A Visit to Rainbow City in Portugal

Two Domes at Rainbow City's Sustainably Yoga Farm.

With a vision of the world living more sustainably and one day starting a self sustainable yoga health retreat centre, I paid a visit to Rainbow City in Portugal to have a look at the local area and see how this newly established settlement lives.  

Metaman Race Nutrition

I completed by first Half Iorn distance triathlon (click here for race report) at Metaman in Bintan,
Indonesia in 5 hours and 30 min with whole foods instead of gels. Most people encourage 4-6 gels, electrolyte tabs and all sorts of sports drinks but my philosophy is to make everything yourself at home and reuse plastic bags for packaging for a healthier more sustainable lifestyle.

Please join the newsletter for updates on training plans and nutrition ideas for your first Half Iorn man or Metaman

Click here for my Metaman 70.3 race report





Week before the race

• Get as much extra sleep as possible
• Carbs should not be missed in any of your meals (your usual 4-5 meals per day + snacks)
• Eat food that does not cause bloating (dairy, oils, wheat, lentils, pulses, animal fats)
• Ensure you have used your planned race food during training so that your body is used to it
• Eat early so that digestion doesn't take place during sleeping for better quality sleep

Day before the race

• Eat your planned race day breakfast in the morning
• Lots of good quality food but less than during training days 
• No oils, animal products, wheat, processed food, dairy, pulses or lentils during your evening meal to reduce risk of bloating and make digestion during the nights as easy as possible
• Lots of water, coconut water and fruits for the electrolytes and hydration all day long

Before the race

• Breakfast - Plain and simple carbs from plain rice and and small amount of protein some nuts or eggs. Avoid fiber from cereal and oats to prevent the need for a toilet stop half way round
• Food - Small portion of your race food (don't pack this in your transition area. Put it away with your bike)
• Electrolytes  - 500ml water with 1/2 Tsp of salt and Tbsp of honey. I find that drinking salty water makes your body absorb more of the water and you in turn are more hydrated and need to urinate less.

During the race

• 3 boiled mashed sweet potato (for carbs) with salt (key Electrolytes that are lost in sweat), turmeric (for anti inflammatory benefits), honey (instant carbs) and butter (to make it creamier)
• Various dried fruits and berries. 
• Electrolyte drink - One 750ml bottle with a tablespoon of salt, juice of half a lemon & a tbsp of honey, this is for you to sip on through the course. Your other water bottle can be replaced as you cycle round
• 1 Banana 
• Backup food- you should have trained with this race food and know that it can get you around. If you're unsure then pack some back up gels. I always have back up gels but so far, I have never  needed to use them. 

My race food for Metaman

How did this go for me at 2014 Metman 70.3
During the cycle I took a banana from the aid station for variation as I did not pack a banana. I did not take any of the electrolyte drinks that were handed out. I was left with far too much potato which was excess weight (I took 6 potatoes worth and only ate around 2 potatoes worth). During the run I did not have any of my electrolytes or food. I had to then alternate between sips of water, cola and the isotonic drinks they handed out (so unfortunately I was not 100% natural products). I didn't take any gels or sugary cakes that they were handing out. I had plenty of energy but my legs were very tight and my knees hurt, this was not due to nutrition but due to the bloody hard cycle ride. Click here for the race report. Training report coming soon, add yourself to the newsletter to get the weekly blog into your email.

Whats in the packaged gels and electrolytes, check the label or below:
The below ingredients don't all have health benefits where the above ones all have health benefits.

Shots (Wild Bean flavour) energy gel
Maltodextrin, Filtered Water, Flavour, Caffeine, Citric Acid, Potassium Cloride, Salt, Sodium Benzoate
Warning on packet: Not recommended for children, pregnant or lactating women.

Power Gel (Strawberry Flavour) energy gel - no ingredients shown on back of gel
maltodextrin, fructose, water, salt, sodium citrate, citric acid, potassium chloride, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, natural flavour.

Nunn (orange)  Electrolyte Tab
Citric Acid, Sorbitol, Sodium Bicrobonate, Sodium Carbonate, Natural Flavours, Magnesium Sulphate
Sodium Benzoate, Polythylene glycol, Asorbic acid, Acesulfame Potassium, Calcium Carbonate, Vegtable Juice Color, Riboflasvin-5-phosphate

High 5 ZERO Electrolyte Tab
CItric Acid, Sodium Bicrobate, Sorbitol, Sucralose, Acidity Regulators, Melic Acid, Sodium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Magnesium Carbonate, Calcium Carbonate, Natural Flavour, Beetroot, Carotene, Curcumin, Maltodextrin, SOdium Chloride, Absorbic Acid, Greet Tea Extract

Sustainability
Package your pre-race food into reusable plastic bags that you get when buying food. Do not buy extra plastic bags or zip lock bags to package your race food.

Related Blogs and Links
Electrolytes blog
Metman Race Report

Triathlete on a Juice Detox

Triathlete on a Juice Detox

We should all do regular detoxes to give our body a rest from all the crap and abuse it gets from all the rubbish that is in todays foods. But, can it be done in the middle of training for an endurance event? I didn't manage to complete the detox, it would need to be done after a rest week or after the event itself. Your body is too tired during or after a training week.

With a friend's facebook group 'Juice Me up!' for support, Kimberly and I went straight in for the kill with minimal preparation and treated this as a learning experience so that we can do it properly and for longer, later in the year. This is our first juice detox but we have done many other detoxes. I will post detoxes that work during training soon.


Day Before Juice Clence
We bought all of the ingredients and made the next days breakfast. The night before I got back from a  3.3km swim with Triedge and so scoffed down my last home made protein bars, home made gluten free cookies and a Turkish Delight that one of our recent lovely visitors gave us.

Day one of a Triathlete on a Juice D-Tox
I started with Carrot, Apple and Ginger juice and then did an easy 14km run and quickly realized I am not going to be getting enough energy from my juice plan to keep up with my Triathlon training for my race next month (2km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run al over rolling hills in Bintan Indonesia). As I have not prepared for this, I drank a protein shake to keep me going. I will plan how to make home made protein powder in time for my next reboot. Hopefully I will get the recipe as good as my protein bars. Alternatively I could just prepare more juices to have for after training and increase the broccoli, spinach and other high protein vegetables. When I am not juicing I usually have 4 meals a day plus many healthy snacks inbetween (due to all the endurance training) so I probably should be doubling the usual juice menu and drinking them all day long or not do it at all. However, Kimberly has the week off and can prepare them so we are leveraging that.
By lunch time I was so hungry and remembered chia seeds in water fills you up but I don't think I can have this on the detox and also we had run out.
I had a lunch time veggie juice and then another one in the late afternoon. The juices were horrible but I managed to get them down eventually. I now have no energy and can't think or do anything, the day is becoming a wasted day and that's not very productive when I have so many commitments. Just had another protein shake but it's not cutting it. For me to finish this juice d-tox I would have to lay off the exercise and increase the rest but I can not do that as I have a triathlon, plus late night and early morning clients to deal with. I have lost all motivation to do this as unlike a normal detox it isn't making me feel good and it doesn't work with my life style. Anyway I will push through to the end of the day to at least get 24 hours in.

I didn't make it to 24 hours. I will try again after my triathlon. Kimberly and I already have three people to do it with us. It wasn't a wasted effort, we learnt a lot from this and we are inspired to juice more.

You don't need to be on a juice detox to make juice
Since the detox attempt we have been juicing more. Today I made apple and orange juice in bulk for next few days. Having heathy drinks around you should help you go for the less healthy drinks that are easily available in the shops.

You can bulk make fruit juices at any time so you have healthy drinks to take to work