Workout of the Day

Today's Planned Workout (W.O.D.)

Chest, Triceps and Shoulders (all "pushing" movements) at Goodlife with minimal rest between sets. I'll superset everything, as I'm a little more concerned with keeping the metabolism up than I am with pushing the MOST weight possible. So, it will look something like this: (With how insanely busy Goodlife always seems to be, I may have to improvise a few of these to make it work)

Flat Barbell Bench Press / Lateral dumbbell Raise: 5 sets of 10 - 15 reps
Incline Barbell Bench Press / Cable Pressdowns: 5 sets of 10 - 15 reps
Smith Machine Military Press / Close Grip Bench Press: 5 sets of 10 - 15 reps
Pec Deck / Reverse Pec Deck: 5 sets of 15 - 20 reps
French Press / Upright Row: 5 sets of 10 - 15 reps

Followed by at least an hour on the stairmill at ~ level 13 / 14, which feels pretty darn close to my anaerobic threshold.This machine gives one heck of a workout. When I first started using it, I could barely last about 40 minutes on it at level 11 or 12. Now I can handle (though it's tough) an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes at level 13 or 14. I sweat like a pig and feel like the calories it tells me I'm burning are actually legit. I guess that's why people like the eliptical so much, you seemingly burn a TON of calories with minimal effort. Those machines overestimate by at least 50% I'd say.

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.