Day 67: Week 8/9 Summary

                Life happens. Unfortunately, two weeks ago I had a sudden death in the family which led to me being away from home & the gym from May 10^th until the 14^th. Promptly upon my return on Sunday night, my computer decided that it no longer wanted to work. With an extra busy week at work due to missing three days the week prior, and a training schedule that I was committed to getting back to, unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to buy a new computer until today. That ladies & gentlemen is the reason I have not posted on this blog for 14 days, but alas, I am back! End rant.

                It has been a challenging two weeks from a training stand point. For the first few days when I was at home with my family, I decided that instead of trying to push through my training plan, I would use the 5 days to spend enjoying my time with family & not being worried about my training or diet plan, allowing my body & mind an opportunity to reset. This past Monday (May 15^th) I was able to jump back into my training plan, but with my routine a little jumbled due to trying to catch up on workouts, I felt a little out of sync all week.

               

                Fortunately, as of today I am back to my regular program & am feeling great! Today I will look back on the past 2 weeks where I have gone dark, recapping weeks 8 & 9 of my training.

 

The Good

1. Completed 3 trail runs: since my week 7 summary post 2 weeks ago, I completed three more trail runs, one 12KM run at a pace of 5:03 on May 6^th, one 14.5KM run at a pace of 5:20 on May 15^th, & one 16KM at a pace of 5:13 per kilometre on May 20^th. Each of the first two runs presented unique challenges, with the 12KM run coming on a rainy day where trail conditions were difficult, while the 14KM day came off a 5-day stretch where my diet was not the best & my training program was non-existent. Though I was disappointed that my pace fell short of the 5 minutes per kilometre goal that I set for myself, I was happy that I was able to lengthen my distance on both runs while maintaining a respectable pace. On my third run on May 20^th, I was happy to be able to improve my pace from the week prior, even despite getting lost on the trails which cost me a few seconds. I’m happy to report that I can now confidently run 16KM, a feat that I would have deemed impossible just a few weeks ago. I will look to continue to lengthen my runs each Saturday & continue to work on improving my pace.
    
2. Rest days: though the 5-day stretch without training was not planned, I believe it served as a nice ‘reset’ for my body after 55 days of consistent training. Additionally, I believe the stretch was positive from a mental standpoint as it allowed me to reset & reflect upon my training thus far & truly appreciate the progress that I have made. Additionally, though the circumstances were not ideal, it was great to spend quality time with my extended family & the few comments I got about looking like I was in shape were affirming to the hard work that I’ve put in. After those 5 rest days, I feel more ready than ever to ramp up the intensity for the last leg of my training journey. 
    
3. Set new burpee record: on May 21^st, I set a new burpee record by completing sets of 50, 50, & 50 burpees, far better than my previous best of 45, 43, & 40 & even more impressive when compared with my first burpee attempt on March 19^th where I completed 15, 12, & 12 reps. The feat was especially rewarding because I completed the burpees on the heels of a very challenging long run the day previous & my legs were burning before I even got started. A few times in my first set I debated skipping the burpees but I persevered & set my sights first at 20, then 30, then 40, until I ultimately set a new PR. I believe the mental reward of knowing I can push myself beyond my limits when needed will outshine the physical benefits of doing so come race day. Moving forward, I am going to be looking to improve the amount of time it takes me to complete a set of 50 burpees, focusing on improving my speed now that I have reached my goal in terms of total output.

The Bad

1. Missed 2 weight training workouts: in previous posts, I boasted about my record of not missing a single strength training workout through the journey & unfortunately that streak came to an end in week 8. I debated trying to make up the workouts, but in doing so I would have to workout 12 days consecutively which is asking for DOMS & potential injury in my opinion, so I opted instead to move on & adopt my regular training schedule beginning this past Monday (May 15^th). Despite missing the workouts, I feel very rested & motivated to push through the final 6 weeks of my training.
    
2. Fell off my diet plan: to compound the lack of training, I also did not maintain my diet over the 5-days that I spent at my parents’ place. The meals contained a lot of breads, pastas, and sweets; three types of food that I have avoided like the plague over the past 60 days. In the 7 days that I have been back at home, I’ve gotten right back to my diet, so although I had a brief hiccup due to not cooking my own meals, I am back in the swing of things & am feeling great.
    

