Calorie intake is something I’m making a conscious effort to stay on top of. In the past, I’ve been under fuelling for the volume of work I’ve been trying to complete each week. I say ‘work’ instead of training because work is the scientific term for the “amount of energy transferred.” Whether that’s mechanical, thermodynamic, chemical, or whatever, work relates to the transfer of energy from one system to another. In my context, it’s the transfer of energy from ‘me’ to my life (family, work, training, and scrolling social media).
In the past, I’ve only really thought about fuelling for training and have significantly underestimated the energetic cost of the rest of my life.
After discussing the energy output theory with Dr Matt Miller on the Performance Advantage Podcast (Ep 107), I’ve been playing around with my diet.
In conclusion, the more I eat, the better I feel. Unfortunately, what I eat matters too, and I can’t just load up calories with junk 🥺.
I say this because I see a lot of people under-eating for the amount of energy required to live their lives. Mostly, people are trying to eat less in the hope they lose weight, assuming less weight = faster times. In reality, you’re probably holding more adipose tissue, reducing recovery, inhibiting adaptation and diminishing the effectiveness of your training. A good person to follow here is Mikki Wildiden. Her weekly newsletter is a good read.
My big test for the week was the club XC running race. As you can see from the photos, this is old-school XC running on some dude's farm. Stay within 2m of the markers and avoid the 💩.
I felt super strong on the climbs and held an even lap split for the three laps.
📊11:11hrs total (TSS 596)
🏃5x Run = 7:51hrs (92km), 1716m 📈
🚲2x Zwift rides
🚵1x MTB
Mon - Rest day
Tues - AM Easy hour 12km | PM Zwift General Ride (46min)
Wed - AM easy 30min (6km) | PM MTB Race 40min, 1:45hr total
Thurs - Technical trail run (with 1km KOM 👑) 1:45hr (19km)
Fri - AM Easy hour (12km) | PM Zwift bunch ride (50min)
Sat - XC Race 🥇40min/10.3km + WU & CD
Sun - 2:00hr (25km) Long run (off-road) all zone 2
This week is similar, but my XC race is Sunday, so I might try to do my long run on Friday to give myself more recovery on Saturday. But that would mean backing up after my long trail run on Thursday, so I’ll see how I go. You can follow my training on my Srava.
FYI. I released a new YouTube video, blog & podcast this week, which is doing well - “Stop Using Finish Time Marathon Plans: Discover a New Approach to Run Training”. Make sure you check that out. (and subscribe 😉)
#fasterwithdata #running #runner #ultrarunning #marathontraining