i_like_sun

Dude, animal protein will go a LONG way to making you a ripped and lean endurance athlete. You, me, mamals, are made of protein and fat - if we don't replace the bricks AS we break down the building, the building starts to crumble! I know its way more complicated than this, but you'll boost up your calorie burning capacity if you eat enough lean protein. Personally, I went veggie-vegan for about a year a few years ago, and found myself getting pretty weak. I can maintain way more strength and general health better when I eat meat regularly. Its expensive, yes, but think about it as an investment in your body.

Well, if thas how you feel about it. Maybe you just need to eat some wood chips before you drink any.

I need to be careful not to use way too much coffee. The problem is that I like the stuff so much, its easy for me just to grab "one more cup" in the middle of the day - then I'll crash after the caffeine wears off. Basically, I get great positive side effects if I keep my doses in control and get enough sleep, but if I take in too much over the day or I take if after not sleeping well, I just end up feeling strung out and icky. Oh, Muffs, please don't do Coke ever again. Please

Are you vegetarian?

That guy is my hero!

Don't use too much soap and don't forget to turn off the tap!

Gymnastics is like weight training with your body. And doing the iron cross is way more fun than bicep curls (not that I can do a good iron cross - I'll will get there!).

I'm glad you figured out how to make your tummy happy, Muffs. About the Olympic ban on caffeine, it was my understanding that only the super high levels were made illegal (as your post hints to)? I was asking about it because there is a lot of research on this chemical, but it seems to affect each person a little differently. The reasons for this could be a super interesting bit of research...... Anyway, I drink ONE 3 shot espresso in the mornings, and sometimes have a green tea in the afternoon. I did quit the drug for three months last winter when I was all burned out, but I found that when I started drinking my 1 morning cup, I definitely had more energy throughout the day. ALSO, I notice that I'm LEANER when I drink coffee (this probably has to do with extra catacholamines floating around, which do a big part in fat metabolism). Also (even though I've read this in studies) I've found my ability to do sustained hard exercise ABSOLUTELY goes up; my total strength doesn't increase, but if I'm well rested caffeine seems to help me have higher quality workouts. Yeah, this drug pretty much kicks ass.

Dude, it sounds like you are doing really well, but a little more muscle will do only one thing for you: MAKE YOU BETTER. Marathon running burns so many calories and taxes your body's stress response so much, having more lean tissue to draw from will only enhance your performance. I wouldn't worry about "losing this, or gaining that" or whatever, just train effectively (meaning quality) eat enough to FULLY RECOVER from every session, and your body will know what to do. You might say "well, Lance loses weight for the Tour De France". I'd might say "yeah thats true, but Lance has MILLIONS of $$$$ in personal trainers and coaches at his disposal to make sure his blood work stays solid". Us recreational athletes have to remember that we don't have the financial backing that the world's top class athletes do, and therefore we are more likely to get in the way of our own success by overtraining and under-eating. When you said "each pound [of muscle] added takes .84 minutes off of a marathon finish time" I don't think that is necessarily true. Muscle is a highly active tissue, and if that extra mass is in the right places (like your core) it will only help you run faster and harder for longer. There are studies that show that total muscle strength corresponds to greater endurance strength, but it DOES NOT go the other way around. Shitty, I know. My point is, is that you've got to preserve the protein in your big type-2 fast twitch muslce fibers, otherwise your running speed will drop and your metabolism will slow - which f***s up your ability to recover. One last thing, I have a friend in my program at school who competes in marathons. She and I have had a few really good discussions about training philosophy, and one interesting thing she brought up is that she discovered that her running ability never got REALLY good until she started running less, and lifting more. I won't lie to to you, she is in INSANE shape - would easily kick my ass. She says she lifts weights easily as much as she runs (even when marathon training) and also that until she started doing more strength work, she encountered a lot more injury cycles. I hope this helps you a little.

Oh they exist:

Anyone interested in a joining Bellingham adult gymnastics class? I'm trying to get some people going with it so we can get adult training sessions going.

How much do you swallow? How does it make you feel? Do you notice differences in your exercise performance when you take/swallow it? What about when you don't?

