About

About This Blog

It wasn’t turning 40 that instigated my mid-life crisis it was the birth of our 4^th child a few months later. And I didn’t feel the urge to go buy a red sports car, I felt a strong urge to take my children camping and go run in the woods … a lot! The birth of our beautiful baby girl made me acutely aware of life slipping away from me and how I was letting nature and the outdoors slip progressively more and more out of my life and the lives of my children.

So, I decided to take the plunge and commit to running (and mountain biking) 100 miles on the trails from Colorado Springs to Denver as a way to motivate myself to get my life back on track and along the way, show my children that the joys of the outdoors are literally, just outside your front door! I have wanted to take up ultra running for a few years but haven’t even run consistently for almost the past 10 years, so 2015 will indeed present some challenges.
As an Assistant Professor I researched the roles of high intensity training (HIT) and nutrition on recovery and performance. So in this blog I will be examining the latest research on HIT and how endurance athletes can use it to maximize their performance.

As part of my journey, I decided a year ago to start living a whole foods low carbohydrate high fat lifestyle. Why? Pretty simple, without training consistently I was getting fat and lethargic on a typical Western high carbohydrate diet. It was a healthy diet full or fruits, vegetables and grains, so I knew I needed to change. I’ve had great success losing weight and feeling more energetic, and without negative impacts on my cholesterol levels. I hope through this blog I can share my experiences of how to successfully implement a low carb high fat lifestyle and avoid common pitfalls so you can enjoy the same benefits I have experienced! I also hope this will stimulate lots of comments and discussions on other peoples’ experiences on similar low carb or low sugar lifestyles such as Paleo.

I hope you enjoy this blog and will share your own experiences!

About Me

• Exercise Physiologist (BS and MS),
• Sports Nutritionist (PhD),
• endurance athlete (marathon PR - 2 hours 46 minutes),
• Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist,
• USA Track and Field certified coach
• Father of 4 amazing children,
• Husband.

I am the Chief Science Officer at an exercise-related non-profit organization and previously worked at NASA’s Johnson Space Center as the Project Scientist for the Exercise Countermeasures. 

I have authored and co-authored numerous scientific articles, abstracts, book chapters, presented at national and international conferences, and been interviewed and quoted by publications such as Runners’ World, Active.com, Men’s Fitness, Muscle&Fitness, MSN Healthy Living, and The New York Times.