Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 116)

Will thanks and I know, it just seems like I should be doing more but at the same time I need to be realistic as well. The IronFit plan is 30 weeks so I'm wrapping up week 12. I am in the build phase now. Base phase is weeks 1-10, build phase weeks 11-20 and peak phase is 21-30.

Dirk thanks and that is a very good point you made regarding the wind. It is very easy to get caught up in trying to push harder to maintain your effort and speed. I agree I have been trying to just ride and switch gears to keep my cadence up and not burn all my matches. You are so right about this it's easy to get caught up in the numbers on the bike computer.

The other point you made about the trainer is very true. The trainer is a great way to get a distraction free hard workout but it is no substitute for riding outdoors in my opinion. I think the trainer is a compliment to riding outdoors. I know there are people who train exclusively on the trainer and I can't blame them as it is safer and you can get a great workout in less time because you are always pedaling. However working on your bike handling, ascents, descents, road conditions, traffic and the elements can only be done outdoors.

I worked so hard on the trainer over the winter and was dying during some of those workouts but after a few long rides outdoors with the wind and hills I almost feel like those rides were harder than any interval workout I did this winter.

Quick, fly-by update......

We have been having a blast on our vacation! 

Tracy,

Getting away from it sure sounds good right now!  Heck!  It's sounds good almost anytime. Enjoy the rest of your trip.

Joanne,

I agree with your assessment of Perpetuem.  There's nothing that tastes good about it.  I use it only out of necessity and try to forget about the bland, tastelessness of it.  I think I have the Orange flavor and there's no orange about it.  There are so many other products on the market that may work better for you.  Many of the Iron athletes that I know use EFS for nutritional purposes but I cannot make any statements regarding their products at all because I've never tried any of them.

Your trainer sounds like he's really providing some proof positive that he's doing his job.  8% BF reduction is awesome!  Congrats! 

JoAnne that is great to hear that the changes you've made with your nutrition are starting to payoff. I have never used the hammer products but I have used infinit. I love inifinit, you can customize your own formula and they'll make it for you. It is very easy to do and it is very easy to drink. As a matter of fact I need to order more of that stuff. I am planning to use that on the bike leg of Ironman and for Syracuse 70.3. I used it for all my tri's last year and alot of the long bike rides and long runs it works great. It is a little pricey though but I think it's worth it. You can check it out for yourself on their website.

Happy Mother's day to all the mothers!!!!!!!!!  Hope ya'll have a GREAT day.

Jeff, Happy belated Birthday!

Brenda, welcome back, we've missed you!

GREAT training everyone, ya'll are making the Junkies look good!

Here is a drink I'm experimenting with and having good luck so far...  I get the big can of powdered gatorade and mix t w/ water, then I get some powdered amino acid and put in it.  Working god so far.

Happy Mothers Day to all of the moms in the crew!  You all bring so much life and joy to everyone around you, you have one of the 2 most important jobs on this earth (the other being a dad), your influence carries on through generations and you are unconditionally loved for all that you have done, continue to do and will do in the future.  Congratulations on holding the highest calling God has given.

Now.....................

GET TRAINING!!!

I have ridden close to 3 hours this season but haven't gotten that far yet, but I plan on doing a few really long rides including a century or 2 later as I begin to train with some IM athletes.

It is a generally accepted rule that you need to consume approximately 100-250 calories per hour during exercise lasting more than 2 hours.  This caloric intake is based on the weight of an individual athlete.  I would suppose that your body weight is in the neighborhood of 150-ish so I would begin to test your requirements at about 150 calories and hour.  With your targeted "A" race being several months away I would work to get the testing done soon so it is dialed in long before it needs to be.

It is also a very accepted rule that most of your calories come in the form of liquids or gels for endurance activities.  Solids simply aren't able to be absorbed as quickly as the demands on your body are being reduced.  Getting a couple of forms of carbohydrates at the same time is important as well.  More than one form of carb can help speed the absorption rate.  It's also important to get the more quickly absorbed carbs in the mix such as; glucose, sucrose and maltodextrin.  (As a rule, the manufacturers of these products have already made sure to include all of the important ingredients for you.)

