Go Nuts With Your Nutrition

Stock Photo: Markus Mainka

I wouldn't say that I am a nut person, yet I do enjoy the occasional handful of these crunchy pieces of nutrient-dense foods. I also enjoy dried/desiccated fruits.

As an active endurance athlete, I use nuts as a supplementary source of nutrients. Here are how I eat them:

1) I sprinkle them over my raw salads. I enjoy pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, chia seeds, dried fruit and raisins. They provide a protein boost to the pigmented leaves. I, sometimes, spruce up my nut count if I eat my salad at home.
2) Drink water when eating nut by itself. It can dry your throat.
3) The easiest way to consume nuts is from a bag. Ensure that unused nuts are kept in a resealable Ziploc bag.
4) Although nuts and dried fruits can be refrigerated to ensure shelf-life, consume them as soon as possible. The refrigerator is a dehumidifier, and may cause precious essential oils from the nuts to escape. The same goes for coffee powder.
5) I enjoy nuts as a snack, especially when I feel peckish on a long indoor-ride. I get a mild feeling of satiety or fullness, whilst enjoying the energy from the oils. I have also raced with nuts in Ironman races.
6) Certain nut oils complement the essential and stable cooking fats (extra-virgin olive oil, butter and coconut oil).
7) I developed an appreciation for nut butters (mainly peanut and almond) after I ate some during my time in the Boston Marathon 2014. A trip to Trader Joes convinced me of the relevance of buying a prepared version, or a home-made, bespoke recipe.
8) Invest in a powerful blender/grinder and make your own nut butter flavoured with Himalayan salt, raw honey, bee pollen, berries, and other oils.

Nuts and the nut oils are a relevant complement to our dietary needs as serious athletes. There are many nut-based products you can create in your kitchen like health-bars, smoothies, and spreads.

Nuts can vary in pricing, source, agricultural treatment and preparation. The website 'NUTS.COM' incorporates the expertise of a dietitian to recommend simple treats and solutions for your nutritional needs. Check it out to learn more about healthier solutions about nuts, dried fruit, and other tasty treats for your energy, recovery, and racing needs.

Teamwork and Teambuilding Efforts

As a facilitator, I have been asked if I conduct teambuilding. My response: yes, I conduct teambuilding events. Can you help my build my team? My unreserved answer: no, I can’t.

There are limitations to teambuilding activities. You own your team. You have built your team. You can do more to enhance your team capability. Teambuilding events and activities provide a platform in which to challenge an organic team, to allow it to express itself distinctively, through its team dynamics and team values. No facilitator, worth his/her weight in integrity, can help build your teams. What they may do is, facilitate discussions around the team, with the team, to explore and build on their collective competencies and potential. Through astute observation and acute clarity, a facilitator can bring into your awareness what is working, or not within your team.

Team engagement involves participation and involvement. You want to engage as much of both from members. You want to activate functional dynamics instead of dysfunctional dynamics. You want your team to focus on useful behaviors, team values, and healthy relationships. High-performing teams avoid the energy-sapping efforts of ‘office politics’. They focus on seeking solutions instead of only shame-bringing problems. They regularly indulge in productive conversations, and they create experiences of worth. They feel valued as individuals and as professionals. They believe that you are fair, equitable and impartial in your decisions and delegation.

Build as much value as you can when in your team. Engage in synergistic collaboration, and collaborative synergies. Your team can then face any challenges that comes it way with a sense of optimism, purpose and clarity.

Sustaining Your Interest (Part 2/3)

After making your entry, you will proceed to the second phase called Sustaining. What will you do to stay interested? How do you keep your business running? Many people progress to a certain point, and then begin to experience diminishing gains. Generative leaps become incremental gains, or even stasis. They reach a stalemate before getting a checkmate. Distractions and disruptions usurp their sense of direction. What started off as a sprint, now, has to be paced like a marathon. Large strides have to make way for smaller, high-cadence footsteps.

From research and observation, we realize that enthusiasm begins to wane after the start of a new pursuit, position, hobby, lifestyle shift, or business. This is when engaging and activating your motivational strategies become crucial. When you begin to lose track of the bigger picture, or falter due to new challenges, then you will need to sustain your interest. How would you assure that?

1)    Fix your eyes on your expected results (eye on the achievement and accomplishment).

2)    Focus on enhancing your performance (don’t fire them, fire them up!).

