-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

The majority of our time is spent training for our athletic events. Tri's, marathons, ocean swims, you name it, the time we spend practicing dwarfs the time we actually race, even for those who race often. This is also true in team sports. Although it doesn't look like it, the NY Giants spend a ton of time practicing for the games they play. But there is a big difference when it comes to perceived outcomes. The sports teams usually have a really good idea of what they can do, and what they can't do, and game plan to match those abilities. They then go out and try to nail their plan. But many individual athletes have an unrealistic idea of what they can do come game day and because if it underperform. Let's look at how this happens and what you can do to perform to your potential on race day.

The most obvious difference is the participants in team sports have an extra pair (or more) of eyes evaluating their talent. Unbiased opinions of your talent and abilities are extremely important for you to develop a training plan that reflects your true abilities. Then your not wasting your time training for race goals that are too lofty, or even too low. A coach can also assess your weaknesses and make a plan to systematically improve them. Now being an endurance coach myself I have to report to you that this is extremely common! One of the biggest contributions I bring to the table for my athletes is in evaluating his/her abilities and preparing a program to best suit the needs of that particular athlete. Something those pre-fab plans cannot do.

So back to all that training time we started out talking about. If you spend the majority of you time training in zones and speeds that don't suit you, you are then practicing something you cannot pull off. Why waste all that time and energy? By training in zones that suit your heart rate and talent you will perform better on race day and may elevate your overall performance. Really? But who does that you say?? Well...

There has been some investigation done on how athletes do during a race when compared to how they trained. Only 30% of those studied where able to race at the pace they trained for and therefore met their goals. A tiny percentage, about 1%, were able to race FASTER than they trained. A whopping 70% raced some degree slower than their estimated, and trained at, race pace. What happened? Well by over estimating what they could do a majority of the athletes set themselves up for failure and in fact stunted their times. Let me give you a triathlon example: If you overestimate your ability in the swim and/or the bike, and go out faster than your body can truly handle, not only will your run be affected but it will affected in a BIG way! The time on the run will be exponentially slower than if you had a proper goal time on the first two events. In this case proper pacing when then have lead to an overall better time.

Where do you go from here? First I would seriously consul that you get a good coach. Ask around there are definitely some good live bodies out there that can be a big help. Let's face it between all the money you spend on equipment and the time you spend on training it is an awesome investment. Even just for a few months! Additionally I would look into obtaining one of Sally Edwards books on Heart Zones training. She has been doing it forever and is the best at it. Lastly take this off-season and run some tests. Find out your max heart rate, maybe even you VO2 Max, and set up some reasonable goals for the athlete that truly you are. Not only will it make the whole experience more satisfying but you may find out you have been practicing slower than you really are!

Okay you think your so smart....

2013-11-11T10:11:00.001-08:00

Recently I came down with something that gave me a stuffy nose, sore throat, a bit of an ear ache, a slight fever and, well, just overall achyness. I wasn't dying but I was certainly not feeling good enough to participate in the Olympic Tri I was scheduled to do that morning. One of the recommendations I received from well wishers was to take some tylenol for my fever as it would make me more comfortable. When I heard this I immediately recalled the words of my good friend Dr Steve Johnson "you have a fever for a reason, its meant to kill off the invaders, let your body do what it needs to. Do you think your are smarter than your body?? It has gotten us through a couple million years I think it should know what its doing!"

Yeah...So where are you going with this Bobo?? Well it got me to thinking (and wondering) about another of our bodies responses and how we treat it. Inflammation and icing, or cyrotherapy if you will. It has always seemed a little counterproductive to me to combat the bodies normal response to any issue that arises. Tylenol for fever, ice for swelling, pepsi for a hangover. Is icing something we should actually be doing? Whose idea was this anyways? Couldn't the ice be better used in frozen margaritas? So here is some of what I found:

Inflammation is a necessary and normal response to an injury. The process increases blood flow to the area bringing healing nutrients to the damaged tissue as well as increases lymphatic flow away from the area removing damaged cells. You know what else inflammation does? It makes the boo boo hurt! If you have an area that hurts you will be less inclined to want to use it and therefore your body has the time it needs to fix it. Using an injured area can make the initial problem much worse. So far so good, I like what I am hearing.

Lets take a step back and talk about the lymphatic system. It is a secondary circulatory system that runs throughout your body helping to drain fluids and blood byproducts back into your bloodstream. Once those items have been delivered to your primary circulatory system they are either re-used or disposed of as necessary. Now this system is not directly attached to the heart and does not have valves in it. It is a free flowing low pressure system. If there is inflammation in an area the pressure of that swelling will cause flushing out of the area by the good out lymphatic system. But research has shown if you decrease that swelling it slows the outward flow and then, once the ice is removed, it causes the system back wash to the area actually increasing recovery time. And as we all know back wash sucks.

Most patients report the damaged area felt better after icing. But additional studies show there is no improvement in range of motion or decreased healing time with icing. It just decreases the swelling so you felt better so that us type A's triathletes could go out and exercise with our injuries sooner. No Bueno!

Interestingly compression without ice did not seem to have the same negative effects on recovery times that icing and compression did. But again the caveat is that with compression we improved how the area felt and then went and did our 56 mi bike/10 mi run brick anyways.

Now in all the studies and research there was a line were inflammatory response got out of control. That the inflammation itself began to restrict blood flow to the area and lymphatic flow out of the area. Unfortunately no study pointed to where this line of critical inflammation was drawn. But again they point to mild compression and elevation as the key treatment for this dilemma. Noticeably anti-inflammatories were not thought of very highly in how we treat inflammation. Besides there inherent side effects they again they masked and decreased our bodies response to the problem, decreasing healing and lengthening recovery times. When icing was recommended it was for very short periods of times (10 mins) and only for one application.

Finally having dealt with the medical field for a long, long time as well as having read tons of research papers and gone to paid for pharmaceutical conferences it comes down to a basic understanding of our bodies. If we catch something, hurt a joint or pull a muscle a healthy body is its own best friend. We are generally in good condition and are able to muster a stout defense to the insults our bodies receive. Don't try and mask or control your bodies response. Give it time, let it do its work and skip the schedule brick for that day and while your are recovering perfect that margarita recipe.

Making a case for going Easy!

2013-10-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

I had a dream last night that I was on the Family Feud with Richard Dawson, I loved Richard Dawson, best Feud host ever! Anyways it was my turn at the toss up question and my team, The Lube, Chrissie Wellington, Mike Reilly and the lovely Jill Olausson, were all counting on my to come through. Richard shot out the question "a 100 tri coaches were surveyed on the following question... What is the biggest training mistake you see your athletes make??" I blurted out "Their Easy Workouts are too HARD!!" Survey says 100! Going harder than you are suppose to during your scheduled easy days is a huge training error we see all the time!

Many athletes believe we coach types add easy days to their workout programs just to fill space. You know a way take up time between the hard workouts while we think of new ways to torture them. Then when they get to the aforementioned easy day he/she decides that since they actually made the effort of doing the workout they are going to push it a little harder than prescribed and make it "worth" the effort. Then we silly coaches get back the report of our athletes weeks worth of workouts, let's say in a Garmin file download, and the efforts all look the same! HR's close to threshold and a bunch of steady efforts that are neither easy enough and then, consequently, not hard enough to get to achieve our goals.

Easy workouts fill the vital role of allowing giving us coaches a way of providing the athlete a gentler overload that we can apply in a higher volume without the inherent risk of injury that faster/harder workouts do. The Easy Workout keeps us introducing a stress your body, albeit a less harsh stress, to which must adapt. The formula to fitness remains the same, just gentler: Introduce stress in the form of a workout, allow the body to adapt to that stress, increased fitness, viola!

In the limitations of the space I have let me go into a few of the benefits of easy workouts. Let's start with muscle fiber recruitment. Basically there are 2 types of muscle fibers, slow twitch and fast twitch. A loose definition indicates that fast twitch muscle are the more powerful and explosive muscle fibers. While slow twitch one have a lower firing range or contraction then their fast twitch brothers. Going easy allows us to recriute more of the slow twitch fibers and build them up. This building up of slowtiwtch fibers will come in very handy during the later stages of an endurance event after Mr. fast twitch fibers have started to fatigue. Going hard all the time blocks this recruitment and stunts our endurance bulding efforts.

Secondly slow twitch fibers are more adapt at burning fat for fuel. Now we have wealth of calories stored in our body in the form of fat which can be used to supply us with energy as our event progresses. It will also help "save" carbohydrates allowing the fast twitchers to use that as energy. When you are working out at that lower end of the effort scale you are burning ruffly 70% fat and 30% carbs. Now you can teach your body to burn more fat. The body will produce more enzymes needed to burn fat, and use less carbs even as your effort increases, if you put the work in up front and go easy.

Lastly easier workouts stimulate changes on a celluar level. Once you start practicing the art of burning more fat the mitochondria in your cells, the cells power plants, will start to grow to meet the new demand. Bigger mitochondria = bigger power plants = more power (I given' her all I got Cap'n, the dilythium crystal can't take much more!)

Besides all the benefits above, increased cappilary growth, gradual adaptation of your tendons to more strenuous activity and a uptick in your hemoglobin production can all be linked to a solid foundation of easy workouts in your training plan. Not to mention the fact that going easy one day allows your hard to be HARDER the next day, because your body has adapted and is ready for it.

Well I could go one forever but hopefully you, with the help of a coach or mentor, have defined your workout zones and you have a good understanding of what "easy" means to you. The athlete then just needs to follow through and actually go easy one those days. Adhereing to this simple principle will net you big results come race day.

I don't want to rub you the wrong way...

2013-10-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

As athletes we are always striving to improve our performance. Maybe we are searching for that elusive "PR," trying to correct our form or even just finding a greater comfort level when we are working out. We do interval sets, try cross training and add in a sprinkle of better equipment seeking more speed. Unfortunately, we often neglect a fundamental aspect of training: a maintenance plan for our muscles! We demand so much of our muscular system, pushing that endurance envelope, and we need to care for it so the muscles can meet those increased needs. One of the best ways to care for it, and thereby directly improving our performance, is with regular deep tissue massage. I recently sat down with Red Performance Multisport massage therapist of choice, Kelli Robbins, in her Claremont office and we chatted it up about massage.

