The Paleo Canteen Podcast: Tucker Goodrich — Goodbye Mr. Wholewheat

A new podcast interview, with Ally Houston.

This is the first of two episodes, the next one with Ken Strain and me should drop next week.

 Resources for topics discussed are below. (Yes, the format kind of stinks, but that's what happens when you do html formatting in Microsoft Excel via formulas.)

Timestamp format is Hour:Minutes:Seconds

If you find anything egregious as far as typos go, let me know in the comments.

Enjoy!

P.S. Timestamps adjusted: -26 seconds. It will match the podcast now.

0:02:13, comment: "Mr. Whole Wheat", resource: ""Diverticulitis": My Story"

0:07:53, comment: "Somewhat bizzare blogger", resource: "Malocclusion: Disease of Civilization, Part III"

0:08:20, comment: "Weston Price's book", resource: "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"

0:12:58, comment: "Carbohydrate cravings", resource: "Linoleic Acid, Fat Rats In Labs, and Fat Humans"

0:15:21, comment: "I can't remember the term for not being able to recognize faces", resource: "Prosopagnosia Information Page"

0:15:35, comment: "Later in the attack… Supergirl", resource: "Supergirl (TV series)"

0:21:03, comment: "There's a quote that doctors always use…", resource: "The Plural of Anecdote is Data"

0:22:11, comment: "An RCT of parachutes", resource: "Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial"

0:22:28, comment: "Parachute invented by a scientist", resource: "Louis-Sebastien Lenormand"

0:25:01, comment: "The effect it had on my health", resource: "My Vitamin D Experiment"

0:25:56, comment: "ADHD… Dr. Alessio Fasano", resource: "Neurologic and Psychiatric Manifestations of Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity"

0:31:28, comment: "[Dr.] Tro Kalajian", resource: "Dr. Tro's Medical Weight Loss & Direct Primary Care"

0:36:07, comment: "Dr. [Michael] Eades", resource: "The Blog of Michael R. Eades, M.D."

0:39:45, comment: "Dr. Atkin's Book", resource: "Robert C. Atkins, 72, Creator of Controversial Diet, Dies"

0:49:47, comment: "Lots of babies", resource: "RESULTS OF THE SELF-SELECTION OF DIETS BY YOUNG CHILDREN"

0:53:49, comment: "Inject either THC or 2-AG", resource: "Endocannabinoid levels in rat limbic forebrain and hypothalamus in relation to fasting, feeding and satiation: stimulation of eating by 2‐arachidonoyl glycerol"

0:53:50, comment: "Inject either THC or 2-AG", resource: "Observational analysis of feeding induced by Δ9-THC and anandamide"

0:53:58, comment: "2-AG goes up normally in the body", resource: "The role of fatty acids and their endocannabinoid-like derivatives in the molecular regulation of appetite"

0:54:24, comment: "They preferentially eat sugar", resource: "Cannabinoid influences on palatability: microstructural analysis of sucrose drinking after Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol, anandamide, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol and SR141716"

0:54:38, comment: "When it hits the stomach, it's triggered by seed oils", resource: "The role of fatty acids and their endocannabinoid-like derivatives in the molecular regulation of appetite"

0:55:06, comment: "There was a human drug… that blocked 2-AG's effect", resource: "Leptin-regulated endocannabinoids are involved in maintaining food intake"

0:57:00, comment: "The increase in seed oils", resource: "Changes in consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the United States during the 20th century"

0:57:22, comment: "How much is actually in people's fat tissues", resource: "Increase in Adipose Tissue Linoleic Acid of US Adults in the Last Half Century"

0:57:56, comment: "There's a couple of studies where they take people on a high carb diet", resource: "Effect of a 6-Month Intervention with Cooking Oils Containing a High Concentration of Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (Olive and Canola Oils) Compared with Control Oil in Male Asian Indians with Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease"

0:57:56, comment: "There's a couple of studies where they take people on a high carb diet", resource: "Metabolites of arachidonic acid and linoleic acid in early stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease—A pilot study"

0:58:33, comment: "They're the leanest industrail population on Earth", resource: "Big Government, Small Bellies: What Japan Can Teach Us About Fighting Fat"

0:59:08, comment: "How sticky the starch is", resource: "Yes Virginia, The Paleo Diet Was Low-Carb"

0:59:42, comment: "The rate of periodontal disease", resource: "Periodontal Disease"

1:01:27, comment: "All of the animal populations", resource: "Lab animals and pets face obesity epidemic"

1:01:34, comment: "Racoons in Toronto are getting obese", resource: "Enhanced access to anthropogenic food waste is related to hyperglycemia in raccoons (Procyon lotor)"

1:02:03, comment: "Well you know it's pollution", resource: "HOW TINY NAURU BECAME WORLD'S FATTEST NATION"

1:05:16, comment: "French eat more calories", resource: "List of countries by food energy intake"

1:06:04, comment: "Breed's prone to obesity", resource: "A Brief Guide to the Norwegian Elkhound"

1:09:44, comment: "Diabetics are prone to infections", resource: "Infections in Diabetes Mellitus and Hyperglycemia"

1:11:32, comment: "I read Thomas Malthus' book", resource: "An Essay on the Principle of Population"

1:13:18, comment: "Our back molars grew bigger", resource: "The Story of the Human Body, pg 56 kindle edition"

1:13:22, comment: "Chimpanzees can use tools to dig up tubers", resource: "Savanna chimpanzees use tools to harvest the underground storage organs of plants"

1:13:51, comment: "A lot of the big megafauna went extinct", resource: "Global late Quaternary megafauna extinctions linked to humans, not climate change"

1:13:56, comment: "There start appearing shell middens", resource: "Shell middens as archives of past environments, human dispersal and specialized resource management"

1:14:40, comment: "We ran out of butter and animal fats", resource: "Response to Gary Taubes on Omega-6 Fats (Seed Oils) and Obesity"

1:15:33, comment: "The horrible things that corn and soybean agrictulture is doing", resource: "Perspectives On The Vulnerability Of U.S. Agriculture To Soil Erosion: Discussion"

1:16:20, comment: "I have... a couple of fantastic books about the Indians", resource: "Review: "Empire of the Summer Moon""

1:16:20, comment: "I have... a couple of fantastic books about the Indians", resource: "Plenty-coups: Chief of the Crows"

1:16:28, comment: "What did we feed 'em?", resource: "Response to Gary Taubes on Omega-6 Fats (Seed Oils) and Obesity"

1:17:34, comment: "They are all malnourished", resource: "The world health report, Chapter 4: Childhood and maternal undernutrition"

1:18:08, comment: "You retweeted an article recently by an Indian writer", resource: ""Vegetarianism in India neither comes from a love for animals or humans. It only comes from a love of power and hierarchy.""

1:28:40, comment: "The Maffetone Method", resource: "Dr. Phil Maffetone's "Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing" Review"

1:29:45, comment: "The Seven Phases of Heart-Rate Training", resource: "The Seven Phases of Heart-Rate Training"

The Rice Experiment

My daughter recently moved to Japan for school and discovered the Freshman 15. For folks who are not familiar with that phrase, it's used to describe what happens to people when they first go away to college and start eating in the cafeteria all the time.

