Sunny Blende tips

Nutrition Academy '11

Nutrition Academy Notes – this is simply a outline for folks who were in class, you can follow along with what we discussed and fill in the gaps. Be sure to view the Sunny Blende video in the above post, good review of concepts.

First off, who are you? 1. Multiply your weight by 10 to determine the number of calories needed to exist – resting metabolic rate.

2. Add half that number to #1 for general daily activity like working shopping, and
add + 100 calories for folks who chase toddlers.
Subtract – 100 calories for sedentary folks

3. Add calories for purposeful exercise. One hour of exercise may burn 400-600 calories depending upon activity and intensity.

4. Example: 120# person needs 1,200 in line 1, add 600 for activity in line 2, add 400 for their run in line 3. Total for daily intake equals 2,200 calories. 

You are going to see some wide swings in ratios of macronutrients: Sunny Blende might say 60 carbs, 25 fat and 15 protein for one athlete and 50 carb, 30 fat, 20 protein for another.

Some elite ultra runners like Dean Karnazes use 30% protein, 30% fat, & 40% carbs and are running more than 100 miles/week

Dr. Gangemi might say 25% protein, 25% fat and 50% carbs, with these including all plants and fruits.

Paleo Diet (very popular with Ultra Runners) will say Carb 40%, Protein 35%, Fat 25%

Dr. Phil Maffetone may not give you a percentage at all and tell you that you need to be informed to decide. While all of this looks like sounds advice by the numbers you need to consider your own makeup, body type, and fitness regimen in order to hone in on a ratio for macronutrients.

Calorie intake pre and post event

The average person (metabolically speaking) will require approximately 2-3mg of additional carbohydrates/kg/minute in order to sustain moderate levels of exercise. An example would be that a 70kg person would need 10-15g of additional carbs for each hour of moderate exercise. You get your weight in kilos or KG, by dividing your weight by 2.2 so I am 155lb or 70.45Kg

15g of carbohydrates = 8oz of glass of skim milk, OR 3 graham crackers, OR 4oz of orange juice, OR 2 teaspoons of honey, would all fit the bill here – so we are not talking about a lot of food, maybe 60 Kal

When and what do I need to eat

Daily needs vs. running needs
five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and at least one of these should be “raw”. 200ml of unsweetened juice may replace one serving

three servings of whole grains & legumes daily – runners add one extra serving for each hour of exercise. Sport food (60-90g serving) may replace one serving

Four servings of Milk/Dairy/Meat/Fish/Eggs daily (100-120g raw weight) – same as regular pyramid

Three Servings of oil/fats/nuts daily (2-3 teaspoon) daily- Runners add ½ a serving for each additional hour of exercise, may be from any type
If we are exercising in the sweet spot for pace (60% or less of maximum heart rate) then we are metabolizing fat as an energy source. We carry far more of this than we do simple sugars. Further the essential vitamins A, D, E and K are all fat soluble, meaning that in a low fat diet you may not be getting all of these nutrients that you need. Omega 3 and 6 (you need a lot more of 3, most of us get plenty of Omega 6) have anti-inflammatory properties and this can be very useful in recovery as well. Look for your fats to mono or poly unsaturated and these come from plant sources, seeds, nuts and cold water fish.

Only in moderation Sweets/salty snacks/sweetened drinks (includes alcohol) – Runners should consume with a meal & need to consider that these items may slow recovery by taxing the livers resources and adding “empty calories”. I say choose the day you want to “fall off the bus” and keep it to less than 20% of your meals!

Nutrient timing cycle

Seek to plan your micro-meals or your portions size and calorie density around your day so that you have a “powerband” of energy that coincides with your workout or your daily needs. What you eat in the morning you’ll run on that afternoon and what you ate last night, along with a starter of breakfast, is what you run on in the morning. Try to have a long fast each night and schedule nutrient timing to match what you’ll need when you need it. Small meals help this challenge as we tend to not overeat and be too full to run or sleepy from all the blood that goes to our stomach and intestines to move a giant meal.

Sunny will also tell you that “she with the highest metabolism, wins” and this is regardless of age or athleticism in most cases. So by eating micro-meals and watching WHEN you eat them, along with regular exercise – you can raise your metabolism.

Pre-run body weight divided by 2 equals the number of grams of carbohydrates you’ll need to replenish yourself for recovery. There are 4 Kal/Gram of carbohydrates. 4:1 Carb:Protein ratio works best.

Running Needs

Individual metabolism varies but recreational runners will burn anywhere from 600Kal/hour to 100Kal/mile traveled.

Runners traveling over an hour need 240Kal/hour to avoid bonk. If you try to eat – use simple, low fiber, low residue, no dairy foods and document what agrees with you. The maximum you’ll be able to use is 240-280Kal/hr so you are not replacing everything – just trying to maintain homeostasis.

