35, 5, and 2

I had a blood ketone level of 0.8 on carbs of 12 grams and protein of 78 grams, which was 2% and 17%, respectively, of my calories for yesterday.  I think if I keep my carbs and protein at a daily total of 90 grams, regardless of the percentage of total calories, that I can keep the BK figure higher.  Just trying to nail down some trends into postulates.  Optimally, I need to get the BK level to between 1.0 and 3.0.  Seems like I'm trying to fly a plane with a twitchy stick.

My run this morning was shortened by yesterday's kettlebell swings.  Rather than shortening tomorrow's run, I decided to shorten today's run.

Prior to my 10 mile run this morning, I took my blood ketone level and it was 1.0, which is 0.2 better than yesterday and represents a better functioning nutritional ketosis.  1.0 - 3.0 allows the ketones to better supply the brain with clarity.  Now, with the weekend nigh, it'll be interesting to see if I can stay at 1.0 or greater on Monday morning.

My idea for the run was to run somewhere between 9-12 miles.  I don't want to overtax my legs, since Wednesday's CrossFit workout.  It was 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 76 degrees.  This was noticeable for the warmth, compared to 76 degrees and 74 degrees dewpoint of yesterday.  Two months before the usual timing of our first cool front of the Fall.

9.99 miles, 2:19:05, 13:55 pace, 131 avg BPM, 164 max HR during the last mile, 1st half pace 14:26, 2nd half pace, 13:24.

1. 14:11, 120 bpm
   
2. 14:04, 124 bpm
   
3. 14:29, 122 bpm
   
4. 14:49, 125 bpm
   
5. 14:40, 121 bpm
   
6. 13:58, 127 bpm
   
7. 13:20, 137 bpm
   
8. 13:44, 140 bpm
   
9. 13:03, 147 bpm
   
10. 12:54 pace, 152 bpm
    

A tale of two runs.  The first half of the run was under the guidance and control of my legs.  This was as fast as they wanted to go and I was willing to play along.  But once I got to the turnaround point, the brain took over.  I was moderately surprised at the heart rate of the first 5 miles.  But I wanted to see what would happen if I opened it up some.  My overall pace was below 14:15 at the start of mile 9, so I went a little faster to try to get into the 13's for a final pace.

I accomplished that and was a little taxed overall, but the legs worked fine and I had clarity for the entire run.  I was tired afterwards, but doing fine.  One thing that I've noticed since being on fatty acids for fuel, is that I don't have any residual stiffness after sitting for a while.  I just get up and walk as if I haven't ran at all.

Blood ketone level was 0.3.  I worked out a recipe of stewed tomatoes, okra and onions last night and the taste testing skewed the number, I am imagining.  The whole batch was 58 grams of carbs, but I probably had 10% of that batch.  I'm starting to think that if I can eat most of my carbs by mid-afternoon, that it doesn't obliterate the next morning's BK level.

My blood ketone level this morning was 0.8, which is up from yesterday's 0.3.  I was working on intake yesterday and it paid off.  Today has been a little higher on protein because it was the Sunday burn some burgers festivity.  I limited, but did not exclude, potato chips. 

After totaling up my calories on fitday.com, I determined I need to add some fat before bedtime.  This will come in the guise of 3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil with some Hershey's cocoa, some vanilla and a little salt.  It's pretty tasty and low carb.

I have located a low carb cruler recipe.  So, I need to get some ingredients like 80% chocolate.  I have some 60% chocolate, but I'd like to stay as close to the recipe as possible.

It's fascinating watch you play mad scientist with your body like this, Ounce.

Just stay away from elevated platforms during thunderstorms, okay?

Someone has to be the guinea pig (or the key on the kite).  Unfortunately, we have no rain planned this week and our temps are to rise from 94 to 98 by Friday.

But this scheme has been more frustrating than other plans because there is a therapeutic, measurable range to maintain for maximum efficacy rather than time or weight.  And finding foods that have a negligible effect or large effect isn't consistent, human to human.  Having access to one of the authors helps immeasurably and I believe I am on the right track...or a more consistent track. 

I've increased my carb intake 500% (from 2 grams to 10 grams, which is 8 calories to 40), while decreasing my protein intake.  Once I started decreasing my protein intake, my blood ketone level started to rise because excess protein that the body is not going to use for muscle cell rebuilding or creation gets converted into sugar.  This conversion lowers blood ketone level because there is an inverse relationship between sugars and ketones.

