After a few months hiatus, I am back to the blog. I am going to spend the next few weeks talking about some serious issues that endurance athletes can face. Unfortunately, some of these issues I have experienced first-hand, and will use myself as an example when necessary. It’s the off-season for most of us now, and it’s a great time to assess where you are and figure out where you need to go. I’m spending the winter getting well and getting strong so I can kick some serious a** next year.
There comes a time in an endurance athletes life- especially a female endurance athlete- when he or she needs to realize that looking a certain way and performance don’t always work together. Eating too few calories for a long period of time may give you a six pack and get you ultra-lean, but can cost you in the long run. After a year of under-eating and obsessing about my weight, I experienced horrible performance over the 2009 triathlon season. I had a few awful races and then a nagging injury that I am just now beginning to recover from. Dr. McConnell, my boss at FitMed , did a SpectraCell analysis on me to determine if a lack of nutrients could be part of the problem. Turns out, it sure was! Once I changed my diet and started eating foods that contained high levels of the nutrients I lacked and started eating a proper number of calories I started getting faster again.
Women in particular really suffer from these issues. And, unfortunately, some coaches aren’t responsible enough to view drastic weight loss and loss of a menstral cycle as performance and health inhibitors instead of a boost to their ego for making you thin. I came across this article and I thought was fitting. Hope you find it useful, too. And, if you have any interest in having your bone density scanned, body fat analyized, or blood micronutrient levels tested, email me at info@annefinch.com for more information.
Women as endurance athletes: What you need to know
Women are very quickly becoming the fastest growing segment of endurance athletes. Studies suggest that women utilize less glycogen and more fat than men in long, lower-intensity exercise. This makes female athletes particularly well suited for, and may potentially provide an advantage over men in endurance events. Training and competition in endurance events have obvious health benefits, but there are some short-term and long-term negative health consequences, particularly in women, to avoid.
Females clearly have different nutrient requirements than males. Many of these differences are simply based on body size, but others are due to physiological differences. It is by understanding these physiological differences, that the female endurance athlete can reduce her risk of some immediate and long-term health problems.
Menstrual cycle dysfunction and bone loss
Female endurance athletes who train intensely are at risk for menstrual cycle dysfunction such as amenorrhea (complete lack of menses) or oligomenorrhea (decrease frequency of menses). This risk likely has to do with a chronic under consumption of calories. Insufficient caloric intake leads to malnutrition, which increases the likelihood of menstrual dysfunction. Menstrual dysfunction then leads to hormonal imbalances, which cause a reduction in bone density. This reduction in bone density in the short-term places the female endurance athlete at increased risk of injuries such as stress fractures. In the long-term and much, more insidiously these hormonal imbalances can lead to osteoporosis, which is a very common cause of disability and reduced quality of life in older women. Ensuring that you are eating enough calories and getting enough calcium in your diet may help reduce the risk of menstrual dysfunction and the associated reduction in bone density.
Anemia
Iron is an integral component of red blood cells (RBCs) and without enough iron, anemia (decreased RBC count) develops which can lead to a reduction in exercise capacity, impaired performance, tiredness, cramping and headaches. In both men and women, iron is lost in sweat, feces, urine, and heel strike hemolysis (the destruction of RBCs caused when the heel hits the ground with force, i.e. running). Due to the added blood loss that women experience with menstruation, iron deficiency is another common problem found in female athletes.
The best way to prevent iron deficiency anemia is to eat a diet that is well fortified in iron and secondarily by wearing well cushioned shoes and running on softer surfaces (to reduced heel strike hemolysis).Recommendations:
- Eat! Make sure you are taking in enough calories to meet your energy demands. If you are unsure how, than is consider talking to a trained sports nutritionist. You may even consider undergoing testing. Using oxygen consumption analysis you can find out your basal metabolic rate (how many calories you burn up in a day just being alive) and the amount of calories burned at varying levels of exercise. You can then use this information to make sure that your energy consumption is always greater than your energy expenditure. If you do experience menstrual cycle dysfunction, talk to your doctor.
- Make sure you are getting at least the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium and iron. Depending on your level of activity, you may need even more than the RDA.