Thus you’ll likely never get ahead on fuel during exercise but further nutritionist thought (Ben Greenfield fitness.com) suggests that hyper-fit athletes can actually metabolize more fuel during exercise because they are not aerobically stressed. In other words peak physical output = placing the digestive tract on hold in a “fight or flight type response”, yet ironman athletes may often eat above the typical fuel loads on the bike because they are not stimulating this response and so the alimentary canal remains open for business. You can also consider this for your own fueling in that the longer you are out (toiling) the less you’ll be able to keep down or want to.

Sunny Blende has recommended taking your sweat rate and your calorie needs and making a chart. Use the chart as a quick planning menu for what you are going to eat and when you’ll eat it. That way, the day before you head out the door, you’ll know what you’re going to have and when you’ll eat it. I like this model because you never pack more than you need and you do not come up short. It makes all the runs go better and you can then log what worked well and add it to your regular chart of menu items. Getting to what is in your food can easily be done on the label, as well as online using the tools listed in the links.

What is bonk? Sunny Blende, sports nutritionists writes, “The brain also does not store any glucose – as glycogen, as the muscles do – and is totally dependent on blood glucose for its energy supply. In order to function normally, the brain requires a relatively normal blood glucose level. So what happens to an ultrarunner when he or she is running hours and hours with an increasing demand for glucose? If our ultrarunner does not ingest adequate amounts of carbohydrate (glucose) along the way, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) sets in. And with prolonged hypoglycemia comes central nervous system fatigue – the progressive shutdown of the part of the brain that drives the muscles. Bad news for attitude and bad news for performance.”

In one of Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, he found that two percent of marathoners, six percent of those who ran 50 kms and 11 percent of those who ran 100 kms were hypoglycemic. He cites the symptoms as a “reduced ability to concentrate, a sudden feeling of weakness, and the intense desire to stop running. Typically, the athlete senses the impossibility of completing the race”. Sound familiar? Obviously foods containing glucose would have helped these athletes perform better, but an explanation of the mechanism of action might make this concept easier to understand. Again, Tim Noakes’s studies from The Lore of Running, “The main supplier of glucose into the blood is the liver. This happens directly from its own store of glycogen or indirectly by a process known as gluconeogenesis (the production of glucose by the liver from substances other than carbohydrates, for example, proteins). Training also helps the liver’s ability to produce glucose from circulating blood lactate. However, because the liver is so small compared to the body’s muscle mass and only stores about 250 - 500 calories of glucose, it could never keep up with the muscles’ demand for glucose when exercising hard or long. In a trained athlete, this amounts to three or four hours of running at a moderate pace. And the muscles are prevented from using too much circulating blood glucose in order to protect the brain. Fortunately our body has provided the muscles with other ways of obtaining glucose; namely a good supply stored in its own tissues and the ability to use fat as a source of energy. And remember, the supply stored in the muscles can be doubled if post-exercise carbs were consumed within thirty minutes or so. But even this generous supply will only last about five to six hours. The rate that the liver releases glucose and the muscles take it up during exercise is increased six-fold from a resting state. When tissues increase their rate of usage faster than the liver can produce it, blood levels fall and body function is impaired. In order to prevent brain drain and preserve our mind’s ability to think and strategize effectively in an ultra event, it becomes crucial to ingest carbohydrates during the race. If the muscles become fatigued, the brain will reduce the number of muscle fibers activated and in order to continue running, the ultrarunner will have to slow down. This is the body’s way of surviving. It may limit the runner’s physiological capabilities, but preserve the neurological function of the brain. Exhaustion, in this case, may be defined as a decrease in signals from the brain to the muscles, not a direct change in glycogen levels in the muscles - in other words, central fatigue.”

Maybe the best line here is again Sunny Blende’s “Start early and don’t get behind because an endurance run is just an eating and drinking contest with some scenery and exercise thrown in!” This really starts with what you ate in the preceding days up to the trial…

Bare fisted rules for eating/fueling better
Try to eat “5 colors” of food everyday – real colors from nature to give you all of the vitamins you need to keep running

Sunny says, “balanced diet from the pyramid. Wide variety of foods…for phytochemicals and trace nutrients…eat foods as close to the source as possible…eat more like a vegetarian…if you supplement, take one that has no more than 100% of the RDA…drink one liter of water for every 100calories you consume” For best effect you’ll need to be consistent about this stuff 80% of the time.

Snacks on hand, micro meals and ready to eat foods avoid a fueling disaster. Folks often eat when they are thirsty… In counting calories for best efficiency think about a drink at least, before eating and fuel moves better with water.

