Favorite Things June 2013

The sinus infection as predicted, lingered, and is still lingering. After losing about two weeks of training, I finally was able to start some training this past week. My run always feels great after some time off, the bike and swim, not so much. It's been awhile since I've had mt. bikers, men 60+, and yes, even recumbent bike riders pass me...very humbling yesterday that ride. And today, I got sucked into doing 5000 yards of swimming. My legs and arms were so thrashed that I was left blowing water with my mouth as a means of forward propulsion. Until I have more training stories, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things of late.

I've been swimming since I was a kid, and never did I ever have ear infections. But starting around 5-6 years ago, I started getting ear infections from the pool on a fairly regular basis. The ear infections would sometimes lead to sinus infections, and linger, as it did this time around. I'm not a fan of ear plugs, and thus, I found a different remedy. Mix one part rubbing alcohol with one part white vinegar in a dispensing bottle and shake. Put some drops in each ear after each swim. I ran out a couple of weeks ago and I was too lazy to make more. After several swims without my concoction, I developed an ear ache, which led to an ear infection, and then finally to a sinus infection. After getting back on the concoction, things immediately got better.

I recently stopped using whey protein powder, and I switched to a plant base source. I like it. I found this stuff and I compared it to Vega. It's almost identical, but it is about $12 cheaper.

Salad Jar

When I'm in snack mode, I usually eat something that I can just grab and start chomping with little to no prep. In an effort to eat more veggie/natural foods and less carbs, sugar, and packaged foods, I came across a great idea to make salads as readily available as any packaged food. My friend's wife turned me onto salads in a jar. One night per week, I chop all of my veggies and dole them out into several jars. I put the jars in the fridge and when I need a snack, I just grab one, shake the contents, and voila, instant snack salad. You can make different types of salads like Cobb, Caesar, etc...If you make your own salad dressing, put the dressing on the bottom, then layer next with carrots or something that won't absorb the dressing so much. The one veggie that I don't add in advance is avocado. Oh, these jars work great and I bought them at Sur La Table. Happy snacking.

Wow, it must be the off-season as Steve pointed out, I just blogged about salad in a jar.

Make Every Day An Important Day

How about some bike porn to start this post. Those red tires on the Reynolds wheels, oooouiiii! I believe consistency is the best way to improve and get fast, and for the past three seasons, I've strived to make every day an important day. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of defining an important day as a day chock full of training. If you follow me, you know that my racing season was pretty much a bust last year, and I now think it was in part to this belief that an important day has to involve some type of training. The past couple of weeks of training has taught me otherwise, that in fact, an important day might include no training whatsoever, but instead a lot of relaxation and recovery.

Since coming back from my mystery ailments, I've been averaging about 6-8 hours of training per week, way down from the 16-24 hours of training I was doing this same time last year. Not only am I training way less hours, the number of days where I take completely off, meaning no physical activity, has been averaging 2-3 days per week. And if you recall from my last post, I'm hitting season PR's and my numbers are no worse than what they were this same time last year. I'm not stressed about missing workouts and going for days without training, and as a result, I'm more relaxed and rested for when I do hit the pavement. Last season, I think I was training to train, in other words, I was training to be able to do more training. This season, I'm training to race. Granted, if I had an ironman on the schedule, I would be doing a lot more hours, but maybe not as many hours as I used to think I needed. Because when it comes down to it, you can't do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Make every day an important day.

And somehow, this blog is becoming a foodie blog. First, I discovered blossoming baby bok choy which go great in your pasta, and how about some low glycemic potatoes? I can now enjoy roasted potatoes with my grilled veggies again. Finally, I leave you with a pic of my post-run, pre-swim meal: paleo tea service (herbal tea with duck, beets, carrots, and kale), squash dumplings, curry egg salad with fuji apples, and a quinoa waffle.

