So if you are going to train long and hard, you might as well train smart.
I am posting this for several reasons. First off I feel it is my duty as a Polar Ambassador to educate everyone I can as to the benefits of heart rate training. How do I know the benefits you might ask? Because I am living them. I have raced mountain bikes since 2002. At which time I started with Polar computers. In 2005 I won the DINO Series Clydesdale division. I have since transitioned into Ironman competitions.
So what has heart rate training done for me? With the help of a coach that under stands heart rate training and how to work an athlete within those zones. More recently it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with my endurance. I can now run a conversational pace (zone 2) at or near a 7:30 mile. I can sustain this for a long time. I know that is not as fast as a lot of people out there, but remember I am 6'1" tall and I weigh 220 lbs. I came to the Ironman game late, age 40 now. When I started I weighed 270 pounds. Heart rate training has kept me from getting over trained. It has helped keep me from getting too oxidized due to over exertion.
So now with coach and my heart rate training, completing an Ironman is just a matter of time, but that is not good enough for me. I want to COMPETE in an Ironman and I think that I am getting a solid foundation set for the task.
So what can Heart Rate Training do for you, or more importantly what has it done for you?
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Injuries
Looks like I get some time off of running. The hamstring (left) and the quad insertion (right) are not as bad as they were, but they are tight. Talked to coach today and my training for IM Louisville doesn't start in earnest for a few more weeks so we are taking a break from running to allow the legs to heal up. I will continue to march and practice form so when I do run again, I will run more properly. So for now here I go swimming and biking away.
The psychological blow is pretty devastating.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Ok.....ARGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I have a busy practice. I am happy to busy busy and be blessed with the practice I have. But why why why do I have to encounter the same "PERSON" over and over again. So I am going to lay this on you guys because I think of you as health conscious and intelligent.
If you are an athlete. If you are just wanting to be healthy. Then you have to think of food as a drug. It controls all chemical interactions and enzymatic processes either directly or indirectly. I JUST had a lady come in to me that has been a patient for a long time. We have done functional medicine tests with her. Showed her what is happening to her body. She NEVER got the nutrition, and now I realize she NEVER changed her diet.
She comes in and is complaining of knee pain. HUM!!!! We addressed this over a year ago.
Me, "How much water are you drinking?"
Her, "None, I drink diet coke" *GRRRRRRR*
Me, "Tell me about how you have changed the diet."
Her, "........" *Deer in the head lights look, here comes the smartass*
Me, "Didn't we discuss this at length about your functional medicine results? Did we not talk about your alkaline reserve and how drinking soda's, carbonated beverages, and sugar make you acidic?"
"Do you remember discussing what happens to the gut over time when you assault it this way?"
Her, "Ummm..."
Me, "Let me refresh your memory." At this time I now have 4 patients waiting in queue to be seen, I ask for permission to open the doors for EVERYBODIES benefit.
She agrees.
I throw down the red carpet to my soap box that I am going to proudly jumping on top of it.
"ANY carbonated beverage forms carbolic acid in the stomach when ingested. Your body has 50 mill-equivalentsof acid buffering capacity. 1 can of a carbonated beverage has 60 mill-equivalents of acid in it. So 1 can of soda blows your buffering capabilities for the day. Where does your body get the Calcium, Phosphorous, and other minerals it needs to deal with the acid? From your bones. Did you know if you eat a typical American diet, some fruits and veggies, foods from fast food, or out of boxes and cans you produce another 100 mill-equivalents of acid. You are now in the hole 110 mill-equivalents. That acid remains resident in the body until processed. It lays in the gut and starts to work on your normal flora in the gut (it starts killing your good bacteria. Gas, bloating, belching and indigestion are all symptoms) As this acid sits there and kills off the good bacteria the walls of the gut start to get more permeable. That means it allows macro molecules of food through into the blood stream. As that food gets direct access to the blood stream it initiates an allergic reaction. When this happens you retain water. The solution to pollution, in the body, is dilution. So you start to get swelling and stiff joints. Not only that but your body stays in an alarm state waiting to swell. You are now pro inflammatory, with leaky gut syndrome and the road back is easy, if you do the right things. Don't blame others for your current state, start at where you are and move forward. If you make excuses, you are not taking responsibility for yourself. It is not McDonald's fault. It is not Pizza Huts fault. They don't force you to eat their food. They just make it easy to get."
By this time she is looking at me and just says, "So what I eat causes me to swell?"
"Yes", I said.
"The reason my knees hurt is because I am eating wrong and it makes me have arthritis."