Examples:

Whole wheat bagel with peanut butter                                 carrots and hummus

Apple with peanut butter, almond butter                                             cheerios and milk

½ of a Powerbar or similar                                                                            vegetable juice (V8 or like, but read for sodium level)

Low fat cottage cheese with fruit                                                            
coconut water (new & trendy as it contains sugar. Potassium & no fat)

Low fat chocolate milk, 8oz glass

rice and bean burrito w/ salsa

salmon and brown rice

tuna fish and veggies wrap

hummus and veggie pita sandwich

fruit and yogurt smoothie (freeze @ night, thaw morning of run)

Foods high in water are great after a run, satisfying hunger and offering hydration along with reduced calories.

On water and hydration

Responsible Drinking on the Trail (Dr. M Hoffman, Ultrarunning, March 2010) states that this condition has been responsible for five fatalities in the US and UK they also write that 30% of the runners at 2009 Western States 100 mile run, who participated in the author’s research, were positive for signs of hyponatremia.

Dr. Hoffman list a number of Danger signs: [additions mine] “Your body would not lose the 2% of its weight you would expect on your longest run but would stay the same weight or gain weight during the run. Your body’s water is changing location and you’ll see swelling, [all over], but especially hands, feet, face – [rings and shoes may be tight.] You would see mental status changes as fluid causes brain cells to swell too. [This would look like stumble; mumble, fumble and you would have to look at their other symptoms to ensure you did not think - dehydration. Recall that people call this condition water intoxication because of the mental status changes you see in people.] This person may also feel sick, [feel nausea and be sloshing from all the water they are hauling in their stomach. Urine output would be beyond the “clear, constant and copious” realm that we expect in hydrated folks as the kidneys are now doing all they can to solve a fluid overload condition.] This is an emergency medical condition that requires immediate attention and complications can include kidney failure.” [They need medical intervention and you take them off of water while you get them help.]
 

Dr. Tim Noakes has now said that elite runners in longer races have been shown to lose 4-12% of body weight over the course of the race with no ill effect (bear in mind they are winning the race as well, thus no performance deficits). Studies on the US military, where hyponatremia has been more common than in the race community, shows that infantry can be found reliable to follow their thirst and that their blood sodium levels were identical to when the began a 40 mile march in full gear with 100 degree temps. In other words, their bodies were regulating salt on their own if they were allowed to follow thirst as a means of hydration throughout the activity. New research asserts that the vasoconstriction and salt retention systems in the body are adequate for hydration needs and just as we now (again) view the foot as not broken, we reexamine that perhaps the kidney is not imperfect either. My rhetorical question to the reader remains; are you an associative process runner? Do you stay in tune, listen to the body and strategize your run or event. If so, then your kidneys can be trusted to regulate salt and water levels in the body. The dissociative runner, who is having a train-wreck day, will still need a hydration schedule to maintain performance. Noakes discusses in an interview at Ben Greenfield Fitness, the hydrations recommendations have increased in the past twenty years and he largely attributes this to the drink mix industry promoting consumption of their products. While this sounds a lot like the Nike shoe story - one significant point of merit is that Dr. Noakes is the preeminent researcher on running physiology in this generation and he has gradually changed his mind over time on this issue, all of which is in print in the research journals. He points out that 20 years ago there were not any water stations on marathon courses, including the largest events such as Comrades, in South Africa, where more than 30,000 competitors ran without fluids. If you desire a formulary a moderate formula (one of many) looks like this:

This chart is just an estimating tool and I got it here. http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302--10084-2-1-2,00.html

Weight 100
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 3.0 60°F: 3.2 70°F: 3.3 80°F: 3.6 90°F: 4.1 100°F: 4.7

Weight 120
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 3.6 60°F: 3.8 70°F: 4.0 80°F: 4.3 90°F: 4.9 100°F: 5.6

Weight 140
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 4.2 60°F: 4.4 70°F: 4.6 80°F: 5.0 90°F: 5.7 100°F: 6.5

Weight 160
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 4.8 60°F: 5.0 70°F: 5.3 80°F: 5.8 90°F: 6.5 100°F: 7.4

Weight 180
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 5.4 60°F: 5.7 70°F: 5.9 80°F: 6.5 90°F: 7.3 100°F: 8.4

Weight 200
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 6.0 60°F: 6.3 70°F: 6.6 80°F: 7.2 90°F: 8.1 100°F: 9.3

Weight 220
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 6.6 60°F: 6.9 70°F: 7.3 80°F: 7.9 90°F: 8.9 100°F: 10.2

Weight 240
Fluid Ounces Per Mile Depending On The Temperature: 50°F: 7.2 60°F: 7.6 70°F: 7.9 80°F: 8.6 90°F: 9.7 100°F: 11.2

Dr. Noakes now says that 400mL/hour would be sufficient for any climate conditions or any body weight.

