Fred Doucette's Half-Iron and Ironman Focused Group! -CLOSED! (Page 12)

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Quite a night!

ETA: I don't have much experience with BT mentor groups, so I'm fine with whatever you decide regarding adding others.

Edited by wiky 2010-12-31 9:20 AM

I agree that adding to many more would change the group. I don't know what the magic number is but I probably wouldn't add more then two more if I had to make the decision. Glad I don't have to! 

Hey Rene, I know this is old but, THANKS, I really appreciate it.Other thoughts from reading all:A shout out to you Steve on the weight loss you have achieved... I'll bet you are an inspiration to people in your life and more than you even realize.Rusty, you did fall off the wagon! But I know your coach wants the cold hard numbers, so ok!Does tri define me: No, I feel most defined by my faith, role as a wife/mother, and job. (I'd be lying, though, if I did not admit I was REALLY into this tri thing right now !! And, my whole life, I have had a deep addiction to moving/exercise and anyone that knows me even a little calls me "active". In summary, when I'm ninety I won't be a triathlete but you can bet I'll be the first in the nursing home to head to water aerobics or what have you.The nutrition talk, let's get it going! Ok my pointed question here: many of us are getting up at crack of dawn to do a not long ride, let's say one hour and I am not eating anything before that, just some water with my new best friend, nuun, on the bike. The other day I did that and then decided to go swimming.....not good, needed a gu or something. Do you eat anything at all before those first in the morning sessions? Oh Fred I feel your post call pain! This group is super (the way it is) but it hard to say no to others, right! I don't know, maybe go to an even 20??? Kate

Whew, Fred - how do you record that workout in your log???

That's a lot of happy new years to come for those families. It is cool to have a birthday on a holiday; I was born on Mother's Day (some mother's day gift, huh?) and it is still kinda fun when the dates coincide. I do have a few friends that are Christmas-time babies however, and they DO get a little whiney. Speaking of birthdays, we ALL get one tomorrow thanks to the USAT - so happy birthday everybody! I am aging up to 45-49, so mine is extra special - anybody else moving on up?



Fred: I am new to both BT and the mentor group thing, so I too defer to your experience with it. I know when I work with students in a seminar-style (discussion oriented) course, 15 is about the maximum that works.

Edited by TankBoy 2010-12-31 10:04 AM

Brittany and others: a couple of days ago when Fred asked for future topics, Nutrition was at the top of my list. Of all the things in this sport, I believe nutrition is probably the most personal issue we have to figure out. I think for me I am pretty square up to the HIM distance, but completely clueless when it comes to IM, so I am looking for all the advice I can get. I have a relatively cast-iron constitution, and for the most part eat/drink off the race course if nutrition is provided. I only carry enough supplies on the bike and run in case I miss a hand off along the way.

For our regular meals, I think we eat very well. I am our primary cook. For our regular meals we eat no processed food, and nothing out of a box - I prepare everything from scratch. About 80% of our food stock (vegetables, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy) is produced locally, and most of that is organic. We like eating seasonally. The catch to all that is 100% of my training/racing nutrition is processed: gels, bars, and fluids. I am pretty cool with that, as my training nutrition works very well. But I wouldn't mind some suggestions on less processed alternatives? Also, I just have to think IM is way different from other races in this category. What are some of the things you all do/plan to do differently as you step up your race distance?

Current Training Nutrition:
I ALWAYS eat a good balanced breakfast before any ride 3 hours or longer, and have found extra-important for me to get in some good proteins before. I use a pre-workout drink and gel just before rolling out, then a gel every 30 minutes and 3 electrolyte tabs at 1:15 in and then every hour afterward. I really like HEED, but have recently switched over Powerbar Endurance as that is what will be on the IM branded courses this year. I only drink when I feel like it, which is small sips pretty often. On rides over 3 hours, I will usually pick up a bottle or two of plain water. I also might throw in a banana every now and then. This works great on ride up to six hours and leaves me with enough juice to run afterward. I try to jam some liquid protein/carb mix (BIG fan of chocolate milk!) immediately afterward.

for long runs, I use straight water, start with a gel, and consume 1 gel every 45 minutes and electrolytes every hour. Same protein/carb mix at the end.

