Author: Iron Rogue

Posted on

Trifecta Tuesdays!

I like Tuesdays.  They’re not Monday, so they don’t have that back-to-work sting, and yet you’re not far enough into the week to realize how far behind you might be at work.  Due to our circumstances vis-a-vis daycare and babysitting help from visitors, it’s a good chance for me to get out of the house early for some extra exercise…

And thus Trifecta Tuesday was born.


My basic premise for Trifecta Tuesday is to get 3 different forms of exercise done in one day.  I’m a triathlete… I like threes… three is a magic number after all!

Some examples so far:

  1. Dec 4th.  I hit the pool in the morning for a workout, then at lunch I had the two-fer workout that I have dubbed ‘Rowga’.  Swimming, Rowing Machine, Yoga.
  2. Dec 11th.  Another morning Swim.  Then the 3-2-1 workout: 3 cardio sessions, 2 whole-body strength circuits, 1 session of ab/core work; 10 minutes each for a (theoretical 60 minute workout).  I ended up short on time and skipping the explicit core work, but since I used the Spartacus circuit and the Matrix circuit for strength, my core was adequately addressed.  The cardio sessions were Rowing (again), Spinning, and a combination of skipping rope and the heavy bag.  I lost count somewhere in there, but it’s more than 3!
  3. Dec 18th.  Hey! That’s today!  I’m swamped with year-end stuff at work, so getting 3 activities in would take not only creativity, but… creativity in the interpretation.  I wanted to try a new elliptical trainer that has lateral motion (spoiler alert: upcoming post!) for warm-up, and use the treadmill for a post-workout cardio burn, but others like to use that elliptical/cross-trainer, so I opted for a rowing warm-up.  My weight/strength session had the upper body push (chest), legs, upper body pull (back) structure, but I focused more on tradtional moves with heavier weights like a barbell bench press.  I ended up snagging the lateral ellipitical/cross-trainer for my post-workout cardio burn.

Stay tuned every tuesday for tweets with the hashtag #TrifectaTuesday.  You do follow me on twitter, don’t you?  See if you can get your own 3 activities for your own Trifecta Tuesday!
Posted on

A Winter 10k Race

I’ve mentioned before on the blog that I participate in a running group at work.  Each season’s session ends in a race, meant to be the culmination of the now-complete training regime.  I was looking forward to the race just as much as I always do, though I knew I’d missed more training runs than I would have liked.

The race was scheduled for Friday, December 7th, and on Thursday night I dreamt of running.  I was going fast, and it felt good… effortless.  Which is a great way to head into a race day, I have to tell you.  I was still struggling with the right way to wear my Jaybird Freedoms, but I did get lucky, and though I was nearly late for the race start, I got them locked in, and was able to focus on running instead of fiddling with electronics.

We started the race, and I got off to a fast start.  Maybe a little too fast, but it’s hard to beat yourself up (even after the fact) because I was having fun.  Around the 1.8km mark (the course is approximately 2.5km out and back performed twice) this unfortunate scene was visible.  Luckily, I had seen the crime scene tape on my commute in, Googled it, and warned everybody that it would be there so nobody would waste time rubbernecking.

Completing the first leg, I still felt good, though I realised my speed would need to be adjusted to keep from crashing. I also took off my hat and gloves and had a few sips of water from the cups provided (I was wearing a water belt, with an empty water bottle – OOOPS).  Off I went on the second half; I soon realised it was only men who were braving the 10k – BOO!  One of our faster runners Mr. N (who recommended me the Jaybird Freedoms) had been acting as a pace bunny for another runner, but apparently that was only for 5k, so he soon passed me; what are you going to do? The guy’s an Ironman!  I had been chased by Mr. B for the entire race.  Mr. B has been faster than me on just about every training run, but our speeds are comparable, and I like and admire the guy because he doesn’t seem like a ‘natural’ runner and has built up his speed through hard work… he’s gone from being a non-runner to 10k in a little over a year (I think).  At any rate, I still wanted to beat him that day.  

