Eat This, Not That!

Friday, March 9, 2012

CrossFit Kids Open House tomorrow at Noon!  Check out the details and rsvp HERE!

Mobility:
Hip Mobility with Band, 2 minutes each
Rack Mobility with Band, 2 minutes each

Warmup:
15 Overhead Squats
15 GHD Situps
15 Hip Extensions
15 Pullups
15 Pushups
Sampson Stretch
15 Box Jumps
15 Push Press
15 Toes to Bar

CrossFit Games Open Sectional Workout 12.3

Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 18 minutes of:

15 Box jumps (M 24″ box / F 20″ box)
12 Push press (M 115 lb / F 75 lb)
9 Toes-to-bar

Additional Notes:
Please be sure to watch the entire workout instruction video for full details or read the PDF file here.

The workout will begin with box jumps. The athlete will jump with two feet and come to a standing position with knees and hips locked out on top of the box. After 15 reps they will move to their loaded barbell. The barbell will begin on the ground. For the Push press to count the barbell will move from the shoulders to the overhead position, with the knees, hips and shoulders extended in one line. After 12 reps they will move to a pull-up bar. For the Toes-to-bar to count, the feet must begin behind the bar at the bottom and both feet must touch the bar at the same time at the top. After 9 reps are completed, the athlete will begin their next round.

Paradiso Crossfit Sectionals 2012 Games Week Two

Last week Underground Wellness hosted a free online Paleo Summit featuring 24 different speakers over the course of a week.  Some of the presenters included Mark Sisson and Gary Taubes, and topics ranged from “How to Win an Argument with a Vegetarian” to “Earthing as an Essential Nutrient”.  I wanted to share the talk “Paleo for Endurance Athletes” by Amy Kubal, a consultant and blogger for Robb Wolf’s blog, as well as her own nutrition blog, Fuel As Rx. 

She addresses a doubt a lot of endurance athletes may have with the paleo diet…Is it possible to be a Paleo Endurance Athlete?  Her opinion is a resounding yes!  Below is a recap of her talk and some good takeaways for any athlete on the paleo diet:

Pros vs Cons

It is possible to be a paleo endurance athlete but it depends mainly on your level of commitment.  The hardest part is that it is inconvenient to prep and execute situational feeding (on bike, run, or even climb) with unprocessed, whole foods.  The benefits, however, are increased digestion, performance, and recovery.

Pre workout/event nutrition

There is no need to carb load the night before an event with five cups of pasta!  Building up glycogen stores is a slow process, and you can do this by adding some sweet potatoes and fruit the days leading up to an event instead.   Do not neglect the pre workout meal either. 

During workout/event nutrition

Training nutrition and event nutrition should be the same!  Don’t change anything the day of the race!  I once ate an orange during a marathon even though I haven’t had one while working out since AYSO soccer, and immediately regretted it and had a stomach ache for the next 30 minutes.  Don’t make that same mistake. 

Do not over/under eat during an event.  If you eat too little you will run out of energy.  If you eat too much you won’t be able to digest the food and will feel sick.  You need to balance how much food your body needs with how much you are able to digest.

Paleo Goo recipe (to replace race gels): puree of sweet potato, little bit of egg white protein, and splash of coconut milk.  Jerky, nuts, avocado, dried fruit, and Lara bars are other good food options.

Race Length Specific Fueling

Short Events (under 60 min) – no need for extra fuel.

Moderate Events (1-3 hours) – focus on carbs. 

Long Events (3-4 hours) – add protein with carbs.

Ironman and Ultras – add fats to the mix.

Post workout/event nutrition

Post wod is an extremely important time to get refueled and recovered.  The greatest benefit comes from high quality protein and good carbs like starchy vegetable (sweet potato/yam) and they should be consumed within 30 min of the workout.   Solid foods are best, but shakes are acceptable for convenience only.

Final Takeaways

In her own words, “Focus on quality, because if you put crap in, you’re going to get crap performance out.  You can’t out train a sucky diet.  That pretty much sums it up.  No amount of training is going to make you an elite athlete”. 

No matter what type of athlete you are, nutrition is going to have a huge effect on your performance and recovery.  You are an experiment of one, and everyone is different.  Use trial and error, listen to your body, and find out what works best for you.  If you want more information, endurance nutrition is also presented in the Crossfit Journal article Race-Day Fueling, which I covered in an earlier post about hydration and electrolytes.