Reticular Activation System and How You Look at Life.

Ever heard of the Reticular Activation System (RAS) ?

Before you start making cuckoo sounds the Reticular Activation System is basically the brains filter to stimulii.  For the geeks it is the Extrathalamic control module system consisting of the Midbrain, Memencephalic Nucleus, Thalmic Intralaminar Nucelues, Dorsal Hypothalamus and Tegmentum.

For the not so geeky...  Neurons provide stimulus from all of our sensors as well as the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.  They transmit literally billions of messages a second to the brain. The RAS filters these so that only the important message or, what we want to focus on, gets though.  The RAS changes and we can control what does and doesnt get through which is the point of this post.

Want a simple example of how we change the RAS ?  Have you ever decided to buy a new car - for example a Volkswagen ?  Have you noticed how you now notice so many more Volkswagens on the road now ?  Have people suddenly all gone out and bought Volkswagens ?  No - they were always there.  The difference is you have now changed what 'messages' pass through the RAS so suddenly you can 'see' all of those Volkswagens.

In fact I often call this the "Red Volkwagen' filter

Thinking about this for racing.

1.  Racing.  The RAS filters through ALL messages - what you see, what you hear and what you feel.  You need to think of pain as an email from your body to your brain - it is a message.  Like email do you choose to believe all emails you receive ?  If you do I have a relative in Nigeria that wants to wire you a lot of money.  Start classifying messages as to whether they are legitimate or spam.  If you step on a nail the message is real - if you feel like you cant keep going or are 'about to' cramp should you give the message all your bank details or send it to the junk folder.  A lot of times when racing and I felt like the going was tough I would ask myself specifically WHY it was tough and 99% of the time it was my brain telling the body not the other way round.  A common message I see is when people say that they couldnt hold their current pace for another 10km.  What this thought is doing is opening up the RAS to these types of messages - essentially removing the filter.  Creating this junk mail folder teaches the RAS to automatically filter out these messages - if they aren't being 'seen' they become like the volkswagen was before you chose to get one and are automatically filtered out.

2.  Life. If you choose to have a negative outlook then you are literally opening up the RAS to only see negative things.  Forest for the trees, glass half empty etc are all 'views' of the world which means how you have set up your RAS.  Like the volkswagen if you program your RAS to see positives and opportunities that is what you will see.  For those that studied electronics energy flows from a positive charge to a negative one - life is the same.  Positive people give off energy, negative people suck it in from others.

Treat physical feelings and thoughts as emails and decide what should get through your junk filter and what should get sent directly to trash.

Training with Your Friend

No ladies  - I am not talking about going for a bike ride with your BFF.  I’m talking about your other ‘friend’ - you know the one that visits you once a month.  You know….

The Painters and Decorators are in.

Aunt Flo is visiting

Clean Up at Aisle One.

Come on - it could be worse.  I could be making puns about PERIODization Training..

But from a training and racing perspective does it make any difference ?

Here’s why it does.

Your typical cycle is 28 days long and so your first day of menses would be considered day 1. You typically complete that by about day 5-7 and then the mucosal lining of your uterus begins to rebuild and proliferate in preparation for the potential of an egg implantation. From day 1 all the way up to ovulation, which is usually about day 14-15, is called your follicular phase and then you move in to what’s called the luteal phase

You’ve got your follicular phase; you’ve got your luteal phase. During these phases you have different levels of hormones based off the need or the lack thereof to repair the endometrial lining in the uterus. As a lot of women know, there are different symptoms that can accompany this cycles and some women don’t get any of those symptoms, some women get lots of these, some women get some pretty significant discomfort.  From a training and racing perspective however it’s just not changes in your mood or the way that you feel. There are also some pretty significant changes in exercise performance and also the way that you respond to fats and proteins and carbohydrates based off of where you’re at in your menstrual cycle. 

In simple terms we’ve got our low hormone phase, which occurs early in the cycle, and a high hormone phase, which occurs later on. In the High hormone phase women produce a lot of estrogen and estrogen will decrease how much you rely on your liver’s storage carbohydrate, your muscle storage carbohydrate and increase your use of fat. This means that when you’re producing a lot of estrogen, you have a bigger capacity for burning fat and for sparing muscle and liver carbohydrate or what’s called your storage glycogen. When you want to go up to a very high intensity during exercise such as for HIIT sets, swim sprints, TABATA etc., when you’re in that high hormone phase you might need a little bit more carbohydrate. During the low hormone phase, when you are producing less estrogen, you can ingest less carbohydrate because you’re going to tap into your liver and into your muscle carbohydrate a little bit more efficiently.