Thank you kindly for your comments, Mark.  I'm not trying to blaze a new trail of running & nutrition as there are many people doing this, including at least 6 people who were supposed to be in the top 10 at the finish of the Western States Endurance 100.

If it works for me, do you know what that means?  Just that it worked for me.

*30*

My blood ketone level was a surprising 1.2 because I believe it's the first time I've had any BK level greater than 0.8 on a Monday.  This is really good news because I just need to continue doing what I'm doing to increase or maintain the level.  A level between 1.0 and 3.0 is the sweet spot.  I wasn't misbehaving in my eating yesterday.

I also did CrossFit, this morning.  The strength portion was front squats and the conditioning part was a brutal push jerk & front squat WOD.

CrossFit West Houston WOD
Strength: Front Squats
5 x 45%, 5 x 55%, 5 x 65%
5 x 70%, 3 x 80%, 3 x 90%
Conditioning: For Time.
Push Jerks (135/95 lbs): 12-10-8-6-4-2
Front Squats (same bar): 2-4-6-8-10-12
*Complete 12 jerks, 2 front squats, 10 jerks, 4 front squats, and so on.
I used 55 pounds.  Time was 6:36.

Halfway through the conditioning, my legs started trembling.  Afterwards (some minutes afterwards, in fact)  I was light headed after standing up quickly after doing a post-workout squat stretch.  I was fine, but took additional time to recover before heading home.

I finally want to give a shout out to my first (and best) CrossFit instructor, Aja Barto who now owns Behemoth CrossFit near Katy, Texas (suburb of Houston), for finishing 27th at the CrossFit Games 2013.  The games start in April locally, then regionally in May, then the Games in California last week, with the top 30 of each sex compete in the finals the next day.

The second WOD at the Games was to ROW a half marathon, not run, row.

Dang, that's a lot of rowing.

Say, with all the muscle-building work you're doing, it seems that your protein needs would vary widely as you recover from your workouts. How big a monkey wrench does that throw into your calculations? I could see you counting out peanuts at some point like pills, calculating the exact number to eat....

Mark B wrote:Dang, that's a lot of rowing.

Say, with all the muscle-building work you're doing, it  seems that your protein needs would vary widely as you recover from your workouts. How big a monkey wrench does that throw into your calculations? I could see you counting out peanuts at some point like pills, calculating the exact number to eat....

Well, there are two possible answers to your question.

First, I re-started CrossFit back in mid-February, when I wasn't doing low-carb.  And I hadn't been lifting weights since June 2012.  So, I think alot of the muscle cell building and re-building was done from February to April, when my body was saying, "WTF?!" and I wasn't holding back on protein.

The other answer could explain why the blood ketone level fluctuated wildly, as some days I needed some extra protein and other days I did not.  But it's looking that I don't need as much protein as I had been eating pre-lowcarb era.  It is an interesting question pausing me to think of it from your perspective.

Here are some stats from Friday to Sunday
Friday: 12 mile morning run, 74%Fat/24%Protein/2%Carbs, next morning's BK level 0.3
Saturday:  rest, 74%F/24%P/2%C, next morning's BK level 0.8
Sunday:  rest, 73%F/23%P/4%C, next morning's BK level 1.2

My levels are more therapeutic when the sum of the protein and carb percentages are below 30%.  In the beginning of July, my protein and carb percentages were closer to 40%.

And it COULD be (testing will have to be done) that when I'm resting, I can eat more carbs and less protein, but still keeping the total below 30%.

Thanks for the thought provoking question.  I'm ready for more.

I took advantage of the higher blood ketone level to experiment on a few extra carbs to see what would happen.  This morning, my BK level was 0.3, down from yesterday's 1.2.

Finnicky BK level. C'est la vie.

Blood ketone level was backup to 0.5, this morning, from yesterday's 0.3.  I had an 8 ounce sirloin steak yesterday for lunch.  That created a lot of protein grams in the log, so I had to consume some coconut oil to pop up the fat percentage in order to keep the carbs and protein to 30% of calories consumed.

Doing CrossFit, this morning, it was the Wednesday conditioning edition, where conditioning is the objective, not strength training.  I'm not ready for rope climbs, so the alternate was to grab the rope and jump 15 times.  That was pretty esy.

