Easy, Light, Smooth, and Fast

… start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad

Sep 30, 2022

Think easy, light, smooth, and fast. You start with easy, because if that's all you get, that's not so bad. Then work on light. Make it effortless, like you don't give a shit how high the hill is or how far you've got to go. When you've practiced that so long, that you forget you're practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. You won't have to worry about the last one - you get those three, and you'll be fast.

- Caballo Blanco

Reflecting

I don’t want to miss my weekly CrossFit partner workout of the day or mixed martial arts sparring so am going to run closer to home, but my running club is mostly competing in the Cat’s Tail mountain marathon in the morning. It has some serious vert:

If you haven’t competed in a rugged mountain marathon before, this gives a good feel for it:

It is much more fun than any road marathon.

Training

This morning’s white board:

75 calories on the ski erg

…then…

21-15-9

Hang power cleans 165 lbs.
Chest to bar pull-ups

Then had an hour with my personal trainer; we worked on shoulders today.

Fueling

This week has been mostly eggs, whey, and monster mash throughout the day (perfecting my recipe – lean game meat, bacon to cook it in, garlic, onion, hot peppers, and salt). Trying to get over 200 grams of protein, mostly early in the day. I have a sardine salad as an afternoon snack for the fish oil and have been getting lighter on carbs and sugar. I feel completely satiated with little thought about food beyond that.

Measuring

My InBody scan is sorta blah. No huge problem but no huge transformation yet – keeping percent body fat under 10%. Skeletal muscle mass 100 lbs. Basal metabolic rate over 2,000. Visceral fat level 2. A routine reminder of how pointless BMI is as an obesity analyzer. Mine is 26… but if I can pack on enough muscle, my BMI could be high even if I get my body fat sub 5%. My blood glucose is staying mostly under 100, but I’m increasingly careful about taking in any sugar. It is a good longevity marker. People generally think in terms of having or not having diabetes; I’m less interested in that binary sort and more interested in the full spectrum and want to get as far from diabetes as possible.

Supplementing

I’m adding theanine and apigenin to my evening supplement routine to help with sleep. I’m researching milk thistle to help with liver health, especially given the potential for stressing the liver with a very high protein diet and testosterone boosting supplements.

Recovering

A few things have been helping my recovery that might help yours. First, PSO makes my favorite back release tool. My CrossFit box has a big collection of back release tools and this is the best one. Definitely worth trying if you get a stiff back after workouts. Secondly, as it gets cooler and darker in New England, I’m somewhat less apt to get as much sun. My wife teases me for getting sun in Ranger silkies, but it is free vitamin D and it helps me sleep at night. As the temperature drops, I’ll be doing that less so am starting to replace it with morning red light therapy with this array. Perfect for a few minutes of exposure while I drink my coffee before CrossFit.

Planning

It is still September but as the temperature drops, I’m starting to think about ice climbing. Hopefully we get a good solid freeze and within the next few months I’ll be able to get out my ice tools and get up to Lake Placid. If you’re interested in trying it this winter, then check out Mountainfest, the 25th annual Adirondack International Mountain Festival. Details will start to come out over the next few weeks but in short this has everything you could want in terms of introductions to winter backcountry sports.

Parting

Thanks for reading, sharing, recommending, and subscribing. Subscribers growing slowly but steadily:

Know what you could do more of? Comment! Would be fun to grow this community and get a better sense of what’s on your mind when it comes to optimizing performance, health, and longevity. So please let me know what you’re working on and if you have any questions that I or others could take a swing at.