SWBKRUN fast, furious, and closed (Page 232)

A word of caution,,,  I have an iron tummy too and it betrayed me on race day.  I agree with Suzy that dialing in your nutrition is a personal pathway but here are some lessons learned:

1.  pack a variety of nutrition options, at least in your SN bag.  You'll be surprised what will look good on race day.  Include things like an extra bottle of water, some sort of cracker to settle tummies, and something NON-sweet.  If your tummy goes that will be the last thing you want. Alternate salt sources can help with an upset tummy ( I saw lots of salt and vinegar chips, I used peanut butter crackers and beef jerkey, corn chips are a good complex carb as well)

2.  If you are using the same fuel source as what is on the course then have an alternative available just in case.  My girlfriend trained with Poweraide and powerbars b/c that is what was on the course.  Come race day her nutrition bags were filled with Power products and her tummy wasn't having it but there weren't any other options.  

3. PACK IMMODIUM AT ALL TIMES!!!    TRUST ME ON THIS.

4. oh, and be prepared to be creative on the run.  I was planning on gels as my primary fuel through the bike and run, but come run time I couldn't do any more gel.  PEPSI saved my life.   And be aware if you are using liquids as your fuel source you need to think of temperature and how to mix/transport the extra supply.

I'm sort of racing this weekend.  It's a charity all women's bike ride. I'll be toeing (wheeling) the line with a girlfriend for the 31mile loop raising funds for the Lance Armstrong foundation.  Finally get to rock some of my IMCA gear!!!!!  This should be interesting.  I've been on my bike once since Canada.  

Hi gang - in mid packing frenzy but wanted to pop in and say hi.  I'm racing Sunday - Army 10 miler.  I got talked into a team thing and I'm really nervous that I won't have a good time.  Endurance training does not help w/ speed.  I had wanted to do sub 1:20 now I hope to match my 1:24 time from 2 years ago.  Oh well - weather is supposed to be lovely and I'll tack on some miles at the end to make an honest day of it.

Have a great weekend everyone - we are heading for the airport at 1pm.  :-)  Kids still in the dark!

I'm jealous, I love that race!!   If memory serves you weren't a big fan of the crowds correct?   Try to have a great time and enjoy your friends.  It's a good course to go fast on (if you can get by the 25000 people that is )

No nutrition expert here, but I would say this close stick with what you have been doing in training, especially if it has been working for you.   I found that I was sick of Infinite at the end of the bike.  I had packed a lot of "stuff" in my T2 bag so I had a smorgasbord to choose from for my run.  The banana laffy taffy hit the spot for me  

thanks - luckly I am in the 3rd corral, 1st wave so the crowds are pretty thin.  I actually had a great race last time so I hope to do my team justice.  Somehow I ended up on a mixed Army team (which is cool) but our team leader is a drill sergeant who has been Drill Sergeant of the Year!  I don't want to disappoint him!!!!!!

That's so cool!  Would love to do that race some day. 

Heard it's really cold   But I'm a cold water wuss so that speaks for itself.

I was just on the website. Its only $400!!! Bargain.

Have fun this weekend. I could handle a Disney trip right now.

A little early for me but race report is up!!

So true. The key for me was to adapt quickly and pay attention to what my stomach was telling me.  Don't ignore growling or sloshing or feeling like you might be needing to do a number 2.  Sorry, I am just so gross sometimes! 

Everything can be dealt with but if you ignore it and wait for it to get better you might find yourself behind on nutrition or hydration and that is when bad stuff starts to happen.  These are the things I had to figure out on my long rides...exactly what hunger felt like and how much/or what I could take in for it to alleviate, for me liquid nutrition only seemed the best solution...whenever I supplemented with gels, it messed with my stomach, maybe too much to digest all at once is what I deduced from that equation. 