Week 10 Goals

1. Complete all workouts: now that I’m back to my regular schedule, it is important to me that I stick to my training plan religiously this week to dial in my training for the final 5 weeks of this journey. As usual, I will look to improve on each set versus the week prior, ensuring that I am taking advantage of incremental gains week in & week out. Additionally, I want to ensure that I am maximizing my performance this week as I am looking to do a mild shake-up of my training routine for the final 4 weeks, focusing a little more on obstacle-specific training which I will touch on in a previous post. 
    
2. Dial in diet: in the same vain as the point above, now that I am settling back into a good routine which I’m looking to carry through the final 5 weeks of my training, it is important that I set the tone this week by having a successful week in terms of diet & exercise. Over the final 5 weeks of my journey I am going to look to eliminate all alcohol, added sugar, & processed foods from my diet. Where I have been flexible over the first 60 days of this journey, I am now on the home stretch which means it is time to tighten up my diet.
    
3. Improve pace to 5:10 on 18KM run: as mentioned above, I was recently able to cut down my pace to 5:13 on my 16KM run, an improvement of 7 seconds per kilometre versus the week prior. This upcoming week, I will look to increase the distance from 16- to 18KM, & look to improve my pace marginally to 5:10 per kilometre. I am confident that had I not gotten temporarily lost on the trails this past week, I would have been able to achieve this goal so my goal will be to maintain my pace from this past week while lengthening out my runs. As I mentioned above, I am continuously amazed at the distances that I’m able to run week-in & week out. Had you asked me on day 1 if I would be able to run for 18KM consecutively, let alone to do so in an hour and a half, I would have thought you were insane, however now I have this goal well within my sights & I look forward to not only achieving this goal, but pushing beyond it in each of the 3 weeks that follow.
    

                After a long hiatus, I am happy to be back to blogging. One interesting observation that I noticed is that writing this blog post took much longer than my posts had been taking prior to my break which, to me, demonstrates that whether it is exercising, eating, or writing blogs, the power of momentum is real. This is the reason that consistency in everything we do is so important. To that point, I am committing to be consistent with my exercise, diet, & blogging habits from now until race day on June 24^th to ensure that I am putting in my best possible performance come race day.

100-Day Spartan

Day 53: The OCR Community

                Over the past 53 days I have been fortunate to have a lot of contact with veteran & aspiring OCR’s, & have found that a consistent culture has emerged from them that has been very inspiring & motivating. As I’ve mentioned a few times in the past, I started this journey primarily to force myself to get into shape & also to improve my writing skills, however what I did not expect was to join such an inspirational group. Since day 1 I have received messages from OCR’s on all platforms of social media that have ranged from inspiring to supportive, life advise to training advice, & everything in between!

                Today I look at some of the common character traits that I’ve noticed among OCR’s that I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with thus far on this journey.   

1. Inspirational: some of the stories that I’ve come across on this journey have been truly incredible. Whether it’s US military veteran Earl Granville who had to get a leg amputated after a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, but still competes Spartan races, or Tim Morris, an adaptive athlete who still competes in Spartan Beast Races despite being paralyzed from the waist down, there are a ton of incredibly inspiring stories out there! All the inspiring stories however are not this well-documented. A gentleman named John Mariani from the UK (@BeagleChap on Twitter) reached out to me to let me know he will be running his 10^th Tough Mudder with his wife this fall who just had a baby & beat cancer during pregnancy! Nearly daily in my Facebook feed I will read about an athlete that has overcome some injury or obstacle in their life to successfully complete an OCR. Over & over again I read stories of OCR’s who have gone through tragic & challenging events in their life that I cannot even fathom, yet persevered to be able to run a Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, or some other type of OCR. This perseverance is so inspirational to me considering my major motivator is to get off my lazy behind. When I’m having a day where I don’t feel like pushing myself or going to the gym at all, I try to draw off the inspiration from my fellow OCR’s.
     