- Get your blood checked at least yearly to assess calcium levels, make sure that your RBC count is normal and that your iron levels and stores are adequate.
- Consider bone density testing every few years to make sure your bone density levels are appropriate for your age.
- Defy expectations, shatter all stereotypes and let your competitive side shine though.
Salvatore J. Tirrito M.D., F.A.C.C.
Pima Heart Associates
HeartWise Fitness & Nutrition- President/CEO
Proud makers of XOOD Natural Healthy Endurance Drinks
www.xoodhealth.com
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Unfortunately, training as an endurance athlete comes with the risk of long-term, chronic injury. Injuries occurring from sports are mostly due to trauma or overuse syndromes involving the musculoskeletal system and its soft tissues. Due to the nature of endurance training, these injuries do not have time to repair properly due to continued training and, thus, disruptions to the healing processes increase inflammation. I have discovered that acupuncture is an incredibly beneficial addition to my training regime.
Acupuncture is used in the treatment of injuries and musculoskeletal and constitutional imbalances, and is often effective for relieving muscle pain and spasm and improving circulation to tense or injured tissues. Acupuncture may be especially effective for tendon and ligament sprain/strains and chronic injuries which have been poorly responsive to other types of treatment. It can quickly relieve pain and inflammation, and move blood stagnation (i.e., release osmotic pressure) away from the injury. This, in turn, creates a more efficient healing environment. Consistent acupuncture treatments can improve performance and provide more energy. Treatments can support the body during training, help to build muscle mass, promote liver glycogen storage, and to lend the body those bursts of energy that are so integral to a great performance.
Studies have shown that acupuncture has measurable effects on the flow of blood to certain areas of the body, which could in turn boost athletic performance. One such study conducted at the Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine involved athletes running 5,000 meters, and then sitting for acupuncture treatments before they had a chance to catch their breath. The heart rates of the athletes who received the treatments recovered more quickly than those in the control group.
Another study published in the American Journal of Acupuncture measured the effects of acupuncture on anaerobic threshold and work capacity during exercise in healthy young males. Researchers found that individuals in the acupuncture treatment group had higher maximal exercise capacity and were able to perform higher workloads at the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) than individuals in the placebo group. The individuals that received acupuncture also had lower heart rates.
I also find that acupuncture improves my race performance by getting me mentally prepared. It has a naturally calming and relaxing effect on the body and mind. I always see my acupuncturist the week of a big race with great results!
If you want more information or the name of my acupuncturist, please contact me at info@annefinch.com.
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If you subscribe to the idea that being an athlete allows you to eat whatever you want whenever you want it, you are doing yourself a great disservice. Eating well is essential for performance. You wouldn’t think of putting 87 octane gas in a car labeled Premium Fuel Only, yet you put crap in your body without pause.
After workouts, replenishing glycogen stores and repairing muscle damage is essential for proper recovery. Within 30-45 minutes of training, a snack that consists of a 4:1 carb:protein ratio should be eaten. After 45 minutes the muscles are less receptive to the uptake of carbohydrate and it then can take up to 72 hours to completely recover. Another snack (or lunch or dinner) of similar makeup should be eaten 2 hours after that. A piece of fruit with a small amount of protein is an excellent choice because the simple sugars of the fruit are easy for the body to assimilate. This may be an apple with peanut butter, a peanut butter and banana sandwich, a fruit smoothie with ground flax seeds, or similiar.
If you want other suggestions for proper snacks after training, email me at info@annefinch.com.
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What’s wrong with the typical American diet?
It’s mostly comprised of highly processed foods and animal products with fruits, vegetables, and whole-grains consumed sparingly if at all. According to the World Health Organization, 70% of all deaths are diet-related. Meaning, most illnesses and causes of death could be completely avoided with proper nutrition.
Americans are getting fatter and sicker, spending $1.6 trillion dollars a year on health expenditures. At least half of all Americans take at least one prescription drug, and one in six Americans take at least 3 prescription drugs every day! Our children fare no better; asthma and allergies are up 282% in the last 40 years, coincidentally coinciding with the advent of convenience foods. Approximately 25 million children and adolescents in the United States are considered overweight or obese. As we move away from a whole food, plant-based diet we move further from good health. We’ve become a society if reaction- treating our ailments with drugs- rather than being proactive- fueling our bodies for protection. We think more about the quality of fuel for our cars than the fuel for our bodies. It’s time to look at food as the source of good health.
