PT Performance Training

If one more person asks me about barefoot running because of all the media attention the topic received lately, I am going to throw a tantrum. I am absolutely serious. Its not ground breaking news people… and I’m getting a bit sick of hearing about it like its a new concept. 

We started running barefoot on sand dunes when I was 14. That was 14 years ago… and I suspect that wasn’t a new thing at all back then either. The main reason was for strength development. To a bunch of 14-16 year old kids, the barefoot part was because it was more fun… It was all about having fun and running fast!

I think that too many people run in shoes that have excessive support. I think most people have allowed their feet to become weak and lazy. I think a lot of people have pretty bad posture when they run. Does all of this point towards running barefoot? Not necessarily… There are many pieces to this puzzle and you need to look at the whole picture and consider individual variability/circumstances before you jump on the barefoot running bandwagon because of some recent media hype and a recently published book (which is, I would admit, a well written one… something that may add to the danger of everyone jumping into something they may or may not be able to handle).

There are so many factors that come into play… you can’t read an article as take it as is. Be critical. Think. Ask for help. I didn’t think I would have to say this again so soon, but here goes: IT DEPENDS…

The Bad

The Good

The great

Now, go back to the top of this post and read the first paragraph again. If you are an athlete, what kind of coach are you looking for? Obviously, a coach that I classified as bad or good may be classified as a great coach by another athlete! If you are a coach, what kind of attitude do you have towards coaching?

Take home message here? If you’re an athlete looking for a coach, do your homework to find the right coach for you. Ask a prospective coach the right questions and find the right coaching fit. The same thing applied if you’re a coach!

These little cookies are grain & gluten free, but so good! The recipe that follows is my second try at making these. The first try tasted great, but the texture wasn’t right… so I went back to the drawing board, added a few things and viola! A significant improvement! Try them and let me know what you think

What you need

• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 2 tbsp almond flour
• 1 ripe banana, mashed 
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp non sweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp hemp hearts
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• Unsweetened shredded coconut, for rolling

How to

• Pre heat oven to 375 degrees
• Combine wet ingredients well and add to the dry ingredients. Mix well
• Create little balls with the dough and roll in the shredded coconut
• Place on a cookie sheet and flatten with your fingertips
• Bake for ~10-12 minutes

Mine looked like this:

I took a Stevens cross bike for a test ride today. I decided it would be a great idea to try out a cross bike while coaching the boys (Leif, Kamal, Derek & Nick).

It was awesome!

I haven’t been riding much (OK, at all) for a few months because I was trying to pick up my running miles, but last week I jumped back on my trusty Scott for a very short ride. It felt awful! I felt uncoordinated and just couldn’t get comfortable. It felt like it has been too long since I rode my bike: kind of a wake up call! I really love riding bikes, so I decided that I need to find the balance between achieving my running goals and my love to anything with 2 wheels and no engine.

On Tuesday morning, I headed to Horus Bikes in Vic West with Leif as they will be helping him out with a bike, and there it was. A beautiful Stevens cross bike (you may have seen Katie Compton ride one of those), their top of the line model… all shiny and pretty… in my size too! You can’t go wrong with German engineering, right? So I took it for a spin today and rode some of the Mt Doug trails with the boys, while they were warming up and cooling down. It was so responsive! It did everything I wanted it to do and since I haven’t done cross riding or mountain biking for a few years, its not my technical skills, its definitely the bike! I will take it for another spin tomorrow and then take it back… I really want to get it, but my bank account might not be able to handle that one right now!

A recipe for gluten free/grain free coconut cookies coming in the next post…

N

Every now and then I get a random email from someone I don’t know very well asking training related questions, or get asked questions when I run into people at a race, at the clinic during a bike fit, etc… The questions are typically along the lines of ‘what should I focus on leading up to my Ironman race?’ or ‘how many hours a week should I run?’ and ‘what intensity should I train at?’. My answer is typically ‘I don’t know’, solely because I don’t have all the information I need about the person.

I have said it before, and will say it again, this time in bold & capital letters:

IT DEPENDS

Obviously, some principles remain the same. The human body adapts to stress in a similar way, you are not as unique as you may think you are… In saying that: the other stresses in your life may not be the same as your friends/training buddies.