"Cafeteria Diet Is a Robust Model of Human Metabolic Syndrome With Liver and Adipose Inflammation"

So the Freshman 15 refers to the 15 pounds you gain when you go away to college.

Except in Japan. There it refers to the 15 pounds that everyone loses when they first go on the Japanese diet in the cafeteria at school there. (Western food is basically not available.)

My daughter was not overweight, so I was surprised I started getting panicked texts from Japan about the fact that she now had "nothing to wear" as she'd leaned out so much that her jeans were too big. She's been on and off the Paleo diet over the last seven years, so she pretty much knew that it worked for her, and worked in the short-term.

But she was in Japan...

"So, what are you eating?"

"Rice. I've never eaten so much rice. I got a rice cooker, and all I'm eating is rice."

Obesity Among Adults, 2015 or Nearest Year

Huh.

The Question

"Adult obesity rates are highest in the United States, Mexico, New Zealand and Hungary, while they are lowest in Japan and Korea."

If you buy the carbohydrate/insulin-causes-obesity model, this is a major paradox. The Japanese diet has long been predominantly carbohydrate-based. Obesity has been increasing over time (although obviously not by much), but it's been doing so as carbohydrate consumption has gone down from historically high levels.

If carbohydrates caused obesity, Japan would be one of the fattest nations on earth, not one of the thinnest.

Nevertheless, patterns of health in Japan have changed since WWII with the adoption of a more American-influenced diet. "Western" diseases have emerged, although they have been largely protected from much of the obesity epidemic affecting the rest of the Industrialized Nations.

Japan: Calorie Consumption and Breakdown by Type of Nutrient

So I got curious. When my daughter moved to Japan, she left behind her rice cooker, as it was too expensive to ship it over there.

So I had a perfectly nice, functional rice cooker sitting there gathering dust on the kitchen counter.

And I had a daughter in Japan who increased her rice consumption (along with a bunch of other changing variables) and leaned out.

I've also been doing a fair bit of reading about the Japanese diet and the changes thereto since the end of World War II. While I initially found the whole low-carb argument to be pretty compelling as a primary cause of obesity, there are a number of problems with it as a hypothesis. A hypothesis that generates paradoxes typically has some fundamental flaw. The most famous example of this is the French Paradox, where you have a hypothesis that says that saturated fat causes heart disease, and you have these French people who eat much more saturated fat than Americans, and yet have less heart disease. This led to the silly resveratrol fraud, to explain away the paradox.

The carb/insulin-causes-obesity hypothesis has an even worse paradox in Japan.

The Experiment

I was kind of inspired by Stephan Guyenet's recent expirment:

"Where the praties grow: My seven-day potato diet experiment"

In which he noticed that very little happened. Sounds good!

I've been eating low-carb for almost eight years now. I'm not religiously low-carb, as I'll have some rice or potatoes now and again, but I'll often go a week or so with no carbohydrates at all aside from what's in milk.

I've been weight-stable for that entire period, after a two-month initial weight-loss period, in which I went from about 185 to 168. I'd been at 168 until about a year ago, when I stopped going to the gym and lifting weights regularly, at which point I dropped to about 160, primarily (if the mirror is any indicator) from losing muscle mass in my upper body.

I used to weigh myself almost everyday, so I'm quite familiar with the ups and downs of my body weight, although it's frankly gotten quite boring, as I'm totally weight stable, absent muscle gain or loss. So for the last 18 months I've just been going by my belt, which is, at the end of the day, the best indicator. As a confounder, I've been lifting weights again, and my weight (and results in the mirror) have been increasing. This should not affect the belt.

Methods

Rice. Made in California.

Diet is my usual diet paleo/primal diet. I avoid wheat and seed oils, eat a fair bit of beef and the occasional pork, fish, and chicken, in that order. I eat fruit and vegetables in small quantities on a regular basis, but not every day. I eat some sugar, in the form of a candy bar or a bowl of ice cream one or twice a week. I recently tracked my calorie consumption for a day to prove a point, and it was about 2,700 kilocalories (kc). Counting calories was a horrible experience, and I won't be doing it again.

Cuisinart Rice Cooker. Don't buy this model.
It leaks and seems like it's going to explode.

I exercise consistently, running 3.3 miles at an aerobic pace 5 days a week, and trail run 8.25 miles one day a week. I do some minor weight lifting and body-weight exercises six days a week, as little as needed to see an effect.

Rice Bin. Optional

Rice was mostly the Nishiki sushi rice you see in the picture. I got some other rice at the beginning, but prefer this since Grace yells at me if I'm not sufficiently Japanese in these things. I don't know that it makes a difference, as starch is starch, basically. Most days I made one meal with rice, typically 3/4s of a cup dry, which, after adding 1 cup of water, yields about 3 cups of rice cooked. That's 241 kc/cup, or 723 kc total. That's 27.6% of my daily calorie intake, mostly from carbs, as there's about 9% protein in rice and a little bit of fat. So, technically, still low-carb, but far above my average daily intake for the last many years.

Meal with Rice, Beef, and Vegetables.

So I mostly ate the rice as my morning meal, after I'd done my run. Most days I did not have a second helping, but on a few I did, same amount, but with my evening meal. In keeping with the Japanese theme of things, I tried to make some Japanese-style meals, as seen at the right. Meat, mostly beef, some vegetables such as the red peppers and pickles you see to the right, tamari (gluten-free soy sauce), and daikon radish (a Japanese radish) were typical. Sometimes I added a fried egg, cooked in butter.

In keeping with my philosophy that if you eat a healthy diet you should not need to obsess about it, I didn't, and didn't track closely. I started in late October, about at month after my daughter had arrived at school, and continued until the middle of December, at which point I stopped the experiment. See results.

Measurements were performed when I got dressed. As it happens, one of the very best measurements of the health of your diet is your waist, and your waist-to-height ratio.

J. Crew Black Leather Belt

The belt I used for this purpose is actually a terrific indicator of my overall health. I bought it at J. Crew back in the 1990s in my 20s, in my hipster phase (I've been told), and had to stop wearing it as my waist expanded in my late 20s. As I'm stubborn, and cheap, I put the belt and the pants I owned at that point in a box and kept them, with the goal that I would one day figure out why I was gaining weight and fix the problem. Having solved it, that belt is now again a standard part of my wardrobe.

If you look closely at the belt you'll see that the only worn hole is the second one. So buckling my belt to the second hole will be my measure, and it's clearly a long-term one.

Results

So from late October to early December I had a helping of rice per day, infrequently two. Something had to go in this experiment, as and protein consumption tends to remain somewhat constant, my increase in rice calories caused a decrease in consumption of calories from dairy. Yogurt and milk (both full-fat) consumption went down dramatically.

I found a number of things surprising about this experiment.

