Beyond Training

I once had a newer triathlete ask me some advice on diet, nutrition and how to support their training.  My response at the time was “Don’t eat crap food.” It was a tongue-in-cheek sort of half joke, really not meant as serious advice.  ..Yet still was kinda serious.  I meant, really, if you’re eating “crap food,” which at the time I meant to include most highly processed, low-nutrient, high calorie-ratio food, you ought to stop.  I also was sort of trying to dodge a real answer, because in part, I was not really ready to answer the question, at least off the top of my head.  I had only been coaching for a couple of seasons then.  I since have learned a lot from many experts in endurance sports. More importantly, I hadn’t yet done a lot of extensive research and general investigation of all sorts of different resources, outside of endurance sports.

 

Now, I have. Or at least I’ve begun.  As an attorney, I learned how to research a topic and dig-in on it.  Now I’m putting that to use here. What I’m learning the more I dig is pretty ugly and disturbing –  on many levels.

I’ve come a long way from “don’t eat crap food.” Now, I can elaborate.  I have come to greatly appreciate the role nutrition plays in the daily life, and the quality of life of every human being, which I’m pretty sure still includes most serious endurance athletes (especially ones trying to gain a fair advantage the safe, legal, and non-cheating way.)

I plan to share a lot of revelations, and experiences – some personal, hard  lessons learned – a lot of stories of people very close to me, those of other athletes, friends, etc. on the topic of food.  I’ll do it here on my coaching blog, because although they are not the same typical training issues, they are closely related. There is much overlap with coaching, training, racing and performance.  Honestly, it’s very exciting to me, and I cannot wait to learn, share, and hopefully move the nutritional ball down the field, for better public (and athlete) health.

Please stay tuned.

..and please tell me if you’re interested, or can teach us something..