I trained for my 7th Ironman on keto for two months with no expert help. In another word, completely on my own. I had no hard time like you described and almost immediately loved it. I went on to do Ironman Texas last Saturday and killed it. PR 45 minutes from my Ironman Florida less than 6 month ago. I decide keto will be my new lifestyle
3 weeks is hardly enough time for a body to adapt to an entirely new style of eating. I started going keto a few months ago to get ready for the triathlon season, and it took about a month before I felt like my body was finally burning fat efficiently (after a significant dip in performance - then performance re-bounded). At the two-month mark, I was convinced that this diet works well for me and is now my lifestyle. I feel better on many levels - but like I said, it takes time to adapt. To each their own.
Same thing for me. I got into keto (7 months ago) and my body adapted really well. After loosing and keeping off 26lbs I have seen my performance improve substantially on the bike and run. My recovery after intense efforts has improved dramatically, but again my training is geared towards sprints and olympic distances. We are all different and our metabolism will definitely react differently. Anyway, thank you Taren for the video and Kevin for sharing your experience! BTW if you're ever down in Miami, let's go for a ride!
Your timing is perfect! I've been doing healthy Keto since Jan 2019 and am one of those people that it works well for. But I'm also training for a half ironman and wondered how I would cope, what kind of nutrition could I use on the bike etc. Then you became my guinea pig! I'm upping my carbs, trying S-Fuels reading up on Dan Plews and his team. Cant wait to see your transition into 100 -150 g carbs and what you eat and how the training is affected. Keep it up so far this n =1 study is producing excellent results.
According to Volek and Phinney, pro cyclists they experimented with lost performance at the start of keto, but came back to their peak performance after 6 weeks of typical training on keto.
I am all good with the intermittent fasting. 14 hours each 24 hour period. No way am I giving up fruits/vegi so I can stay under 25g of carbs. No way I am eating a load of animal fats.
Excellent! I just did three months of strict keto, staying around 25 net grams of carbs per day. I did lose 4 inches in my waist and it helped me to finally break my sugar addiction. My training was definitely slower and I also had some strange sleep issues. Listening to my body, I recently started adding in some more carb-heavy foods, particularly plantains and sweet potatoes. I agree that there is not a one-size-fits-all diet for everyone. I think I might use cycles of keto during the offseason if and when it's appropriate for me. I am glad that keto helped me establish some healthier habits for me, including adding more avocados, sardines, pastured eggs to my diet and surviving without tons of gluten! Just because I add more carbs back to my diet does not mean I have to eat bagels and pizza. Keep doing what you're doing, Triathlon Taren. You rock!
Love your videos except this last one on keto which “may lack some misunderstanding” Keto adaptation takes longer than 3 weeks because we are sugar addicted. Your conclusions are not totally correct but I understand because most people have been educated and raised with carbs. I train 6x/week and I am fat adapted meaning this is not difficult for me and my wife to eat 50grams of carbs/day contrary to many other sugar addicts. But for us, we have more energy, better sleep, better testosterone, better over health according to our numbers from our last medical review and also from our doctor. Like you said the keto is not for everyone because we have been educated one way and it is difficult to change. I see this as alcohol or smoke addiction. But keto is our new way to eat and stay healthy for the next 40 yrs (we are 63yrs old). When I go biking I am the only guy in my group to drink water/electrolytes while the others have to stop to refuel with their carbs. I have to wait for them, but that is OK. As you know there are many athletes that are just fat adapted and now have “mentally” been converted to a low carb approach. Conclusion: Low carbs is the best way to eat given that we don’t need carbs for our body and our brain and there is science supporting this nutrition strategy. If you find an evidence based research that provide support eating carbs send it to me. PS if you mother did keto and gain weight, she obviously did miss few steps. The majority of people who do keto correctly lost weight (>99%) and all the trials (www.virtahealth.com) points in that direction under the right supervision.
YES! finally, I've been waiting for this! you must, literally, live speaking to a camera - love your content. I was vegan for 6 years. The last two weeks I've started incorporating wild fish, butcher cut grass finished meats, and $8/ carton of pasture raised eggs (pricey!), and wham! night and day difference! Feel so much better, getting leaner, and still eating plenty of carbs in the form of veggies, buckwheat, legumes, cassava, certain pastas, quinoa! In a taper week currently, Saturday I have the North Face Bear Mountain 50k! Sub 6 hour goal. Kudos to you bro, kudos!
For those here scared of keto, but wanted fat adapted fitness, fear not. I am definitely not keto (many reasons, but my performance and trying to gain weight is the biggest reasons), and can still go on 4 hour rides without fuel. It’s about staying in Z2 (for me). Everyone is different as he says toward the end of the video. I am also a life long athlete - a swimmer. If anyone here was ever a collegiate swimmer in the USA, you will know how lacking swimming is in nutritional education. We used to have 4h swim practice on Saturdays, and we wouldn’t eat anything during practice...maybe a cliff bar halfway thru. That’s it. I also never swam morning practice fueled - I would just wake up and go swim. So my body is used to exercise with no fuel, for 2-4 hours, at any intensity. I can eat a normal diet of about 50% carbs, yet ride, run, ski, swim, mountaineer, whatever for hours and hours without food.