So question for you is, looking at your logs, long rides are in the vicinity of 75-80 miles.  Did you finish your 1050 cal of infinit on these rides?  and did you supplement with gels or bars on these rides?  If so, then you probably should be okay to follow the same strategy.  If you only did infinit, you may want to consider carrying more infinit to get you through the remaining 30-35 miles (another 1/3 of the ride, btw!) by concentrating more, or having an extra bottle on your bike or at SN.  Lots of weird stuff would happen to my stomach and energy levels at about the 75-90 mile mark in training...and come to think of it, a little bit of that at IM, but I had a pretty good idea of what to do.   Just sayin'...it's something to think about.  Carrying tums and immodium is a pretty good idea just in case.

Good luck to you.

55 degrees is balmy compared to Lake CDA this June, ha!!!

I have at least two friends here who made the lottery this year. Makes me think I should put that race on my to-do list. Maybe go for it when Kim turns 50!!

Back to IM nutrition... One thing I did differently this year was to train with some PB Perform (in addition to Infinite) just to make sure my tummy could handle it in case of emergency. I actually grew to like the change of pace and would finish most rides up drinking Perform. Race day I switched when I started to get sick of Infinite, and it was a good call -- hit the spot (as much as another drink can) and I knew my tummy would be OK with it.

I think run nutrition is a stickier wicket -- your body just goes into weird modes and quite frankly I never really knew what I wanted ever when I was running. Ice chips sure were good!! And x2 on coke -- never had it in training but did have it at both races and thought it was pretty good stuff. (I'd save ice chips to use with the coke -- or any beverage for that matter -- I HATE warm beverages when I am racing. 

No racing for me, but I am now officially signed up for 3 HMs (end/Oct, end/Nov, May).  I am thinking that will help take my run training up a notch for next year.  

FYI - I landed in Houston yesterday on a 2 week trip to visit my sister/mom.  Got out and did a 10k run mid-morning - gorgeous weather - low 80s and low humidity. 

Thanks for sharing Kim.  That was a great write-up and now I know what I'm going to buy once my 305 gets around to dying.

I was wondering why your post appeared in the afternoon, enjoy your stay Dan!

Barry - I haven't done IM, but I have a sensitive stomach on the run (not so much on the bike), and coke is one of the few things I can tolerate at the end of long runs. So another vote for coke if the tummy starts acting up.

George - Glad you made it to Japan safely, and thanks for the RR!

Sam - Good luck this weekend! That sounds like a really fun race.

I'm running the next race in a 15k trail race series on Saturday. I've gotten the rest of my week's mileage in early so I can rest up for a couple of days. I'll need it - this one has hills!  

Grafton Pumpkin Cross for me Saturday morning.  30 minutes of bike handling skills practice and VO2 max work!  Live music from the Irish Band Whiskey of the Damned during the race.  I plan on setting the bar pretty high and PR'ing this race .....  since it wil be my first Cross Race.  Should be fun!!   

Doing a mock Dualthon with local tri club, 3.1 run, 17 mile bike, 3.1 run, the best part of this.....does not cost anything

Is it me or do races keep getting more expensive every year? I know most are for a good cause.....but still....I am sure you have had this discussion in the past.

Good luck to all the other racers....have fun !

We're off to Minocqua for a few days...but before I leave, any thoughts on the BIG race this weekend?  any picks? favorites people want to throw out there?  who will be watching?

I would really like to see Lieto win this year. I would also like to see a head to head down to the 1m mark between the Queen and Rinny or a totally new chick win......

Thanks for all the nutrition info guys and gals.  I have a good game plan for my long ride next weekend and we'll see how that goes. 

Right now it will be a couple 525 cal bottles supplemented with a cliff bar or two and some gels to change up the pace.  That should give me the option of taking in 1600 to 1800 calories over the 6 hr period.  Then the run will be primarily off the course...gels and sports drink with a little something special in SN if needed.

On a side note, had lunch with Fatty yesterday.  Can't wait till Nov 5 to meet up with other people from BT and the MG!  So far I am thinking Me, Chris, John, Linda, and Tobey?  Anyone else making the trip to PCB?

Sure would nice to Lieto hold the field off. But if he cant hold Alexander off will a 10 minute lead in a 70.3, i don't see it happening this weekend.  I'd love to see Tim O Donnell up there.

As for the ladies, hard to argue with Chrissie. But Mary Beth Ellis has been on quite a roll. Would love to see my girl Linsay step up to the main stage.