Coach Bobo: Thanks for having me over Kelli, how long have you been rubbing people the right way, what's you background, how did you become a massage therapist??

K-Cricket: Woah, Bob, did we had too many extra shots of expresso in our Soy Chai Latte today? Well I became a massage therapist 7 years ago, two in my current location in Claremont, after an injury cut short my very promising athletic career. I turned to massage to help others improve their athletic experience as well as helping them work through injuries of their own. I attended school in San Bernardino, CA which consisted of 720 hours of training that led to me getting my State of California license.

Jiminy Cricket, Kelli's favorite cartoon character!

Bobo: Okay maybe 3 shots of expresso but back to you, what areas of massage do you specialize in K_Cricket?

Kelli: Why do you calling me K-Cricket? (umm ...I heard it was your Jiminy Cricket was your favorite cartoon character) Anyways Deep tissue, Trigger Point and Myofascial Release are the areas I mostly find myself involved in. It's definitely the greatest areas of need in the athletes I see here at my practice.

Bobo: Lets get to the meat of the issue (snickering to myself..) why do I need a massage?

Kelli: You need a lot more than a massage but as far as that is concerned let me lay it out for you:

Having a deep tissue massage at least once a week will help the athlete keep their muscles healthy, improving flexibility and maintaining relaxation. Its like preventive maintenance on your vehicle. If once a week isn't always possible twice a month is a good place to start, ramping up to weekly as your event approaches. Now specifically massage helps increase joint flexibility, pumps oxygen into the muscles (helping them to recover completely), elongates muscle fibers (a longer muscle can generate more power than a shorter one!) reduces spasms and cramping as well as reducing fatigue.

Bobo: Seems like a no brainer to me!

Kelli: That's why even you understand it

Bobo: ??? Anyways what kind of timing, massage wise, should the athlete consider pre/post event?

Kelli: Well pre-event, while you are tapering and recovering from all your training, its good to get a massage 3-5 days out. Now this massage will help enhance circulation thereby completing that post training recovery. It will also reduce muscle and metal tension, further relaxing and elongating the muscles and getting them competition ready. Post race it good to get a light massage within 72 hours of finishing your race. This massage is geared to toward reducing the metabolic build up that occurs in the muscle after vigorous exercise as well as helping to reduce spasms

Bobo: What about some interesting Massage Trivia?

Kelli: Bob did you ever notice you are not normal, and who is Bobo?? Anyways how this for you: Bob Hope had a massage everyday and lived to be older than dirt. But seriously Runners tend to show up with very tight Iliotibial bands and Hamstrings. They would benefit from stretching those areas post exercise. Bikers greatest complaints are their calves as well as their ITs. Swimmers are chill and usually require overall muscle work but present with far less specific injuries.

Bobo: Here is Kelli's favorite calf stretch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1HzSAuB-Vw and my favorite IT band stretch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0e8FPL787E

Kelli: Who are you kidding, your an athlete, you never have time to stretch. But seriously post workout stretching with a regular diet of massage is a great way to improve performance while preventing injuries!

Bobo: Thanks Kelli!! By the way Kelli is offering Red Performance Multisport athletes a discounted rate making it easier to get the massage you need. Just mention to her you are one of our athletes and you are good to go. Here is Kelli's webpage so you can find her and make that appointment ASAP.

www.kellirobbins.massagetherapy.com

Note to reader: Although we actually did the interview and the facts Kelli gave on massage were true, I didn't actually call her K-Cricket (among other enhancements!).

Getting faster without breaking the bank!

2013-09-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Athletes in general, and triathletes specifically, love gadgets and supplements the promise improved performance and greater speed. In my 30 plus years in the tri world every season brings new equipment with a promise to make you faster. Heck if all these things worked I would be doing IM's in under 8 hours by now! Sure for thousands of dollars you can get a carbon bike, hook up a power meter, throw on a couple of Zipp wheels and head off for a new bike PR. But what if you don't have a bank account that allows such extravagance? What can your normal everyday tri guy do to get more speed and keep the mortgage company happy? Let me offer up some ideas.

First off everyone, and I mean everyone, should get and use a breath trainer (for example http://www.expand-a-lung.com). Besides being a triathlete I have been a Respiratory Therapist for 32 years. I have done pulmonary function tests on every body type out there. I have also tested people who have used breath trainers, they work! Simply put these cheap and easy to use little gadgets are weight lifting for your lungs and the muscles the help you to breath. All of the better athletes that I have tested have lung functions far above the normal individual. They can breath deeper and more forcefully then we can. This comes into play when they are working out and competing allowing them to process more oxygen and carbon dioxide then their competition. A breath trainer will help you increase you lung volumes and Forced Vital Capacity and allow you to blow (haha) away the competition. Pick any of the ones out there, read the studies they have done, I can tell you from a technical stand point they work. What are you waiting for??

If you reading this blog you are probably interested in triathlons or at least have incorporated some bike riding into you training. For speed as well as for health reason you would be wise to get a saddle that incorporates some type of pressure relieving design (one example http://www.ismseat.com). Lets talk speed first. We will spend thousands on an aero bike, aero bars, drag reducing helmets and getting the proper fit for our bikes. Then while we are training and racing we can't stay in aero position because of discomfort, numbness or down right pain... well... down under! All that money is wasted as we sit up and do our best impersonation of a parachute till transition. A comfortable saddle that is designed to relieve that pressure will make you rides enjoyable, especially as they get longer. The ability to remain in aero position for the entire race can improve your speeds upwards of 5 mph. Not to mention the post ride health benefits of increased blood flow to the aforementioned area, making recovery easier and keeping everyone happy ; )

Lastly there is no denying aero equipment will make you faster. But after registration fees, travel costs, massages and buying something at the expo who has the cash for a Specialized Shiv?? Well lets look at what benefits you get from each item and then I will offer a solution:

Gear	Est. Price	Time Savings
TT bike w/aerobars, stock wheels	$3k-$5k	150 seconds
aero wheels	$2,000	180 seconds
aero bars	$150-$1K	120 seconds
TT helmet	$180	60 seconds
skinsuit	$100-$300	90 seconds

The above numbers are based on an relatively short 25 mile bike ride with no wind. For an IM try quadrupling those numbers, maybe throw in a little wind and dang you are talking some serious time! Now lets toss out the skin suit, just wear a kit that tight fitting, simple and sexy solution, done. Now look at that are wheel number! If we are talking an IM distance race you are looking at close to 15 minutes. Want big bang for little buck, RENT SOME! You can get top of the line Zipps, use them in your A race, look cool and dominate, BAM! Bob makes it easy again with a link http://www.racedaywheels.com

Happy training and Race Hard!

I'm a USAT Coach and, well, a Recipe too!

2013-09-10T15:25:00.001-07:00

After more than a few years of practicing on any willing subject I have become an officially certified triathlon coach by USAT!! I have also joined Pro Triathlete Jim Lubinski at Red Performance Multisport to help bring our coaching services to the masses. So what better way to celebrate than with.... a Vegan Recipe!

A few times I have made some type of Cauliflower Kung Poa and had some requests for the recipe. What follows is, as best as I can remember (because I usually don't write them down!) the recipe. What is so great about this particular one is it is so pliable! Unlike a triathlete after an Ironman. You can add stuff (like Hoisin sauce which I often do) and throw in other items (like sautéed seiten which I get from Trader Joes.) This dinner goes awesome over a speciality rice, like black forbidden rice (forbidden yes, but you can use it just this once!) or noodles. Away we go....

Makes 4 servings, so if you are inviting like 8 people over, or me (because I love it!)...double it

1 Med Sized Cauliflower head. (not one of the big MF'ers, like this guys head)

Never failed a drug test (never took one either)

2 tablespoons of Peanut oil

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup high quality H20 mixed with 2 tablespoon cornstarch

Other Stuff
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
10 whole dried red chili peppers
4 green onions, cut into 1/2-inch lengths
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons Peanut oil

Saucey

2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoon chili paste with garlic
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoon sherry
2 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup veggie broth
3 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup warm veggie

Optional adds to sauce: 1 tablespoon graded ginger or Hoisin sauce

Use these if you can but not after catching a fly in them!

1) Take the cauliflower and cut that sucker up into bite size pieces, rinse it off (leaving it a little wet) and put in a resealable freezer bag. Then add the Cornstarch mixture and shake real good (like a polaroid picture). Now add peanut oil to a skillet (or a pan but skillet is cooler word). An fry up those suckers until golden brown and tender. Get them out of there before they burn and set aside.

2) In a smal bowl combine all the Saucey Ingerdients except for the last one! Leave it out of this, it has got nothing to do with your argument with me!! We will get back to this Saucey Saga later

3) In that there skillet put some more Peanut Oil and warm it up, then toss your peanuts and peppers in. Cook until the peppers turn a dark and ominous looking red color. Now take them out and place ever so gently into the bowl with your cauliflower. Ahh the anticipation grows!

4) Now take your green onions (or scallions or whatever you want to call them) and your garlic (no such thing as too much garlic) and fry for only a few seconds, don't you dare let that garlic burn. Now add the contents of the cauliflower bowl, then the Saucey Saga, let it all warm a bit and add then cornstarch mixture and turn up the heat a bit. Stir constantly until sauce thickens. You can add Black sesame seeds once the sauce is thick for color and a little after dinner fun of find the black sesame seed in your neighbors teeth.

Serve over rice

There you have it. Need another recipe? Need a swim lesson, or a coaching plan for an upcoming race, or even looking to drop a few pounds send me an email and we will get you on your way!

When your happy and you know it...

2013-02-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness.” ~Dalai Lama in The Art of Happiness

Last weekend the Triathlon Connection was well represented at two events in the desert: the Tour de Palm Springs and the Palm Springs half marathon. Being injured I was unable to attended but was able to read all about it on The Book. Smiling faces, good food and great reports of the day led me to believe everyone had a great time. I think there is message we can all take home from the events, let me explain.

