Lightweight Eats

As we've worked meats and cheeses out of our diets—flavors that often stand alone—Dan and I have developed our flavor palates significantly. Creating tasty vegan sauces is the key to creating tasty vegan meals.

In our trials we've noticed two things that consistently improve meals.

If it's savory, add sweet. If it's sweet, add acid.

For example, we use sweet soy sauce (similar to a molasses and soy sauce combo) instead of regular soy sauce to season our tofu. Salt + sugar + fat is delicious, and your taste buds will make sure you know it.

Maybe you're trying to cut down on sugar; we decided to do that by not eating brownies and cake and ice cream instead of trying to eliminate a teaspoon of sugar from our stirfries. It's up to you, but your taste buds might thank you.


Of course, taking away ice cream and cake and brownies means that suddenly, even a fruit smoothie tastes cloyingly sweet. We've taken to fixing that by throwing in something acidic: a peeled lemon or lime, a hunk of ginger, orange/grapefruit sections, etc. It helps brighten the whole affair, infusing it with life and making it dance on your tongue.

The same goes for sweets: topping your pancakes with powdered sugar and lemon zest is highly recommended; adding chunks of crystallized ginger to muffins is also lightweight approved.


What are your go-to methods for making any meal tastier?

"Individual workouts will rarely be perceived as exceptionally difficult or bordering on impossible. It will be a challenge to perform day after day..." - The Wolverine Plan

At some point during my training, I crossed a threshold—the point where I was no longer limited by my fitness but by my ability to recovery between workout sessions. This never happened in college, perhaps because our coaches were clever enough to keep our training volume relatively low to account for our otherwise hectic lives. It only happened when I began to train for 3-4 hours a day, week after week, month after month.

Eventually, as the quote above explains, rowing for 20 kilometers didn't seem like a particular challenge. The challenge was then spending 90 minutes lifting weights in the afternoon, just to come back and do another 20 kilometers the next day.

And that is why, although I spend only 3-4 hours a day with my heart rate in the training zone, I spend more than 40 hours a week training. My days between workouts are filled with stretching, ice baths, extra sleep, good nutrition, meditation, education and more.

This article covers the basics of post-workout recovery, including a 10-step protocol for recovery taking 3-4 hours, including a 1-2 hour nap. I find that incorporating all 10 steps daily is not realistic for me, especially not twice daily. Instead, I try to do more of these on the days when I have particularly tough training sessions.

For example, after a 10K run and 90 minute endurance weight session, I will take an ice bath while drinking a smoothie immediately after training, followed by 30 minutes of stretching. This prepares me to perform better on an afternoon training session that I may have otherwise been too fatigued to execute well.

There is also some science that shows certain foods aid recovery, like tart cherry juice. On particularly tough weeks, when I need to get extra calories anyways, sometimes I add these types of foods to my diet.

Finally, I make sure to under-schedule myself. I've found that I can commit to no more than one additional activity per day—going grocery shopping, dentist appointment, weeding the garden, running laundry. It's frustrating at times, feeling like I should be able to go out and have lunch with friends or take advantage of all the great activities. But ultimately, those things will directly affect my training and my success, so I've learned to limit myself.

Recovery isn't only a daily task, though. Each training season and year should have recovery periods built in as well. This may be the week or two you take off after running a marathon, followed by a month of unstructured easy running. Or it might be specifically scheduled volume reduction provided by a training plan. A lot of scholastic athletes get this break during the summer season, when, even those with the best of intentions, tend to slack off on their training a bit.

Our training schedule at CRC emphasizes not only periods of decreased volume but periods with lots of cross-training—from erging to hiking and biking to beach golf, we use these months as an opportunity to refresh our brains and our bodies while maintaining and even increasing fitness. When we come back, we've had a month or so to forget our bad rowing habits, which makes for some big technical gains in the first weeks back.

For clubs where the water freezes in winter, this is almost an automatic procedure. At CRC we've had to plan the rest period into our training schedule, which allows us some flexibility. This year, I'll be taking my off-water season travelling up to Oregon and cross country to Connecticut. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to break the routine!

What are your tricks for recovering between hard workouts? What do you sacrifice for your fitness?

August 18th was all set to be a spectacular Sunday. After squeezing in an erg session in the morning, Dan and I headed out to San Francisco with our bicycles. We both meant to grab our iPads for reading in a café, but forgot in our rush to get out the door.

We spent the morning cycling over to the Fort Mason farmer's market, where we chowed on tasty hummus, bread and veggies, met up with a friend and even caught one of the sailboat races in the Louis Vuitton cup. We cycled around the city, and made our way over to the Ferry Building, where we sat for a while with our feet up and enjoyed the view.

It was brilliant.

Hungry, we hopped on BART and headed back across the bay and up the hill home. That's when things started to get weird. Our gate was unlocked and open. (It turns out, it was having trouble latching properly.) Ever the optimist, we walked around back and started to lock up our bikes.

Then I hear, "Ho-ly fuck."

I looked over towards Dan to see our back window in pieces, shards of glass everywhere. We called the police and my mom and went inside to survey the house.

