SWBKRUN -CLOSED DUE TO TRAINING (Page 107)

Sounds like some nice runs this weekend.

Brent & Chet some quicks races.

Doug - you got alot on the plate. No biggee.

Johno - this race is just a build for Nov. But, give Jarrett a big kiss from me. 15 minutes is huge!!

Inspirational quote of the week:

As for me, I did not race and did the right thing and went home for the funeral. Glad I did. Was good to see everyone. Hung out with my friend for an hour or so in the afternoon. Felt good.

I did do a 10k on Sunday though. I tried to simulate a 10k race as best as i could. Did a warm up, and had an offical start/finish line. Then did an out and back. Had a water bottle as an aid station. Ran it in 55:36, which is 3 minutes slower than my PB from 2 years ago. But was pretty happy with that. I dogged it alot this winter, and just really got back into things start of Feb. And it's hard to push yourself that hard when you aren't in a race!!

What a wonderful weekend of racing!   Super contratulations to all our runner/riders!  I am very proud of our group. 

David - your bike story reminded me of my first century ride.  It was in the mountains of North Carolina on a ride called Blood Sweat and Gears.  On the biggest mountain pass with an 18-22% grade near the top I literally got to the point where I decided I could walk my bike faster than what I was doing riding it.  Apparently that speed is 2.5 miles. Who knew it was possible to move that slow and stay up right on a bike.  However I had to take my bike shoes off to push the bike b/c the grade was so steep I wasn't getting any traction with the metal cleats.  You and I definitely earned our ggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr badges from those rides.  Nice work.

Different strokes for different folks when it comes to nutrition.  I do 100% liquids on the bike and the run.   My bike nutrition is a combination of Hammer Sustained Energy unflavored mixed with gels (3 vanilla, 1 espresso), 3 salt sticks with H20.  The run is all carbo pro.  I do carry a gel in my pocket in case I need variety on the run, but haven't used it the last two years.  I did have some Coke on the course towards the end of the marathon in '11 when my stomach decided it had enough carbo pro.  Probably no more than 4oz or so.

I think if you can train with solids at the same intensity you race, then it is not a bad option.  Personally Tracy's smorgasbord would kill me (especially the fiber in those apples!), but I see plenty of people grazing the water stops for oranges, bananas pretzels, broth, etc.   Not sure how they are feeling those last 5m though.

I can eat solid foods on long bike rides, but not so much if I have to run after. I used mostly liquid nutrition in the IMs -- Infinit, but also I knew I could handle the IM PB drink and switched to that toward the end -- the variety was a welcome change and I had trained with it. I pop some Gu Comphs here and there, and I tried Stinger waffles (too sweet for me), and I can also handle bits of Cliff bar (cut up into small pieces prior). On the run I pretty much used the course but carried Gu Chomps in case I needed them. First year I only had coke and orange slices after I tossed my cookies. Second year it was some PB Perform stuff, some coke, some pretzels, some chicken broth, etc. Kind-of whatever I was feeling like in the moment (you never know what will sound good or not). Lots of ice chips!! I remember feeling queasy toward the end of the run the 2nd year, prolly due to the randomness of stuff in my tummy, but also your gut is sort-of spent after 12-14 hours of not eating real food and exercising continuously.

Experiment, experiment, experiment. If something doesn't work, just know you can't count on that come race day!!!

Fantastic job to all our racers over the weekend! Exciting racing weekend in the MG! I'm off to read the race reports.

John- Give Jarrett a high five from me! That is awesome!!!

I don't think it would hurt to try that once or twice and see how it feels.  I used infinit while on the bike then a gel every 30 minutes or so on the run and that seemed to work for me.  I got to that with a bit of trial and error from training but mostly from races since the adreniline seems to be pumping quite a bit more for races so that can change things.

One final lesson learned I'll share, no matter what "works" during training, bring Immodium with you on race day!!!!!!!

Most of my runs were in the 20-30' range, although I did have 1 big day where I did the full swim, 80 miles of really hard hills and a 2 hour hilly run (each discipline split by 90').  I also had a second day of the full swim, 80 miles of riding and a one hour run in heat back to back.  I think there is value in doing at least one of these type of days.  Adding the swim for me was helpful because you burn calories waiting for the swim to start as well as during the swim in IM.  I also swallow a ton of air swimming and this gives me a chance to work through nutrition on the bike afterwards.

Congrats to all of our racers this past weekend.  Those that PR'd and those that learned lessons. It's all part of the sport, right?

Had a pretty tough weekend here as I had to bury my Grandmother on Saturday after a long drawn out illness.  The rapid deterioration of her health after a fall and resulting death has made me really work on my mental toughness over the last two weeks.  I feel like I have made a little bit of a breakthrough there.   I really did not want to get out and run Saturday or Sunday but I laced up the shoes and made myself go anyway.  As a result, I think I was better able to get through a rough start to the run on Sunday and it turned out to be a pretty decent training run in the end (with my first bike ride in months later in the day!!).  I hope this continues to translate to better training over the next couple of weeks.  I have been toying with the idea of cutting back the Marathon in 26 days to a half or maybe even a 10k due to the poor training up to this point.  Now I think I am ready to face the full (at a much slower pace) and get back into the groove for tri season.

Does the heat make a difference??  

Rachel -- Any chance you're running the Dismal Swamp Stomp Half, April 14th?  I haven't ever ran this one but it's suppose to be a fast pancake flat, out and back.  Wife and I will be there; be cool to meet a fellow MGer.

Are you being funny Dineen?  I think you can answer that based on the Racine HIM.  Body shuts down in too much heat...so what are ya goin' do?  Never mind, I just got it.  Bad Boy!

Do people in Wisconsin speak a special language?

Rachel, you still got it done.  Sometimes, we have to take risks.  We only learn how to walk the tightrope by falling off a few times!  

Good job!

Very sorry for your loss, Scott.  Tough to train with a heavy heart but sometimes it's good for the soul.  Take care.