JohnnyKay and Fred Doucette's HIM/IM focused Mentor group-CLOSED (Page 3)

wow....quite an early explosion of activity in this group & I like it!  My A race is Racine 70.3 in July and it is my first HIM so I am guaranteed a PR provided I finish.  That "provided" part is always my nemesis because I am often too conservative in first time long-distance races where I finish with far too much gas in the tank.  I think I need to man-up a little bit and push harder, but I have to admit that it is very important for me to finish and accomplish that goal first and foremost. 

So, as far as time goals...I don't have any quite yet.  I am in week 7 of a 20 week HIM plan and I suspect I will put together some goals after logging more longer rides & runs.  As far as nutrition, I'm also working on that in my training.  I've always had luck with gels, water & Gatorade in marathon training, so I will probably try to stick with that if possible.  I also often do sweat tests to gauge my hydration needs and I log that info in a spreadsheet so I know how much water to consume in the different scenarios (temps).

One thing I would like to explore is a hydration bottle for a road bike.  I see most of the bottles out there are for tri bikes and they sit nicely between the handlebars providing easy drinking through the straw.  I don't have a tri bike or tri handlebars and I think I will ride Racine in old-school road style, but I really like the idea of not having to reach down for my bottle every 10 minutes.  Anyone know if anything exists out there for a roadie kinda guy?

My 'A' race is Muskoka 70.3 in Sept.  I did it in 2008 and suffered a lot of cramping at the end of the bike and on the run, due to lack of fitness from being pretty undertrained for such a challenging course.  My plan for this year is to be properly trained for the race and cut a big chunk off my finish time.  My result at this race will determine whether I tackle the full distance next year.

For nutrition I tend to use gatorade/powerade, water and gels.  As a smaller person I don't need the calories that you bigger guys do which I think is an advantage when planning nutrition for races.  In the past when doing running races I've tended to overhydrate,  I now try to keep my intake at a more conservative level.  I haven't really had nutrition issues in any of my tri's (admittedly I've only done 2 HIM and no full IM yet as far as long distance races).

Not sure if the local REI carries these anymore...

Jokes aside, drinking from the two bottles on your frame shouldn't pose any issues.  Fill one with your preferred drink choice, the other with water, swap at the aid stations and you should be fine.

(TDF.jpg)

A race for me in the first half of the season is the Hawaii 70.3.  It will be my first HIM...hoping to go around 5:30 if I have a good day.  I just have no idea how to simulate the heat of Kona.

This year, on the bike, I've gotten up to about 60-65 miles during training and am slowly getting accustomed to taking in over 250 calories per hour.  Mostly through gels (flask) and shot bloks.  I've been setting my stop watch timer to go off every 22 minutes to remind me to take in the equivalent of 100 calories, and every 3rd alarm I'll take in a salt stick.

My plan during the race is to take 1 flask (about 4 gels mixed with a little water, 400 cal), 2 packs of shot bloks (400 cal), and 2 extra gel packets (200 cal) just in case for the bike.  Bottles will be water only on board, but will take a gatorade bottle from aid stations if I feel I need it.  I'll also have 6 salt sticks that I plan to take at the 45, 90, and 135 minute marks.  I'll only take 1 at each time, the other 3 are just back up if I drop them.

For the run, I'll have another gel flask with about 3-4 gels mixed with water, and another 2 salt sticks.  I'll mainly live off water, ice, and gatorade on the course.

~Jason

Cool! See you at IMTX Jim!

I haven't checked all my links yet but here's something for you to paste into your blog...double check the names for me too! Thanks.

JohnnyKay/Fred Doucette HIM/IM Focused Mentor Group:
ball6135 (Robb)
cathyd (Cathy)
chasingkona (Ben)
docswim24 (Dan)
dhopman (Dave)
Dream Chaser (Bobby)
Fred Doucette (Fred)
Go Faster (Neil)
Graycat (Tim)
Jimmyb (Jim)
JohnnyKay (John)
Nole Runner (John)
quincyf (Quincy)
sbsmann (Scott)
tri808 (Jason)
trigal38 (Dina)

Thanks for the links Dave.

I'm actually off work today.  Boss was nice enough to give me a comp day for the work I was putting in on a project a few weeks ago.

