Avocados are a staple in Sandes’s diet. © Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool Back home in his native South Africa, ultra runner Ryan Sandes is partial to a good braai (the South African version of a barbeque). While he generally eats whole foods most of the time, Sandes avoids getting strict or uptight about his diet. He takes a pragmatic approach. “I believe it's important to enjoy life as well,” he says. “I don’t weigh x amount of protein, and x of carbs, I just try to eat a balanced diet with as many whole foods as possible. I try to listen to what my body is craving.” Despite being from meat loving South Africa, Sandes and his wife Vanessa have drastically reduced their meat consumption to only once or twice a week. Instead, they focus on eating unprocessed, natural food. “As an athlete it’s very easy to slip into taking lots of recovery shakes to try to get the goodness back into your body,” Sandes says. “But I don’t think you can replace eating good whole foods.” Sandes ran the Great Himalayan Trail this year. © Dean Leslie / Red Bull Content Pool In busy times Forward planning is essential for athletes. And having a good meal plan is just as important as having a clear training plan. Sandes often makes a big dish, with multiple portions, at the beginning of the week so he has something easy available if it’s a busy week. It’s helpful doing this, he says, because of the tendency to get a little lazy, especially later in the week. “I often eat quite a lot of eggs, and avocados and salad, things that are easy to put together,” he says. Sandes (and his dog) remains partial to a braai (barbecue). © Ryan Sandes Go to meals Sandes enjoys pizza so, when he needs an easy meal, he buys locally made pizza bases, smothers them vegetables and salad, and bakes them. Burgers, smoothies, rye bread with honey, muesli and plenty of boiled eggs are all part of his regular diet, too. And his secret supplement is bone broth. “These days in first world countries people eat the best cuts of meat, whereas way back in the hunter-gatherer days, if they hunted a buck they would eat the entire animal, including boiling all the bones and drinking the broth,” Sandes explains. “A lot of the good meat cuts don’t have all the essential fats, but bone broth has that. It’s not my favourite thing, but it’s great for recovery.” The Sandes superfood grain salad recipe Grains: 1 cup of quinoa1 cup of sorghumHalf a cup of milletHalf a cup of buckwheat Boil all the grains separately as they all have varying cooking times.Add a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas and a can of drained and rinsed lentils.Let the grains cool down and add some lemon juice and good quality olive oil. The above amounts make quite a big bowl but you can keep it in the fridge and decant from it all week for lunch and dinner! Other ingredients: Chopped up avocado pearRocket and other lettuce leaves Baby spinach leavesFeta cheesePitted olivesBaby tomatoes Salad dressing: 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar1/2 cup of good quality cold extracted olive oil1 teaspoon of honey1 teaspoon of whole-grain or Dijon mustardOne clove of crushed fresh garlicSalt & pepper to taste Blend all the salad dressing ingredients and lightly drizzle onto your salad. For more of an animal protein punch, add slices of grilled chicken, beef or tuna. Optional extras: drained and rinsed can of corn, chopped up fresh basil, drained and rinsed butter or cannellini beans, cut up cucumber, half a hand-full of dried cranberries.   Lead image: Photo by Jaco Pretorius on Unsplash Read more stories about nutrition: Fuelling the engine: A common sense approach to nutrition Fuelling the engine: Talking nutrition with Melissa Hauschildt Fuelling the engine: Talking nutrition with Lucy Bartholomew