2. Positivity: the OCR community may be the most positive group of individuals that I have every come across. Each Sunday without fail I see posts from OCR’s who were not able to finish a race due to injury, race conditions, or various other reasons, & so often I see something along the lines of ‘can’t wait to get back out there & do it again’ or ‘so today I signed up for my next race to try it again.’ This level of positivity & ability to look at things from such a balanced perspective is unheard of in today’s ‘woe-is-me’ society & has played a major role in helping keep me positive through this journey, even when I have experienced temporary setbacks. It is great to see OCR superstars like Amelia Boone who is working a full-time job as a lawyer, yet still finds time for training, being an OCR superstar, & being one of the most positive & uplifting posters on my Twitter feed! To see that people going through so much more (did I mention Amelia is rehabbing from a knee injury?) are remaining positive & having a great time while training for OCR’s far more challenging than the one I’m attempting helps keep me grounded & realize that this journey is one to enjoy not to rush through.
     
3. Supportive: the OCR community has also turned out to be more supportive than I could have ever imagined. Each time I post to social media, I am met with a group of supportive OCRs’ willing & eager to help out despite never having met me. The number of people that have reached out with advice on exercise, nutrition, supplements, or just to offer a sounding board or a daily dose of motivation has been incredible. I have learned that this is one of the most supportive groups of people around, & I can’t wait to meet a group of them in person come race day on June 23^rd! Anytime I’ve had a question about nutrition, exercise, or motivation, I have been able to reach out to fellow OCR’s either via DM or Private Message & each time I am amazed that people are willing to help out & lend their two cents. This blog is my attempt to give back to new OCR’s that may come along after I have ran my race, & my hope is that they will be able to draw some form of motivation or advice from my daily blabbering.
      
4. Accountability: the OCR community is a group that holds themselves accountable more than any I have ever seen. Whether it is pushing through training or achieving goals they’ve set for themselves elsewhere, I have found that the OCR community holds themselves accountable to a standard that is far higher than the average population. Becoming a part of the OCR community has allowed me to achieve a level of accountability & consistency that I have not been able to achieve in an exercise program in years. I believe there are a number of reasons that I’ve been able to hold myself more accountable & be more consistent, some of which include seeing what my fellow Spartans are doing, looking at how they hold themselves accountable even when they don’t feel like training, through the positive feedback & re-enforcement I get from my fellow OCR’s, & finally due to a sense of accountability I feel towards the OCR community, feeling like if I don’t complete my workout I will be letting the community down. Combined, these factors have had a powerful influence on helping me hold myself accountable to my training program & goals.
      
5. Grit: perhaps the trait that OCR’s are best known for, they are a very gritty & mentally tough bunch. Running an OCR requires a boatload of mental fortitude in strength from the time you sign up for the race until the race is completed & they hand you that Finisher’s trophy. While I am always impressed at how OCR’s are able to tough through their races, perhaps what has been more amazing to me is to see the way OCR’s attack their daily lives with mental toughness & grit. I am following OCR’s from all walks of life, all with unique sets of circumstances & challenges, from having to work their training around their 80 hour a week job, their 4 kids, or their physical challenges, I see the same type of grit, mental toughness, & determination to get the job done in all of them. Whether it is the gritty & mentally tough that gravitate towards OCR’s, or whether OCR’s pull the grit out of competitors is a tough question to answer, however one thing I know for sure is that this is a tough bunch!

                In conclusion, since I began this journey 53 days ago, I have been consistently blown away by how inspirational, positive, supportive, accountable, & gritty the OCR community has been. Despite my complete lack of knowledge when beginning this journey, the OCR community has welcomed me with open arms & helped me along the way. To find a group of individuals so different in their backgrounds, but so common in their goals & culture is an incredible trait to find amongst any group of people, and something that corporations all around the world are trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to instill in their people. I am very grateful to have found this group of tough but loving individuals, & cannot wait to celebrate a successful race with those OCR’s that find their way to Toronto on June 23^rd. Aroo!

100-Day Spartan

Day 52: Diet Pt 2 - Healthy Eating Tips

                EDIT: This post on diet quickly turned into a 6,000-word behemoth, so I have separated it into two parts. The first post, which can be found here  focused on the types of foods that I suggest eating & avoiding. The post that follows looks at 7 tips for sticking to your diet once you establish what foods you would like to include in it. Bon appetit!

