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Hey everyone! My name is Robbie and I used to be a carbophobe (by “used to” I mean about two weeks ago). I’m also about a quarter of the way through a Diet Recovery 2/Eat For Heat re-read. Loving every moment of this…
I’m posting here to see if any other moderate endurance exercise peoples have tried this. I say moderate because my weekly training used to consist of approx 15 running miles a week. I know I know… hardly anything approaching true endurance training. I’ve paused that until I see my temps come up. I started this about two weeks ago with waking temps around 96.4. Now I’m getting morning temps around 97.2. I suppose I was hoping for slightly faster progress. I’ve got a Tough Mudder (my third one) in November and I don’t want to be a tubby tub can’t run a mile douche. This being my third Mudder I know that all I really need, as far as running conditioning goes, is something in between a 5k and a 10k. Again, that’s not a lot of running, but I don’t feel comfortable even looking at my Vibrams until I see a solid week of 98+ waking temps.
Anybody else experience anything like this? I’m hoping for some idea of when to start seeing 98+ temps. It’s just so slow right now, and I don’t think I can physically eat any more food. I just polished off a Big Mac + large fries + apple pie and that sets me at 2500 cals and 380 grams of carbs for the day (I’m shooting for at least 3500 if not 4000 cals). I. just. can’t. eat. any. more. damn. food.
I’m running a string of 5k races this fall, so I’m probably doing similar training to what you want to do. Here’s my story in short. In the spring, I became that tubby tub you’re talking about, because I was eating constantly and not exercising. The high calories improved some of my health problems, but I also became lethargic and out of shape. This summer, I lost some of the weight by cutting calories, and I got back into running, but I also saw my health decline again.
Here’s the good news. Recently I decided to try a variant of the high calorie diet, but with low fat and higher carbs. Almost immediately, I saw improvements in my health, exercise capacity, and speed of recovery. So I think there’s a way for you to accomplish your dietary goals, without sacrificing your athleticism. I plan to post more details about this in a new thread soon–maybe even tonight if I get the time.
I signed up for a tough mudder because it just looked so awesome. It’s in a couple months and I will definitely never be ready. The most I’ve ever run is 5k, and it wasn’t on muddy hills. My “training” is running a few k every now and then, and some strength training or exercise class every now and then. “Every now and then” because I’m trying to not force myself or stress of it. I usually only have workouts 1-3 times a week. So, you can imagine, I am not the same path as many mudderlings!
I’m not even sure if I will end up going to the event, however we decided that if we do go, we can always walk most of it. That way, all the fun can be had without all the stress on the body in previous months. The obstacles look great fun, and while I’m not a very strong person, I want to try hard and hope I will be ok with my strength / circuit training.
You MUST do the TM. I know it’s an overpriced, commercialized thing at this point. But they do something so well, something I haven’t experienced at any other event. There is a feeling there, a spirit maybe. Most of the course is designed so that you can’t do it alone. They don’t even track your course time, it’s simply a non-factor. All the pressure for you to perform is just not there.
So, it’s great. Everybody is there to help everybody else (well most everybody, you still have a few self-important douchetarts). Like I said… a spirit that I’ve not felt at any other event.
I know that 11+ miles seems like a lot, but in this context it’s really not. You end up waiting in line for so many obstacles that you essentially get a leg rest every half mile or so. Ends up feeling like something much closer to a 10k rather than a half marathon.
I run a little bit but not 15 miles/week. More like 6-9. The best thing I’ve found is eating sugar (like OJ, dried fruit, honey) before exercising. And getting adequate sleep. In fact, if you’re hoping to gain exercise ability and not pack on pounds, building on what David said, you may want to aim for more high carbs and lower fat. If you were low-carb, starch may be more tolerable than sugar at first, but realize that sugar gets temps up fast for a lot of people, and much more than fat.
It sounds like what you’re eating right now is pretty high fat, which is why I point this out. If it were me, I would be eating more like a lean-ish burger (no mayo) on a bun, baked potato or sweet potato with a little butter or yogurt on top (instead of the fries), and OJ or other juice to drink, and maybe some sweet fruit like pineapple or mango, dried fruit or a little ice cream or sorbet for dessert. If you start feeling like you’re not getting enough fat, you can always add more, but you’re taking in an awful lot of fat (and especially PUFAs) right now. Also, make sure you are getting adequate salt (this is not an issue with McD’s, obviously).
If you ruined your metabolism by eating low-carb, it may be more important for you to heal by getting carbs rather than by packing in huge amounts of calories.
And kudos to you for doing the tough mudder! I am way too much of a wimp, but I have friends who’ve done it and had a lot of fun.
Thanks for the insight everybody.
I’ve read that “Marathon Training Diet” blog post a few times now. While I know that I’m not training for a marathon, I still plan on doing some running work. I gather from that post that carbs are mucho good for the runnins.
I’d call what I’m eating right now high carb and high fat.
- Straight out of bed: two mini Baby Ruths
- Once I get to work: two poptarts and two hash browns
- Salty snack about an hour and a half later (usually chips or cheezits)
- BIG lunch… this is normally something relatively decent (read home cooked)
- Another snack two hours later
- Smaller dinner at home
- Before bed snack, usually an ice cream sandwich
I usually am pretty good about keeping fluid intake to a minimum. Small (about 4oz) soda or sweet tea two or three times a day when I feel thirsty. Sometimes I just get crazy thirsty and nothing else suffices but a good guzzle of something cold and carbonated… this might happen two or three times a week. That actually happened last night. Was doing dishes before bed, opened up the fridge to put something away and spotted the gallon of Arizona Green Tea… didn’t even grab a cup, just down the hatch. Was so good, surprisingly didn’t seem to affect my temps at all. Which brings me to another point…
I’m probably just impatient. My metabolism is/was probably pretty messed up from all the running and low carbness. This is officially week 3 or 4 of refeeding and resting, my waking temps are still averaging stinky low 97.2ish. During the day I’ll see it peak around 98.3, but my feet still get cold off and on and I’m still waking up around 3 or 4 in the morning. I can go back to sleep without eating something though… so I guess that’s good.
Whatever… I’m being a bit of a baby. I know there are people who have it a lot worse than I do.
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