Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 29)

Thats great that you are feeling more comfortable in the water! I experience many of the same things you are describing when I was working on swimming a couple years ago.  Have you tried just looking straight down and relaxing your head/neck?  Looking backwards can put a strain on your neck/shoulders and can make breathing a bit more difficult.  Good luck and keep us updated!

Please advise...

I just finished the 15K which is my longest race to date.  I have run longer but just easy runs.  This was a VERY hilly course and the temp at the start was 58 and probably warmed up to 65 so it was PERFECT for running.

Got up at 4:00 and ate a bowl of yogurt mixed w/ oatmeal, protein powder, walnuts and milk.  Had a BIG cup of coffee.  Then I stretched and rested and iced my foot then stretched some more.  Right before we left I ate a few bbq chips for the salt and took 3 Aleve for my foot.

Race started and I was just coasting running for the first 2 miles seeing how my foot was going to react and it was very crowded.  At the turn around I ate a shot block and took 1 enduralyte and a sip of water.  I ran the 2nd half hard for me and the last 3/10 I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  When I crossed the finish line I was having to concentrate on not throwing up.  While I was running hard, I was not really sweating but I don't sweat a lot anyway.

Now that the race is over, my stomach is giving me fits.  We left as soon as my wife finished so I could get home.  My stomach has not quit cramping since I finished the race.  At the end of the race I did get a small cup of water, maybe 3 spoons of chili, 1/2 banana and a small oatmeal bar thing.

My question, am I just in terrible shape or is my nutrition off.  It has been several hours now and my stomach is still cramping.  If I drink when running, I know what happens and it isn't good.  I don't think 9.3 miles is a nutrition problem but would like ya'lls advice.

Please advise...

I just finished the 15K which is my longest race to date.  I have run longer but just easy runs.  This was a VERY hilly course and the temp at the start was 58 and probably warmed up to 65 so it was PERFECT for running.

Got up at 4:00 and ate a bowl of yogurt mixed w/ oatmeal, protein powder, walnuts and milk.  Had a BIG cup of coffee.  Then I stretched and rested and iced my foot then stretched some more.  Right before we left I ate a few bbq chips for the salt and took 3 Aleve for my foot.

Race started and I was just coasting running for the first 2 miles seeing how my foot was going to react and it was very crowded.  At the turn around I ate a shot block and took 1 enduralyte and a sip of water.  I ran the 2nd half hard for me and the last 3/10 I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  When I crossed the finish line I was having to concentrate on not throwing up.  While I was running hard, I was not really sweating but I don't sweat a lot anyway.

Now that the race is over, my stomach is giving me fits.  We left as soon as my wife finished so I could get home.  My stomach has not quit cramping since I finished the race.  At the end of the race I did get a small cup of water, maybe 3 spoons of chili, 1/2 banana and a small oatmeal bar thing.

My question, am I just in terrible shape or is my nutrition off.  It has been several hours now and my stomach is still cramping.  If I drink when running, I know what happens and it isn't good.  I don't think 9.3 miles is a nutrition problem but would like ya'lls advice.

Please advise...

I just finished the 15K which is my longest race to date.  I have run longer but just easy runs.  This was a VERY hilly course and the temp at the start was 58 and probably warmed up to 65 so it was PERFECT for running.

Got up at 4:00 and ate a bowl of yogurt mixed w/ oatmeal, protein powder, walnuts and milk.  Had a BIG cup of coffee.  Then I stretched and rested and iced my foot then stretched some more.  Right before we left I ate a few bbq chips for the salt and took 3 Aleve for my foot.

Race started and I was just coasting running for the first 2 miles seeing how my foot was going to react and it was very crowded.  At the turn around I ate a shot block and took 1 enduralyte and a sip of water.  I ran the 2nd half hard for me and the last 3/10 I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  When I crossed the finish line I was having to concentrate on not throwing up.  While I was running hard, I was not really sweating but I don't sweat a lot anyway.

