The Organic Climber – Vegetarian running, cycling, swimming, rock climbing and raw foods.

Today I finally broke down and bought a road bike. I have been thinking about it for a couple weeks now after reading Thrive, by Brendan Brazier.  My roommate had also been trying to convince me to get a bike as well, but ultimately it was something Brendan had said about the way our body burns fat. He states, “during lower (longer exercise bouts) intensity exercise the body burns primarily fat.” What this essentially does is teach the body to become more efficient at burning fat as fuel, resulting in better endurance. Simply put, doing long distance bike rides will help me burn fat more efficiently so that I will be able to run further and faster.

It’s crazy to think I am actually going to start cycling as well. I have always given a fellow climbing buddy a hard time about cycling, especially when he misses a climb due to a race. But after hearing him talk about his recent trip to Mount Rainier I change my tune a bit. He and another biker out paced two marathon runners in the group. I think that speaks quite a bit to the benefits cycling can bring to both my running and climbing expeditions.

Raw Energy

During my training thus far I have managed to stay away from store bought energy drinks like Gatorade and have been making my own raw energy drinks consisting of dates, lemon juice, lime juice, coconut oil, agave nectar, salt and water. This concoction has done a wonderful job at replenishing electrolytes and providing simple carbohydrates. Brendon points out something interesting about coconut water. It had been used by Brazilian soccer teams for decades to replenish electrolytes lost in sweat.

Another highly marketed energy product is sports gels. I have actually never tried these myself, but want to try one of Brendan’s raw versions during my runs. I have tried eating LaraBars for energy, but find them difficult to consume while on the run. The only down side to the homemade gels is they don’t come in convenient squeeze packets like the ones you buy in the store. It is for this reason I have yet to try making them, but recently I discovered gel flasks. So, I plan on purchasing one of these soon and trying they raw energy gels on a long run.

When it comes to my recovery I always make sure to have a recovery smoothie after my workout.  For me this is usually a mixed berry smoothie with almond butter and hemp seed protein and flax seed oil if I have it on-hand. This will ensure I get enough protein to help with muscle recovery and the flax seed oil helps with inflammation. If you are going to use flax seed make sure to ground them first so your body will be able to access the nutrients and benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties. This is something I only recently found out after reading Thrive.

I have found raw foods to be a tremendous benefit to my overall health and a contributing factor to my overall fitness level. One of my first posts here was Eating for energy, where I talk about what I typically eat on my climbing trips. I find it kind of strange that I usually eat more raw foods when I am out climbing or on days I run, but Brendan talked about the correlation in fitness and diet. When you look at it like that (that there is a correlation) it makes a lot of sense. The days I have great runs or climbs I am more inspired to eat better than when I perform poorly. I also feel I perform better when I eat better. There is a definite relation between diet and fitness.