During the high hormone phase (day 14 - 28) you may need more carbohydrate in order to support HARD interval sets.

It is also why you might feel flatter doing exactly the same set later in the cycle (high hormone) than earlier (low hormone) as you are less efficient at tapping into the 'fast' energy source - glycogen.

The other really interesting thing that happens is that during that high estrogen phase you’re using more fatty acids. This means you return to your pre-exercise metabolic rate much more quickly with the impact on training being that your post exercise feeding window when insulin sensitive is high is much shorter.  You should prioritise your post workout meal to get it in right after you finish your workout when you’re in that latter phase of your cycle if you want to optimize restoration of things like your storage glycogen or restoration of amino acids. Whereas men might be able to wait a good 2 or 3 hours because their metabolic rate is still elevated and they’re still able to restore a lot of those metabolites, Women, especially during their latter phase when in their high hormone phase, have a much smaller window and should aim to refuel as soon as possible after the session.

Whilst I’ve spoken about Estrogen and its impact on glycogen usage there are actually other hormones that cycle through the time frame. During the high hormone phase you not only have high amounts of estrogen but you have a high amount of progesterone as well. Progesterone increases how much protein is used during exercise which means if you’re going to use amino acids you'll most sensitive to them during the High Hormone phase.

What does this mean? 

During days 1-14 (Low Hormone Phase) you might do better with higher intensity or harder workouts as you are better able to tap into storage glycogen, less reliant upon amino acids and less efficient at burning fat as a fuel. Once you shift into days 14-28 you might do better during longer workouts where you’re actually got more estrogen to be able to tap into fat more efficiently, you’ve got more progesterone and you’re able to utilize amino acids more efficiently and that might be a better time to do your longer slower workouts. 

Hydration is also important here.  When you have elevated level of progesterone you’re baseline body temperature is increased significantly and when your baseline body temperature goes up not only you’re going to sweat more but you’re also going to need more fluid typically to maintain body temperature. Now when you get high estrogen AND high progesterone you get a reduction in your plasma volume and that’s why you get a lot of swelling a lot of times during the latter phases of your cycle. A lot of the volume from blood plasma goes between cells instead and causes bloating that you typically experience. Because of this blood volume drop, you might need a little bit more water and a little bit more electrolytes when you are in that phase of elevated progesterone and elevated oestrogen (High Hormone phase)

Due to this reduction in blood volume during the High Hormone phase you might find that you tolerate hot exercise a little bit less and when you go for a run or a ride you need a little bit of extra fuel, you might do better with a little bit more electrolyte intake like salting a little bit more of your food during that part of your cycle. 

Finally, when you’re producing more progesterone and more estrogen, you are also going to get increased production of specific hormone called relaxin and relaxin is something that pregnant women are gonna produce in high amounts but also that you’re gonna produce towards the latter phase of your cycle in higher amounts and this is responsible for softening and relaxation of ligaments especially the pubic symphysis (hips). When you have a high amount of relaxin circulating in your bloodstream, it can do things like weaken your spine a little bit so you’re unable to withstand impact and twisting forces quite as much. You might get increase propensity for knee injuries or hip injuries or ankle injuries so once again during the high hormone phase you MAY want to drop the weight slightly or, more importantly, be super careful with technique knowing that your body is a bit ‘looser’ and less able to protect itself.

In summary

Days 1-14.  Better suited to high intensity exercises, weights

Days 14-28.  Better suited to longer sessions but be conscious of lower blood volume (heat sensitivity) and shorter refueling window.

Childlike Running

"What's the Difference between a Terrorist and Two Year Old ?"

"You can negotiate with a Terrorist"

Although a joke a typical child does not START to develop the ability to reason until at least 3 1/2 years old and not start to make decisions based on conscious thought until they are around seven.

Until then they have two modes - Do or Do Not.  There are no other thoughts in terms of decisions.

