Team No DNF - FULL (Page 14)

Awesome bike!  I wish you two many happy and fast miles together.

Ooh, so very pretty. Congratulations!

Tri Camp was great.  3 hr ride Sat - and more than half of it was really mean hills. It's ski hill country so that should give you some idea. Coming down the one big hill towards the end was awesome.
Then went for a 1 hr run today. Wicked tired now.

Great bike by the way. Looks great.

Fi

Pretty sweet looking ride.  We should all be so lucky.    Looks fast just sitting there.  Have fun with it. 

Sounds like a good time.  I did a close to 3 hour ride, which is about double my previously longest ride.  Plenty of hills, both up and down.  

Hope everyone had a good training weekend.  I didn't get much done training, other than my 3 hour ride, but I did manage to spend some good quality time with the family. 

Hey,
Do you think I should enter in the Athena category? I'm over 150 and even my goal weight is around 150-154lbs.

Fi

Hi all!
i ran my first 5K road race today and it felt great! The beginning was a little scary (there were over 200 people shoved in a small area). I ran my first mile in 8:56 and my overall was 28:11. My goal was to finish in under 30mins and so I'm thrilled that i was able to do that. I just kept finding someone to help me keep pace (I tend to slow down for really no reason) and when they got to slow I would pass them. hope everyone is enjoying the day!

Sorry. tRYING to post with a fussy baby on my lap, gumming up the mouse cord.

Edited by trysprintolympic 2009-05-25 11:44 AM

That is AWESOME! Good work and congratulations!! It must feel so great, especially after being so sick.

Fi, aren't you also over 6' tall? I think you'd probably be better matched in Age Group, but you should register wherever you feel most comfortable!

Edited by trysprintolympic 2009-05-25 11:43 AM

Jenna, yes I'm 6ft. I guess I'm wondering if I have a better competitive chance in Athena. For a better place.

I'd love to see a video of you. You have the fitness, just not the form is what it sounds like. I could maybe pick out a couple things that are maybe holding you back in the swim. Hang in there, one of these days is WILL click!

John

Yeah I was thinking the other day in the pool it would be good to have a video taken and upload it so we could get some video instruction.

Fiona

I was asking around about stroke and some people were telling me that people use all sorts of strokes during the swim and some mix it up. Maybe you could do a combo of both if you are still not feeling comfy with it when you do your first tri.

I don't think it matters what stroke you use but position yourself out of the main group so that people don't swim over you.

Went for a ride this morning, sitting bones seriously sore from weekend ride. Turned back after 5 mins as I couldn't even sit on the seat. But on my way back (to switch to a run session) I found it ok and continued on the ride. Did 43 mins in the end. Might grab the gel cover for my next ride on Sat.

Fi

Unless you're getting rashes or sores, don't worry about the gel cover. Your sit area will adapt. The less weight and movement you have on the bike the better.

John

Thanks, I'll suck it up then.

Ok, lets talk a little bit about nutrition, and start with the basics.

Your body stores excess calories as fat. The reason for this is you get 9 calories per gram of fat, versus 4 calories per gram of CHO (carbohydrate) and protein. So, any excess calories get converted to fat for storage.

When reading labels, pay no attention to the "Lo-fat", "Lite", etc. claims that many of these products make. Due to the efforts of the lobbyists, the labeling is done off of the percentage of the fat in a food BY GRAMS, not by calories. I think if the grams of fat are 10% or less of the grams in a serving, it's classified as low fat.

So, if you have a food that is 100 grams per serving, and 10 grams of fat, it can be considered low fat. BUT, if you look at the label and those 100 grams in one serving have 180 calories, and 10 grams of fat is 90 calories, then it is 50% of your calories per serving are from fat. That's bad.

Also, look at what a serving is, and how many servings in a package. I like Chef Boyardee ravioli. If you look at the label, it says something like 180 calories/serving, 30 calories from fat. Pretty good, right? But, I eat a whole can, which is actually 2 servings. If you don't realize that, and don't calculate 360 calories, you're sneaking in an extra 180 calories. Do that every day for two weeks, and you've gained a pound and you don't know why.

You hear all these percentages, "60% calories from CHO, 10% from fat, 30% from protein", etc etc etc. All of that is highly individualized. Keep your percentage of calories from fat at 20% or below, and get the rest of your caloric intake from a variety of good food sources, and you'll be fine. If you go 40% CHO/40% protein and you feel fatigued, up the CHO a bit and reduce the protein.

Find your own balance.

