Fit Body, Fit Mind

29 September to 1 October

 

 

Irony in burning jet fuel when zigzag across the USA to hear Brant remind me about being a guardian of the earth

 

Rattles and Dancing – left me pretty jazzed up both nights // might make a nice warm-up before a race!

 

The Clinic was like summer camp for adult athletes – memories of camp fires; singing songs and skits.  Thoughts of Stu watching over me and laughing.

 

Key Things that I wanted tips on – written on Saturday AM

  1. Scheduling Rest
  2. Phasing the Year
  3. Basic Week
  4. Strengthening Intent
  5. Purifying Intent
  6. How much hard stuff & when
  7. How many races

 

By Noon they had covered everything.  The rest of the camp was going to be gravy!

 

Brant – nice manner, doesn’t appear to take things too seriously – keeps the mood relaxed

 

All athletes – do better job of tracking MAP/Steady State progressions through testing to better time the mix of training intensity

 

Hard training leading to excessive coritsol, stress & fatigue – people with long term poor sleep patterns likely an indication of chronic cortisol elevation (consider tracking cortisol levels through blood tests to establish baseline and see if healthy).

 

Injury prone, ill and “falling apart” athletes – look for excessive stress and a lack of sleep for healing.

 

Stress linked to sleep – if a person can’t sleep then “why”.  Don’t just sit around wishing you could sleep.  Change the cause of poor sleep.

 

Stressors // training massive volume; training high intensity; work; over scheduling; background chemicals; poor nutrition

 

MAP Heart Rate is same across all sports but RPE increases (Run, Bike, Swim).

 

Mark’s reply to “but my max is high” – likely a sign of narrow aerobic base and excessive training over MAP HR.  Mark cited his 215 bpm max when he was 20 years old.  He does not modify MAP HR for athletes with high HR.

 

95% of athletes arrive at Ironman over trained – NOTE: some of these people do well despite their training.  NOTE: many of us have no clue what would be possible if we were properly prepared and not shelled.

 

I asked “how hard is hard”?  Use the hard training sparingly but when you go “hard” go hard to very hard – get the heart rate right up towards max at the end of the tough sessions.  Mark Allen quote from a few years back “Push your limits rarely but when you do, push them very hard”

 

Useful tips for everyone…

  • minimum duration for benefit 20 minutes per session;
  • best for longevity is walking about three miles per day;
  • best for vitality is about sixty minutes per day.

 

Mark’s personal protocol is running most days 30-45 minutes and strength training 2x per week.

 

Within my own training – my inability to lift my heart rate indicates fatigue.  Given my protocol – excessive volume likely impairing training absorption.  My MAP likely declines due to fatigue – need to track to make sure that I am absorbing the training.  I need more testing to optimize my volume as well as intensity mix.

 

Four ways I can remove stress in my life:

  • Less internet;
  • Less travel;
  • Eliminate alcohol;
  • Improve nutrition.

 

Mark used to race 7-10 races each year plus Nice plus Hawaii.  His competition were doing 20+ races and 2 IMs each year.  Racing less gave him an advantage.

 

Told story of his broken collarbone in March 1992 – still won Hawaii.  Interesting note that when he won five in a row, 2nd place was a different guy each time.

 

Was asked about “how do I train with IM with a job/wife/kids”.  Answer: “first take a reality check on your event selection and your life choices” – EXCELLENT – so true that people choose a target event rather than a target lifestyle.

 

Tapping Nature for energy – I’ve always felt that where I train is as important as how I train.  Using nature to replenish and recover.

 

Five things that I want to give away – fear of immune collapse; fear of athletic failure in a race; concern over the opinions of others; desire for ever increasing material specifications; fear of a return to an unethical life.  We learned an exercise to clear.

 

Five things that I want to receive – physical power, peace, love, tranquility, humility.  We learned an exercise to attract.

 

Consider Natural Times & Places of Power – equinox; sun rise, sun set, places of natural beauty.

 

Learn to tap the sub-conscious // consider how much time we spend sleeping // what if we could harness, even a piece?  The first step is to become aware and we learned an exercise to help.

 

Time lines of change – most people have unrealistic view on their time lines for progress.  Patience.

 

Likes the reverse lunge (leg back) as the drive phase (back to vertical) is the key movement used in running forwards.  Drag the trailing leg on the drive phase.

 

With Max-Strength – still two sessions per phase but you only smash 50% of the exercises in each session.

 

Their tradition is four key powers – (my view) picture a triangle with Body, Mind, Spirit on each corner – Love written in the middle of the triangle.

 

  • Love – deepest power, foundation
  • Physical Power – the body operating in harmony with its environment (earth)
  • Psychic Power – sights/visions/healing // I’d include the ability to make people feel good/loved
  • Intelligence – right action, right living, living with goodness

 

One week prior to his final Hawaii build (8 Weeks) – Mark would take a week completely off from training and spend it on retreat with Brant.

 

They used neat smelling incense called Kopal.

 

Personal changes that I would like to make based on Mark’s nutrition tips – more veggies, organic as much as possible, get back on fish oil sups; use grape seed oil for high temp cooking, steam veggies with water/olive oil; drop canola oil, more consistent use of quinoa.

 

Balance in our lives is living in harmony and peace. 

 

My point – We too often define balance as a little bit of everything – this can result in over-scheduling and lack of effectiveness.

 

Talked a lot about insulin response.  Key Reminders:

  • Consider what you are doing that results in not burning fat;
  • Big meals & binging trigger insulin (Too often I use a food coma for relaxation!);
  • Fasting and erratic intake triggers insulin;
  • Excessive CHO triggers insulin;
  • Small, frequent meals

 

Insulin management is a key part of long term health – insulin is slightly toxic.  Note – I have often used my training as an excuse to binge (counterproductive).

 

On Supplements – “Supplements should be supplemental” – great way to look at it.

 

Always avoid Trans and Hydrogenated Fats – read labels or, better yet, eat food without labels (real food)

 

Sports nutrition – many sources work fine in training but fail under race and stressful conditions – examples cited (100% maltodextrin drinks, drinks with PRO).

 

Race nutrition needs to be EASY for the body to handle.  Run nutrition needs to be very easy for the body to handle.

 

Adrenal stress can lead to the body dumping electrolytes.  Arousal control in race week is important.

 

On Visualization

  • He tried tri-specific in the 80s
  • Shifted to globally positive in the 90s
  • A broader life focus gave him more spiritual depth and reserves when it came to his racing

 

NOTE – So what is spirituality?  Spirituality is a deep integration of our lives within our natural environment.  Teachers, friends, mentors, coaches are all people that help us achieve this integration.  The Huichol call their most powerful helpers “shaman”.  In other traditions we might call them doctors, therapists, scientists, relatives or priests.

 

Seven years ago – the teaching from this clinic would have likely been “too simple” for me to understand.  I needed the experience of the last seven years to put Mark’s and Brant’s teaching into context.

 

Time well spent.

 

gb – 1 November 2006