Monday, April 13, 2015

WOD of the Day!

So even though Mondays are supposed to be cardio days I have decided to proceed with the days WOD instead. My PT test is next week so doing sprints will benefit my more than a long distance run. I guess this WOD won't be anymore interesting than the ones I posted already because it is one of the ones I posted haha. The Crazy 8 workout. I also sad I'd talk about nutrition. But I'm a little pressed for time today so I will not be able to go into as much detail as I would like.

First off, you need to figure out your TDEE. TDEE is the amount of calories your body burns in a day. Sleeping, exercising...everything. You need to know this in order to achieve any fitness goals such as maintaining, bulking or fat burning. Now...there are 5 really good formulas to calculate this with. If you have an iPhone then I highly recommend the myMacros app. It is a few dollars but I did go ahead and download it on my iPad seeing as how I have an android phone. For android I recommend the MyFitness Calculator. It uses 3 of the formulas. Fill in the profile and honestly answer the exercise level! Now on the Macro Calculator tab enter the calories per day based on your fitness goals and under diet make a custom macro one that makes it split up your macros into 40% protein and 40% carbs and 20% fat. Now base your meal planning around that. This where fitmencook.com comes in to play. What I love is that the macros are broken down into each serving so it makes it super easy to mix and match what works for you weekly. REMEMBER! If you have weeks where you just aren't as active or are going to be hitting it hard with 2 a days make sure you adjust your calories accordingly. Lets be honest...if you only work out once next week....you don't need 2300 calories everyday. Make sure you do not go below your fat loss intake by more than 25%. Then you will be putting your body in an anorexic state.

What I learned during the first few weeks of tracking my macros was I accidentally miscalculated and was taking in 200-300 calories less than that fat loss minimum and let me tell you what. I could feel it. Every afternoon without fail I just wanted to sleep and my arms felt heavy and my shoulders felt weak. Sure I was making it through the workouts and change was there but I felt sluggish. Now it is all fixed =] For example....

By the Harris-Benedict Formula @ 5 times a week intense workouts...

Maintenance = 2422 Calories/Day
Fat Loss = 1938 Calories/Day
Bulking = 2785 Calories/Day

CRAZY RIGHT!?!?!!?!? That is an insane amount of calories...so when you first start eating as many as you should the first couple days will be hard because I bet for most of you guys this is significantly higher than what you are used to. Especially if you follow the pop culture rule of females only need like 1200-1600 cals a day and ment around 2000-2200. Now mine is 5 days of intense work out so obviously the less intense and less frequent workouts will cause the totals to drop.

SO all of this means ideally I should be getting 238g of carbs and 238g of protein and 53 g of fat per day. That is hard to get but the key is to keep the fat as close to the 53g as possible and AT LEAST 1g of carbs and protein per pound of body weight. I can't get quite 238g so I do my best to get a little over my body weight. I tend to average close to 180-190g of both protein and carbs. I'm still in the process of learning myself.

As far as the WOD it is the crazy 8 wod from the first post I have. So I am not going to retype it. =] I am outta time though so I will update again tomorrow. With more about my eating schedule.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

My First Real Post





So yesterday marked my first full year of trail running! Vi's Top of Tantalus was the first HURT race I did back in 2014.

It is crazy to think that it has already been a year. It didn't POUR on us like it did last year but we did get some heavy rain a few times. My time was a about 12 minutes slower than last year I believe but considering I had just gotten off the airplane on Friday and was jet lagged and dehydrated I'm quite pleased with my time. About 1 hr and 42 minutes and it came in at 7.89 miles. I wore my old pair of INOV8 Trailrocs because my new pairs were still in the mail. Tantalus trails are really technical with lots of roots and rocks, so trails like these I prefer my INOV8s because there isn't much sole. I'm very prone to rolling (not an injury roll though) my ankle so I don't like wearing shoes with a lot of sole. I like to keep as little rubber as possible between my foot and the ground. These shoes are also really good for hikes that require scrambling so that way your foot is as close to the rock as possible. (All of you out there that have hiked 3 Peaks knows what I'm talking about ;P). My only problem with them is that when I do obstacle course races and when the trails are wet they tend to hold on to water a bit. As in the way cotton holds on to water. Water drains out no problem but they get heavy. My friend let me wear his Speedcross 3s for the Prairie spirit because Kansas in the spring can have all kinds of unpredictable weather and they are good at keeping moisture out! They drain really well too and because of the material they don't hold on to the water like the trailrocs do. Lucky for me it was dry but they were really comfortable and they had plenty of room for my toes to swell in to. (For the record I wear 9.5 in mens and 11 in womens shoes). A tip on the Salomons though is be careful you don't get the GORTEX ones! Unless you are running in the snow. If you wear GORTEX outside of that the moisture will get trapped in your shoe, soften the skin on your feet....then it is hello blister city!
