I experienced "idiopathic postprandial syndrome" (IPS, aka hypoglycemia or "hangry") for a couple of days at the beginning. This was a regular part of my life prior to fixing my diet, and one of the main reasons I stay low-carb. Main symptom is the shakes and anxiety a few hours after a carb-containing meal. Oddly, however, this went away after the first few days, never to return.

Satiety increased. IPS is typically accompanied by carb cravings. Oddly, after the initial IPS and carb craving passed, I found the rice diet to be insanely satiating. Much more so than fat. I was pretty much done for the day after that rice meal in the morning. Most days I would have a second, smaller meal in the evening, or a large snack.

I really came to enjoy the rice! You'd think it would be pretty bland, but I came to quite enjoy the smell and taste, and to look forward to it.

Athletic performance remained the same. I didn't change my routine there, continuing to do my runs fasted in the morning, and noticed no difference, no change in carb cravings, and no problem with stamina when I was on my runs except for the first couple. I noticed no change in the increases I was seeing in my running pace and in my weight lifting routine, and the weight gain I was seeing continued as I would expect it to. I put on three pounds after starting to lift, and prior to starting this experiment, and I'm now up to 169. Mr. Mirror tells me it's going into my upper body (see below).

I do not test ketones, so I have no idea what those were doing. The fact that my fasted runs were unaffected suggests my metabolic flexibility was pretty good, as runs were still fueled by fat, as they took place typically about 22 hours after my rice meal.

Heart palpitations got pretty severe. I've experienced these for a long time, typically after eating carbs, especially sugar. It's usually in the form of skipped beats, and as at one point I went in for a stress test and they found nothing, I've not worried about it. The confounder here is that I have been pursuing a Maffetone Method fitness program for some months, and my max and resting heart rate have come down dramatically, and my running pace at a fixed heart rate has gone up quite a bit. The palpitations started before the rice experiment started, and ended (mostly) before it finished. But it was kind of annoying for a while there, although it never cause any interruption in my routine. So the palpitations may have been my heart restructuring as a result of the training.

So why did I quit? Well, after the middle of December I started putting on weight in my middle, and went from the second hole in my belt to the first. My recently-acquired jeans no longer fit.

Abort! Abort!

That happened suddenly in about a week.

I have no desire to put non-muscle weight on, and the fact that it hit the belt tells me that's what it was. So I've now been off rice for about a week an a half, and the belt now buckles on the second hole again, but still a bit snugger than before. As I mentioned, I've been weight-stable for a very long time. Two things will reliably cause me to add fat: salted pistachios and egg nog. (For me, two of the highest-reward foods going.) So when I suddenly start adding fat, and I'm not eating either one of those two foods, something is up.

Conclusions

Around the same time I decided to abort I talked to my daughter and she relayed that she was cutting back on the rice for the same reason. [P.S. I clarified this point, she's been gaining weight but it's muscle as she's been working out, so it's still working for her.]

Based on my reading about the Japanese diet, I figured this might actually work. But clearly I'm doing something different than they are.

My primary thought going into this was that the omega-6 fats were the primary cause of obesity, and that as I am very diligent in not eating them, that I would not experience any weight gain. That didn't work. There's some evidence that the omega-3 fats prevent obesity, and the fish-heavy Japanese diet would provide a lot of those, whereas mine does not. Stephan's potato experiment may have been too short to notice this, as it took about six weeks for the fat accretion to commence in my case.  I've always thought that carbs were a co-factor to omega-6, and I still think that's the case, but they may also be a stronger stand-alone factor than I had thought. Although we still have the Japanese paradox to account for...

In the short term, I'm going to let my waist get back to what I'd like it to be, and then I'm going to try it again. There may have been some other factor that I didn't notice that caused the sudden fat accretion, and I'm kind of curious to see if that's the case.

Since this is an n=1, the only way to account for such things is to remove the experimental substance, let conditions return to baseline, and then re-commence the experiment.

Plus I still have a couple pounds of rice in the pantry.

P.S. 1/8/2018: 

The rice experiment is back on. I I think that the slight increase in waist size is more a function of my increased training load than the rice consumption.

I ditched the rice for a bit, and saw no change, but have noticed that I'm getting noticable abdominal muscles, and have gotten some cramps in the abs. My glutes and hip flexors have also increased in size.

So I think this is a fine lesson in not doing two things at the same time when you're trying to conduct an experiment.

The belt is on the second notch still, it's just a bit snugger than before. Body weight was 175 (!) when I last measured it a few days ago. Again, from the mirror and my pants, the weight seems to be muscle.

So I'm back on the rice...

We shall see.

The Seven Phases of Heart-Rate Training

So you've decided to start heart-rate training (HRT). Congratulations! Or you've been training and you've hit a rough patch, and need a little encouragement. Since I discovered it through the work of Dr. Phil Maffetone several years ago I have enjoyed great success with it, and I've seen others also enjoy the benefits.

But, HRT can be a bit challenging. The key to HRT is that most of your workouts are, well, easy. But the mental part of it can be tough, especially if you're a hard-charging Type A personality.  Extremely challenging!

So I thought I'd lay out the seven phases of HR training to help those who might think they're the only ones feeling that way, and help them get through the tough parts. (This is written from a beginner's perspective, a world-record athlete like Zach Bitter may jump directly to Horror, as he already has a base.)

1. Anticipation

You've read about the amazing success that some athlete (Mark Allen, etc.) has achieved on the Maffetone Method, and you're raring to go. You've probably done your first run or two, and you're thinking to yourself, this is easy! It's great! I can totally do this, I'll be setting a Personal Record (PR) in no time! Enjoy it while it lasts, because what comes quickly after is:

2. Hatred

"You've got to be kidding me!", you say as your HR monitor (HRM) goes off for the umpteenth time on that run or ride, telling you you're going too fast, and you need to slow down. You already thought you were going slow! And now you have to slow down even more? This is insane! My most clear memory of hating the Method and Dr. Maffetone personally was when I was going up a 21-degree grade, and I literally could not walk slowly enough to keep my HR under the target I was using. "The heck with Dr. Phil, I need to get home!" Take this as consolation: if you're doing it right, you will hate it at the beginning. So it's a good sign.

3. Resignation

This is, without a doubt, the toughest part. If you're going to bail from HR training, you're going to do it here. You'll have thoughts that this was a mistake, and you'll go re-read the material on the Method to make sure that you're doing it correctly. You are. It's not that hard, you really can't mess it up. You just need to resign yourself that it, well, sucks, at the beginning.

4. Acceptance

If you can accept that this is how it should be, and accept the notion that what you've discovered in 2 and 3 is that your engine is broken, and this is how you fix it, you'll make it through. You'll also begin to enjoy the easy pace, and begin to anticipate your HR readings. You'll start walking before the HRM goes off when you reach a hill. You'll love the fact that you can train every day, and that you won't suffer any problems from training. You'll miss your friends you used to train with, but you'll be seeing some gains, and you'll be in it for the long haul.

