Training and Diet Plan to Prep for 4.5 Months of WALKING

So, as last year's triathlon season wound down, I really started to think about what kind of training I should do over the winter that would best prepare me to walk from Mexico to Canada, covering the 2650 miles (4200km) over 4.5 months, in the most comfort possible. I figured for at least a while, I could incorporate a LOT more weight training into my program and so I upped it from only a couple times per week to 5 - 6. I went from just doing a full body workout, to focusing on gaining strength and size and thus, only training each body part once every 5 days or so. A lot of my strength from many years of weight training came back quickly, and with an increase in calorie consumption (though no real junk) and reduced aerobic / endurance training, I put on close to 20lbs from last August until about now. Now that we're living out in Stittsville, house sitting for my parents for the next 5 weeks, I can set up my road bike on the trainer and get in good quality bike work. I've always loved the trainer, I can get a serious aerobic workout in a shorter amount of time than on the road, it builds incredible leg strength and endurance and turns your heart into a blood pumping MACHINE!! Julia also just got a membership at Goodlife, so I'll be doing weight training with her there, trying to get her strength up and get some more weight on her (maybe 5 - 8 pounds) in the next 6 weeks or so.

So I'll be trying to get in at LEAST an hour a day on the trainer, and then doing 4 - 5 days a week of weights, and sometimes the stairmill at Goodlife (also great for leg strength).

With this, I've also decided to do 6 weeks of a strict ketogenic diet. I've done it in the past with great success, and if you know what you're doing, it works incredibly well to lean you up, quickly. With a Ketogenic diet, you essentially restrict carbohydrates to a bare minimum (except fibre) while increasing fat content (preferably omega 3 fatty acids (anti inflammatory) and medium chain triglycerides (coconut oil)) and keeping protein relatively the same. As you deplete your carbohydrate stores (glycogen), your body switches to relying solely on fat as a source of fuel.You also benefit from a very stable insulin sensitivity and so your energy becomes much more stable and after the first few days, you can think clearer, you'll have more energy and you'll feel fuller for much longer after meals. Many people go crazy on cheese, bacon, butter, fatty beef etc, but that's not my style, I'll be getting a lot of my calories and fats from the following foods:

Eggs: Hard boiled or fried with coconut oil
Coconut oil: used in cooking, or taken off the spoon, or melted (melts with minimal heat) and take as a shot
Fish: Tuna, salmon, shrimp
Fish Oil: Progressive OmegEssential
Mayonnaise:  Mix with eggs / tuna
Avocado: GREAT keto food, rich in unsaturated fat and fibre.
Nuts: NATURAL peanut and Almond butters, almonds, walnuts
Greens: Salads with spinach, avocado, walnuts, a few olives, Progressive VegeGreens
Cream: mix with protein shakes and in coffee
Cheese: zero carbs, high fat only, use with meals

I don't eat poultry and beef, and the foods may seem limited (and I'm sure I've left out a couple) but there are a lot of options, and it's only for 6 weeks or so, so I'll be able to handle it!

Buffs!

We got our Buffs in the mail today!! So pumped to have these with us on the hike! They just may end up being the most versatile, handy piece of clothing we've got with us on the trail. Check 'em out!

Buff Canada

On the Move!

As is the hectic nature of our life these days. Julia and I are moving out to my parents' place for the month of March (Feb 26 - March 31) as they are on vacation in Myrtle Beach. It will be very nice to have the extra space to lay everything out and make sense of what we've got and what we need to do! We'll be making a trip soon to Ogdensburg to send a serious shipment out to Abby in Bakersfield, so it will be nice to have the room to organize all of that.

Also, during March we're moving the contents of our apartment into a storage locker at the new Dymon facility in Kanata. It'll be about $211 per month (for 6 months), but we got a free TV that I've already sold for $250. :) Cheaper than the $1000 per month to keep our apartment, and the extra month that we'll have it for will make life easier / less stressful to move out. PLUS you get the use of a moving truck for free. So we'll be moving out of the apartment throughout March, and then make one big trip with the truck for the furniture and such.

The next 9 or so weeks should be nice and hectic!!