A lot of athletes are at the other end of the scale - they are constantly having 'discussions' with themselves trying to rationalise whether to keep going or not.  Coming up with justifications, worrying about what-if, thinking about how, calculating times etc etc.  I often see statements in race reports starting with "I thought...".  I thought I was going too hard, I thought I was going to cramp.

Champions run like a two year old.

Understand (based on training/testing) what you can do, what pace you can hold, when you need to fuel etc.  Even take this 'thought' away by setting zones, alters, autolap etc on your device

Then, to quote Nike, Just Do It.

If you find yourself negotiating with yourself then be conscious of this type of thought.  This takes practise - to identify when your 'inner voice' is trying to rationalise/justify an outcome.  But when you identify this put those thoughts to the side and be in the moment.  There is a reason why, for most people, the last kilometre of an event (even a marathon) is their fastest - they stop negotiating and 'just run'.

When training, try doing some longer runs without an MP3 player.  Music can often drown out the inner voice which detracts from developing the skill of identifying and 'dealing' with it.  Plus all triathlons and a lot of running events ban MP3 players anyway.  The skills of identifying the inner voice and knowing how compartmentalise or respond to it is key in longer events.

So next time you are running practise Childlike Running - catch those thoughts and throw them away and just 'Do' like the 2 year old in the video below.

Would you make the team ?

When I was a teenager I played a lot of team sports - specifically cricket.  The cricket season meant a consistent pattern each week - practise with the team 2-3 times, practise by myself and then play both days on the weekend.

Practise with the team meant a couple of things but one of the main goals was quite simple - impress the coach enough to get selected for the team.  Show them not only your technical skill but your attitude and enthusiasm.  I used to look for Friday's paper excited to see whether I had been selected.

After cricket I moved to martial arts.  Martial arts is much more like triathlon - you train each week and then periodically there is a test of what you had learnt.  These tests for the higher ranks could be years apart.  There was no weekly team, no one really cared if you turned up or not.  Training was more about the process (and perfection) and is why I have the Japanese symbol Keizen on my left ankle.  Keizen means "Always Moving Forward" and the left side of the body, in Martial Arts, is the spiritual side.

For some people that come from team sports this difference in mentality - of not being 'selected' each week is a very different mindset.  The triathlon equivalent of a Martial Arts grading is obviously a race but these can seem a long way off (fortunately not years like in Martial Arts but in the case of a bad injury this may even be the case).

The trick is to treat each training week as a match week.  Have you done enough so that the coach will 'select' you ?.  Have you trained consistently - have you demonstrated the right attitude and enthusiasm for the game that would make the coach want you on the team.  Think back to your team sport and remember the feeling of making the team or missing out.

For people coming from team sports like Cricket and Football this change of mindset can make a big difference.  Make one day of the week 'selection day' - take a step back and give your training week a score out of 10 and ask yourself...

Would you make the team this week ?.  

Pick out the Brown Smarties.

We've all heard the stories of demands 'Divas' make - Mariah Carey demanding 2 dozen white roses and no patterns on the couches in her dressing room, Jennifer Lopez demanding an all white dressing room, Madonna demanding a brand new toilet seat..  But maybe there is more to it than just being a tad eccentric..



For those that grew up in the 80's you will remember David Lee Roth.  He was the lead singer of Van Halen and also had a successful solo career.  In his contract conditions he demanded a bowl of smarties with all of the brown smarties removed.

Diva right ?

When asked recently about this he explained it was actually a quality control check.  What he meant was that if he walked into his dressing room and found a bowl of smarties without brown ones he knew that someone had read his contract in detail and that he didnt need to worry about as much about all the important requirements he had around staging, water, security etc.  If he found brown smarties he knew that the quality of everything else would also need to be checked to make sure nothing impacted the standard of the show.

You may train, you may watch what you eat, you may look after your equipment - but do you pick out the brown smarties ?  Do you make sure, when you go into a session, that the little details are right to get the most 'quality' out of the session ?  In some sessions the duration of the interval and the recovery time is critical to get the best bang for buck out of the session.  Mucking around with shoe laces, watch settings, chatting to your mates can all mess up these timings meaning the metabolic goal of the session cannot be met - it is a wasted session purely through lack of attention to detail.

