Experior and Slornow's Spring/Summer Mentor Group-CLOSED (Page 15)

Chilly here as well....55 with winds out of the NNW at 17mph....BRRR!  I don't really enjoy riding in the wind but going to head out for my brick. Hour ride and 30 min. run.  At least its sunny.

Randy

Pretty good workout this morning. Solid bike and run....hopefully an indicator of a good race next weekend.  Where did the weekend go?

Randy 

Alright, its Sunday night and I do not want to go to work tomorrow! My allergies have been killing me all weekend. This has been the worst in at least 10 years. Eyes itchy, Nose runny and sneezing ... Anyway ... lots to talk about! 

I started off Saturday with the Warrior Dash which I ran/walked with my wife and two other couples. The wives haven't been running in a long time so we made it a run/walk. We had a blast but I have to say the obstacles this year were not as good as last years. All I can say ... I will never do another mud run with a Triathlon back to back. The reason you might ask? 

Once we finished the race and we got hosed down we enjoyed a few beers and a big ole turkey leg. Beer and Racing don't mix ... when I woke up this morning I felt a little sluggish. 

Got up at 5am, had a coffee, slimfast, dark chocolate oatmeal and a banana. Got through my race checklist packed the bike in my friends car and off we went. I filed a Race report for the triathlon ... go check it out if you have a minute. 

Today's triathlon brought up a very interesting question for me. I can't seem to figure out pre- and race nutrition. I have yet to complete a triathlon without stomach cramps when I start the run. Any ideas? What is your pre- and race nutrition for all distances? My next race is a Olympic Distance Triathlon with OWS. So far I have only completed Sprint triathlons and I think nutrition will be a big part of performance in the longer distance races. 

Nice race report.  Sounds like the swim was a bit of a mess.  Race nutrition depends on each individual.  Frankly, in shorter races we can all probably make it through on water alone. Problem may be in taking in too many calories on the bike?  I always try to stop drinking 10-15 minutes before the end of the bike.  That way I will not have a bunch of stuff sloshing around when I head out on the run.  On shorter runs maybe stick with water only?  Practice some different things during training and hopefully you will find the solution.

Randy

Congrats on the race!

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal.  Hmm.  I think you just added a new temptation to my already very long list.  I'm not sure I thank you for that.

Nutrition:  The bottom line is that it is very dependent on the individual and therefore requires a lot of experimentation.  There are very few absolutes.  BUT:  I feel that many people (raises hand...) make the following mistakes:

1.  Too much prior to the race.  Many people feel that they need to 'load up' prior to the race, with the result that they just have a load of goop sitting on their gut during the race.  No fun.

2.  Too much during the race.  You absolutely cannot replace what you burn during the race, and yet I see people determining their nutrition 'needs' by calculating how much they burn.  Big mistake, unless you enjoy puking.

3.  Blame nutrition for what is in fact a problem with fitness.  As important as nutrition is, when we blow up during a race, it is almost always due to going too hard for our fitness rather than a problem with nutrition.  Excellent nutrition makes the difference between a great day and an OK day.  It doesn't typically make the difference between a great day and walking the last 10 miles of your IM.  That was probably fitness.

To your specific question, for an Olympic race, you should be able to get away with a bottle or less of sports drink on the bike (and maybe a gel during the ride), and taking a gel or sports drink about half way through the run.  I would consider that a maximum.  In fact in Oly races I've taken in about half a bottle of sports drink in the bike and a gel at the start of the run, and otherwise just water.

I'd really encourage you to experiment with taking in very little nutrition during training and see how it goes.  It will feel very odd if you are used to taking in a lot, but I'm convinced that once you get used to the feeling of small doses of nutrition, you'll go faster.  I'm talking here about Oly or shorter races.  HIM and IM are somewhat a different story.

Hi All,

Woah, what a weekend.  Too much jammed in.  But wanted to give a quick update on today's race.  Angels' Race - everyone races in remembrance of a loved one.  Always great support from the town and volunteers.  Just a great way to start the race season.

So weather was my main concern today, but we dodged the worst of it.  Just a cool drizzle to deal with and not much wind.  Not that I like racing in 50 degree drizzle, but it beats what was to come.  Later in the day it was *really* nasty with driving winds and rain. 

Anyway, had a very good race - 2nd in AG (out of 17).  Been knocking at the door in this one for a few years and finally broke through.  Also was a little faster than last year, which, given the weather conditions, really pleased me.  Overall, times were slower than last year, and I was higher in the overall standings... at age 52, can't beat that!

Anyway, race report here.

Supposedly, off to Florida tomorrow am, but between the weather and my preparation, I'm leaning toward waiting until Tuesday.

Stu

Great performance Stu!!!!