They took a lot. (We know it was a pair, because our neighbors saw two random people come scout our house.) They took our computers, our iPads, Dan's camera, and more. The list is really just depressing, and frustrating, and disappointing.

And parts of it are amusing, too. They ripped the two dollar mirrors off of the walls, presumably in the hopes of finding a hidden safe or some sort of secret stash. They took a bowl that can't have been worth more than $25 brand new (and certainly was not worth the weight of carrying it.) Clearly, these guys were stealing things for a reason—it seems they may not have been clever enough to do much else.

Insurance will help us recover most of the financial loss, although dealing with insurance companies is never fun. What we definitely can't get back is the feeling of safety.

The whole break-in really made us consider our situation. We are living in this beautiful area with so many great opportunities and things to enjoy, but it's too expensive to live someplace safe and we don't make enough money to enjoy many of the opportunities. Money is definitely a source of stress. And flying across the country multiple times a year for racing is not making the situation much better. Within hours, it became clear that Oakland was no longer our home—it was time to move on.

And so, Dan and I are starting the next phase of our lives. We've called Oakland home for two years now, and made some great memories here. But, on November 1st, we are packing our bags and starting out on a great adventure. Our route hasn't been decided yet, although we have a date for the Oregon-Oregon State Civil War game in Oregon on Thanksgiving weekend. And ultimately, we will make our way out to the great state of Connecticut, out on the right coast of the good ol' US of A.

There are a lot of things we will miss: mild winters, seeing family, diving in Monterey (ok, only Dan will miss that one), bountiful organic produce, vegan options in restaurants, and much more. But there are also a lot of things we won't miss: getting cat called every time I walk outside, crowded neighborhoods and sidewalks, bone dry summers, TV spoilers on Twitter (just kidding!), to name a few.

There are a million posts out there about fueling for long runs. Most of them have great information about nutrient amounts and timing, as well as the types of fuels that tend to work best. A lot of that information is applicable to erging (and rowing).

source

This September marks the beginning of the next training year. I just completed my first full year of training with the World Championships in the fall, and looking back I've come a long, long way.

The past year has been all about learning how to train and refining my goals. When I first came to the California Rowing Club, simply getting down to the boathouse was enough to elicit improvements. I was incredibly out of shape and out of touch with my single. Much of my first six to twelve months of training were spent fixing those major issues.

In winter 2012-13, I spent hours sitting on the bike, rowed miles and miles and miles, and ran more than I've ever run in my life. I'm still working to improve my base fitness, but it's no longer holding me back. In fact, I've reached a point where my ability to recover is more of a constraint than my endurance. I can row or run or bike for 4+ hours a day, but if I were to do that every day, I wouldn't ever reap the benefits that only occur during recovery.

My goals also needed some major work. Racing at Canadian Henley my first summer showed me just how far from my goals I was. This past year has been an opportunity to refine my goals, to make them more realistic, and to identify the habits I need to develop and the people I need to rely on to reach those goals.

The Olympics is definitely still a goal, and I have some long-term plans for getting myself there. In the meantime, however, I have my sites set on making a World Championship team, as well as improving my individual performance. People often ask me about the process for making the Olympics: when do I know, how do I get myself there, etc. I always tell them that the first step in the process is self-improvement: I need to get fitter, faster, smarter and stronger. Then I can worry about racing, boating and more.

Overall, the 2012-13 year was about learning how to improve. This coming year will be about putting those lessons to practice. I have some great racing on the schedule for this coming year, but mostly the year will be about consistent training: logging the miles and the meters and the pounds lifted.

Goals:
1. Train consistently.
I've lost weeks here and there to minor injuries, illness and fatigue (don't try to train if you're not sleeping enough!) Most of those things were preventable, or at least could have been minimized by earlier attention. I've also lost training sessions to laziness and bad habits. When we crossed the finish line 2nd at IRAs in 2011, I regretted every skipped weight session and optional additional workout. I don't want to find myself in that position again.

Action plan:
- Add commitments slowly and choose mostly short-term commitments.
- Actively develop good training habits, including a workout log.
- Surround myself with the resources I need to succeed and stay accountable.

2. Eliminate unnecessary stress.
Stress is a major contributor to lost training for me, and also detracts from the quality of my training and recovery time. It's obvious when there are major stressors, but it's less obvious with the stress of day-to-day life. Every bit helps, and this is definitely something I could use to improve.

Action plan:
- Add commitments slowly and choose mostly short-term commitments.
- Ask for help more often.
- Practice stress management like meditation.

3. Continue learning.
Once you think you're good enough, you start to fail. Two years ago, I thought I knew a lot about rowing; now, I know that I hardly know anything. There's a lot left to learn—nutrition, physiology, anatomy, periodization theory, and more. And there's much to be said for a good coach managing these things for you, but there's also no substitute for understanding your coach's plan.

Action plan:
- Read more books, at least 4 a month.
- Ask lots of questions, of coaches, teammates, experts, etc.
- Whenever I think I'm right, try to prove myself wrong.