Skill: Rope Climbs
1-1-1-1-1
Conditioning:
5 min AMRAP:
500m Row
AMRAP Burpees Over the Rower
Rest 1 minute
5 min AMRAP:
400m RUN, then AMRAP of:
5 Pull-Ups
10 Box Jumps
Rest 1 minute
5 min AMRAP:
30 Wall Balls
15 Burpees
AMRAP 50m Shuttle Runs

I'd also like to write an obituary to a very durable friend for the past 2-1/2 years.  It's my last pair of New Balance 993's.  I will wear a pair of running shoes until they start to hurt, then they get downgraded to 'sorta-long run' class of shoes, then to "less than 3 miles" class, then finally to 'cross-training' or what my age group called "tennis shoes" class.  But this pair never hurt, so they never were downgraded.

This pair of 993's were worn to the 2011 Houston Marathon, my PR marathon, with a scant 18 miles on them.  They did great.  Then I switched to Nike Vomero 6's in the Spring of 2011 and the 993's taught the 6's how to treat my feet.  The 993 can't match the 6's cushioning, but it always has been durable, even when it was the 990 or the 991, 992 or the 993.

The 993 has been showing its age.  The nylon webbing has been wearing to the point of having a one inch tear on the left shoe and a half inch on the right.  The rear part of the sole of the shoe had worn to the degree that I was 3/4ths of the way through the 2nd layer of cushioning on both shoes, plues the sole under the ball of the feet had worn down to the grooves.  Then, two weeks ago, one of the shoe laces broke.  That was the first time I'd ever had a shoe lace break on a running shoe.

Last week, though, was the 993's last run because I started to feel some thinness under the ball of my left foot when it met the pavement.  It was time to retire them.  I have no idea how many miles, but it could be past 600.

So, I bid a very fond farewell to this last pair of 993's.  They were a most durable shoe.  They were ugly when they were new, but they're very worn and cute, now.

For the record at the end of July, I've lost 21 pounds since Memorial Day, of which 6 pounds were in the month of July.  I would project losing only 2 pounds in August, since I'm getting closer to my lean body mass weight.

In September, maybe 3 pounds since I will have completely stopped doing CrossFit and some muscle fibers not used in running will be fodder for burning.  I am planning on racing 4 races from September through the end of the year as warm up races for January's Houston.

Sorry for the loss of your beloved (if homely) shoes.  

But I'm very happy for the loss of that excess adipose tissue! Rock on! You're going to have to post a photo of your lean-n-mean self, before we start coming up with examples of buff celebs we think you might resemble.  

Wish I had a pair of shoes that lasted that long - I'm out of mine in 4-6 mos!  Good work on the weight loss and everything else, Doug.  The next time I make it to Houston (January 2015) to run, I won't recognize you.  You have to save room for Mexican food then as I'll be craving it since we really have none in Ohio (that Bowling for Soup song wasn't lying).

That's great that you're planning on coming down here for the '15 event.  Hopefully, you'll get picked again.  We have so many Tex-Mex places in this town that it's amazing we're not the fattest town every year.

And Mark, a plastic surgeon would be more interested in me for the money making potential from my torso than y'all.

*30*

It's been an interesting day.  My blood ketone level rebounded to 1.5 from 0.5.  This was with me consuming 20 grams of carbs yesterday.  This is the most that I've eaten in over a month and yet it was only 5% of my calorie intake.  Fat was 77% and protein was 17%.  Prior to yesterday's dinner, I was heavy in protein.  So, I had to change it up a bit.  And fat is real easy to add in this kind of diet.  After all, 1 gram has twice as many calories as protein and carbs.

For dinner I had 3 eggs, 4 slices of bacon, 5 oz of yellow squash sauteed in 2 tablespoons of bacon fat, 1 tablespoon of butter and 3 ozs of heavy whipping cream.  I can just imagine the look on some of your faces.  That's 107 grams of fat and 30 grams of protein.  And it happened to be quite tasty.  See why my BK level went up a full point?

I don't think I'll have the same addition tomorrow.  I've had 100 more protein grams today than yesterday.  Once my body has utilized all the protein it wants, then the remaining protein gets converted to sugar, which will make the number go down.  That's just biology.

After getting my BK level, I went for my Thursday run of 6.66.  If my legs have recovered from Wednesday's burpees and box jumps, I want to push the pace a bit in the second half.  It was 78 degrees this morning with a dewpoint of 76.

6.72 miles, 1:29:58, 13:22 pace, 134 avg HR, 154 max HR during mile 6, 1st half pace 13:49, 2nd half pace 12:55.