5. Horror

Yes, Horror. After you've come to accept and even enjoy the slow and easy pace, the moment will come when you're walking up a hill and your HRM alert will go off. You'll look down, as you're surprised that you've gone over your HR target, as you'd become pretty adept at anticipating it. But you're not over the target, you're below the bottom of the range. You have to speed up. Soon you'll notice that you have to speed up going down hills, as you've gone through the bottom of the range. You'll find you have to start running going up hills! Then you'll find that you're pushing the pace to stay in the range.  Yes, this is what you hoped for, but you'll realize that you've strapped a coach to your wrist, and he's starting to crack the whip. The easy times are beginning to end, your legs are beginning to get sore at the end of runs, and you're working! Egads!

6. Exhilaration

My moment of exhilaration came when I ran a race during my first year of HR training. I'd done some good times, PRs, and was quite happy. But I came down sick during the last race, and had to walk back to the finish line. It was pretty disappointing. I'd already paid for this race, and wasn't sure if I was over the bug. But I figured I'd run it anyway, so I ran at an easy pace, and just enjoyed the trails. But when I got to the finish line, I had PR'ed! Without even trying! This was fantastic!

7. Success

I had many successes, as during that first year I ran 9 races, was sick for two and didn't finish, but PR'ed in the other 7, breaking all my records. I was pretty stoked. This was the last race of the season for me, a half-marathon on a hilly course in my home town. The last two miles were uphill! At the beginning I ran with a friend who was a good bit faster than me, and as I was pacing myself, he slowed down so we could chat. When we got to the hills and I slowed down he dropped me and headed out of sight. Oh well. The halfway mark was at the bottom of a long downhill stretch, and I caught back up to my friend. We again ran together for a little bit, and this time I dropped him. Over the second half of the course, I gained 10 minutes, and finished with a PR, eclipsing my PR from a 1/2 four months earlier on a flat course. Not only had I beaten my fast friend by 10 minutes, but it was the easiest race I'd ever run. I was so well fat-adapted at this point that I had my end-of-race coffee, and then forgot to eat for four hours.

Needless to say, after that first year I've stuck with heart-rate training. My consistency has wavered, affecting my pace, but I know that I have a solid recipe for success for whenever I need it. It turned me from a reluctant runner for health reasons into a runner who runs because he loves to. It's been a real gift!

The most valuable lesson has been that when I waver from using HR as a guide, that's when I get myself into trouble. But that's another post.

Enjoy, and stick it out. It will be worth it!

P.S. Since the question was asked, I use a Garmin Forerunner 225, original model. It's fine as a running watch, the main feature I wanted was the wrist-based HRM. I'll never go back to the chest strap!

Science catches up, eventually

Literally decades after Noakes observed this must be the case, this study comes out:

"Maximal Fat Oxidation is Related to Performance in an Ironman Triathlon."

"These results suggests that maximal fat oxidation rate exert an independent influence on ultra-endurance performance (>9 h). Furthermore, we demonstrate that 50% of the variation in Ironman triathlon race time can be explained by peak oxygen uptake and maximal fat oxidation."

Phil Maffetone had been training Mark Allen to promote fat-burning for some time in order to produce the result Noakes noted in his book 14 years ago.

This is the problem with using published science as a guide: it's often so slow and so far behind practice that it's utterly useless.

It's also a nice reminder of what a genius Maffetone is, as the literature is still catching up to him.

"The Prevalence of Overfat Adults and Children in the US"

The latest from Dr. Phil Maffetone:

"In the US, 91% of adults and 69% of children are estimated to be overfat.

"Despite previous indications that the prevalence of individuals categorized as being overweight and obese is leveling, their prevalence is currently at their highest rates in US history."

Putting the Icing on the Cake: Zach Bitter and Phil Maffetone

So what happens when a top endurance runner (two American records and a World) who's Paleo and runs in Minimalist shoes, takes up the Maffetone Method?

He gets faster, quickly.  Although starting at a 6:15 MAF pace doesn't hurt!

A great podcast at Endurance Planet.

@tawneeprazak Zach Bitter (@zbitter) took up MAF. You should get him on the podcast w/ @DrPhilMaffetone! https://t.co/2RsvahTnIS

— Tucker Goodrich (@TuckerGoodrich) July 21, 2016

From the looks of it, he's getting the hang of trail running, too.

Taking Electrolytes When Running In Death Valley

Kenneth Posner:

"Salt/electrolytes

"I didn’t take any supplemental salt or electrolytes during the run. Further, the foods I consumed were generally low in sodium. None of my teammates took salt or electrolyte supplements.

"While the sports-drink industry markets the importance of electrolytes, Tim Noakes has argued that the body contains enough salt and electrolytes to last for weeks. Further, he points out that in a hot environment, the salt content of sweat and urine drops by 90-plus percent. People see white, crusty sweat on their clothes after running because their bodies are ridding themselves of the excessive salt contained in the typical western diet (Noakes 2012). Ironically, people see the salt crusts and, worrying that they are running low on electrolytes, eat more salt—when they actually may have more than they need.

Talk about putting your money where you mouth is!

If you can run 292 miles through Death Valley without supplementary salt, I think we can put that myth to bed.

Full version (from the link above) here (PDF).

What Does Sugary Water Do To Your Body? Thoughts On Racing With A Water Balloon.

I listened to this podcast interview with David “Wolverine” Smith the other day:

David "Wolverine" Smith – Survivor

It’s a remarkable, if completely infuriating, story about medical malpractice and human resilience.  In short, through a series of gross medical mishaps after a minor procedure, he wound up having his large and small intestines removed, and then replaced with a transplanted large and small intestine.

I discovered Wolverine’s site about 18 months ago, posted a comment, and engaged in a email dialog with him which was most interesting.

Post moved to Substack.

Does Sugar Kill Your Mitochondria?

Rick Johnson: Longterm sugar use can kill cellular “batteries” and promote fat and ADHD:

"...So the sugar, once you start absorbing the sugar, it will over time, reduce your mitochondria so, mitochondria, our body is made up of cells, and we have millions and millions of cells that constitute our body. And each cell has a nucleus, which is kind of brain of the cell, but each cell also contains little units called mitochondria. These mitochondria are what produce energy.

"SHELLEY: Are they like batteries? Our EverReady battery inside the cell?

"RICHARD JOHNSON: They are like our batteries. They’re basically the energy factories of the cell, and they produce the energy that runs our cells. When you produce a lot of energy, that it is important in being able run, and to bicycle, and to climb mountains, and to swim and stay up. The energy we produce is very important, and that energy is called ATP. When a person eats more food, generally they will produce more energy. But with fructose, when you eat more, it actually slows the production of the energy, so it has an opposite effect. So you produce less energy, and you accumulate more fat, and when you produce less energy, you tend to be more tired. Now what happens over time — the more sugar you eat, it actually seems to cause damage to the mitochondria. Over time, you may actually lose mitochondria. At that point, you are almost locked into a lower energy state. Unless you can stimulate the growth of more mitochondria to allow you to get back to your original energy level.