Now that the race is over, my stomach is giving me fits.  We left as soon as my wife finished so I could get home.  My stomach has not quit cramping since I finished the race.  At the end of the race I did get a small cup of water, maybe 3 spoons of chili, 1/2 banana and a small oatmeal bar thing.

My question, am I just in terrible shape or is my nutrition off.  It has been several hours now and my stomach is still cramping.  If I drink when running, I know what happens and it isn't good.  I don't think 9.3 miles is a nutrition problem but would like ya'lls advice.

Karl, here's the other thing.  I really am in no position to be giving any advice on nutrition during a race, since nearly EVERY race I've had since I started triathlons a couple years ago I have encountered side stitches, but.. I finally believe that it is because I eat and/or drink too much before the race, especially with my last half marathon.  Some people can handle a lot, so it might not be the issue for you.  But perhaps for you, that was a bit too much pre-race food?  It could also come down to eating too much the night before (IMO).  I have always been paranoid about not having enough energy during a race, and I think I may take it a bit too far.  In retrospect, I just feel for all my races I have been drinking too much water beforehand.  (I haven't had another race to test out not drinking much since basically my last race just really made me believe that..)  Also.  Since this is a race, I do not believe it is necessary to be consuming protein powder and a huge thing of fat (walnuts).  That does seem a bit overkill *to me*... I would think carbs with perhaps a little bit of protein (if that's what your food contains) would be fine, but a race is definitely not a situation where you really needs to be putting extra protein/fat into your system right before you run.  Also I'm not so sure about taking medication before a "big" run like that, but that's a different issue...

Oh, and one more thing.  Jeff has mentioned in the past that many people have issues with dairy before a workout.  Have you consumed dairy before a workout in training before?

Please advise...

I just finished the 15K which is my longest race to date.  I have run longer but just easy runs.  This was a VERY hilly course and the temp at the start was 58 and probably warmed up to 65 so it was PERFECT for running.

Got up at 4:00 and ate a bowl of yogurt mixed w/ oatmeal, protein powder, walnuts and milk.  Had a BIG cup of coffee.  Then I stretched and rested and iced my foot then stretched some more.  Right before we left I ate a few bbq chips for the salt and took 3 Aleve for my foot.

Race started and I was just coasting running for the first 2 miles seeing how my foot was going to react and it was very crowded.  At the turn around I ate a shot block and took 1 enduralyte and a sip of water.  I ran the 2nd half hard for me and the last 3/10 I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  When I crossed the finish line I was having to concentrate on not throwing up.  While I was running hard, I was not really sweating but I don't sweat a lot anyway.

Now that the race is over, my stomach is giving me fits.  We left as soon as my wife finished so I could get home.  My stomach has not quit cramping since I finished the race.  At the end of the race I did get a small cup of water, maybe 3 spoons of chili, 1/2 banana and a small oatmeal bar thing.

My question, am I just in terrible shape or is my nutrition off.  It has been several hours now and my stomach is still cramping.  If I drink when running, I know what happens and it isn't good.  I don't think 9.3 miles is a nutrition problem but would like ya'lls advice.

So, I have had a lot of distraction at work since I returned on Jan 2.  I had forgotten that the new year would bring some restructuring to my employer.  I found out last week that an entire repair facility would be shut down and the employees positions were eliminated entirely.  Some of them were near enough to retirement age that they will end up being bridged by the severance package and they'll be okay.  Others aren't going to be so lucky.

I found out yesterday that an exempt line crew supervisor's job in my area has been eliminated.  this was a stunning blow to my mindset yesterday!!  This man is solid, productive employee who's work has always been good.  All I could think about last night and much of today was his mental state now.  He will likely have a job with the company still but it will most likely be very different and possibly much less pay. 