Someone who does not work and has all the time in the world to train & recover from workouts will get a different answer than someone who has to juggle work, family and other commitments. Than there is age, goals, schedule, family, priorities, training & racing history, health issues, etc…

All these factors are things I need to know before giving you an answer. I don’t like making assumptions and you don’t want to get an answer based on assumptions (Oops, this is an assumption too. Maybe you do want to get an answer based on assumptions? If that is the case, post your question on a chatline/forum instead of emailing me…).

I have written a couple of similar posts before, here and here, and something tells me this is not the last post on this topic… I don’t do anything generic, not training plans and not answers to questions. I will however answer your questions if you answer mine

N

It has been almost a week since I posted my Do-Not-Do-List for 2010, and so far I have made some progress. For example, instead of checking my email every 5 seconds, I have managed to reduce the frequency to only every 10 seconds. Progress, even small, is a good thing, right? and old habits seem to die hard. I calculated that if I reduce the frequency by 5 seconds a week, I might check my emails at a ‘normal’ frequency by the end of the decade. Hmmm… Haha.

I will also resume the work on the new & improved website this week. I contacted the company that started the work last fall and we will pick thing off where we left them. I’m pretty excited about it!

As for everything else? Its in the works…

If you have set some running related goals for the new year, we have the camp to get you jump started! Scott Simpson and I are running a technique focus running camp in two weeks. For more information, either email me or go here! It will be a great camp!

Noa

About a week ago I got this RSS feed via email… and then, a couple of days later, I got this one too. I like Danielle LaPorte’s ideas, writing and the energy that they seem to generate… If that sort of thing is your cup of tea (and even if it may not be…) her website, White Hot Truth, is worth a visit. I sure am glad I found it!

Her first blog post kind of got me thinking. She posted these following questions:

1) What are you deeply passionate about?
2) What are you are genetically encoded for — what activities do you feel just “made to do”?
3) What makes economic sense — what can you make a living at?

Hmmm… kind of makes you think, right? Ideally, you should answer these questions with a yes in relation to your work. But how many people do you know who can do that? I am lucky enough to answer all these questions with a big yes and also surround myself with plenty of people who can do that same, something that makes me very grateful. If there is one thing I can’t stand, is people who dislike their line of work, place of work, etc… If you don’t like what you are doing – Change it & stop complaining! I realize it is not an easy thing to do, but it can be done with passion, creativity and hard work. It’s a process, and it is worth it.

Another thing that caught my attention was the Do-Not-Do-List. It was an interesting change from the traditional To-Do-List, which is pretty easy to create, and always seem to go a mile long and then multiply. Or maybe it’s just me?!

So, without further adieu, here is my Do-Not-Do-List for 2010 (with some suggestions from that 2nd blog post)!

1. I will stop checking my emails every 5 seconds. I know. Can you imagine me without checking my blackberry every 5 seconds?! Hard to do… I only checked my emails a couple of time a day when I was in Nanaimo over Christmas and the email gods didn’t punish me for neglecting them… so it’s all good. It won’t be easy, and I will likely go through a withdrawal period, but I’m sure I will make it!
2. I will stop trying to do things I do not how to do properly. And by that, I mainly mean I will get my websites professionally done asap. I have tried fiddling with things on my own and the results have been basic at best and disastrous and extremely frustrating at worst. I will continue doing what I am good at, and let web designers do what they are good at. As far as I’m concerned, it is a win-win situation.
3. I will stop leaving twitter/facebook/email open while working. So much time can be wasted browsing facebook and twitter… Its sad how addictive these sites can get!
4. I will stop doing excessive amounts of free work. This one comes with some sort of a disclaimer – I volunteer my time and knowledge to help several athletes. I enjoy doing that, and that will not change. However, I can not do that all the time, for everyone… I need to eat too, right? The problem is: I LOVE what I do and it just doesn’t seem like work, so I find it hard to invoice people for my time and knowledge. Silly, right? Well, it stops now. Although I will be the first to admit I still have a lot to learn (who doesn’t have a lot to learn?!), I am good at what I do and should get paid for doing it.
5. I will stop traveling with a knapsack. I actually managed to bruise my shoulder pretty badly carrying a 20kg knapsack around Paris and Oslo this year… Never again! I think it is time to buy myself a real suitcase… One of those with a handle and wheels. Yap, the grown up kind
6. I will stop putting others needs ahead of mine. This one kind of relates to #4, but goes deeper than getting paid… I do have the tendency to try and help those around me before I help myself… For example – replying to a million emails right away instead of going for a run. I mean, what will happen if I reply to an email a few hours later?! Nothing. If anything, I will be more productive after a great run! Also, it will easy the stress… which again – will increase productivity so I can help more athletes. I like this one