Already this year has set out to test my resolve, with some major stress that got in the way of my training. (Fortunately, it was during late August, a bit of a break month.)

I'm trying to keep in mind that these goals represent bad habits I want to change, and I won't get there overnight. In fact, if I can make any progress towards my goals over the course of the year, I will be in great shape.

Right now, I'm working on putting in place the habits that get me down to the boathouse to row in the mornings. I think putting on workout clothes before breakfast is a major keystone habit. When I'm in spandex at breakfast, I'm motivated to put them to use after breakfast, and when my first workout is successful, I'm more likely to rest during the day and complete the second workout successfully. (I also hate getting into bed with spandex on, so it's much easier to not just crawl back into bed after breakfast.)

What are your major training goals?

Dan's birthday was Monday—the lucky guy got a whole holiday, just to celebrate. And we spent the long weekend doing just that. Over the course of the three days, we managed to do all sorts of incredibly fun things: go to the beach (and do a photoshoot!), ride our bikes for hours, watch a movie, go grocery shopping, bake bread, sip coffee in pajamas, eat french toast and pancakes, and more.

If you've never made french toast from scratch, there's no better time than now. On Friday, while Dan was finishing up his work week, I baked a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread. Saturday morning, we sipped coffee and cooked up some tasty cinnamon french toast. (Barely enough of the bread made it to Saturday morning. Sorry I'm not sorry.)

Although I would someday love to really compose a complicated dish from the beginning (growing and grinding the grains/fruits/veggies/spices, processing and baking, cooking, etc.), it was still incredibly satisfying to start from flour and end up with french toast. And somehow, the love that went into each step made the toast that much more filling and satisfying.

We've been experiencing this often recently. From freshly baked breads to homemade pastas to homegrown organic tomato sauces and more, putting more care into our food has made us eat more mindfully. There's something precious about a strawberry or a tomato grown in the backyard that makes it all the more satisfying, and something valuable about home-ground peanut butter that makes it harder to eat by the spoonful.

Have you had that experience?

Of course, we don't always have time for homemade hummus and fresh bread. When I'm traveling, racing, working, or in the throes of a nasty training week, getting nutritious food on the table quickly is definitely our priority. Those weeks we definitely rely on our freezer to get us through.

Hope you had a great labor day weekend filled with friends, family and good food.

Did I mention I've been reading a lot? I've read somewhere around 30 books since the beginning of June. (If you're on Goodreads, find me here.) And I'm learning so much.

I had been doing a lot of thinking over the past few years about the kind of person I wanted to be, the things I wanted to support, how I hoped to act and more. When I read these books, it's like somebody just polished my own thoughts. My brain is becoming so much more useful as I read and start to use it better. It's been great.

My most recent read was The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. I'd seen the author give an interview and heard a lot of good stuff about the book. I walked into the library last week and the first book that caught my eye was the bright yellow Power of Habit, so I grabbed it and brought it home. It felt like reading Harry Potter for the first time: I was up well past midnight, unable to put the book down.

The book is very fun, light and easy to read, but also just brimming with information. It's not prescriptive, just descriptive, until the very last chapter. Nonetheless, there are a lot of important pieces of information.

The one that struck me most was the idea of a keystone habit: a small habit that helped create reinforce other good habits. For example, making the bed in the morning can be a keystone habit that leads to more general tidiness. Likewise, writing down your food intake once a week can be a keystone habit for a whole host of healthy living changes.

The hard part, I think, is identifying those keystone habits. I've recently gotten in the habit of checking Facebook and Twitter more often than necessary (or even pleasurable), in lieu of getting things done (like donating our old clothing). I'm also trying to redevelop healthy eating and double workout days into habits. I'm starting my quest by making the bed every morning. Even if it's not a keystone habit, it's a good habit to acquire.

Other things I'd like to try: brushing my teeth after breakfast, putting on my workout clothes before breakfast, keeping a workout log, meditating and stretching, drinking green tea.

Who knows which one of these will lead to the others. Or perhaps all of these habits need individual cultivation. Only time will tell, but at least I now feel I have the tools to create those good habits.


One concern: losing mindfulness and presence by cultivating too many habits. I read an article about US Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin in which she describes how training mindfully instead of on automatic made a huge difference in her ability to improve quickly. There are certainly advantages to habits: they save your willpower for training rather than using it up getting you to the training session.

Still, by cultivating too many habits, I think we risk going through life on automatic. According to Duhigg, the more you repeat a habitual action, the less brain power it takes to complete it. I think that is why, if you let a habit loop take over, filing paper, making coffee, weeding the garden or waiting in traffic can all be mind-numbing.

Mindfulness is the art of breaking habits, which is why mindful eating helps people lose weight. Instead of automatically eating the whole donut without noticing, you become aware of eating and can choose to stop. I really enjoy being mindful. It's a skill I've developed a lot in my training and key to my improvements. So while I'm hoping to develop a number of good habits, I also want to maintain my presence--like a constant battle between The Power of Now and The Power of Habit.