Crap dude, when I wrote this post I had no idea how f***ing long this road to healing was going to be. Yes, I am back to being "active", but my ideas of "normal" have had to change a bit. Normal used to be "super human" activity and strength - but what is crazy is that nowadays I'm WAAAY stronger and bigger than I was before, but I train a lot less. The secret is all about quality over quantity and good FUNCTIONAL exercise (meaning, throw out all the calf raises and do squats and running - and not to mention a lot of FOOD). I'll just throw this out there: Having a lot of muscle is SOOOOO MUCH FUN! I feel bad for all the guys out there running miles every day while they starve themselves - you can just look in the mirror or go to pick up a heavy pack and see and feel the difference! When you've got strength and energy, you just don't give a shit about anything - nothing can get under your skin.

I'm casting my vote for Mythos.

FIX

I wonder why nobody ever makes a big deal about what's going on at the molecular level, because that's where the real story is. Building on that, if your body is not trained to be certain it's going to get a steady stream of sugar, it will learn to depend more on your fat reserves to keep running. Since you always have fat around to burn, your energy metabolism becomes much more stable and less dependent on you to feed it another fix of sugar. [/quote I agree with you, mostly. My understanding is that if you reduce your carbohydrates too much, thyroid hormones crash out and thus general metabolism slows. So yes, you'll be efficient at burning fat, but you'll SUCK at burning calories. Fat burning isn't the answer to getting lean, calorie burning is.

That is interesting that you notice sugar cravings when you are training for your marathons. It makes sense, you body is telling you that you are mildly starving - you're probably not replacing what you are breaking down. So you are (I'm guessing) correct in saying that you should probably up your nutrition especially around those times. Like I've rambled off in the past, NEVER starve yourself around exercise. There are only gains to be had by giving your body what it needs.

Terrorism causes poverty. Therefore we're F***ed.

there is no god. now what? GET BACK TO WORK.. right back at ya! Why WORK? Whats the point to it all?

Any books or authors you'd reccommend - or reject - on nutrition, sports nutrition, especially geard toward athletes and laymen? All of the training books I've read (mainly distance running and marathoning and weight training) all have chapters on weight loss and nutrition and such, but they all just scratch the surface and say similar things. Maybe a topic for another thread but... Just askin' Hey, yeah, actually "The Swartzbein Principle" is a fantastic book. The lady who wrote it is SUPER SMART, and is an endocrinologist that specializes in metabolic disorders. In my opinion she is one of the very few book writers that actually emphasizes BALANCE over some ridiculous fad diet. After you read her book (there is actually two books) you'll never look at nutrition the same. You'll limit your intake of simple carbs to times around exercise, and eat a lot more total FAT (including saturated) whole grains, and LEAN PROTEIN. Trust me on this one. Also, you can find a TON of nutrition info. on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez These are all peer reviewed studies, and you can search for the most up to date literature. You have to enjoy scientific reading though. As for stuff to reject, I'd say this: reject 99.9% of everything you read in these self help books (but not Swartzbein). Realize that humans have been evolving for millions of years, and our physiology knows what to do. Just eat WHOLE FOODS, meaning stay away from anything man-made, including refined sugar and hydrogenated oils, and get A LOT of exercise. Be intuitive. Your body knows what to do. Oh, and throw out your bathroom scale. It is a useless piece of crap that just feeds America's eating disorder problem.

NOT worth my time. Sorry, but people who still believe the earth is 5000 years old need to have their lobotomies reversed.

Alright Mr. Tvrashtarkatena a.k.a. trash talker, you are either 1) WAY too smart for the rest of us pathetic spray normals or 2) Simply the biggest asshole I've ever come across. or 3) Simply have the worst sense of humor I've ever come across or 4) A combination of 2 and 3. I'm banking on # 4.

63 and still KILLING it! My dad is the most amazing and admirable man I know. Cheers pops, to so many years of wonder and joy playing together in the mountains. I love you.

Precisely why I don't need to meet you! Muffy and I, on the other hand, have some big giant exciting and thrilling plans of fantastic and dangerous adventure. :kisss:

Why even ask Kevbone? I mean, whats the point to anything? Whats the point of scratching your butt? Because it FEELS GOOD! Spray is the same as any human twitch designed to relieve stress: "when you've gatta go, you gatta go".