DaleE

Feedback?? ... it was long, slow and fantastic. Got seriously bitten by Ouberg, man, that hill is steep and comes just when the fatigue is starting to set in! It's a well organised race with awesome scenery and a friendly bunch of competitors. Note to self ... do more training next year

Welcome to the 'club'. Glad to hear the change has been a good one for you. Dischem or Wellness wharehouse will both sell Coconut and Almond Flour. Beware of ground flaxseeds - they go rancid really quickly after grinding, so you rather want to get whole flaxseeds and grind them yourself just before use. This stuff ain't cheap http://www.credeoils.com/shop/nutrition-oils/coconut-flour/ http://www.wellnesswarehouse.com/shop/foodmarket/baking-cooking/flours/coconut-flour/ http://dischemonline.co.za/product-view/383/natures_choice_almond_flour_300g_gluten_free

Ouch, never good when the day ends with a drip !! We were definitely not the only casualties on Ouberg ... I saw lots of walking and lots of grumpy folk My sense of it is that full adaptation to burning fat at higher exercise rates takes 3-4 months f consistent careful eating and careful exercise - not easy. Also remember that even when you are fully adapted you will need external carbs once you are anaerobic - see many posts by Jc and others in this thread in this regard.

Hi Snow, I have used it - also only for rides longer than 5hrs. I mix one packet with 500ml water and then try to drink slowly over 2 hrs. I also carry water as I think it's critical to keep hydration and nutrition separate - a tip I learned from this forum Other option is to make it into a paste and put it in a gel tube, then use it like a regular gel. As an aside, I discovered that the slow release feature of uCan can also be a serious downside ..... I did TransKaroo over the weekend, and the plan was always to ride within my aerobic level (HR<135bpm) and ride on water alone. I've been following Maffetone's regimen for a while wanted to test how well my body has adapted to using fat for energy at this pace. So, all was good to the 180km mark (9hrs) - water only, no hunger, no cramps, feeling good .... then there is a 10km climb at that point and half way up my wheels came off spectacularly .... not a slow bonk, more like hitting the wall - had to sit down! My guess is that glycogen stores were now depleted and HR was out of aerobic level, so also no ability to burn fat. Anyway, I pulled out my ucan, mixed some and drank it .... problem is it took at least 30min before I started to feel the effects and energy started to return. Had another ucan 45min after the first then water only to the end (around another 3,5hrs). So, if you need a quick boost then ucan won't do it for you ... you do need to plan intake a lot more carefully than you would with a regular gel/gu. Good side to this story is that after the ucan had kicked in, I felt much better and finished feeling good.

You may want to try convincing your fiancé to try a more Paleo style approach than a low carb approach ... it's more flexible and probably an easier adjustment for someone used to a diet "Full of carbs and shyte" You can always convert her to lchf once she sees the benefits ...

Saw this on one of the low-carb forums and thought it may be of interest to you .... http://www.petermac.org/news/sugar-junkies-melanoma-cells-found-be-addicted-glucose-offering-new-treatment-hope

Shew, not nice!! I really hope docs can sort you out and all goes well. TK will still be there next year ... and you can do the down ride which is much easier

Coconut oil, Almond flour available from pretty much any Wellness Wharehouse or Diskem or health shop. Coconut flour now being made by Crede so should also be available in more retails stores. For the fresh stuff, if you're in the Durbanville area, drop Htone a PM - I know he lives out that way and am pretty sure he will have sniffed out the best spots. IIRC Daily Dairy is out that way (cream, milk, etc)

You're right, it is an endurance event ... BUT ... there are a couple of rather long hills involved My (possibly flawed) logic is to try to build muscle strength with the hill training for those long hills. Fewer, longer rides would work I guess - and be really beneficial for getting used to long days on the saddle. This schedule works for me in terms of time available and work / family requirements.

There's no definitive answer on alcohol and LCHF, but here are some general guidelines: 1. Red wine has less carbs than white or champagne 2. Distilled spirits like whisky are good choices (low in sugar) 3. Some folk believe alcohol is an inhibitor to weight loss (if that is your aim). My experience is that 1 glass of red wine or whisky daily makes no difference to weight loss. 4. I have a cardiologist who insists on a glass of red at least every 2 days. Says the therapeutic effects for the heart are amazing - something to do with the melatonin IIRC. 5. How much to drink depends on you. I find if I drink too much (>3 whiskeys or >half bottle red) at a party, etc, I end up eating too much too. Not sure why, perhaps just bad habits.

Solo You doing / done it ?

Thanks Dave. Did you do the MAF test on a regular basis? was there much improvement over the year? and if so, was it linear, or did you hit a plateau? My plan is to be really strict about this for July, Aug, Sept then mix some intensity (anaerobic) stuff in during Oct and be ready for Wines2Whales, Double Centuary, Burger, Desert Dash in Nov/Dec. If the results are good, I'll go back to aerobic for Jan/Feb then ramp up again for Argus and TransKaroo next year. My main focus is Desert Dash and TransKaroo, hence the desire to be able to operate aerobically at a higher level. Easy to plan ... now to implement

I realise this is not a "true" lchf question, but I know folk here have tried Maffetone style training, so hopefully I will be forgiven With winter looming round the corner, I thought I'd have another go at a 3 month block of Aerobic training. Can anyone who's done this tell me how you calculated how much time is needed on the bike per week? Or is it a simply case of keep upping the volume till you start to see signs of over training? I have read the book, but could not find specifics for training load. My initial thought is 3 x 1.5 hr sessions on the bike and 2 x 1hr swim per week. but wondering if that is enough/too much? or if 2 longer session are better than 3/4 shorter ones? Comments?

