Nutrition Spotlight: Protein
Protein is an important part of an athlete's diet. Are you eating enough? Ashley shares some tips on how to incorporate more protein in your diet and shares some recipes that you can make this week!
Training Tuesday: Preventing Cramping on Race Day
Muscle cramps can be a debilitating ailment for any athlete. For obstacle racing competitors it can be race-ending because around every corner is another obstacle that requires your full muscular strength to complete.
Carb Cycling 101
If are you at all interested in nutrition and exercise, you have come across the term "carb cycling". Essentially, carb cycling incorporates low carb days with carb loading days throughout the week. With the popularity of low to no carb diets, carb cycling is a healthy alternative that still supplies your muscles with the glycogen they need to perform and helps you to stay away from the side effects of no or low carb diets.
Nutrition 101: Macronutrients
Macronutrients consist of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. These three nutrients are essential and play vital roles in our body's ability to perform. You may have heard of the "macro diet" or "flexible eating". Both of these plans are based on the foundation of tracking your nutrition and hitting your individualized macronutrient goals each day.
SmashPlan – Final Days of a Great Journey
the entire 30-day SmashPlan has been fun and relatively easy overall; every day I have enjoyed the convenience of grabbing a SmashPack pouch no matter where I'm headed. Breakfast has been on autopilot for the past month, I don't need to think about what I should eat, and there's been no reason to grab a muffin or breakfast sandwich at a drive thru when I have a nutritious meal right there in my cupholder.
SmashPan #10 – Epic Cheat Meal, Birthday Edition
I knew one day I would wake up and be closer to 50 than I was 40, and even as my 46th anniversary of getting my newborn butt slapped like Cher playing tambourine passed today, it really didn't bother me that much at all. While age *is* just a number, an aging body knows what it's like for Father Time to beat your butt - well, like that whole Cher analogy in the first sentence. Circle of life baby, Hakuna Matata.
SmashPlan Day 1 & 2 – Getting on Track
Starting over is never easy, but once you find that spark of energy - that motivational drive to make it happen - you're on the right track to reach your goals. Day 1 was a breeze, and I find myself falling back into my old, healthy, habits once again.
SmashPlan – Nutrition
30 Days - 10 Pounds. I'll be focused on calories and protein, not overly concerned with carbs, macros, timing, etc. The key word is simple. As you can see by the final numbers in this nutritional plan, this is a reduced calorie "diet" for 30 days. The food options are light on calories, and you can see by the meal choices I'm not starving myself by crash-dieting, I'm choosing healthy, low-calorie options and sensible portions of things I actually like to eat.
I Got Fat. Again.
168 is my new 208. I'm using "fat" as a relative term; while I've never been anything but an OK athlete, I used to be considerably heavier than I am today. The guy who was steadily approaching 210 pounds, smoked up to 2 packs of cigarettes a day, and couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without catching his breath was exorcised in 2001 when I'd had enough and dropped 60 pounds. Since then, I've had my "hey, let's run a marathon this weekend" weight of around 148 lbs. and my "it's off-season, so a cheeseburger is OK" weight of 155-159 lbs.
BFX Nutrition
For BattleFrog Xtreme and other multi-lap events, nutrition can make or break your performance. Unlike a short 5k or 5-mile race where nutritional mistakes can easily be overcome, the effects of nutrition on race day are crucial. Furthermore, a mistake early on can have a compounding effect as your body depletes muscle glycogen and desperately tries to refill your fuel tank faster than you are emptying it.
