How Unorthodox Training, Dieting and Nutritional consumption helped Mark Lawrence

I began 2016 with a fire burning inside me, to address my physical weaknesses, train harder, ride faster and set myself up with the right equipment to give myself the best competitive advantage that I could. The last 4 and a half months have been the most challenging of my life, full of ups, downs, gains, losses and concerns about my overall health as I kicked my training intensity up nearly 400% over what I had been doing in the past. I would like to tell you all about it.

In 2015, I was 195 lbs, 5’7″ and moderately healthy coming from an endurance cycling background and during the 2015 Multisport Canada Recharge With Milk Duathlon series I was by no means in the fastest group of athletes, but I was consistent race after race, while showing small improvements. However, I enjoyed chasing after the lead group throughout the season as I noticed myself getting closer and closer. I knew I was going to need to completely transform myself If I wanted to run with the big dogs in our sport and the work would begin Jan. 1st 2016.

I had a very important sacrifice to make in order to get the bike I needed to truly compete as an elite Duathlete. I had to sell my beautiful Jamis Ventura Race, my GT mountain bike and every piece of equipment I had around the house in order to fund what would be the most beautiful work of art I have ever created. This would leave me in a predicament though. I now, no longer had a bike of my own to train with and it would take months to liquidate enough to finish my project.

After having a great Christmas and receiving my new cycle trainer, I needed a bike ASAP. I had given my wife her own, stealthy black and pink Orbea road bike as a gift the year before and it was pretty close to my size. I had a brilliant, yet desperate idea. If I could change a few things on her bike to work for me, I’ll have something comfortable enough to train on until my new ride is ready to roll. The things you’ll do to achieve your goals haha.

Throughout January, February, March, I rode that bike like a stole it (haha). I racked up over 1800 Km’s of high intensity indoor training, had changed my diet to bananas, mini wheats, oatmeal and milk for breakfasts, sandwiches, Campbell’s chunky soup, two yogurts and a single serving of V8 for lunches and pasta, lean ground beef, tuna, breads and chocolate milk for dinners and a serving of performance protein recovery, an average of 6 Powergel energy gels, 6-8 litres of water and 2 Nuun electrolyte tablets, daily. To the health professionals out there reading this, I know it may sound like a terrible assortment lol, but I was able to lose a total of 37 lbs, increase my VO2 max to 50, which is a great improvement for me and increase my Functional threshold power from 200 all the way up to 260 watts in a few months. I feel better then I have my entire life and I’m ready to step things up to the next level in my pursuit.

The new black and pink training bike was incredibly uncomfortable the entire time, but I didn’t have much choice but to hammer away till the weather warmed up enough to get back outside. As April rolled around, I was itching to get outdoors and with my daughter old enough to ride in a baby seat, I needed to figure something out quick. My father in law had purchased a beach cruiser for himself, but after he purchased a road bike to go faster and further, the bike was now laying around. He knew About the pickle I was in and offered the bike, as well as he had bought an unreal Thule babyseat for Fiona so that we could go everywhere together. I rode the entire month of April, back and forth to work, to pick up my daughter from our parents and for daddy, daughter rides as often as I could. It was a good workout with the single speed cruiser, but I needed to get back to the grind on a road bike. I bit the bullet and unleashed that black and pink, 28 lb. road bike on to the world. The jokes were endless from my fellow riders and friends, but I was focused on the goals ahead and swallowed my pride for the greater good. The month of May has been a painful one, as I push that heavy awkward looking bike all over the place, but it’s all paying off. I can only imagine what I’ll be able to do on the Devinci Leo T2 aerodynamic speed machine wrapped in Blade Carbon Wheels, that I have named Mona Lisa. The anticipation is killing me.

As of today I have cycled over 2400 Km’s, my new bike is a week away from completion, the Multisport Canada Recharge with milk season opener in Woodstock is less then a month away and I could not be more excited to embark on this season, not only as a better all around athlete, but also as a member of the Multisport Canada Elite Ambassador team! I would like to personally thank John Salt the founder of Multisport Canada as well as his entire team for the humbling opportunity to be an advocate for our sports , as well as a resource for all of the aspiring athletes, whom may be looking to try their first Triathlon or Duathlon, but do not know where to start in preparation. I will be posting my entire race schedule in the next few days and I invite you all to contact me personally if you would like to give it a try for yourself!

Email: markblawrence@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading.