It's now three weeks since the snow fell and the temperature plummeted below zero and has barely raised its head above that ever since; as I type it's minus 5 and that is on its way up from another overnight low of minus 10. It is just totally relentless and I've not been outside training for a month now apart from a very slippery 7 mile run on Christmas day.

I know the rest of the UK joined us in this respect over the last week or so and I'm guessing there are many very frustrated athletes out there. I've spent 5 - 8 hours every week on my turbo, arrrgggg.

Anyhow it has given me plenty of time to think and read so I thought I'd share some of that with you out there in snowland!

On the ferry on the way back from Barcelona (wearing my newly acquired finisher's Challenge tee shirt) I fell into conversation with another passenger who was interested in my diet in relation to my sport, he had clearly been observing me eating in the restaurant (this was somewhat disconcerting!). However, I listened politely as he extolled the virtue of reading The Diet Delusion by Garry Taubes, he promised me that it would turn my concept of a healthy diet on its head.

Well I'm always interested to follow up this kind of comment and duly bought the book on my return. I have to say here it is quite a read (a veritable tome to be honest), it is essentially a scientific review of all academic (and not so) studies into nutrition over the last 100 years.

It took me nearly a week of solid reading (fortunately, if you want to look at it that way, it coincided with being poorly, lying in bed and unable to train - rather ironically with some kind of digestive/food poisoning bug from an Indian restaurant!).

To say it turned my thinking on its head is a complete understatement and the more I read the more it all began to make perfect sense and various aspects really clicked into place.

Before I launch into the essence of the conclusion it was drawing I'll just outline issues that I've struggled with dietwise.

Firstly, I was always starving hungry, didn't seem to matter how much I ate, I was always hungry, waking at night hungry and having to raid the fridge. Secondly, I was much 'fatter' than seemed feasible given the volume and nature of the training I do. At this point I know some of you will scoff, Kelda, fat, get away, but you may be surprised to know that whenever accurately measured I'm nearly always around 25% body fat. Thirdly, I have failed to manage to build power on the bike or muscle in general and I spent the whole of last winter, 3 times a week, in the weights bay with the Olympic bar with little to show for it!

Anyhow, turns out that the received wisdom of low fat high carbohydrate diet that is shouted from every roof top could be the problem. I have written a synopsis of the book (for my brother who was interested) so email me if you want it, but essentially the conclusion Garry Taubes comes to is that the wave of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, many digestive disorders is very likely caused by high carbohydrate diets. It's all to do with the quantity of sugar (added to just about every food you buy - look at the labels) and the amount of, primarly wheat-based, grain carbohydrates also used in just about everything.

Carbs trigger an insulin response, this affects fat storage and energy release. Overload the system with carbs that are found in a modern diet and hey presto in a proportion of the population (and looking around any high street I'd wager a large one) the body becomes totally overloaded leading to fat storage systems going awry, satiety triggers not being recognised (ie constant hunger) and more and more insulin required. This isn't what we evolved to cope with and could explain why many conventional diets have failed to help many overweight people regardless of how calorie restricted they are.

Anyway cut back to me, I know I have a sensitivity to glucose (I was diabetic during pregnancy with both kids) so the penny really was beginning to drop. The fact that fat cells are hoarding the energy store means working cells raid other areas, read muscles here, may be this is why I was not getting any stronger, was always hungry and fatter than expected.

So, I've tried, for the last 6 weeks, a new way of eating. I've cut out all wheat and grain-based carbohydrates, and all added sugar (where feasible) so I now start the day with fresh (or tinned) fruit and plain yog. I have a meal of protein/fat at lunch with potato (to replace the carbs burned) if I've been training during the morning and in the evening protein/fat with minimal carbs - as a vegetarian some of my protein foods come with carbs - lentils etc. whilst training longer than an hour I do still use 4:1 to supply carbs as I burn them and use gluten free fruit and nut bars on long rides. I now use milk with a handful of nuts as a recovery potion.

Now, as a veggie this has meant a pretty restricted diet (in fact I may have to consider whether to remain as a one but I do have big moral issues about that) and it's quite a juggle to get it right, eating out is pretty difficult too! However, within 36 hours (after a night of shakes and sweating - detox I guess) I feel unbelieveably better, no longer starving hungry, little bloating, and now, leaner and much improved power output on the bike - and we are talking significant percentages here, swimming well and running is good.