"SHELLEY: You mean that once a child or a grownup’s body is in trouble, metabolically, then eating more sugar will help them feel more energetic for a few minutes or perhaps an hour or so. But in the long run, eating that sugar might be killing more of the batteries inside of their cells?

"RICHARD JOHNSON: Yes. Basically over time, you start to lose these mitochondria. Now in children who become obese, most of them still are have quite a few mitochondria, so they can recover quicker. You can get them back to normal weight easier than you can a 55-year-old or 60 year old, who may have lost quite a few mitochondria. It’s going to be harder to get that person back to a low stable weight, unless you find ways to stimulate their mitochondria to increase their numbers. The very best way is exercise."

Mitochondria are more like turbine engines than batteries (which only store energy), but that's quibbling.

A more substantive difference is that I don't think it's fructose which causes mitochondrial death, but glucose. From what I've read, unless your're a spermatazoa, you're not using much in the way of fructose as a fuel source.

While this study states that a "High-fructose diet, an animal model of insulin resistance, causes mitochondrial dysfunction by altering the activity of respiratory chain complex I." this one doesn't find direct effects from fructose, and was looking for them. I suspect that since complex I uses glucose as a fuel source, and fructose is metabolized into fat, having complex I down-regulated is a logical consequence.

But, if you eat lots of fructose in the Modern American Diet, you're also eating lots of glucose since sugar is 50% glucose and 50% fructose; and that we eat too much sugar is the point of Dr. Johnson's book.

I've come to the conclusion that Dr. Johnson states here from my own reading, and have been pursuing a strategy to promote mitochondrial growth for a while now. Seems to work well, as my race time are improving, the races are getting easier, and I feel better at the end. I also find my cold tolerance has improved markedly over the summer, which is a first. I've been skiing and motorcycling and I feel much, much warmer in sub-freezing temperatures than I remember from last year.

I've not read Dr. Johnson's book, but I have read one with a detailed program on how to promote mitochondrial growth, if you're interested. It's Dr. Maffetone's Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing. I suspect diligent walking for longer periods will also work (if you don't like running), which is why Seth Roberts has seen the results he has.

Fat-Adapted Horses

In The Perfect Health Diet, the Jaminets point out that while a ruminant like a cow may each lots of carbohydrate in the form of indigestible fiber, what actually makes it into their blood stream is nearly pure fat, along with about 10% protein, thanks to the fermentation of fiber into short-chain fatty acids. (No link, sorry, and I can't find my copy to quote it directly.)

This ends, of course, when they're put on the feed lot, and they develop a nice layer of fat and fatty deposits in their muscles, if a grain-based diet doesn't kill them first.

Post moved to Substack.

Thoughts on the Ancestral Health Symposium 2012

Last year I missed the opportunity to attend the first AHS, in Los Angeles. I have a certain visceral opposition to LA, for no good reason (I once spent a night there when I missed a connecting flight, and that's my entire exposure to the place). I spent the rest of the year regretting that, especially after hearing what a great event it was.

AHS 2012

So this year I rectified my error, made easier by the fact that they held it at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, 140 miles from my house.

I was a little apprehensive heading up there as I was unsure how valuable this event would turn out to be, as I do spend a fair bit of time reading about all this stuff. What would I learn? Where would I eat dinner? All sorts of concerns...

All of which were totally unfounded. What a terrific event, what a terrific bunch of people. The event reminded me very much of the early meetings of the World Wide Web Artists' Consortium in 1994 and '95 in New York. The WWWAC helped to creat the Internet that we all take for granted today, as it was the focus of early web development in NYC. Just like then, at AHS you got the feeling that you were in on a Great Truth, and that all that remained was to let the world in on it, and thereby change everything. I don't doubt for a minute that AHS will help this to happen, just as the WWWAC did. It's a great feeling to be at the early stage of a revolution like this.

The symposium was organized into sessions, held in what seemed to be rapid-fire order. The first day only contained one track, but the second and third had dual tracks, which got annoying when you wanted to attend two simultaneously, or even worse, when you started chatting with someone and then realized you'd missed the first 10 minutes of your next session.

Dan Lieberman of Harvard was the keynote speaker, opening the symposium with a terrifically funny (as usual: he's wasted on Harvard, he should do stand-up comedy) overview of human evolution and evolutionary adaptation, setting the stage for all the sessions to follow. I understand the sessions are all to be posted on the 'net, I highly recommend watching them: access will be free. Some of them were breathtaking, some left me with tears in my eyes, like Joel Salatin's ringing cry to take back our freedom to feed ourselves, and Terry Wahls' account of her recovery from multiple sclerosis. A few annoyed me, like Dr. James O'Keefe's misconceived but well-meaning account of the cardiovascular dangers of marathon running, but all that I attended were very informative and led by intelligent and well-spoken presenters.

When Robb Wolf describes John Welbourn as large, he's wrong. The dude's enormous, and he gave a fascinating discussion of how some athletes he's working with have become world record holders while eating a low-carb paleo diet. Carbohydrates appear to be seriously over-rated...

Joel Salatin closed the first day. What a speaker! It felt like a revival meeting, and he was the preacher of real food and the good life. He also explained how much more productive his holistic approach to farming is, and touched on how impossible it is to do with government meddling. He got a resounding standing ovation.

Prof. Lieberman led a barefoot run along the Charles River the morning of the second day, which offered a rare opportunity to have a guided tour through Cambridge by a leading scientist. Lieberman's a fast runner! The easy, conversational portion of the run was at a quick pace, and at the end he announced that we were going to to "strides", "at the end, when they have the most benefit!" I kept up for a bit, but my poor aerobic fitness allowed the professor to leave me in the dust. Happily Ben Greenfield, a Maffetone disciple and triathlete, completely understood, and promised he'd never tell Phil that I exceeded my MAF HR. (I had to stop at the beginning of the run and turn off the audible alert on the Garmin.) Too funny.

The only negative thing about barefoot running is that the range of adaptation is narrow: the fact that I can run 6 miles around my roads didn't mean that I could run 6 miles on the rougher roads and paved trails of Cambridge, and my feet were tingling for the next two days.

Professor Lieberman was kind enough to offer me a tour of the Mecca of barefoot-running science: his lab at Harvard. I got to see the famous treadmill, some of his new gadgets for measuring runners, and an interesting explanation of how difficult it is to measure many of the things that may lead to running injury. Mathematical correction of jiggling is a major undertaking, it turns out. We also went looking for Eskimo teeth, but only found a few cavemen.

A few scientists and doctors recounted their research testing ketogenic diets on cancer progression (very promising) and epilepsy (the best treatment approach by far). Nevertheless, institutions are very reluctant to fund or even allow these studies; insurance companies are reluctant to pay for them, despite being more effective and less expensive; and one doctor described the need to refer to these diets as "therapies" to get them through the morass of bureaucracy...

Outside the sessions...

P.S.