If the Dalai is right, and I believe he is, we are all seeking peace and happiness in our lives. Times when we can sit down with a calm mind and a smile on our face, enjoying life to the fullest. It certainly seemed like some of those times were had this weekend for sure.

Happiness is always right there for us to grab but we always seem to want to put rules on it. "I will be happy when I get a new tri bike" "...when I qualify for Kona" "...when I beat Bob." These rules are just barriers that actually prevent us from being happy! We have no control over these rules we erect to happiness. After all what if we flat during our Ironman and wind up not qualifying. Was the last 3, 6 or 8 months of training wasted? All the time we got to spend with our friends worthless?

The pictures and stories of the weekend showed a bunch of people having a great time together! Enjoying each others company to the max. Was it because the event was "untimed," maybe the run was too early in the season and expectations haven't yet been erected or....

... was it because of the pizza?

I am not trying to be change your life or give you a headache thinking this through but just trying to pass an idea. We are all very lucky to be able to do what we do. We are accompanied in this adventure by many loving and caring individuals who are a just a ton of fun to be around. So as we embark on our season of training and racing let's enjoy all the happiness our lives bring to us every day and try not to let it depend on the time we cross the finish line.

Improve Cadence Gradually to Reduce Injury & Improve Efficiency

2013-02-05T10:09:00.000-08:00

Prancing is cool!

Whenever I am asked on how to improve one's running I tell almost everyone they need to prance more! Prance? They ask. Why yes indeed you need to prance when you run. How does one prance? Well you increase your running cadence. Increaseing your cadence forces you to a become a mid foot striker, (long strides = slow cadence) and moves your hips into a proper forward position. Why Prance in the first place? I ain't no bambi! Well first its more energy efficient, second its easier on the knees and third all the fast runners are doing it!! Here is a great article from Altra footwear founder Golden Harper on how to get your cadence up! And maybe I won't be prancing past you at you the next race!

Heel striking boo!!!

Gradually increasing the steps you run in a minute—known as cadence—may be the single most effective way to reduce high impact over-striding and improve running efficiency. Consciously monitoring and improving your cadence can improve your run times and reduce nagging knee pain.

Is changing to a 180 Cadence always correct?
Runner’s World recently published an article on cadence citing research from the 1984 Olympic Marathon. At the 1984 Olympics, famed coach and running researcher Jack Daniels counted the strides of distance runners as they raced. Daniels discovered nearly every runner took at least 180 steps per minute. Citing Daniels’s observation, experts have long suggested that in order to minimize over striding, reduce impact on the legs and maintain forward momentum—runners should always aspire to nail that magic 180 number.

The expert advice for runners to increase their cadence is well founded. However, the mistake comes when runners try to reach the magic 180 steps instantly. Additionally, assuming that everyone has to be at or above 180 is challenging when you consider genetic differences, running surfaces, individual style and other factors. Most runners run with a much lower cadence, and changing too rapidly can be difficult and feel awkward.

After teaching running technique for nearly two decades, I’ve found the best plan is a 3–6 week transition period where runners increase their cadence by about 12-20 steps per minute for every run during this period. After 3–6 weeks of muscle adaption, the runner can increase their cadence by another 12-20 steps if necessary. Although one or two adaptation sessions are sufficient for most runners, you can repeat as many times as necessary to find your sweet spot. For most runners, the sweet spot is somewhere between 170 and 185 steps per minute.

Finding Your Cadence

To improve your cadence you need to know what your actual cadence number is. Of course, you could simply count how many times one foot hits the ground in a minute and then multiply by two, but there are other ways. First off, remember that you will get a more accurate count in the middle or end of a run when running on a flat surface. I like to think that measuring for 20 seconds is a bit easier, especially for those who don’t want to count for a full minute. Simply count how many times one foot hits the ground in 20 seconds, then multiply by six to find your cadence. For example, if you count 25 steps in 20 seconds, your cadence is 150.

Improving Cadence

There are many ways to improve your cadence, here’s a few:

20 Second Count: Regardless of how many steps (on one foot) you count in 20 seconds, you just want to attempt to add two or three steps in 20 seconds to improve your cadence by 12-18 steps per minute. This is easy to do and can be done with nothing but a stopwatch in the middle of any run.
30/20 rule: The 30/20 rule is popular among those who are at a level where they want to have a 180 cadence. If you are shooting for 180, simply count 30 foot falls on one leg in 20 seconds. If you’re trying to be around 170, simply shoot for 28-29 in 20 seconds.
Run with a metronome: There’s an app for that! …Unless of course you want to use the one on your piano! Simply set your metronome for your desired target cadence, and run to the beat. You can also use sites like JogTunes to find music with beats that match your desired turnover. A cadence meter for your iPhone is a great tool as well. You can check out the iFit app or iFit efficiency app.

*Remember that if your target cadence still feels strained after a couple of weeks, it is probably too high and you should reduce it by around 5-6 steps per minute.

Get someone to film you as you run.

Here I am about to midfoot strike

and my hips are forward while

running last few miles of the

SurfCity Marathon 2012

It takes along time to build stamina

to keep form the entire race!

Wow Nice Shirt Bob!!

Our internal research at Altra shows that runners who put on an Altra Zero Drop™ shoe improve cadence dramatically when they start running in our shoes. The reason for this is simple: Zero Drop shoes allow a runner’s landing point to shift closer to the body, which reduces the amount of time on the ground and causes a quicker step. Since most running shoes have midsoles that are twice as thick in the heel as they are in the forefoot, and also twice as heavy, they cause the body and foot to engage the ground earlier in the stride cycle than they otherwise would. The thicker, heavier heel slows down your cadence.

Wearing a Zero Drop shoe allows a landing or footfall nearly identical to how a person would run without a shoe on—with the foot more parallel to the ground and closer to the body before engaging the ground. This increases cadence, which has been shown to reduce joint impact and improve running efficiency.

Slightly different muscles will be emphasized or used at first while adapting to a higher cadence, but once adapted, running efficiency will almost surely improve.

It is important to note that while there is a slight change with faster paces, cadence and pace are not highly related. Run in place at 180 beats per minute. How fast are you running? That’s correct, 0 miles per hour. Now consider that in a recent world record setting performance of the mile, the winner had a cadence of only 204. That means that he only took 12 more steps per leg per minute than the standard 180 that is recommended for an average runner in a marathon. That’s not a very big difference considering that he is moving well over twice the speed of the average marathoner.

If you’re a distance runner dealing with nagging knee pain, or if you’re just looking to improve your 10k time, take a look at your cadence. Gradually improving your cadence could just be the thing that improves your efficiency, reduces risk of injury, and allows you to run with Zero Limits.

Once you learn to up your cadence, midfoot strike and push

those hips forward you too will be jumping for joy!

Interview with The Coach, Tony Troccoli

2013-01-31T13:38:00.002-08:00

Tony's favorite cartoon character, pretty fitting!

Being laid up for awhile and it gave me a chance to sit down (or lay down in my case) with the man behind Triathlon Connection, Tony Troccoli. It was a no holds barred interview where I got to ask any question I wanted to and he had to answer!

Let me hit you with a little background info first and how I came to be a member of Triathlon Connection and my relationship with Tony. My wife Jill and I had lived in Northern New England for most of our adult lives. We had times out of the area here and there but New Hampshire had been our home for awhile, yeah cold, snowy grey NH. And so it came to pass that we got sick and tired of the cold, not those Bluebird snow days where we could ski and snowshoe all day, but all those other grey and windy bonechilling days that eventually would give way to Mud Season, then Black Fly Season, which passed into Mosiquito Season, then one day of Summer, then Leaf Peeper Season, and then November and we start all over again! Yuck! We needed a change of scenery and wound up in SoCal. Being an athlete I searched out running and tri-clubs and found a pool before we even picked a house to live in, hey first things first! I joined Socal Daybreakers and LA Tri club before we even moved. After arriving here I found LA Tri was not my cup of tea and began to look for another option, one that was close to home. During my morning runs with the Daybreakers, I had the occasion to chat with this strange dude (strange because he was nice and approachable, 2 things that are abnormal to us New Hamphire people!). He told me about his tri club and that I should join. Heck, I thought, if he is running a tri club it must be a good one, and well it IS! The club is truly a reflection of its leader, we are a caring and dedicated bunch. One that feels more like a group of family and friends instead of a high intensity tri club.

My chat with Tony seems to have come at a crossroads for both him and the club he started back and has grown, along with the help of his awesome wife Sinta, since 2004. Tony first met Sinta, then a member of the LA tri club, during some training rides with Cycling Connection. Sinta was new to group rides and was having a hard time not getting dropped by the group. Tony would stay back and help pull Sinta to the end of the ride. As time passed Sinta needed less and less help till she was good enough to hang with the group without Tony's help, but she still rode with Tony, something that did not go unnoticed by coach! When Tony Started Tri Connection the numbers were small and sometimes it was only Tony and Sinta going out to train, but with a housing boom occuring in Rancho and with the steady support of Corey from Coates Cyclery, the club began to grow. Sinta helped Tony with the Website and it is hard to think of one without the other, they certainly seem like they were made for each other! Today TC's number exceeds 200 members who stretch from the desert to Glendora. Its has become a big job to run the club, as well as have a full time job, as well as coach other athletes and oh by the way keep up some level of training yourself. So Tony and TC find themselves at a time of change, a time that will require more participation from its membership as the club grows and moves into the future.

Tony had been active as an athlete who participated in sports that used a ball as their main focus until he was involved involved in a terrible motorcycle accident in1989 that robbed him of the use of his left arm and one he was lucky to come out of it alive. Recovery from any bad accident is tough but one that reminds you of it effects on a daily basis is even tougher. He was left to chart a new course and found, although difficult at first, he could still ride a bike. After becoming involved ultra cycling, even completing the California Triple Crown (Three 200 mile rides in one calendar year!), he had become enamored with the idea of triathlon. His favorite triathletes were Ironman Champion Mark Allen and some french IM dude who trained using a HR monitor (a real pioneer) which created an idea for Tony: He wanted to be an Ironman! Having run some in high school all that was needed was to learn had to swim, well one handed that is, which he learned for the sole purpose of finishing an IM . Soon he developed a technique and felt confident enough to enter Ironman Canada in 1999. He triumphantly finished the race and upon his return from Pentictan dug out his old helmet from the crash, a symbol of what had happened and how it had changed him, and tossed it in the trash. Oh sure he was different now, but it wasn't because of his scars, it was because he was an Ironman! Tony still harbors some athletic goals, Wildflower in less than 6 hours as well finishing an Ironman under 12 hours, and outrunning me.