                    I recently posted a progress picture in my day 49 post on Transformation Tuesday, & by far the most common feedback & questions I got came regarding my diet. This was an encouraging sign to me because it showed that many in the OCR community are acutely aware of just how important diet is to achieving fitness goals, a knowledge that I’m not sure is replicated in the rest of society. There are tons of misconceptions out there regarding what we should and shouldn’t eat, & while by no means do I consider myself any type of expert or authority on the subject, I have been able to find a diet that works well for me after experimenting with many different diets such as the paleo, ketogenic, & slow carb diets.
 

                Note what follows is my personal approach to dieting. Dieting is entirely individual, so I encourage you to find what works for you & stick to it. In my opinion, the key to success with any type of diet is that you follow it consistently.

Healthy Eating Tips

 

                Now that I’ve established what types of food you should be eating, I discuss below 7 of the strategies I use to try to stay consistent with my diet.

1. Stock your fridge full of healthy foods: although it seems simple, for me keeping only healthy foods in my home has a hugely positive effect on my diet. Even if I get the late-night munchies, the most damage that I’m going to do is a handful of almonds or a piece of cheese. Sure it isn’t ideal to be eating these extra calories late at night, however it’s a lot better than digging into that bag of chips or cookies. A lot of people such as Tim Ferriss suggest incorporating one cheat day per week. Cheat days are not a good option for me personally because I have an addictive personality & one day quickly turns to one week, however my suggestion if you do elect to have a cheat day is to keep the ‘cheat foods’ out of your house until the actual cheat day arrives. Although some may argue that it is a good strategy for practicing will power & self-control, I am not a proponent of putting oneself in difficult situations just for the sake of overcoming difficulty. If the food is not in your house, you are far less likely to cheat on your diet. By not having the food readily available, it forces you to have to walk or drive to a store, which can often provide the time needed for cooler heads to prevail & to avoid you from cheating at all. Next time you’re grocery shopping ask yourself a simple question each time you put something in your cart; ‘is this part of my diet?’ The results will quickly speak for themselves. 
    
2. Pack your lunch: perhaps the biggest contributor to my improved diet over the past 8 weeks has been the practice of packing my lunch every single day. I used to go out to a restaurant with co-workers each Friday for lunch, a completely reasonable routine, provided it only occurred on Fridays. As with any other habit I take on, this quickly developed into me going out throughout the rest of the week, even on days that I packed a lunch. Not only did the food from the restaurant often fall outside of my idea of ‘healthy eating,’ it also took a toll on my bank account. Since I started this journey, I have made a habit of packing my lunch every night before I go to bed, ensuring that I don’t skip packing a lunch due to a missed alarm or one too many morning ‘snoozes.’ Bringing my lunch has simplified my mornings & made it much easier to stick to my diet & turn down my co-workers’ invitations to go out for lunch. I’ve also been able to shorten my work days (I have a flexible schedule), as eating my lunch in the lunchroom only takes 15 minutes compared to the hour that I would often take with co-workers. This has allowed me to get my work done earlier, & get home earlier. Obviously not an option for everyone, but it does free up time to read or go for a walk at lunch if you have set hours that you must be at the office. Finally, another unexpected bonus has been that I’ve been saving a lot of money by avoiding those lunches out (which I’ve promptly spent on supplements…). If you haven’t already, I challenge you to start packing your lunch before bed each night & begin experiencing better health, more free time, & cost savings!
    
3.  Automate your meals: I suggest eating the same thing everyday for breakfast & lunch. No seriously. I thought this was insane myself, but since I’ve automated my breakfast with kale shakes, it has freed up time & made one thing less that I have to think about or take care of in the morning. My lunches, which typically consist of 3-4 cups of vegetables & leftover protein from the night before, take me at most 10 minutes to prepare the night before. In my post on habit-forming, I discussed how forming habits allows your mind to automate the process which requires less brain power & allows you to focus instead on more unique & challenging tasks. Automating my breakfast & lunch has made my life a lot easier & I know that each day I am getting the nutrients that my body requires. To keep things from getting boring with my lunches, I vary through the type of vegetables & meat that I’m eating, but realistically it stays about 75% the same every single day & I love it! Try automating your lunches for a week & see the benefits it provides. The beautiful thing is, if you get bored of the meal, you can move on to the next one & recycle through different meals as you go. Trust me, it will free up time & provided the meals you choose consist of the nutrients your body requires, you will feel great!
    