1. 14:18, 117 bpm
   
2. 13:31, 128 bpm
   
3. 13:40, 129 bpm
   
4. 13:15, 134 bpm
   
5. 13:05, 141 bpm
   
6. 12:57, 145 bpm
   
7. 12:40 pace, 148 bpm
   

This was a determined 2nd half pace.  I started thinking, 'What would happen if I just ran a faster pace as far as I could with this 78 degrees and 93% humidity?'  It's already warm and I'm already sweating like a Michele, so what do I have to lose?  I took my 2 grams of salt about a half hour before the run and drank about 8 ozs of water shortly before the run, too.

So, to hell with the heat and giddyup.  My legs were responsive and eager.  Maybe I can do this tomorrow, too.  I would really like to be able to work on my speed during the hottest part of the summer, as that would put me ahead for the Fall pace running.

Sorry for the length, but this blog is as much a journal for me as it is an episode from "Bill Nye, the Science Guy" for y'all.

I can picture you in your kitchen, Ounce, madly working an abacus and weighing out grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates every single day. That egg-bacon-squash feast sounds pretty darn tasty, though! 

Good run, too. It suggests to me that all that strength work you've been doing is paying off. Keep it up!

Mark B wrote:I can picture you in your kitchen, Ounce, madly working an abacus and weighing out grams of protein, fat and carbohydrates every single day. That egg-bacon-squash feast sounds pretty darn tasty, though! 

Good run, too. It suggests to me that all that strength work you've been doing is paying off. Keep it up!

 Much obliged, sir.  Yeah, that Oxo food scale really is a great tool for this, along with fitday.com (even though it's slow).  The produce is usually the only thing to weigh.  And it's clear that running on fatty acids (as opposed to carbs) hasn't hurt my ability to run.

But this morning, I am a bit confused.  My blood ketone level is 2.3, a new record but well within the therapeutic range.   I'm thinking for all the fat I consumed late in the day has spiked the BK level higher than if I ate the fat.  The extra 100 grams of protein came in the form of brisket at lunch.  I wonder if the fat was at lunch and the beef at dinner would change the outcome.

I'm reading the authors' first book The Art and Science of Carbohydrate Living to see if there's any answers there.  If not, Dear Author....

Off to run.

The temperature was 78 degrees with a dewpoint of 75 and CALM winds.  It was a booger.  I had 10-12 miles on my mind for today's run.  About four miles into the slog, I decided to do 12 miles.

12.18 miles, 2:47:52, 13:46 pace, 127 avg pace, 163 max HR during the last .18, 1st half pace 14:20, 2nd half pace pace 13:12.

1. 14:19, 125 bpm
   
2. 14:17, 128 bpm
   
3. 14:19, 126 bpm
   
4. 14:24, 126 bpm
   
5. 14:21, 111 bpm
   
6. 14:20, 112 bpm
   
7. 13:57, 121 bpm
   
8. 13:58, 128 bpm
   
9. 12:51, 129 bpm (i think the HR strap wasn't picking the right figures in miles 9, 10, & 11)
   
10. 13:08, 136 bpm
    
11. 12:48, 136 bpm
    
12. 12:48, 151 bpm
    

I was frankly surprised at the 2nd half pace.  I believe at mile 9 a breeze came up for a few seconds and that helped my outlook on things, even though the wind disappeared.  I am really encouraged by the pace, considering it was so warm.  Maybe I can work to go faster in the first half.

My shoes weren't squishy-wet, but just about.

My blood ketone level dropped a surprisingly large amount to 0.5 from 2.3.  It could have been a couple of factors that dropped it so much of which one was a late evening 3/4ths of an ounce of 85% chocolate not countered with some coconut oil.

From a health perspective, chocolate with a cacao percentage of 80% or greater is supposed to be good for you.  And I have a low carb cruler recipe that required 80% or greater chocolate that I'm going to try.  It was my first time to eat 85% chocolate and it'll take a little time to adapt.

I have no after effects from the 12 mile run yesterday.

Today's BK level was 0.4, a one-tenth deduction from Saturday morning's level.  Considering what was eaten yesterday, I am very happy with the level.  Tomorrow morning's level should be "Lo" or similar.

It becomes more and more apparent to me how strong the addiction to sugar and some carbs has on my body.  I am able to quell the sugar and grain-type carbs, when I'm above 0.5 because I want to make the level greater.  But inflict a weekend and a 0.4 and it becomes tougher.  I've managed to change my mind on what to eat tonight by starting with a pizza and worked it down to a hamburger and fries because I'm capable of eating a medium pizza for dinner.  And if I weighed 50 pounds more, pizza would be what's for dinner.