3)    Earn your results through your team.

4)    Engage the your core values to help sustain you (endurance, persistence, purpose, patience, determination, optimism)

5)    Review your sense of purpose (what and why did I choose this?).

6)    Review your motivation.

7)    Monitor your energy, and notice when it begins to fade (use EFT, change your physiology, eat well and natural foods).

8)    Seek inspiration and encouragement from your mentors, teachers and guides.

9)    Encourage and assure others, especially when they are beginning to slide.

When running a race, how do you continue to feed your body, as you keep moving? Malnutrition can severely affect your physiology (mental, emotional and physical condition). It can also affect your position and business. How do you stay engaged, engaging, and engage others in the process?

Read this article by HBR about the Seven Seismic Shifts that can affect the performance of an emerging leader.

Leadership Lessons: what are your contingency plans? How do stay motivated? How are you driven by your purpose? If the expected outcome differs from your original, what will you do to continue in your quest? How will you overcome obstacles, curve balls and unpleasant surprises? What are you doing to nourish your mind and body?

There should be no dead-ends at this point of the process. Keep moving. Stop being assimilated by the environment of negativity and naysayers.

Radiate Your Presence and Confidence

As athletes, we are measured by our energy that we radiate. Fit people are expected to be bristling with energy. They live for activity, and the activities they indulge in builds their reserves of potential energy. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, for it is transformed from one form into another.

What does the confidence of a leader do for you? How likely are you drawn towards their positive energy? How much of their confidence do you allow to envelop you? Most of these confident people also have presence. They present themselves in uniquely attractive way, so that we notice them when they step into our realms of awareness and sensibilities. When they are with you, how much of them are in the present? World-class leaders and celebrities express their aura when they walk with us, and among us. Consider these leaders: Mahatma Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher, Elvis Presley, Dr Martin Luther King, President Bill Clinton, Aung San Suu Kyi, and George Clooney.

Confidence and presence are attractive features of a person. As a leader, these become critical characteristics that command attention and make you attractive to others. When you exude these forms of influence, you can begin to create attainment (buy-in) and, subsequently, attachment (loyalty). Leaders introduce others into their personal space, and get invited into the personal space of their people. Those who are disliked never get welcomes into the private space of others, and rarely engage in intimate conversations.

When you step into the company of others, how well are you received? Are you respected as a leader, or feared because of your position of power? How do you know that others have accepted you into their domains and comfort zones?

Leadership Lessons: How do you develop your presence? How do you express your charisma? How often do you light up a room, and delight others with your positive energies?

Aloha Days in Kona in October: The Ironman World Championships

Since it has been a day after the exciting World Triathlon Championships in Kona, Hawaii I decided to write about the energy of the Big Island. What attracts 25,000 spectators to line the streets and 5,000 volunteers to help out in what can be described as the ‘Toughest Day On Earth’?

In September, I met the elite runners of the US Armed Forces who were here for the Singapore Bay Run/Army Half-Marathon. I found out, intuitively, that denizens of Hawaii tend to have a glow about them. Perhaps, it is the magic of the Big Island that engulfs them, as intensely as the strong winds and stifling heat of the historically, luxuriant, volcanic island. The mystique of the island revived the popular television series ‘Hawaii Five-O’ and was the location for ‘Lost’. 6-time Ironman champion, Mark Allen was a convert to the ‘spiritual homeland of Ironman triathlon’ and works with a modern-day Shaman on a mind-body renewal retreat/workshop each year. Peter Reid used to live for weeks in Spartan conditions, training and winning his championship Ironman titles.

We interviewed Wilson Low late last year. Since he graduated from Australia with a degree in journalism, he has been busy with online reviews, active in coaching adventure-racing endurance athletes, and racing. I asked him about his experience competing with 1,800 other elite age-groupers a few years ago. Even as a wordsmith, he had difficulty describing it.

‘It is too easy to get lost in the hype of the Race Exposition, or the throng of the visor-Oakley-compression-clad crowds. It is a feel-good atmosphere where everyone sizes you up without a word being said. You feel small and unimportant, but you also feel that you have a point to prove to yourself, if not your friends, family, and fellow athletes back home - that you deserve to have that shot on the World Championship course. Everyone looks SUPER FIT; no one breaststrokes during swim practice off the pier; perfunctory 'hellos' inevitably drift to the topic of where/how/what position/race timing you achieved for qualification. Every visitor that week, it seems, worked their arse off to qualify to be there, and is not afraid to share the story of their Ironman journey with you - so you do the same.’

