Young Coconuts are a delicious and nutritious food.  Not to mention fun to prepare.  If you drink coconut water in a can (or maybe a tetra pack) then you are (as far as I know) drinking the liquid from young coconuts, and not the brown things you often associate with the word coconut.  You can buy young coconuts from The Root Cellar on the corner of Blenkinsop and McKenzie.  It’s not a complicated process to get the water AND the delicious fresh “meat” out of the coconuts but it does take a while to explain  . .  . . . So instead of typing the long explanation out (I am too tired after a big day of training to even think about taking the time to do it) I will go through the process in pictures.  I cracked this coconut yesterday and will be enjoying the last of the meat and water tomorrow in yet another killer smoothie (check the smoothie recipe at the bottom of this post.

OK, here is how to extract all the good stuff from a young coconut:

BUT FIRST A COUPLE TIPS: Use a sharp knife, take your time, scoop the meat out with a “thin or sharp” spoon, be careful not to spill any precious water.

So there you have it!  Swing over to The Root Cellar and grab a young coconut, you won’t be disappointed I guarantee.  And the icing on the cake is that this whole food is incredibly healthy for you as well – including it being a complete protein.  Perfect!

Chocolaty Coconut Smoothie Recipe:

1) 1 Cup fresh coconut water

2) 1/3 of the coconut meat

3) Vanilla Almond Milk

4) 1 Tbls Coco Powder

5) 1 banana

6) 10 fresh cherries (take the pits out of course) OR other berry of choice – blueberry goes well

7) 4-10 macadamia nuts (depends how hungry you are suppose!)

dash of cinnamon

9) NutriStart Provide Smoothie serving

10) Extra water to get it to preferred consistency

TIPS: Blend the almond milk, coconut water, coconut meat and mac nuts first to get it nice and smooth, then add the rest of the stuff.

With this recipe you have all your nutritional need covered too.

Cheers,

Adam

Coach Noa is a master of planning.  We sat down about a month ago and realized that Ironman St.George was about 20 weeks away – not a long time to prep.  Since then we have been building the swim and bike miles up very consistently and quite cleverly (cleverly thanks to Coach Noa).  Run training has been solid every session and my paces and perceived efforts are coming down. 

With increased miles comes increased fatigue.  Today’s swim was the first workout in a long time that I went into being a bit worried that I was going to be out of gas and stuggle big time.  But I didn’t, even though I was a bit “weak” feeling I still managed to swim smooth and come close to my goal times for the little MS (20×50 on 45sec).  Coach knows best, and you just need to trust your coach.

Fighting fatigue is a big part of training at a high level.  And I don’t mean denying you are tired or giving yourself unrelaistic goals on any given day or having false expectations. . .  what I mean is that if you want to train and race as a professional in any sport you need to do all you can to train more, train harder and train smarter than anyone else.  For me this is a challenge with work commitments and some less than ideal hours of sleep with a 9month old in the house (but the motivation he gives me trumps any lack of sleep).  Nutrition plays a big part in recovery and keeping the immune system strong.  As anyone who knows me knows – Nutrition is a passion of mine.  But I needed to get more out of what was going into my body, so I am incredibly lucky and have the relationship I do with the local supplement company NutriStart. 

NutriStart makes incredible products and I have the luxury of being thier sponsored athlete and having their products at my disposal.  Thank you Jon!   The NutriStart line is not huge, but this is beacause they have everything you need in thier line.  I encourage athletes of all levels to have a look at the NutriStart website and do some research on their products.  NutriStart has nothing to hide, their ingredient lists are all there, they have plenty of reserach backing the effectiveness of their products and will gladly discuss anything with you via email or phone. 

I have been using the following products extensively for a while now and know I am reaping the benefits: Provide Smoothie, NutriKrill, AdrenalStart, QuickD, NutriPods, JointStart, and ImmuneStart.  These products are supporting my body on every level and allow me to train hard every session (when that’s what’s on the schedule).