The Not-So Mysterious Case of Orange Palms

I was collecting some papers from a student yesterday and she noted that my palms were orange. Upon further examination, and consultation from several other students, indeed my palms were orange. I never even noticed. I drink a glass (about two cups) of carrot juice every morning, and without even realizing it, my body was slowly building up toxic levels of Vitamin A (beta-carotene). Vitamin A, along with D, E, and K, is fat soluble, thus too much of it can be toxic to the body. I learned this during a nutrition class while in college, but I never even thought to think how much is too much. According to the Mayo Clinic, adults and teenagers should limit beta-carotene to 6-15 mg per day. One cup of carrot juice has about 22 mg of beta-carotene, thus, I was taking about 44 mg of beta-carotene every day for some time. Hmmm...I guess that's pretty good cause for my orange palms.

This incident, along with some recent news I learned about vitamin E, led me to think about vitamins and supplementation in general. I've long stopped supplementing with vitamin E, but for awhile, I was taking vitamin E supplements during its hey-day when it was touted as being a powerful antioxidant. At some point, maybe during the nutrition class, I learned that vitamin E wasn't all that and could actually be dangerous, thus I stopped. Well, the Mayo Clinic just uploaded a video about some current findings with vitamin E, which I've shared on here. This brings me to vitamin D. I've been taking vitamin D supplements per the advice from a friend who is a physician, based on my low vitamin D levels which I had tested. I also blogged about vitamin D, and I find it (scary) ironic that I wrote "Vitamin D is the new vitamin E". I hope not! I am now going to take a conservative approach toward supplementation and cut back my dosage of vitamin D, and most likely cut it out altogether, and get all of my vitamins through a well-balanced diet.

Hell Hath No Fury Like...A Nutritional Bonk

The past couple of days of training, I was reminded of the importance of nutrition. On Wednesday, I had an epic bonk while doing a very hilly trail run with my friend Chris, who is training for a 50-miler. Not only did Chris extend our 90-minute run to almost two hours, but he did so setting a torrid pace. My longest run had been 80 minutes and nutritionally, my body could not take both the distance and pace. The last two miles were not training, it was survival. Upon arrival home, I was nauseous and my stomach was sensitive and I couldn't eat much. I basically had a smoothie and went to bed. The next day, I started what was intended to be a 3-hour hilly ride with some strong efforts. From the start, I knew I had not met my caloric needs from the bonk the day prior, but I soldiered on hoping for the best. Thoughts of turning around and going home crossed my mind, but staying true to my OCD/Type A triathlete self, I pushed on hoping I would come around. Well, 90-minutes into the ride, I was now trying to figure out how I would make it home. Like the run the day prior, this ride was no longer about training but about survival. Hell hath no fury like the nutritional bonk.

The nutritional bonk is absolute hell. It's the reason why you see age-groupers passing fit professionals on the race course, specifically ironman races. Once you are in the nutritional bonk, it is no longer about athleticism. You are no longer trying to move fast, but instead, you are just trying to move, or worse, stay upright. Not only does a nutritional bonk take a physical toll, it wreaks havoc on the mind as well. Your head is in a haze and you can't even think clearly to rectify the situation. At some point during my ride, I realized that I was no longer training but just trying to get home. I was still one hour from home and with two daunting climbs remaining, I somehow pulled a somewhat coherent thought, "Kiet, all you have right now is your attitude. Just keep a good attitude and keep trying..and keep eating." And just like that, I was doing very specific ironman training.

After two days of bonking, I decided to skip my run on Friday (mental note: the threshold for an OCD/Type A triathlete to make a wise decision is two consecutive bonk days). Saturday was a 7-hour training day and can you guess what I absolutely made sure I nailed besides the 3 x 40 min tempo climbs...my nutrition. My teammates were teasing me all day long about the amount of food I was eating. But guess who pulled away during the last 40-minute tempo climb with a full belly and equal amount of energy, guilty. Come Sunday, you would think I would be quite the sagacious one with nutrition. Nope. Once again, a nutritional nightmare but l problem-solved and got the work done. I'm now convinced that when it comes to triathlons, we are a couple of gels short of a disaster. I banked 22 hours this week and most of it, very ironman specific training. And yes, that is an egg on top of two meat patties, waiting for a bun with both bacon and cheese to lay on top. You only have one life...albeit a shorter life after putting that in my body.