I'm attaching photos of all of my current shoes! The old INOV8s are 6mm drop shoes. The Skora and new INOV8s are Zero Drop. And I believe the Salomons are 2mm drop? I can't remember off the top of my head. Today is a rest day as I finish recovering from jet lag and then I will be hitting the gym tomorrow for some weights instead of running. (There is sprinting in the workout..so...even trade haha) I will load the WOD as well and show what my daily caloric intake max is and how many I intake as well as the macro layout and what I eat! =]

OLD Inov8s
























OLD Salomons (Mens)



 
 
 
 
 
New Salomons (Womens)


 
 






 
NEW Inov8s
 
 


 
 
 
Skora

 
 















Lifting Shoes




 

Movement Demos for WODs

Here are some quick links to Rogue Fitness movement demos and other demos to save you the search time. Once again I will update as frequently as possible.

The Squat Clean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9Y8QwctmhU
The Hang Clean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCdhjfg7fv4
The Power Clean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjGvwQl8tis

Ball Slams (Slamball): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gLEmS4nwi0
Wall Ball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUo2ONp4iGc

Kettlebell Swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAtfVeOD5xg

Helpful Links!

Here are some links for events and recipes. I will continue to update and add to this list. Feel free to let me know about ones you like and I will add them here!!!!!

Food:
http://fitmencook.com/ His recipes are amazing and it is where I get 95% of my recipes.

Races:
http://www.hurthawaii.com/
http://epicultras.com/
http://www.spartan.com/
http://runningintheusa.com/
http://www.active.com/

A sum up of my running and fitness from the last year

So I'm new to blogging. I should have started this a long time ago but, it never occurred to me to do so. I've been a racer for a little over a year and just started ultrarunning in August 2014. I figured I would keep a log of my training, nutrition, supplements, and races, as well as gear. Maybe this will help people out in their own training and I will be given some pointers as well. I would love any advice, tips, tricks, and just stories that you all have in the world of fitness. It doesn't have to be just running. It can be in the gym, the water, where ever your fitness journey takes you. Please tell me about it. We all become better by sharing our experiences. Goodness knows if you've had to learn mistakes the hard way you might be able to save someone else from making the same one. Since I am a year late in recording this journey I will give a quick run down of a handful of the events I participated in this year in chronological order...

2014:
New Year's Ultra Run Relay
Swamp Romp
Great Aloha Run (GAR)
Warrior Dash
Aloha Stadium Spartan Sprint
Vi's Top of Tantalus
Hapalua Half Marathon
Run With A View
Makahiki Challenge
Spartan Trifecta Weekend
Run with the Pigs
Tantalus Triple Trek
Peacock 50K
Gunstock Trails Half Marathon
Val Nolasco Half Marathon
Turkey Trot
Christmas Biathlon (5k Run, 1000M Swim)
Xterra World Championships Oahu Half Marathon
Honolulu Marathon

2015:
New Year's Ultra Run Relay
Makahiki Challenge
Swamp Romp
Great Aloha Run (GAR)
Sweethearts 50 Miler
Aiea Loop Express
Aloha Stadium Spartan Sprint
Prairie Spirit Trail 50 Miler
Vi's Top of Tantalus

A quick run down of gear used:
Street Shoes:
Mizuno - Wave Sayonara x2, Wave Rider (Didn't like)
Altra (Not a fan)
Skora (like)
Both the Altra and Skora shoes are Zero Drop

Trail Shoes:
Inov8: Trailroc x2 (LOVE!!!!)
Salomon Speedcross 3 (LOVE)

Hydration Systems
Camelpaks - 1.5 and 3 liter. (Like but chaffed like crazy!!!)
Nathan Belt with water bottle (Moved around too much, never gonna use again)
Nathan Handheld (Liked but won't use often)
Ultimate Direction Vest w/Collapsible bottles (Amazing, forget i'm wearing it, doesn't chaff)

Clothes:
Nike Dri Fit Socks (Never use anything else)
Under Armor Compression Capris/Bras (They fit great and are cool)
Nike Running Shorts (Fit me really well, I have a lot of the same style in different colors)

Supplements:
Nuun Tablets (The best electrolytes ever)
Hammer Nutrition Fizz (The after taste isn't good...I don't like stevia)
Hammer Nutrition Goo (Not too bad, the apple one tastes like pie)
Honey Stinger Goo/Gummies/Wafers (My favorite brand ever)
Cliff Goo (I love the chocolate one with caffeine)
GU (I hate everything GU)
Cranberry Red Bull (HAHA only on ultras...the only time I like energy drinks)

Misc Gear:
Nike Sports Watch (I liked it but now the battery life isn't sufficient enough. It also takes FOREVER to sync up with satellites)
Garmin FENIX 2 (I love this watch, syncs fast, and amazing battery life)
Body Glide (Any other recommendations? Things that don't come off as easy?)
New Skin
Ibuprofen
Biofreeze
Tiger Balm
S!Caps

MY CROSS-TRAINING:

So my lifting partner and I have been following a very Crossfit/HIIT style workout regimen called The Horsemen. It is a 4 month program and she has already cycled through it once and I just finished it for the first time. I started it early January. I didn't quite do the full 4 months. I came in to it about 2 or 3 weeks late. During that time I didn't hardly do any running outside of the 2015 races because we did these workouts 6 days a week and they left my legs so thrashed I had no energy to run. I don't recommend doing your first 2 50 mile races in the same month when you haven't really been running or doing a serious training regimen. I think what saved me was the fitness program AND the fact that even though I didn't really start racing regularly until I got to Hawaii in December of 2013 I had about 2 years of running under my belt and I have been playing sports regularly since I was in 3rd grade. Now I did complete both 50 milers without too many problems I was just incredibly slow. Both clocking in really poorly at 13hrs 54 mins and 13 hours 7mins. Anyways! I will list out the supplements I use for my training as well as give a few examples of my favorite WODs. We are starting the program over this week because my lifting partner is working with a new group. Once again I'm coming in 2 weeks late because I've been on leave and I was recovering from the race. The way the program works is the days are listed like this...
Day 1: 1 warm up, 1 strength.
Day 2: 1 warm up, endurance.