Tony has raced a ton, I tried to pin him down to a number but I wasn't able to, let's just say a lot (and a lot of entry fees too!) but what he really loves to do now is coach. Not just the kind of coach that show up with a whistle and a stop watch but someone who gets to know you, your lifestyle, what makes you tick, what he tries to do is build that relationship so the athlete and the coach are a team. Working toward a common goal, knowing full well that not everyone has the time or desire to train 25 hours a week. He feels he learns as much from those he teaches or coaches as they learn from his experiences. His proudest achievements are from coaching individuals who have children, jobs and relationships that are important to them yet they strive to be an Ironman. To those people who think of getting to an Ironman maybe as impossible as walking on the moon, its those individuals Tonys loves to work with and help. When those athletes cross the finish line he is crossing it with them and at those times he as as proud as when he is crossing it himself.

Who would play Tony in a movie? He thinks it should be Martin Sheen.

While I think it should be....

Let me hit you up with some stats: Tony Troccoli was born in 1965 and he is of Italian and Spanish decandaent, he races with Zoots and rides a Cervelo. One of our clubs favorite saying is swim, ride, run, eat, sleep, repeat well Tony's favorite food is Angel Hair Pasta! A couple of Tonyism's:" If you gonna yak then get in the back!" or "if you are yakking you are not working hard enough!" YES he has done a race in a speedo only! It was the the Tinsel tri and he has a picture of it, luckily we don't have it for this article. He also see a lot of people enter tri's and triathlon as awhole untrained and unprepared. He has ambitions to write a book, one written from the normal triathletes point of view. Not a book to teach you how to become an elite triathlete but someone who actually has a life and wants to incorporate triathlon while still keeping their everyday life. In fact to me it seemed like the book is almost already written Tony just needs the time to type it up.

Hopefully I have provided you with a brief glimpse of Tony and what has gotten him to where he is today in the world of triathlon.

The author and Tony square off for a hard hitting interview!

Altra Test Drive

2013-01-26T13:12:00.001-08:00

I while back I mentioned I was testing out some new products, well the one I am reviewing today are my running shoes from a fairly new shoe company: Altra http://www.altrazerodrop.com

Me kicking it with my new Altra running shoes!

As athletes we all get into our routines and it usually takes an act of god for us to switch equipment, our style or our pre-race routine. Well my lightning bolt came in the form of some sharp pain and swelling behind the metatarsals on my right foot. It persisted for quite awhile and even ruined the run portion of my Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I immediately thought it was due to my new running shoes, but like I said I don't like to switch equipment and I hadn't really, but my old style shoes had been phased out and I had gotten the new and improved version. Since I am a fairly neutral runner whose shoes wear out pretty evenly I switched back to my old worn shoes but the pain persisted. So I grudgingly went to the podiatrist.

Dr Tepper, (who by the way has a running background http://www.drtepper.com ) spent plenty of time with me. He examined my gait, watched me run on the treadmill and looked over my running shoes. He diagnosis was that my toe box in my new shoes was squeezing my toes together thereby not allowing them to flex in a natural manner. The switch back to my old shoes did not work because the swelling, although minor, made even that toe box too small. He explained the the toes need to spread out and flex as we move from mid foot strike to the forefoot and eventually lift off the ground as the other foot moves into position. He was great in demonstrating this and showing just how my mechanics had been compromised by the new shoes. He recommended I got orthotics to help my feet perform the way they were intended. But his excellent demonstrations had already pointed me in one direction: Altra!

Yes Dr. Tepper sounded just like a commercial I had recently seen for Altra running shoes. Wide toe box shoe so your toes would behave properly, zero drop so you feet were in the proper position as the landed and moved through to liftoff. A shoe made to keep you feet healthy!

Instinct 1.5

So I got me some of the Altras, specifically the Instinct 1.5 , and they are awesome!! Lightweight, comfortable, easy on your feet and they make you much faster (ok I just through that one in!) Out of the box I ran in them for 4 miles and immediately felt a difference in my form. Now Altra cautions you to break them in slowly but I am pretty limber and a midsole sticker so I just went for it. The shoe is awesome for me and has me running mile after stress free mile.

Tech Specs: Instinct 1.5 Minimal cushion training shoe. Full length A-Bound layer atop the midsole cushioning. Heel to to offset is 0mm (zero drop) with overall heel height at 16mm and 16mm at the forefoot (not including the insole) Weight on men's shoe is 8.9 oz and women's is 7.7 oz. The women's and men's shoe are built slightly different with the women's shoes built specifically for their running needs.

Lone Peak trail shoes from Altra

Altra can be found locally at Top Speed Running http://www.topspeedrunning.com and they will let you run with them on their treadmill. If you a feeling good about them already I have become a Altra Ambassador (because I loved the shoes so much) and can order some for you at 20% retail. New this spring Altra will have a tri shoe as in addition to their trail and street shoes. Give'm a tri!

New Products review

2013-01-10T15:39:00.000-08:00

Hey new year so time to tryout some new products!! I have been looking for some solutions to a few nagging problems I have had over the years and my search led me to two new products that are worthy of your considerations!!

First for those who know me I am a sweater! No, not someone who is especially hairy and looks like he has a sweater on even when his shirt is off, no I sweat. In fact I am nothing but a giant sized water filtration system. ( http://purlette.com/#!/main Purleete the best water filters around but that's another product review!) When I did the sweat test I found that on average I sweat roughly a gallon an hour, give or take, depending on conditions. So I need to replace fluid and electrolytes, big time. I tried out gatorade for awhile and it was OK for replacement but when I tried to eat something on top of it oy, it gave me gastric distress (someone call 911 or at least step back!). My search led me to The Secret Drink Mix Formula at http://www.skratchlabs.com/ Allen Lim has been involved in exercise nutrition and physiology for years and has slowly developed a product that seems like it was designed for me.

The taste is light and easy on your stomach, in fact just as Dr Lim describes, easier than water. I can drink a ton of it and never feel bloated or ready to hurl! Mixing a half scoop for every 8 oz gives you about 120 calories per water bottle. Now you can't survive on just this but you can ingest plenty and it helps you get your calories in. I have been able to do Olympic tri's on just this drink mix. In addition to the mix Dr Lim sells a cookbook with recipes to make REAL food to eat during a race. IF you are like me you have had it with gels and gu's. This product get a very high recommendation from me and I would run, not walk, to the the computer and order some today!!!

I will review my new running shoes Altra's http://www.altrazerodrop.com/ in my next blog entry!

Spinach Kugel and Potatoes pancake recipes

2011-12-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Spinach Kugel Recipe

3 cups uncooked pasta
3 (10 oz) packages of frozen chopped spinach
(leave it out to thaw way early, open them up and put in colander!)
1 1/4 cup matzo meal
1 small onion finely chopped
12 oz of silken tofu (the vacuum packed kind)
1 cup veggi broth
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup lightly packed, chopped fresh dill
2 TB lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Non stick cooking spray

Cook pasta, drain and let it chillax in a mixing bowl.
Preheat oven to 350, not 351, 350!
Make sure spinach is in colander and draining.
Put matzo meal in the chillaxin bowl.
Place tofu, oil and veggie broth in a food processor (or blender and puree until smooth). Add to bowl with matzo and pasta.
Press the spinach in the colander to be sure most of moisture is out of it and then into the bowl with it.
Add rest of ingredients to bowl and use hands to mixer her good!
Spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with cooking spray, press chillaxin mixture into bowl. Cook for 30 minutes. Remove form oven and let it sit for 10 min before slicing and serving!

Potato Pancakes Recipe

2.5 lbs russet potatoes peeled (use Idaho if you feel you need to!)
1 small onion peeled
1/4 cup potato (or corn) starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups matzo meal
veggie oil for frying

Cut potatoes in 1/2 or 1/4's and use the grating blade on your food processor to shred them up. If you don't have a food processor come over and borrow mine, grating them by hand is a pain! Grate up the onion while you are at it.

Place all this grated up stuff in a large mixing bowl and add the potato starch. Use your hands to mix up the three things until the starch is dissolved and the potatoes release their moisture.Then add the salt and pepper, mix a little more, then add the matzo meal and mix really well. Now just let it sit for ten minutes and grab a glass of Manischewitz.

Preheat a large cast iron skillet with a 1/4 inch layer of oil in it. The oil is hot enough when you throw a bit of batter in it and bubbles rapidly form around it, its too hot if it starts to smoke! Wet your hands and roll mixture into golf balls sized portions. Flatten the balls out and then fry in pan. 4 minutes on one side (until golden brown) and 3 minutes on the other side. Place cooked pancakes on paper towel to drain and then into a 200 degree oven to stay warm until the rest are done, you should be able to cook 4 at a time.

Recipes!!!

2011-12-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Had a couple of request for recipes so here is one, potato pancakes coming soon!! I always try and rename my recipes so they have no animal names in them like my meatloaf recipe is called Mighty Mighty loaf! Not so sure about the name on this one, any help??

Vegan Wild Nuggets:

Sauce:
1 1/2 cups Smart Balance
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chili sauce

Wings

12 mini bamboo skewers

1 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

1/3 cup chicken powder broth**

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

freshly ground white pepper

2 tbsp oil

1 to 1 1/4 cup water

Gluten Free Wings

2 lbs Temph

Breading

1 cup plain soy milk

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp ground flax seed

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

and ACTION!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

1. Line a dark baking sheet with aluminum foil. Spray with oil.

2. Mix flour, stock powder, and spices together. Add oil and enough water to make a dough. The dough should be somewhat stiff, but able to be kneaded. Knead for a few mins then shape into a log and slice into 12 to 16 pieces. Stick a bamboo skewer into each piece of dough and shape around the stick. Wet your hands if you need to.

