Wellbeing + Nutrition = HEALTH
Please Note: The below information is delivered to you on the basis of personal background, extensive reading, a complete personal diet overhaul to obtain optimum health for myself and my family supported by a more traditional Premier Training and Development certificate in Optimum Sports nutrition.
The purpose is provide you some background to myself and my approach and introduce the potential benefits that may well result from a few simple changes in your current lifestyle, both in relation to your general health and wellbeing and in turn your cycling performance. It provides a general introduction to key elements of health & wellbeing that may be widely applied, the only specificity is that it is written with some understanding of the performance that you are seeking and expecting your body to deliver for you when training and competing in cycling.
Introduction
Optimum sports nutrition for cyclists is extensively researched and well documented for all to read. It is fair to say that most of the information is relevant to or reporting on the nutrition plans of cyclists at the very top of their game; the Tour de France teams, the Olympic cyclists and international competitors i.e. the professionals. In support of these published plans and advice lays extensive individual tailoring of nutritional programs delivered with the oversight of skilled scientists and team managers who enforce absolute adherence to the plans. The goal is performance on this day, in this race. The athlete’s overall wellbeing and health out of season, upon retirement is likely of small concern – or we certainly see very little reported about the efforts put into achieving these.
For the amateur cyclist, and juniors / youths particularly, my belief is that your training, your nutrition and your wellbeing - not how you feel today on the bike, but, also next year, at school, at work is paramount. But, the best part of this is that this balanced approach is also very likely to create a stable platform of health and wellbeing which only serves to enhance your performance, allowing you to train a bit harder, recover quicker and so on.
In short my point is this - we can have the best bikes in the world, the best training routine, coach, nutrition so on and so forth, but they are of little use if we are not healthy, in a great head space and have a digestive function able to transform the food we do eat (be it good or bad) into useable fuel; providing us vital energy on the bike, and recovery function when we are off it.
I have outlined 5 key elements to establishing that health & wellbeing ideal, of which nutrition is merely one part. Most of the recommendations should be easy for you to adopt as a new norm, with their adoption having little to no impact on those you live with, rely on for food shopping and meals etc.
To give this first stage of the program some opportunity to demonstrate its effectiveness, you should be mindful of seeking to apply the various elements with some consistency for a 4-week period.
Now, there is no doubt, you all being young people with busy social lives as well as busy cycling schedules; that at some point in the 4 week period you are likely to be heading out with friends for nights out. Don’t underestimate the effects that both alcohol (even one pint) and a kebab on the way home along with the disrupted sleep patterns will have on your performance in the proceeding 2-3 days. Seek to drink more water, take an afternoon nap and eat additional greens for a couple of days following a night out.
Part 1 – REST & RECOVERY
Your performance on the bike is determined by your activity off the bike. It’s the quality of your training that counts and the quality of your training relates directly to your condition and health, which relates to your ability to recover well enough to train hard and efficiently.
British multiple Ironman Champion Chrissy Wellington said recently in a presentation I attended –“In January 2007 I went for a trial week with a certain Mr. Sutton. Simple question ‘Do I have what it takes to be a professional triathlete?’ His slightly macabre answer being: ‘Physically yes, but I need to cut your head off’. Wishing to avoid decapitation I asked him to elaborate. ‘You don’t know how to relax, you are like a bull at a china shop, living at 100miles an hour. You don’t know how to rest your body and mind. Unless you can learn to do this you will never be a successful athlete’. Headless? He was right. I was that proverbial chicken. Given that ‘rest’ only entered my vocabulary as the beginning of a word ending in ‘aurant’ I nearly reached for the carving knife and performed the decapitation there and then. Yes, I was able to beast myself with the best of them. I could swim/bike/run until I was falling over with exhaustion. But this wasn’t enough. No amount of ticks in the logbook, no amount of ‘eyes popping from head’ sessions, would create a Champion. The puzzle would always be incomplete unless I could develop the all-important, as yet missing, piece of the jigsaw: rest and recovery.