I Believe

There are no coincidences in life, and thus, I was meant to meet Belinda Granger just before I left Kona. She was meant to deliver a message that would get me through this ironman volume week:

I have been in the sport for a long time now and honestly a big percentage of it is MENTAL. You truly need to believe that you are capable of so much more than you think...you are so much stronger than you think....you are so much more determined than you think....you can deal with pain so much better than you think.

Yep, that was the last message Belinda sent me on Facebook, and there hasn't been a workout the past week that I have not called upon this advice. Physically, I'm feeling tired from 325 miles of cycling (with over 20,000 feet of climbing) and 48 miles of running, including a 30K trail race with 4100 feet of climbing. If you have a long run on the schedule, the best way to tackle it is to sign up for a trail race. Mentally, I'm copacetic, bring on that ironman at the end of the month.

Some highlights from this week's training:

• Jason riding with me for 184 of the 325 miles
• Feeling AWESOME during the 30K trail race one day after my 109 mile ride, and chasing my way to second overall
• Running into the kid in the above video
• Discovering the Bike Hut on Tunitas Creek Road (restores my faith in mankind and shows that we can indeed still trust)
• A quiet (and hot) Bay Area due to everybody being out of town for the weekend
• The bread pudding at Tartine
• And Finally...the TOUR de FRANCE on Versus

Day 105: Vitamin D

Well, I'm sitting on my bum and trying to stay off the legs in prep for the Sydney Half Marathon tomorrow. This week has been a balancing act of trying to get back in shape on the bike but not getting too sore for the race/run tomorrow. I will try to remain realistic so as not to blow up. I had great running sessions on the Goldie about 2 weeks ago but my trip to New Zealand stalled the training a bit. I have lots of miles on these legs but not very much speedwork so I'm thinking anything between a 1:20-1:22 will be nice. Either way, it will be fun to do a new race in a new city. Since I'm on me bum, thought I would finally do the posting on Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is the new vitamin E. Doctors have long known that Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium to make bones dense and strong. More recent research touts of its ability to help prevent several cancers, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, psoriasis, diabetes, depression, and respiratory infections including colds and flu. There is very compelling evidence that increasing Vitamin D levels in the body can significantly decrease the occurrence of breast cancer. On my recent trip to New Zealand, I discussed Vitamin D with my friend Maggie, who is a physician. She agrees with the benefits of Vitamin D and like most doctors, believe that most of the general population is deficient in Vitamin D. I'm a bullet point type of guy, so here is what you need to know about Vitamin D:

• Most of the body's Vitamin D production is activated by sunlight. However, people nowadays spend a majority of their time indoors; and if outdoors, they put on sunblock which blocks Vitamin D production in the skin.

• Darker skinned people and aging skin make less Vitamin D than those with lighter skin and younger skin respectively.

• Ask your doctor to check your blood levels of 25-Hydroxy (25-OH ) vitamin D (Vitamin D3). The normal range is 30.0-74.0 nanograms per mililiter (ng/mL) of blood, or 70-120 nmol/L.

• If you decide to take a Vitamin D supplement, make sure it is the biologically active (greater absorption) Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and not Vitamin D2. Some doctors are recommending that you supplement with 2000 IU of Vitamin D3 per day. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and it can be toxic if too much is taken. To give you an idea of numbers, your body can produce between 10,000-20,000 IU per hour under optimum sunlight conditions. Also, research shows no adverse effects with Vitamin D supplementation up to 10,000 IU daily. Always take your Vitamin D with a fat-containing meal to ensure absorption.

• Vitamin D rich foods include fortified milk and cereals, eggs, cod liver oil, tuna and cold water fish such as wild salmon, wild cod and sardines. However, it is difficult to regularly eat enough of these foods to build up your Vitamin D stores. The best way to produce vitamin D is sunlight exposure; the ultraviolet rays trigger Vitamin D synthesis in the skin.

• Get some sun exposure on your skin without sunscreen for 20-30 minutes in the morning or late afternoon. Do use sunscreen during the midday to protect your skin.