For me, being chased is better motivation than being the chaser, so I managed to keep a lead.  Mr. B told me later that he felt like he was 100 yards behind me the entire time – from my perspective the lead varied more than that, still we were both happy to finish around 49 minutes… me just under that, him seconds over.

It was a great day to be outside running, a day when all the little elements you need for a good run (body, music, gear) came together, and the perfect springboard to launch into training for the Chilly Half-Marathon!

Posted on

TRX With Ignition Fitness

I was really excited to find out that Ignition Fitness was offering TRX Classes for Runners and Triathletes:


  1. I always wanted to try TRX – being suspended promotes using the core and all kinds of stabilizer muscles in way that promotes functional strength, which is what I want to build.
  2. I know a lot of elite triathletes have been using TRX in their training, so again, that puts it right up my alley.
  3. These workouts are specifically designed for runners and triathletes!
  4. The classes are available on a drop in basis, and (like drugs, software and martial arts classes) the first one is free!


I had got in touch with Tommy Ferris, the head coach of Ignition and signed up for a session on a Thursday night.  Due to cold and flu season and its effect on the whole family, I had to cancel at least once, but this past week, I was able make it to Dragon Fitness, where they’re holding the classes.   It’s located in an industrial space in a semi-sketchy area north of Parkdale (technically Brockton Village apparently); but I’m somewhat familiar with the area as the place where I used to train in Jiu-Jitsu was nearby, so I felt a little more comfortable than I might have otherwise.

After entering and greeting one of the owners of Dragon Fitness, I met Tommy Ferris himself.  He explained that there had been some cancellations, and as it turned out, I would be the only one in class that day.  More individual attention for me!  

This meant he had lots of time to get me oriented with the equipment.  In addition to a dry run with all the exercises in the circuit, I also had a chance to practice reconfiguring the suspension straps for maximum or minimum length, depending on what was called for in the exercise.  Two other skills I learned were how to combine the handles for a single gripping point, and how to put them on my feet for exercises where our hands would be on the ground.  That was one that I struggled to do while hurrying through the circuit.  Here’s how the circuit was structured:

TRX exercise Non-TRX exercise
Squat Kettlebell ‘Romanian Deadlift’ (two handed swing)
Core Twist

 Plank
Ts/Is Alternating Pushups
Mountain Climbers Running Arms
Pikes Jump Lunges
Sprinters Lunges Lateral Jumps
Body Saw Matrix Jumps
Each station was 45 seconds, and we moved from TRX  exercise to non-TRX exercise (left column, right column) without stopping.  At the end of the circuit, we rested 45 seconds, then did it over again for a 30 minute workout.  Here are some notes and illustrative pics (from the Ignition Fitness website) on the individual exercises.

  • Squat.  A body-weight/air squat, getting down to where the thighs are at least parallel to the floor.  You hold onto the TRX handles, but more for a balance reference point than anything else.
  • Kettlebell ‘Romanian Deadlift’  – To me, this looked like the regular Kettlebell swings you see people do… the weights were gripped two-handed, and the emphasis was on getting the hips back on the negative phase (lowering the bell) while snapping the pelvis forward (back to a neutral standing position) on the upward swing of the bell.  I have yet to understand why you need Kettlebells to do these kinds of exercises… you could do them with dumbbells in my opinion.
  • Torso Twist – This one was great for working oblique core muscles which should be recruited during the swim.  Most of the exercises were selected for the role they could play in improving performance on the swim, bike or run.

  • Plank – You know what this is, right?  45 seconds worth.  Not easy, but at least a change of pace from the more dynamic exercises that preceded it.
  • T’s or I’s.  The first circuit involved pulling ourselves toward the straps’ anchor point using a reverse shoulder fly with arms stretched out horizontally (so that we formed a ‘T’).  And the next circuit involved pulling the handles overhead so that the arms ended above (and the body forms an ‘I’).  Great for core and shoulders, especially to level off imbalances that would be common for runners and triathletes.
  • Alternating push-ups.  A regular push-up, a wide push-up to the right, a wide push-up to the left.  Tough to finish, not exciting.
  • Mountain Climbers – A common exercise where the TRX adds another dimension.  It was crucial to not have the legs go up and down too much or else the straps would ‘see-saw’ through the anchor point, making an annoying noise.  When the feet were kept more-or-less level, the core was better engaged.

