Are you in for the 2012 edition of Colorado Trail Race? Our 12 week Colorado Trail Race training plan starts on Monday May 7th.

Race start is Monday, July 30th, 6am at Waterton Canyon Trailhead, Denver. Finish is 470 miles down the Colorado Trail at Junction Creek Trailhead, Durango.

Here is one of the views you will get from the saddle on CTR. Segment 23 descending into Cataract Lake, a most special place to visit on this planet.

Here is my LW Coaching recipe “book” of healthy real whole food to fuel your body with while training. Everything posted here goes in a zip lok baggie and in your pocket unless otherwise recommended.

I’ll add to this post on a continual basis so check back.

Sweet potato, hemp seeds, coconut oil and salt

‎1 sweet potato peeled then baked in microwave for 6 mins, some salt, about 2 TBS hemp seeds, about 2 tsp coconut oil. Smash and mix, put in baggie, go ride to a view point, admire view and eat.

Rice cakes with coconut flakes

1 cup of uncooked rice. Cook rice according to instructions. Scramble 3 eggs. Mix cooked rice, scrambled eggs with some coconut flakes, Bragg liquid aminos, rice vinegar, salt, lime juice. Smash into any pan. Cool in fridge. Chop into squares, put in baggie, go ride to a view point, admire view and eat. Spam Lite is the anti-Mmmm!

SPAM Lite is NOT ride food!

This was so nasty. DH volunteered to be the brave tester today. The fake pink color was nasty, the taste was nasty and the after taste was uber-nasty!! Ha, ha – you never, ever need to put this in your Camelbak for view point snacking! Spam Lite got the official triple thumbs down from me.

Kep’s Balls are ride food!

Kep’s Balls are made in Buena Vista, Colorado and are sold directly from their website.  Their advantage over home-made ride food is a longer shelf life. Kep’s Balls come in Vegan, Original and Espresso flavors. They are all made with healthy whole foods so get a big LW Coaching thumbs up. They are super yummy, earning a triple thumbs up. The vegan Kep’s Balls have  organic ginger in and I go ga-ga for ginger. I absolutely love the vegan Kep’s Balls.

6,000 Calories of ride food for a bikepacking trip

Shelf life is crucial for bikepacking ride food as some of this stuff will be in my pack for 3 days. Here is what I took on a 4 day 3 night spring break bikepack trip for ride food. Dinner and breakfast food are packed separately and not pictured here.

This article was written for my column on mtbracenews.com

Coach Lynda Wallenfels is Cat 1 USA Cycling coach and owner of LWCoaching.com

Question: How can you juggle the different training demands between single-speed cross country racing and geared ultra-endurance racing? I want to be successful at both disciplines.

Answer: Training and racing shorter distances on a single-speed bike is first class preparation and training for ultra-endurance racing on a geared bike. Racing single-speed will strengthen your muscles and increase top end aerobic power. In your weekly training schedule plan your recovery rides and endurance rides on gears and your technical skills and shorter rides single-speed.

A great way to time your race season is to focus early season on single-speed cross country racing and schedule your higher priority ultra-endurance geared events later in the season. As the longer races approach on the calendar, taper down the amount of time spent on your single-speed and increase the amount of time on gears.

A great mid-season combo is to race a short track mid-week series event at max effort on your single-speed and do a longer race or training ride on the weekend with gears.

Cross country and short track single-speed racing exerts high forces on muscles and creates micro tears in muscle fibers. Schedule your final high effort single-speed ride 10-12 days out from your *A* priority ultra-endurance geared race to have strong muscles at full power on race day.

I recently took a class from Enette Larson-Meyer PhD, RD, CSSD, FACSM highlighting the importance of Vitamin D for athletes. We automatically assume, as outdoor athletes we don’t have to be concerned with our Vitamin D status, but that is not the case. Recently one of my athletes living and training in sunny Las Vegas tested deficient for Vitamin D.

Vitamin D deficiency is widespread in athletes. Increasing your serum Vitamin D may make you faster and will most likely make you healthier. There are two ways to do this (1) Safe sun exposure and (2) Supplementation.

Vitamin D is of particular interest to athletes in training. Vitamin D impacts skeletal muscle protein synthesis, inflammation, recovery, immune system health and bone density maintenance.

What test? It is important for athletes to assess their Vitamin D status. You want to ask for the test that measures the circulating form of vitamin D. This is referred to as serum 25[OH]D, or serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

Athletes should maintain at least a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration >30 ng/mL and >40 ng/mL may be preferable. US RDA guideline of >20ng/ml is not enough for athletes in training and racing.

Serum Vitamin D can be increased in three ways:

1. Diet
2. Supplementation
3. Synthesized by the skin following safe sun exposure

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Diet:

Top dietary sources are cod liver oil, wild salmon, sun dried shitake mushrooms, canned sardines, farmed salmon.