Oh, and God, I got to meet Stephan Guyenet and thank him for probably saving my life. I wouldn't be typing this, or enjoying a symptom-free existance right now, if it wasn't for his incredibly level-headed and well-reasoned blog, and for all the hard work he's done. Thanks again, Stephan. I had the additional pleasure of standing around with drinks in our hands talking with him and Prof. Lieberman about teeth. Moments like that made this whole thing worthwhile. And I'm really looking forward to what he produces in his professional career.

End P.S.

I met too many other people to recount here, but have a few thoughts in general. It was an incredibly healthy-looking crowd. But the game I played was to ask the people I met how they'd gotten into the paleo/ancestral health scene. Most recounted some story of health issues that the medical establishment had been unable to resolve, which abated once a healthy diet (meaning one in opposition to the government regulations) had been adopted. Terry Wahls is the most extreme, but many of the rest of us had similar experiences. Considering how many of these people have intractable, incurable conditions of one sort or another, they're looking terrific and acting like they're the happiest people on the planet. Oh, and a couple of years after getting out of her wheelchair poor Dr. Wahls showed up to AHS with her arm in a sling. She broke it falling off her bicycle.

I've also never seen so many people with minimalist, or no, shoes on. Lunas were a popular option (Prof. Lieberman and John Durant wore them for part of our run, as did I, Ben ran the whole thing in his bare feet.), Vibrams, VivoBarefoot, New Balance Minimi (suitable, since their HQ is in Boston), Skora, Merrel and again, too many others to recount, including some I didn't recognize. It's hard to believe that two years ago it was hard to find a minimalist option. Now I couldn't keep track of them all. Happily, there were many doctors in attendence. While one cardiologist did explain the many difficulties in changing the "standard of care" in our bureaucratic, sclerotic medical system, one hopes that a grass root effort like this one can upend the medical establishment's understanding of the relationship between diet and chronic illness, and offer help to the many people who are ill-served by the current regime.

Tower of low-carb power

Of course the closing ceremony was the Barefoot Banquet, held at the Charles Hotel just down the street from the law school. As with all the rest of the sessions, all the food was paleo, so folks like Dr. Wahls and me could eat without concern, and enjoy the famed NorCal Margarita. Some of us seemed to enjoy them a bit too much. ;) The funniest moment of the evening was when they brought out the grass-fed, gluten-free sliders. So many buns were left over that some enterprising folk built a fort out of them. What a terrific time.

And then, to top it off, I gave John Durant a ride back toward NYC to save him from a long bus ride, and got to hear all about the book he's working on. It sounds terrific, I'm quite excited to read the whole thing.

I think this alliance of scientists, doctors, patients, and athletes have a real chance to change the world. What exciting times.

And a side note: the conference was organized by volunteers. I've been to expensive, professional conferences that weren't this well organized, and certainly not this cheerful or thoughtful. Bravo to all involved.

P.S. Here's a roundup of recaps of AHS12 if you're interested.

"On the Run"

A short film about Arthur Lydiard, who created the training technique that Phil Maffetone refined.

"This film showcases legendary running coach Arthur Lydiard's training methods through the example of his acolytes, including reigning Olympic 1,500m champ John Walker. 'Arthur's boys' (Snell, Halberg, Magee) scored attention by winning unheralded medals (two golds and a bronze) at the 1960 Rome Olympics. Lydiard later led the 'flying Finns' to similar success. His method revolves around building stamina to complement speed, and was influential in popularising jogging globally. Beautifully filmed, a doco highlight is Jack Foster's exhilarating scree slope descent."

Thanks to Adam.

"An Interview with Endurance Expert Dr. Philip Maffetone"

Very interesting interview covering a lot of topics that should be of interest to ultra runners. Read the whole thing:

"Will: One of your trademarks is the 180 Formula, which is designed to develop the aerobic capacity of endurance athletes. How did you come to develop the 180 Formula?

"Dr. Phil: I started using heart rate monitors in the late 1970s, and all I had as a guide were the old 220 formulas. But training at these heart rates seemed to induce excessive stress after a very short period of time. I tried searching for the scientific rationale for these formulas and realized there were none. So I began evaluating runners on a treadmill using slower paces, attempting to find a less-stressful and more effective training pace. I eventually performed these tests with a gas analyzer (the athlete would breath through a tube so oxygen and carbon dioxide could be measured), which gave me important information on fat- and sugar burning at various heart rates (along with other factors such as VO2 max).

"I began using training heart rates based on the highest fat-burning levels before the shift to more sugar burning took place. These training intensities were much lower than the 220 formulas, much less stressful, and I saw much more rapid improvements. For example, athletes could soon run faster at the same heart rate, and even burn more fat for energy (and not just while running, but at all times). I soon realized a new formula would be very useful as most runners were not able to have an expensive treadmill evaluation, and the 220 formulas were unacceptable. By experimenting with the math (I basically worked the numbers backwards), I was able to get a formula that correlated extremely well with what the treadmill tests were providing. This became the 180 Formula.

"A heart monitor is a simple biofeedback tool (the hardware), and the 180 Formula (the software) is what makes it useful. Biofeedback can help any athlete because it’s a means of more objectively evaluating progress (or lack of it), impending injury and ill health, and other factors. (I’ve used biofeedback in many other ways throughout my career, including developing various biofeedback techniques such as those for muscles and the brain.)...

"...Will: One of the biggest challenges in a 50 or 100 mile race vs. the marathon is the need to consume calories throughout the entire event to sustain energy. This is often difficult because the stomach doesn't always cooperate. What advice can you give to athletes regarding nutritional needs in races lasting up to 24 hours?

"Dr. Phil: my advice is generally the same for any endurance athlete needing to consume calories during a race: find out what works for you. This involves experimenting during training (not racing). I can make some basic suggestions. The first is water – you’ll usually finish the race dehydrated, so drinking small amounts of water throughout the race, and often, is important.

"Carbohydrate liquids can provide both nutrient (carbs) and water. These carbs actually help maintain our fat-burning process. I prefer monosaccharide carb liquids because they don’t require digestion (which uses energy), so there’s no stomach bloating or gas from undigested carbs, and you can absorb the sugar much easier. These liquids include fruit juice (I don’t recommend citrus) diluted with water, and honey diluted with water. Vegetable juices work well too, but I’ve known only a few athletes who used them. (I also like adding sodium chloride to this type of drink.) Solid carbohydrate foods are important too, but use those that are easy to digest. The best are ripe fruits. While they are in a monosaccharide form and don’t need digestion to get the sugar available for energy, they do need to be well chewed.

"I don’t recommend grains (flour products like breads), potatoes and most sports drinks because they contain carbohydrates bound together that must be digested before they can be absorbed. For example, white sugar (sucrose), maltose sugar products (including maple sugar products) and other commonly used carb sources contain two sugars bound together that require digestion. Grains and potatoes are made up of three sugars bound together (called starch) that require even more digestion. Carbohydrate digestion begins in the mouth and most athletes don’t chew sufficiently for this phase of digestion (especially liquids). During a race (and even training) digestion is normally very inefficient, so give your gut something easy to deal with. Creating digestive stress commonly causes intestinal upset – gas, bloating, and even diarrhea. And, you may not get the full load of nutrients from your foods.