Fat is not bad, some research has found that the cholesterol found in arteries (the reason fat was originally thought to be the baddie) is actually identical to what the body breaks fructose down into in the liver which is then stored (sent via the blood system) to the fat stores. When you consider a teaspoon of sugar contains the equivalent fructose as 12 fresh apples is it little wonder our systems are going wrong?

I've been eating lots of eggs, nuts and cheese as part of my protein, my weight has stayed within a kg of starting, I'm not hungry and I'm stronger.

Kelda

PS

My brother started following this system a month ago and is now 13 lbs lighter and looking forward to losing another stone by his birthday in February ...

^^ I thought everyone knew this?

There was a really good series last year (BBC I think) about diets, where they gave groups of firemen/soldiers etc different diets. One find was that Protein is a good hunger 'inhibitor' i.e. a cooked breakfast left people sated for a lot longer than a traditionally healthy museli or porridge option. Soup is also apparently a magic food, for both the active people and dieters.

I eat loads of soup!

If BBCs Horizon programme on BBC 4 this week is anything to go by not everyone knows this!

For me there is one massive flaw to all this. Will power. I like many others love eating, in particular all the crap we not allowed. Though I will read the book and have a go, anything to lose an extra 4kgs. Swine Flu was good, but now Im feeling better the sugar and bad fats are back

Reg, the experts on the BBC Horizon don't understand, they made no mention of this theory, that was my point, not patients/people they were looking at.

Fats aren't bad, that's the point, it's sugar and refined starches that have caused the problems ...

As for will power, no magic bullet for that but feeling better and being stronger is a pretty good motivator.

My point was that following advice which is supposed to be healthy ie low fat and high carb appears not to be.

K

In the research reviewed in the DD it shows that including only small amounts of carb-heavy foods (ie added sugar and the starches from grains, ie pasta, bread, pastry, etc) actually disturbed the efficacy of diets - the best results were achieved with cutting out these foods, even a small addition had a disproportionate effect.

From how I understand it protein satisfies because it isn't involving insulin spikes which can send the whole system awry.

It's clearly a really complicated area and the author comes to the conclusion that a lot more research needs to be done comparing all approaches. He also tracks how government-funding, corporate sponsorship (by food and drugs companies) has totally distored what is funded and what is not. They keep starting from the 1950s premise that fat is bad, not starting with an open mind.

Having read through the book I spent days thinking through the implications, and they are huge, it really does require a complete shift of thinking and it's very hard to start with because you are eating lots of things traditionally considered 'bad'.

Having tried this for 6 weeks I can honestly say you can train hard with this system with no ill-effects.

Clearly continuing to eat fruit and vegetables (in their natural state - not in syrups) means I am getting some carbs. The most extreme form of no carbs involves eating only meat and fish but even this has been shown to be completely compatible with being healthy provided you are eating the entire animal. Two scientists in the 1920s did just this for a year in a controlled study with no ill effects and some indigenous populations do not have carbs in their diets (traditional Inuit).

As for Reg's comment about will power, that's true, but that's also about reeducating yourself. If you can move away from seeing food as anything other than just fuel it makes life a lot easier!

I have started to think more about my diet too, having spent the last 3 years eating a low fat/high carb diet I have lost all the weight I had at the start of my Tri adventure but now I am stuck at the same weight.

Since the end of last season I have reduced my Carb intake and increased protein intake.

Having said that I still end up eating rubbish such as chips, indians, chinese and like just because I love them!! haha

I have become leaner and I do feel really guilty now when I binge on takeaways....because of the reduction in carbs in my everyday diet.

My typical day consists of fruit and yoghurt for breakfast, more fruit and a Trek bar mid morning, Tuna salad for Lunch, Protein shake (low carb) for mid afternoon and a balanced meal in the evening (low carb).

Its the weekend thats the problem with the 'eating out'.

I havent noticed any drop in power output or anything on the turbo and running is still going aswell as last year.
I have also stopped using energy drink unless I am training longer than 2 hours. Infact yesterday I did a 2 hour run with just water. felt no different to when I used to run that long with taking gels on board too. Im hoping this will get my body used to burning fat rather than relying on instant energy from gels etc

But where do you draw the line where weight loss is concerned. Do you actually need to lose any more?

It's all about power to weight ratio, not weight per se.