Honestly, right now, I am spending time thinking about suggesting to my manager that I back down to a lineman again and allow him to take my job as  Line Crew Supervisor.  I don't know how this would work, if at all, or if Lis would support that.  I am still trying to figure out how to approach the concept.  I don't know if I should ask my manager, talk to the LCS about it or say anything to Lis first.  One thing I have to figure out is what kind of direct impact it would have on everyone first.

Needless to say, things are pretty heavy for me right now.  As I was running today I thought much about how to move ahead.  It's scary from either side right now.

A quick update on my end. Today was my first 1x1 swim lesson and I think it went pretty well. On the positive side, the coach said that I was relatively comfortable with my face in the water, my stroke had a relaxed feel to it and I'm using my core well to drive the glide/switch. The negatives are that I kick too much, my hips/legs tend to sink (he said tense/stiff hips or may be just low body fat) and I need to work on better pull mechanics. My breathing is a neutral - if I consciously focus on it, I dont over rotate and have half my face in the water but sometimes he mentioned that I tended to lift my head up a bit. One of the suggestions was to look forward a touch instead of looking straight down and mentally feel the crest wave so that I feel comfortable breathing. I still need to work on bilateral breathing too. We tried a little bit of backstroke and it was a bit of the same hips/legs sinking problem there too. 

Now I feel like I at least have some kind of a roadmap in terms of what I need to work on instead of struggling through my sets. We didn't have a phone handy but I am thinking of getting myself taped next week and I'll post a link here after. 

Running has been coming along well. My one issue is that my HR tends to go up to 150-160 very soon and stays there. So I am trying to slow down more to get it down to zone 2 like some of you guys hav suggested here.

I've been ignoring my bike and need your help for a plan. Given the focus on the swim right now, I felt I could go 2x a week on the bike. Was looking at different plans and I thought about the Jorge plan. But that thought lasted for all of 5 mins as I remembered Tony's detailed and colorful commentary hah!. I don't know what to do now. Is it possible to adapt the Jorge plan to 2x a week? Is there any other plan (on trainerroad may be?) that will provide some kind of a structure?

Bhargav congrats on the good swim session. Sounds like you are off to a good start and yes there are always things to work on with swimming. It is the most fustrating and challening of the three disciplines but it's good that you have some direction and know what to work on.

You know I love Jorge and everything I say in regards to his plan is in jest and I kid often about it. It is a hard plan though no joking there and you can modify it according to Jorge to two days or three days. There are 4 workouts a week, I think if you do two workouts you do workout 1 and 3 for the week. You can double check me on that but I believe that is what he recommends. In any case you'll definitely get a good bike workout using his plan.

Thats great that you are feeling more comfortable in the water! I experience many of the same things you are describing when I was working on swimming a couple years ago.  Have you tried just looking straight down and relaxing your head/neck?  Looking backwards can put a strain on your neck/shoulders and can make breathing a bit more difficult.  Good luck and keep us updated!

Please advise...

Race started and I was just coasting running for the first 2 miles seeing how my foot was going to react and it was very crowded.  At the turn around I ate a shot block and took 1 enduralyte and a sip of water.  I ran the 2nd half hard for me and the last 3/10 I wasn't sure I was going to finish.  When I crossed the finish line I was having to concentrate on not throwing up.  While I was running hard, I was not really sweating but I don't sweat a lot anyway.

Now that the race is over, my stomach is giving me fits.  We left as soon as my wife finished so I could get home.  My stomach has not quit cramping since I finished the race.  At the end of the race I did get a small cup of water, maybe 3 spoons of chili, 1/2 banana and a small oatmeal bar thing.

My question, am I just in terrible shape or is my nutrition off.  It has been several hours now and my stomach is still cramping.  If I drink when running, I know what happens and it isn't good.  I don't think 9.3 miles is a nutrition problem but would like ya'lls advice.

Sorry everybody, my comments yesterday were supposed to includes links to videos.

I just edited those posts to include the links.  Please scroll back and look at the videos in light of what I wrote.

Thanks.