Took advantage and got in a run this morning.  Didn't feel all that great, and probably a sign that I need to cut out tomorrow's short run to let the running legs refresh a bit.  Good news is I'll finally be able to make it out to an afternoon group ride that I can never make it to due to getting off work to late.  Should be fun...beats the heck out of riding solo every Tuesday afternoon. 

~Jason

Hi everyone, going to try to catch up in one big post.  I think I started the bum rush to join...and I swear when I asked to join the group was appearing in the mentor forum, not the staging area...then I couldn't find it anywhere until someone else posted behind me.  Sorry...anyway...

Bio:  42, live in Chicago (Bucktown if you're familiar) currently at home with my DD, 1st grade, and DS, toddler tantrum master.  DH is an ER doc and we are training for all the same races (this is a family thang).  Ran track and played soccer (my first sport) thru college, then just tried to keep in shape on my own (mostly a fail).  Was in the Navy for 10 years, then worked off an on as an airline and corporate pilot until being laid off for the 3rd time in early 2009.  

Started dabbling in 5 and 10k's a couple of years after my daughter was born (but I was sill FAT).  DH wanted to do more, but I had (and still pretty much have) NO use for marathons.  Lost a ton of weight, and PRed a 5k right when I got pregnant with my son...realized running was going to be a lot more fun at a lighter weight.  So after my son was born I decided to try a longer race to help with weight loss so I signed up for a half marathon (an inconceivable distance for me).  That was my gateway drug I guess...I ended up doing a late season sprint tri in 2009, 9 months after my second c-section!  

Last year was my first true season...I did a 3 sprints and an oly and then switched over to running to do the Chicago marathon.  This year I have gained a partner as my husband has switched over from running to triathlon too (sucked him in).  This is good for a lot of reasons...mostly because it kept me from pulling the trigger on an IM.  

So this year it's sprint , oly, HIM (Racine), HIM (Steelhead), marathon (Chicago).  My A race is going to be Racine in July, so I hope to meet some of you there.  I also am still working on my plan for 2012, and a big probability is that I will volunteer for IMOO, so I might see some of you there!  

As a triathlete, I am still pretty new, but I do have some opinions about myself and areas I am working on:

Limiters:  I am not super strong or weak in any one discipline.  I think the most room for improvement is on cycling.  I had a bad crash last year, and it has been tough to get out on the road again, so I've been doing a lot of trainer work (plus, BRR).  I beat the crap out of myself mentally, but am pretty consistent sticking to my training plan.  

Things I am focusing on:  NUTRITION!  So I am stoked by this first discussion!  Great stuff!  Also, I am training with a HR this year, which is new, so still on the learning curve there.  Finally, I am struggling with the inability to lose the weight I am wanting to ditch...I am still hanging on to the last 10 lbs of baby weight, and it makes me mad because I know how to lose weight and i am working out like crazy.  I just haven't had that last bit of discipline to lose that last bit of weight.  Argh.

Ok, sorry so long...I just love talking about...MEEEE.  Actually I am excited to be in this group and sponging every bit of knowledge off of you guys, this is great!  Happy Tuesday everyone!  Q

I'm trying to practice my race nutrition plan during training the last 3 out of 5 weeks where I've done my long rides solo and at race effort (still trying to figure this out as well, but I presume somewhere around 200 watts).  At first I had a hard time shoving the calories in.  On normal long rides, where I don't run afterwards...usually around 150 calories an hour works fine.  But I understand that in longer course racing you can't finish the bike on empty...so I'm trying to up the calorie intake on training rides.  250ish feels ok now...but I imagine I'll need to be closer to 300+ during the race.  Hoping some gatorade (which my stomach has no problem with) here and there can make up the difference.

One thought on nutrition and those thinking of Infinit... give them a call... with all the variables involved, it can take a quite a few "trys" to get it right.  As was commented earlier... I also have "flavor" turned way down.  Although I have been using it very successfully and now have both a 1/2 and a full distance blend that works, the thought of living off the course for IMWI is intriguing.  I may try a case of what they have out there.  I do have issues with Fructose though, and to be honest, I haven't looked at the contents of the Ironman Perform drinks...  (I have quite a few details of my attempts and struggles with nutrition as well as a detailed plan for nutrition for IMWI2009 that worked well for me)

One other question, and feel free to PM me as to not take this off course.  Anyone using a powertap Joule 2.0?  I'm struggling with mounting options and just have it temporarily mounted for the time being as I don't have any nutrition up on my extensions right now...