It's a back to work Monday.  Started off the day with a trainer ride.  Run planned after work.  Good day to all!!  Jim

Michael,

1.) You might be right in that I am eating too much. I usually eat the Dark Chocolate Oatmeal, drink a slimfast, eat a banana and have a coffee. The next time I will leave the coffee and only have the oatmeal and a banana.

2.) For a sprint distance triathlon I usually only drink water during the race since its only a little over an hour. No sports drink or gels at all.

3.) I don't think its fitness related in my case. I do a lot of bricks but its always later in the day and the transition period is a little longer. To give you an example ... a few weeks ago we went to swim for 1500 meters, got out of the water dried up and walked to the car. We grabbed the bike and went out for a hard 24 miles bike ride, came back to the car to put the bikes away and went for a fast pace (for me) 3 mile run after. The only thing that was different from a race is that the transition period was longer and it was a good 3 hours after breakfast and before lunch ... :-)

We are going to do another brick in about 2 weeks (as close to race conditions as possible). I will play around with nutrition until then and see what I can come up with. Results to follow ... :-)

Day 3 of allergy hell today ... no starting off to great ... !

Congrats on the race Stu

-Steve

Nice race ... !

good job on those who recently raced. great reading your experiences.  

I haven't even tried doing a brick workout yet. guess I better do one soon.  still working on getting consistent in working out.  Coming to this thread and reading what you all do, is a good kick in my pants to drag my feet to the gym.  once there, i am glad i did. so thanks for that push.

this weekend we had temps in the 90's but it felt 100 because it's the first warm temps we had and definitely not used to it.  now it's back to the 70's.  i really dislike this time of year because of the up and down in weather.

Thanks everyone! 

Also something very cool yesterday was after the race I was hanging around for a bit and met Steve Bozeman.  Who is Steve Bozeman you might ask (I did).  Turns out he is the world record holder for most double Ironman distances completed.  He's 67 now, been doing triathlons since 1979 and is planning on doing another double Ironman in a few weeks.  So yes, Rene, apparently 52 is not old :-)  I also have to admit, I felt like a total weenie chatting with Steve, who, I found out later, as a Marine in Vietnam, was awarded two purple hearts.  Super nice guy too.  Sometimes I am just awed and humbled by what people can accomplish.  What an inspiration.

Stu

Stu 52 is NOT OLD!!! Or at least I hope not as I'll be 54 next month. This past weekend my gf and I teamed up in a local Du that my local cycling club hosted. I ran the 2.25 mi. run leg, she rode the 6.6 mile bike, and then I ran the 2.25 again. We didn't place but had a great time. I averaged 8 min miles which is good for me, not so good on my calves as I'm finding out. Anytime I sit for a bit and get up again my calves do not want to cooperate.

The cycling club I belong to puts on a 230+ mile event in June from South Texas to San Antonio over 2 days so more than likely I'm going to be working mostly on high bike mileage. I'll still run and swim but that will take a backseat to cycling. Signing up for the Tri Rock Austin that occurs on labor day, will probably do the olympic.

Enjoying the discussion on nutrition as I hear thats the 4th discipline in Triathlon.

Stu-great job on the race.  Enjoyed the race report. Safe travels to Florida.

Dewayne-nice job in the duathlon. Solid run splits.  Be careful with those calves they seem to take awhile to recover.

Randy

Well I made it through my longish swim at lunch despite a complete lack of motivation.  I knew it would be tough and that didn't help my attitude.  Unfortunately, it was not one of those days when things magically come together for a great workout.  It wasn't bad but I didn't feel very smooth or fast.  I heard someone describe Charles Barkley's golf swing as a man in a phone booth full of bees trying to swing a golf club.............that's how I felt in the pool today.

An easy hour on the bike tonight.

Randy

Quoted for truth.  I would say that at least 95% of the time (probably more) when I don't want to do a workout, I'm very glad, afterwards, that I did, and I feel better.

Stu -- great job in the race.  And everyone, in case you didn't notice, Stu had a fastest-in-age-group bike split as well!

Dewayne -- Nice job in the Du.  I think it can be very liberating in a way, and also very informative, to be very focussed on a single sport for a while.  I did that with running last summer and really learned a lot about myself and about running.  Enjoy your focus.

Randy -- well, at least you got it done!  Despite not being ready for my HIM swim in (less than) two weeks, I ditched my swim today...  It's one of the reasons I keep (re)considering getting a coach.  Having a coach would put extra pressure on me to get it done when I'm contemplating not getting it done.

After a medium-distance but hard-effort ride tomorrow, I'll begin tapering for the HIM (yes Randy, actual tapering!) on bike and run (last long run was today), but not swim (I've got nothing to taper from there...).

Have a great evening everyone!  Great questions and discussions going on here -- keep it coming!