So then you go to the Warm up section and select a workout and then you go to the strength section and choose one of the work outs etc... So you mix and match the workouts. So while this 2nd time around will be the same workouts they will be mixed up differently. Also, another change is that my lifting partner is starting class so Mondays and Fridays will be days I do running and then this year since I am doing my first 100K and hopefully my first 100 Miler I am going to refrain from most races and use the weekends to hit the trails with the groups out here to prepare myself.

So here is a brief list of some of the fitness supplements I use(d), they are organized by brand.

Dymatize (My Favorite Brand)
Elite Gourmet Milk Chocolate Whey Protein
Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate
Vanilla Casein Protein (By far the best Casein powder I've had)
Micronized Creatine
Aminos

Cellucor
C4 Orange (pre workout)
(Cellucor also has an amazing Peanut Butter Marshmellow protein powder that is YUMMY!!)

ProJym
Vanilla and S'mores Protein

Golden Standard
Vanilla Whey Protein

Syntha
Vanilla Whey Protein

Carnivore
Chocolate Protein
(This brand is different because it is 100% pure beef protein. I also like how there are no carbs or sugar. The guy at GNC recommended this to me. I like the taste of Dymatize the best so I've decided to use carnivore to mix into food and use Dymatize as my drink)

Quest Protein Bars

Bodybuilding.com
Green Tea Extract

For Her:
Shred Her
Her Garnicinia
Her CLA
Lean Body for Her Food Based Multivitamin
(I also plan on adding fish oil soon)

So that should sum up the kinds of supplements I am using and have tried. Syntha and Golden Standard whey both taste fine but the only reason I bought them was because I needed vanilla protein and at the time the store didn't have vanilla Dymatize so I got these 2 as a buy 1 get one 50% off.

ANYWAYS! Last but not least some example WODs made by my lifting partner. If you youtube any of these movements Rogue Fitness has some of the best instructional videos.  Enjoy! ;)

Warm Up
2 Rounds:
5 Turkish Get Ups
5 Burpees
10 Step ups @ 35#

WOD

1) 50 Burpee Pull Ups
2)
50 Cleans @ 95# for men/ 65# Women
50 Sit Ups
25 Pull Ups
50 Kettlebell Swings @ 53# men/44# Women
25 Push Ups
50 Ball Slams @ 20#
25 Cal on Rower
50 Bench Press @ 95# men/ 65# women
50 Box jumps @ 20"
25 Back Extensions
50 Wall Balls
25 GHD
250M Row

~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~~

Crazy 8

Warm Up
5 Rounds
10 Wall Balls
20 Sit ups
Stretch

WOD

Instructions:
Sprints are 10M out and the 10M back. Do Exercise 1 and 2 and then do 2 sprints. Then do exercise 1,2 and 3 and do 3 sprints etc...add a sprint each time you complete the next exercise. Also! Adjust weight as necessary.

1. 8 Hang cleans @ 135#
2. 8 Squats @ 135#
3. 8 Box Jumps @ 30" Box
4. 8 Plyo Push Ups @ 12" box
5. 8 bent over lat raises @ 25#
6. 8 Dips @ Bodyweight
7. 8 under hand med ball throw @ 30#

~~~~~END~~~~~~~~~

Warm Up
5 Rounds
20 KB Swings @ 44#
7 Jumping lunges (7 each leg)
10 Push Ups

WOD

1)
Every minute for 20 minutes:
2 Sandbag Clean and Squats @ 85-95# (Or switch for barbell and adjust weight as needed if sandbag is not available)
3 burpees

Warm Up
5 Rounds
10 Squat Jumps
10 Clapping Push Ups
Stretch

WOD

20 Leg Blasters (Only body weight. No equipment needed)

1 Leg Blaster consists of:
20 Squats
10 Lunges each leg
10 Jumping lunges each leg
10 Squat Jumps

~~~~~END~~~~~

Warm Up
5 Rounds
10 Wall Balls
20 Sit Ups
Stretch

WOD

5 Rounds
400M Run with 25# Weight
5 Turkish Get ups with 25# weight
10 Burpees

5 Rounds
10 Deadlifts @ bodyweight
10 Burpees
10 KB Swings @ 55#
5 Pull Ups

~~~~~END~~~~~~

Well sorry this post was so long. I hope ya'll enjoyed it! Please feel free to ask questions or drop some advice and ideas!!!!! =D Lets all become great athletes together!