Well - I’m back into a training cycle! I made it to this week’s Scheduled Rest Day in decent enough shape. I’m physically tired (slept an extra hour this morning). If I include the days I trained at the back end of last week, I’m at 7 days in a row. I have a short “long” run on Saturday (9 miles this week), which will put me into triple digits for the month of February. This is the first month over 100 miles since last November. Now to just keep myself healthy so I can stay here!

Yesterday’s run was an indication that things are close to being back to pre-injury/illness days.

After Sunday’s “recovery” run, I was wondering what Wednesday would have in store. Sunday was miserable. I found the entire run difficult - especially holding my heart rate down in the recovery range (less than 75% MHR). To do so, I found myself plodding along (literally) at an 11:40 pace. I was dreading yesterday if it was going to be another run like Sunday.

But it turned out to be much better. I ran an even (albeit slow) pace throughout. Yesterday’s run was pretty effortless. I maintained an average heart rate of 133 bpm (72% MHR) at a 10:30 pace. It was just the boredom that was numbing.

I have a few folks anxiously awaiting for the next Gourmet Nutrition Recipe so here is another hearty, easy to make recipe for a cold winter night.

Seared Turkey and Squash with Saffron and Apple

By Dr. John M. Berardi, PhD and Dr. John K. Williams, PhD, authors of the bestselling optimal nutrition ebook, Gourmet Nutrition.

This medley of ground turkey, butternut squash and apples in a creamy saffron sauce is perfect for a cozy autumn meal. Using frozen butternut squash reduces the cooking time significantly, so this one is great for a quick, light meal for two.

There’s a fairly recent study getting alot of press lately.

A joint research effort out of Louisiana State University and the University of Florida found that supplementing with 1,000 mcg of Chromium Picolinate (CP) daily reduced hunger levels by 24%, food intake by 25%, and also reduced cravings for high-fat foods.

The full test of this study can be found here.

Study participants consisted of 42 overweight, but otherwise healthy women who had self-reported carbohydrate cravings. The duration of the study was 8-weeks with study participants randomly assigned to receive daily CP supplements or a placebo.

As mentioned, the study participants reduced overall food consumption by 25%, while those taking a placebo only reduced their food intake by 8%.

It’s important to note that while the study participants receiving the CP supplementation did lose weight, it was relatively nominal at an average of 1.1 lb over the 8-week study.

There continues to be much confusion in regards to the best cardio protocols for incinerating fat. We have addressed this topic several times on Catapult Fitness Blog, but it is one that is well worth revisiting.

I’ve reached out to Alan Aragon who has given me permission to post a 3-part series that he wrote on this topic a few years back. I’m personally a big fan of Alan’s and have been a subscriber to his Research Review for some time.

Parts 1 and 2 of this series are heavily research based.

It’s been ages since I’ve done intervals. In fact, looking back at my training log in SportTracks, the last time I hit the track was December 9th! Since then I’ve been fighting injuries (hip abductor/groin strain, a root canal caused by my bike accident several months ago, and my bout with spondylolesthesis), a nasty cold, and travel commitments. So it was with some trepidation that I laced up my shoes and made my way toward the oval. On the schedule was an 8 X 400 VO2Max workout. I usually do a 2 mile warm up, will do a 400 rest lap in between each interval, and do a 1 mile warm down.

I wrapped up the week yesterday with a four mile recovery run. A slow recovery run. Like, REALLY slow. Goal was to keep the heart rate below 75% of max. I think my body is pretty fatigued because to do that I had to drop my pace into the 11:40 range (I did maintain my heart rate at 74% of MHR). I checked my old data, and found that I normally run a slow four mile recovery run about a minute per mile faster.

I wrapped up last week at 26 miles.

Did my scheduled four miles yesterday. Goal of the workout was to keep it in the aerobic zone and to be a bit speedier than Sunday’s recovery run. I was a little concerned before I started because I was physically pretty tired all day yesterday. I actually toyed with taking a nap around lunch time. I had to force myself out the door as the evening kept dragging on. Final stats - kept it at 79% MHR while upping the pace to a 9:38. Actually felt pretty good throughout the run.

I discovered something surprising that I had not known before. I’ve heard of Bell’s Palsy before, but I never knew just what it was. I certainly never knew that someone had a 1 in 64 chance of having Bell’s Palsy in their lifetime.

The Facial Paralysis Institute has a whole page on Bell’s Palsy, linked to above, that explains the difference between Bell’s Palsy and facial paralysis as well as the history of Bell’s Palsy and treatments.

This post is brought to you by the Facial Paralysis Institute, which specializes in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive surgery with an emphasis on Bell’s Palsy.