The aim is to reduce your fat percentage and that can be achieved by staying the same weight just becoming leaner.

Good to hear Hussler you've found it useful too. It is possible to eat out, especially if you are a meat eater you just have to pass on the pasta, pizza, flour-based options and choose salads, veggies and potatoes as side dishes.

It's really liberating not worrying about fat content too

Yes indeed it is.

I could do with losing a little, im down to 70kgs now:) so if I dont lose any then never mind as im sure my power output will improve this year...

As Kelda says losing fat % and becoming leaner is really the goal, and that will more than likely mean I stay the same weight.

From my comment above, what I meant when I said id lost the excess weight from when I had started out... I was well overweight hitting 15 stone at my 'Peak' and I was around the 13.5 stone mark when I started Tri....

Thing is Pizza, chips, Chicken Kebabs, indians and chinese are so so nice....:) haha

NOwt wrong with chips, or chicken kebabs ...

UPDATE

I've now been eating Primal (www.marksdailapple.com)since the beginning of December, I am leaner, without a shadow of a doubt. Probably 2-3% (just waiting on some stats to come back) but I am the same weight. I am also at least 16% more powerful now on the bike and can lift more than I ever have.

I stopped being a vegetarian in the last month (strength gains came before that before someone jumps in and says it's all because you now eat meat!) and now the Primal eating is really making sense and I feel even better than I did before.

Training - as some of you know I've quit with my coach and taken most of February off. I was eating potato to supplement the large amount of carbs I was burning during a monster 12 week threshold-based training phase which started at the beginning of November.

The more I've got into the Primal way of thinking the more I've realised how bad this kind of training is for the body,and how counter-productive too. I started to get very disrupted sleep and total loss of motivation. I was overtrained. I'm convinced this had nothing to do with my eating as I was carefully matching my increased carb requirement, my weight remained constant and I was never starving hungry as I had been in pre-Primal days and I'd done 8 weeks with no problem on the energy front. I just burned out, plain and simple and it's taking a long, steady road back to feeling normal.

If you need further convincing that starch and sugar are BAD with a capital B read Big Fat Lies (is your government making you fat) by Hannah Sutters, you can get it on Amazon for under £10. It's a slim, small book written mostly in bullet points, it's very readable and puts in layman's terms the Diet Delusion book I reviewed above, the science is sound.

I promise you, you will never think the same about diet again. You will lose the weight you want, and you will be healthier. It's that simple.

Yesterday I ate - small amount of natural greek yog with a pear for breakfast, mid morning I cooked three scrambled eggs with butter, red pepper and a large mushroom (all in butter), three thick rahers of bacon. I went for a 45 min hike in the sun including a big climb up a hill. Around 6 pm I had a 4 oz fillet steak. During the day I had a piece of really good brie, 4 squares of very dark chocolate and a large handful of nuts. Felt satisfied all day.

You eat tasty food, can enjoy animal fats. No brainer really. I'm blogging at www.grokgirl.blogspot.com where I sometimes list what I've eaten during the day and what training I've done amongst other random thoughts!

Buy the book ...


PS Reg has found it works even though he was skeptical about the willpower side of things. You simply don't want the stuff you think you will!

My brother who started this at the beginning of December and is now a total convert and will never return to any other form of eating has now lost 2.5 stone and 5 inches off his waist. He aims to be 100kg by Easter and his goal of under 200 lbs by mid August. Personally I think he'll get there a bit quicker than that, but we'll see. He looks amazing (even with a couple of stone still to go), as does Reg!

So basically Kelda you've come around to my way of thinking nutrition wise. Eat what you like, get plenty of bacon down you and always have cheese when it's offered. Maybe I should write a book while I am at it. Oh yeah, and don't forget to hops and water carbo-load, its the law.

ps Haven't trained since Nov (at all) and off to see the surgeon on Tuesday (light at the end of the tunnel methinks).

Mm, did you read my posts! LOL!

I'll keep everything crossed for you next week.

Kelda,

heres the thing about pizza. Make sure it a really good one, cooked traditionally, i.e in a wood oven, and really thin. Not the foam based pizza's from the well known chains. Also for pasta, again look at traditional Italian restaurants. All should use fresh ingredients. I have found that the Italian way of eating is much better than ours and seems to follow what you are saying. Main courses are mainly fish or meat. Rarely do you get carbs on the same plate, after all that is what the pasta as a first course is for.