As far as losing weight, it's a very simple equation. If calories out > calories in, you will lose weight. The biggest stumbling block in weight loss is patience. People want it gone and they want it gone now. 500 calories of deficit per day will result in approx. 1 lb of weight loss a week, which is perfectly fine. That will result in 52 lbs a year of healthy, sustainable weight loss. Any of these "30lbs in 30 days" claims are crap. Most of it will be water weight, and the rest (if it happens) will be unsustainable, and unhealthy. The body NEEDS fat for cushioning, nerve conduction, vitamin transport (There are certain vitamins that are fat soluble, and if you have no fat intake, there is no way for them to be transported into the body)

A few #'s to remember:

1000 calories - That is about the max amount your body can process at a single meal. Any more than that and your body tends to store it.
3500 calories - About 1 lb of fat. So an extra 3500 calories either more or less in a period of time will give you about a pound of gain/loss.
80/20 - As long as 80% of your meals are good, it's ok to have that other 20% in "cheat" foods. Obviously a 100% diet would be ideal, but cheating some is ok, and actually good for you, so that you avoid those craving binges.

There is an absolutely GREAT book, "Endurance Sports Nutrition", I think the author is Ederle or something like that. Gives really good advice/planning/info about how to eat to fuel good workouts.

John

P.S. Milk is the PERFECT post workout food. Gives you a 4:1 CHO/Protein mix which is the "golden ratio" of refueling, gives you the benefits of dairy, etc. Mix a little chocolate into it and asbolutely YUMMY!! 2% is fine, skim is like drinking colored water.

John,

What are your thoughts on nutrition before, during and after a workout or race?  In particular, items such as Gatorade or equivalent, Gu, water, post workout / recovery items. 

I have 2 good friends, the same ones that got me into this sport, that are using products from Hammer Nutrition.  They have suggested to me that I should buy some of the products (Heed and Recoverite) and begin to use them.  Having never taken any nutrition supplements such as these, are they worth the money?  Example:  Heed vs. Gatorade.  I can pick up Gatorade basically anywhere, but Heed is only available at certain places or on line.  They're both electrolyte sports drinks.  Is there a difference between them that would be noticable for any of us? 

On nutrition. One thing that came out of my triathlon camp was to really watch the amount of carbs you're getting during a session (race or training).
The rule of thumb was that if you're going to be out there for an hour plus then to start taking in carbs about 40 mins in. This is all personal though and you really have to practice it in training.

So if you're drinking gatorade you're getting the carbs you need so don't add anything to it and don't drink it with gu or cliff bars. If you are going to use gu or cliff bars then drink water (a must with these products). And the more fluid a product is the easier it is to digest. That said I had cliff bar and water on my 3 hr ride and found it really good. I'm going to try the shots with water on my next long ride.

Fi

Best answer is, it depends. Me personally, I can't eat ANYTHING within about 1 1/2 hours pre workout. Everyone's stomach shrinks during exercise, mine does so pretty aggressively, so anything I eat threatens to yurp back up later. During any workout less than an hour, I don't even bring water usually. Hour or more, I drink Powerade zero, Zym tablets or gatorade. I've used GU, and it's ok. I like Infinit, even though I'm still trying to get a good formula down.

Post workout, I like to drink a big (12+ ounces) glass of milk, occasionally mixed with chocolate syrup. The "magical" ratio for a recovery drink is 4:1 CHO (carbs) to protein, and milk fits that perfectly. Plus it's cheap. If you can't get that right away (Far away from a fridge), then any of the recovery drinks are all right. You want to try to get your recovery drink/meal within 1/2 hour after finishing your workout. I usually work out in the later evening (it's HOT here!), so I have the milk and then a balanced dinner. As long as your basic nutrition is sound, you can dink around trying different things before and after workouts. If you have a PB&J sandwich, and then a suck workout, you know that maybe the sandwich isn't the best for you. Trial and error, there is no magical "formula" (I wish there were!!)

As far as a major difference, each of the electrolyte drinks are pretty much equal, they might have different formulations in some of the electrolytes, but they will all get the job done. I was on a trial for Zym tablets, and I'm really impressed with them. They are like alka seltzer in that they fizz and dissolve, and make an electrolyte drink out of water. The effervescence really makes it empty from my stomach quickly, which is a big issue for me. Again, trial and error, since your friends use them, beg a couple samples and try it out, see how your body reacts to it.

Edited to add: Zym is strictly electrolytes, so if you use it, you will need carbs from somewhere on longer workouts.

John

Edited by tkd.teacher 2009-05-27 10:51 AM

Good point. Overloading on carbs can be a problem. Like Fi points out, everything should be practiced and nailed down in training.

John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P31XJ16C4Ag&feature=related

Excellent shot of Ian Thorpe from the front in slow motion. If you've ever had trouble picturing what a high elbow catch looks like, that is it. Arms come straight out from the shoulders with no crossing over, hand never gets deeper than about a foot below the body, chest pushed towards the bottom, and the first motion of the hand is back, not down, just like climbing a ladder.

Pretty. It's SO pretty. (White men can't jump reference)

John

::tap, tap:: SCREEE!!!

Is this thing on? Hello??

Check 1 2, check 1 2...

John