Congratulations on what I feel was a very successful Hell Week.  I hope you are enjoying your day off, or at least keeping your intensity level low.  Next week you will get back to your regular workout schedules, which should give the bodies a feeling of recovery after what they experienced this week.  It is quite often in this second week that you will experience greater changes to the body than what you felt during Hell Week.  The body doesn't always have the opportunity to change when it is under the stress of the week, now that the body is given a little rest, it adapts to create a new you.
  Now the real challenge presents itself when we get back to our regular schedules and we don't have as much contact throughout the week.  This week it is essential that you continue to eat as you did during Hell Week with these minor changes; 1) You may have only one protein shake per day that should be placed 4 hrs after any workout, but continue to have 2 shakes on weight training days.  Also whenever you're hungry, especially at night, add a second protein shake to conquer those cravings.  2) You may add a second piece of fruit into your diet as a workout enhancer to be eaten 15-30 min before any aerobic workout. 
Breakfast should continue to consist of 2 Energy Blocks which become recovery for those that workout early in the morning, or a good pre-workout meal for those that workout mid-morning.  Whenever you have an aerobic workout, continue to utilize a recovery drink immediately after.  This is a very important part to you bouncing back from your workout and reducing cravings later in the day.   We were using PowerBar Recovery drink during the week which you can order from www.nashbar.com or you could pick up some other brand from Better Health.  In a crunch fruit juice or even chocolate milk will help you start the recovery process. 
This week separatess the men from the boys, so to speak.  You have to decide if you are just interested in making the leap towards your goals, or are you committed.  To show how these two differ I will offer this story.  Two people are following a running program - they wake up one morning when they have a run scheduled and find it to be raining.  The person who is interested in running looks outside, rolls over in bed and goes back to sleep.  The committed person grabs their rain jacket.  Are you committed, or just interested in making changes?

I enjoyed having all of you participate in Hell Week and look forward to helping you achieve all of your goals,

Marc

Congratulations on finishing your second week. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, next week we will add one more Energy Block to our daily count on days where we have an aerobic workout.  On weight training days have that extra piece of fruit and two protein shakes and on off days eat as you did during Hell Week. 

So here's the breakdown
 Aerobic days-  6 Energy Blocks/ 1 Protein Shake (4hrs after workout)
             2  Blocks at Breakfast
             1  Block of fruit 15-30 min before workout-bananas,oranges are best (if this upsets your stomach than try juice or your recovery drink)
             1  Block 15-30 min after workout in form of recovery drink
             1  Block 1-2 hrs after workout in form of complex carbs-more fiber/less sugar
             Protein may be added to this especially if it comes at Lunch or Dinner(refer to Hell Week materials)
             1  Block of fruit as a snack during your day

     If your workout is first thing in the morning then your day would be like this
             1  Block of fruit 15-30 min before workout-bananas,oranges are best (if this upsets your stomach than try juice or your recovery drink)
             1  Block 15-30 min after workout in form of recovery drink
             2  Blocks at Breakfast within 2 hrs of end of workout
             1  Protein Shake late morning
             1  Block of Complex Carb at Lunch with your protein
             1  Block of fruit as a snack in the afternoon

    If your workout is in the evening then you will want to have your Protein Shake as a snack/mini meal somewhere during the course of your day and possibly a second right before bed using only water if you are hungry or had a hard workout.

On Weight training days follow these rules: 5 Energy Blocks/ 2-3 Protein Shakes

             2 Protein Shakes - one before training and one 4 hrs after your workout. You could even experiment with having one right after your workout  using fruit juice or your recovery drink to make more of a smoothie.  If you don't have one of these then have one of your pieces of fruit here.
            2  Blocks at Breakfast
            1  Block of fruit as snack during your day
            1  Block of Complex Carb as snack or added to protein at Lunch

On Non-Workout days follow eating plan from Hell Week: 4 Energy Blocks/ 1-2 Protein Shakes

As you can see we are starting to build our diets so that they accomodate our activity levels and give our bodies the necessary nutrients based on what kind of workout we performed and the demands placed on the body.  We will continue to build our eating around our workouts to give us the energy we need to have good workouts and then to help the body recover/ repair afterwards. 

If you are not understanding these concepts please continue to write down all of your eating and workouts on the sheets that I provided you and then we can discuss your situation.  I do think it important to write down your food choices daily for about a month to make changes to your habits, understand these timing concepts and to be able to make modifications.