• Be sure to get retested to monitor your Vitamin D levels.

I want to qualify the Vitamin D info by saying that 15 years ago or so, many experts were touting Vitamin E similar to Vitamin D. Now, it is well-regarded that too much Vitamin E is harmful. My best advice is that if you decide to supplement with Vitamin D, consult your physician to make sure you are taking the right dose for you.

Day 79: Rethinking Agave

I just came across this article on agave, a common substitute for sugar. I know a lot of you who read this blog use agave so file this under "something to think about". The article reads very similar to Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, giving some background food history and the science of agave. It is quite long so I thought I would do the work for you and extract the take-home message.

"Many people interested in staying healthy have switched to agave as a safer "natural" sweetener. They want to avoid well documented dangerous sweeteners like HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) but are unaware that most agave is actually WORSE than HFCS."

"Depending on the source and processing method used, agave syrup can, therefore, contain as little as 55% fructose (but as high as 97%), the same amount found in high-fructose corn syrup -- in which case the syrup would offer no advantage."

"Though processing methods can differ among manufacturers, most commercially available agave is converted into fructose-rich syrup using genetically modified enzymes and a chemically intensive process involving caustic acids, clarifiers, and filtration chemicals"

"Part of the problem leading to the confusion is that there are some natural food companies that are indeed committed to excellence and in providing the best product possible. But let me assure you that in the agave industry, this is the minority of companies. Nevertheless, these ethical companies seek to provide an outstanding product. There are a few companies who commit to and actually achieve these criteria and actually:
• Work with the indigenous people,
• Use organic agave as the raw material, free of pesticides
• Process it at low temperatures to preserve all the natural enzymes
• Produce a final agave product that is closer to 50% fructose instead of over 90%
• Fructose is bonded or conjugated to other sugars and not floating around as "free" fructose, like HFCS, which is far more damaging."

"The consumption of high amounts of sugar is what is inflating America's waistline, as well as escalating rates of diabetes, blood pressure and heart disease. Although overall sugar consumption is definitely something to be concerned about, even more problematic is one type of sugar that wreaks extraordinary havoc on your body: FRUCTOSE."

"Fructose only becomes a metabolic poison when you consume it in quantities greater than 25 grams a day. When you consume fructose over 25 grams per day it will very likely increase its metabolic byproduct, uric acid, in your blood. So you can go to your physician and have a simple uric acid level done. This is not a fasting test and is very inexpensive to do, it's typically free with many automated chemistry profiles. If your level is above 5.0 you will want to consider reducing your fructose level until the level drops below 5.0. This will provide you with a valid, objective parameter to let you know if the information I am sharing is correct for you and your family."

On the training front, all I can say is speed kills. I sort of feel like I'm back in my high school cross country days where I lived life dreading the next speed session. But what's that saying? HTFU! Off for my second run of the day.