In the 1960s, Stanford professor Walter Mischel set out to do an experiment. He tested hundreds of 4 to 5-year-olds on what turned out to be a key component to future success in work, health and life. Researchers brought each subject (a 4 or 5-year-old kid) into a private room and set a single marshmallow down on the table directly in front of them. The researcher then let the child know that they were going leave the room and if they didn’t eat the marshmallow sitting in front of them, they would get another marshmallow when the researcher came back into the room. The researcher then left the room for 15 minutes to let them decide: one marshmallow now or two marshmallows later? DELAYED GRATIFICATION In the past couple years you’ve probably noticed an inordinate amount of articles, podcasts, and TED Talks on the topic of happiness and life satisfaction. When people talk about being “happy,” there two different aspects to this concept. There is happiness that we find on a daily basis through joyful activities, and then there is the happiness we find in having a greater meaning in our life that contributes to overall life satisfaction. There is feeling happiness in your life and then there’s feeling happiness about your life. Happiness about your life sometimes includes going after bigger goals. Pushing yourself to see what you’re truly capable of. Working toward something that brings you both joy (because you enjoyed the pursuit) and satisfaction (because you had to work hard to get it). At some point when you go after a big goal you will be required to trade the immediate perceived reward right now for the bigger reward down the road. Big goals can mean big sacrifices; like not eating the marshmallow sitting in front of you. If you’ve ever had an unfinished goal, you know how frustrating and heartbreaking it can be. You were on the path to your goal, took an unexpected side trip, and never found the road leading back to it. What athletes don’t always know is that when they don’t accomplish a goal, they didn’t necessarily fail at the goal—they more likely failed at their goal-setting strategy. Here are three essential and research-proven goal-setting techniques for delaying gratification and holding out for the bigger reward: HAVE A PLAN You need to know exactly what you want and exactly how you’re going to get it. It’s worth putting in the time to formalize your goal and get specific with your strategy. The more specific you are with your vision and your plan, the more likely you are to take action on it. WRITE IT DOWN AND SHARE IT WITH FRIENDS Athletes who do these two things increase the probability of actually accomplishing their goals. Telling people about your goal and writing it down are added accountability factors that can increase the likelihood that you will follow through with your goals. KNOW YOUR WHY Why this goal and why now? Why is this important to you? How does this goal connect to your values and the person you want to be? When you think to yourself “I don’t know if I can do it today” and you’re trying to find your motivation, connecting to your why can be a powerful reminder of what’s really important to you and helps you make a decision from that place. It helps you hold out for two marshmallows. And speaking of marshmallows—you might be wondering what the kids did when the researcher left the room: Some kids had no problem at all waiting patiently for their second marshmallow. Others immediately grabbed the marshmallow and shoved it in their mouths. And then some of the kids came up with strategies like covering their eyes and sitting on their hands to try and hold out for the bigger reward. What’s really fascinating are the follow-up studies. Over the course of 40 years after the initial experiment, some interesting differences emerged between the children who were able to delay gratification and choose two marshmallows later versus the children who chose one marshmallow immediately. The research from this study and subsequent studies on delayed gratification are pretty clear; the ability to delay immediate gratification is essential for success. You set goals to fulfill dreams, to move from wishing something would happen to making it happen. And when you are truly committed to your goal, there is no amount of marshmallows that will derail you. You know that the bigger reward is waiting for you down the road. This article by Carrie Jackson Cheadle, a professor of sport psychology and expert in Mental Skills Training, was originally published on trainingpeaks.com. TrainingPeaks provides you in-depth analysis, planning tools and coaching services to help you reach your goal. Track your workouts with your Suunto watch. Afterwards analyze your heart rate, power, pace and other data with TrainingPeaks on web or in mobile and progress towards your goals.