I am sure those words are as alien and scary to many of you as they were to me. We are creatures of habit, we love routine, some of us are obsessive and compulsive perfectionists, who come out in hives at the thought of an easy session, a nap or, heaven forbid, a rest day. But I cannot say this clearly enough. It is not the swim/bike/run sessions that will make you fitter – it is the recovery – the adaptation and regeneration – from the stress caused by those activities the oxidative stress. As Lance Armstrong said “Whoever recovers fastest does best.” And it is not just about physical recovery, its mental recovery/relaxation too. That’s why I say that I train 24/7: recovery IS training my body to be the best that it can be. This goes for any sport!
In any sport the difference in training theory and application between the pro athletes and the amateur varies very little, (amateurs often copy the pro’s) lead. It’s the nutrition and recovery you can be optimize to gain maximum benefit.
What constitutes rest & recovery : Yoga, stretching, massage, and actual rest i.e. on your ass, ideally laying down. Rest and Recovery DOES NOT include a recovery ride.
R&R : 3 easy wins
· Watching Top-Gun for the 42nd time should do
· Compression garments (legs obviously)
· Most importantly you also need to learn how to relax you mind as well as your body – turning the switch so that you can forget all things cycling. Watch TV (not the tour) cook some amazing food, sit in the park or on the beach, meditate, read a book, take the dog for a slow walk, or go to the movies. Anything that gives your mind a break from training, from work and the stresses of everyday life.
Part 2 – SLEEP and (Sunlight)
Chris Hoy was opening a seminar on the Isle of Man in Feb 2016 and he said ‘Sleep, the most important part of any training programme.’
This is where the magic happens. It’s as much about the quality of the sleep you’re getting as the quantity.
Preparing for sleep (the hour before bed) is part of this element.
Darkness for improved sleep and recovery – Melatonin is released dependent on the amount of light the body is exposed to. As light fades towards the end of the day, melatonin is released. This melatonin helps prepare the body for sleep by reducing alertness and lowering body temperature. A good night’s sleep is closely tied to the production of melatonin, for this reason limit your exposure to light for an hour or so before you go to bed, just dim the lights and this triggers the release. This will help clear your mind and the day’s events will begin to blur, deep relaxation techniques can help. As melatonin is being released structure thoughts will become difficult.
Natural light – Exposure to natural light is essential for optimal health, some experts consider sunlight a nutrient. Sunlight when it enter our eyes, prompts our endocrine system to produce hormones that help regulate body functions and maintain a healthy immune system. Vitamin D the sunshine vitamin is an essential component for calcium absorption and utilization, vitamin D is found in certain foods, but it is best obtained from sunlight. Natural light instigates the production of serotonin the feel-good hormone
We know (thnk) that sleep works in a 90 minute cycle, and that the body loves a constant wake up time.
7.5 to 8 hours is a pretty well researched figure for the amount of sleep an adult requires, a growing teenager may need as much as 12.
You will know your typical wake up time. (you can fine tune it as you become more aware of it) then work back in blocks of 90 minutes – let’s call them units. In an ideal world we would like 5 blocks of 90 minutes. An example – I wake up naturally at 0600 – so 5 blocks would mean I’m in bed with the lights off at 2230 hours pretty much give or take a few minutes. Here’s the rub, this also means one hour before that even an hour and a half, we shut down the tech and begin our pre-sleep routine, turn down the lights a little, sit relax begin to empty your mind, read a relaxing book or show on TV, not the Expendables or Saving Private Ryan.
In a perfect world then we will get 35 bocks of mental and physical recovery a week.