What inputs do you think might be harmful? Vices, caffeine, OTC meds, alcohol, salt, other lifestyle habits
Coffee – contains additional antioxidants but caffeine in particular stimulates early breakdown of body fats into free fatty acids and triglycerides which are substances that are used as fuel. It may also have a small effect in bronchodilation and stimulates respiration for some runners. USA Track and Field calls caffeine a legal performance enhancing substance, but you can get too much of this as well. Limit caffeine use, as more than 500mg daily is a diuretic and will dehydrate you and more than 200mg daily can affect cardiac function. The key words are small to moderate doses…You can get a table of how much caffeine is in your beverage, and further explanation of the chemistry here: http://runningdoctor.runnersworld.com/2010/01/

The Average American consumes approximately 3.6 grams of salt daily and current federal guidelines for sodium intake is 2.3 grams per day. The American Heart Association recommends 2 grams. What many folks miss at the cellular level is that both sodium and potassium are the two ions that your body uses every second of the day at the cellular level. While it is relatively simple to get your daily supply of sodium most folks do not get enough Potassium and you need 4.7 grams daily in order to function optimally. Having the optimum ratio of these elements lowers the incidence of cardiovascular disease and allows optimal membrane potential at the cellular level. Bananas, peaches, prunes, apricots, honeydew melon or cantaloupe, and OJ all contain good sources of potassium.

Alcohol is something that is commonplace in our society and while it is a lot of fun for many, timing can be everything. This substance gets converted to sugars ultimately, but in the meantime it is a lot of additional work for the liver. Thus if you are in recovery mode, when nutrition is being used to repair healing tissues, this may be counterproductive and lengthen recovery times.

Inflammation and the body

It has been said that if aspirin (in use before America) had to pass the FDA it would be deemed too dangerous for human use. With this in mind it is sometimes astonishing to see runners trusted with NSAIDs or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like Advil, Ibuprofen, Naproxen, Alleve and others. These medications have great efficacy and yet have a number of far reaching effects on the body.

They contribute to increased tissue frailty if used long term.

By limiting prostaglandins that normalize blood flow you may tax your kidneys.

Biochemical’s called prostaglandins do a great number of things in the body – including dilate the blood vessels to your kidney. Remember that your kidneys are something that you need, and rely on, to maintain the electrolyte balance in the body, maintain fluid balances and eliminate wastes. These NSAID’s (by blocking prostaglandins) may increase your blood pressure at a dangerous time to do so – when running – and this could trigger a TIA or CVA (stroke). NSAID’s block the enzyme cyclooxygenase that protects the heart and thus may pose greater risk to the cardiovascular system as well.

Cyclooxygenase helps protect the stomach lining from digestive acids and so when NSAID’s block the enzyme you may experience nausea, cramping, diarrhea or bleeding. Studies indicate that NSAID’s may increase the risk of Hyponatremia or “water intoxication” a problem with electrolyte imbalance.

On the subject of inflammation be advised that there is a lot of research out now about the idea that saturated fats and fried fats or fats destroyed by heat, can be inflammatory in the body. While looking at ways to increase good macro-nutrients in the diet we should examine how we are getting them and in what types.

Other resources:
A good calorie counter formula for running is available at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html
A tool for how many calories/proper portion size is at http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304--11628-0,00.html
A recipe database for quality runner’s dishes is at http://recipes.runnersworld.com/homepage.aspx
A site with good food tools (calorie counter by food, nutrient facts, food journal) is at http://www.thedailyplate.com/ and this site has been further enhanced at livestrong.com
You will see Mark Bitman’s link and a vegan kick start link on the website as well and these offer recipe tools as well.

Goal setting, time management

The prologue to this time management material is a book titled The Energy of Money, by Maria Nemeth, Ph.D. published by Ballantine Wellspring, 1999. I first came in contact with this book at the recommendation of a friend and life coach Shana Horrigan. The book has money in the title but has great deal more to do with mastering life’s energies and being able to set goals that you can accomplish with “ease and grace” in Nemeth’s words. She comments that “failure-phobia can gobble up all the breathing room for creativity, spontaneity, and learning in your life” and I have seen this present as an unwillingness to try, or a vehicle for an “opt out” of a best effort because it is simply too difficult at first glance or even first try.

In her book about managing energy in personal life, Nemeth takes a look at how child-like curiosity and a defined sense of purpose can calm the excuse engine in our minds and allow the fun to re-emerge back into goal setting – taking away the task like feel, often associated with big projects. Through a self discovery and journaling process, she allows the reader an opportunity to connect goals to our key values. By identifying what makes you tick on a particular issue you may be able to better anchor a goal to one of your personal values. When your goals are direct reflections of your values you may approach them with greater ease and grace, simply by having this reference, and using a few tools to get there.  

Then she applies tools to the goal in order to make it “worth playing for, yet attainable” Two quick tools from her book are easily applied to our running and desires for a more active lifestyle. One is Nemeth’s coaching model for analyzing an issue. Look, See, Tell the truth, Take authentic action.

