When I grow up, I want to be an Alicorn

Training Logs
1744

Uh, you are giving me a lot of credit. lol

And yeah, for women, super low-carb diets aren’t a great fit for most. Our bodies are different and I have yet to meet a successful keto woman endurance athlete. Fat adaptation also doesn’t happen overnight and there are hormonal and mental consequences, especially for women, when cutting carbs too low. I would advise against it, based on my own experience and that of my clients. Again, just my opinions here - but it’s important to remember that just because it worked or is working for a handful of guys on the internet, doesn’t mean there are a crap-load more folks it hasn’t worked for but who aren’t advertising it.

4 Likes
1745

Fixed that for you.

The influencera don’t advertise failures or trends that are horrible. That wouldn’t get the likes!

All I read is I am going to keep my bread close and potatoes closer.

…mmm bread and potatoes.

5 Likes
1746

Just catching up in here - really interesting conversation!

So the recent pic in the transformation thread - have you posted a side-by-side of your last progress pic with the most recent? I think you should, both because I’d like to see them together and because I don’t think you’re really seeing the incredible changes you’ve made/are making. I’d love to see your Jan. 1, 2024 with the most recent. It’s been quite a 15 months for you!

6 Likes
1747

It’s a ton of progress!

Left is Jan 1st 2024. Top right is Dec. 16th, 2024. Bottom right is most recent.
I started taking pictures in a slightly different area of my place, hence the lighting change. However, I don’t think that is all that is making all the difference in the changes.
It looks like an increase mass from Dec until now, but in a good way?

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11 Likes
1748

Saturday 3/29
Long run

12 miles, 2:09:34
Nice and flat.

Went with a friend from work. The one that squeezes my biceps. Which happened again as I was shedding my jacket halfway through.
It was so fun to chat with another woman for two hours. She is the closest thing I have had to a girlfriend in years.
Great run too, she is faster than me. However, she struggles with pacing and starting off too fast, then hitting a wall before getting to the mileage (she is training for a marathon). So we went my pace and it went great. She kept saying how good she felt, so much less fatigue, and didn’t have to take walk breaks.
The last 3 miles I let her go a bit to get some progression pacing practice and it worked really well. Super fun run, she said she wants to go again, so we’ll see!

Sunday 3/30
Easy/recovery run

4.3 miles, 46:41

Feeling good. Between the mileage back-off week and skipping my full body lift, I’m not feeling like I got hit my a truck like I was all week. There was some under recovery going on for sure.

9 Likes
1749

Maybe for ultra marathons where it is about keeping steady pace for 100 miles at zone 1-2 but, for marathons they all still use carbs if they are actually competing. I know Zach Bitter uses quite a few carbs during training, leading up to the race and during.

Fat oxidation is too slow to meet ATP demands when performance is the goal.

He was running slow. The marathons took over 6 hours. For the Boston Marathon, those times would not meet the qualifying standard for an 80-year-old woman.

A fat adapted person may fare better in a very long race at a slow pace but, at a certain threshold their body will want to switch to glycogen for faster ATP production. Even if they are ketogenic and rely on ketones it will not match the rate of ATP production provided by carbohydrates.

2 Likes
1750

Yeah: exactly

It was his first time running one: I am sure he will get better, haha

1751

Oh yes absolutely yes.

1 Like
1752

Monday 3/31
Coach’s Orders W5D1

Mobility+Activation

Seated Hamstring Curl
30x50, 18x70, 12x90,
12, 12, 12 x 90-80-70

Sumo DB DL
25x50, 16x75, 12x85
7, 5 x 85-80

Hack Squat - Machine
25 x M+10, 18x+35, 12x+60
8, 8, 8 x +85,+75,+65

Assisted Pullups
8,7,5,5xBW-80
SS
Banded Single Arm Row
4 x 25

DB Lat Raise
SS
Front Raise
25 x 5, 18x5,
11,12,11x7.5, 5, 4

+Ab Circuit

10 minute 7% walk, 3.2mph

Figured I would start with the full body day since that’s is what I skipped last week.
Something is buggy in my left leg, at the back of the knee right where my hamstring attaches. It’s been tight and irritated for a couple weeks. The Sumo DLs were aggravating that so I stopped the heavy sets. Can’t say I missed those, I struggle to feel them in my glutes.
Hack squats are so difficult. That’s the point, but I’m just putting it out there.

Tuesday 4/1
Interval Run

10:00 Easy run
12x
2:00 Uphill (Z4/90% effort)
2:00 Recovery/Jog Back
5:00 easy jog

These long hill reps are just as much mental as they are physical. You think you are getting close, but you are actually only one minute in.
Found a less steep hill to do these on. I was better at holding pace and keeping the drive instead of dropping off into a slumped over shuffle by the end.

14 Likes
1753

Looking fantastic, great change over a year+!

1 Like
1754

Amazing progress!

1 Like
1755

@heretolog and @Bagsy

Thank you both! Always nice to have an outside perspective.

3 Likes
1756

Personally, I see a massive difference

Love handles disappeared, more midsection definition, very obvious shoulder and bicep separation even in a more relaxed pose

4 Likes
1757

Dang, that’s a lot of specifics. Appreciate the nod, I am being too hard on myself thinking it’s barely a change.

4 Likes
1758

Guys, I complained about fatigue and volume too much with my coach.

She asked when the last time I took and entire week off of both running and lifting. That took a lot of scrolling. August/Sept of last year apparently. I tried to tell her last week counts because I only lifted twice and ran 24 miles. She wasn’t having it.

She has prescribed taking the next week off. Walking or low impact cardio zone 2 at the most.

I am twitching already. I was looking forward to my long run this weekend. That said, all of the joy has been sucked out of lifting and my legs are constantly tired or sore as of late. So.. this may help me get my pep back.

That said, I guess I am going to chill for the next week and won’t be posting much.

11 Likes
1759

Ermm are you mental. Obvious change. Well done

4 Likes
1760

Little bit.

Thank you!

2 Likes
1761

This is the best part about deloads. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.

I can relate to having the joy of training sucked out. I, to this day, STILL say exercise sucks and I hate it. However, on a scheduled deload, toward about the midpoint, you already start planning your return to training, what you’re going to do differently, how you’ll apply the lessons you’ve learned, and that passion gets re-ignited and there is more vigor in the attack/approach. To say nothing of how you’re physically refreshed to give it your all.

And throw into that the hormonal benefits of letting cortisol dissipate and being primed anabolically, and it’s honestly cheat codes.

2 Likes
1762

I am hoping for a lot of this. There has been a noticeable decline in energy lately. Constant fatigue that is getting distracting in daily life, not to mention more bad workouts than good. Lots of soreness and little niggles are adding up too. I don’t want to drag that into my race, or have them be worse by then.

I can’t imagine my cortisol being anything but high right now. I’ve been hammering away non-stop longer than I realized.

2 Likes
1763
4 Likes