I think that is about it for my Do-Not-Do-List. I could share my To-Do-List, but since it is pretty long, I bet everyone who actually made it this far reading this blog post would fall asleep. I have several FUN projects on the go, and I will share them all as they materialize. Please feel free to share your Do-Not-Do-List for 2010!

Happy New Year!!

Noa

PS. Here are a couple of pics from Nanaimo!

I figured it might be a good idea for me to link my two blogs in some way… so below are the recipes I posted on my other blog thus far.

Fruit & nut bites
Beets & oranges salad
Breakfast quinoa #1
Breakfast quinoa #2
Butternut squash & roasted red pepper soup
Zucchini & kale soup
Home made muesli

There are many more to come to visit Fueling Endurance Performance every now and then

Noa

I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) ~5 years ago. I haven’t had a relapse for around 9 months, until several weeks ago. It took me until today to realize what was going on, but induced by some stress, I have experienced some of those all too familiar symptoms… Not a lot of fun, a little disturbing, but in the end – I am OK with it. Over the years, I managed to come up with my own way of dealing with relapses so they don’t last for very long before I am back to my usual self.

The diagnosis was made in January 2005. Prior to that, I was waiting for an appointment with an endocrinologist for over 2 months, and that was after far too many visits to the doctor’s office for countless blood tests and urine samples. My cortisol levels were off the charts and my doctor (who was a very accomplished sports doctor) said he had never seen anything like that before. Hmmmm…. not a good sign.

At that point, I wasn’t training at all anymore: my doctor made me stop so I didn’t cause further damage and my days were filled with sleeping for ~16 hours/day anyways… Kind of backwards, eh? I could have slept for longer as I was always extremely tired and in pain, but couldn’t afford to take the time off work. Thank goodness it was summer (I lived in New Zealand back then!) and I was on break from school until late Feb.

CFS is also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), which is a more fitting name in my opinion as it means nervous system inflammation involving muscle pain. Whatever you want to call it, it wasn’t fun at all, and I had symptoms for well over 6 months before the diagnosis and then for over a year afterward… For more information, you can go to Canadian CFS/ME site.

I recovered with the help of some very light exercise (I had to lie down after 30 very easy minutes on the trainer. Kind of depressing because I used to train for 25+ hours/week and race at a high level…), proper nutrition and some therapy. I can say I am at about 85%-90% of where I was before CFS/ME and these are actually considered really good odds!!

My story goes well beyond the above info, into some of the reasons why I ended up with CFS/ME (eating disturbances, training with chronic cold/flu and some over-training), but I will not get into all of that as It does not make a very exciting read. A sad read perhaps, but not an entertaining one.

I would like for CFS or ME awareness to increase. Most people don’t understand what it is and how people’s lives are affected. In addition, I am sure I am not the only athlete who’s athletic career ended because of CFS/ME (in my case, before it really started – I was only 23 when I was diagnosed). If you know anyone, especially athletes, who suffer from CFS/ME please leave a comment. I would like to connect with others who have experienced something similar.

I have teamed up with elite runner (former Canadian 10km champion) and physiotherapist Scott Simpson to deliver a running specific training camp designed to help runners and triathletes of all ability levels and age groups.

Dates: January 15th – 17th 2010

Location: Victoria, BC

Camp Focus: Injury prevention, core stability, Strength, Endurance, technique and efficiency

Camp Features: Personal video analysis (including CD and Dartfish analysis), 4 coached running sessions, 1 strength & conditioning session, 3 education workshops and more!

Coaches: Noa Deutsch & Scott Simpson

Cost: $220 by December 2oth

$250 after December 20th

Space is limited! Contact me for more information and/or download the information poster.