Don't worry if you haven't been perfect, you don't need to be in order to make progress and create a healthier body.  You just need to consistently have more good days than bad.  In baseball you make it to the Hall of Fame and are considered to be one of the best that ever lived when you succeed only three times out of ten attempts.  Now hopefully we can do better than that, but the key is your awareness of eating and keeping your thoughts towards your goals.  If you make a bad choice at one meal then acknowledge that and move on and be determined to make a better choice at your next meal.  Don't beat yourself up over making a poor choice and feel like you failed so you just give up altogether.  
A student came to his master and confessed that he had fallen into the abyss.  The water was cold, dark, and deep; he felt like he was drowning.  The masters response was "just because you have fallen in doesn't mean that you need to stay beneath".  Have patience and don't fall victim to self-sabotage where we are afraid of succeeding and receiving all that we deserve.

The best is yet to come,
Marc

Hello Warriors- 
If things have been going well for you and you are continuing to make progress with how you are feeling about your body, then it's time to add some more food into your diet.  If you feel like you have hit a plateau it is also time to progress with your diet because in either case the extra Energy Block will help in the body's ability to recover and will give you more energy, which will translate into better workouts.

If you have totally gotten away from the diet you will need to do a 3-4 day "shock" to your system and eat as you did during Hell Week for this short period of time and then resume the eating level you were at when you got off track.

If you are adding an Energy Block then I would like to see you do so in the recovery phase after workouts.  This means that you will have your Recovery drink after an aerobic workout and now follow that up with a 2 Energy Block meal within two hours of the completion of the workout.  You will continue to have a 2 Energy Block breakfast and have 2 pieces of fruit as snacks throughout your day. 

On Weight training days and non-workout days you should continue to place extra emphasis on protein intake.

It is at this point that things may need to get more individualized and I here for you to help find the right combination of food that gives you everything that you want.  All that I ask is that you keep a diary of your food so that I can give you the best guidance.

Stay positive, you are 4 weeks into this change in lifestyle and any new habits that you have added should be easier to stick with from here on out and continue to enhance your health long-term.

Sincerely,
Marc

While I was out on the road Saturday with the PowerCycling group I had some thoughts come to mind that I wanted to share.  

For those that were unable to make the ride; we were working on our climbing abilities by using bigger gears than what you might normally use when climbing to help develop greater strength.  This kind of workout will help you climb the hills around here faster, or give the legs the training they need to handle the steeper, longer climbs of say Up North or down in Bloomington where we just had a camp. 

The concept is using a big gear when climbing a hill where you can only achieve a cadence between 55-75 rpms and providing a Level 4/5 effort on your Power meter.  Your heart rate should stay fairly comfortable, maybe between 15-20 above your baseline, because of the slower leg speed. 

I generally advocate a higher cadence of 85-100 rpms when climbing to reduce the stress put upon the legs by spreading the Power that you are applying to the climb over more pedal strokes, but by working with the bigger gears you develop the strength you need to use a bigger gear in the future when climbing and still achieve the 85-100 rpm cadence range-which translates into you climbing faster.

During the workout the class was working back and forth on a 2 mile stretch of road that offered rolling hills.  One way we worked with the big gears and the other way used our easier gears and the higher cadence.  What was nice about the workout was that it got you out of your comfort zone of climbing the same way on every hill.  Some people may have found that they like climbing with an easier gear than they usually use when climbing or that maybe they can occassionally use a bigger gear when going upwards.

You can become a better climber, and it can even be fun when you challenge yourself with workouts like this.  What is really cool is that this training can prepare you for tougher climbs that you might experience elsewhere by giving the legs the opportunity to feel what a 8-12% grade climb feels like when you use a bigger gear on the typical 2-6% grade climbs around Ann Arbor.

To get faster you need to have the ability to push higher watts for a longer period of time.  Training on the PowerBike in the studio helps create those situations for you and is why so many of you have experienced greater gains this year on the road than ever before.  The body responds to resistance and gets stronger when it has a chance to adapt.  On the bike resistance can come from your choice of gearing, terrain, or the wind.  Past Tour de France champion Greg LeMond grew up in the desert of Nevada and become an excellent climber by working against relentless headwinds.  So just because we don't have mountains around us doesn't mean we can't become great climbers.

It is really fun seeing you guys out on the road giving it your all.  Each and every year you prove that the hard work over the winter does translate into speed on the road.

See you on the road,

Marc