Flying home from the World Masters Championships in Germany some years ago, trapped in a tight seat, surrounded by strangers, I began to think about my next important race—not my next race, but my next important race—one I hoped to win. It was the marathon at the next Worlds in New Zealand, which was still another year and a half away. If you want to succeed as a long distance runner, you need to take the long look. By any measure, I had achieved success in Germany, winning bronze and silver medals, but that was less than at the two previous Worlds, when I took home the gold. The bigger problem was that in New Zealand, because of my birthday, I would fall five months short of moving from the M45 age division into M50—which would presumably have easier competition. Almost all my rivals were younger than me—youngsters who had just moved into the division and were ready to take down the old coot. To match my previous record, I would need to train much harder and, more importantly, much smarter. So I pulled out a sheet of paper and began to plot my training for the next 18 months. Other than at the elite level where runners look from one Olympic Games to the next, I suspect this is something that few runners do—but maybe they should. Consider the following suggestions as you map your training for the coming year: 1. Plan Far, Far Ahead Not far ahead, but far, far ahead. Not weeks ahead, or months ahead, but years ahead. What activities should you be doing now to enhance the quality of your life all the way to the end of that life? Today, running sits at the center of your universe, but look to the future. Running scores high when it comes to cardiovascular benefits. Our sport is also a great (not merely good) tool for maintaining weight and strengthening the lower body—but what else should you be doing? While still in my 20s, I began supplementing my workouts by lifting free weights. Few runners strength-trained back then, but I was thinking ahead. Later, I added cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and even competed in triathlons, adding swimming and cycling to my workout routine. In planning far, far ahead, you should seek total fitness—not just running fitness. 2. Plan Far Ahead The time for New Year’s resolutions slid past us, but you still can make a running resolution. What will be the theme of your running for the calendar year; not just which specific races, but the motivation leading to those races? Perhaps it is time to get serious about the sport and train extra hard, perhaps aiming for some PRs (Personal Records) or that coveted BQ (Boston Qualifying Time) that has eluded you during your running career. Or, perhaps you are burned out from the training it took to reach previous goals. Don’t just stop running, but maybe realize that it’s time to cut back on both the quantity and quality of your workouts to refresh yourself psychologically for the next big push. College-age students often do something similar which they refer to as a “gap year.” They get a job, earn some money, sometimes travel, and, after a break—return to college or to graduate school. After that Worlds in New Zealand, I not only grabbed gold in the marathon, but I also scored a bonus bronze medal in the 10,000 meters. Then, I returned home and did not run a step for two months (I cross-country skied instead). 3. Plan Ahead Goal-setting (as suggested above in steps one and two) has provided you with a theme for the full year. What about the smaller increments of that year? Often a major race, such as a marathon, attracts our attention. But while having a single major goal for the year, you can also have interim goals. For example, a half marathon or two in the spring leading up to a full marathon in the fall. My half marathon training programs last 12 weeks; my marathon programs, 18 weeks. That allows for several training cycles. Both my Novice Supreme and Personal Best training plans combine 12- and 18-week programs for a total of 30 weeks.This permits a gentler ramp-up in mileage and—although I can’t offer any research studies to prove it—decreases the risk of illness and injury that comes with overtraining. When it comes time to achieve success as a runner, proper planning should rate high on your list. Plan ahead. In fact, plan very, very far ahead. This article by Hal Higdon was originally published on trainingpeaks.com. TrainingPeaks provides you in-depth analysis, planning tools and coaching services to help you reach your goal. Track your workouts with your Suunto watch. Afterwards analyze your heart rate, power, pace and other data with TrainingPeaks on web or in mobile and progress towards your goals. When you buy a new Suunto watch and connect it with TrainingPeaks via Suunto app you get 30 days of TrainingPeaks Premium and a Suunto training program for free! Learn more.

This year 32-year-old mountain running champion Emelie Forsberg has done things differently. Rather than focus solely on racing, she turned her attention to challenging personal projects, resulting in her smashing four fastest known time records (FKTs) in a row. Emelie tracked her Kungsleden FKT with her Suunto 9: She ran about 90km per day for five days straight. (Image by Philipp Reiter) It all started because Forsberg noticed a dearth of women’s names in the record books for FKTs, and decided to give her own effort to improve that, hoping to inspire other women everywhere to take on fun, personal challenges – big or small – and achieve their dreams. The results are impressive. “There are very few women who are doing these kinds of things in the mountains, and if I can inspire more to do it, why not?!” she says. Click play on the Four in a Row video below to watch the action from Emelie’s awesome four FKTs, including new fastest ascent times, and a new record on a long distance trail. Please then all you sporty ladies, head over to her Instagram feed and give her a shout out for her efforts! Watch Emelie's "4 in a Row" mini-documentary now! Images by Philipp Reiter