Just because we go to bed and feel we have achieved 8 hours of sleep does not actually translate accurately, we recover in the Stage 3 sleep – and it accounts for only 20% of our sleep hours, subtract time from that for each occasion you are disturbed and go to the toilet, if you dive into bed straight after a night on the town. Bla bla bla
SLEEP : 3 easy wins
· Darken your room and establish a pattern of going to bed/getting up,
· Remove IT or at the very minimum turn it off properly. Buy a battery-operated alarm clock, and put in on the other side of the room, so in the morning you actually get up when it goes off.
· And don’t worry about only getting 6 hours on a night due to circumstances, say to yourself “ok I’ll get 6 great hours, I’ll hit the sack at the next sleep cycle, and I’ll crack on with my day in the morning, go bed tomorrow on time, or I’ll take a nap tomorrow to day to tie in with my sleep cycle
It’s a myth that we can catch up on sleep by getting 10 hours in a night
Part 3 - HYDRATION
Hydration is extremely important, it is believed a huge proportion of the country is partially or severely dehydrated, we simply do not drink enough water.
Dehydation impact: 10% dehydrated = 50% less function - confirm
Exercise performance is impaired when an individual is dehydrated by as little as 2% of body weight. Losses in excess of 5% of body weight can decrease the capacity for work by about 30% (Armstrong et al. 1985; Craig and Cummings 1966; Maughan 1991; Sawka and Pandolf 1990).
The main reasons dehydration has an adverse effect on exercise performance can be summarized as follows:
• Reduction in blood volume
• Decreased skin blood flow
• Decreased sweat rate
• Decreased heat dissipation
• Increased core temperature
• Increased rate of muscle glycogen use
When the body is properly hydrated the blood is at its proper consistency, enabling its efficient distribution throughout the body, it allows red blood cells to deliver oxygen to the muscles efficiently, to deliver nutrients to the muscles efficiently, remove waste products and support the liver in its detoxification process.
For those with any hint of fatigue (adrenal or diagnosed chronic) be sure to add a little good quality sea salt or Himalayan salt (pinch only) to a 250ml of water at some point during the day.
Where you get an unexplained headache, always try a glass of water before you reach for the Aspirin.
Hydration: 3 easy wins
· Drink at least a pint of water every morning as the first thing you do – the very first!!
· Carry a bottle with you at all times – 3lts per day minimum, if there is water in it take a sip, if its empty fill it up and start again, record the volume and pop it in your training log, you may need more if your training hard.
· Monitor urine colour / do the hydration test.
Part 4 - Nutrition
Consume enough nutrients to support your activity level and the biological regeneration of your cells.
Meet nutritional needs by consuming nutrient dense foods
Avoid refined processed foods
Gain energy through nourishment not stimulation
Eat efficient foods, increase foods by not consuming foods that require huge amounts of energy in digestion
Recalibrate by reducing your intake of sugar and starchy foods
Eat throughout the day use variety, get a broad range of coloured foods
High net gain foods reduce energy expenditure
For permanent results allow your body to adapt slowly
It’s not about perfection or idealism it’s about progress
If you fall off the wagon – don’t beat yourself up, reflect that you enjoyed the experience but it’s not an optimal choice, and strive to make better choices, get straight back on the bike if you will
If you sway towards a more plant-based diet, you will need to increase the volume of food and increase the number of meals per day you have – grazing.
Nutrient dense foods are
· colourful, whole foods, unprocessed foods, or raw foods
· Cooked at low temperatures
· Naturally alkaline forming foods to pH balance the body (more to follow on this) buy some PH strips and aim for 7.4
· High in nutrients that the body can use without having to convert them
· Vitamin mineral and phytonutrient rich from whole food sources
Oxidative stress (more to follow) creates a huge increase in the requirement for antioxidants some studies show the requirement for up to 20 portions per day. It is almost impossible to eat this volume of food. This is where juicing and blending can help as well as some other sources.
If meat is your thing then add as you feel fit, ensuring to get the best locally sourced organic produce that you can afford, and at all costs avoiding highly processed pot luck produce, the amalgamation of body parts.