Making good choices for health
A plant-based diet is the best defense for disease prevention. Cancer, heart disease, and stroke are the diseases that affect most in the United States today. Numerous studies show that fruits, vegetables, and other plant-base foods are rich in antioxidants and other compounds that fight against cancer. In fact, the American Institute of Cancer Research suggests that if the only change that people make was to eat the recommended 9 or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, cancer rates would drop by as much as 20 percent. And, by staying physically active and maintaining a healthy weight, these rates would drop by 30 to 40 percent. Heart disease and stroke can also be prevented by eating high fiber, plant-based diet. In fact, changes in diet can have pretty immediate results. French researchers saw a 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease risk factors among 212 participants who followed the healthier-fats whole-food, plant-based diet for a 3 month period.
And with children, parents inflict health risks often without being aware of it. Children raised on convenience foods- sugary processed junk- have no chance of defense against the illnesses and environmental factors that they are up against daily. Allergies, asthma, ADHD, just to name a few, are increasing at alarming rates. We truly need to shift our focus to better eating choices.
What is a plant-based diet?
A plant-based diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates. Animal products comprise very little of the diet. And while complete avoidance of all animal products is ideal, that may not be practical for all. Therefore, it is recommended that 80% of foods should be plant-based and only 20% should come from animal product. Additionally, the animal product should be fresh wild caught fish. Chicken and eggs may be consumed occasionally provided that they are organic, free-range; red meat and milk products should be avoided completely.
So, what does this mean? A typical meal should include:
- Vegetables and fruits. In order to get the 9 to 13 recommended daily servings of fruits and vegetables, there should be at least 2 fruits and vegetables represented at each meal and snack. Use a variety of different fruits and vegetables and be sure to eat them in their whole, complete form. Minimally cooked and not processed. Eating a Lean Cuisine with a few peas and green beans and loaded with sodium is not the ideal way.
- Whole grains. High-complex carbohydrates with high fiber content should be included at every meal and snack. Read labels as the food industry label of “whole grains” doesn’t necessarily mean high fiber. Fiber content should be at least 3 grams per serving. Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, high fiber cereals, barley, and quinoa are all excellent choices.
- Legumes. While protein is found in all plant-based foods, the majority of high protein foods should come from legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils.
Why eat a plant-based diet?
There is much research showing that diets high in fruits, vegetables, and high fiber complex carbohydrates decrease the risk of any types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
Plant-based foods are rich sources of antioxidants which protect our cells from the oxidative processes that occur within our bodies from both natural and environmental causes. Oxidative damage is what causes DNA mutations within our cells and, thus, cancer. Plant-based foods also contain thousands of phytochemicals that protect against cancer.
Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes can also be prevented through a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and high fiber complex carbohydrates. Soluble fiber from whole grains and beans help lower cholesterol. Additionally, your body also converts plant-based foods to energy very efficiently and then excreted from the body. This reduces the amount of calories stored as fat thereby reducing the possibility of obesity, a risk factor for both heart disease and diabetes. Additionally, you will have much more energy and feel great!
How to eat well-balanced plant-based meals
If meat is still the predominant food on your plate, consider revising it to shift towards more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. At the very least consider having two-thirds of each meal be plant-based. Ideally, have several meals a day with no animal products at all. It’s important to understand that while ALL plant-based foods contain protein, the main protein source of your meals should consist soybeans, beans, or lentils. It is important to note that both soybeans and the grain quinoa as both complete proteins. That is, they both contain all 9 essential amino acids needed for protein utilization in the body.
It is also important to consider a variety of fruits and vegetables at each meal to ensure maximizing the protective nutrients and phytochemicals that you are getting on a daily basis. Also, including the super food avocado to a meal ensures the maximum absorption of the nutrients in all the other foods that you are eating with it.
The current recommendation for servings of fruits and vegetables are 9 to 13 servings per day. A serving of vegetables is considered ½ cup of cooked or raw veggies or a whole cup of raw leafy greens. A serving of fruit is typically one medium size piece, ½ cup of cooked or raw fruit, or ¼ of dried fruit.