My weakness has to be the odd bottle of red over a weekend, especially if there is rugby on BFBS.

I'm afraid you've missed the point Sashasdad, carbs from grains are not good, and that includes pizza base, however thin or fresh. Ditto the pasta which is made from Durum wheat.

Get hold of the book Big Fat Lies by Hannah Sutter and you'll see what I mean. Or go to www.marksdailyapple.com and use the search box on top right to look for grains.

I've been using ground almonds instead of flour and make a pizza base as follows - 100 g of ground almonds mixed with a beaten egg (you can add a little salt and herbs if you want) the consistency should be very thick paste which you can press out/roll flat to make a thin pizza base - add more almonds/egg to achieve this. Roll between two sheets of greaseproof paper or you'll have a sticky mess! Then bake the base for around 10 mins at 180 c keeping an eye on it, you want it to start drying out, not brown. Then add all your normal pizza toppings as desired - bake for another 10-15 mins at 180 c - absolutely yummy.

You can also use almond 'flour' (and other nut flours) to make batters to coat chicken/fruit also to make pancakes and drop scones and recently I used it to make a banana 'cake'. Really excellent.

Just watch me hit the buffet at Las Playitas

Not suggesting to have one everyday, but can be used as a treat surely. Over here the majority of pizzas are made using type 00 wheat and not the normal all purpose flour used in the UK. Also type 00 is higher in protein then normal flour.

Once knew a comms guy who would alternate his diet, carbs one day, protein the next and never mix the two. Seemed to work for him.

Fresh fruit, fresh veg and the best cuts of meat you can afford. Luckily out here the nearest fast food place is on the local american base so I can limit my burger content to absolute zero

Well done to Bev by the way.

Buona fine settimana ragazzi.

What anyone else does is entirely up them! However, I reiterate, go read the posts/books, there are no redeeming factors about wheat (and other grains), period!

And, try it yourself, live without adding sugar or grains for a week or so, you'll be surprised how you feel; even energy, no post sugar slumps(and that's what all starches break down to however 'whole' they start), no hunger, more mental alertness, and reducing body fat. We can get all the carbs we need from lots of vegetables (with a few exceptions), some fruit and nuts, these carbs come packed with all the other great nutrients we need for human health unlike flour (that only contains anything worth having if it's been artificially fortified).

Nothing wrong with a pure 100% meat burger either (just skip the bun), fat is not your enemy, it's all a complete lie that has been promulgated by the US/UK government for the last 50 years and is based on bad science and vested interests. Have a look at the make up of the official bodies, the FDA etc and see how many are not either large shareholders in, or funded by the food industry (we are talking Pepsi, Coke etc) you will be there a long time.

K

http://www.slate.com/id/2248754/pagenum/1

A very interesting piece, great news for those of you who like a cooked breakfast ...

The steak must make a right mess of your bike jersey pockets

On a serious note Kelda, what do you drink out on the bike? Most energy drink mixes/products contain pretty simple Glucose sugars, or something that's hydrolised from starch like Maltodextrin.

I drink water. For example my last four or five big rides (ie longer than 3 hours) I've eaten between 2 (3 hour) and 4 (5 hour) Nakd bars - they are raw dried fruit and nut bars 12 g of carbs a piece and drank 500 - 750 mls of water (it is yet to get anywhere near warm yet here!) and training at around 75% of MHR I'm not losing a lot in sweat.

For the Etape Caledonia (around 4:30 hours hard riding over 81 miles and 6k ft ascending I'll use the same strategy although I may have one bottle of 50/50 water/pure oj.

On a hot weather ride I would also add some form of salt - quite often use Dioraltye (rehydration salts).

If you look at the MDA site Mark has a special guide for endurance training on PB diet, he recommends straight glucose for fuelling a threshold effort (if you insist on doing them, or when racing) and make use of the 20 min refuelling window when you finish then go back to low carb. Potato is a good thing to use to replace carbs straight afterwards. I haven't needed to thus far since I returned to training after quitting with coach.

My body is training in the fat burn zone for the majority of the time and then high end stuff but for short bursts. The long, steady work is making me more and more fuel efficient.

Today I took 25 seconds off my 400 m swim time from a month ago and I haven't done one session at race pace. Just sprints and easy playing.