3. Whisk together soy milk, oil, lemon juice, and flax seed in a shallow dish. In a separate shallow dish, mix together bread crumbs and spices.

4. Roll seitan in soy milk mixture, then in bread crumbs. Place on prepared baking sheet.

5. Bake for 20 - 25 mins, until crumbs are golden and seitan has plumped up. While these are cooking mix your sauce ingredients together in a pot over med/low heat. Add more cayenne if your dare!! Remove cooked seitan from oven and spoon sauce over each wing. Return to oven and cook for 5 mins

Gluten Free method:
1. Cut temph in quarters then each quarter in thirds
2. Place in a large skillet, filled with one half inch of boiling water.
3. Steam temph for 20 min, adding water if necessary.
4. Drain temph and let it cool a bit then bread, cook and sauce as above.

**If you can't find chicken powder broth in your local market here is a recipe!
Mix ingredients together with a fork.

1 and 1/3 c. good-tasting nutritional yeast flakes
3 T. onion powder
2 and 1/2 T. sea salt
2 and 1/2 tsp. garlic granules or powder
1 T. sugar
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. finely crumbled dried sage (NOT powdered)
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. tumeric

HITS Triathlon Race report as well as Tribute to our National Parks!

2011-12-07T07:21:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, in Palm Springs, was the inaugural triathlon in the brand spanking new HITS triathlon series. It’s triathlon series that is out to appeal to triathletes of all ages and experiences. Those who want to go short and fast and those who want to go long and endure. It really has a little of something for everyone, different distances spread throughout the weekend with plenty of categories for you to race in. This new series is going to travel around the country and then come back to Palm Springs next December for a winner take all championship event. In many ways it is very similar to our national park system, what you say? Well they both go from the desert to the ocean side and just like the series there is a park for everyone’s taste, and let me tell you the similarities don’t stop there!

My experience at the HITS triathlon (a brand new triathlon) is reminiscent of the our newest national park; Patterson Great Falls in Patterson, NJ. Patterson is an area of the country which is credited as the birthplace of the industrial revolution. But who would think they would find a national park in the middle of urban NJ?? Well who would think you would find an equestrian event company running a brand new series of tri’s around our country?? Well HITS is first, and foremost , a horse show company but its owner got the tri bug awhile back and wanted to bring a new vision to triathlon. He has the organizational skills, the cash and the drive to get it done. When someone’s passion is also their work good things happen. Obviously there will be glitches at the start of anything new, and this encompassing, but you could tell the vision is there. I, for one, will be sure to enter another in the series.

This race was an add on one for me this year, not really into any training plan at this point, I was just looking to do something before the end of the year and thought “hey there is a new iron distance race in Palm Springs, why not??” Well maybe not being in shape for such a long race might have been a good why not! But hey I have done stupider things before and lived. This idea of mine ranked up there with the two worst ideas for national parks. The Proctology National Monument in Tennessee comes to mind, although the hands on exhibits are fascinating. Also there is The Valley of Cheese in Wisconsin which has suffered severe degradation since the introduction of Velveeta.

The Glacier National Park swim. OK you set up a tri in Palm Springs, historic information tells you it will be warm enough, so you think “good let’s do it!” Well the area was hit with a couple of weeks of pretty cold nights, plummeting the water temp to about 52 at the start of my race. I was prepared though! I came with two thermoses of warm water, one to put in my wetsuit before my warm-up swim, and another to dump in before just before the start of the race (both thermoses were significantly warmer than the 98.6 warm-up fluid us triathletes usually use). Second I had two hand warming pouches, you know the ones where you open the bags up and they stay warm for six hours, which I stuffed into my wetsuit. I was feeling downright toasty for most of the swim. The sighting on the way out during each lap was a bit difficult due to the sun, but manageable, coming back was a breeze. I starting to tighten up on the last length home and could feel myself slowing down. To be truthful I had been in the pool about three times in the past month and between the time off and the cold water I got a time I deserved: 1:10. Hey one thing about Glacier Park, in 1850 there where a 150 glaciers in the park, now there are only 25 bigger than 25 acres. The two biggest could disappear by 2030 with the rest to follow shortly after, better get there while it’s cool!

Now onto the Vanderbilt Mansions National Park Transition area! The transition area was the roomiest ever, we had a box with slots in them for our bike, the wheel going in the slot and holding the bike upright. Plenty of room to spread out, a chair with our race number on it, and even extra room in the box for our stuff! I was waiting for tea to be served before I rode. Now usually I am a minimalist in transition, not a lot of moving parts, fast in and out of there. No changing into a new outfit, no accessorizing, no applying foundation so I look good for the pictures , if I am not the fastest one out I am pretty darn close to fastest. But with this setup up I took the extra few seconds to add the comfort of socks (I always ride barefoot), gloves (it was still chilly) and two new warmers inside my tri-suit! Watch out here comes a rant…. If you have spent all that money on an aero bike, a bike fit, aero wheels and an aero helmet why the hell would you then put on a parachute (ie windbreaker) in transition before your ride!?!?! Or for that matter, why have you not have ridden enough to stay in aero position on a flat course with swirling winds! OK sorry. T1 4:10 second fastest, a full minute too slow, but it was luxurious!

The Mojave National Perserve ride. It surrounds Palm Springs, its third largest national park (below Alaska) with Death Valley and Yellowstone ranking one and two (now don’t you give up Mojave, the deserts are always growing and Yellowstone is going to blow up some day!) It also contains three of the four major deserts of North America within its boundaries: Mojave, Great Basin and Sonoran. It’s all time high temp was 124 degrees with a record low of 13. The ride, like the area, was flat and somewhat rough. The chipstone rode surface started to rattle you after 80 or so miles. The wind, which was wild in the days before the race, had started out calm enough but on our second loop it began to kick up some and with no place to hide, definitely had an effect on your time. For today I was after a low cadence, moderate heart rate ride. Not having the big training days behind me for the race I wanted to save as much HR as possible, low cadence equals low HR, and hopefully have something left for a run I didn’t train for either. I averaged a cadence of 80 (when I was bored enough to count it) with an average hr of 148. My time was 5:20 for the ride but I left a little more in the tank than usual. Looking ahead to IM CdA I am thinking a ride of 5:10 to 5:15 is definitely in my wheelhouse, if my wheelhouse weighs 7 pounds less that is!

Back to the Vanderbilt Transition area, this time no tomfoolery, in and out, in about a minute. Extravagance be damned!

The Kobuk Valley National Park run. Kobuk Valley is located in Alaska and within the Arctic circle. It is the least visited of our national parks with a scant total of 1250 visitors for its expanse 1,669,813 acres in 2010, or about 1 visitor for every 133,000 acres. At any point in time you could be totally alone in a an area the size Delaware, haunting really. Now this being the first of the HITS tri’s and it being pretty late in the season to add an iron distance race to one’s schedule, there weren’t many of us 140.3ers at the start. Now, with the ½ iron distance runners mostly done for the day and off the course by the time we fullers got started, we had 26 miles of desert road to ourselves. Add in the fact that its winter, and an early sunset, well it was a dark and, at times, a lonely run.

My run started out great, nice turnover, feeling loose and like I a decent amount of run in me. Unfortunately I came down with an upset stomach around mile 6. This is a little unusual for me but, when it does happen, I try and grab some Coke at an aid station to settle things down. Unfortunately there was no coke at any of the aid stations. Physically and, maybe even more, psychologically I suffered for the next 8 miles. You see I had some coke in my special needs bag but it was far, far away…. sparing you the details I heaved my way to mile 14 and the coke. During the bike I had moved into second overall, somewhere around mile 15 or so, and had built up quite a cushion on third place, a cushion that totaled 30 minutes by the start of the run. But now I proceeded to throw (up) that lead away. In fact the second place dude was only about 2 minutes behind me by mile 14 and my desperately needed coke. Luckily the soda had the desired affect and soon I was back to running at a pace just under 8 minutes a mile. Now, ladies and gentlemen, the race was on. Over the next 9 miles he slowly inched closer.

The darkness, which was now fully engulfing us, hid him most of the time but the lights from oncoming cars would reveal his shadow to me, stalking me like some super sized runner. I began to seriously fade at mile 23 and, with slightly younger legs and the momentum at mile 24, after holding onto second place for almost 130 total miles, I was passed. L For some reason I feel if you have raced for over 10 hours no passing should be allowed in the last 2 miles. But there was no one around to listen to my protests. After a long iron day, and for those who have done a few of these know, I was totally spent, finished, done. My problem: I was 2 miles from the end. As he passed I held on for as long as I could but soon he disappeared into the night and all I could see was a blinking light at an intersection far down the road. My legs were shot, my spirit was lying next to mile marker 24 and those damn lights just kept blinking, seemingly getting no closer. There was no further challenge from behind and I was too prideful to walk, but I assure you no one would confuse what I was doing with running. A race I just wanted to do for fun had turned into an event for me and now the party was going to start without me. My run total was 4:12, 2:04 ½ way out and feeling ill, 1:33 over the next 10 and then it took me 35 minutes to cover the last 3 miles.

Now I have never done it but finishing an ironman has to be like childbirth. Once you see that pink, mucousy, squished up ball of flesh and realize it’s your kid (most) of the pain and torture you have experienced over the past nine months melts away. Well it’s the same here, as I got closer I could hear the celebration as the second place guy crossed the line and I started to get a little more energy, Good for him! He preserved and deserved it. As I came down the chute and the cheering starting the pain and fatigue began to melt away and I basked in the enjoyment of finishing a grand task I had set my mind to doing. Not unlike finishing this report!

What Every Vegetarian Needs to Know About Iron

2011-10-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is a guest post by Matt Ruscigno, who writes the blog True Love Health.

True or False: The iron that our bodies require is the same element found in a cast-iron skillet.
This is a real true or false question on my college exam, and it fools a surprising number of my students. Iron is greatly misunderstood as a nutrient, especially when it comes to vegetarian and vegan diets.
The mineral is found all over the earth and is essential to red blood cells transporting oxygen and nutrients to every cell in our body, connecting us directly to the land we live on. Pretty amazing, right?
But iron deficiency is the most common nutrient deficiency in North America, with symptoms including fatigue, pale skin, weakness and inability to maintain body temperature. And as vegetarians and vegans, it's worth paying special attention to make sure we're getting enough.