  • Running Arms – Loved this one, and not just because it was a little less demanding than most stations.  Keeping our elbows bent at 90 degrees, we swung our arms as if we were running while holding 10lb dumbbells (a little on the heavy side for this movement, but it worked) while keeping our upper and lower bodies still.  It took more core strength than you might have thought.



  • Pikes – These were really hard.  On the second circuit, I was bending my knees into more of a tuck motion than a pike, and I needed a break or two.  Ideally, you should ‘rest’ with only a plank position, but I couldn’t even manage that.

  • Jump Lunges – Another great runner’s exercise that I’ve always struggled with, at least, to keep them up beyond 30 seconds.  I did them body weight only, because I knew I’d be gassed before 45 seconds were up.
  • Sprinter’s Lunges – I found these fascinating, because they mimic the explosive spring that sprinters have to cultivate, especially for the start, but the muscles are important for every stride.  They look bad, since the knee is past (in front of) the toe, but remember, the weight/load is reduced because the straps are takings some.  You spring up and swing the knee forward, then do the other leg.
  • Lateral Jumps – This one saw us jumping from one side to the other, in a kind of lunge.  The rear foot would cross behind the front leg (which had a nice deep knee bend) resulting in a dynamic hip stretch.  The side to side motion was reminiscent of skating, if you ask me, but with a deeper bend to get more quad and glute work.
  • Body Saw – This one was a favourite.  Once in a plank (elbows on ground, feet in the TRX straps), we’d simply rock back and forth a little.  Ideally we’d keep our heads up looking forward as if we were in aero position on the bike.
  • Matrix Jumps –  Imagine a dial pad; stand on one leg, on the ‘5’ and jump to each button, then back to the ‘5’.  Once (1,5,2,5,3,5,4,5,6,5,7,5,8,5,9,5) then the other way around.  Switch legs

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
All the exercises had elements that were familiar in terms of motion so they didn’t feel to foreign to me, yet they all had a new dimension that challenged.  Shoulders, core, glutes, hamstrings and other leg muscles are all part of a triathlete’s aresenal so it was great to work them all out in a short, efficient time span.  Furthermore, our whole bodies were being put through motion in 3 different planes: front-to-back (which is the most common dimension for runners and triathletes) as well as side-to-side and up-and-down (which are more neglected).

There’s lots more great information and advice on Ignition Fitness’ website; I’d encourage anyone to give this class a try.  

Have you ever tried TRX?

Posted on

Gear Corner: Jaybird Freedom Bluetooth Headphones Review

I had bought these headphones as a replacement to my Motorola S9 Bluetooth headphones (seen here) that had long since broken… beyond all repair.  I had worn them once right out of the box and found that they didn’t stay in my ears well.  The guy who recommended them to me further advised me to try some of the ear hook accessories.  






I tried the ones that are intended for the middle ear (which is how my friend wears them); I did this the night before my run and needed both the illustrated instructions and a bathroom mirror to figure out how to best implement the correct fit.  I went out the next day for a fairly brisk 8 km in the freezing cold; this meant the Jaybirds had the added advantage of being held in place by a hat!



The Jaybird Freedom was easy to pair with my Blackberry.  I wanted to use Endomondo’s (my running and exercise tracking app) built in access to music to play my running playlist, but the audio option for ‘BT Stereo’ didn’t work, and when I used ‘BT Handsfree’ the sound quality was terrible.  Once I accessed the music from the normal Blackberry Music App, things sounded great.  So this is more of an Endomondo problem than a Jaybird problem.  After mucking about with the controls for so long, I finally got going.  The instruction manual requests that you wear your phone/media player on your arm and not in a pocket for best reception.  This is annoying because tucking the thing away would have been one of the benefits of having wireless headphones.  I compromised and clipped the Blackberry to my belt.