I also managed to knock out 5 x 6 mins hard effort reps on my turbo (almost max hr at the end of the last two - 105% FTP stuff - 185 Powertap watts) before I swum and that was all off a couple of pears and three spoonfuls of natural Greek yog.

So, do you eat any pasta, bread or cereals at all? I don't know what I'd eat otherwise....I mean no sandwiches for lunch, or even a pasta salad instead. I might as well get a job as a London PR Girl and survive on raw fish, Malboros and coke*



*or another refreshing soft beverage

I eat nothing from grains, so no flour-based products, no rice, no pasta, no cake, no pastries, no conventional pizza base although I do make a PB alternative. No cereals, no oats. Avoid added sugar.

I do eat meat, fish, cheese, eggs, nuts, butter, cream, loads of vegetables, some fresh fruit, yog, small amounts of very dark chocolate, red wine ... you can use ground almonds in place of flour in quite a few recipes like pancakes, scones etc.

If you look at my blog you'll often see what I do eat! And no, I don't miss anything, don't crave anything, feel a zillion times better, am never hungry and can train just fine, clocked up around 15 hours last week without even noticing.

Hi Kelda
Some interesting reading, I have a few questions.
1. have you had your cholesterol tested?
2. How do you intend to carb load prior to racing?
3. How many grams of carbs are you consuming a day?
4. What is your total calorie intake per day?
5. What proportions % fat, carbs, pro is your daily intake?

Not having read the book yet some of my questions or understanding might sound strange.When exercising the body relies on burning carbs in the form of glycogen and fats as a source of fuel. As intensity increases then fat usage decreases due to the lack of oxygen needed to release the energy from fats. And the body then relays more on carbs. Even at this low intensity or fat burning zone there is still a need for 50% of the energy to come from carbs. So how do you meet these demands long term as an endurance athlete? Your body will store a maximum of 2000cal in the form of carbs and this will provide about 3 to 4 hrs worth of energy at below 75 to 80 % max heart rate. I think you might find that yes you can still do explosive short intervals but when it comes to racing you may start to struggle.
Lots of the weight initially lost on this diet is in the form of water due to the chemical structure of carbs C6 H12 O6.

Westy

They make exceptions for the demands of racing where you would take advantage of the usual energy systems available to sustain you (energy bars, drinks etc). Most of the daily and training carb requirements are met from naturally occurring carbs in fruit and veg; there is no need to add processed or grain based carbs. I have found the book really interesting but you do need to have an open mind when reading it as a lot of your pre-conceived ideas are challenged. It is supported by science though, not fantasy.

You guys will be moving to the Findhorn Foundation next

'look in to my eyes, look in to my eyes'

I've not had blood tests done in years. I don't do conventional doctors! Yes, it would have been very interesting to see what change was affected by the switch in diet, but I didn't have a recent test pre PB so nothing to compare it with.

From all my reading, and most of that in terms of the science end is from Diet Delusion, refers to study after study of bloods coming back much improved and there are lots of anecdotal comments by 'followers' on the MDA site that have had massive improvements in their bloods - seems Americans get them tested very regularly.

There is no requirement to carb load prior to racing, that is taken care of by tapering! If you aren't burning the carbs off prior to racing your body is using its fat stores to replenish the glycogen.

I haven't counted up the carbs in a while, but just for you, I've taken yesterday's eating (nat greek yog and mixed berry breakfast, a nakd bar, an apple, a hunk of cheese, 75 g of mixed nuts, sushi roll - no rice - with smoked salmon, peppers, mushrooms, lettuce, olive oil, two squares dark choc, cream in coffee, glass of red wine, salmon steak (250 g) roasted peppers, mushrooms, onions, leeks, carrots in olive oil) and come up with the following ..

Total carbs 93 g
Total fats 157 g
Total protein 107 g
Total calories 2213 kcal

So percentage-wise I have 16.8% of calories from carbs, 63.8% from fat and 19.4% from protein.


The idea of my training is to be predominantly in the fat burning zone, so I ride/run/swim in a heart range of 70-80%. During my long rides I eat about one Nakd bar an hour (12 g carbs) and drink water. I don't need to fuel during the short, sharp sessions. However, I do have a carb food when I finish training. A piece of fruit, or some nuts and milk.

I have ridden some of the long rides at an overall average heart of 75% but spent a lot of time also at and above threshold, I've still used the same fuelling strategy just eat more when I get home.