Be mindful of cattle that are pumped full of antibiotics and even organic produce that can be fed non-organic grain. Your best choice could be locally sourced grass fed
Good stomach and gut health, extracting so you extract the nutrients from the food rather than just carry them around for a while
Performance related nutrition – elements specific to performance. We will address this at a later stage.
I guess the big part is that you are removing food that has a label other than its basic description i.e. veg or fruit. If you read the label and it has a list of contents that you cannot pronounce, never mind say out loud, it’s not food.
Remove everything processed that you can, therefore removing the need for your body to filter the toxins leaving it simply to extract the nutrients having used as little energy in the process
Many amateur athlete’s nutrition diaries look fairly generic, not too bad but there is room for improvement. Generally, pretty well balanced in regards to macronutrients, carbs, fats and fiber, but not a massive amount of nutrition. Or nutritiously dense foods
Don’t forget addiction - remember to cover addiction, i.e. coming off the sugar and other stimulants – is the sudden shortage of dopamine among other hormones the body misses
Even the leanest of people have enough fat stores to fuel them for several back to back ironman races, the trick is accessing the fat and that requires the right kind of training
Recalibrating will yield everlasting energy.
Think less about what you are asked to remove but more the good stuff you can add, eventually it will crowd out the bad
Supplement not with processed rocks or single nutrient supplements, but with broad range natural superfoods and minerals, spirulina, chlorella, berries etc.
Nutrition: 3 easy wins see annex 1….
· Better breakfast
· Healthier snacks
· Creating a colourful plate
Breakfast –
Cornflakes, replace with a good quality gluten free porridge oats, soak oats and raisins overnight, in the morning add nuts and seeds some berries and honey/maple syrup to taste if you want
Bacon and egg sandwich on white or brown bread – replace with a big green omelet. Make an omelet with your favourite toppings but include kale, spinach, courgette possibly some broccoli, sundried tomatoes, peppers, whatever you like. More like a Spanish frittata
Toast, replace your jam on toast or marmite with, a great quality break from a local baker (sour dough – it takes up to 3 days to make because it needs to ferment). Bread is flower, water and salt and allowed to ferment. If the label has anything else, then it’s worth avoiding. Brown bread is white bread with dye added.
On your toast try avocado, seeds, bacon if its your thing but locally sourced and as unprocessed as possible, or some sliced chicken left over from the night before. Chicken breast not processed and sliced
Let’s start thinking about food as fuel rather than breakfast lunch and dinner, its just food.
If you fancy more of a liquid-based breakfast or just an option pre or post workout oxygen avenger –
If you don’t have everything it will still taste amazing and be massively better for you than a bowl of cornflakes.
Ingredients
½ cup coconut water
½ tsp Probiotic Powder (optional)
2 Tbsp dried Acai Powder
2 Cups mixed fresh or frozen berries
½ cup red seedless grapes
1 ripe pear, skin on, cored and sliced
½ - 1 tsp grated ginger (anti inflammation)
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp finely grated orange zest
1 cup ice cubes
1 chopped and pitted date.
Combine all in a blender, and serve with a variety of nuts briefly blitzed in a blender
Team Sky’s Rice Cakes
A pre/post cardio workout smoothie
1 medium beetroot, 1 stick celery, ¼ medium cucumber, 1 golden delicious apple, coconut water 250ml, ice
Juice the beetroot, celery, cucumber and apple, add the juice to the blender with the coconut water and ice.
Pure muscle builder
Did you know, the largest land animals on Earth with the biggest muscles are all vegan. So, you don’t necessarily need animal protein to build human muscle. Your body builds muscle from amino acids – found in all plant foods
This “Pure Muscle Builder” smoothie contains every single amino acid the body needs
2 golden delicious apples, large handful of spinach leaves, 1/3 medium pinapple, 1 medium ripe avocado, 1 teaspoon spirulina, hemp protein powder, ice
Juice apples, spinach and pinapple, pour the juice into your blender then add the avocado, spirulina, hemp and ice. Blend until smooth.
