Idea for winter training

Last year, after I reached the point of feeling "beat up" in January, I decided to be a test for low heart rate training. I had to dedicate 3 months to never letting my hr get above 147. It was a great way to build a real strong base, allowing me to handle a pretty challengin year of races. A couple of pr's, and new milestones.

I don't plan on doing this again this winter, as I feel I can tap into that base as long as I maintain some sense of fat burning running/training.

One of the things I realized this year, was that while my legs were stong, my body was not. I was not all around strong.

After reading Mittleman again, I decided I needed to change my diet a little (or a lot depending how much your life revolves around food). I have read many different books on nutrition, diets, and the theories supporting them. Believe it or not, I kind of like Dr. Atkins.

STOP! Before you think I am crazy, read one of his books. I base my conclusions on what he wrote, not what the media claims his diet to be. It is not a "eat as much fat as you want" diet. And while it is "low carb", I think it falls more under "pre 1950 carb and portion size"

After reading his book years ago, I figured it made more sense to get your carbs from low glycemic foods, and/or more complex carbs. This is basically what the South Beach Diet preaches (well, it is a lot more than that, but hang with me here).

So, after Superior, I cut out most of my carbs. I stopped eating ice cream :(, and kept the beer to a minimum. I also tried to eat carbs with protein to mitigate insulin production.

Without much effort, I lost 6 pounds. I also lost my craving for ice cream, and other carb rich foods. I heard about this phenomemnon, but did not completely believe it.

I was going to test how this diet works on a body (mine) which is already used to burning fat through specific training. I am not convinced that eating more carbs will help me a whole lot, as it only will store enough energy for 2-3 hours (it is more complex than this, but I have the theory in my head).

So,

I figured I could start next season 10 lbs lighter (4 pounds to go).

I did some weight training in October, but I find it tough to do it as I was doing it.

Then the idea for winter training came.

I enjoy watching infomercials. I enjoy them, beacuse I am in sales, I like watching how they pitch their product. I also like to find all of their holes and bogus claims. I get a big laugh out of doing ab excercises for 5 minutes a day, and you will get six pack abs.

I did catch this informercial for the "P90x extreme" system. The guy comes up with this theory of "muscle confusion", how you continually mix of the work your muscles are doing, thus making them stronger.

That is exactly why I like trail running. You are continually calling on your muscles in different fashions.

Then I thought "Why not put this infomercial to the test?". I did some internet snooping, and found a lot of positive feedback on this, very little negative. I also found that these are HARD workouts, 6 days per week.

So I was thinking it would be fun to do a "P90x blog competition". I guess it would be me vs. any of you out there. We could all start roughly the same day, and track our progress by stats and pictures. Then, all of you decide who wins.

I think it would be fun to be in competion against others through a 90 day period, in the privacy of your own home. Then, we could also test an informercial.

Anybody interested?

I think it would great to see "Cool Hand Quick" show up to the first race next year ripped like a GQ model.