I’m a little depressed. I used to revel in talking about how slow, weak and un-athletic long distance runners are. I was certain I could out squat, DL, Fran and in anything under 400m, out sprint any marathoner alive. Then Brian Mackenzie happened. 6 feet 2inches tall and 185lbs. Brian is not a skinny, weak runner! He has some pretty impressive numbers in benchmark WOD’s and is shooting for a top 10 finish for the CF games. Here are some of Brian’s stats and WOD efforts:
Ht: 6’2″
Wt: 185
Fran: 3:20
Diane: 4 something
Grace: 3 something
Elizabeth: 6:46 (full clean), 5:11 (power clean)
Nancy: 11:31
CF Total: 875… BS 325, P 165, DL 385
Helen: 7:32
30 MU for time: 4:38
FGB: 400ish
Michael: 16:12 (regular Sit-ups Rx) 18:53 (GHD Sit-ups)
Nate: 17 RoundsHere
I met Brian for the first time at the CF North Santa Cruz certification in January ’08. Brian is a tough competitor and totally on top of all aspects of his game. He wanted to check and see if anything might be improved or changed with his eating so I suggested a representative meal plan. Here is what he sent me:
4:45am either smoothie w/ Isoflex (whey), berries, omega 3 oil or/and
usually 5-6 egg whites, 1.5 cups veggies, 1.5 tbl olive oil
8-9am sardines and an apple or smoothie (same as above)
12pm 4-6oz Fish and 1-2 cups Veggies and olive oil/omega
2:30 4-6 oz fish and 1-2 cups veggies, and olive oil/omega
6-7 8-12oz lean meat, veggies, and olive oil/omega 3
Anytime I train, usually within 30 minutes have either acellerade, or a
smoothie with a banana in it for quicker glycogen replenishment. None of my
workouts last more than 90 minutes. Most are under 20! I follow the main
WOD, and 2-3 days a week do intervals the same day, and tempo (this would be
where the 90 minutes would come in) on the days off. Aside from running 20m
2 weeks ago (a failed attempt at 100… Rolled my ankle again.. that set my
strength back) I have been PR’ing everything including runs. I usually don’t
like to drink something with sugar in it even when running longer, but will
to get through the run when needed. When I race everything goes! A lot of
fat and protein too.
Brian was eating very clean and had by trial and error gravitated towards a higher fat and protein with most of his carbs coming from fruit and veggies. The one thing that was missing was a bit more precision so I suggested a weighed/measured Zone and, similar to Dutch and OPT, a shifting of most of the daily carbs to the post WO period. This is Brian’s response to the shift to the Zone and tweaking nutrient timing:
Training has been good... I've been running a little more and holding old
speeds, although I need to get my stamina for 5k-half marathon back. I just
PR'd snatch and clean jerk today... Been Oly lifting twice a week usually.
Energy feels good, but I am HUNGRY at night and usually crave the hell out
of fat before I finally go to bed.
Mike says
Robb,
Phenomenal work on the FTM 3-part blog! An inside look into elite athlete’s nutrition is always riveting for the average weekend warrior like myself.
I do have a question relating to PWO carb intake: I know your not a fan of liquid PWO shakes due to insulin spiking, but if one is pressed for time and/or traveling, is there a Paleo-friendly, low-GI approach? I have used waxy maize starch and ground oats in the past with relatively no issues, but I’d like to stick to strict Paleo, and don’t always have the luxury of yams on hand.
Mike-
Hmm…My main issue with the grain based items is lectins and the problems that arise with gut irritation and potential insulin signaling. That considered perhaps a tapioca pudding or tapioca in the shake? It is essentially starch, easily portable and free of grain based lectins. Just to clarify: My main issue with the shakes is that they seem to hit the system SO fast that we get a pretty nasty insulin spill-over effect, whereas applesauce, yams and the like tend not to do this. If necessary give them a go, just keep in mind there may be potential downsides.
Craig says
Wow, a true monster, and he is practically running on ketones. If I read that correctly, it looks like he is getting around 8 blocks of carbs a day, and that is if I don’t subtract the fiber from his 2 cups of veg! He could be getting as little as 50g of carbs per day.
And a banana for quicker glycogen replenishment…doesn’t the fructose need to go to the liver and be converted to glucose before it can replenish glycogen stores? And doesn’t fructose preferentially replenish glycogen stores in the liver anyway? I suspect Brian is drinking more Accelerade than we see here, otherwise the tank would be on E and clearly it is not. Not that there is anything wrong with that if it works as well as it obviously does…I’m just blown away by the apparent lack of overall carbs in this diet.
It has me re-thinking things (I also just finished reading Exercise: Ineffective for Weight Loss)…like I don’t need nearly as many carbs as the Zone calls for. Reminds me of Lyle McDonald’s stuff from back in the day. For now I’ll just continue my empricistic Zone, paleo, IF, on weekdays and standard Zone on weekends approach (reducing carbs even further preWO).
Oh, and related to my previous post about how there is so much seemingly compatible, but ultimately conflicting info out there…how’s this for 3 degrees of separation? – I followed your blogroll to MODs. He had one to the Leangains site, and a link on the Leangains IF site led me to Lyle McDonald’s blog. Fascinating how I used to follow that body building BS, and now that I have found CF, I somehow got right back to Lyle’s page. Well, you enjoy the IF, Leangains is all about IF, and the Leangains guy and Lyle are collaborating on some book er something. All part of the same academic circle in a weird way (three recommended links separate you), but Lyle seems to think that Good Calories, Bad Calories are the ravings of a lunatic, the avoiding insulin thing is garbage and that it is the specific calorie restriction prescription of the Zone that makes it work not some magic protein/carb ratio. That last part about the Zone sounds familiar. Ah, maybe I just read too damn much, sometimes I feel like I’m just floating around on a sea of ideas…throw me one of those round thingies that save people from their own stupidity when they go into water that is too deep.
Craig-
Check this out:
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2
It is interesting where performance can go on a ketogenic or near ketogenic diet.
Lyle is right that the Zone ratios are nothing special…they are simply a starting place that gets most people within spitting distance of where they operate well. He is completely out-to-lunch if he thinks insulin is not the main driver of all this stuff…
Ruth says
Any insight to Brian’s craving fats at night? I’ve also tweaked my zone to the DIHTEAT / AHCCZ and moved more carbs to post WOD. I’ve since found that I no longer crave carbs but I crave fats at night.
Ruth-
I suspect it’s just running too skinny with cals…just the body wanting a little more fuel. Tinker with that and let me know how you feel.