My best friend's wife was extolling on Facebook the virtues of a new Sonic that opened near their house by saying how happy she would be to get a shake more often.  They are both overweight and she's at least on diabetes meds.  She 'wants' to lose weight, but she's a teacher and my experience with school teachers is they're not going to do anything about their wieght, if their friends are not going to do it, too.  And Friday afternoon tex-mex and margaritas after school seems to be their God-given right for being a teacher.   I felt like saying some smart ass comment about how she doesn't need the shock to her system, but it's a free country.

Back on the wagon in the morning.

I don't think teachers have the market cornered on self-justifying bad habits; I've met a lot of people who want to lose weight in concept but for whatever reason just can't it going. There's a great article in the latest National Geographic talking about sugar, and it does a good job of explaining just how harmful/addictive sugar can be. In a lot of ways -- and none of them good -- it's like a drug. But I can't imagine that our national public health crisis is going to be resolved anytime soon. It's just too easy to get hooked on sugar, and once you're hooked, the only way to really get un-hooked is to step away completely. I think our whole industrial food chain would collapse if that happened.

Good work on that 12-miler in nasty conditions. I'd love to see what'd happened if you were abducted from your hot-n-sweaty home and dropped into a cool, drier environment for a race. I have a feeling it'd be like hooking up jet packs to your behind.

Mark, thanks for your thoughts.  Sugar is addictive and like anything that's addictive, people are going to fight to the death to preserve their drug.  And by sugar, I include high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn syrup, etc.  At least with real sugar, the brain does react to enough sugar to tell you to stop.  With HFCS, it does not generate a 'stop' action in the brain, so you just consume, consume and consume.  *sigh*

I'm going to go out on a limb on my next statement, but after reading a bunch of info from unrelated people about macronutrients (protein, fat and carbs), I agree that aside from the fiber content in vegetables, I haven't found where there's any value in carbohydrates for the body for general living.  And as far as for running, carbs can help in an endurance activity for mental clarity.

I've been reading a little about Ben Greenfield, who is a Ironman triathlete, who does low-carb.  Aside from hawking a bunch of stuff in his blog, he does do carbs the day before an Ironman, only 100 grams or so, though.  The average marathoner will consume 400-600 grams in carbo loading, I've read.

I am very satisfied with this low carb plan and what it appears to be doing for my running and, more importantly, my HEALTH.

And, Mark, cool weather will be like blood doping. 

I have to finish up my training schedule.

My mind was boggled today with a blood ketone level of 1.2.  This was an unexpected increase considering I ate a cheesburger, fries and a coke for dinner.  I figured I'd show a "Lo", but that's the number.

CrossFit, this morning was good, but a bit disappointing.
Strength: Back Squat
*Percentages based off of Previous 1 Rep Max + 10 lbs (215 lbs)
5 x 45%, 5 x 55%, 5 x 65%
5 x 70%, 5 x 75%, 5 x 80%
Conditioning: EMOM for 10 Minutes
Odd Minutes: 10 Thrusters (55 lbs)
Even Minutes: 200m Row

I had a 1 rep max on the back squat of 205 in June, but I evidently had lost some of the muscle mass for not doing the back squat since mid-June because it was tough to lift the higher percentages.  But that's okay.  I'll get back into the swing of doing back squats and maybe do more than 205 in two weeks, when I stop.  I like the back squat because it's one of the two strength exercises that I lift more than my weight.  The other is the Dead Lift.

Oooh, forgot to mention that I did two successful 24" box jumps.  That was cool.  But Houston Texans defensive end (and media darling) J.J. Watt can jump 59.5".  There's a YouTube video for that.

A box jump at 59.5"????  That is almost 5 feet and the same height as my daughter - wild!!!!

24-inch box jump... that's jumping up, right? The mind boggles at 59.5''

About carbs: If you think about nutrition over the broader range of human existence, you notice that a lot of the carbs we eat today (grains, specifically) haven't really been part of our diet for all *that* long. The carbs our ancient ancestors consumed were likely roots and leaves and such, trending toward the lowest end of the glycemic scale. So yes, I agree that carbs -- especially higher glycemic carbs -- are at the very best an optional part of our diet individually. (As a larger population base, however, the scalability of mass carbohydrate crop production is necessary to feed our burgeoning population. But that's another matter, I suppose.)

When I did South Beach a number of years ago, I was pleased at how I was able to get by on massive amounts of clean veggies, lean meats and nuts. Even though I've gone on to other things, part of my food preferences haven't changed. I used to love pasta. Now, meh. It's okay, but not something I crave.

The other crazy thing I remember was my first taste of sugar after months of transition into South Beach. It was overwhelming, and a little unsettling.