The way out (4km) was blissful.  No skips, and the buds stayed in comfortably – I even liked the pace I was keeping (which is neither here nor there).  Things got a little worse on the way back and not just because I had trouble keeping the same pace due to fatigue.  My current theory is that my ear canals shrink due to expanded blood vessels, because in-ear buds always exhibit the same behaviour – they seem to get popped out like a bar of wet soap out of a squeezing fist.  The ear-hooks (and hat) did a decent job of keeping them from falling right out, but having to mind where they were in relation to my ear and occasionally push them back in to secure them became a minor chore.  I also started experiencing some skips… but I think I can say that on that front their better than any other Bluetooth product I’ve run with.

To make the earbuds maximally secure I decided to add the over-the-ear hooks.  One problem: I couldn’t find the ones that were sent with my original package.  Jaybird sells replacements, but I got lucky in that the friend who recommended these said he didn’t want or use his (in fact, he wasn’t aware he had them until he dug through his gym bag) and so I got his.




The next time I took them out on a run was for a quick 5km.  Unfortunately it was cold, so I wore a hat again, but I did get a lot of confidence in the buds’ ability to stay in.  The other problem was that I had opted to try an armband I found.  This thing was large enough to hold my Blackberry Bold 9900 as it was designed for an iPhone 4, but I had a lot of problems with sound when I wanted to wear the armband; my suspicion is that buttons were being pushed causing the volume to go up and down, the music to skip ahead to the next track (or back to the previous one).  I ended up giving up on wearing it on my arm and sticking the whole mess into my jacket’s back pocket – expressly against the recommended use instructions.  Thus… more skipping.  I would have to try one last configuration on Friday, the day of our company run group’s 10km race – not ideal for experimenting with an optimal set-up  but I want to find something that will carry me through this winter’s many long training runs.

Well, as luck would have it, everything came together on Race Day.  I had the Blackberry in its holster clipped to a water bottle belt, and I experienced no significant skips.  The ear hooks kept the buds in place and I was able to focus on my pace and not have to fiddle with them… much.  One small exception was that if you look at the photo above, the cord connecting the two buds is draped across the back of my neck, which got more than a little sweaty.  This caused the cord to stick to the back of my neck, and put a little pull on the buds when I’d turn my head, which I have to admit, I did more than the regular amount since it was a race, and I was being chased by someone who is usually just a bit faster than me on training runs (I beat him!).  More on that race in a future post; but at the end of the day I found I could have a great run with wireless Bluetooth ear-buds, and I’d even credit them with a better than expected time, since I was *really* feeling the music.

Beyond their performance, I also like that they came with a hard-shell carrying case, which should spare them the fate of the S9s… being smashed up in my gym bag.  And here’s the kicker… my boss just brought me a replacement phone to keep me up to speed with the rest of my team… The Blackberry Bold 9900 will be replaced by a Samsung Galaxy SIII (LTE and Android).  Which is something else I’ll address in a future post.  

Looks like this review will have a sequel once I get the new phone up and running (no pun intended) to see how the Jaybird Freedoms play with an Android phone. Still, with the caveats of a steep learning curve and time spent getting acquainted with the product, I’d recommend the Jaybird Freedoms as a pair of running earbuds for those who want to be free of the wires.

Posted on

When It Rains It Pours

I haven’t posted anything since I became a Fitfluential Ambassador.  My goal is to generally post once a week, and if I’ve got a lot of ideas in the hopper, I try to get the posts drafted so that I can publish them at a steady rate.  Life itself can be feast-or-famine after all.

Right now I’ve got a ton of ideas, and they should be coming through for the next few days.  Most of them have taken some time to gather information and/or experience, so I haven’t been able to simply go ahead with them.  Though I should probably write them and save them for a rainy day, I’ve got so many new ideas and things I want to try that I don’t think I should wait and space them out… I feel like there’s a certain amount of time sensitivity to this stuff.  It’ll probably be another flurry then radio silence again as life gets to busy for me again…

So, thanks for bearing with me and reading this far.  I’ll leave you with a link: Alison from Racing Tales was recently tapped by the magazine The Washingtonian to write an article about off-season training methods and priorities for triathletes.  The article is great with tips from some real experts… and also… me!

