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Some “Truths”

This morning I had to get up pretty early in order to get in a 90 minute run before going to work. But, in order to ensure that I got even less sleep, I got up at least an hour earlier than I otherwise would have had to so that I could finish my run at the branch of my gym (Equinox) on the Upper East Side where they have a cold plunge pool. While I was running, I was thinking about the value of sleep vs. ice and marveling at my morning’s sacrifice. (For people who have jobs and still insist on training for an Ironman, sleep is the first thing to go – quickly followed by a social life – but that is a topic for another time.)

That in turn got me thinking about what I consider my health, fitness and diet/nutrition “truths”. Everywhere you look there’s another recommendation about how to get fitter or faster or leaner or stay injury-free. I get them in magazines and newspapers, websites, email alerts, blogs and probably half of the questions on message boards like Slowtwitch are on this topic. And I read all of them. But, as I mentioned last week in my post about BPA, even though I read them all, I’m generally pretty skeptical. I’m no scientist and actually avoid reading articles that have too much “scientific” detail that explains why things supposedly do or don’t help. I don’t believe in quick fixes. But listed below are some things that I do believe in for general health or because I think they allow me to train harder or better.

• Ice – If I’m willing to give up over an hour of precious sleep just so I can go sit in a 42 degree ice plunge for 10 minutes, you should know I’m serious about this one. I don’t think there’s much debate about the benefits of icing after strenuous workouts. As I understand it, icing restricts blood-flow and thus helps decrease or avoid swelling, which is a major cause of pain and injury. Any article you read about avoiding or treating running-related issues (such as tendinitis, IT Band issues, patellofemoral pain, etc.) prescribes ice. It hurts like hell to get into the ice plunge, but that pain is frankly part of why I believe it works. If we ever have a house and I’m still running, there is no doubt in my mind that there will either be an ice plunge or a heavy-duty ice machine on site.
• Strength training – I discussed this one in this post a few weeks back. As I said then, I’ve always believed in the value of strength training. I enjoyed lifting weights long before I ever thought about running a marathon or racing a triathlon. This is a pretty hotly debated topic on places like Slowtwitch – see this this thread, for example. Many people believe that strength training should be a last priority – and only done if you have time after all the necessary endurance training. I am not in that camp. Strength training makes me feel good and I strongly believe that it helps with muscular endurance and keeps injuries away. It’s not always easy to practice this one and I do have a tendency to put strength training to the side when the volume of endurance training gets really heavy, but I have to fight that urge and make sure to get one or two sessions in every week.
• Protein Supplements – This probably comes from my weightlifting days, but I really believe that getting a lot of protein is necessary for athletes. Initially I believed it in mostly for muscle growth, but in my experience with endurance sports, I also think it plays a big part in muscle endurance. Most of the products that I use for fuel during training and racing (InfiniT, Clif Bars, Accel Gels) have a small amount of protein and I believe their claims that protein helps fuel muscles and reduce fatigue. I no longer eat the heavy-duty 32-grams-of-protein-bars that I used to snack on and I’m not eating 150+ grams a day like I used to, but I do supplement my morning oatmeal or cereal with a scoop of whey protein powder and make it a point to get an ample serving of lean protein with every meal. I try to get between 90-110 grams of protein a day.
• Glucosamine – I’ve been supplementing my diet with 500mg of Glucosamine since I started training for triathlons. And (knock, knock on wood) my joints are doing fine. I’m not at all certain, or even very confident, that Glucosamine supplements are actually saving my joints, but I am putting my joints at enough risk with everything that I do that taking two pills once a day is easy enough insurance. I also take a daily multi-vitamin. It’s one of those super strong two-a-days that gives me like 1,000,000% of my daily requirement for all kinds of vitamins and minerals. Am I peeing most of it out every day? Probably. But is some of it getting into my system and keeping me healthy? Heck yeah. So, again, I’ll continue swallowing those pills every morning.
• Foods– There are certain foods that I just believe make me healthy. This is one area where I definitely don’t know, understand or really care about the science. At some point I must have read that these foods fight disease or help recovery or are a key source of antioxidants (not that I even know what antioxidants really do) or some vitamin or mineral. I’ve taken it to heart and make sure to incorporate them regularly into my diet: Salmon, blueberries, broccoli, grapefruit and sweet potatoes. They are all great sources of some or multiple – beneficial things, and again, I don’t have a clue what Omega-3’s do, but something has gotten into me and I want them! I believe that these foods keep me healthy, strong and energized. For those reasons they are key to my training and racing success. Fortunately, they’re all tasty so eating them isn’t a struggle.
• Ginger – I had to specifically call out ginger from the above list. Even though it’s a spice or a root and not really a “food”, it’s at the top of my list of superfoods. I trust the ancient Chinese on this one, big time. I eat raw ginger, candied ginger, pickled ginger, ginger tea and any food prepared with ginger in it. I love the taste. But, I especially load up on ginger when my stomach’s upset or when I’m feeling a cold coming on. I carry ginger candy with me on long runs and during long races just in case my stomach acts up.

I’ll add to this list as I think of others.

p.s. I ran twice today for a total of 15+ miles. The first time I’ve done that since last November. The second run was tough, tough, tough. I ran well, but it was not easy to get going this evening.

Indoor Bike – May 27
Time: 1:30
Average heart rate: 116

Swim – May 28
Distance: 3,500 yards
Time: 1:05

Run #1 – May 29
Distance: 11.5 miles
Time: 1:31
Average heart rate: 141
Course: All around Central Park
Conditions: Sunny, mid 50’s

Run #2 – May 29
Distance: 3.6 miles
Time: 30 minutes
Average heart rate: 128
Course: Greenwich Village
Conditions: Dusk, clear, mid 70’s