Avocado are packed with practically everything your body needs. They contain vitamins a, B-complex, C,E,H,K, and folic acid; plus magnesium, copper, iron, calcium, potassium, and many other trace elements. Avocados also provide al of the essential amino acids, plus 7 fatty acids, including omega 3 and 6, and more protein than cows milk. All that and they make you smoothie creamier
Ginger Shot – Anti inflammation
One Apple and a lump of ginger. Pass both through a juicer and neck the contents
General –
Let’s move away from your beige food
Swop white and brown bread for spelt or ……..
White rice for brown rice
White potatoes – Sweet potatoes or yams
Part 5: Wellbeing
It’s the quality of your training that counts and the quality of your training relates directly to your condition and health, your ability to recover.
Resting heart rate RHR
Record your heart rate at the same time every day, i.e. before you get up.
Do it consistently and you will see a pattern.
If its elevated by say 7 beats per minute it’s a pretty good indicator that either you’re not recovered from a training session, , or you have been training hard for a number of days and it needs a rest. Or if you can see your training has not been too hard -
Your body if fighting on the inside and your immune system needs all the help it can get.
Take a day off, pump up the water intake, and be very kind with regards to the food you eat. Go for high nutrient foods, easy to digest, and lay off the other stuff.
Remember, there is going to be some variability in your daily heart rate regardless of your recovery level, do don’t be concerned if you’re 3 to 4 bpm over your normal average on a given day.
– for example my RHR is typically 38-42 . If its above say 45or 47 – 7 beats per minute that’s almost 20%
Evolve as a human, be healthier, recover better, perform better
Although Mark has asked me to advise and give my opinion for nutrition health is a wider topic.
STRESS -
Stress is anything that causes strain, mental or physical regardless of origin.
On top of the kidneys are the adrenal glands and they play a large role in the bodies response to stress, at times of elevated stress regardless of source the adrenals kick in to action secreting the hormone cortisol (the stress hormone)
The adrenal glands ‘fire’ at each cup of coffee or other stimulant. They are designed to fire when you have a Rhino charging and they are telling you to get the hell out of there, and that’s what happens when you have your coffee. Your stimulating the body and stealing energy that you do not have – and just like credit cards this needs paying back.
Borrowing energy is a stratergy that can be used occasionally, but we would rather you were fueled and didn’t need this technique.
Stress is the root cause of most ailments, both minor and major.
About 40 % of the average North Americans stress can be attributed to diet
Excessive stress can have a negative psychological effect and can be responsible for specific food cravings
Training diary,
It may sound an inconvenience, but really its five minutes out of your day. Be specific, note the time you went to bed the time you woke up and the quality of your sleep. Was it good sleep or were you up all night going to the bathroom, your pulse measure it first thing, did it feel strong or weak,
Go to the bathroom and then weigh yourself, consistently at the same time every morning
Note everything you eat, and the times, your training how you felt, your rest days, what you did. The list goes on but it should only take five or ten minutes per day
My father in law has a training diary from when he was 16 to now (currently 76) he ran for England and still holds many records for his disciplines. He puts lots of credit to his training diaries for indicating what worked and didn’t work. Often he moans that if he knew then what we know today….
Good luck
There is science behind some comments, a little personal experience and then we will need some experimentation for everybody. We can’t get away from the fact that we are individuals. The perfect diet, a generic diet book, or article on sports performance found online is only ever perfect, for the person who created it, who wrote it. We are all very individual.
Health first, recovery and then performance, if you can nail recovery and you can train harder and perform better. Then everything can be stepped up a little.
Don’t look to supplements as an answer, optimize, your diet, lifestyle, training.
Applying changes – change is in itself stressful. – deviation from the norm Is a stress, so if every change is positive the body must still adapt or get used to the withdrawal of a stimulant, sugar, salt fat is no different from alcohol, smoking or drugs,
There is more to add, but enough for now.
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