Tri/tbay group closed (Page 17)

I sacked out on the couch involuntarily tonite.  Sat down after supper at about 6 to let my food settle before I went to swim and drifted off until 8:15.  Needless to say it was too late to get to the pool or out to the reservoir to do an open water swim.  So, I guess I'll take today off.  My legs are still sore anyway.  Tomorrow night I have a big MTB ride that serves as my hill/interval bike workout.  I'll have to get up and swim in the morning.   

Steven, don't worry about a missed workout, your body is still talking to you about Sunday. Time spent sleeping is recovery and repair. Your body is thanking you for taking the day off.

Mike Ola' glad you had a good time, but now its time to get busy. As you merge your training plans in the coming weeks, just remember time management is the most effective way to get it done. Plan on paper your workouts, but don't be afraid to change dates and mix it up if it just has to be that way and it will work out better for you. If you can follow the plans at 80% your doing great.

Have a good one.

Ah summer in the south. Most of my running is on treadmills through the week, and I'll get out on the weekends most of the time. Our pm thunderstorm pattern hasnt' really kicked in yet, but once it does it just about eliminates outside during the week. I know the you guys experience similar weather. I do know we get a bit more of sea breeze than I remember in Houston. Maybe since your closer to Galveston you get some breaK?

Where are you in your Mary plan and how many weeks were you going to allow for HIM training?

I think the two plans are going to work out really well. You've got experience with Marathon nutrition, now you should be getting a plan together for the HIM. I know I made a mistake last year, I had known all along to committ to a nutrition plan and stick with it. I deviated from the plan of attack on the bike and it set the remainder of the day back. Still finished, but not happy with the result. I'm looking forward to doing it again. I've got my eye on one later this year, if I can talk my wife into a road trip.

And on another note, and Mike I'm sure you can relate. I knew this year was going to be a lean competition year. Didn't really know why just had a sense I guess. Well I have figured it out. My oldest daughter had to stay in Boca for a summer class, now Boca Raton is not your usual affordable housing college town. Oh No. Full  Rent baby. So thats where my funds have gone just one months deposit for her and thats a season of tri's. Ehhh. I came to understand this just last week, and I thought well now I know why I did not plan on racing much this year. Steve, Olman your next. I'm getting antsy to compete, but the schedule just isn't cooperating. But I'm trying to get something going for the last part of the year. You guys understand this much better than a wife. LOL.

My body definitely knew what it was talking about Tuesday night.  That rest did me good on my Wednesday Night MTB Ride.  I did a prep ride for Saturday's endurance race (5 hour lap race).  3 hours on the bike covering 30+ miles of trails last night.  I have NEVER felt like I did last night on a bike.  I adjusted my calories, electrolytes and water intake up by 30% across the board to test it out.  Turns out I have been under fueling in every aspect.  I could have ridden for 12 hours.  Usually after my first lap on Wednesdays I am completely bonked and my calves cramp under heavy load or if I try to really spin the cranks fast up a hill.  That is typically an hour and a half of riding.  I doubled that last night and felt as fresh at the end as I did at the beginning. 

Each race this year I have learned valuable lessons.  I hope to keep incorporating them into better and better performances.  1st race 4+ minutes in transition, 2nd race 1 minute 30 secs.  1st race severe stomach pain from nutrition mistake, 2nd race no stomach issues.  Now if I can incorporate the hydration and proper electrolyte and calorie mix into future races I should see the results.  I didn't get it at first when Roy kept telling me this year will be a learning experience for me.  I just kept looking at each event as a swim, a bike and a run at distances that I thought were no sweat rather than looking at the event as a whole. 

Hey guys, I gave a grant presentation today at my local tourism bureau to get funds for my race.  Spoke for about 20 minutes and then answered questions for another 15.  They approved it!!  Wooo Hoooo!!  Now I have the funds to do the things I need to do to make this a 1st class EVENT, not just another race. 

Nice going Steven, I'm sure your proud. And I know you'll put together a first class event. Like Mike said a while back, be nice if we were close enough to help you out.

You might find this interesting, yesterday I swam in a pool that was close to 95degrees, and  just a few days ago you couldn't do a swim for fear of hypothermia. Go figure.

I'll be at swim meet this weekend, I'll check on you guys over the weekend sometime.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!

Happy Father's Day everyone!! 

I did an endurance MTB race yesterday.  There were two classes, 5 hour and 10 hour.  I did the 5 hour.  I led most of the day and was leading when I stopped, but a rule interpretation allowed another rider to put in one more lap and go from third to first.  The way the rule was explained at the beginning of the race was if you started a lap in the last thirty minutes you had to finish before the race time cutoff (within those thirty minutes) for the lap to count.  I came in on my final lap with 25 minutes left on the clock.  There was NO WAY I was doing another lap and I couldn't have finished it in 25 minutes anyway, so I pulled in to camp and started recovering.  Well then they announced that any lap started in the last thirty minutes had to be completed within 30 minutes, so essentially you could extend your five hours to five hours and 29 minutes if you left with one minute left on the clock (which is essentially what the guy did).  So he did one more lap than me but it took him an hour longer.  Oh well, I had a blast.  It was 87 and there was about 300 total yards of shade on the 4.3 mile course.  I did 11 laps in 4hr 21 mins.  There was not a flat spot on the course.  You were either climbing, descending, or weaving through technical sections the entire time.  The RD is an awesome guy with many years of event planning experience.  He has really helped me shorten the learning curve for planning my event. 