So how much iron do we actually need?

Recently in the U.S., the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) gave new recommendations for iron, specifically for vegetarians, that are 1.8 times higher than the general population. As my colleagueJack Norris points out, this increase is not based on actual research on vegetarians, but simply because the iron in plant foods is not as easily absorbed as the iron in animal products (more on this in just a minute).
As a result, many experts in vegetarian nutrition believe that these recommendations are much higher than needed.
My take on it: if you eat a varied, healthy plant-based diet that includes a balance of grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, and fruits and vegetables — and follow the recommendations below — I don’t believe it is necessary to keep close track of iron intake.

Iron from plants vs. iron from animals

To better understand what we need to do to ensure our bodies are getting enough iron, we first have to accept two facts about iron — painful as they are for vegetarians and vegans to hear:

There are two types of iron — heme, which is found in animal foods, and non-heme, which is from plants. It is true that heme iron (the kind from animals) is better absorbed than non-heme iron.
Vegetarians and vegans may have lower iron stores than omnivores.

But don’t fret your vegetarian brain over these issues. We'll see that in fact it's not all that difficult to get the iron you need on a plant-based diet.
As for #2, it's important to note that while vegetarians have lower stores of iron than omnivores, theydo not have higher rates of anemia. In the research, many vegetarians’ stores are "low-normal," but this does not mean less than ideal! Actually, there’s some evidence that says low-normal iron stores are beneficial: improved insulin function and lower rates of heart disease and cancer.

How to get enough iron on a plant-based diet

You can start by making sure that you're eating foods that contain substantial amounts of iron. Some of the best plant sources of iron include:

Legumes: lentils, soybeans, tofu, tempeh, lima beans
Grains: quinoa, fortified cereals, brown rice, oatmeal
Nuts and seeds: pumpkin, squash, pine, pistacio, sunflower, cashews, unhulled sesame
Vegetables: tomato sauce, swiss chard, collard greens,
Other: blackstrap molasses, prune juice

But here's the key: It's not how much iron you consume, but how well you absorb it.
So paying attention to make sure you're absorbing your iron is just as important as making sure you're taking in enough. And fortunately there is a lot you can do to increase the absorption of non-heme iron!

5 ways vegetarians and vegans can absorb more iron

1. The less you eat, the better it is absorbed.
Seriously! I know people who take one 15 milligram pill a day and think they are covered, but it doesn’t work that way. When consuming higher amounts of iron at one time, the percentage that our bodies absorb is actually lower than when your meal contains only a few milligrams. Plant-based foods may contain less iron than animal foods, but eating smaller amounts throughout the day is a great way to increase absorption.
2. Eat non-heme iron foods with vitamin C foods, and absorption can increase as much as five times.
Five times! Culturally these combinations are already happening: think beans and rice with salsa,falafel with tomatoes and hummus with lemon juice. The iron in beans, grains and seeds is better absorbed when combined with the vitamin-C found in fruits and vegetables. Bonus: some iron sources, like leafy greens, broccoli, and tomato sauce already contain vitamin-C.
3. Avoid coffee and tea when eating high-iron meals.
Coffee (even decaf!) and tea contain tannins that inhibit iron absorption. I recommend avoiding them an hour before or two hours after your meal.
4. Cast-iron skillets increase iron absorption.
The answer to the true or false question is true! Cooking with an old school cast-iron skillet increases the iron in your meal — especially when you cook a vitamin-C containing food in it.
Even better, a cast-iron skillet purchase puts you in the realm of official serious cook. I bought mine almost 10 years ago for $8 and it is one of my most valued possessions. (Yes, I’m that much of a food nerd that a skillet is one of my most valued possessions!)
5. It pains me to say this, but you may want to avoid spinach as an iron source.
Spinach contains oxalates that block absorption. Sucks, right? There is some disagreement in the research about this, but with all of those other iron-containing plant foods, why not try some new ones?
And for the record, even if you take an iron supplement, you should still follow the advice above. I recommend that if my clients take one, they break it in half and take half in the morning and half at night, always with meals or juice.

Iron doesn't have to be a problem in a plant-based diet

Follow these principles, eating good sources of iron throughout the day and keeping up with the absorption principles above, and you'll find that it's not hard to get enough iron in your diet, even as a vegetarian or vegan.
All of that said, iron is one of the few nutrients where a deficiency both immediately affects your health and is detectable, so if you have any iron-deficiency symptoms I recommend getting blood work with your doctor. It is affordable, reliable and easy to interpret. And iron levels bounce back quickly when using the methods above or supplementation.
I'll leave you with a fun fact about iron in plant-based diets (well, fun to a food nerd at least):

Some research shows that vegans have higher iron levels than vegetarians.

How?
The difference between vegetarians and vegans is eggs and dairy products, and the latter contain almost no iron. When someone goes from vegetarian to vegan they are replacing dairy products with plant-based ones, all of which contain some iron, therefore increasing the total iron in the diet.
With this information and a little effort you can get all of the iron you need from plants to be a healthy and strong vegetarian!

Running Diary of an Off Road Triathlon

2011-10-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

So by now you have gotten the idea that I am not just going to sit down and write a boring old race report. I twist them a little, make them interesting, and try and make you laugh at least a once. With this in mind I give you a running diary of my latest race In The Dirt off Road Tri

Coach Tony and I ready to Rock!

03:52 am. I wake up, bright eyed and bushy tailed. I am a type B personality during my 'regular' life, one of the most easy going, laid back dudes you could chance to meet. But my racing persona, we’ll call him Speed Racer, is type A all the way. I think it’s my bizarro way of blowing off steam. Anyways I need to be at the race, any race really even a potato sack race, as soon as they will let me in the gate and sometimes even before (I sneak around staking out my transition spot). Today registration will open at 5am and it will take me 45 min to get there. So I am up and ready to go early, I really don’t sleep much anyways. I grab some boxes of Gatorade to hand out and off I go!

04:55am Staking out my transition spot is difficult when you leave your Icon headlamp at home. On the bright side I always forget something so I am hoping that the headlamp was the thing for today! Easy to overcome my forgetfulness with my trusty Droid phone’s camera light (you think I was getting paid for all these product endorsements I am dropping)

07:10 Time to head down to the beach. Something unusual about this race, the run from the beach to the transition area is longer than the swim will be! Need to chill on the way up from the beach and not blow up before I even get to the bike. Also I am bring my flip flops down so I can run up with them on and not slice up my feet. Guess I am not the only one with that idea!

Hey is that my leg??

07:17 The lake is a little warmer than when I got in. There are two kinds of triathletes, those that warm the lake and those that lie about it!

About to warm up the Lake

07:49 The race is starting late because a fog bank rolls in, suddenly a chill up runs up my spine thinking about that movie, The Fog! It was an early 80’s horror movie with Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis in it, a dynamic duo for the teenage boy audience for sure, oh wait may wave is lining up!

08:02 I am out of the water, third fastest for my race! I never take swim distance that literally anymore; they never seem to be exact to the distance posted! They should just be listed as Not too hard (sprint), Longish (oly), A Decent Workout (1/2 IM) and See You in awhile (IM). I just go by my time relative to the other swimmers in my heat or age group these days. This was a good swim for me and I grab my flip flops and run to the bike.

Finished already?

08:04 It seems like 20 minutes later but I finally arrive at my bike, all is well except for the ton of tiny ants that are on my gel flask. They say a little protein helps you digest all those carbs faster, we’ll see…

08:36 First lap of Mountain bike done! Started out third, fell to fifth but recovered to third again. The beginning of the ride is soft from many a hoofed beast traveling over them. HR spiked to 170 and had to take a step back to catch my breath. Long climb in the middle of the course where I was able to stay on top of the bike for most of, jumping off to push the iron horse up and over a few tough boulders. A look back shows my lap time is among the leaders.

08:44 Make contact with rider in second place here is my chance…

08:45 Oh my, back tire is either tapering off steroids and becoming flabby or has just lost a bunch of air. Still about ¾ of a lap to go so I hop off, remove the wheel, rip out tube, new tube in, re-inflate, off I go. Still in third!! Stay calm.

08:53 About ½ way through lap and the tire is losing its will to live again, must have missed a thorn or something when I cleaned it out before putting the new tube in. I try adding air at an aid station; it works, for 1 minute! I must finish the second half of this lap on a flat tire.

09:06 I have just finished pushing the bike up the big climb of the lap and I hear a spotter say “you have to be kidding me!” Big downhill coming, never rode down a rutted, steep, suicide downhill on a flat rear tire, hey there’s a first time for everything!

09:15 I am happy to be alive!! I made it down the hill. One more uphill, then a gentle downhill grade to the finish. I can do this!!! The race course now joins up with the road, and the two road tri’s going on at the same time, and the road is crowded with other racers. Running up the hill, pushing my bike, I pass several road riders, they jokingly curse at me, I snicker silently.

09:20 Somewhere around a mile to the transition area, gentle downhill along the road, I can do this!! I hop bike on bike, put all my weight over the front tire, I am going to make it. The tire, obviously having had enough of this crap, disembowels itself, wrapping its flaccid tube around my cassette. The rear tire will now no longer move. About ¾ mile to the transition area, I can’t do this…. F it all! I throw the bike over my shoulder and start to run.

What! I can ride it?? Oh I just thought I was suppose to carry it

09:30 I arrive at T-2 with the bike on my back, everything hurts, I am sweating and cursing. Parents are diverting their children’s vision and covering their ears.

09:31 I am too tired to keep going but, in a case of classic miscommunication, the message does not get out to all parties involved. Instinctually I grab my stuff and get out of transition in under a minute.

09:48 I am feeling it, the adrenaline from getting back is flowing and running without a ridiculously heavy mountain bike on my back seems easy, I am flying (for me), sub 7 minute miles the whole way. During my run/bike phase I had dropped from 3 to, by my best guess, 8^th. Now on the run I pass someone which moves me to 7^th overall, it’s the second time that day I hear someone say “you’ve got to be kidding me!”