Back to Training Talk:

Coach Noa has pretty much got me up to the weekly hours we were hoping to be at for the new year, now we will hold that weekly total, continue to work on building strength then when Coach feels it’s the right time we will transition into race specific training.

Can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to 2012 race season and getting to start it with an Ironman!

Happy Training (maybe in the snow this weekend!)

Cheers,

Adam

When it comes to planning the 2012 race season there are a few important things that coach Noa and I are going to address.

1) The need for more total races on the schedule to gain more race experience.

2) Travel to races that will challenge my weaknesses so training focuses on those weaknesses.

3) Try new things – a) An early season Ironman  b)  Try new race courses.

4) Improving my balancing of family life and the pursuit of being a top long course triathlete.

Coach Noa and I know that these aren’t drastic changes, but it is the small things that make a difference.  In a sport like triathlon where gains are made incrementally, the best approach to improving is to simply get the training done.  I will be 30 years old this March and this year will see me training more and harder than ever before.  My wife is incredibly supportive in my career and I cannot thank her enough for this.

So what races am I thinking of doing?  Here is what it looks like so far.

May 5th – Ironman St.George.  Why?  Early season IM and very challenging bike course.

Maybe 27th – Shawnigan Lake.  Why?  It is a local race that gives me the opportunity to represent my local sponsors.  And I can do an Oly distance race to get firing again after a break post IMSG.

June 17th – Victoria International 1/2 Iron.  Why?  It is another local race that gives me more opportunity to represent my local sponsors.  AND I want to 3-peat my title there, and I will be aiming for some kind of course record at that race – maybe bike, maybe run, maybe finish time.  Aim for the stars.

July 1st – Great White North Triathlon 1/2 Iron.  Why?  This will give me a chance to represent my sponsor NutriStart since their product line is in stores across the county including Edmonton (Race is in Stony Plain just west of Edmonton).  Also it is a race I haven’t done yet, and it has good prize money for a race of it’s scale.

July 8th – Rev3 Portland.  TENTATIVE as it might interfere with prep for Ironman Mt.Tremblant.  Why?  It was a great race last year, and it gives me some Rev3 Points if I choose to race later in the season on their circuit (which I hope to do if all goes well).

August 19th – Ironman Mt.Tremblant.  Why?  It is a Canadian race and provides a course that I can prepare well for here in Victoria.  My family will get to visit relatives and friends who live in Ontario.

That is what my thoughts have brewed up so far as a race schedule.  It will likely change but in a perfect world I would do most of those races.

It is always fun to plan a season, and even more fun to get the training ramping back up.

Enjoy the Holidays!

-Adam

Until a few months ago I had been resisting all social media.  I think the decision to not jump into the world of Twitter and Facebook stemmed from my love for keeping things simple.  I also believed that these social media communities were just another hobby that would keep you glued to a computer screen and leave your eyes burning by the time you finished your computer session.  I much prefer my eyes to be burning because I ripped around a corner on my bike and “bang” the sun was shining right in my face.  And think that for a lot of people Twitter and Facebook do consume way too much of their time (unless of course, one just loves continuously clicking a mouse button to find out every detail on a certain person, product or company); but I have figured out pretty quickly that you can be pretty efficient with your time on Facebook and Twitter if you choose to be.

It wasn’t until recently that I truly realized that social media is important for a professional athlete, and I might go as far as saying it is absolutely necessary if you want to keep up with the other athletes that are competing with you for sponsorship.

Here is how I see it now – My 2011 season was a success, and although I didn’t achieve a personal best over the Ironman distance I do know that I made quantifiable gains as an athlete.  But in order for me to take the next step and be competitive on an international level I simply have to find more sponsorship so that I can train, rest and race more and work less.

I am now fully engaged on Facebook and Twitter, so please check the right side of my webpage (just scroll your eyes about 6inches to the right on the screen right now) and click the Facebook and Twitter links and check me out on a regular basis.  I like to write Facebook posts and Tweets about training, health, food, and fitness.

Cheers,

Adam