The suggestions for caloric intake are a general rule and need to be considered just that, general.  It is individual athletes that have to work through the details of how much and IF a specific brand works well for them.  This is the reason I suggest you begin the testing now.  I know you've had some issues in the past and you don't want to deal with that as you get closer to race day. 

Currently I use Hammer Nutrition products in the form of Heed, Perpetuem and Hammer gel.  However there are all kinds of brands on the market.  I know Tony uses Infinit but I haven't tried it other than on the course at the Great Buckeye Challenge 70.3 last year.  (BTW, I don't suggest trying different brands on race day unless yo have a cast iron stomach because this can lead to.....well.....unpleasant experiences.)  I know a lot of athletes here are beginning to use EFS as their source of carbs too.  I have used some of the gel once but cannot provide any actual personal testing experience to recommend it's use.

Note: B2B uses Hammer products so I would start your testing using those.  If you can use what's provided on the course it will make life much easier on a very long day.

X2 that was awesome! Happy Mother's day to all the Mom's in the group. I hope you all have a great day and hope you guys are being taken care of today by your families because you deserve it.

Will I have been experimenting lately but as Dirk stated my preferred drink on the bike is Infinit. You can have the formula customized so it can be loaded with calories if you so desire. I had them make me up a 3 hour formula and that worked well for me. I also used powerbar perform as well and have been rolling with that lately along with bonk breaker bars and clif shot blocks.

I'm trying to figure out just how many calories I think I'm going to need for IM as well as what is going to work best for me. The other thing is outside of using Infinit on the bike I want to live off the course so I'm using the stuff they will be serving on the IM course ie powerbar perform, bonk breaker bars etc. I also want to experiment a little with coke, that is supposed to be like Ironman crack and is used on the run when most people experience issues with nutrition and can't take in any calories. I just want to be ready for anything so I'm going to keep trying different things.

I usually get in about 250/hour on rides over 2 hours.  A lot actually depends on the type of ride.  I agree that liquid is probably best, but I sometimes use something solid just because I get sick of drinking anything all the time.  I use a blend of some bulk maltodextrin with extra electrolytes  and Reliv Innergize.  I'm sure I could get by with less but I know it's a lot harder to take in calories for me running, so I'd rather be sure to get plenty on the bike and get used to that protocol.

One piece of advice I'll give is to try a nutrition practice of a fairly long rider at race intensity followed by a pretty good run at race intensity.  What you can tolerate on a really easy ride can be very different than what goes well at 70.3 intensity.  For an Ironman distance race, I really don' know but I've heard plenty of people say that eventually nothing seems to be desirable.

x2 on the coke - even in a 70.3 it can really pick you up.

Sorry I haven't been posting. I didn't know that this thread was still active in the archives. I've been checking for the new one in the summer groups since they came up. I'll have to do some catching up with everyone.

Just did a short run today. Still feeling pretty good.

Thanks for that Dirk. No training for me today - we went fishing instead .

I had a lot of headaches last week. Hope this week is better. I blame the weather.

Dirk, I'm currently fluctuating around the mid 180's in lbs.  And I've only been taking in 100-150 calories/hr on my 50-60 mile rides the past few months... mostly made up of shot bloks.  So I probably need to crank it up a bit.  Have you guys ever heard of ppl carrying a banana or pb sandwich?  

Also, good call on trying the stuff that will be on the course.  I'll definitely try that one first.  

And about the coke... the HIM I did, they were handing out pepsi (which I hate) and I tried some but couldnt get it down.  Hopefully the B2B will have the real thing... "aint nothing like the real thing baby..."

Here is the link to the new group:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=486829&posts=14&start=1

I have been holding out to start in the new thread because we would already have had a couple of pages for any potential new members to read and catch up on.  I don't really want to freak anyone out by seeing 5+ pages to read before even joining.  Go aheaad and jump into the group over there to ensure your spot and post a bio.

