Disturbed275's Mentor Group - CLOSED! (Page 14)

Uh, ok. . . I ended up skipping my swim yesterday, and also did not hop no the trainer   I didn't get off work until about 7 (first day back at work after taking a 4 day weekend = lots of stuff to do!) and didn't get home until close to 8.  By then I was tired and hungry so I just had dinner and went to bed.

I was able to get a good hour in on the trainer this morning, though!  I'm supposed to lift tonight with my lifting buddy as well. 

I'm sure you'll do great this weekend   Racing is definitely more mental than physical (as long as you've put in the training), so as long as you focus on what you have to do now rather than your bad experiences in the past, you should be fine!

Thanks!  Yeah, now I'm second guessing myself whether I could have run the whole second half, even the hills, without walking!  I was definitely expecting needing a whole week to recover, and I was fine after 2 days.  I even feel like I could run again (but I won't, since I REALLY need to work on my bike/swim).  Hrm. 

No regrets though - since it was my first one, I wasn't sure what to expect so maybe I took it easier than I could have.  Better a fast recovery than a slow one!

Yeah, it's REALLY hilly.  I keep going back and forth about wanting to do the race since it's such a tough course!  Plus that was my first tri ever last year, so it'll mark my first tri-anniversary.  But for my current goals it's probably best to just volunteer at the race and do some longer runs & rides while I'm there. 

That's an interesting question, and I'm not really sure the answer!  I'm just restarting swimming after a long break (last time I swam was August, oops) so it'd be interesting to see where I'm going to start out and how long it'll take me to get back up to speed.

I had the feeling that would be the answer....Guess I should try to build my distance with that speed simultaneously.  Ought to make for some *fun* times at the pool for me...(NOT)

One of the changes I made to my stroke was speeding it up to eliminate "dead spaces."  It took a few weeks to get used to, but worth it once I did.

Okay guys, my flight to San Francisco leaves in a few hours.  I'll try and touch base when I can, but I'm not real sure what my internet access will be like.  Good luck to all of our racers this weekend!  Everyone else have a great few days of training! 

Best of luck at Alcatraz, Neal!!!  Hope you have safe travels and a great time during the race.

G'morning

This morning I swam for the first time since my last tri last summer!  It was just a short swim, so I'm not sure if I've lost any speed or endurance (not that I was ever particularly fast or had particularly high swim endurance to start with).  I think I'll ease back into swimming by doing a few short swims at a time before building up to a full-on workout.

Good luck at Alcatraz Neal!

Best wishes for a great race Neal!  Looking forward to the race report...

Question for the group, and I know part of it is for me to figure out.

When I did my brick Tuesday night, I did a 15 mile bike ride for 50 minutes (not too easy, definitely not hard) and then was gonna try to do a 6 mile run.  Once I got 4 miles I did a little walking, then picked it up again, then at 4.63 (60 minutes), my body just shut down and said no more. 

I took 3 cliff shot blocks before I started the bike, then again at about 45 minutes into bike, then again at about 30 minutes into run.  I had gatorade on the bike, but apparently didn't drink enough, and had the fuel belt with 2 bottles of gatorade as well.

Any thoughts on why I bonked?  Or just try it again tonight and increase liquids?  Or is it my body getting used to bricks and learning how to handle it.

GO NEAL!

You may need to increase liquids/ electrolytes during the ride...perhaps a little sooner than you did the other day?  You don't want it sloshing in the belly but you need enough to keep going without dehydration.

Good luck at Alcatraz, Neal!

How was your diet throughout the day?  Were you eating/hydrating enough during the day before your workout?  When you say your body shut down, do you mean it was an energy thing?  Or something more muscular, like cramping?

I've been reading up a lot on sports nutrition, and it seems like your muscles should hold enough glycogen (usable carb calories) in your muscles for up to 3 hrs of hard work.  But that's assuming your "glycogen stores" are full.  If you haven't been eating enough during the day, that might be the problem?  Or, if you didn't drink enough during the day, you could have started dehydrated and got worse during the workout.  For me, 9 shot blocks plus 2 bottles of gatorade sounds like it should have been more than enough nutrition & hydration to get you through your workout.

It was an energy thing.  I think I maybe drank 1/2-1 bottle of gatorade total.  When I bonk like that, I know it is time to just give it up, because my HR will just shoot up.  I am an athena, so I do probably try to plan more energy gels/bars/drinks than most.

I always do worry about drinking too much on the bike and then having issues because of it on the run.

I am going to go do a trail run tonight and see how that goes.  Without the bike, I should be able to do the run I want to.

So it was 50 minutes on the bike followed by 60 on the run?  Forget needing more nutrition than most because you're an Athena - I'm 4'10", 105# and I would need more than a little Gatorade, especially if I hadn't prehydrated.  For me personally, I would have needed about 1 liter of Gatorade and a Gu for that.   I myself taper the hydration when getting at the end of my bike, but hydrate really well at the beginning and bring a Fuel Belt on the run.

Cool, hopefully it won't be an issue again! 

I didn't mean to imply earlier that you had *too much* nutrition, since that all varies on the individual.  I just meant that the shot bloks and gatorade seemed like enough to keep you from bonking, which is why I was thinking you may not have eaten enough calories or drank enough water during the day. 

But yeah, if you only drank a 1/2-1 bottle of gatorade, it sounds like you were probably dehydrated on the run.  If I don't pre-hydrate enough for my runs, it usually ends badly, especially if I've been biking beforehand

Neal, good luck at your race this weekend!!!

In regards to your brick on tuesday, I have to agree with everyone. I think you were probably dehydrated when it came to the run because of the amount you might have drinken on the bike. For the total mount of activity you did on tuesday, 1hr 50 mins,  a half to a full bottle doesn't sound like quite enough depending on the bottles size, i.e. 16, 32, or more oz. I would definitely try to change that for the next brick, try taking in more on the bike and then more earlier on in the run. Sometimes trial and error is the only way to find that perfect balance you need.

Good luck on your trail run tonight! Relax and enjoy it!

It's real quiet in here today, so I'll get things started.

How's everyone's Friday going?  It's a beautiful if cool day up here in Lake Placid - makes it hard to want to work.

Did an easy 3.25 mile run this morning.  Now resting for tomorrow's big brick: 3:45 bike (mostly at race pace) followed by 30 minute run with my Half-IronSherpa checking on me every ten miles or so and then escorting me on the run.  I'm doing it on the actual course so I'll be able to get a feel for what a realistic bike goal is (since it can vary so much depending on the course).

What's on your guys' plate for today/this weekend? 

G'morning!

Sounds like you have a fun weekend planned!  (Lol, since when did a long bike/run brick sound like fun?) 

I have a swim planned for tonight after work.  Then I'm either hopping on the bike trainer while watching movies with some friends; or going out to a bar run with some other friends.  But since I just had my marathon and want to recover from running for a bit, I might opt for the bike/movies then maybe meet up with my other friends when they get to their last bar.

Tomorrow is the first Saturday morning since mid-December that I don't have a schedule long run planned with my marathon training group (besides my race last weekend and maybe a couple of runs canceled in Jan due to below freezing temps).  Not sure what else is going on the rest of this weekend, since I basically set up this week to be recovery.  Maybe I'll got to yoga or get a massage!