For the swim, I get some electrolytes in me at the beginning and fluid up beforehand. I keep plain water on the deck for between intervals, but every couple of weeks I do a long straight-through swim taking no fluids, just because I don't think there are water stations on the swim in IM distance races.

Edited by TankBoy 2010-12-31 10:53 AM

As far as nutrition goes, I'm starting to figure out what works for me. On my longer rides, I could tell at about 1:30 I would start to lose strength and mental focus. I just want to stay ahead of the curve on calories and give my body what it needs to perform. I have been using the mini cliff bars that I get at Walmart. There are 18 in a box and they're $8.50 so a 2 1/1 hour ride will cost me about $2.

I also try to eat a half a bagel with either cream cheese or peanut butter to get something in me before I go. The nutrition from the bottle has been something that I haven't done much of yet. I have used HEED but that is it so far. I know a lot of people use Infinit and like it.

I tried the no calories thing on rides over an hour and I always ran into issues so I just stay proactive about it. A lot of my friends who have done IM actually have a written nutrition plan that they tape on their bike to mentally keep them in the nutrition game.

As far as adding new members, I thin 2 more would be ok but too large of a group become too impersonal.


I hope everyone has a very Happy New Year.

Todd

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Ditto.  I'd also be interested to hear what others use.  I'm basically gels+GE/Perform and thinking of switching to something else, but not sure what.

Speaking of the New Year...

I've decided to go alcohol free this New Year's Eve (only because I had enough earlier this holiday season!) and wonder how everyone finds alcohol impacts their training/mood?  Before getting serious about triathlon I consumed more than my share but, like a lot of other triathletes I've talked with, I've cut back quite a bit on my alcohol consumption as my training has increased.  The primary reason is I've found that a couple drinks has much more of an impact on me than it used to.  Anyone else notice this?  Maybe it's obvious that things should work this way, but I'd hoped that I'd be able to handle more alcohol rather than less now that I'm more fit!  Definitely not.

Right now I have a pork shoulder roasting with sweet potatoes, apples, and a tasty little adobo sauce made with the last peppers for the season from our garden, and I just sat down with a Gibson prepared with Hendricks Gin - Yum! I have to agree with you though - if I had a run scheduled tomorrow morning, I would DEFINITELY skip the cocktail. Normally I am a two drink per night person. I will often make a martini while I am preparing dinner, and have a glass of wine or a beer or two with the meal depending on what we are having. The trouble with this routine is that I have gotten to where I cannot lose that last 5 pounds to get down to race weight - while I know it is all a calories in/calories out thing, I have found the easiest and quickest way to ditch those last 5lbs is to simply go cold-turkey for a few weeks. It is pretty silly, but I actually schedule it - and this year it will be a lot earlier in the season as I do not want to be trying to lose weight AND cram the calories I will need when in the thick of IM training. I am clobbered at work from January 11 until February 15, so that is my window of opportunity.

'Til then - cheers everybody - here is to a safe, happy and INJURY FREE New Year!

Not sure if you'd consider it "processed" or not, but honey is supposed to be very similar to gels in terms of simple/complex carb ratios and a good gel substitute.  I wanted a quick pick-me-up before a run the other day and just took a shot.  The run went well.  Gels are certainly more convenient for during exercise use, but I have heard of taking honey packets too. 

Ive posted my 2010 yearly totals in my blog in case anyone is interested.


I struggle with eating well on a daily basis. Especially when IM training ramps up. Cooking and packing most of my meals once a week is the only way that I've found to stay on track. Does anyone else have any other ideas?


Edited by Catwoman 2010-12-31 4:51 PM

It's a processed alternative, but an alternative nonetheless.  I'm a member of the Infinit bandwagon.  I haven't done anything longer than 2.5 hrs w/ it, but I like it, it's easy on my stomach and it's easier for me to remember to down a bike bottle per hour than remember gels and salt tabs at every 30/45 etc.  Less mess too.  I like to take gels to the pool when I swim or pound one every once in awhile before a run but that's about it. 