09:51 It’s over, I have the second fastest run of the race and I made it home. I can’t tell you what kept me keep going, I know I have DNF’d in the past and always regretted it. I really had no pressing appointments anyways, so why stop??

Final Results had me 1^st in my Age Group and 7^th Overall. It wasn’t a big race by any means but it was Epic for me!!

Awards Ceremony for Magic Mountain Man Long Course Tri

2011-10-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

Well, the Magic Mountain Man ½ Ironman is in the books! It was a great day for racing and a very well organized event. Kudos to Renegade Racing, if you get a chance to do one of their races, do it, you won’t be disappointed!

5th Overall, 1st Age Group. Satisfaction!

Having spent the last blog going over some pre-race planning ideas and then developing a race plan for this long coarse tri, let’s take a look back at how things went. Now we could dryly go over each item but that would be well, dry. Living in California for two + years now I have noticed a plethora of award shows I never knew existed. Of course you have the Emmy’s, the Oscars, the Grammy’s but you also have the S.A.G. awards (apparently for worst cosmetic surgery) and the Kids Choice awards and People’s Choice award (apparently kids are not people). So I a decided to stage my own the Race Plan Execution Awards!!! Let’s call them the Kona’s. Here goes:

Thanks for coming to tonight’s show, every year we are getting a little more popular and hopefully next year we can score a TV deal and so you won’t have to read about our show in someone’s blog. Let’s go through the awards as they happened during the race.

The “Hey Dude” Kona for being too laid back in a discipline: Envelope please… Goes to the Swim!!! At the outset of my plan I noted this was a Bike Heavy triathlon. A good finish was going to be determined on the strength of the bike time. So I went into the swim trying to be relaxed, saving energy for the bike and generally not losing the race by over doing the swim and being unable to bike well. Problem was I took this to the extreme! Taking my foot off the flipper, so to speak, is not my strong point. By Over-Relaxing I slowed my stroke down too much and caused myself all sorts of sighting problems. I could not go in a straight line to save my life, usually not a problem for me. About half way through I gave up and hit the gas. Things improved but the damage was done. 39:34 shooting for 33 to 34. Yuck!

The “Get down and the deck and flop like a fish” Kona goes to, wait for it…. Transition 1! Trying to cut my losses after that swim, I raced to T1 and proceeded to strip out of my wetsuit. But in my haste I pulled the suit down to fast and rolled it up on itself, making it impossible to get over my ankles. My T times are usually very fast; I waste little to no time there and often get out before people who come in before me (free time! I am always thinking). But in my second miscue of the day I forget the golden rule, don’t try to over compensate for an earlier error. Just go on with the plan and forget about it, you cannot change it now. T1 was 3:04, a full minute slower than planned. But the struggles with my suit also settled me down in a strange way. I reminded to myself: Stay on plan, make sure you have everything you need before you leave, Make sure you drink you Gatorade, Do Not Compound Your Errors, chillax dude.

The “Blazing Saddles” Kona for Best Performance in a Single Discipline goes to the bike!! I knew it was going to be hilly, hot and a little windy. I planned to use the road bike because of all that climbing and descending. I also recognized the importance of a staying within myself at the start and letting the ride come to me, instead of trying to beat it right off the bat. The extra time the ride would entail meant bringing enough Gatorade at the start, two full bottles on the bike (plus some right before and right after). I moved a lot of fluid through me and that GSeries Pro really helped me stay balanced. The first climb was 7.2 miles to the top and started the second we left the transition area. I dropped her in low and spun it up the hill, trying to control the HR and leave as much as possible in the tank for the next 50 mi or so. After that hill I just continued to build on my effort, putting out a little more on each climb until the last one where I felt I was literally flying up the hill! Also warranting a mention was the factor the bike made on the descents. The road was fairly rough in spots making for a lot of jostling around. The majority of those on their Tri bikes where up and on the brakes for a great majority of the down hills. I flew by them and was very comfortable doing it. The advance scouting of the course, and the willingness to try out different ideas (road vs. tri bike) paid off. My time was 3:12:14 good for the third fastest time of the day and a full 15 minutes faster than the plan! Now I had some wiggle room.

The “Barry White” Kona for Smoothness goes to T2! After that first transition I was determined to fly in and out on the next change. Being sure not over reach, just doing everything I usually do and doing it smoothly. I was bueno and I got a time of 1:06, total t times 4:10. I had allotted a time of 5:00 for both transitions combined so I came out ahead on that plan too (barely).

The “Ease on Down, Ease on Down the Road” Kona for best pacing goes to the run. Being a mass start tri I knew where I was in the standings and I had now accumulated some extra time. I took this info and plugged into my planned run time. I was 6 overall off the bike, I wanted top 5. I felt my goal time should accomplish a top 5 finish. The important thing now was to follow the plan!!! Don’t try to go out and catch Mr # 5 in the first mile. Relax, run your run, and let him come back to you. It does not do any good to bomb out of transition, move up in the standings, and then be found lying on the side of the trail all cramped up a ½ mile from the finish. This theory was tested about 5 minutes into the run when Mr # 7 blew by me! He was moving and it made no sense to chase him, his pace would have buried me early. I stayed focused and eased into the run. This was a two loop run with an Olympic happening at the same time so for the middle part of the run it was hard to tell who was who until you came up on them and saw their number, blue numbers ½, red ones oly. This also allowed me to stay focused on the plan. Running my run, building pace. I knew the heat and the hills of the ride would prevent me from a fast time but, the run course was a lot harder than advertised! Since it was 75% trails, and I wasn’t sure exactly which trails, my pre race scouting mostly come from the director’s description of the course. It was in fact a quite challenging rolling course, and with the dirt trails slowing you down, as compared to paved road. As I moved into the second lap the crowd started to thin with the Olys finishing off their runs. It was now mostly ½ Irons running. I was confident I had passed 3 other competitors and was now in 4^th. With about 4 miles to go a smallish runner, with a very quick turnover, came up alongside me. He was 53, or so says his calf, and moving at a good clip. I had not seen him at all during the race so I thought he was just on his first lap so I let him go (not that I could have stayed with him very long anyways!) and stuck to my pace. Come to find out he was on my lap and become the 4^th overall finisher, very impressive!!

The finish was uneventful; the last good point about a mass start is you can see if there is anyone in front or behind you. I had no one as far as could see either in either direction with about 2 miles or so to go. The heat and the hills had started to give me some twinges of cramps so I began to cruise. I wanted a 1:45 on the run but threw that idea out after I saw how hard the first loop was. I ran the last 2 miles at 9 min each, being sure to finish and not cramp up all the while watching for anyone to come up from behind me. I finished with a 1:50.

Kudos goes to Coach Tony for his training plan and his advice on the course, both proved invaluable. I owe such a good finish too him. Also hydration and nutrition wise things worked out flawlessly. The Gatorade GSeries Pro proved to be enough electrolytes and fuel for the day, preventing the need to fuss with tabs or capsules.

Final results where:

5^th Overall, 1^st in Age Group.

Planned time 5:53, Gun Time 5:46:49, a little over 6 minutes better than planned!

Cuban Baked Beans

2011-10-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

So great day outside, maybe a BBQ in the offing?? Well you need you some baked beans! But did you ever read the ingredients on the those vegetarian baked bean in the store? Grossness for sure. Here is a quick and easy recipe for GREAT beans, and you now what great beans mean....

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 medium onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 - 15 ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 - 4 ounce can chopped green chilies, drained
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup unsulphered molasses
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Place just enough water in skillet to cover bottom, and saute onion and minced garlic in water until tender.

3) Place onion mixture in 2 quart casserole dish. Add all other ingredients and mix well. Bake, uncovered, 50 minutes stirring occasionally. Cover dish and cook 15 to 25 more minutes, until most liquid is absorbed.

Double up this sucker and you have cold beans for breakfast yummm!

Plan the dive, Dive the plan.

2011-10-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

There is was a saying I learning during a underwater diving class that not only stuck with me since then but served me quite well. "Plan the dive, dive the plan!" It’s a simple concept designed to keep you out of danger. Rationally design a safe dive plan ahead of time, when you have plenty of oxygen flowing to the brain, and stick with it. Most incidents in diving occur when you compound you minor slip ups together into a major problem. If the plan has been corrupted, however small it may seem at the time, it requires you to end the dive and return safely to the surface.

Well now an endurance event is not in the same category of danger as diving but does require a well thought out race strategy. By gathering information during your training, evaluating the course, analyzing your fitness level and realistically setting a goal, you can make a plan for a successful race. Let's break them out, relate them to the Magic Mountain Man 1/2 ironman I am doing tomorrow and then we can revisit them for some post race analysis. Good times!

First off is the information we have been able to gather about ourselves during training. We should honestly evaluate each hard training effort we put in, now do to time constraints we may miss a few, but the more info the better. What kind of splits have you been hitting in the pool, are they widening or narrowing? How has our HR numbers been looking over those long bike rides? What kind of avg. mph have we attained? What shape are we when we get off the bike after a long one? What are my times in my tempo runs? It is important to gather all this as it happens. Jot it down on a piece of paper; enter into your log while drinking G series 3. Memories of how much it hurt, or didn't, fade fast.

Course evaluation, athletes usually don't need much prompting to get this done, we love it! Elevation, total ascent, avg day time temps, usual wind direction, road conditions, you name it we look at it, More Good Times! But what is sometimes lacking is follow through. How does my training routes compare to my race route? Did I do any heat training? Ocean start?? Have I been swimming in the ocean? Matching your training routes to your race route is vital.

I have separated “Analyzing you fitness” to give us a snapshot, pre-race, where we are at. Training wise we maybe on target but how do we feel today. Sniffly? Something sore? Maybe we have been working a lot before the race. Let's size it up, get some extra sleep, hydrate, maybe some treatment a day or two before so we can optimize all that work we put in.