As for water loss, yes, the body does stored different macronutrients diffierently, however, it also takes a lot more water to process protein, so not sure how it balances. All I can say is that my brother, who is following the same eating style has lost 1kg per week since last December, and continues to do so. His carb intake is around 50-85 g per day, just out of ketosis, he exercises every day in the low fat burn zone and sprints a couple of times a week along with heavy weights. His experience is repeated throughout the PB community. He is now well under 100 kg, he started at 118.5 on December 1. He also intermittently fasts as well (as do I every few weeks). That can't be down to water, he has lost 6 inches from his waist and is now in excess of 40 lbs lighter and has lost 8 percentage points off his body fat composition!

Living with low levels of insulin allows for even energy and efficient fat useage, as we evolved to do 10 of 1,000s of years ago.

Mark Sisson has an adapatation to the PB for endurance athletes, which includes using sports drink during sustained or harder activity. He suggests up to 100 g of carb per additional (behond 60 mins) activity per day. He suggests using sweet potato, or potatoes to provide this and using glucose as that is what you are burning during higher efforts. I haven't found the need to add potatoes since I dropped the stupid silly amounts of threshold work my former coach had me doing. But even when I was doing that just a jacket potato was sufficient to replace the fuel.

There is a good posting on his site by Brad Kearns which I've linked on the other thread, all about endurance training on PB. The whole thrust of Primal is to work with the body.

It's working for me, we'll see what happens come race season but so far my power is improving, my weight is stable, I have energy, I'm performing really well, my 400 m time in the pool is down.

Go read the book is the best bet, then you'll really know where we are coming from.

Just re-reading this thread I've made reference to three books along the way.

The Diet Delusion - Gary Taubes, a thick, dry, scienfic review of just about all nutritional studies over the last 120 years or so - not for the faint hearted but if you really want to understand the science ...

Big Fat Lies - Hannah Sutter - a pocket-sized quick review of the above book with her own recommendations for weight loss. She's quite anti-exercise in terms of weight loss and is more akin to Atkins to start with, but it's a good review of the science and debunks a lot of the so called healthy diet recommendations.

The book Mick is referring to, and one most relevant to athletes I think (as it's written by an ex IM Triathlete and marathoner with biology degree and pre med training) is The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. This is the one that gives the whole theory of following a lifestyle more like we evolved to. It's a great read, very enteraining in places with good summary boxes at the end of every chapter and a list of foods to eat, and ones to avoid.

All three are on amazon.co.uk.

Mark blogs daily at www.marksdailyapple.com which covers all kinds of health, lifestyle, training related topics.

And as if by magic Westy, this today's posting which addresses some of your questions and this is from the horse's mouth so to speak!

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-much-is-too-much/

Hi been shopping today and came home with "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. Not had a chance to read yet but looks to be allong the same lines, have you seen it?

It has a similar theme although Primal Blueprint allows for more fat (an area that Atkins originally was worried about and therefore promoted higher levels of protein which is where some of the negative press came from viz Kidney/Liver stress), also some dairy (if you aren't intolerant) particularly really good quality thick Greek style natural yogs and also very good quality cheeses.

Cordain worked with Joe Friel to produce Paleo for Athletes book.

Why not just buy Primal Blueprint LOL!

Enjoy reading, Mark Sisson quotes Cordain, personally I think PB is more user friendly, it's also a whole lifestyle as it looks at the importance of stress, sleep, play, training (heavy weights, low level aerobic, HIIT), using your brain creatively etc, etc, as far as I know the Paleo Diet book is just focussed on eating but I haven't read it but I think it uses all the same science sources that I've read in Diet Delusion, be interested to hear what you think of it.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/lean-meat/ this gives you a feel for PB's take on some of Cordain's thoughts.

Final update on how effective this has been

see 13 April post here

www.grokgirl.blogspot.com

Ja, sehr gut. What is your watt/kg before & after?

The stats haven't been processed yet on that aspect, will post when I know. Ben puts them through a myriad of calculations, most of which go right over my head! However, today I rode a route 17 mins faster than I did 3 weeks ago with the same heart rate and power up 2 watts!

Westy, first event of the season now under my belt and one done at the last minute due to being unable to get out to Fuerteventura due to Volcano!