In business there is an expression called The Six P's.  Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

Next time you are heading to the track, the pool, the gym ask whether you have picked out the brown smarties - have you done those small things that mean that you get the best out of the session.

Goal Setting - A Waste of Time ?

In the mid 90's a study was published in a magazine around what makes successful people successful.

It looked at high flying business executives, champion sportspeople, media personalities to try and find what common traits they possessed. One of the common traits was about the setting of goals.

They Didn't.

This is a trend that continues with modern organisations such as Google who do also not set annual goals.

When asked in the same study why these people and organisations do not set goals the response was simple.

"Defining goals defines your limitations"

As an example picture a 4 hour marathon runner who's goal it is to run a sub 3:30 marathon.  They work out what they need to do - train to that specific pace and come race day run a 3:29.  Goal Met.

Now imagine a 4 hour marathon runner who commits each week to followed a balance program of muscular endurance, weights, track work. Each week they meet this commitment - a commitment to continuously improve.  Come race day they run 3:19.

Imagine if, for Runner 1, a 3:30 marathon was never realistic based on time till the event, training time etc ?  Had they focussed on improvement over the goal they may have run 3:39 which is still a huge PB.  Instead they 'miss' their goal and are disappointed or worse still are injured trying to push for an unrealistic goal and cant run the marathon at all.

The same is common for people trying to lose weight.  They set a goal instead of focussing each day on eating smart and exercising properly.  For weight loss the issue also can be that a long terms goal is hard to be motivated for and 'slip ups' in nutrition are ok as they have 'months' left..

In Googles case they dont set corporate goals as it decreases their agility - the ability to respond to what the market is doing (which is often outside their control anyway).

There have been lots of studies on what makes successful people successful such as Stephen Coveys Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.  Things like single mindedness, focus, total commitment to a goal etc.  Not surprisingly you dont see many books on what makes abject failures unsuccessful but in some studies that have been conducted it has been found that these people actually execute the same habits.  Single Mindedness, total commitment to a goal etc can make the person oblivious to 'reality', unable to deal with changes to their market or environment.

So rather than defining your own limitation focus on continual improvement and commit to each day doing something that makes you 1% better than yesterday.  In 68 days you will be 100% better than you were yesterday.

Ketosis for Dummies

What is Ketosis

Ketosis is a state of elevated levels of ketone bodies within the body.  Ketones are a preferential fuel source for the brain and muscles.

What is the advantage

Within our liver and muscles we can store a maximum of about 1800 calories of glycogen.  For HARD exercise this means we have about 1 hour 50mins worth of energy.  Conversely an average athlete has about 65,000 calories of stored fat.

Ketones also burn 'clean' meaning less destructive bi-products compared to sugar which our bodies would need to process or clear.

By using body fat ketosis is a great way to 'lean up' whilst still maintaining energy levels as well as reducing blood glucose and insulin.

How do we measure it.

There are two methods of measuring ketones - urine or blood.  The difference is in the type of ketones measure.  Urine analysis measures levels of Acetoacetate.  Logically what appears in urine is what the body is trying to get rid of rather than what is used.  Blood analysis measures beta-hydroxybutyrate which are used by the muscles and brain for energy so is a better indicator of what is available and being utilised.

Blood analysis is performed using a simple meter (most of which can also measure blood glucose) available from chemists for under $50.

What is Nutritional Ketosis
Nutritional Ketosis is the 'sweet spot' for ketosis where blood ketones are in the range of 0.2 2.0 mmol/l

Can it be harmful

Yes.  Above 5mmol/l starts to move into what's called Ketoacidosis effecting the acidity of blood.  It is also strongly not recommended for type I diabetics.

How do I do it.

In simple terms a high fat / low carb diet is used to enable ketosis however the risk of too much fat as a ratio can push the body into ketoacidosis.  Similarly too much protein can lower the ketone level through a mechanism called gluconeogenesis.  It is commonly found that a diet ratio of 80% fat, 15% protein and 5% carbohydrate is optimal for nutritional ketosis.

Intermittent fasting has also been shown to increase blood ketones.

Isnt that Atkins ?

No.  Atkins is high protein, high fat which as mentioned reduces blood ketones through conversion of protein to glucose.