Now we get to goal setting. We could write a book on goal setting. You will make you goal if it’s too easy for sure or you will blowup trying to make an unrealistic one. Let’s be sensible, while we have free flowing oxygen to the brain, and set a goal that is OUR GOAL based on OUR DATA and definitely leaning to the optimistic side. Why do I say our goal? Too many times we look at the results of last year’s race, figure we want to win our age group, finish under 5 hours or see a name we know try and beat his/her time. All these notions have nothing to do with where we are at! We have our times; we know the course and how we feel. Let's realistically set our goal. When this is done my experience has shown a vast majority of athletes will attain their goal on race day.

My race plan for the Mountain Man 1/2 tri looks like this:

Swimming has plateaued lately, neither widening nor narrowing. Since the triathlon is a bike heavy course (higher than normal percentage of race time will be on the bike) there is no need to expand a ton of energy to obtain a PR in the swim, the extra effort required to be a minute or two faster will be inconsequential. So based all this info and past performances, a swim of 33 to 34 minutes is reasonably optimistic. Exit water, drink G series I have opened next to bike, mount and go:

My bike has steadily progressed over the past month. I analyzed the course early and set up training routes that mirrored it. Health wise I have a slightly sore calf but other than that I am in good shape. Being a very hilly course my plan is to ease into the first climb (7.2 mi) that begins as soon as you exit the water. So I need to rack my bike in a low gear. I must be very cognizant redline it any point, being relaxed and riding within myself, due to the total 6800 feet of ascending. Hydrate and fuel on the down hills when my HR dips will be important. I also must realizing this course could take me an hour longer than my normal ½ IM time and I have to be sure I have enough fuel for the extra time. For a comparison race I have done, Showdown at Sundown, there was 800 feet less climbing. Based on that time, how I feel now, my training, not the greatest road conditions on course, but feeling close to top fitness, I am setting a time goal of 3:30 for the bike. Off the bike, more G Series, grab some more fuel and RUN:

Running has felt good lately. Times have dropped a bit, legs feel fresh, no nagging injuries. That being said all that climbing on the bike is going to take its toll. Last ½ IM run was 1:38, the run on my comparison race was 1:47 but it was filled with more hills. Tomorrow’s run is relatively flat and based on my times pushing for a sub 1:45 seems doable.

Reality Check: Adding up the times I arrive at 5:48, my transitions are fast and most racers completed them around 2 min each, meaning no major distances to travel from lake to bikes or bike to run, so let’s throw 5 mins in for total transition times. Goal Time now 5:53, WOAH, that’s over an hour more than my PR but is it realistic? Based on my analysis it seems good with a healthy dose of optimism.

So why go through all this? Beside the fact is fun, it helps you stay in the moment. If you are happy with your goal you have a framework within to operate. When you get out of the water how you looking?? Did you stay within yourself and not try and over swim it? During the bike when you are being passed, or doing the passing, you have some numbers to reference. No worries if you get passed early stay on plan, realize the goal for your bike time, get off and andhappy. The single biggest mistake I see (including my own) is overriding a bike course then shuffling it in on the run. You know before you leave transition what you can reasonably do on, do it! Save any extra energy, that “I am feeling it today boy oh boy” for the run. In most cases it will disappear by the turn around and you will glad you didn’t waste it on bike. Lastly the framework gives you feedback, “wait I have finished the first loop, I already behind time and feeling it” shows your plan was overly optimistic but you may have caught it in plenty of time to adjust. Bring down effort, focus in staying within yourself and salvage a good run. Don’t forget while this is happening other racers are finding themselves in the same boat. A quick adjust now may just end up with you on the podium later!

Curried Carrot Cauliflower with Indian Roasted Tofu

2011-10-04T07:31:00.000-07:00

OK go ahead a say that three times fast, I dare ya!

My son, vegan chef extraordinairre RAS III, sent me this Curried Carrot Cauliflower recipe. I added my Roasted Indian Tofu recipe to it and viola!!! A meal fit for the Taj Mahal. Now these recipes are ones we play with, adding here and taking away there, so feel free to experiment. Notice our amounts may not be always exact either, feel you inner chef and go with it.

"A good recipe is always in flux" Robert A. Seaman Jr.

This recipe is currently being served here!

Curried Carrot Cauliflower

Precook some brown rice (Hey we are healthy colonned vegans, brown rice is best, but if you are feeling decadent, Fuck it, and cook you up some Jasmine rice)

Sauce
1 Med Onion
1 Clove Garlic
1 T of Grated Ginger4-5 Small-Medium cubed Carrots (our garden grows petites)
2 T Curry Paste (the green Thai kind)
1 T Brown Sugar
3 Thai Hot Peppers (or maybe 1 Jalepeno) ((I used one Serrano)) are double (( even legal ??
1 T Diced Cilantro
Salt/White Pepper

Rice Milk to cover (note to reader, my son makes his own rice milk, its not that watery shit from the store, since I do not, I used lite coconut milk as not to obscure the taste of the carrots)

- Saute onion 2 minutes, add garlic and ginger for an addition 2 minutes
- Throw in carrots and stir for 4-5 minutes
- Stir in curry paste, sugar, peppers, salt and pepper until evenly coated
- Pour in Rice Milk to cover the carrots with an addition 1/2 inch or so
- Bring to just before a boil, then slow simmer 20 minutes or until carrots are soft
- Let cool slightly, then puree in food processor. May need to add milk to make a creamier consistency

Oven at 375
- Coat one head of cauliflower with olive oil and roast for 10 minutes or so to soften, steam may work also.
- Make a thin layer of sauce on bottom of a baking dish
- Mix cauliflower with sauce in a bowl
- Layer rice then cauliflower in dish and cook roughly 25 minutes until cauliflower is at desired consistency

Now this may be difficult but simultaneously do this

Indian Roasted Tofu

Drain one package of extra firm tofu.
By this I mean, open the package, drain the water, wrap tofu in a dish towel, place a few dishes on top and let sit for a bit. Now take that sassy tofu cake and cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. You should get twenty or so. Want to know exactly how to cut it? Then you are obsessive compulsive and need to go trim your eyebrows.

Get out some tupperware out and throw these things in there:

3 Tablespoons Oil

1 Tablespoon Curry Powder

2 teaspoon Red Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt (As Per Your Taste)

Juice Of 1/2 Lemon

Whisk spices with a fork and add the tofu cubes. Cover tupperware and toss it well to coat all the tofu pieces with the marinade.

Leave it in the fridge for 30-45 minutes

Place the tofu pieces on a sprayed baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, same as cauliflower, turning once

Pull the cauliflower out and then broil the tofu for another 8-10 minutes.

Namaste

RAS I, RASII, G Middy, Rebekah, Dana, Mary, RAS III

Athletes must find ways to be bigger them themselves!

2011-09-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

I ran on the roads the other day and was disgusted by the amount of ”athletic trash” I saw on the roadsides. Now with about 13 miles to go it gave me time to think and ponder my next blog, hence…

Let’s face it we all train hard, push our limits and are extremely competitive come race day. It’s who we are! But we are a tad of smug at times. It isn’t there everyday but it does show up now and again, we are triathletes, marathoners, ironmen! We sometimes look at those who aren’t with a slight (and sometimes NOT so slight) air of superiority. No couch potatoeing, nascar watching person here. But we must realize we are part of a bigger society and we must do better to act in a manner for the betterment of all. Those same abilities that help us succeed in athletic theater; drive, tenacity and fearlessness, should be brought to the table when it comes to the greater good. Let me throw some ideas out at you.

First, and this is the easiest one, is caring for the environment. When I first started riding, running, etc. I used to have a saying “the litter on the side of the road is mostly fast food wrappers and beer cans, us athletes treat the environment like we treat our bodies by not putting junk in it.” What happened!! Good golly I can’t doing anything anymore without seeing a gu packet, or a power bard wrapper laying a the side of the ride! you can’t tell me that non-athletes are using the stuff and throwing out there car windows, it doesn’t taste that good. Dang people step up! You are not racing every day, if you accidentally drop something, go back and get it. Be more thoughtful on race day as well, do you ever see the course after a tri? It looks like a windstorm hit the area and blew everything into the streets. You wouldn’t tolerate such sloppiness when it comes to your training, be better. You are already Misses neat freak? Well start demanding those with you are better, write blogs about it even. This isn’t hard to do.

Second idea takes a little more initiative but really isn’t that much harder. I started as a roadie but the long hours needed to become proficient as well as the attitude other roadies had to the neewbies, non-teamates and other riders in general (you can always tell a roadie he’s the one riding the opposite way who doesn’t wave back at you!) quickly moved me to tri’s. The commradorie was noticeably different. But we have seen to lost some of that welcoming spirit. Certainly it can be found in some local tri clubs, like mine the Triathlon Connection, but it seems to be missing within our group in general. We are less helpful, not so willing to offer advice out give a tip, lest we loose precious seconds to a fellow athlete. You can doubt me if you will be go do an xterra or and trail ultramarathon and you will see and feel a palpable difference. You can notice that ‘one for all and all for one” attitude. The “great if I do well and even better if we all do well” vibe is a pleasant difference from the A-1 feeling commonly found at you road tri. Lend a good word, give a tip, and point out something that could help out. Be there at the finish line after you finished, cheering and helping. You will get more than you will ever give.

Lastly, and an area I particularly need to work on, using our drive to race for the betterment of those outside our athletic circle. Fundraise for your next race using the money for a local charity. Involve younger athletes in your training and bring them with you to the race. Almost every race has a charity they donate some of the proceeds to, find out what is and work towards getting them some funds or bring attention to them in your blogs or discussion on line. Facebook or Twitter about them.

I am sure many of us have ideas on ways we can couple our great lifestyles with a greater purpose and make someone’s day a little brighter. What have you done that we can emulate? Can we start some kind of movement and keep it in the spotlight for the rest of our season. Help me out and put send in some ideas and let’s get people involved!

A Wedding, oooo how exciting!!

2011-09-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Father Daughter dance

On Sept 24 our family added a new member, Dana Levitt, and oh what a time we had! Great party, good friends and loving family made for one of the best days ever!! It was a joyous occasion for sure and hard to leave and head home from : (. Thanks to all that helped and were part of the big day, a day not to be forgotten for sure!!

Beautiful Ceremony

Party time!

The Seaman's

Brother of the bride

Sister's