Building Excitement & some answers

What a great weekend of dry land training and an all to brief introduction of roller skis. I am excited to really start thinking of our coming season. XC skiing has already begun in europe and in West Yellowstone.

RENDEZVOUS REPORTMONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011 AT 12:09AM11/13/11- Another couple of inches of new overnight, light snow gusty winds. Winter is here, building more base today. Rendezvous, Deja View, Tele Hill, Biathlon Range, Sprint Loops including Biathlon Red. Good skis should be fine on what is groomed so far. Excellent coverage except on the very edges in a few places. Single track and skate lane 4 m wide.

I am so looking forward to this winter! I am so glad to meet you all this last weekend.

I had some questions over the weekend and wanted to get the answers in out.

Chafing - long runs or skin suits that abraid on the skin can be prevented by using a product called "Body Glide" or Chafing Relief Powder-gel. I have used both BEFORE getting hot spots. I took some of the powder gel on a 50 mile hike with our Boy Scout troop and saved a good number of feet from painful blisters. At the first sign of a hot spot in a boot or clothing abraision, apply, then every time in that spot before activity.

Nutrition - this one was much harder for a short response but here is a quick poke at the important bits.

• NO ONE should be eating a 2000 calorie a day diet. Each day is different so you should adjust every day knowing what you are about to do, or have done that day. I'm not a big counter and don't log my meals but I know even on my normal workout days, I am not hitting 2000. Find a base matabolism calculator and start working from there. 
• Eat when you are hungry, which can be 5 small meals a day. An apple at 10 AM makes lunch not so ravenous.
• Ditch the big dinner plates. Portion control is essential to any nutrition plan. Cleaning you plate is a big mistake and with smaller plates, its easy to start breaking in that habbit. Swap the 12" plates for 8's.
• DO not start a specialty diet during a new physical training plan. No one can judge the results of either and it makes tracking progress a problem without building any good habbits. 
• Avoid deep fried or batter fried food of any sort at any time. There are so many better choices for every meal. Ask restraints about how they prepare so you can order smart.
• Temptation foods are ok once in a while. Everyone loves that one food that is bad for them. Start a plan and mark it on the calendar that you can have ONE from the naughty list every other week or so. Many of these foods are things like prepared meats, hot dogs, potato chips.
• Fatty foods arent evil. Properly used, fatty foods fuel cold weather activity just fine, thank you very much. In fact, some high quality fuel burn is a combination of fatty and protien foods (nuts, peanut butter). Have you ever frozen at night after beer, salsa and chips? I have. But I never get cold at night from eating a bean and cheese dish. Fast burn carbs won't keep you warm in the winter.
• Complex carbs and fiber should be a primary component of a diet.
• Lots of fruit and veggies. I get 7 or 8 portions of these a day. Blueberries and strawberries are my favorite and have the added benefit of antioxidants. While the antioxidants that we create internally from exercise are many times what we consume, I can use all the age fighting/healt inspiring that I can get.
• Salt is horrible stuff to athletes when it isn't controlled. It leads to painful swelling and bad performance. Watch any processed foods from 300+mg per serving. Ever look at a can of beef stew with 800mg of sodium? Athletes do need salts if they sweat a lot, but they can be managed well with bananas and normal food intake. I would rather lightly salt an egg white than eat a can of stew. My personal guage is my ring finger swelling up past the point where I can't remove my weedding ring. Chinese or take out food is also another unexpected source of sodium.

Cold hands/feet - Bring a hand muffler and scarf for standing around in the wind waiting for the team to finish zero or other waiting activities. The wind layer and down insulated jackets are are the best for very cold teamps that we are likely to see. After exercising or racing, get another layer on immediatly to preserve the heat. Wind and sweat lead to rapid cooling and its far easier to stay warm then the get warm again. There are chemical tabs to help with heating and over boots for an added insulation layer. Delay putting on plastic boots unti right before the race and store them indoors to prevent foot shock (ice cold boots rob energy and are stiff and chafe). There is an old addage, if you feet are cold, put on a hat, and I do and it helps. A good hat, not a knitt one that the wind can blast through.

Energy managment - Any outdoor winter activity that lasts over 1 hour will need a supplement. An hour of all out activiity will require several hundred calories and leave your system needing assistance. If you ate breakfast at 6am, zero your rifle at 8am, race starts at 9am or 10am, you are already down several cold hours and your dinner from last night has just about run out, no go race. Trying to race without more fuel is dangerous and you will not have your best day. Have a bagle with peanut butter for a mid morning snack but leave 30 minutes after eating to digest. Practice this in your evening workout before dinner but after working all afternoon! If you like, eat a GEL/GU pack 15 minutes before a workout/race and know that they last about 40 minutes.If you wont finish in that time, know you will be very depleted and may "Hit the Wall" as runners say and have nothing left to even get up that last hill. This feeling sucks, so if you start with a Gel/GU, plan to continue with another at the 40 minute mark give or take (my wife likes 30 minutes, I like 40). Practice this on a long workout day. Some Gel/GU has cafeene which does wonders for attitude on the back part of the trail, ask any cyclist. But be warned that two GU/GEL with caffeine may leave your tummy in trouble.

Ok, thats enough for today. It was a great weekend. If you found that you were sore today. That is ok, we did a good amount of running for a weekend. While its ok to take a day off, don't take more than one, and if you can, at least go for a walk (mile or so) to keep your system flushing out the tender bits.

It was a pleasure to meet everyone and see you soon.

Jeff