This coaching model first asks that we look, or honestly focus energy on seeing what is the motivating factor, or real obstacle in understanding what is holding us back.

To See asks us to be objective and look for patterns to solve problems and better understand our motivations, especially when you are not making the progress that you feel you should be making.

To Tell the truth is a funny one best illustrated by example. Nemeth discerns between honesty and the truth. She says that while honesty may be very sincere it only clear the way for truth, “which is measurable, objective (and) without embellishment.” She asks that we tell the truth with compassion for ourselves but without blaming, justifying, judging, or placing feelings with the statement.  I’ll use myself as the example. Instead of honesty “I did not get all four workouts in this week because work left me a bit drained and I really felt that my son needed me a bit more this week.” I tell the truth “I completed three workouts and missed the fourth, I want to map out next week to be sure I get the work in that I want to.” 

Taking authentic action is a process that accomplishes one of two things. It clears up a mess that is blocking your path to the goal, thus trapping energy. The other is some action that actually moves you closer to your goal. I look at it as the same thing some days, but other days there really is a long path of detritus that is keeping me from making headway on that goal.

I bring up this four part coaching model for the purpose of self coaching, and as a means to be forgiving of self and yet realistic, so that you can make the progress you desire to make. We are a culture of busy-a-holics, or easily swayed by what is urgent vs. what is important. Building fitness goals or race goals is really about carving out time for yourself because in some way - or by one of your values - you feel that is the right thing to do. Then we must often unlearn a few things in order to really make that space for ourselves and carve a new rut – one filled with a good habit. I found this model useful in carving out that space for me.

The second tool is an acronym called SMART. Goals should be; Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time based. Many of you have heard this type of benchmark before and it is nothing new to six sigma graduates and others. Yet now is a good time to reflect on the idea that a half marathon plan is exactly this type of goal  - provided that you start soon enough for it to be Attainable and that you make it Relevant by knowing why and how you’ll get yourself there when the going gets rough. Luke Skywalker says he’s not afraid and Yoda replies “you will be…” which is only to say that rough spots come up for any Jedi. That said, a SMART goal more readily bounces over these rough patches than one that is not so well designed.  While a coach can give you a SMAT goal, given a large enough training window, only the athlete can design a SMART goal that rolls the best. 

This sets the stage for the re-post of "runner time management" below, which is a good way to follow up Sam Zizzi this week. You can have goals but you need a ridiculous amount of architecture and tools in place to get there sometimes and this talks about staying on track. I hope to lead a discussion on these ideas as the kernel of this months class. AND do some gait analysis if there is time. 

“If you think taking care of yourself is selfish, change your mind. If you don’t you are simply ducking your responsibilities.” Ann Richards

So you know it is important – and yet it becomes a lower priority to the urgent tasks. As Coach Shaw said, this is the hard part – not designing a program but staying on one. To succeed at this you need a few tricks, some mental focus and a review of time management.

Start with the truth - Stanford and Tufts Universities have each studied the long term effects of running on physiology and have found that vigorous exercise is associated with living longer and in better health – regardless of the age at which participants began their exercise program. Stanford’s 21 year study showed that runner’s age 50-72 experienced 40% reduced risk of disability, cancer, or Alzheimer’s and just plain lived longer. In the same study, runners had fewer injuries of all kinds, including joint injury. So remind yourself that this really is use it or lose it, you are a runner now and you can enjoy these benefits too if you keep with a program that works for you. I like the funny adage that we spend our youth chasing money and our money chasing youth. Well you do not have to chase it, you just have to jog along and eventually you will run it down or come pretty close to it – while I am not any richer I sure do feel better.

Remember that you are role model. While soccer players are only see by their fans, you see everybody as you run down the road and they see you. I bring this up because I have heard (and I have felt this myself at times) that when I am running I am taking time away from my family, my kids, my job or whatever else you can feel guilty about getting “you time” away from, and I have said to these people “look at how strong you are, and look at what your kids see. They do not see an uneven ledger – but someone who cares enough to exercise, get a bit of time to their selves, and take care of the only body they may ever get. Your kids need that good advice and you are modeling it” In an age where kids are inside, many obese, and more at risk of disease (including adult onset Diabetes) there is no better time for you to be a good example. While I’ll never urge my kid to join me on the road – at least when I tell him to go play and get some exercise he knows that I am serious because I do as I say. Of course I’d love to have him join me for a run but he’ll never do it unless he sees me enjoy it. If that does not motivate me to run and be an athlete – I cannot think of what will.

So let’s revisit that old Steven Covey analogy about time management. He would pour sand into the jar as a representation of what is urgent in our lives  - all the stuff we feel like we need to do, and then he would try to get the big stones, the important stuff to fit in that jar. We all know what happened, those stones did not fit. Not until he placed the stones in the jar first, did the sand all fit around the stones, and everything did get into his jar. He was showing us how to manage our time with what was important vs. what was urgent. He made a lot of money showing folks that jar, when we all know how it works already. Robert Fulgum has written “all lessons are repeated until learned”.