Day 72: There Are No Coincidences in Life

The yoga website and DVDs led us to believe we were staying in ashram style accommodations right on the beach. What we got was a caravan park (for all you Americans, this is a trailer park) right off the freeway, 3-4 people to a room, and 6-8 people sharing one bathroom. It also happened to be the tail end of the Blues Festival in Byron Bay, and well, caravan park and drunk, obnoxious party-goers go hand-in-hand. Several people from the part-time intensive in conjunction with ours decided not to come back. I decided to take "a wait and see approach". After two nights of averaging 3 hours of sleep, I woke up on the third day sick. It was time to get out of Dodge. I called the Aussie Resort up in the Goldie and sure enough, Jenny had a place available. Right on. I then looked for transportation and sure enough there was a shuttle leaving in 5 hours. Was chance solely at work here? I knew I made the right decision but I couldn't help to be a bit bummed by not being able to continue. However, it did ease the sting knowing that the program was not a perfect match for me as it was very light on the practice, and too heavy on the theory and the chanting (chanting is my least favorite part of yoga). Alright, get comfortable, now begins the story telling (and there won't be an abridged version D).During the shuttle ride, I struck some conversation with Jemma, who definitely had the yoga-air about her. Sure enough, she is a practicing yogi. She explained how she just got back from a 3-day Kirtan festival (that's yoga music) in Byron. She pulled out her MAC (good taste), pulled up iTunes and played some Kirtan music for our shuttle ride. She educated me on the yoga scene in Byron, where to go and what to avoid, and she turned me onto some great Yoga retreats throughout Australia. The driver got in on our yoga conversation, as not only was he a practicing yogi, he was also an aspiring buddhist. I remember thinking, this feels right. As we approached Jemma's stop, she asked to exchange information, and she gave me her card. Pink on one side, brown on the other, very cute just like her. At first glance, I saw the word "naked" (hmmm...), and then "treaties" (huh?). I now wanted to fully process the info on the card and read the entire word: naked treaties rawganics by jemma [and at the bottom of the card it read] raw, vegan & organic, gluten, dairy & sugar free. No f___kin way. I turned to Jemma and told her that what little doubt I had remaining about leaving the yoga intensive, had evaporated during the span of the shuttle ride. She leaned forward and replied, "Isn't it great when the Universe takes care of everything?" She pulled out a white crystal, put it in my hand, and instructed me to hold it for a moment. Normally I would be too cynical not to laugh or say something sarcastic, but this time around, I obliged Jemma and I went with the flow. She left me an open invitation to practice yoga with her, and to visit her raw kitchen when I return to Byron Bay. As the driver pulled the shuttle away from the curb, he turned to me and said, "There are no coincidences in life." Check out Jemma's website and yes, that is her under the white sheets looking quite rawganic. This must be her alter ego because she was so wholesome and hippy looking when I met her.

After two days of laying around and sleeping, I'm finally shaking this cold and I'm ready for the next adventure. I'm back up in the Goldie, and my plan is to use the next two weeks as a run and swim block. I'm going to reawaken the runner that used to be in me. And yes, that means double run days, speedwork, run drills, and 90-120 kilometer weeks. Though I won't have my yoga teacher certification by the end of next week; I will, however, be a certified level I kitesurfer. What's that saying about lemons and making lemonade?

Day 41: Pau Hana!

This is what you say in Kona when all the work is done. All this week, I've been waiting for Sunday to roll around, as this marks the end of my ironman Oz work load. Now it's time to rest and taper, sort of. I say sort of because after much consultation, I've decided to take a bit of a risk and go into the race leaning on the side of unrested rather than rested. I got plenty of great advice, but it was Bree's words to go with my heart and instinct that helped me make the final decision. Looking back on the past five weeks of training, my best days have been when I was feeling a bit tired or during a heavy training load. Also, in the past when I rested a lot, I ended up feeling really sluggish on race day. So, I'm going to take a gamble on my ironman and do somewhat of a reverse taper. I'm going to rest early on (Monday thru Wednesday) during race week and add more volume Thursday and Friday, to shock my body and remind it of the task at hand come Sunday. Cross your fingers for me. The ironman build-up this time around has been so easy, meaning no mental or physical fatigue. In fact, I have yet to have a day where I feel like crap, which in a way, scares me even more because I want that bad day to come and go before the race. Yesterday, I opted to do the less rest thing and run 30K (18 miles). The legs felt great even though I had put in 400+km (250 miles) of riding in the three previous days. Simply put, things were just kopasetic! My legs were running 4:20 per km pace (6:58 per mile) but my mind was telling it to slow down. Today, on my last knockout of training, my faithful training partner from the last four days, Peter, was there to push me again. In fact, not since Tom and Maria Monica and Chris Randall have I had such a consistent and steady training mate. Thanks Peter! Riding with Peter, I was reminded of all the physics I learned in college, specifically momentum. Momentum is what keeps you moving once you get going. Just in case you need a refresher, momentum is a product of mass and velocity. Because of Peter's tree-trunk sized legs, once he gets his velocity going, he just keeps moving, or I should say HAAAAAAUUUULING AZZ! I'll post a video of our rides and you'll quickly realize that I pretty much just saw his backside for the past four days. Madam Pele is still vacationing on the Gold Coast because once again, Peter and I rode through wind and rain yet again. I took a video but somehow it got erased, damn. Once again, kopasetic. Then it was off to Piccolo coffee shop (owned by TdF rider Bobby McEwen) for a cappuccino and banana bread with honey yogurt, a bit of ritual for us after our rides. Kopasetic! Then it was a 3000 meter swim and guess what? Kopasetic! Tomorrow, I have an early swim, take Kopasetic (that's the new name for my Kuota bike) in for an overhaul, and play tourist, my first day doing so. And later that night, I have a date with the Aussie Resort hot tub that I've been eyeing the past 10 days. I'm not a big hot tub guy but damn it, I'm going in. Pau Hana!Before I sign off, I have to pass on my latest discovery. Coconut Milk Yoghurt! I try to minimize my dairy intake but I really really like greek yogurt, and well, Coco Yoghurt tastes just like greek yogurt. The label says it's a product of Australia but I'm hoping that I'll be able to find it back in the states. Anybody know if this is the case? I know, I'm such a freakin' yippie (that's a hybrid of a yuppie and a hippy).