He added, ‘In spite of that, I feel that my Ironman journey was an introspective one; one that was purely focused on delivering the best I could give of myself on race day. I certainly made lots of friends and acquaintances during the trip, but as part of the itinerary of the tour group (I traveled with Tri-Travel, the Australian-based company for M-Dot athletes), there were times when I just had to break away and execute my own program.

‘No one expects you to know them or acknowledge them, least of all, the professional athletes. You know that everyone who is there is there on a mission - to race the biggest and most important race of their triathlon season, if not career. I rode behind a tapering Chris McCormack one day on Ali'i Drive on the way to get some snacks at the ABS Store, and did not even bat an eyelid.

‘The best focus is being unemotional during the race. I saved the gushing and adoration for post-race, where I managed to get Craig ‘Crowie’ Alexander at the finish-line to autograph a visor; I also ambushed Chrissie (Wellington) after midnight on Ali'i to autograph my Cervelo P2C (she was riding the same frame then). More photo opportunities the next day at the Oakley truck with Chrissie and Crowie again. During the race, I posted my PB timing for the Iron-distance, and really appreciated the fact that I could stay aware to achieve that.’

Ng Yong Feng was there as a spectator about two years ago. He was staying near the transition area, so was limited in his travel outside. He described his experience as: ‘The energy there was high! I will re-visit Kona again, just to view the race and take photographs. There were many awesome moments!’

There you have it. Two perspectives as to why we may consider visiting Kona, Hawaii in October each year.

Creating Atmosphere Within An Atmosphere

In the property or real estate business, 'location, location, location' is everything. The tenants of a retail outlet in a mall deliberately pay high rental so as to secure a unit that attracts the most shopper traffic. Being at the right place and right time sounds like luck, yet the climate at work can have significant impact on staff, vendors and customers.

In managing and leading people, the atmosphere that you create at the workplace can influence how people perceive you as a leader. The atmosphere comprises the air that you stir around you. Do you suffocate people, or refresh them with your presence? Do people behave with coolness and composure? Do you breath down their necks constantly? What do your people weigh in terms of options and opportunities?

Celebrations allow people to divide attention and share in emotional expressions. These occasions and events promote a sense of goodwill that boosts moral and appreciation for one another. Staff’s mood undergo variation from moment to moment, and negative attitudes and inappropriate behaviors can affect how achieve results and affect others. The energy of celebrating can be sustained for long periods, as long as the sense of celebration is transferred from person to person, from day to day. The pride of achievement and accomplishment is enhanced when people feel recognized occasionally.

What kind of atmosphere do you create at work? How do you build deeper and meaningful professional relationships? What is the type of energy that you bring to your colleagues?

*****

It is day six after the Hong Kong Marathon, and the residual soreness is almost diminished. The active recovery on day four (pool running and mild swimming) and five (barefoot running and circuit training) are taking effect. This week, I had less than six hours sleep each night because of a heavy teaching schedule: this has reduced my full recuperation and recovery. I look forward to tomorrow’s 90K ride, so I can flush leftover toxins out of my muscles. It is about three weeks to the 70.3 Singapore race, and a slot at the World Championships in Las Vegas in September is my potential goal.

Big Shout Out: All the best to photographer/designer Richard’s attempt at the Tokyo Marathon tomorrow!

10 Ways to Generate An Optimal Working State

Leaders need energy to lead well. Energy is the source of life. Our body produces and harnesses it. When we are fresh and energized, we can do much more than when we are fatigued and drained. Here are some ways to stay energetic and alert for the stresses and challenges of this new, year. For more tips on prolonged energy generation and sustaining it, stay tuned for the tacit wisdom of our endurance athletes featured on this blog (marathoners, ultra-marathoners, triathletes, Ironman, ultra-Ironman, and long-distance swimmers, podium-finishers). Lead energetically, enthusiastically and with purpose!

1)    Spend less time at the keyboard. Sit on a Medi-Ball (or Swiss ball) instead of a chair. Your heightened posture expands your ribcage.

2)    Stand up and stretch whenever you can.

3)    Take a brisk walk. Do MBWA (Management By Walking Around) at the office! Have short, mobile meetings – meetings on the run!

4)    Drink water at regular intervals. Exercise stimulates thirst, although thirst is not a good indicator of dehydration.