Recommendations for high fiber complex carbohydrates should equal more than 7 servings per day, which is roughly 25 to 35 grams of fiber. One serving of complex carbohydrates should contain at least 3 grams of fiber.
Foods to include
All minimally processed plant-based foods are excellent choices. However, a well-rounded variety will ensure optimizing your exposure to disease-fighting nutrients.
- Dark leafy greens such as spinach, collard greens, kale, and Swiss chard, are perhaps the most nutrient dense vegetables.
- Deep, colorful vegetables are also very high in antioxidants and phytochemicals. Great choices include carrots, pumpkin, red bell peppers, and broccoli.
- Berries and melons are very high in antioxidants and nutrients. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, cantaloupe, kiwi, and watermelon round out some top contenders.
- Black beans, pinto beans, black eyed peas, lentils, are the best choices for legumes.
- Whole grain products should be examined closely. Many food labels read “whole grain”and are not good choices. Make sure there is at least 3 grams of fiber per serving.
Why not meat?
Meat today is not the same as meat eaten by our ancestors. Farming practices have become about the bottom line, which is to get animals as big and fat as possible in the shortest amount of time for high yields. This creates very sick animals which are then given antibiotics and drugs. If you are going to eat meat, it is best to select organic, free-range products. And, limit your portion size to one three-ounce serving every other day. It is best to avoid dairy products like milk and cheese and red meat altogether.
It’s important to realize that calcium can be obtained in adequate supply from soy milk, broccoli, bok choy, collard greens, kale, and tofu. Additionally, these items contain many other disease fighting nutrients that milk does not have.
Making the switch
As overwhelming as it may seem, moving to a plant-based diet is very easy. Here are some tips to help smooth the transition.
- Buy a vegan or vegetarian cookbook. This will give you some easy meat-free meals to try even if you do not plan on converting.
- Spend more time in the produce aisle. Instead of breezing through the outskirts of the store, buy the bulk of your items from the produce section. Pick a new fruit vegetable each week to buy and then find a recipe online or in a cookbook on how to prepare it.
- Add more flavor to sandwiches and salads. Load all types of veggies and fruits to your favorite meals. Use hummus instead of mayonnaise.
- Make a good breakfast. Breakfast is an excellent time to start with high fiber complex carbohydrates. After a good night’s sleep, the brain is hungry and feeds on glycogen. Whole grains are the perfect fuel for a hungry brain. Whole wheat waffles or high fiber cereals with fresh fruit and orange juice are just what the body needs to start the day.
- Eat green at lunch. A big salad or a whole wheat pita filled with veggies and grains work well. A bean and rice burrito with veggies and guacamole is another great choice.
- Stay clean at dinner. Whole wheat pasta with veggies and tomato sauce, a big salad with beans and nuts, or brown rice and steamed vegetables work well for dinner.
- Balance with good snacks. Fruit with peanut butter, crackers and hummus, raw vegetables, nuts, and fruit and soymilk smoothies can help get the rest of your nutrient needs in during the day.
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This weekend marks the beginning of the season with the East Cooper Coastal Triathlon and I thought I would share a few tips on making sure your transition experience is a good one.
- Know where you are set up. Sounds easy enough but when you come out of the water and run towards the transition area your heart is racing and everyone’s bikes and stuff seems to look the same. Before you leave the transition area for the swim, look around and get a few reference points as to where you are set up. Use points that will not move during the race. In other words, don’t use the sweet black and white Cervelo bike at the end of the bike rack as a reference because it may not be there when you get to the transition area.
- Have a set up towel placed on the ground next to your bike. Place your cycling shoes (and socks if you wear them) closest to you. Place your helmet on the aero bars of the bike with your sunglasses in the helmet. Your running shoes and bib number belt should be placed behind your cycling items.
- Have any nutrition that you may use during the race attached to the bike or on the towel next to the gear for the event in which you will be eating it. I also open or partially open wrappers to prevent from having to do so in the race.
- For a beach swim you may have a small bucket of water to wash the sand off your feet before putting on your cycling shoes.