You have to keep a record of what you are, and are not, getting done. When you seek to re-establish a routine you probably already know what works for you. For me it is that open calendar square that is unfinished or the task item unchecked – I can’t stand it. Your Learn to Run program fits nicely on a calendar and you’ll just need a few more calendar pages or a training log to keep planning your progress (www.personallogs.com) and you’ll want to modify and repeat your current plan or build a new one based upon your goals. A free online training log is at www.buckeyeoutdoors.com and they have some training plans you can overlay onto your race targets too. Some of these plans will even email you your daily/weekly assignments if that motivates you. Others will send them to your phone if you use your inbox as a do list. So map it out to see where it fits and then you can strategize.

The more I have to think about something – sometimes that daily minutia can serve as a barrier to completion. Where am I running, how far, what to wear, have I eaten, what time -  Ahhh! Stress! Your schedule and some planning can ease this in just a single Saturday afternoon and I sleep better that night too, knowing I now have a plan of action. If this running thing is one of your “big rocks” of time management then you just have a puzzle on your hands to solve.

There is no perfect training schedule for everyone – you are “an experiment of one” and you need to listen to your body, ask for help and adjust the sails sometimes. It is not about the number of days you get out – but being ready, rested and in the mindset to make the days you do get – count as a quality effort.

How many days a week? Studies show that 95% of the cardiovascular benefits can be had with 5 days a week of running, with that said you can get nearly 80% on just 4 days a week. So can you make it work on three day a week? The Furman FIRST program is based on this very principle and they cross train and do floor exercises for strength on the off days. Strength training stimulates the production of red blood cells and stimulates muscles differently so that you are more ready to run with less actual running. If you got out less than that is it a bad thing? No – you have to make it fit your life and you should always feel good about getting some exercise. Do not let people tell you otherwise or “dumb down” the benefits of getting out and moving because everything helps. You ideally want a habit of some sort no matter how many days because A) you’ll find it gets easier B) you’ll see greater benefit and this means you’ll stay for life. It is your life, and that’s what we are building this program more - to enhance it.

Right now I am often in weeks where I can only pull off three runs a week due to a grueling work schedule but here is the deal. In my twenties and thirties I ran backpacking and river trips that were anywhere from three to thirty days long and I always said that a three day trip and a two week trip each take the same amount of time to prepare – aside from a little more food; I take the same tent, flashlight, stove, etc, etc. and yet on the three day trip I only get three days. I would always rather go for a week because the effort is the same but the payoff is greater.
 

I specialize in the long run, because I am never going to be a sprinter again and I like being out there and going places – it is transformative for me. So I am running farther/longer when I am out running but by going out three times a week I am getting a full week’s worth of workouts done. I think it is efficient and it works for me because I have already worked up to that kind of mileage and sometimes inertia is the enemy. Getting out the door takes the same amount of time every day and the hardest part is getting free for a couple hours to go – not the actual running. When Dan Lehmann spoke to us he told a story of a guy who did not run all week but did run a slow and steady Ultra every weekend for his mileage. That may be taking it a bit far but it is the same basic idea that he is getting his time in when and how he is able while allowing the body some rest in between. Think outside the box to achieve your goals.

When do I do it? Think about how you can squeeze more out of your day. If you are a night owl already you can likely run in the dark and not disrupt your sleep pattern. Dean Karnazes of Ultra Marathon Man fame is famous for running hours at night when he had a day job – to make it all fit. If you are an early riser now – then perhaps 40 minutes earlier will get you a run. One high school principal found running saved his life (he dropped 150 lbs and went off his Lipitor) and he did not want to give it up. But a principal already starts the day pretty early, so he found a new pair of pajamas, in that he sleeps in his running duds, and just rolls out of bed and into his shoes to go run for 45 minutes. When he gets home he drinks the smoothie, which was pre-frozen on Sunday afternoon and is thawing in the fridge now while the shower warms up. It sounds a bit like George Jetson’s morning routine (I think a robot made his coffee and brushed his teeth for him) but it got the guy the time he needed in his schedule for the big rocks to fit. One secret that works for me is that I have is to get the run done early in the day, that way I cannot couch it as a crisis comes up later in the day. Just as long as you have the time blocked out - you are most likely to complete.

Planning is everything. So ideally I try to eat one or two hours before a run or make your fuel intake light and digestible (300-500Kal + 10oz H2O) and as I said before familiar foods are best. Remember when I asked you to test those pre-race breakfasts and mid run snacks that will sit well while you run? Those same micro meals will allow you to dash out the door when you find that you have an hour that you did not realize you had. The other day I found that my afternoon appointment was canceled and lunch was hours ago. By having something handy to fuel with (I even split the food for some before, and some after the run) I was able to get a run when it was nice and I could serendipitously grab it. Don’t think that I do not have shoes and some shorts in my locker and my car either. Plan ahead and you can get it to fit – I know some folks who run at lunch but do not have a shower on site. They use the baby wipes, some deodorant and a change of clothes to still get the workout done.

