Burn - Part Four
Your Off-season Burn
Part One introduced the key concepts from the book, Burn:
Energy Constraints
Energy Set Points
Training Within Our Constraints
Part Two built on the concepts and discussed:
Output, Stress & Fat Loss
Low Energy Availability
Anxiety Management
Manipulating Our Set Points
Considerations For High-Volume Athletes
Part Three explained my experience with Calorify, a commercially available tool used to assess my “burn” during a high-volume summer training week. We went through my data as a case study and I shared ideas for:
Fueling Big Weeks
Fueling Big Days
Energy Balance When Stacking Weeks
Following my summer peak, and during my offseason, I did a follow up study with Calorify to measure my low-season “burn.”
That’s today’s topic.
I have two scales at home, and used the scale that reads “lighter” on the first (left) test. All weight measurements were first thing in the morning but the second (right) test was only emptying my bladder.
While the second test (right) shows me losing weight across the week, my weight was trending upwards across August.
Test Results, Implications & Further Study
The key finding was a surprise…
A reduction in training volume from an average of ~3 hours to ~1 hour per day only shifted my “burn” down ~500 kcal per day.
This was consistent with the book (see Part One).
With a daily burn moving from ~3500 kcal to ~4000 kcal, it’s easy to manage my nutrition between peak and off-season.
Remove sports drinks & gels.
Trim carbohydrate intake.
Boost volume of veggies so total amount of eating (time, volume, frequency) stays the same.
If you’re following our Core Nutrition Strategy recommended in Chapter Three, the above strategy is simple to implement. You’ll have your in-season core nutrition strategy, and use sports nutrition to support your key workouts. As volume drops, the sports nutrition is removed and the core strategy rolls forward.
In the two main phases of our year (competitive and general preparation), weight should be stable. However, as we transition between summer and winter, a shift in weight is normal and, perhaps, desirable. Tactical weight gain will depend on end of season body composition and athlete goals & needs.
From Chapter Three:
My best seasons of racing were characterized by a weight swing, typically, ~15 pounds / ~7 kilos / ~7% of body weight. In the periods where I tried to hold race weight, I underperformed both training and life. It is too stressful to stay light.
When I was focused on General Capacity training, being slightly energy positive reduced the stress of the training and enhanced recovery. This “winter season” was often spent in the Southern Hemisphere building general capacity. As I moved into summer, and more specific training, it was easy to manage my body fat percentage down, gradually.
My A-event was late-July and I took an early off-season in the month of August. Across August & September, I slowly gained weight. Total gain was consistent with the ~7% figure quoted above.
Something I was curious about…
With a multi-week period of reduced exercise, would my “burn” continue to trend downwards?
Might I be closer to, say, 3,000 kcal per day by the end of September?
That would be a gap of ~1,000 kcal per day between my peak and low training weeks. A 1,000 kcal gap would better fit the lab estimates of the energy cost of my exercise (see here and here).
With an extra test done, a few weeks after the off-season, the three tests would be:
Peak Load
Lowest Load
Lowest Fitness
If you do these tests then:
Aim for consistent hydration.
Use the same scale across all tests.
DEXA1 scan for body composition in “peak” shape and when fitness is at the lowest point of the year.
For bonus points, an athlete could schedule a DEXA scan for late-winter when lean body mass peaks. This assumes you follow the seasonal periodization approach we recommend.
From Chapter Three:
A starting point that sits in harmony with the seasons:
Gain Muscle (Winter, Energy Positive)
Lose Fat (Spring, Base Endurance)
Perform Athletically (Summer, Competitive Season)
Year-round Basic Fitness
Strength => Force
Speed => Quickness
Stamina => Green Zone Endurance
Looking Forward
If I did it again, I would test based on fitness, rather than load. One test (with DEXA) looking at peak fitness “burn” then a second round (with DEXA) scheduled when fitness was at the lowest level for the year. I’d make an effort to get out of shape for the second test. This past August, I remained in good shape despite volume being low. I wonder if lingering fitness kept my “burn” higher.
A future article will share the implications from these tests for athlete nutrition. By combining Calorify and labs testing, we get an idea on fueling needs. High quality testing is expensive but, when done over a series of seasons, we build a useful profile.
The Calorify tests are ~$800 a piece. A heart-felt thank you to the good people on the paid list for funding this year’s experiments.
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A DEXA scan is a low-dose x-ray that measures bone density and body composition.