Posted on

Announcement

Iron Rogue has joined the Fitfluential Family!  Whereas I was a member before, I am now officially a Fitfluential Ambassador (see the badge on the right?).  Fitfluential is a blogging network, so this is exciting news, especially in light of my recent looking to new horizons…

What kind of changes does this mean?  Not many, in terms of the general tone and content of the blog.  While a lot of Ambassadors do regular/weekly posts like ‘What I Ate Wednesday’ or ‘Motivation Monday’ I don’t think that really suits my personal voice.  I am, however, looking forward to a better relationship with brands, and hopefully that means more gear reviews and the like.  I still want to take baby steps to take the blog to the next level, and this ambassadorship is the best way to get started.

If you have a blog, you might consider signing up for membership, and applying for ambassadorship the next time applications open!

Live long and rock on.

Posted on

New Horizons and Straight Talk

I turned 39 this year, and next year I’ll be racing in the 40-45 age category; since triathlon rules will be deeming me a 40 year-old, I thought I might give myself a 40th birthday present and sign-up for a half-Ironman.  You know, take things to the next level.  In triathlon training though, you always need the support of your partner, and when the training volume increases and longer runs/rides start cropping up, this is even more true, so I approached my wife with the idea.

She is supportive, especially when she knows it’s something I really want, but she asked me a straightforward question: With the way things are with the kids, do you see yourself being able to train for a half-Ironman in the coming year.  That stopped me in my tracks.  That past week, the kids had been sleeping well, and showing a lot of development so I think I had projected that into less dependence on me as their parent, and got all caught up in my own ambition.  You see, my wife knows me better than most, and she’s seen me get disappointed before; I don’t always take things in stride, and tend to blame myself in a somewhat destructive pattern.  Goals are important, but the best goals are realistic and measurable and all that, so some good straight-talk is worth a million ‘rah-rah! you can do it!’s.  Still when presented with an either-or ultimatum, the Iron Rogue way is to take a third option.


So many of my favourite bloggers (including, but not limited to Fit2Flex, Healthy Tipping Point, Fit Mom…In Training) have been training for or completing half-marathons that I couldn’t help but catch that fever.  I figured (and my wife agrees) that stepping up my running endurance would be a good pilot project to see what our life can handle in terms of training volume.  When I saw that Fitness Cheerleader was signing up for the Burlington Chilly Half-Marathon, I had my inspiration –  I signed up! I’ve already gone on some longer (for me) runs with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot, and I hope to increase running volume all the way to Christmas.





After that, I’ll need to adopt (at least semi-formally) a training program; I’d prefer one that is heavy on the cross-training which not only aids my triathlon ambitions, but fits my ‘Fitness ADHD’ personality… which also has me interested in trying new classes and programs for increased strength.  Overall, it’s an exciting time, a season to look to new horizons; I don’t see any reason to wait until the new year.  Stay tuned to the blog for new adventures….


Epilogue: Since having that conversation with my wife, we’ve gone through several nights of less than 3 hours sleep due to the Lightning Kid’s teething (not to mention when Shark Boy wakes up too), as well as a daytime visit to the Hospital for Sick Children minor surgery to put tubes in his ears.  I think I have a pulled core muscle of some kind and an eye infection, and there seems to be an inordinate amount of coughing and sniffling going on in the Iron Rogue Den of Iniquity household.  The chaotic elements in our lives reared their heads again, and the decision to make smaller, subtler changes to my training regimen appears to have been the right one.

Posted on

Gear Corner: Electronic Media in the Home Fitness Centre

With the off-season in full swing, we’re looking at contending with less daylight, and colder temperatures – the temptation to cocoon is overwhelming.  Still one of the things you can do from the comfort of your home nowadays is train/exercise/workout.  There’s tons of articles and posts about what exercise gear to equip your home with (and I may write one myself soon enough), today I’m going to talk about options for electronic media.  Whether you’re on a bike trainer, watching a workout DVD, or simply want tunes while you exercise, you’ll probably need a way to play media.  What kinds of tech could you use? Warning: this might get a little technical; leave a question in the comments if something is unclear.