5)    Sleep adequately (6-7.5 hours at least). It diminishes your stress and lowers your heart rate.

6)    Take deep breathes, when you feel sleepy or tired.

7)    Exercise regularly. Cross-train. Do activities that you enjoy.

8)    Stay positive with self-encouragement. Enhance your Positive Mental Attitude (PMA). Enjoy your race finishes, race-medals and finisher-tees.

9)    Surround yourself with enthusiastic and energetic people.

10) Eat regular well-balanced meals. Avoid foods that cause you allergies. Raw foods are a great complement to our nutrition.

Time to Rethink Time Management

Have you ever attended a workshop on time management?

What did you learn from it? Did you consider why you attended that session? Are time management workshops for people who cannot manage their time?

Time management is more than scheduling and prioritizing. Are we expected to do more in a day? Time is a finite measure. There are only 24 hours in a day, and how we utilize each moment is dependent on what we decide as important. I have always been concerned that some trainers of time management workshops do not adequately demonstrate their teaching. If your trainer did not make time to exercise, or decide to eat and sleep properly then I would question their ability to optimize their waking hours.

The reality is: we can make time for whatever we want to accommodate into our day, and our lifestyle. The quality of life corresponds to our quality of time invested into our tasks, relationships and thinking. There is a value attached to our time.

According to recent research, the concept of managing time is about managing your energy. Managing energy means being fit, well rested and focused in our use of energy. Without adequate energy, we cannot lead as effectively as we intend to. Energy is the fuel for sustained motivation, passion and enthusiasm.

When we are energetic, we are capable of doing more things. We can more effectively shift our perspectives and positions. Recall when you are sick, how did you feel about your energy? Did you experience lethargy and a general disinterest in unimportant things? Movement took a colossal effort, and it left you spent and over-extended; energy was siphoned from your resources.

Motivation is about movement, motility and motive. It engages us to do things we like, or dislike. We are motivated by pain or pleasure. Humans tend to move away from our prejudices and move towards our preferences.

Energy comes from our food. Nutrients from our food give us our source of bio-chemicals to create energy. Vitamins, minerals, water, carbohydrates, fats and protein are what our body needs to repair, fuel and grow itself. Rest and recuperation allows our body to heal, get stronger through a process of adaptation.

Having been an endurance athlete for the last six years, I have learnt to appreciate what it has been like to train for marathons (42km) and Ironman triathlons (226km). I have also applied this mindset and lifestyle of an amateur triathlete into my profession. Working longer hours and training about 15-20 hours per week parallels each other. You have to decide on how you use your time, have adequate rest/sleep, and recover fully from each day. You put out what you put into your body. By becoming fit, we can:

1.    Sleep less, and function at a high level

2.    Do more things per unit time (be productive)

3.    Stay alert (at the most critical moments)

4.    Lead others to more purposeful things

5.    Become more “centred” and “focused”

6.    Be less prone to panic during crisis

7.    Make sense of the confusing, and consider multiple perspectives

If you lack the energy, strength and fitness you will be limited in your actions. So, manage your time by managing your energy. It is our source of sustenance and motivation, and our continued interests in others, and ourselves.

Leading with Your Energy

‘Movement never lies.’ ~ Originator of Modern Dance, Martha Graham.

Energy is what keeps us alive and allows us to express ourselves. How do you manage it, and lead with it?

The physical laws of energy are stated as: ‘Energy cannot neither be created nor destroyed’ and ‘Energy is converted from one form to another’. We lose much of our energy through our body heat, via conduction, convection and radiation. Nervous energy burns additional calories. Exceed your heart-rate zones, and you will dip into another energy system (aerobic versus anaerobic); one burn’s more fat, and the other sugar.

That is a real worry for endurance athletes when can lose huge amounts of heat (energy) through our three disciplines and its media: water, wind and mechanical action.

At your next endurance race:

1)    If the conditions permit, use a wetsuit in your swim. Cold water can deplete energy through shivering and the risk of early-stage hypothermia.

2)    Keep insulated, as windy conditions and wind chill factors can severely lead to shivering, cramping, hyperventilation and a false sense of adequate hydration.

3)    Fuel your body. Eat and drink at regular intervals. No fuel equals energy deficit. Work out your energy requirements per hour.

