Ironman Nutrition for a Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) Triathlete

(see my post on the re-engineered plan I used for 2014 Ironman Florida)

When I started eating low carb high fat (LCHF), I was avoiding sugars and grains as if my life depended on it. I trained and raced all of 2013 trying not to use sugars. Prior to switching to LCHF, I was using the typical sugary stuff that was not much different from what most people use. For me, the sugary stuff was always too sweet on long training days except when I used a custom formula from Infinit Nutrition. With the custom formula, you can dial up calories, add/reduce this or that, but the best part was you can set the flavor down to near nothing!

So, what the heck was I supposed to do for nutrition if I could not use sugars and trying to avoid products with wheat and dairy?

Does a High Fat Diet Help Reduce Lactic Acid Buildup?

When I started eating a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet, I noticed that my athletic performance started to improve once my body made the transition to burning fat over carbs as its fuel source. I had also started Zone 2 training about two or three weeks after I changed my diet. During the first 10 days or so of switching to LCHF, I was extremely sluggish. Not only was my body moving slowly, so was my brain. The sluggishness subsided and the performance improvement started becoming noticeable within a month. I also noticed that my legs did not get the same burning sensations it did when I ran at the faster paces and that my recovery time was cut down substantially! A few podcasts I heard during that time discussed how others eating LCHF had also seen athletic performance gains and had faster recovery times. This totally intrigued me!

It's All About Zone 2 Baby! (Part 2)

In my last post, I went over why I started training using heart rate zones based on maximum heart rate. I wanted to build a good solid “base” so I could continue to improve throughout the year and long term. I also wanted to be very efficient at burning fat. In 2013, for both the bike and run, I trained almost exclusively in Zone 2. I was in the process of becoming fat adapted so I did very little speed work. However, looking back, I should have done some interval or speed work.

So what the heck is training zones anyway?

It's All About Zone 2 Baby! (Part 1)

The title of a recent post says it all about my past training methods, Training Like A Dummy... At the time, I did not know any better. I pushed hard each and every session. Over the next two to three years, I improved my training methods. On November 3rd, 2012, I signed up for Ironman Florida. Therefore, I had to figure out the best way to train quickly. I only had one year to go from a nervous newbie triathlete to a confident well-trained triathlete by November 2nd 2013. I wanted to not only survive Ironman Florida training but to also comfortably finish the 140.6 miles on race day. In order to keep this blog post from being overwhelming long, I broke it up into two posts. This post provides a little history as to why I trained in Zone 2. The next post will cover more detailed information about determining heart rate training zones.

Training Like A Dummy...

In my previous post, I mentioned how I landed in the emergency room not long after I completed a 10K road race. It was an expensive lesson on how NOT to train. I learned a ton from the experience and it made me change my training methods. However, it still took a couple of years after the lesson for me to figure out how best to train.

First, a little background about how I only knew to training one way - train hard all of the time.  In mid-2008 at age 42, I started working out at the gym for the first time in my life. I was enjoying the pains (muscle soreness) and seeing the gains I was making from working out several days a week. By the end of 2008 and early 2009, I was starting to" look in shape" due to weight loss and working out. Although I was being told I looked in shape, I did not feel like I was in shape because I would be exhausted after running a mere mile. So I set a goal to be in shape and to feel like I was in shape. Back then I did not train using a heart rate monitor as I do today. I did not know a thing about heart rate training, not even my maximum heart rate.

Hello World!

I created this blog to start documenting the journey I am currently experiencing.  I want to share the lessons, struggles, and surprises I have learned going from being a 6' 1" out-of-shape, overweight, middle age man to a fit endurance freak.  I was 265 pounds in mid-2007. By November 2013, I was racing Ironman Florida at 172 pounds.  Since then, my weight has settled into a range between 180 to 185 pounds; however, I am leaner, stronger, and faster than when I weighed 172!

July 2007

The start of my story is probably not much different than many of you out there.  Each year, I gained a little weight even when I tried to eat healthy -- well, I thought I was eating healthy.  As I gained weight, I always thought I could lose weight easily and achieve the mental picture I always had of myself - lean, toned, and fit. But yet, each year I continued to get fatter and fatter and I always lied to myself saying I was just a little overweight!  I was wearing size 40 and 42 pants and XL or XXL shirts. By the way, I now wear size 34 pants and Medium shirts!

I was unhappy about life in general. Then my 15-year marriage fell apart at the end of 2007. Due to stress and lack of appetite, I quickly lost 20 pounds. I looked in the mirror and was thinking I could quickly and easily achieve the body of my self-image.  Well, I have to say, it took significantly longer than I had anticipated.  Looking back, I like how it panned out since I learned so much during this time. Believe it or not, I still had to adjust my brain. Even though I was working hard to becoming fit and getting toned, I kept acting as if I was that shy overweight guy I had been for so many years!