From the WW website http://www.woolworth...d=2031580000003 For me this issue is more around what they are being fed rather than if they are allowed to roam free for some portion of the day. If they are being fed GM grains, then I'd rather avoid it. I think it was Mark Sisson who made the comment .... "you are what you eat" should rather be "you are what your food ate" Grass fed lamb, beef, etc is a bit more expensive, but worth it IMHO both in terms of taste and health.

Interesting. Can you tell us more about this test? What/how exactly did they measure and how was the "continuous ride" value calculated? What % of your max heart rate did the value turn out to be?

IMHO, yes. when doing the long slow stuff, longer is better .... BUT ... make sure you keep the HR in the zone - it will tend to climb as the ride gets longer.

Not sure I qualify for the "guru" label, but this is what works for me when training for endurance stuff. Aerobic (long slow) rides. 2 or 3 2-3hr rides per week. As you mentioned at 65-75% of HRmax. This is really slow and sometimes boring ... more so if you try it on an IDT. On the IDT, I alternate high and low cadence in 10 min cycles to relieve the boredom, always keeping HR in the zone. Aim here is to build your aerobic base, it's not a strength session!! Interval training 2 (no more than 2) hard interval sessions per week. These consist of 30-45min warmup, then go find a 1km hill and do 5 repeats (Suikerbossie is perfect for this). First repeat I just use to get into the groove ... HR at about 90% which means hard riding but still have legs to accelerate near the top. Next 4 repeats are progressively faster. last one should be very close to 100% HR. puke if necessary Warm down properly - 30min or so. Some folk prefer a shorter hill for this, but I find that if training for races like TK, the hills are long, so best get used to longer hills. You could do this on an IDT by cranking up the resistance, but takes more discipline than if you have a hill to climb. If you find you're feeling over trained or exhausted, rather miss an intensity session than a slow ride session. Non-bike training 2 x 1hr session per week. focus on core and upper body stuff. Long days in the saddle require more core strength than you think. Simple stuff like sit-ups, pull ups, squats, plank, yoga, push-ups, lunges, etc all work for me. Either go to the gym or do at home in your back yard. Possible to do this on the same day as a slow ride. My 'normal' cycle for all this is: Mon - morning: gym evening: 2hr slow ride on IDT Tue - morning: Hard interval session Wed - evening: 2hr slow ride on IDT Thur - morning: gym Fri - morning: Hard interval session. or take the day off if I'm feeling tired. Sat - easy (very easy) coffee ride with mates. 1.5hr. Sun - long slow ride >3hrs. Lastly, you will see that there is no allowance for training in the 75-90% HRmax zone. I'm of the opinion that training in that zone is a waste for endurance events. You are neither building the aerobic base efficiently, nor building strength properly. Others will disagree with this approach.

Excellent. Many thanks for a detailed response.

A question for those of you who have tried Maf-style training... Did you ever do the maf-test of measuring 5 intervals? If so, how quickly did you see improvement? In other words, am I expecting too much to see a big change in 2 weeks ... or a month?

IIRC (see earlier in this thread) they do a 15 or 20 liter bulk container as well. You will need to mail them and ask for prices.

Crede are based in the Strand. Is it not viable to go collect from them if you're somewhere near the CT area? The flavour is not "strong" but certainly noticeable. I use the virgin not the odourless one and it's too strong for making mayo, etc. I prefer macadamia oil for that as it has a much more neutral taste. Am curious ... is R151 the bulk price? what size is that container?

Just to jump in on the mayo discussion ... I make mine with Macadamia oil, which give a far milder taste than olive oil. Is a bit more expensive though.

Dave, Is it possible that the cramps are training related, not nutrition? If you are still doing the Maf thing of lots of long slow rides, but then switch to high intensity for the races .... perhaps your muscles are simply not accustomed to the higher intensity for that period of time so fatigue sets in and cramp follows. Another possibility is that you train lots on one bike but race on another. I had this when doing lots of road training last year, then tried racing on MTB. The MTB saddle was just 15mm lower but that was enough to alter the angle of the bent knee and cause cramps. tried about every cure/pill on the market before I finally figured it out!

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here ... no one is demonising all carbs. It's been repeated enough times ... "not all carbs are bad and not all fats are good" - I forget who coined that phrase but apologies for the plagiarism On Noakes' "green" (always allowed) list and "orange" (in moderation) list are plenty of foods with carbs in them - so to say he is leading the charge or demonising carbs is somewhat unfair (and untrue). What is true is that most of these carbs come from green vegetable sources, not the more commonly consumed oats, corn, grains, etc. There seems to be enough evidence that carbs turn to sugar in the body and are either burned as energy or stored as fat, so, what Noakes' is saying is that for people who are carb intolerant, they need to reduce their carb intake to reduce blood sugar levels and the amount of fat stored. It's also true that he is demonising the corn based carbs - soya, wheat, canola, etc. That topic is somewhat too involved for a forum post like this. Do some reading - perhaps start with Noakes' book to get an understanding. Now, cutting out all carbs is (as you say) pretty much impossible. That's not the goal of a LCHF approach. The goal is to find the level of carbs at which your body is happy, you can exercise at the level you like, and you can maintain. Each person will differ depending on their metabolism ... anything from 25g/day upwards. Your approach of "... to cut out - processed food & sugar wherever possible - gluten and wheat as much as possible - high GI carbs (unless you're doing high intensity exercise) - lower my intake of grains & pasta" Is somewhat closer to a Paleo than LCHF diet. If it works for you, that's cool. My personal opinion is that Paleo (with some dairy) is the smart approach for non-carb resistant folk. Suggest you go have a look at http://www.marksdailyapple.com for more info.

I personally don't like those things so probably the wrong person to ask What do you think it does for you that regular food won't do?