Day 8: Still "Working"

Day 7 started with a swim at Kona Masters at 6:00 AM. Thirty minutes after swim practice, Kaitlin, Sam and I were off for our ride, and both said no to stopping for french toast. As I straddled my bike to do the second of my back-to-back 5 hour rides atop a small saddle, I felt a bit violated. I think my bike owes me dinner and theater tickets. I had yet to have a day off, but I actually felt pretty strong on the ride toward Hawi. The above video gives the specific details. Five miles from the finish, I had the mother of all bonks. I had the shakes, felt tingly, and just wanted to stop and take a nap. I'm not worried as this bonk was nutritional and not fitness related. Thirty miles out, I was feeling hungry but I just didn't want to eat any more sugar, bars, or gels. I had sushi on my mind. So I ignored my nutritional needs and gambled that I had enough to finish. I was riding on fumes the last five miles, and lucky for me, Kaitlin pulled me home. She is ready for New Zealand. Kaitlin fed me two bananas and sacrificed one of the awesome muffins Bree made her for the plane ride. I promised Kaitlin I would not ignore my nutrional plan for IM OZ. On the way home, I satisfied the craving I had 30 miles out, all for 10 bucks! This morning was a swim out to the 1.2 mile buoy of the Hawaii ironman course. I have never swam an open water 2.4 miles other than durig an ironman race. Now I know why Bree is so strong in the open water. The video below is of Manny, Bree, and I post swim. I had planned to grab a quick bite and head out for my 9-mile run on Ali'i. I ended up taking an hour plus nap, that swim thrashed me. I woke up, still thrashed and scared to head out for my run. I quieted the mind, stuck to the workout, and went through the ritual of getting ready for a run. My pace started slow but I just told myself anything under my ironman run pace (7:20-7:30) can be considered speedwork (not so with Olympic training). In fact, I don't do any speedwork on the run, and if I do anything speedy, I always do it right off the bike. Avoiding the speedwork allows me to train with more volume, and be more consistent. After 10 minutes, I came to life and was loving the run. I ended up doing 10 miles at 6:58 pace, not fast for olympic distance training, but could be speedwork for ironman training. About 3 hours ago, I had the most painful massage ever from Gary. His hands were like vice grips, and the only thing that prevented me from jumping off that table and running was that I was naked under the sheets. He told me that he gave Craig Alexander 24 massages before Craig won Hawaii, and that Craig's muscles were like butter. 24 massages? I'm supposed to get a second massage from Gary but to be honest, I think I'm too scared to go back. I don't want to cry again. Before I sign off, I have two food tips. First, if you like tuna salad, substitute the mayonnaise with avocado, and squeeze some lime over it to diminish the fishy taste. Yummy, and thanks Bree. Second, look into Kombucha. I learned in college that a lot of diseases originate in the digestive system (liver, stomach, pancreas, intestines). Kombucha is a great liver cleanser and supports the digestive organs. I just tried the Kombucha Gingerade tonight and it was awesome. I found about Kombucha over at Lindsay Cotter's blog.