I used some Perpetuem during the race, but I really didn't like it.  I just didn't feel the energy like I do with gels.  I know they say anything over 2 hours and you should use SE or Perpetuem, but I'm going to test gels for five hours and see how it goes.  I used them for 3 hours yesterday and felt unstoppable. 

SE is Sustained Energy, also from Hammer.  It is the first version of 2+ hour formula they came up with.  Perpetuem was introduced as just as good but different.  I might experiment with SE or Perpetuem on one of the two centuries I have planned late July/early August.  I have never used HEED other than just an after workout drink.  What works for me is straight water, a Hammer gel every twenty minutes and Endurolytes two at a time every half hour or more if I feel a twinge.  With that combination I have felt absolutely unstoppable.  Any variation from that and I have failed miserably whether in training or racing.  I set my alarm on my watch for 20 minutes and unless I'm in a section where I cannot take a hand off my bar I eat religiously on that bell.  They recommend not using gels over two hours, but I have had no ill effects.  The only reason I switched over during the race yesterday was because I was in a "controlled" environment and figured I could get back to camp if something happened.  It essentially cost me the victory because I went from strong at 3 hours when I switched from gels to Perpetuem to virtually bonking at 3:45 after consuming two servings. 

I HAVE NOT COMPLETED ANYTHING OVER 2 HRS HOWEVER, I will say that a couple of carbs we sell (cluster dextrin and trehalose) which are, well, complex carbs, that are slowly absorbed - this gives a slow but constant carbo dose. They also have a low glycemic index, meaning that they cause very little insulin reaction/release.

There's a few products with simialr mixes.

Additionally, for electrolytes, most products use simple salts (Sodium or Potasium salts - just make sure you add some sea salt in your food).  This is not difficult to achieve, in fact, some artificial sweeteners (sacharin), although they are sweet in flavor, are actually salts.   it is not difficult, or should I say, the products we buy are not that high tech.

Good luck with your kitchen chemistry class.

Hello Boys,

Ah just a short work week this weekend, 20hrs on a pool deck, plus the real job. Oh well. Now just a couple of thoughts from your conversations over the weekend.

Mike I'm assuming that you had mixed up the proper calorie amount of the heed to take with you, I'v used heed and not had any issues with pre=bonk. I don't currently use it because I can't deal with sticky hands which I tended to get with using Heed. I guess its a golf thing, got to have clean hands. Perpeteum is good stuff, I guess I like that pancake mix taste. I'm currently using Powerbar's version of nutrition/electrolytes drink mix. Its pretty good and fairly cheap.

I (my opinion here) really think it is more a function for both of you guys of getting your weekly nutrition dialed in. Not just race day. Your both in a high training mode, burning a lot of caloiries, watching what you eat and probably a little fatigued most days. This is normal, but your really going to have to work on this area. What are you doing for recovery? I will use Whey protein on a nightly basis or post workout as a shake. I'll mix some with about 6-8 oz of water or low fat milk and drink it right before bed. Or on the weekends when my workouts are longer in duration I'll use it as a shake. Might be an area you will need to develop.

Steven I think you can probably see now its not like the old track days, when your were working shorter anaerobic events didn't need alot of nutrition to get you through the race you had already built the reserves, and you were accustomed to what your environment was. Now is a different cat, by the way thats a very impressive bike event you did, doubt I could do it myself.

                                                                                                                                             I don't know if I would get discouraged with the products  your using, but maybe make some adjustments in how your using it, and watch you nutrition during the workout week.  

And Olman, Happy Birthday!! And looks like your birthday tri was a success, good job.

Second 5k of the summer watermelon series this saturday, so we'll see if I can go a little lower than last time. Mike we are having the same weather pattern you guys are, its brutal.

[ I bought a bottle of Hammer gel yesterday, am going to try diluting it with a little water and put into one bottle on my belt, plan to nurse it along the run

I've done this it will not be the most exciting drink you have ever had.

I'll let you do the experiment.

Mike, non alcoholic beer isn't any fun.  It's this time of year that I miss beer. 

Went home from work yesterday with a fever.  I caught my wife's cold for a few days there (yes, I competed on Saturday while sick).  Felt fine on Sunday for the Aesoph Father's Day picnic, then crashed yesterday.  I even missed beer league softball!!  Feeling much better today.  Went out for a six mile run with no watch.  I just wanted to run on feel.  It's hard to take that crutch away sometimes and just go run or bike with no time limit or mileage indicator.  I need to do that more.  Probably after September 13th (my last race for the year). 

Tomorrow's Wednesday Night Ride will be a fun one.  I have built a lot of confidence over the last two weeks with two races and two big learning experiences.  I feel fast and strong on my bike.  Now we'll see how strong I feel after 5 back to back climbs about miles 4-6 on the trail.  I intend on pushing harder than I usually do to see what I can take.  Thursday is a nice easy run in the morning to get the legs back under me and an open water swim that night.  This weekend I have a 90 minute run with 6 x 5 minute surges at 6 minute pace on Saturday and a 4 hour bike on Sunday morning.  Probably something Friday night, like weights or something.  What are you guys up to?

Mike, I've always wondered, "how can anyone expect to run fast if they don't train fast?"  Now, of course, there are times where recovery is in order and you just need to relax.  But if you're purpose is to gain fitness that day, then RUN!  You would be surprised how long you can hold that pace.  Without racelike efforts during training I feel like I'm guessing at what I could do on race day.