"But there’s another issue just as important. The whole idea behind building the aerobic system is to burn more body fat for energy. You’ll also burn more fat during a race, providing a significant amount of your energy needs. This makes the supplemental nutrition part – eating during a race – a lot easier because you won’t need as much. Supplemental carbohydrates are important during and immediately after racing, and very long training sessions, but not before you train and race...."

Half-Marathon PR, Or, How Not To Run A Race

The first half-marathon I ever ran was the Brooklyn Half-Marathon in 2010. (See all my results here.) I'd just put up a decent showing in a 20k a few months prior (also at that link) and was all set to smoke the half.

Well, nearly everything that could go wrong in a race went wrong.

I lost my colleague I was running the race with, and when the race started I was at the absolute tail end of the pack. So I spent most of the early part of the race running hard, as I worked through the 7,000-strong crowd, instead of starting with the 8 mile-per-minute pace group.

I'd also just bought a pair of the then-brand-new Vibram FiveFinger Bikilas, and decided to use the race as the break-in run for these shoes. Rule no. 1 for racing: never wear new shoes; I knew this. Since the interior of the Bikila was supposed to be barefoot-friendly, I ran the race without socks. This worked fine until about mile 6, when the strap anchor point started abrading my foot, and I was actually bleeding. Luckily, I had a pair of injinji crew socks in my pocket, and I spent a good four or five minutes putting those on. Putting new toe shoes on over socks is never easy on a good day, try it when you're watching the race run past...

And finally I bonked at about mile 12 (aka 20k...). 12+ miles was the farthest I'd ever run at that point, and my body reminded me of it. Spots, dizzyness, a tingling scalp and general miserableness joined me on the run. I'd just gone paleo before that race, and was trying not to resort to carbs during the race. At this point I tried some Gatorade, but it did no good. I walked most of the rest of the course.

I had enough juice left to run down the boardwalk to the finish, and then started walking, and limping. The middle of my left foot hurt, in what I subsequently learned was the metatarsal-cuboid joint, a joint I wasn't aware I possessed until that point.

I found my colleague, and we walked the couple of miles to his apartment, where I'd left my car.

Nevertheless, of the five road and trail half-marathons I've run, that 8:53 pace was my personal record, much like my first 5k race was my PR until this Memorial Day.

Happily I've gotten smarter about running races. I learned to always wear socks, to avoid the chafing that can happen during a race. I learned to go out easy, and to keep the pace for the first couple of miles in line with the pace you expect to finish in, leaving some juice for a strong finish, if possible. I've gotten used to running on only coffee and cream prior to the race. Haven't bonked in a while.

So you'd think I would have been all set to put in a stellar effort on this half, right? Being a more experienced runner and just having set a 5k PR?

Sadly, no.

I bought a pair of Vibram FiveFinger SeeYas a few days prior to the race. Unlike my experience with the Bikilas, I took the SeeYas out for a six-mile and then a three-mile run, sockless. That went so well that I decided to run the half in them, also sockless. I ran the race with a friend, who even pointed out that I was foolish not to put the socks I had brought along on prior to starting the race. I persisted.

Inspired by my recent 5k success, and my nutty friend's gung-ho attitude, I went out hard...

And sure enough, after a few miles the right shoe started to bother my foot. I adjusted the strap, and that helped for a bit, but didn't eliminate the problem. Right around the 6-mile mark, I stopped and put a sock on that foot. Around the 8-mile mark, I stopped and put the other sock on, as I could feel a blister forming under my left heel. Note to self: when you can feel it, it's too late. You've already done the damage, you're now in damage-control mode.

The first sock stop left me with an 8:04 average pace to that point. The next stop put me up to an 8:12 average pace. I was happy to make the second stop, because I was running out of juice. Not bonking, but tired legs. I was happy to stop, and when I started running again, the legs were hurting. I was not happy about the fact that I had five more miles to run.

Fairfield vs. Pain to Paine

As you can see from this chart, comparing this race to the Paine to Pain Half last fall (the only other race I have data for) my pace fell off pretty dramatically after the second sock stop at mile 8.

At mile 10 I hit the big hill climb. I walked up part of the hill prior to the big hill, and started walking at the bottom of the big hill. Happily, I saw a fellow run past barefoot. "Hey Adam!" I called out. Barefoot Adam Gentile slowed down, and I started running, and we chatted for a bit. Thanks to Adam I didn't walk the whole big hill, but trotted along, and after he left I checked the average pace again: 8:36. Well, at this point, I realized, all I had to do was keep running at a reasonable pace and I was going to PR. I took a couple of short walk breaks, but managed to run almost all of the rest of the race, and finished in 1:54:10, for a pace of 8:43, compared to 1:56:33, at 8:53 from Brooklyn, and 1:59:25 at 9:06 from last year's Paine to Pain.

And then I started limping. I had developed a huge blister on the heel of my left foot. No, I don't think this was the new shoes, as I got a similar blister on my right foot a few years ago from running up a steep hill in my KSOs, after I'd been wearing them for at least 8 months. That prior blister was a form and calf-strength issue, and I'm sure this one is the same.

So yeah, I finished. But it wasn't exactly a heroic effort: I definitely feel that my poor planning and head-strong ways cheated me out of a better performance. In fact, one would be justified to wonder if I was subconciously trying to sabotage the race, or repeat the Brooklyn experience point-for-point. I can't help but think that if I'd started out at an 8:30 pace, I could have carried that through the whole race. My legs indicate that I gave it my all: my calves, hamstrings, and quads are all really sore. What seems to happen with Maffetone-style training is that as your fitness improves, muscles that were adequately trained find themselves to be inadequate to the new requirements. That's a good thing, just painful in the short term.

From a training perspective, this race was a big improvement over the Paine to Pain Half I ran last fall. While the chart above makes it tough to compare the numbers, pace yesterday was 23 seconds/mile faster (11 seconds/mile faster than my Brooklyn PR), average HR was 178 yesterday vs. 177 in the fall, the temperature was probably 25F higher, and the course was much hillier. So, on average, it was a big improvement. Thank you Dr. Maffetone.

Also, my problem right foot and leg felt pretty good during and after the race, and I had an exciting new ache during the race. Which is usually a sign of improvement.

But I've still got that first 20k looming over me. That was a similar course to this one, also in Fairfield, but my pace in that race was 8:04, and that with severe IT band pain for most of the race in the problem right leg. Of course it was in the 20Fs that day, and as last weekend's Western States demonstrated, a cold day counts for a lot.

There's always next year.

P.S. Due to a request from a scientist friend, I've posted a picture below of the blister on my heel. If you're squeamish, as I am, don't scroll down too far...

P.P.S. Here's Barefoot Gentile's account of the race. 80F at the start and 87F at the finish? I had no idea... BTW, while I had plenty of self-inflicted stupidity to complain about, it's a great race, and I really enjoyed running it. I highly recommend it, and I'm looking forward to next year's race.

I ran three miles yesterday on that blister, wearing my Lunas. I've not done anything to treat it, and it's coming along nicely.