Spring Sportive New Forest 86 miles, 1500m climbing - gold standard 4:55 and under it would appear from results - I rode a mix of very hard with Mick's group, then easier but still carb-burn zone for a while whilst enjoying scenery and company then timetrailled last 20 miles flat out. Average heart rate for the 5 hours was 159 (max is 189) and power was 149 watts. I was 7 minutes outside gold standard and could have ridden a good 10 mins quicker had I chosen to.

Didn't carb load at all the day before just my normal diet, for breakfast I had natural yog with a teaspoon of honey, a small strawberry and banana innocent, a banana and some melon plus half a piece of brie. Ride - ate 5 nakd bars and drank around 1.2 litres water with 1 teaspoon of sugar per 750 mls plus a sachet of diarolyte.

No problems at all could have ridden harder, or longer and today I feel totally fine. I didn't load up on carbs after the race although I've had more than I normally would but not by much. Will be going for an hour's run tomorrow then ride again a couple of hours on Wednesday.

That performance (and I felt amazing all the way around) was off LSD at 75% mhr plus weekly turbos of 5 x 6 mins at 105% TFP. It works. See Turbo's blog too ...

Just an alternate view,

I did my longest ride this season 2 weekends ago, and it was also one of my most enjoyable, where I felt the strongest all the way through, especially at the end.

My preparation was the night before at a wedding, with ale, gin and jd, followed by a hotel breakfast buffet, i.e. full english, full continental, all the fruit, yogurt, cereals and a lot of bread. It took me 1.5 hours to eat it all.

What the hell, I enjoyed being drunk, and I enjoyed eating all that food. Yes I put on a kg in weight for about 3 days, but I have easily lost it again within a week through consistent training.

Shouldnt we enjoy our lives and our food as well as our sport? Instead of spending hours looking at data and numbers, and fretting about whether you should eat that cracker and jam?

Ok, I guess that goes against the grain of this thread. Im standing by to raise my shield (made out of pizza) and take the abuse. I might have to go and eat some chocolate (more than 2 squares) to make myself feel better if it gets too much though.

PS if you read this and get too upset or feel that I have bantered to close to the bone, then please revaluate your life and go and have a fat steak with extra onion rings.

Surely a steak is fine, according to Primal or Atkins? What sort of compromise is that?

A chocolate filled croissant would be a far better punishment

Nowt wrong with steak and fried onions (you can hold the batter!).

Each to his own!

The word is spreading, and loads of people are finding what a difference it can make the their lives ... just watch this space I guess - they were selling Primal Blueprint at the London Marathon Expo, now that is getting a bit mainstream!

Last week I dropped another 1.4% body fat now well under 20% and my power is up on the bike and my brother is now more than 4 stone lighter and is gunning for 12% body fat by the end of the year that's QED for me :-)

It sounds like another obsession for OCD types to me; IM is as much obsession as my wife and I can take thanks very much

I had meatballs and pasta last night, it wer great!

I havent written a book, and it's NOT available in major high street retailers.

It reads

Train consistent. eat what you like. you earned it.

Retails at 0.0p...unlike all the other diet books out there. Does anyone else think its cynical to publish a book to the general public that would only help the top percentile of atheletes out there?

But then you gotta make a buck.

PS on a serious note, how do you get enough dietary fibre in the PB diet?

The book is self-published by Mark Sisson and is about £12 (hard back). All the information in his book is ALL freely available on his www.marksdailyapple.com website. There is no subscription, it is all FREE.

It is NOT aimed at athletes, in fact, if you actually bothered to go to the website or read the book you will discover it's for anyone and everyone who wants to live long and healthy - particulary all those people who are struggling with weight gain, diabetes, hypertension (the list is endless), in fact he is anti endurance top-athlete-systems if anything as it isn't good for your body as he discovered through 15 years of painful experience as a pro-marathoner and later IM triathlete.

Once you understand how your body works you might not be quite so quick to trumpet how much you can eat and drink ... but post away - it struck me this afternoon that you are probably one of the best adverts for giving PB a try LOL!

As for fibre, if you actually read what I'd written above you would see that I get plenty of fibre, I eat masses of vegetables and salad every day, I also eat nuts go to www.fitday.com and look at some foods there, it gives you a breakdown of every type of food.

BTW James (although I know you are only trying to wind me up!) there is no calorie counting, no weighing, it is totally simple, nothing processed, don't add sugar, don't eat grains, how hard or obsessive is that!

Me, wind people up? Never