4. Tell those around you: all my co-workers are aware that I’ll be running this race on June 23^rd & they’re all aware that I’m taking my training for it quite seriously. By sharing my goals with them, they often carry my narrative for me & reinforce what it is I’ve set out to accomplish. An example would be recently when a co-worker was walking around passing out sweets that she baked on the weekend, & before I even answered my office mate answered, ‘oh he won’t eat those.’ Although this could be considered meddling, I appreciated it because I have built up a reputation amongst my co-workers that makes it easier to live up to. I love the added pressure that if I vary from my diet or decide to go out for lunch, my coworkers will notice. Even though they would take it in stride & not make a big deal out of it, I like that the expectation exists because it has created something for me to live up to. 
    
5. Don’t drink calories: one of my strongest rules aside from limiting sugar consumption is to avoid drinking calories wherever possible. This would include soft drinks, juice, milk, cream, sugar in coffee, & of course – alcohol. I am fortunate to have never developed a taste for pop, however I did have to make a conscious effort to eliminate iced tea, juice, & coconut water from my diet, all of which were crammed full of sugar. As mentioned in my first post on diet, I have struggled a little bit with completely eliminating alcohol from my diet. In the first 50 days of my Spartan Race journey, I believe alcohol consumption was my number 1 diet ‘cheat’ that I’m looking to eliminate in the second half of the journey. Calories in beverages are problematic because they can add up quickly while not providing any form of satiation; leading to even more consumption. A notable example of this lack of satiation would be the ability to sit down & drink 5-6 beers. Rarely do you feel full, yet you have consumed the same caloric content as you would have if you had a meal from a restaurant. A second issue with drinking calories is the types of drinks that we consume often contain 35+ grams of sugar per serving which is INSANE! If you read my first post you would know how I feel about sugar consumption, so for me a good rule is to avoid drinking calories whenever possible. 
    
6. Eliminate ‘the binge’: in my day 27 post on setbacks, I discussed the importance of avoiding the all or nothing mentality. See below for an excerpt from that post:
    
   “The ‘all-or-nothing’ mindset refers to the type of thinking that states ‘since I already cheated on my diet with this slice of pizza, I might as well eat an entire chocolate cake.’ Moderation is key here; if you’ve made a mistake, acknowledge it, put it in perspective, & get back to the regularly scheduled programming. Habits or old ways of living can be very challenging to overcome, do not fuel the fire by getting back into a negative cycle.”
   
     In short, when you slip up on your diet (yes, when – you will not follow your diet perfectly), the key is to not allow the problem to compound by writing off the entire day or week, but instead to identify it as a slip-up & get back to the regularly scheduled programming. Since I am so susceptible to this style of thinking, I avoid the ‘cheat days’ that are popularized by many diet experts. If however you are the type of person that can pull off a cheat day, just make sure that your cheat day doesn’t leak into the days that follow & that you are able to get back to a strict diet as soon as the cheat day ends.
      
7. Don’t overcomplicate things: after I’ve thrown all of this information at you, I am going to leave you with one contradictory piece of advice – don’t overcomplicate things. Between the paleo, ketogenic, & other diets, there is a ton of conflicting information floating around the diet regarding dieting. For me, the key is to establish what foods you would like to include in your diet, establish what you would like to avoid & use common sense & moderation to monitor what food you put in your body. Once you learn about what types of foods make you feel good & which ones don’t, eating healthy becomes intuitive. You will soon know what you should be eating, as well as what you shouldn’t. The major key is that you are consistently eating nutrient-dense, raw foods, & that you only allow yourself to indulge once in a while.

                As mentioned in the beginning of this article, diets are far from universal. We all have different tastes, bodies, & preferences & our diets should reflect these differences. The ‘one-size-fits-all’ diet simply does not work & forcing yourself to consume foods that you don’t enjoy is bound to result in failure. What is important is that you find what works for you & stick to it with as much consistency as possible. Establish what foods you would like to eat (my suggestion being vegetables & meats), & establish what you would like to avoid (suggestion being simple carbs, sugar, processed foods, & alcohol), & try to stick to it as closely as possible.

100-Day Spartan