Shout Out From Our Favourite Podcast!

I'm a complete Triathlon addict, have been since 2006 when I caught the bug in my last year of my undergrad at the Univeristy of Ottawa. It was actually Julia that forced me into a 5k run outside that spring. I was immediately  hooked and only a couple years later I did my first Ironman, at Ironman Canada in Penticton, BC. Shortly after getting home from our year (2009) in Australia, I found this podcast (www.imtalk.me) that was "all things triathlon", especially Ironman distance races. Not only was the content great, but the accents on these guys was a nice reminder of life in Aus / New Zealand (only visited for like 10 days, but it was friggin' INCREDIBLE). Since early 2010 I've looked forward to every week's show and you can be sure I'll load up the ipod with a ton of 'em for this summer!! I emailed them asking for a quick shout-out on their show, so that we can maybe get a few extra people following our journey and checking out the organizations we're supporting. Check it out!

Practice Camping? Sort of.

Well my buddy Alex managed to convince me to join him in an overnight camping trip in Algonquin Park this past Thursday. I figured why not, I had no other plans, and it would give me a chance to really test out some of my gear.

After packing up his SUV, putting the dogsled (yes, dogsled) on the roof and getting his two huskies in there too, the running a couple last minute errands, we left Ottawa for Algonquin Park around 10:30AM and were finally on trail at about 2:15PM. It's a good 3ish hour drive and we had to stop at the East Gate to pick up our permits. We walked in for about an hour, found a perfect spot and set up camp, quickly gathering wood for a fire that would last us. Alex's tent has no floor (it's a Mountain Hardwear Kiva) so we had to gather up a bunch of brush, dig out some of the snow inside the tent, lay the brush and cover it with a tarp, then some blankets, our pads and sleeping bags. Alex has some decent experience with winter camping and we were using his gear, so he definitely did the lion's share of the work.

My dinner of 2 packs of Ramen noodles was served up by 5:30PM and consumed by 5:32PM. After that we hung out for a bit, keeping the fire going and collecting more wood from downed trees nearby. By 6:30 it was PITCH black out, and the sky was incredible.We turned in at about 7:30PM. Got comfortable in the tent with the dogs and I finally fell asleep around 10PM. I was plenty warm in my Western Mountaineering Ultralite (Down bag, rated to -7C) with a merino hoodie, capilene tights and my Patagonia Down sweater, and some warm running pants (that I won't be bringing), wool socks, beanie. ONLY issue was that, since it was cold out, and we had 2 dogs and 2 people breathing for about 10 hours, we built up some serious condensation, that my bag was so kind to absorb. Down doesn't do well when it gets wet. It wasn't TOO bad, but I could feel the cold seeping through. Once morning came, we got a fire going quickly, had breakfast, packed up and headed out. We were back at the truck in about 30 - 40 minutes.

Good times!!

It was a little frustrating trying to keep things organized, as I didn't want to have my hands exposed for too long, so I would just grab what I need and throw stuff back wherever.

This trip only made me MORE excited for or hike!!!

Here's a quick Video I made.

Trail Magic

Trail magic is, as described by veteran hikers, the idea that when you're in desperate need of something, whether water, a ride, food, equipment, shade etc, the trail provides. By some divine intervention, or maybe just the amazing folks ("trail angels") that help take care of the trail and its inhabitants, the things you require turn up at the most unlikely of places and times. They serve at least a couple important purposes. Firstly, trail magic provides you with what you are desperately in need of, and secondly (and probably just as important) it provides an immediate, lasting boost in morale. You learn to appreciate things just a little more, and maybe have a small epiphany, like what we learn from "The Alchemist", that when we want something bad enough, the entire world conspires to make it happen! Something like that.