- For a swim requiring a wetsuit, I like to spray myself down with Pam cooking spray to help get the wetsuit off quickly and Body Glide around your neck, wrists, and ankles will prevent chaffing.
- Before the race, walk through the transition area to see where you enter from the swim, leave on the bike, enter from the bike and leave on the run. Also note where you mount and dismount on the bike. Knowing these things before you enter the transition area during the race will help minimize your transition time.
- Know where you are set up. I’m repeating this because it is that important.
Have a great race!
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The Academy of Sports Medicine, along with the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada, released a position paper outlining the recommendations for optimal nutrition for athletes. If you have been counseled by me or have heard me speak then you will be familiar with most of the bullet points in this paper. However, there are still plenty of people out there who just don’t connect the dots when it comes to the importance of optimal nutrition for sports performance. They still insist that because they are an athlete they can eat whatever they want. Here are the key points of the paper, which you can also read at http://www.acsm-msee.org.
- Athletes need to consume adequate energy during periods of high-intensity and/or long-duration training to maintain body weight and health and maximize training effects. Low energy intakes can result in loss of muscle mass; menstrual dysfunction; loss or failure to gain bone density; and increased risk of fatigue, injury, and illness; and a prolonged recovery process.
- Body weight and compostition should not be used as the sole criterion for participation in sports; daily weigh-ins are discouraged.
- Carbohydrate recommendations for athletes are 2.7-4.5 g/lb/day)
- Protein recommendations for endurance and strenght trained athletes range from 0.5-0.8 g/lb/day. These recommended protein intakes can generally be met through diet alone, without the use of protein or amino acid supplements.
- Fat intake should range from 20% tp 35% of total energy intake. Consuming <20% of energy from fat does not benefit performance.
- Athletes who restrict energy intake or use severe weight loss practices, eliminate one or more food groups from their diet, or consume high or low carbohydrate diets of low micronutrient density are at greatest risk of micronutrient deficiencies.
- Dehydration drecreases exercise performance; thus, adequate fluid intake before, during, and after exercise is important for health and optimal performance. After exercise, replace approximately 16-24 oz of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise.
- Before exercise, a meal or snack should provide sufficient fluid to maintain hydration, be relatively low in fat and fiber to facilitate gastric emptying and minimize gastrointestinal distress, be relatively high in carbohydrate to maximize maintenance of blood glucose, be moderate in protein, be composed of familiar foods, and be well tolerated by the athlete.
- Durng exercise, primary goals for nutrient consumption are to replace fluid losses and provide 30-60 g/hr of carbohydrate to maintain blood glucose levels.
- After exercise, dietary goals are to provide adequate fluids, electrolytes, energy, and carbohydrates to replace muscle glycogen and ensure rapid recovery. A carbohydrate intake of 0.5-0.7 g/lb during the first 30 minutes and again every 2 hours for 4-6 hours. Protein consumed after exercise will provide amino acids for building and repair of muscle tissue.
- In general, no vitamin and mineral supplements are required if the athlete is consuming adequate energy from a variety of foods to maintain body weight.
- Athletes should be counseled regardingthe appropriate use of ergogenic aids.
- Vegetarian athletes may be at risk for low intakes of enery, protein, fat, and key micronutrients and consultation with a sports dietitian is recommended to avoid these nutrition problems.
If you have any questions about this or want to learn more, please contact me at info@annefinch.com
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If you are planning on racing the East Cooper Coastal Triathlon this weekend, I suggest that you get out to the beach and get in the water before Sunday. Currently the water temperature is 64 degrees. If you are not prepared for that, it may catch you off guard. Even for the experienced triathletes, a brief period of hyperventilation will occur when you first submerge your head in the cold water. The best way to prevent this from occuring during the race is to get in the water before the race begins. About 15 minutes before start time, get out in the water and completely submerge allowing for that first few gasps of air and panicked feeling. Then swim with your head above the water while adjusting your breath and begin to put your head in the water for increasingly longer periods of time until you are completely comfortable and breathing normally. This should only take a few minutes.
If you are new to a wetsuit, I suggest swimming in it before the event. If you can not make it out to the ocean, take it to the pool and swim your regular workout in it. This will allow your muscles to get used to the extra weight and restrictions. You should be glad to know that the extra bouyancy of the wetsuit will help you during the swim, however.