  • Tablet computer.  I managed to balance my iPad quite nicely on my aerobars while I was on the bike trainer.  I used Netflix to watch a TV show (can’t remember which one) for some slow spinning, then switched to the Bit Timer app for a Tabata to finish.
  • DVD Player (& TV of course).  There are Workout videos for strength, toning, cardio, as well as Yoga, Pilates and Biking/Spinning.  You can play music CDs or even watch a your favourite TV show while on the trainer (or treadmill or elliptical if you have one).  Personally I don’t use my workout videos as much as I’d like, and watching TV is something I prefer to do when there isn’t other noise (like my own grunting, or the whir of my bike) to interfere with my enjoyment of it.  This option is honestly a little primitive (no Internet?) by today’s standards.
  • Laptop.  It usually has a connection to the internet so Youtube videos of workouts and techniques (and there are more and more of these nowadays), plus playing DVDs and CDs is generally no problem.  It could have a music collection on there, or simply display a workout you got from a blog or website.  I’m a little nervous about having the laptop around exercise equipment – I have visions of sweat in the keyboard or it simply getting broken.  It’s a little hard to find a good spot for it, but it’s still a great option.
  • Home Theatre PC (HTPC).  Ah, the Cadillac option.  For a while I had a PC with a quiet case hooked up to the home theatre/TV, and it was bliss.  This thing had a video capture card (for recording TV) and was running MythTV.  MythTV is free software that implements PVR recording (provided you have that capture card I mention) which automatically flags and skips commercials.  So, a PVR that I don’t pay the TV company a rental fee for, and I never see commercials.  I also had music and some exercise videos ripped onto the hard drive, so when I wanted a Yoga session, I could press play without waiting for the DVD to spin up and be read – instant access.  Unfortunately, the motherboard of this machine blew and replacing it meant basically rebuilding the machine from scratch.  I wasn’t willing to put in the time, effort and cash, so I found a cheaper alternative.
  • Home Media Player – These aren’t fully fledged computers, more like hard-drives that have network capability and the right drivers for streaming/playing various media.  An Apple TV might count in this category.  The one I’ve been using is the Cirago CMC3000; it has video capture capability so I can record shows, but it’s not as good as the MythTV because I have to manually program what time to record without an on-screen guide – it only records what the set-top box is playing (meaning I have to program the set-top box too to be on the right channel at the right time).  The MythTV had its own tuner so I could just pick say, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and it would tune the correct channel at the right time.  Still, I’m using it to record shows and fastforward commercials, so that’s good.  It can stream media from my desktop and through third party software I can also play Netflix on it.  If I rip my workout DVDs to my computer, I should be able to stream them from the Cirago, or even simply copy the files over to it; it can be a network mapped hard-drive too.


    I should inventory what DVDs I have… maybe that’ll help inspire me to play them.


    Let’s see what’s there:


    That’s a little embarrassing… some are still in the plastic!  Let’s hope the season is kind to me and the videos!  If I wanted to add to the collection, I thought I’d share that Beachbody let me know that they have some new products.  Of the ones they mentioned these were the most interesting (N.B. without having tried these products, I cannot endorse or recommend them, I am merely linking to acknowledge their existence).

    • Les Mills Combat: They have Les Mills classes at Goodlife Fitness, where I’m a member.  My favourite group class is Body Combat; the cardio burn rate is unparalleled, and it’s a heap of fun, scratching my martial arts itch.  I haven’t found a class that meets my schedule lately, so having one at home would be pretty attractive.
    • Insanity Asylum Volume 2: The Insanity series are unique in that they offer drills that are meant to increase actual athletic performance (speed, power, agility, etc.) rather than simply build muscle or burn fat.  They would probably be more useful for a performance minded multi-sport athlete.