Many people say to me that the run consumes the time that they might normally have to cook a decent dinner that they need to eat that evening and so they feel like they are robbing Peter to pay Paul by getting in a run. Many large families and families who are tightening their belts in this economy have taken to a set menu. If you have two weeks of meal ideas (just like your school cafeteria – but tastes better) you can plan and budget for how you will work them into your day. You can also fine tune them to your intake needs for running so that you are not haphazardly fueled. We use Excel at home and generate lists for the grocery, as well as add and subtract favorite meals easily. The other thing this allows us to do is make a Sunday into food prep time where we store away a few good meals in the freezer for the most chaotic nights of the week.
 

Planning and Tupperware is how the high school principal got his morning power smoothie post run too. I have even used ice cube trays to measure out the frozen portions to thaw or puree at will and this planning will carve out a bit more time in your schedule and not leave you hypoglycemic at the end of a workout. Nobody cares if you eat breakfast in the car on the way to work if you feel good and energized when you get to your destination. Do what it takes and you’ll feel better next New Year’s when this resolution was realized.
 

I’ll say one more thing about food and don’t think I am on a soapbox here but great Americana style food that I was brought up on (YUM) takes time to prepare. Meat may be the most intensive as well in terms of prep, cleanup etc. and this is where again, planning come in handy. Marc Bittman and other use a lot of grains, precut veggies, and less intensive ingredients as well a bit of pre trimmed meat you froze when you got home from the store to design great meals and it has taken a while for us to find all of our favorites but I have storehouse of them now. I even like Rachel Ray because her books divide dishes but how intensive they are to make – I resort the best of those by nutrient quality and go from there. (There are some good links on the blog site and you no longer need a cookbook to cook at our house if the computer is on…)

Equipment. Some people have bad names for treadmills but the fact is that they are open to run on when the weather is too hot, too cold, and too rainy or you have to make other use of the time that day. I know I told you there is no bad weather and I believe this, but sometime you need to multitask or you are not prepared to go out – and neither is a great excuse to miss what is important. My mom watches her shows during workout time and I listen to lecture when I am safe on the treadmill and can focus. They are great for the quick fix and you should use them as a time management tool. While a good treadmill is not cheap, there are a number of great ones in town that are easy to get to and have long hours. Remember that in March or April – after New Year’s resolution time is long gone and the weather is getting nice again, you might buy some poor guy’s $2,000 treadmill on Craig’s List for half price or better. This investment will last you over two decades with some light maintenance.
 

Another item equipment discussion includes is anything that you need to safeguard the time that you have so carefully set aside. So you carved out the time but it is snowing or whatever the weather does to keep you away from the run – recall that there is no bad weather, only inadequate clothing choices! I wear a rain hat, or great gloves, or put in my contacts for the pouring rain but I do not let something simple derail the workout. I have a great flashlight and a reflector for night runs and my neighbor use a vest like the road workers wear when he runs at night. Maybe you need a stun gun for that bad neighborhood right out your door - but a gym membership might be cheaper and not get you arrested for assault. I have come to find that there is no weather that I dislike running in and I feel all the more accomplished and infatigable for having made the effort. We even made ice cleats last winter just by putting little sheet metal screws into our old running shoes and I save them for icy days. Yes I feel silly running in them - but I kinda feel like McGyver running in them too (and I still think he was cool). So find out what is holding you back – then work around it because you made the time, and you deserve the run. 

Shuffle the big stones. There is an increase in folks who run to work or run home after work and anyone who has an HR department at their workplace should ask about any incentive that is offered for employee wellness or carbon savings. You are saving on gas or parking fees, gym membership and keeping your workplace insurance bills low, so anything you can gain in reimbursement would be gravy and could be put into a new pair of shorts. If they put in a shower – all the better, but there are ways around that too, have someone drop you at work and run home that evening.

Several folks have gotten a spouse, relative or buddy to run and this replaces their time at the bar or coffee stop with a cheap and healthy habit they do together. Jog strollers are another great investment and Craig’s List often has good ones so Junior can come along for family time. Two of my students got super fast by taking turns pushing their offspring down the bike trails in their jog stroller. I doubt it hurt their marriage either, as they ran along and shared their day. Check carefully, regarding how old your child needs to be before they can ride in one of these strollers.
 

