Metabolic Efficiency certification, wholegrains and more….a news update

Hello everyone,

So here is a wee update from my world.

Kona countdown:

We are getting closer to travel day for Kona and life is serious business in our home when it comes to training and nutrition support for Garron as he prepares for World Championships.

That said, all is done in the most light-hearted of ways; military precision with lots of laugh. Nothing changes in the fact that all food is home-cooked, prepared consciously and with the last training session, the next training session, and how the body feels in mind; and meals are eaten together every evening in a relaxed and chilled environment.

There is a definite focus on ensuring that the fuelling needs of every pending session are covered in addition to an understanding of the performance and metabolic adaptative goals of the session. So much science goes into what results in a tasty meal option! As ever the hard work is in the silent unseen shadows.

A few foods that will be on the shopping list this week (in addition to the norm) include leafy greens, beets, ginger, fresh herbs, organic salmon, ox tongue for a bit of variety, cottage cheese, hard unpasteurized cheeses, mung beans, organic tomatoes, red peppers and basil to prepare some home-made soup, and the fridge and freezer are already loaded with the important basics.

It will be a busy week; best described by these key words:

Consistency
Focus
Being present in the NOW
The best possible food choice in every moment and for every meal and snack
Preparation
Sleep
Management of emotions in work and daily stresses of life
Sessions on the PEMF for recovery
Nutrient density
Anti-inflammatory and athlete specific foods
Daily feedback

to give you a few!!

and so the beat goes on 🙂

Last race of the season:

Garron and I recently raced Dublin 70.3 along with our good friend Steve. What a fun day that was; despite the rain and jelly fish. This race was penned in as my A-race this year, my second year of triathlon; but the body had other plans. So I got to race my heart out with a PB in the swim and bike, and then threw my inner child into slowing down for a fun single lap of the run. The challenge was to let go of all performance related pressures and just enjoy the fact that I was running again and to allow the continued healing of some feet niggles and the resettling of an adjustment of my atlas done a few weeks previously.

I have to thank my coach Annchen Clarke; she has helped me to build myself into a better, stronger, more mindful person. I have learnt so much this year to enable me to be a better support to all athletes that I am gifted the opportunity to work with. Thank you Annchen!

There is great strength to be gained in things not going to plan.
Humility in letting go of a need to be ‘good enough’,
and peace in the acceptance that you did the best that you could while honoring your body.

Garron raced a great race; and my early finish allowed for some fantastic opportunities to chat to athletes as they completed their races. Well done to all who competed; its never without some mind-body pain!

Another qualification:

It is about time that I mention my recent accreditation as Certified Level I Metabolic Efficiency Training Specialist-FCP. I am a bit slow to post these results from my exam completed several months ago after my trip to the USA for specialist nutrition training in Colorado.

But as I tell all my athletes hard work pays off so I am going to show you all the hard work I put in, concerning the nutritional needs of the high performing athlete and the detailed study that I have done into metabolic efficiency, periodised nutrition, and how to optimize the success of your hard training using nutrition strategies.

I honestly thought that I had done the grandest amount of waffling in my exam as my head goes off into fantastical abstract boxes in relation to all your sports nutrition needs. This is how I think; about the MORE and the WHY and the HOW and the WHAT WE DON’T KNOW YET as well as what we do know…. added to my existing education and years of experience which is based on what you all TEACH ME.

I’M NOTHING WITHOUT ALL YOU GUYS 🙂 you push me forwards 🙂

So here was the loveliest feedback about my exam; sorry that I didn’t let you all know sooner but life has been a bit frantic. And I’m on a wee training break and catching up now so here goes:

“First of all, I wanted to let you know how grateful I am for all of the time you put into the METS exam. It is easily apparent how intelligent you are, yet how careful and sensitive you are to individual needs. It may come as no surprise to you that you earned a passing score of 100%!”

100% and i was worried about failing because I shot from the heart in this exam…. there is a lesson in that for us all.

Are carbohydrates confusing?

Here is a nice little article written by the team at precision nutrition; the safe carbs.

Carbohydrates are controversial to say the least when it comes to media and athlete opinions, and I highly recommend working with someone trained such as myself in nutrition, sports nutrition, and with a background in exercise physiology to determine and advise on your needs in relation to your specific training and health goals.

Not all carbs are created equal; and society tends to demonize all carbohydrates when in fact there is a time and a place for this important food group in the athletes diet.

It all depends on the why, what, when, and which……

So before you cut them completely out of your diet consider the massive nutrition, fuelling and recovery benefits from better choices such as root vegetables, fruit, dried fruit, dairy foods, beans and pulses (yes these contain carbs!), whole grains and seed grains such as brown rice, wild rice, millet, buckwheat, oats, amaranth, teff and so on.