grandhavenbill's group - FULL (Page 17)

Hey Gang,

Finally back "in country" and getting back into the swing.  Still suffering from jet lag and have had a housefull of family over the past couple of days.  Managed to squeeze in 40 mile ride yesterday morning.  Legs felt like cement, but it was nice to get back outside in some clean air!

My schedule for the summer is somewhat up in the air depending on how my shoulder reacts to my first tri (Lake Mac) and how long it takes me to recover from the 24 hour bike race.  I'm gonna bail on the Riverbank Run, I'm just not recovered as well as I'd hoped from the mary in early April.....So here's my tentative plan:

John,

Didn't realize your 1/2 was coming up so quickly.  Are you getting a good handle on nutrition/hydration?  Be sure and give both good tests in the HOT weather.  What works during cooler temps doesn't always set well when it is farging hot and humid......

Plenty to focus on between now and then, but I have some thoughts for you on your mary training based on what I've learned (mostly the hard way.....).  More on that later.

Would love to, but I'm head for Tulsa that weekend for a nephew's high school graduation party.  Will have plenty of spare time so I'm taking the bike along!

88 degrees and 70% humidity?!?!?!?   Dude, that is August weather for us!  I'd melt if I tried to go in those conditions right now.....

Brad,

A couple of thoughts:

1) You definitely need to go into this distance well fueld.  However, nothing new on race day!  Go with what you know works from training and previous races.  Did you do any of your long runs in the morning? 

2) YMMV, but a heavy carb dinner the night before a race does NOT work for me.  Seems to just lay in my gut like a brick and make me feel real heavy/bloated during the race.  I prefer a light dinner with a lean protein (chicken, fish, etc.) with a high glycemic index carb (potato, rice, etc.)

3) Unless you like all of the flavors, I would carry my own "emergency" gels.  Seems like they always seem to hand me something nasty like banana or orange.  Yuck!

4) Don't ever pass a water station without drinking something, even if you aren't thirsty.  I'd recommend alternating between water and Gatorade (or whatever they are serving).

Hope this helps.  Let me know if you have additional questions.  Have a GREAT race!!

Hey John,

Just to clarify, by 50/50 I meant alternating between water and your sports drink (i.e. one bottle with water and one with sports drink), NOT diluting your sports drink.  The recommended concentration provides for optimum absorption/digestion.

Unfortunatly, none of my long runs were in the AM. Note to self, that was poor planning. So far, different goo flavors haven't bothered me, I know I like strawberry, which is what they have. Besides, this is the 25k open championship. If I'm going to keep up with the Kenyens, I can't be carrying any extra weight!
The not passing up water and gatoraide on the aid stations, that will probably be the hard one. I know I don't drink enough to begin with, the excitment of the race will probably make it worse. Good advice, I'll just force myself to do it.

I rode the course on my bike last night. They changed the course because of flooding, and it is substantially more hilly now. There is one beyotch of a hill about 3 miles in. Not looking forwad to that one. Other than that, if I can keep the IT band problems at bay until miles 10 or 11, I'm confident I can manage with a respectable time. If they start flarin up around 5 or 6 miles, I'm in for a rough one.
I'd like to finish in 8:15 to 8:30 pace, but anything under 9:00 I think I'd be happy. We'll see, I may have my tail between my legs on Monday reporting a 10:00 or 11:00 pace. Let's hope not!

Thanks guys, I like it. fish and rice/potatoes sounds great. I love deep fried Long John Silver Actually, I've got some salmon in the freezer from this fall, will go great with rice.

Unfortunatly, none of my long runs were in the AM. Note to self, that was poor planning. So far, different goo flavors haven't bothered me, I know I like strawberry, which is what they have. Besides, this is the 25k open championship. If I'm going to keep up with the Kenyens, I can't be carrying any extra weight!
The not passing up water and gatoraide on the aid stations, that will probably be the hard one. I know I don't drink enough to begin with, the excitment of the race will probably make it worse. Good advice, I'll just force myself to do it.

I rode the course on my bike last night. They changed the course because of flooding, and it is substantially more hilly now. There is one beyotch of a hill about 3 miles in. Not looking forwad to that one. Other than that, if I can keep the IT band problems at bay until miles 10 or 11, I'm confident I can manage with a respectable time. If they start flarin up around 5 or 6 miles, I'm in for a rough one.
I'd like to finish in 8:15 to 8:30 pace, but anything under 9:00 I think I'd be happy. We'll see, I may have my tail between my legs on Monday reporting a 10:00 or 11:00 pace. Let's hope not!

Absolutely, be sure and go for the supersize hush puppies too.  You will LOVE them around Mile 12! 

Just remember to run YOUR race.  Easier said than done, but don't go out too hard.   With the adrenaline flowing, and this is a BIG race, it is REAL easy to go out faster than you want/should.  Still kicking myself for doing this in Detroit a few weeks back.....

Regarding your IT band and the hills:  although it may be humbling, consider fast walking the big hills.  As I think you've discovered, hills and aggrevated IT bands DO NOT play nice together......A few extra seconds up/down the hills may very well save you several minutes on your overall time and a lot less pain.  I'm speaking from experience on this one....

Go rock this thing!!

OUTSTANDING job Brad, way to go!!  Tough course, less than perfect conditions, you kicked azz my friend.

How did the IT bands hold up?  Looking forward to the race report!!

Dude, a 3 hour walk thru Ikea AFTER a 25K??  You ROCK!  (Just putting yourself thru the Ikea visit is painful enough in my book....    )

You put your body thru some trauma yesterday, make sure you take the recovery seriously.  Think about icing that IT band at least twice today.  Also recommend a couple of nice, deep stretching sessions.  A gentle walk or a VERY EASY 20-30 minute spin on the bike (NO effort!!!) will help flush the nasties and jump-start the recovery process.  A good hot epsom salt soak in the jazuzzi tub also works well for me.  Of course, today is Mom's Day so you may have a hard time justifying that one....

Tomorrow, I'd suggest nothing more than a swim and a walk or easy spin.  Bottom line, be sure and listen to your body!!

Yep, know exactly what you mean about the endurance sport "brotherhood".  Not many outside of the community truly get it.....