There are a lot of multi-tasking things that you can get done during a run. Like I said earlier my mom gets her TV time when she runs on the treadmill. I study many days and Audible.com has thousands of unabridged books for download so you could listen to the news, read a bestseller you have been meaning to get to or even call your Ma like you should – because we run slowly enough to talk. Your phone has a voice recorder if you learn to use it and so you could easily complete you grocery list or anything else you wanted to while you’re out there. If you need to multitask then it clears some space to exercise when maybe you do not have time for both activities. If multitasking is more fun, then maybe you are motivated to get out the door more often and you reap the benefits – either way would be good, right? The way the story goes Dean Karnazes actually wrote his first book by dictation into a voice recorder on those long night runs of his and then retyped it later for his publisher. I know personally, that I do get a lot of good thinking done “on the road”. 

Run by time not distance. You want to fit it all in and you need to know how long this will actually take. Run, snack, stretch, shower, all take time and there is pressure to get back to whatever the urgent thing is that is calling you. So make it easy and run by time rather than distance - seeking to keep your run a steady effort throughout and at PE 4. The distance thing is arbitrary if all you are looking for is fitness and wellness, and what is more important is to take some pressure off you. The funny thing is that this may actually improve your performance in the ensuing months.
 

Now any route works, because you just split the time in half and double back on your route. You will know exactly when you’re home that evening and planning may be less complicated. Adding ten minutes a week to your long run is not a difficult computation, requires no new route research and if you are not watching the pace you can relax and just focus on a steady effort. (Recall, in order to learn the most about your “experiment of one” you must be consistent. Consistency also allows you to reap the subtle benefits that come from gradual training load increases. We shoot for 10% increases or less and the 10 minute technique works great and need not go to infinity to work – but one long run weekly makes all of your runs easier – trust me.)

Dr. Philip Maffetone discusses the idea that I posted a while back of being able to run the same distance, over each successive month, at a slightly faster or more efficient pace as your cardiac capacity improves. Even if your speed never significantly increases – your ease in performing this effort will improve and this, as well as how fast you return to your baseline heart rate – are good indicators of adaptation. Running by time is a great way to do this and is very low key. If you still worry about how many miles you run or what to tell someone – just don’t tell them. Keep it a secret and they’ll just think you are training for London in 2012.

How will I find time to race, because I want a few big goals? Folks that have a regular mileage program find that they can sharpen their speed and endurance for a particular race in just 5-8 weeks depending on their physical state. Most runners plan to take a break from running one or two times a year to stay fresh and let the body rest & see no adverse affects from doing so. Build that into your schedule too so you can gear up for the events you’d like to run and can clear that time to maybe add a day to training for the big event.

When you see that race you have always wanted to try – and I want to break my record! I simply work backwards from that race day. So I want to run on April 1^st and I know that I have been really steady on my program this year. So I need 8 weeks where I can run 4 days a week instead of three. Cool, so I’ll count backwards eight weeks from April 1^st to Feb 1^st or so, and then see how can I shuffle my schedule for that one extra day of running and I’ll call Carl for a few new stretches and a route that resembles my race course. All set - and you should do that once in a while to mix it up and because it is fun.

Likewise enjoy a week (or two) annually of no running. Laying around or not having that extra schedule item is great because it frees you for something else, and you need not feel guilty or despondent because you know when you are coming back. Each time you do this you’ll come back to running renewed and ready to run. I hope that is what happens for any reader is that they build a habit, that they then find enriches them so much that they wish to do it every week, forever. To do that you really have to build it in and use the tricks you have to make that work. I used to work in an ivory tower – a university recreation facility so amazing it was like Las Vegas and it was all free to student use. Yet there were times that we joked that we needed to actually pay the students to exercise and recreate and enjoy themselves physically. Professionally the “tipping point” that we always spoke of was six months. If you can retain a person for six months in some fitness or wellness activity they’ll stick with it. After that amount of personal investment you have them in a habit, they have carved out a space for this in their lives and they are really seeing the benefits that we all know exist. The kicker is that many reading this have just finished a 5 month program that began in May  - so you just have to stick with it a few more weeks and then as the days get darker – you’ll be successfully inoculated for your fitness habit and cookie season will not infect you! Neither will a host of other possible ailments and while we always have dark days sometimes the running will be there for you. It is one of the things that we were designed to do.

If you have not read enough on sacrificing something urgent, in order to dream and aspire to something important, then I have a good interview for you. The female winner of this year’s Western States 100 miler is a full time Mom of four kids and works full time as a teacher at 45 years old and NOT slowing down. I wanted to see if she had any new tricks that I did not mention above and she did mention a few - some extreme – as you might imagine. But she said that she seldom cleans house and her kids have learned to do a lot of their own chores, and yet they still sit down to a family meal every night (runners are all about a square meal, right). Read her story here (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-238-511-0-13249-0,00.html) at Runner World.  Then get away from the computer and lace up your shoes…

 “Good habits are worth being fanatical about.” John Irving