Supplementation:

The recommended level for Vitamin D maintenance is 2,000 Vitamin D IU/day. It is cheap too, NOW Foods Vitamin D-3, 2,000 IU/day costs two dollars per month. Consider supplementing unless you have any health condition that predisposes you to high calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia), hyperparathyroidism, granulomatous disease, sarcoidosis, Lyme disease, lymphoma, kidney disease or are taking the diuretic known as hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ), a “water pill” drug used to treat high blood pressure and fluid retention caused by a range of conditions, including heart disease.

Sunshine:

The average healthy body can naturally synthesize about 10,000–15,000 IU of vitamin D3 in the skin within just minutes of sun exposure, without ill effect. We have natural checks and balances that shut off vitamin D build-up once we get enough. The half-life of 25(OH)D is 15 days so safe sun exposure once every 3-4 days is adequate.

Safe sun exposure recommendations are to expose arms, legs and back for 5-30 minutes at close to solar noon twice weekly without sunscreen. Never stay in the sun unprotected long enough to get burned.

You might not be getting enough sunshine to synthesize your own Vitamin D if you:

• Train indoors or outdoors in clouded or polluted environments
• Live at latitudes greater than 35 degrees north between mid-Oct and mid-February.
• Wear sunscreen or protective clothing regularly.
• Have dark or very light pigmented skin.
• Have Excess body fat.
• Have a malabsorption disorder, take certain medications and have specific genetics.

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Quirky Tip

Showering and bathing habits may impact Vitamin D status! This is a quirky piece of information I find amusing but makes sense; showering, swimming or hot tubbing immediately after sun exposure may promote the loss of the newly synthesized vitamin D due to sloughing off of the top layer of skin. The recommendation is to postpone bathing for 3 hours post sunshine exposure. Or in other words, stay stinky after your ride for a few hours! This should make your inner 10 year old happy

Treatment for deficiency

Athletes deficient in serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D should use a combination of light (artificial UVB or sunshine), diet  and supplementation (D3 cholecalciferol) to increase their status to ideal.

Safe sun exposure recommendations are to expose arms, legs and back for 5-30 minutes at close to solar noon twice weekly without sunscreen. Never stay in the sun unprotected long enough to get burned.

Supplementation recommendation is  50,000 IU/week (1250 μg/week; vitamin D2 or D3) for at least 8 weeks to achieve a serum concentration of 25(OH)D >30to 32 ng/mL followed by maintenance therapy of 1500-2000 IU/day

Biological Functions of Vitamin D

Vitamin D modulates the expression of over 1,000 genes and is important in bone health, skeletal muscle function, inflammation and immunity.

Immunity: Studies show soldiers and athletes with higher serum Vit D are less likely to develop respiratory illnesses.

Inflammation: Vitamin D up-regulates production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. NFL players with low Vitamin D serum levels were more likely to sustain muscle injuries.

Skeletal muscle function: Vitamin D is involved in protein synthesis

Recovery and Rehab:  Vitamin D is important for recovery. Stroke patients supplemented with 1000 IU vitamin D/day improved muscle strength and increased the relative number and size of their type II muscle fibers.

Bone density: Vitamin D enhances calcium absorption in the intestine and promotes resorption in the kidneys. Vitamin D status has been correlated with bone mineral density.

Here are the Conclusions and Implications Enette Larson-Meyer closed her seminar with.

• Low vitamin D status linked to increased risk for low bone density, stress fracture, acute illness, injury and suboptimal muscle performance.
• Important to have vitamin D status tested and treat vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency.
• While a serum 25(OH)D concentration of at least 30 ng/mL should be maintained, concentration of at least higher than 40 ng/mL may be preferable.
• 25(OH)D concentration may be maintained by safe sun exposure or vitamin D supplementation (1200-1500 IU/day).
• Vitamin D supplementation, however, is needed in Winter for all athletes living at > 35 N (or S)
• Athletes with history of frequent illness, bone and joint injury, muscle pain or over-training may benefit from assessment of vitamin D status.

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I’m excited to announce our Arizona Trail Race 300 Training Plan has been published and is now available. This plan is designed to prepare an athlete to race the Arizona Trail Race 300.

This plan will physically prepare you to race for 300 miles and strategically prepare you to successfully cover the AZTR300 course. The plan covers physical training to build speed and endurance. It details preparation factors; bikepacking bike fit, equipment considerations and fueling. It also covers strategic factors; race strategy, managing the environment and AZTR specific course info.

PDF format $99:

This training plan is a culmination of my experiences both coaching athletes, and racing AZTR300 myself. In 2010 I had a personal obsession with the race sleuthing out every detail I could find. In 2011 I completed the race with a winning time. My hope is this plan will prepare you to have the race of YOUR life at AZTR as I did myself. My race report is here.

I have special affection for the piece of this planet earth that the Arizona Trail traverses. The scenery is stunning and trail itself challenging. The Arizona Trail Association’s mission is to build, maintain, promote, protect and sustain the Arizona Trail as a unique encounter with the land. Become an ATA member to show your support.

I love the Arizona Trail!  The trail would not exist and AZTR would not happen without the efforts of the Arizona Trail Association (ATA).  LW Coaching will donate 10% of all AZTR plan proceeds to the ATA.