    I hope that gives some of you some ideas…. what kinds of electronic media are you using to stay in shape?

    Posted on

    Nutrition

    So many of the blogs I read in the fitness/running/triathlon/wellness space do posts on food.  There’s even What I Ate Wednesday as a regular feature among Fitfluential bloggers.  I’ve never been interested in following this trend, it just doesn’t interest me to write (nor read) about it (most of the time – I do love food!). Still, I thought I might spend a single post on the very basic nutritional principles I follow.  For some of you, it will be old news, but if I open a couple of eyes, it will be worth it.

    First off, I am not vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free or paleo.  If that’s what you’re looking for, all I can do is apologize.  Here are some regular features in my diet:
    • Whole Wheat.  Pasta and breads.  I don’t want to do without them, and I will admit, the white stuff tastes better until you get used to Whole Wheat or Whole Grain varieties.  The difference is in the Glycemic Index;  High GI foods will ‘burn’ (or give you the energy boost) very quickly, but then the insulin overcompensation leaves you sluggish afterwards, and maybe even hungry for more.  Lower GI foods burn slower, giving you energy throughout a longer period… guess which is better for endurance sports?  The analogy I like to think of is evergreen/soft wood vs. hard wood.  As a kid, I always wanted to put pine or spruce branches into campfires and our cottage woodstove, since they caught quickly and made big flames right away.  My father, however, knew better, and said they simply went ‘poof’, and made sure there was birch or maple to burn overnight so the cottage wouldn’t get cold while we were sleeping.
    • Brown Rice.  We’re probably not as strict about this one, but the same principle applies.  Brown basmati is most popular in our household, it takes longer to cook, and can be a little harder to come by.
    • Omega 3. I went to Wikipedia to make sure I was up on all the health benefits of this one.  I think we started with it for the sake of heart health (which seems to be disputed), and/or pre-natal development, I also like the ant-inflammatory properties, for fighting off the effects of sore muscles or injury.  With Down Syndrome Awareness month just past, I’ll point out that Down Syndrome (a.k.a Trisomy 21) occurs at conception, so pre-natal nutrition has no effect on its occurrence, but giving the Lightning Kid every advantage through the nutrient in his breast milk is important.  We get out Omega 3 Fatty acids through supplemented milk and dairy products, and make an effort to have fish once a week (good news: that’s the best way to get benefits).  We’re also big Sushi fans!
    • Breakfast.  I’m always floored by the fact that eating breakfast is always touted as an overlooked health or weight loss tip; if I tried to skip breakfast I’d be turning into a cannibal by 9AM.  One of the best things I eat for breakfast is steel cut oats as oatmeal (not instant).  I usually mix it with yoghurt (sometimes greek yoghurt), brown sugar and blueberries.  I also always have blueberries on my cereal; Anti-oxidants for the win!
    • Caffeine – OK, I mostly use caffeine as a drug.  In the worst sense of the word, it’s a coping crutch to get me through the day, but I love it so much, my one of my favourite hoodies has a picture of a caffeine molecule on it.  It’s worth knowing that there are other benefits to caffeine.  Metabolism boosting (fat burning), performance enhancing, pain relieving benefits… it’s all good stuff that I can use to rationalize all those cups of coffee.
    See?
    Race Day Nutrition

    • Maybe it’s because I stick to Olympic distance, but I don’t really carbo-load.  First, the best way to get glycogen for the race is to have your carbs two days before the race, but my main problem is I think carbs are generally over-abundant in my diet; let’s face it, they are easy to come by in your basic North American diet.
    • I’m lucky in that my gut seems to be made of iron (I sometimes contemplate having steak and eggs for breakfast on race day as a dare, but never do).  My breakfast is often cereal on race day, because I know it’ll be OK.  I can take almost any carb gel and be fine – I usually time it so that I take my first about one-quarter into the bike, with another towards the end of the bike to fuel my run.
    That’s about all I could come up with for now.  They say nutrition is the 4th discipline of triathlon, so there’s lots more that could be explored…