Edited by shmeeg 2010-12-31 4:58 PM

So, I got my last workout in for the year a little earlier today - I was supposed to do a 1 hour over-gear ride on the trainer followed by 30 minutes of strength/plyometrics, but the weather was so nice today (and gonna be crappy tomorrow) that I flipped days - today I did a 15 minute warm-up followed by a 10k step-up (3k zone 2, 3k zone 3, 2k zone 4, 2k all-out). The 310xt was awesome for this - just set the distance/ hr zone for each lap and it told me what to do. I REALLY like the vibrating alert - but wish I had thought to turn of the audible alerts. It "beepity booping" at me every 30 seconds on that last 2k as I drifted in and out of the bottom of zone 5 was down-right annoying. Or maybe I should just learn to suck it up and run harder. At any rate - thanks again everybody for the advice on that one.

Well here it is, another year in the books. The first 10 months of this year was mostly maintenance, so no a lot of big volume - I am looking interested to see what next year after following a 12 month structured plan. And to give credit where credit is due, I stole the yard work thing from KathyG - a while back she stressed how important it is to log other things in your life as well, just to help maintain some perspective.

December's Totals:

Bike:	20h 06m 20s  - 338.1 Mi
Run:	12h 58m 25s  - 83.1 Mi
Swim:	09h 55m 00s  - 24100 Yd
Strength Training:	4h 00m
Sports Massage	2h 00m
Energy Gels Consumed:	34
Yard Work:	4h 00m
Books Read:	3.5
Martinis (Gibsons, actually):	15 (like golf, sometimes a lower number is better)
Mani/Pedis:	1

2010 Totals:

Bike:	183h 57m 32s  - 3,452.0 Mi
Run:	120h 47m 43s  - 909.2 Mi
Swim:	62h 40m 41s  - 163,707.6 Yd
Strength Training:	10h 00m
Sports Massage	18h 00m
Energy Gels Consumed:	214
Yard Work:	54h 00m
Books Read:	28
Martinis (Gibsons, actually):	108 (like golf, sometimes a lower number is better)
Mani/Pedis:	8

X2 on the Infinit.

X3 on Infinit  thought I am still testing it out.

Randy, I hope your son arrives safe and sound.


Final training day of the year:
1:45 on the trainer
half hour on the treadmill
 2400 yards in the pool (was supposed to do that yesterday).

Heading to the recliner to relax!

Happy New Year Everyone!



Edited by Kath2163 2010-12-31 6:25 PM

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Couple of things.

I'm interested in trying Infinit. I take it that it is just a dry mix that you put with water. Is it just one flavor or flavorless? How many calories are in a 20 oz bottle. The HEED that I use has about 120 calories per packet.

What do salt tablets do for you? I hear people talking about them but I've never used them. Are they just an electrolyte replacement?

As far as alcohol goes, I'm a 2-3 beer guy every few weeks. The only thing I notice is that the next day I'm dehydrated. I don't ever really get drunk or even buzzed. I would say that I'm a on occasion social drinker.

2010 Yearly totals for my first year training:

Bike - 2040 miles

Run - 557 miles

Swim - 88,000 yds


I know my numbers could have been a lot higher but I did take a lot of time off this year from serious training. After my HIM in October was canceled, I was kind of lost and didn't train at a dedicated level. With my two HIM's this year, I'm going to have some great numbers in 2011 for a non-IM person.

Happy New Year everybody.

For long rides (50+ miles) and racing I totally go with Infinit. The great thing about it is that you can customize it specifically to you. They have 3 different flavors, but you designate the intensity, the calories, whether you want protein, caffeine, etc. They are also extremely user friendly when it comes to customer service. You can do just one bottle of your mix for whatever calories you've put together in your mix OR you can concentrate it. I usually will put 3-3.5 hours in a bottle.  Then I just have to sip a bit from it and then take some water.  Works great for my HIM and IM racing and I haven't suffered any gut problems in race from it (had some issues in my HIM this year, but it started before I took in the infinit---chances are, it was Galveston sea water...yeah, nasty).  Also, performance members on BT get a discount, so make sure you look that up if you try it. 

Happy 2011 everyone.  

We're heading over to a friend's house to celebrate and watch some football.  Really looking forward to the TCU/Wisconsin game later today.  I'll be rooting for the Badgers, but it will be interesting to see how TCU stacks up (TCU is a 3 point favorite).