4)    Ensure your core body temperature stays stable. If it hot, stay in the shade. If it is cold, use additional clothing (stash in your special needs bag).

5)    Focus on positive energies and emotions. Nervousness, anxiety, doubts and worries lead to sub-optimisation of your movements. Tensed muscles fatigue easily. Get into comfortable rhythm, stroke gracefully in the swim, get your bike fitted, and relax your upper body during the run.

Your leadership, and how you express yourself through your values, involves energy. Being friendly and demonstrating humility enhances your energy, and radiates to others. Optimism, composure, faith, respect and flexibility are useful values to adopt on race day. Minimise energy wastage. Utilise it. Release it. Renew it. Enjoy other people's positive energy. Value your energies.


Photo credit: Bernard Sim

Can You Be Over-Prepared?

If you train months ahead of a race, will you be over-prepared?

It takes about 16-20 weeks to adequately train for an Ironman triathlon, at least to complete it in decent time. There is a down side to this – and it is plausible – can you over-do the preparation? One danger of training is the period leading to a race. Many athletes have gotten sick before the race (even Chrissy Wellington had a touch of the flu before the race at Kona this year). Perhaps, self-imposed high expectations may lead to this mindset of training just a little more, for it wouldn’t hurt. Or would it?

The recursive pattern of ‘I may not have trained enough’ to reach your goals may be a debilitating one. Instead of building to your peak, you squander it away recklessly because of emotional distractions. Before you can adequately recover before the next training session, you blow the whole lot by depleting your limited resources.

Be aware of your energy. How do you manage it? How do you control anxiety, doubt and worries? How do you harness your energy – emotional, physical and mental – to give you the advantage you seek on race day? Anabolism follows catabolism. Build up after you break down.

Similarly, how do you stay in peak performance for a business presentation? Can you be over-prepared? Do you rehearse until everyone goes home? Do you tweak your script until you give it a salient facelift? Perhaps, under-training is a shade safer than being over-trained?

Time to Rethink Time Management

Have you ever attended a workshop on time management?

What did you learn from it? Did you consider why you attended that session? Are time management workshops for people who cannot manage their time?

Time management is more than scheduling and prioritizing. Are we expected to do more in a day? Time is a finite measure. There are only 24 hours in a day, and how we utilize each moment is dependent on what we decide as important. I have always been concerned that some trainers of time management workshops do not adequately demonstrate their teaching. If your trainer did not make time to exercise, or decide to eat and sleep properly then I would question their ability to optimize their waking hours. Time to walk the talk about their prescriptions!

The reality is: we can make time for whatever we want to accommodate into our day, and our lifestyle. Our quality of life corresponds to our quality of time invested into our tasks, relationships and thinking.

According to recent research, the concept of managing time is about managing your energy. Managing energy means being fit, well rested and focused in our use of energy.

When we are energetic, we are capable of doing more things. We can more effectively shift our perspectives and positions. Recall when you are sick, how did you feel about your energy? Did you experience lethargy and a general disinterest in unimportant things? Movement took a colossal effort, and it left you spent and over-extended; energy was siphoned from your resources.

Motivation is about movement, motility and motive. It engages us to do things we like, or dislike. We are motivated by pain or pleasure. Humans tend to move away from our prejudices and move towards our preferences.

Energy comes from our food. Nutrients from our food give us our source of bio-chemicals to create energy. Vitamins, minerals, water, carbohydrates, fats and protein are what our body needs to repair, fuel and grow itself. Rest and recuperation allows our body to heal, get stronger through a process of adaptation.

Having been an endurance athlete for the last five years, I have learnt to appreciate what it has been like to train for marathons (42km) and Ironman triathlons (226km). I have also applied this mindset and lifestyle of an amateur triathlete into my profession. Working longer hours and training about 15-20 hours per week parallels each other. You have to decide on how you use your time, have adequate rest/sleep, and recover fully from each day. You put out what you put into your body.

By becoming fit, we can:

1. Sleep less, and function at a high level

2. Do more things per unit time (be productive)

3. Stay alert (at the most critical moments)

4. Lead others to more purposeful things

5. Become more “centred” and “focused”

6. Be less prone to panic during crisis

7. Make sense of the confusing, and consider multiple perspectives

If you lack the energy, strength and fitness you will be limited in your actions as a leader. So, manage your time by managing your energy, and achieve a whole lot more! It is our source of sustenance and motivation, and our continued interests in others, and ourselves.