Well, Julia and I are still more than a couple months away from stepping foot on the trail but we feel as though we've already experienced some trail magic. Firstly, we've been extremely lucky in securing some important sponsorships to help make this a financially viable expedition. Without the help of a few KEY people, all of this would be much more difficult from a financial standpoint. Whether offering significant discounts, sponsoring us with free product or paying for a bunch of our expenses, to say we've been "lucky" would not do these kind gestures justice. Beyond that, we've already been offered (FREE OF CHARGE) by "Scout" and "Frodo" (Trail Names), trail angels extraordinaire to be picked up at the airport, put up at their place for the night, cooked dinner, driven to and from local shops and then driven the 75 minutes to the Southern Terminus of the PCT. ARE YOU FLIPPIN' KIDDIN' ME?!?! These people are completely selfless, they offer this service to as many (and it always ends up being many) aspiring thru hikers as they can handle, and refuse any sort of payment or gifts. What do ya do to repay that generosity? We'll have to come up with something.

The smaller details (and there are more than a few) are coming together, and they're coming together through the generosity of others. Makes you want to pay it forward. ;)

Tech Review - The PLAN

So it's only the beginning of February. We've got a plan, but we'll see what happens when we're actually on trail. We enjoy what technology has to offer in terms of entertainment and ability to capture memories. The following photos is what we're planning to bring with us, at least at the moment. We understand that it's "heavy" at a little over 2lbs total, but we're willing to deal with that in order to have the benefits of each device.

Top Row Left to Right:
Canon Powershot ELPH 300 HS:  Just a point and shoot digital camera for Julia to have on-hand at all times. She's had another one of these for YEARS now and has always loved it, so we're looking forward to having a new one with us for this trip!

iPod Nano(s): The silver one is 2Gb, while the purple is 8GB. These are a bit of a given. They're lightweight and will offer a ton of entertainment in the way of music, podcasts and audiobooks.

iPod Touch: The iPod Touch will serve a huge purpose. It's 32GB memory will be able to hold a LOT of entertainment. I'm thinking of buying all seasons of Big Bang Theory and maybe we can watch an episode per evening or something. Beyond that, and probably most importantly, I've downloaded all of Halfmile's PCT maps into iBooks. It's 476 pages of paper that we won't need to print ($$$) and carry. We WILL though have some paper maps with us as well, at least to start, we'll see after that. I've also downloaded a bunch of articles and studies and general interest reading stuff into iBooks as well. We'll see what the battery can handle.

Pelican iTouch 1015 Case: Had to buy this case to protect the iTouch. It's waterproof, dust proof and shock proof. It's got a jack so you can plug in and listen even when it's in the case. Its one drawback is that it's HEAVY, so we'll see if we stick with it or not. I think we SHOULD, but we'll see.


Middle Row Left to Right: 
Kodak Playsport: I bought this last April (2011) and we used it a bunch over the summer and really liked it. It's waterproof and rugged, so it will hold up well against what I'm about to put it through. It shoots 720p and 1080p and I've been happy with it so far!!

SticPick: Just a simple little device that allows you to affix you camera (both of ours will work) to the end of your trekking pole so you can get a great shot of yourself with whatever amazing scenery is behind you at the given time.

Energizer Lithium Batters: Very long life on these batters. The AAs will be used with the iGo to recharge our electronics when we're on the trail and the AAAs are back-up for the SPOT GPS and our headlamps.

iGo Charger: Great little device that takes AA batteries and with a variety of different attachments, you can recharge any device on the go.

SPOT GPS: This is a great way for family and friends to track us and stay in touch. We'll have a page set-up with a map that people can see (within 10 minutes) exactly where we are, it's incredibly accurate. There are a couple other features that allow you to send a customized message to a list of contacts, letting them know you're ok, or need help or to be picked up etc. We'll use that just to send to our family so they know we're doing well! The device also has an SOS button that, in an absolute pinch (life and death) you can call for emergency help.

Bottom Row Left to Right:
OR Case: Just a lightweight case in which we can store / organize of this fantastic tech gear!

Huawei Cell Phone: Lightest, simplest and CHEAPEST cell phone Mobilicity has. This guy will be used to call and book hotel rooms, contact family and friends and do whatever else you do on a phone. We're on the T-Mobile network when we're in the U.S., which I hear is terrible on the PCT, so yay (sarcasm) for that.

SD Memory Cards: We have a bunch of these (~6) ranging from 4GB - 32GB and they'll be mailed home once full. We may have to buy one or two extra, but we'll see.