McFuzz's Mentor Group-2010 Vintage CLOSED (Page 3)

I'm not much help on engineered nutrition (GU or Gatorade).  I'll occasionally use Gatorade when I'm training  more than 2-3 hours, but most of the time, I hydrate with water.  Powerade gives me "cotton mouth" so I avoid it. 

I'll take an occasional gel/gu, but again, usually only for relatively long training sessions where I need the portability.  Otherwise, I'll eat solid foods if I haven't recently eaten and I'll be going more than 1.5-2 hours.  I do keep a gel in my seat bag on my bike just-in-case and I'll keep one with me on long runs for the same reason. 

I've only casually followed the conversations about maltodextrin versus fructose-based sugars for energy.  On the bike, a Payday candy bar is $0.65 (unless I find them on sale) and provides about 250 calories and a dash of protein.  For this cheapskate, that's much better than two or three gels at $1.50 apiece.  (And the Payday tastes better! )  I have trained some with Powerbars when I find them on sale (around $1.00) and I've used Clif Bars, Luna Bars, Powerbars, Harvest Bars, and at least one or two more than I can't recall.  Again, when I find them on sale, I'll buy them. 

I rarely have GI issues (but I may also not train/race as intensely as many). 

Laura,

Welcome back!  Glad to hear the vacation was great.  I've never gotten involved with Master's Swimming (I've considered it) but I hear it can be great to really improve swimming.  Some Master's groups do a fair amount of instruction, some are mostly show-up-and-swim where one person throws out a possible workout.

Maria,

Thanks for popping in.  You're really good at visualization, so feel free to share some of that with the group.  As for winter training, it's mostly a matter of gear and getting used to it.  It isn't usually too bad to continue training as the weather gradually cools in the fall.  What gets brutal is when you spend any time away from the cold and then come back to it.  (Laura might be experiencing this if she's running outside, not-so-much if on the treadmill. )  The same thing happens going the other way too.  The day I ran on the treadmill over Christmas?  B.r.u.t.a.l!  I took it easy Sunday when I ran here because it was 60F warmer than my last run.  6-miles and I carried a water bottle (in my hand, since I didn't bring my belt).  I could tell the whole run that my HR was sky-high. 

Hello, one of McFuzz's fellow mentee's from back in the day checking in.

I'm responding to the GU question. I've done a lot of research and reading and a lot of testing. Best thing I found was to test different stuff. You're body will tell you what works and what doesn't. Most important thing is don't take something on race day that you haven't used in training. That can make race day not fun.

I use Hammer Gel and Recoverite on a regular basis. I like the company. On long runs I use one Hammer Gel about every 45 minutes with water. I use the Recoverite after every workout.

Try different flavors and brands when you go for your long workout and see what your body tells you.

Happy Training!

CONGRATULATIONS!!  (Parenthood is the real endurance sport. )  
 

Not a surprise.  Don't feel bad if your schedule is a little out of whack more than it's in whack.  Kids have a way of doing that. 

We are.  For us, the club is mostly an excuse to get together for eating and drinking (like we really need an excuse??).  Members will often post on our website about informal training (things like "I'm planning to ride 3 hours this Saturday starting here.  Let me know if you want to join up." )  If you have a local club, and it isn't too expensive to join (our dues are about $30 per year for the family), check it out.  If nothing else, it may give your wife some contacts to talk to at local races while you're out on the course. 

A note about inspires: 

I've seen a few of you inspiring each other (and that's great, keep it up! )  Some of you respond in your own inspires (yea, there's a convenient text entry block right there), but it's easy for someone to miss your response there.  Better choices would be to "reply" (which quotes the original inspire along with your response in the other person's blog) or to go to the other blog and inspire them back.  That way, they're unlikely to miss your response.  If you do "reply" it puts the inspire on the same day as the original inspire.  The person should notice the red number of new inspires and it'll bring it up when they click on the underlined "inspires" next to the red number (above, in the user information section of the page).  If you want the reply in today's inspires, you'll need to "reply" then cut everything, close the inspire window, open it for today, and paste (and then type what you want). 

Hope everything is going well for everyone. 

Question: Hill Running?

I know that for most it comes down to what they are comfortable with but is there any theory on running hills?  Run at pace? or above pace and recover at top? or below pace and pick it up at top?  

I have noticed that if I pick it up on the hills  I seem to pass/gain on alot of people then I hold pace with them at the top to maintain what I just gained.

Anybody any thoughts? 

Hill strategy probably depends on the length of the race.  I know for the ultramarathons (trail runs) I've done, the strategy is to walk up the hills to save your HR.  For shorter races, like a 5K or 10K, your strategy to push hard up the hills probably pays off.  I've got limited marathon/half-marathon experience, but I'd opt to slow some to keep the HR and lactate in check. 

The end of January is right around the corner.  Are you happy with were you are?  What did you say you would do and then you did it?  What do you want to do differently in the coming month (or months)? 

This group has a fair amount of endurance sport experience.  Three of you are attempting an Iron-distance race this year.  Some of you have run marathons already.  You know what it takes to train day in and day out.  Hopefully, you'll start to appreciate having other people check in on you to see how your workout went. 

It might be tempting to think with all of the experience in this group, little workouts and little successes aren't important, but that is hardly the case.  We're a team and everyone has perspective.  Maybe it is a challenge just getting out of the house for 20 minutes to run/walk.  The shade of pink when you log a workout doesn't get darker  the more you log. 

For me, travel the past two weeks has really taken a toll.  I did get a few runs in, but I need to take a day or two and get over the sore throat and get my body back on a more normal schedule.  I'm behind schedule for the marathon training, but it isn't unexpected.  The good news is my February trip may be squashed and that's the trip I expected to really disrupt my training. 

So...check in on each other's logs.  Inspire each other.  Who isn't excited to see the red number of new inspires when they bring up BT? 

I am happy with how my first month of training has been going.  Coming from a background of strickly running I didn't know how I would fair w/ swimming and biking.  I really happen to love the variety though. Previous on days when I didn't feel like running I made myself, but now i have two other options.  I also lucky to have a nice workout room in my hotel when I went on vacation where I could bike/run/swim. 

I have maintained a schedule of 6 days on and 1 off and it's worked.  I lost a couple of the "holiday" pounds over the course of the month. 

For the rest of the month I want to increase my endurance on the bike and get some more pool workouts in.  I appreciate any and all feedback.  It really helps!

Question of the day...What do you wear on race day?

I was wondering what to wear under a wet suit?  I have heard of shorts specifically for triathlons, is this what you recommend?