Gates finished on a rainy day. He ran all the streets in the background. © Dean Leslie / Wandering Fever After racing in some of the world’s toughest ultras, and running across the United States last year, Rickey Gates expected his #EverySingleStreet project to be long, but light work. Turns out he hadn’t fully thought through all the vertical gain involved, which amounted to the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest five times. That combined with the distance and complex mapping logistics made it far tougher than he expected.  “It’s ironic, I grew up in the mountains, spent a lot of my life running in the mountains, but the greatest amount of vertical gain I’ve done for one thing has been here in San Francisco,” Gates says. “This project was truly something else!” © Liz Thorp Since he started his #EverySingleStreet project, and sent out an invitation on his Instagram feed for others to do the same, runners around the world have heard the call and followed suit. Runners in Germany, Canada, Alaska, Thailand, Finland and elsewhere are running all the streets in their cities, towns and villages. “It’s really great to see other people take on the challenge,”Gates says. “It seems to offer a different element to some people’s training. For others, having a goal of seeing a map fill in and knowing that you ‘know’ a place on a certain level is empowering.” In the coming days, Gates will be selecting one of the people running their local streets and giving them his Suunto 9 watch to reward their effort. There will be other giveaways from Salomon. One of the things Gates enjoyed the most about the project was finding ways to keep himself entertained as he crisscrossed the city. Spotting cats, funny old cars, and graffitti kept him amused. “Doing this makes me more present,” Gates says. “It’s the city equivalent of noting tree or bird species when you’re out in the mountains.” He also enjoyed connecting with some of the locals he passed each day. “It’s nice to say hi and smile at strangers and to see how far it gets you to know people,” he says. Lead image: Photo by Gordon Mak on Unsplash

At Suunto we believe the more we appreciate and enjoy the great outdoors, the more we will want to protect it. This means those of us fortunate enough to have been given a love of the outdoors have a special responsibility to do as much as we can to ensure the next generation receive the same. In the same way as ski mountaineer Greg Hill’s parents instilled in him the spirit of adventure and love for the natural world, we can do the same. Even if we don’t have kids, or if they’ve long left the nest, we can support organizations and events that achieve the same. Passing on the passion By Greg Hill I am always a little conflicted around Christmas, societal norms tell me I should be buying gifts for my children. My wife is great, she gets them the things they need and a few of their wants. When I reflect back to the gifts I received as a child, it was the gifts of adventure that I liked best. The gift of a season’s pass at my local ski resort, and the gifts of the gear to ski with. Or the gifts my parents gave without realizing that they were giving them. I have been following their footsteps in this regard. Our family home was far up a dirt road in Quebec, Canada. Our nearest neighbor was at least one kilometer away, and our house surrounded by deciduous forests. I have very few memories about the town we lived near, most are centered around backyard adventures. I can remember family moments hiking up Round Top mountain, cooking bannoch bread on a stick over an open fire. My parents facilitated my adventures by showing me what was possible. We canoe camped, hiked a lot, downhill skied, Nordic skied, the activities were endless. I cannot thank my parents enough for bringing me up appreciating the outdoors. Having sparked this thirst for the outdoors, it was impossible to slow it. As I grew, so did my adventurous spirit. I was encouraged to go camping with friends, and the school I went to had an amazing outdoor education component. Soon, I was introduced to rock climbing and it became my gateway sport to mountaineering. I was captivated by the rewards that came from overcoming the challenges; the intense feeling of accomplishment that followed any climb completed. This feeling was unparalleled and I began searching for it more and more. The challenges evolved from rock to ice, from cliffs to mountains. Soon my whole life was centered around outdoors and adventures. These moments brought me a source of happiness and overcoming these challenges taught me a lot about myself. Through training hard, working towards harder and harder goals I developed more and more self-confidence. Time in nature taught me patience and an appreciation for nature. Yet, I accessed all these wild places in a big truck, from a snowmobile or a helicopter. Solo drives to trailheads had me thinking about my impacts. Raising my kids started my questions on how I was living and what legacy I was passing on to them. There was no profound “aha” moment, but my “eco-anxiety” grew till all of a sudden I needed to change. I have looked at all the aspects of my life and decided to work on what I can. I eat less meat, consider all my lifestyle choices, and drive an electric car. I fly less, and adventure locally a lot more. All of these choices resonate into a better feeling overall and a knowledge that I am trying to be better. Raising my kids I have been trying to pass on the passion for adventure, and the appreciation for the outdoors. I know how much I have gained from my experiences and can only hope that they get as much from nature as I have. While out with my kids I truly try and give them the best experiences, keeping the rewards as a priority, aiming for enjoyment, not exhaustion. Showing them the potential, yet letting them come to it on their own terms. Forcing children can easily turn them off activities so I simply encourage and open the doors, hoping they will follow.