Protein on the cheap

Here's a post for all you weekend warriors out there - the non professionals, the full-time parents, the latecomers, the new hobbyists, the blue (and white) collar job-holders that work the gears to make the world turn, the self-starters, and the validation junkies like myself, who spend time and quite a considerable amount of money on endurance sports, not because it turns them any kind of profit (though wouldn't that be nice if we could somehow turn a profit off of all our little side projects), or because we really expect to win, place, or show, but because gosh darn it we like to get out there on a Saturday and wear ourselves ragged with a new kind of adoptive family.

I'm supposing that we all read a fair amount on nutrition and diet and things like what we need to eat after a heavy lifting workout or a long Saturday run, etc, etc. I don't feel like talking a whole lot about the science behind it, except to say that it makes sense to me. Besides, there's not much that's more enjoyable after a good hour or 90 mins of sweating and lifting and pacing than tipping back an ice cold Chocolate Muscle Milk. And it's hard to beat getting 21 grams of protein at just 210 calories. Except, of course, the fact that it's about $5 wherever I can find it (not in bulk).

Prices for equipment are enough to sweat over. Just this week I dropped nearly $200 on new shoes, a pair of tri trunks, and a little love for my bike, including two new tires. And I'm still in the hole for a couple of Ragnar teams that I've signed up for. All that considered, I'm saving the $30 a week I could spend on protein drinks and I'm investing it in a little research to find a reasonable alternative at a reasonable price. I hope someone out there can find this information useful, as well.

The first thing to do is ask yourself: how much protein do you really need? According to the ADA, for the average Joe, 40-70 grams a day is enough, and frankly pretty easy to come by. For the average Joe who exercises, the calculation is about 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight (about 0.65 grams per pound) up to double the RDA, or no more than 80-140 g. Personally, I weigh ~180lb, which puts my ideal protein consumption (if I keep up with my regimen) at around 110 grams a day. There are other ways to see how much protein based on total daily caloric intake, but whatever. Close enough.

Next thing is to ask yourself, if you're not bank rolled or you don't manage a hedge fund and can't really afford high-end protein drinks, is what do you want to sacrifice, calories, or protein intake? I don't think there's a really good substitute that can give you that amount of protein at that few calories for much less $$. If you're trying to lose weight, I'd probably stick with something lower in calories. If you're trying to build muscle mass or you can afford a bit more calories in your diet, go for something that will give you more protein and not worry so much about the calories.

I've listed some options below of regular grocery store items that you can use as post-workout food that might save you some dough while still keeping you mindful of exercise and diet, etc. I've chosen to limit the portions to sizes that are similar in calories to one serving of Muscle Milk. If you prefer the high-protein route, I suppose you could do a little math to figure out the portion size you would need to come up with 21 g of protein. Oh yeah, and I've limited the field to lower-fat proteins, of course. Enjoy:

Item Serving Size Calories Protein (grams)

Yogurt 2 cup 220 14

(vanilla or plain)

Egg (whole) 3 240 21

Egg whites 12 Tbsp 100 20

Beans 1 cup 220 14

(black)
Chicken 100 g 109 23.5
Tofu 200 g 210 24

Or, there are of course loads of sites out there dedicated to listing nutritional information on high protein foods, that breaks down their content into fat grams, etc.

As more and more of my money goes out the door doing this kind of thing, I'm becoming more and more interested in finding ways to cut back on the spending. So maybe this will be like a weekly thing, to find cheap alternatives to things that endurance athletes spend most of their money on. Because more money in the pocket means more race entry fees, right?

End Transmission.

Putting the pieces together

I'm discovering a new challenge in training for a triathlon: time management. Training for a running event, or any single sport race event, tends to be fairly simple. It's just a matter of going outside and doing that one thing for an hour or so. However, as I'm sure it's logical to see, when you're working with three different things, it becomes quite a juggling trick. The degree of difficulty steps up a notch when you're training in an entirely new discipline (swimming, for me). Add to that the fact that the triathlon that I'm training for is a mere two weeks before the SoCal ragnar relay, and things get a bit more complex.

For example, here's a list of everything that I should be packing into my workout week:

1) I meet with a swimming coach on Thursday evenings, and we spend about 45 minutes together. He wants me to spend 40 minutes in the pool, 3 times a week.

2) My biking has been near non-existent this year, so I'm starting a 10-ride program that's outlined in my most recent issue of Bicycling magazine. The rides start off at about 15 miles, and go up by 10-15% every ride. If I follow the program, I should start out riding 3 times a week, then step it up to every other day, then every day by the third week. The last ride, I believe, is supposed to be ~50 miles.

3) I need to keep running in order to sustain my conditioning for the SoCal Ragnar. I'm aiming for ~20 miles a week over 4 days.

4) I'm attempting to supplement my running mileage with a weight training and plyometrics regimen in order to really get my minutes per mile down, since I won't be racing any distance above 8 miles in the foreseeable future.

5) Oh yeah, and I have a secret crush on this yoga instructor at the gym, so I must attend that 90-min class every Wednesday night. Just kidding. But I do go to the class to increase my flexibility.

I sat down last Saturday to see if I could hash out a training schedule that would jive with my work, family, and church responsibilities, and quickly became depressed at all of the 5AM mornings I was facing. I'm not a morning person, to say the least, but it would be possible. I've done it before, I suppose. But is this do or die? Will I be able to survive the race if I flag on my training, even a little bit?

As I was swimming last night, I was counting the lengths I had swam looking at my watch, and I started to calculate in my head the times that I would spend on each length of the tri, and while I was freaking out about my training time, I slowly came to the realization that, despite my lack of 5am fervor, I am probably not about to be destroyed! Here are the distances:

Swim - 400 meters (16 lengths) I'm a sloooow swimmer, and I can do that in about 12 minutes.

Bike - 10 miles (2 loops on a closed course) At my slowest, I go about 12 mph, so I can expect to spend no more than about 45 mins on the bike, but given race day adrenaline I'm hoping to kick it up to 16 mph, so less than 40 mins

Run - 5K My last 5K time, while I was pushing my two kids in a stroller, was around 26 minutes.

"Finish with a smile" has been my goal for this race since I signed up for it. In my opinion, it's a good, reasonable, and achievable goal for any first-time triathlete, and probably more important than any time-based or calorie-based (?) goals that one might set for themselves, firstly because as a first-timer it's probably hard to guess what a reasonable time might even be, and secondly because if you're like me, the smile, not the time, is what will keep you coming back for more. The Dog Town half marathon was such a suffer-fest for me that, had it been my first, I probably would have been a "one-and-done"-er.

Since last Saturday I've been far from perfect with my training schedule, but taking a look at the estimates above and considering that I do at least two of those distances (at a minimum) every day, I'll probably be okay. Lesson learned: don't be a spaz about training. Which is kind of the opposite message from my last post, "make everything a big deal." So I suppose the purpose of this week is to add an asterisk to last week: Look forward and prepare for every race, but be sure to enjoy it at the same time.

End