Good news for the run.  Just keep going and going..........

At 180 lbs. you could begin your testing a little higher for your IM if you like.  Warren brings up a good point that when doing long course racing you're just not going to want anything at some point and  You'll also need to take in a few more calories on the bike during the race.  A higher calorie mix on the bike then will help keep you going early on the run.  You won't need to add much to the calories but another 50-100 per bottle would help.  The key is to see what will work for you and testing will be the trick.  I would suggest you try the mixture of calories you want to use while doing IM too.  This will test if your body will take that much of a given product but practice this later, when your rides are getting much longer.

Once you are certain you have something you can use feel free to dial the calorie consumption back.  You don't need to take in all those calories all of the time.  It's better to train your body to work with fewer calories during training and up the intake during a race, provided your body can take the additional calories. 

For instance:  I rode 50 miles on Saturday and took in less than 100 calories over the entire ride.  I wouldn't do that on a race day.  Race days are a higher intensity, adrenaline ruses and there's a run coming after the bike, so more carbs are required.  This past Saturday the temp was in the upper 40's and I wasn't sweating like will likely be at my HIM races this season.

I think Joanne had a PB&J during attempt at IM last season.  I have heard of that and I would recommend some solids too.  Just make sure it's something you know you can tolerate well WHILE performing exercise for long periods.  Also don't count on getting those calories into useable form for 2-3 hours during exercise/racing.

HAhahahaha.... you got me.... After the 5.4 triathlon, I have been struggling to get motivated. I spent the weekend at the beach with the family and managed to do nothing but eat and hang out at the beach.

Now, it's time to get back to training.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend with the mom's in your life!

I've learned something over the past few weeks.... when you have a good race, or a decent race, it is a bit hard to get motivated afterward. Maybe it is because I don't have any additional races on the calendar at the moment....

For those who have done long races, and for those who haven't..... How do you motivate yourself after races (especially when there are no races on the calendar for a few months)? I've heard of IM/HIM post-race blues. Has anyone ever experienced post-race blues? 

Warren and Dirk I agree with you guys on taking as many calories as you can on the bike. That is very important especially for the IM distance races. Good nutrition will set you up for a good run. Most people blow up on the run becuase they either go out too hard on the bike or they don't take care of their nutrition. Plus it's like you guys said it's hard to take anything in later on in those races because your body is diverting blood away from your digestive system and using it for your muscles. That is why simple carbs like coke work well when you get to the run. The more you can experiment with nutrition in training the better off you'll be on race day.

Jen to be honest I've never really had much of an issue with getting motivated to train after races even towards the end of the season. I am always looking forward to what's next and I think that tends to keep me motivated. Last season I finished the HIM and then was supposed to do the NYC marathon but it got cancelled but I didn't really lose any motivation I knew IMWI was going to be the next big thing for me and I think that kept me motivated to not slack off.

We all need a little down time and rest and recovery but I think for me I make sure I have something lined up or planned that will keep me from losing too much motivation and will hold me accountable even if it seems like it's a long ways off.

I definitely get post-race blues, particularly if the race went well.  And after a long or successful race, it’s perfectly appropriate to take some time to reflect and enjoy your accomplishment.  This is different than recovery time required physically, which is directly related to the run distance more than anything else, not to mention your particularly recovery capabilities.

One thing I’ve learned this offseason is that I need a race to keep me motivated.  I’ve always had a half marathon on the early spring calendar and just having that on the calendar gave me the needed mojo to get out the door in the cold/snow/sleet/etc and also helped me lose my winter coat and keep the diet relatively modest.  Everyone may have a different strategy which works, but I need to get a race on the books to have a target.  Since I love the training as much (or more) as the racing, this realization surprised me since I thought the training alone would be enough motivation.

Since you are in the midst of the season, I‘d suggest finding a race just going for it.