I do all my bike rides (about 3-4 hours) on water only with an empty stomach. If I ride with a crazy fast group I can drop out after a while and stay aerobic and still ride forever as long as I have water with me. I am not a keto person all the time, only when I need it and it is convenient. Not being a long distance racer I do not have to worry about bonking, but if the pace is going to be high I will carry some gel in a small flask. Generally no sweet drinks keeps my bike mounted CamelBak bladder real clean too.
I've been doing keto for over a year. It takes at least 6 to 8 weeks to fully get into ketosis and be fat adapted. I've done triathlon crossfit and half marathon. My second triathlon I finished 2nd. Marathon I finished 4th it was my 1st one. Crossfit I preformed better then 20 yr olds. I'm 40. In the best shape of my life. No such thing as an essential carbohydrate. Your body is addicted to sugar/carbs.
@@johnnye6090 Of course, but the idea of there being no such thing as an essential carbohydrate is basically bro science. We have evolved to use carbohydrates.
Great video. Thanks for the insight into your experience. What I'm wondering is what's next in the process after the 3 weeks of adaptation? From previous posts and reading WtF, I'm assuming its moving to a diet somewhere in the 100-150g Carbs daily + whatever is needed to proper load & fuel for big training/events understanding the known limits of glycogen retention and uptake. Will the body maintain at fat burning "default" if the carbs are increased to this level?
I would not buy into this fad. Stick with healthy eating and carbs for fuel and meat for protein sources. I don't think you are going to see gains with this. IMO. Endurance athletes have carbed up for years, with reason. If you start feeling like crap, don't double down on what is making you feel that way.
The current age-group course record holder at Kona, a record which was broken this past year, is keto. He's a top endurance athlete who doesn't carb up.
That top Kona age grouper happens to be Dan Plews. Maybe he carbs up secretly, doesn't tell anyone because he wants his business to thrive? ;) Just kidding. But I agree such cases are few and far in between.
Very interesting video. I'm happy you've tried it (keto) and stopped blindly negating it (as you did before). I'm really curious about your carb training now, after the keto-adaptation. Personally, I've been doing fasted and/or keto training for years (for many years neither understanding nor even realizing the difference of a carb-fueled, fueled and fasted training :) ), for me fueled-keto works like a charm. Carbs (when in the carb-based state) also quite well - but of course I'm very interested in how other people adapt and how their performance changes. Waiting for more videos :)
Was considering this, however I'm 8wks away from my Ironman, this doesn't seem like something I should even mess with right now if what I'm doing seems to be working. Wouldn't you agree Taren?
As a road bike guy keto would not serve me well, but in my younger years in triathlon I would have liked the effect you share of being able to go long.
Hey Taren, I’ve watched your videos for a long time now. You talked several times that you had an Achilles injury some time ago... well now i do, and wanted to know how did you managed that situation. Thank you very much, and cheers from Colombia!
I dealt with achilles tendinitis for about a year, sleeping in a boot to keep the foot flexed and taking collagen both helped a lot as well as taking a chunk of time off (for me it was about 3 months) but what really helps is a daily calf stretching and strengthening ritual. Also, now when I do long runs or sprints I use KT tape. Good luck and be patient!
@@samiller4142 Thank you very much for your answer. I'm sleeping with a full compression sock and did notice some relieve this past week, maybe the boot is a better idea. I'll start doing the daily stretch routine, I thought it was bad for this kind of injury. Thanks!
The weight spike wasn't inflammation I think... just glycogen refilled in your muscles (1 gram of grams is stored with 4 grams of water or something like that). I like the idea though, but I'm not sure it's effective (I just don't believe the hype).
Right, I never stumble over my words... and people never point it out... except in every single video where I stumble over words and people point it out. Hmm.
Thanks Taren for sharing your learnings with us. Found it very insightful and informative. I ran a similar experiment last year and didn't make it further than 7 days. I just couldn't get my head around why this diet prevents me from eating so many "natural" foods. I can totally relate when you said how easily 50gram adds up. Anyway..thanks again and best of luck with your season AND diet :)
Keto is not a diet or even a lifestyle. We spend all of our time in the womb in a state of ketosis, as well as the time we are being exclusively breast fed. It is only during the weaning period and introduction of modern carb loaded foods that the body has to make changes from this natural state of ketosis. If you transition to healthy grass fed and finished meats and lots of vegetables preferably organic and get away from the SAD American experiment you will not regret it. It may take up to two months, go slowly. Even going halfway in that direction as I did will make you mentally sharp and healthier. This is no more or less than what our grandmothers would have told us. We have suffered a loss of healthy food culture in the last fifty plus years. Processed carbohydrates are garbage and damaging to any age group. Anyone under 50 years old does not understand the harm that the Ancil Keys Lipid Hypothesis has done to the USA and world state of health.
eating this way puts your body in sick mode dont really like this but I guess for your training you might be able to get away with this but its not a long lifestyle diet i believe
