My Rapamycin Journey/Log (Rapa + Sports Performance)

Hi Everyone,

I want to record my journey with rapamycin and hope to find some value in doing so (both for myself and others). I know we already have plenty of logs online - but I still want to do it anyway (maybe I enjoy the spotlight haha). Anyway, here we go.

Personal info

I am male, 30 years old (DOB 1992) and overall very healthy. I weigh 72kg with 12% body fat. I do not have mountains of blood work about myself (so far I have no need to go that deep) but can share some heath markers and daily habits.

My exercise habits

4x1.5 hours weight training sessions. 4x1hour zone 2 cardio (jogging). 1x30minute HIIT (zone 5). My running distances can fluctuate up and down. I love endurance running (previously ran 4 marathons + 1 ultra). Plan to run another marathon some time in summer 2023. I am currently training mainly for hypertrophy while maintaining aerobic base.

My dietary habits

I eat a balanced diet - skewed towards a Mediterranean way of eating. I eat 120-150g protein per day coming from all sources (meat/fish/dairy/soy/organs). I eat vegetables every meal (get 50-60g fibre per day). Carbs fluctuate up and down depending on mood/availability/exercise output. Carbs usually around 200g.

I currently eat 3500kcal per day and that puts me in a very small surplus to support my current hypertrophy efforts. I really focus on nutrient density. I eat from every food group and only eat whole foods (process foods only 1x per 2 weeks for fun). The animal foods I eat comes from local organic source. I like to eat nose to tale.

I perform early time restricted eating 14-16 hours daily (usually eat 8am-4pm).

Lifestyle/sleep

I have a very intense lifestyle. I never rest because I don’t want to (haha). I work from morning to night because I love my job. I am highly strung and put much pressure on myself. Prone to anxiety and overactive brain

I perform meditation for 10-20 mins per day 5 days per week. I sleep 7-7.5 hours per night but sleep quality can be an issue (frequent wake ups). I have improved these wake ups through supplementation but sleep is still my biggest lifestyle factor that may contribute to expedited ageing.

Supplements

I have a tiny supplement stack (I aim for nutrient density through food instead).

L-Theaning: 200mg/day (morning)
Glycine: 3g/day (night)
Magnesium Citrate: 600mg/day (night)
Ashwagandha: 600mg/day (night)
Trazodone: 50mg/day (night)
Pregabalin: 75mg occasionally to further improve sleep quality

Health goals

I want to achieve both performance and longevity. I probably exercise too much for longevity and my diet is centred somewhere between the two. I hope rapamycin can help me to balance some of the mTOR activation and also improve some inflammation/age-related physical decline.

I have been thinking about starting treatment for a couple of years already. I have noticed the first signs of osteoarthritis in my left knee and I am eager to stop the progression (but still refuse to stop running because I love it so much).

OK - let’s talk about rapamycin

I have acquired the Rapacan already and just started my usage.

First dose: 06/01/2023 - 1mg
Target dose: 7mg/1xweekly (0.1g/kg)

I will titrate up my dosage weekly until I hit 7mg

I took the dose upon waking at 6am along with a high fat meal (1/2 avocado, 1/2tbsp EVOO, 30g black olives). I wanted to take the dose far away from bedtime based on the negative impact it may have on sleep.

I did start to feel some side-effects in the afternoon/evening - but I have also been noticing my body is fighting some pathogen over the last week and think this may be the reason. So i’m faily sure it’s not the rapa - but the rapa may have amplified my symptoms. Symptoms were: Feeling hot/more flushed face (4pm), stomache upset (10pm), poor sleep (I only slept >6 hours of restless sleep). Sleep could be due to stomach discomfort/rapa/both.

I report no positive effects thus far. I also have set my expectations low. I am young and fit and healthy overall - so I don’t expect marked improvement in health.

Areas I would like to see benefit (quantitative measures)

Attenuate knee osteoarthritis
Stop hair loss progression
Improve immune function
Reduce soreness/inflammation in ankles after long run
Slow skin ageing
Attention and focus (I have overactive mind - I want to see if this changes)

Areas I am going to quantitatively measure

Blood glucose levels. My current fasting blood glucose is 85 (average). My average excursion after 100g carb meal is 20 (max I ever see my blood glucose is 110 based on finger prick 1 hour after high carb meal). I want to monitor if this goes up or down and report my findings.

Body weight: Current weight 72kg with 12% BF. I want to gain muscle and report if it’s impacted by rapa. My ideal body would be 75kg 8% BF. I want to see if I can get there this year while on rapa.

Running performance. I will run another marathon in 2023 (and possibly 1x ultra marathon). My previous best marathon performance is 4:05hours (although I weighed 61kg at the time and was purely focussed on running/not lifting). I want to see what marathon time I can achieve on rapa in 2023. I also want to monitor objectively my recovery.

Resting heart rate: My current RHR is 38-40bpm. I want to see if this goes up or down.

Heart rate variability: My average HRV over the course of 1 month is 76. It can be 90 if well rested and sit at 60 when I am overtraining. I want to see if I can maintain or improve this 90 max HRV and monitor the average.

Sleep stats: I currently sleep average Oura sleep score 78. My REM sleep is always very low (average around 50 minutes). Deep sleep is high (average 2 hours). Total sleep 7-7.5hours. Sleep is ALWAYS rated as restless. I want to see how these stats change over time.

Thanks for reading my stats (if you have not fallen asleep yet

You can see that I have an active lifestyle and want to take my fitness performance goals seriously. I want to balance fitness and longevity. After a long-time walking this tightrope - I have decided rapa is a good way to get there. I will continue to report my findings based on exercise performance and recovery changes based on rapamycin intake.

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Fully aware of this story - still want to run marathons haha. Also - my reasons for taking rapa do go beyond some of the info portrayed in my post. I have been plotting the move to rapa for my longevity goals for a long time and just cannot overlook the positive data across both literature and n=1 anecdotes. I also have an opinion that starting rapa earlier in life will turn out to be optimal over time.

I think we all wish each other the best on this platform and we are all in this together trying to advance the knowledge and freely sharing information.

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I think the evidence is pretty strong, generally, for more exercise is better (though perhaps not to Olympic levels of exertion/ training times). See: Exercise, VO2 max, and longevity | Mike Joyner, M.D

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Thanks for sharing this study and I did analyse it. Three points to note:

  1. Most high-level exercisers (apart from maybe athletes) actually don’t spend much time in ‘very vigorous’ exercise range. I personally only spend 20-30mins per week in that zone.

  2. I think the weight of the evidence is still strongly in favour of exercise.

  3. I believe that even with the issue suggested in this paper, the benefits probably still outweigh the risks. Almost every other marker of health will improve with exercise, including; Reduced/stable blood glucose, reduced visceral & intramuscular adiposity, decreased blood pressure, reduced dementia risk, etc, etc, etc.

I always try to look at the weight of the evidence. I am biased towards exercise because I enjoy exercise - so take or leave my opinion. However, I don’t think it’s a stretch to argue that getting plenty of physical activity is beneficial.

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