And, as always, make sure you have eaten a good breakfast and a small snack about 30-45 minutes before the race begins! Good luck!
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As a triathlete, you spend hours every week working on freestyle. However, you can benefit from incorporating the other strokes in your workouts. Butterfly is likely the most challenging of the strokes and is an excellent way to build upper body strength, working your latissimus dorsi, posterior deltoids, rhomboids, middle and lower trapezius, external and internal obliques, transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, longissimus, spinalis, and iliocostalis muscles. A stronger upper body will ultimately translate into a faster freestyle. Backstroke stretches your pectoral muscles are prevents overtightening and shortening of the muscles, thereby strengthening them. Breaststroke, while also working the upper body, builds leg muscles through its tremendous kick. Additionally, it works your legs in a different plane from swimming freestyle, running, or cycling and thus is an excellent cross-training stroke.
The following is my swim workout from this morning. The intervals assumed about a 15 sec rest after each IM and a 30 sec rest after each 100 freestyle.
600 freestyle warmup
10 x 100 on the 2 minute, alternating IM (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle) with 100 free
500 kick alternating every 50 with freestyle kick and breaststroke kick
200 cooldown
Total yds (or meters) 2300, but you should be whipped 
Want help learning or working on your other strokes? Contact me at info@annefinch.com.
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Benefits of Stair Running
Next Saturday I will do my first stair race – a vertical race to the top of a 50 story high rise building. 1150 stairs in roughly 1o agonizing minutes. I have enjoyed the training for it so much that even after it’s over, if I never chose to do another race (although that is very unlikely), I will continue to incorporate stair running into my workouts.
Stair running is an incredible cardiovascular exercise. Stair climbing burns about twice as many calories than any other sport or activity and requires less time to do the same intensity of a workout. Stair climbing becomes an anaerobic event after about 10 to 20 flights of stairs as it strains your aerobic capacity to hold an intense load on your cardiovascular system.
Stair climing is also beneficial for building speed, power and agility. It builds strength in your calves, hamstrings, and glutes. It can be a good substitute for hill training in flat areas. And, believe it or not, the impact placed on your knees and joints is comparatively lower than running on a flat road.
To get started:
1) Warm up properly. I suggest running an easy few miles before hitting the stairs.
2) Don’t be overly ambitious. Don’t run too many stairs in your first workout. You may not feel it then, but trust me that you will the next day.
3) Use proper form. Lean slightly forward from the hips and keep your back straight. And don’t climb with heels hanging off the edge of the step as you’ll risk injuring your Achilles tendon.
4) Take care on the descend. The pounding on the body going downstairs creates a pressure on your legs equal to six or seven times your body weight.
5) Cool down and flush out the lactic acid buildup in your legs with a nice 1-2 mile easy jog.
For more information about good stair climbing workouts, contact me at info@annefinch.com.
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If you are an endurance athlete you have likely heard of, or experienced, “overtraining.” This is the point where your body no longer benefits from or responds positively to the stresses of training. Physically, your body cannot recover from your workouts and you see a decline in athletic performance. You may feel burned out or exhausted regardless of how much sleep you get. In some cases, overtraining syndrome occurs and you experience immune system compromization, and endorcine system overstimulations which results in weight gain (specifically, body fat gain). Overtraining doesn’t happen overnight. Depending on the athlete, it may take just a few weeks or months of relentless training to occur. Additionally, it can also take weeks or months to recover from. This can be detrimental to your training schedule as well as your psyche.
Overreaching is a term used to describe a systematic, planned, short period of training stress that exceeds the body’s ability to recover that ends before overtraining can occur. This stress, when planned correctly, will actually help to improve your performance. The problem, however, is that everyone’s response to training is different and what may be overreaching for one could begin to cause overtraining for another. A good coach will include 3 weeks of overreaching followed by a week of recovery. A good athlete will recognize that recovery week as important and will stay the course instead of attempting to push harder. The recovery week is what actually allows the body to improve from the stresses placed on it. Knowing how to do this correctly will allow for higher fitness gains.
For more information about overreaching or overtraining, feel free to contact me at info@annefinch.com
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