"Yahtzee!!!", I say.
Next I took it a step further and and discussed sarcopenia. This is what most athletes suffer from to an extent. We think that because we are exercising 17 to 18 hours a week that we can eat anything and we have a "Hall pass" from negative affects of food. Guess what....nope. When I eat bad food for more than 1 meal. When I drink for a weekend. I can see it in my heart rate files and my resting heart rate. It slowly starts to creep up, almost like I am overtraining. It is because I am becoming oxidized and that adds stress to the body. You can see it in my training files too. Rest weeks I plan parties and activities because I don't have big days so when I am resting physically, I am NOT resting and repairing physiologically. But you have to clean things up for a while before you can dirty up the system without big consequences. Sometimes when you clean the body up you become REALLY sensitive and find out that you have to avoid those foods and behaviors all together. That is slowly changing, but you have to have some fun ;-)
If you are an athlete. If you are just wanting to be healthy. Then you have to think of food as a drug. It controls all chemical interactions and enzymatic processes either directly or indirectly. I JUST had a lady come in to me that has been a patient for a long time. We have done functional medicine tests with her. Showed her what is happening to her body. She NEVER got the nutrition, and now I realize she NEVER changed her diet.
She comes in and is complaining of knee pain. HUM!!!! We addressed this over a year ago.
Me, "How much water are you drinking?"
Her, "None, I drink diet coke" *GRRRRRRR*
Me, "Tell me about how you have changed the diet."
Her, "........" *Deer in the head lights look, here comes the smartass*
Me, "Didn't we discuss this at length about your functional medicine results? Did we not talk about your alkaline reserve and how drinking soda's, carbonated beverages, and sugar make you acidic?"
"Do you remember discussing what happens to the gut over time when you assault it this way?"
Her, "Ummm..."
Me, "Let me refresh your memory." At this time I now have 4 patients waiting in queue to be seen, I ask for permission to open the doors for EVERYBODIES benefit.
She agrees.
I throw down the red carpet to my soap box that I am going to proudly jumping on top of it.
"ANY carbonated beverage forms carbolic acid in the stomach when ingested. Your body has 50 mill-equivalentsof acid buffering capacity. 1 can of a carbonated beverage has 60 mill-equivalents of acid in it. So 1 can of soda blows your buffering capabilities for the day. Where does your body get the Calcium, Phosphorous, and other minerals it needs to deal with the acid? From your bones. Did you know if you eat a typical American diet, some fruits and veggies, foods from fast food, or out of boxes and cans you produce another 100 mill-equivalents of acid. You are now in the hole 110 mill-equivalents. That acid remains resident in the body until processed. It lays in the gut and starts to work on your normal flora in the gut (it starts killing your good bacteria. Gas, bloating, belching and indigestion are all symptoms) As this acid sits there and kills off the good bacteria the walls of the gut start to get more permeable. That means it allows macro molecules of food through into the blood stream. As that food gets direct access to the blood stream it initiates an allergic reaction. When this happens you retain water. The solution to pollution, in the body, is dilution. So you start to get swelling and stiff joints. Not only that but your body stays in an alarm state waiting to swell. You are now pro inflammatory, with leaky gut syndrome and the road back is easy, if you do the right things. Don't blame others for your current state, start at where you are and move forward. If you make excuses, you are not taking responsibility for yourself. It is not McDonald's fault. It is not Pizza Huts fault. They don't force you to eat their food. They just make it easy to get."
By this time she is looking at me and just says, "So what I eat causes me to swell?"
"Yes", I said.
"The reason my knees hurt is because I am eating wrong and it makes me have arthritis."
"Yahtzee!!!", I say.
Next I took it a step further and and discussed sarcopenia. This is what most athletes suffer from to an extent. We think that because we are exercising 17 to 18 hours a week that we can eat anything and we have a "Hall pass" from negative affects of food. Guess what....nope. When I eat bad food for more than 1 meal. When I drink for a weekend. I can see it in my heart rate files and my resting heart rate. It slowly starts to creep up, almost like I am overtraining. It is because I am becoming oxidized and that adds stress to the body. You can see it in my training files too. Rest weeks I plan parties and activities because I don't have big days so when I am resting physically, I am NOT resting and repairing physiologically. But you have to clean things up for a while before you can dirty up the system without big consequences. Sometimes when you clean the body up you become REALLY sensitive and find out that you have to avoid those foods and behaviors all together. That is slowly changing, but you have to have some fun ;-)
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