Here's the data from the chart:

	Paine to Pain			Fairfield
Mile	Pace	HR		Pace	HR
1	8:08	170		7:17	174
2	9:23	181		7:24	181
3	8:54	182		7:38	184
4	9:49	178		7:45	185
5	8:35	179		8:45	184
6	9:02	178		9:18	179
7	9:44	178		8:20	184
8	8:54	179		7:49	180
9	9:49	177		8:31	178
10	8:51	176		10:24	173
11	9:21	174		9:10	178
12	9:41	173		9:13	177
13	8:51	179		10:10	170
0.2	?	?		8:43	179



Isn't that lovely?  Doesn't hurt much...

5K PR

Wow, that was easy.

The Weston Memorial Day 5K is my home-town race, and the first running race I ever did. It was also the fastest race I'd ever run, after all, I was running from a man with a knife.

Since then, I've had faster runs, but have never put up a faster pace in a race than that one. When I collected all my races on Athlinks recently, I was shocked to see how little improvement I've had running. Part of that was from not repeating races, but another part was, I think, that I just wasn't training correctly.

Over the last year, I've taken up the Maffetone style of training. I've seen a great improvement, I think.

So here are my prior races:

Weston 5K
Time	Pace	Year
23:14	7:28	2008
23:52	7:40	2009
23:17	7:29	2010

I didn't run the race in 2011. And here's today's race:

Weston 5K, 2012
Time	Pace
22:13	7:10

And for reference, here's the table from my Maffetone Method Update post, showing my improvement over the past many months:

	Paine to Pain			Tempo
Mile	Pace	HR		Pace	HR
1	8:08.2	170		8:57.9	183
2	9:23.2	181		9:51.3	166
3	8:53.9	182		7:52.6	168
4	9:49.4	178		9:21.2	163
5	8:35.6	179		8:05.9	166

Here are the splits and HRs from today's race (I'm using the times from my Garmin Forerunner 310XT, which, as always, are off the official times):

Weston 5K, 2012 Splits
Mile	Pace	HR
1	6:48	177
2	7:00	185
3	7:34	186
0.12	6:46	191
3.12	7:07	183

What blew my mind about this race was how easy it felt. I was pooped at the end, as you should be, but not nearly as bad as in some other races I've run, where I didn't go nearly as fast. And after a few minutes and a couple sips of water I was planning a long run for tomorrow morning with a friend. So yeah, I think it's safe to say that 1. The Maffetone Method is working for me, and 2. I could go a lot faster if I keep this up. Which I will.

The key thing is that my training for this race has been between erratic and nonexistent. The only consistent running I've done since I pulled my calf last fall was in the last week. While I wanted to PR, I didn't really expect to, because my training's been all over the place. I'm very happy.

I'd also like to note the amazing timing system this race uses. I got back from the race and checked my email, and discovered this:

Yes, that's right. They sent the results to my Gmail account 4 hours before the race finished! That is incredible. I guess I'm lucky I didn't check my email before the race, or I might not have even bothered to run it!

Oh, and I wore my Speeds, which are still my all-time favorite all-purpose running shoe. Pre-race nutrition was, as always, a cup of coffee with cream. Post-race nutrition was unnecessary. Calves feel slightly worked post-race, but over all my legs feel great.

P.S. Updated the post with the rest of my times for the Weston 5K.

Why Your Mitochondria Don't Electrocute You

And other interesting tidbits. Exercise geeks, enjoy.

This gets to the core of why Maffetone-style training is helpful. It trains your body to produce more power. Literally.

"It's 'a free lunch that you're paid to eat,' in the words of Everett Shock."

Thanks to Peter.

Maffetone Method Update

I'm surprised.  As I wrote back in November:

"...I've been following most of the recommendations on diet and barefoot-style running for long enough (and before reading the book) that I'm a big fan. The one part the book added for me was a detailed explanation of Dr. Phil's 180-formula for training intensity. I'm now using this as my guide, and have definitely noticed benefits so far. It's not magic, but it's definitely improved my training in the few months I've been using it. I hope to continue through the winter, and start seeing the benefits of this approach come spring...."

I haven't followed his protocol diligently, except that I diligently did runs using his 180 formula. I also did some anaerobic mountain biking, one of which resulted in a pulled calf muscle that sidelined me for a couple of months. If I was diligent, I wouldn't have interspersed anaerobic activity in what I was hoping would be a base-building period. I never did a Maximum Aerobic Fitness test, as Maffetone suggests, for two reasons.  One, I find the notion of testing and tracking my fitness annoying.  Two, he suggests regular MAF tests to reassure you that you're making progress, since other evidence may be slim at first, and you may need some reassurance that you're improving.  Since I buy into his approach whole-heartedly (so to speak), I didn't need the reassurance.

I ran from 1 to 2 and back.

Well, I'm running again, and have done a few runs in Vermont up and down a mountain. 

I decided this past weekend to do a long, slow run with the heart-rate monitor, to get back in the protocol.  (Not up and down the mountain, this time.)  I haven't used the HRM since the fall, and the strap appeared to be dead at the beginning of the run.  Then I realized that I didn't really have enough time to do a long run.  (No, this was not incredibly well planned...)  So I decided to do a tempo run.  As I was running along I noticed that the HRM was in fact working, as it was telling me that I was exceeding my MAF heart rate.  Sigh; so I decided to continue at the tempo pace, and compare the results to the Paine to Pain (P2P) race I had done in October, since I had HR data from that race.

So here's the data, by mile:

	Paine to Pain			Tempo
Mile	Pace	HR		Pace	HR
1	8:08.2	170		8:57.9	183
2	9:23.2	181		9:51.3	166
3	8:53.9	182		7:52.6	168
4	9:49.4	178		9:21.2	163
5	8:35.6	179		8:05.9	166

Now, there are a few caveats.  First, the HRM was nonfunctional for some part of mile one, and seemed to start working by showing a rate of 199.  So the HR data for mile one is useless.  Second, I had my dog along on the tempo run, and he kept stopping to pee and other doggie business, which always messes up my pace, and causes my HR to rise.  Third, the Tempo course had much steeper hills than the P2P course did.  Mile 2 was partly a rough uphill trail section; mile 3 (I think) includes both a steep downhill and a 21% grade uphill that I ran at a heart rate of 180-181; and the end of mile 5 is also uphill.
But all those caveats should have made for a worse pace and HR, and for the most part, both were better.  Much better.  The usable HR data show an average improvement of 14 beats per minute.  The pace data isn't really comparable, since the P2P data is from the first few miles of a longer run, but I'm still happy with it.

As I said at the opening, I'm surprised.  I'd been under the impression, based on my runs in the fall prior to the injury, that Maffetone's protocol hadn't been working all that well for me.  But clearly it has.

Perhaps the long break allowed for the physiological changes to occur, or perhaps it was just that I stopped watching the pot?

At any rate, I'll clearly continue...

(I did the P2P wearing Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves, and the Tempo run wearing Vibram FiveFinger Speeds.)