kenj triathletes in training - IM and HIM focused - Closed (Page 6)

Great races Jennifer, Jaime, Adam, and Brian. Everyone's hitting the ground running for the season...

Thanks to all for the encouragement. Jennifer, yes, I can definately try again. And in the fall or next spring (after tri season) the Boston Athletic Assoc. will even give me 5 more minutes of cusion as a Birthday present :-)

Adam - a coworker of mine spectated at your race and said it was fantastic. Glad you nailed it!

Brian - thats great that you could run with your dad, and its still good training. 13 miles at any pace is good training.

Maggie - I'm glad to see another Quassy fan. i did the HIM last year but it humbled me so much that I'm doing the Oly this year. I didnt think I'd have the biking miles in early enough. it's a great race, but I guess you know that.

Steve - maybe I'll see you at IMLP in July. I'm volunteering also to race next year, but need to work out the logistics. I have to be at one of my goal running races that morning, so signed up for a late shift. Have you considered the Peasantman up in the Rochester area in August? I'll be doing the half and then get to heckle Ken while he does the full :-)

Ali - as has already been said, workouts get missed. and I did the competitive plan last year too, knowing I'd miss some. I imagine its a lot harder as a primary caregiver to youngins. I'll just add as recomendations that if you can, become a VERY early riser. when time got crunched I liked to start biking inside and finish outside once it got light/safe enough. I also would sometimes flip bricks to run in the dark first. I'm sure this isnt best practice, but you do what you can. also, if you can bike/run places where you need to be, do it. of course thats easier said than done with kids to move around too. I was spoiled during IM training by my wife.

Hi all,

I would like to join in too.  I will post a bio later, but I am signed up for my first full this year - Beach 2 Battleship.  I did the half there last year and loved it, so jumped in for the full this year.  I need someone to convince me I am not crazy!

Karen

Bill - Well hopefully I'll see you there. I'm working as a catcher at the finishing chute from 4pm - 8pm. And I did look at maybe doing the Peasantman half this year, but I will actually be backpacking up in the white mountains that weekend with the boy scout troop I work with.

I have a 5 mile tempo run to squeeze in between work and a boy scout meeting

Todds Bio:

Story:  I'm 43 years old and live in rural Wisconsin.  In 2011, I decided it was now or never to complete one of the things on my bucket list (run a marathon).  So started out huffing and puffing through that first 3 mile training day.  I completed Grandmas marathon in Duluth May of that year.  Didn't really have a goal after that except to try to keep the running fitness.  Then at a work related conference over Christmas I heard a speaker talk about completing an ironman.  Thought about that for a week then decided to take the challenge.  I didn't know if I would have been ready to complete one in 2012 (I could "swim" but that distance and I only had a mountain bike at the time - besides the IM in Wisconsin had sold out in hours following the last one in September) so set the goal for 2013.  DId my first sprint in June 2013 followed by an Olympic and 2 mile open water swim and finally a HIM in Racine.  I plan to repeat most of those races this year with the addition of the full ironman in September.

Family:  married for 16 years to Sandra.  She is somewhat supportive.  We have two preteen kids (boy and girl) which I admit my wife has had to pick up a lot of my slack due to the training

Current Training:  following Friel's competitive program for Ironman distance (although mixing up the days according to what fits my schedule best.  Just started the point where swimming occurs 3 times per week.

My last years races and this years races are indicated above.  First race this year will be a sprint on June 9th.

Weight loss:  not a concern for me, but wouldn't mind if I dropped another 5-10 pds purely for competitive reasons.

This is my 4th BT mentor group.  Each has helped a ton.  I figure this one will be good since it is aimed at long distance.  I will now try to read back through all the posts to get a flavor for the group.  Thanks for taking me on board.

DJ, I've had this conversation with my coach and here's what we came up with.

First, we have 2 different phases in our training.  First, Winter, where we are dieting and training the body to burn fat more efficiently.  Mostly a base building phase

-In this phase our diet has no processed sugar, and no carbs outside of vege's.  We won't do any sugary sports drinks, gels, or anything else for workouts under 3 hours.  Just water.  For recovery drink we us a whey Protein Powder with VERY little or no sugar.  Cytosport Whey Isolate was recommended, and I mix that with ice/strawberries/blueberies among other things into a smoothie with my blender. 

Second is Summer, where we are building power/strength/speed with races/VO2max/TT's/ and other tough workouts

- In this phase we fuel our workouts with gels/drinks/whatever and aren't so picky on our recovery drinks.  We just watch the overall calories in/out.  I use hammer or First Endurance recovery drinks because those are the ones I personally like the taste of.  I use them for anything over an hour.

Overall, your daily diet is what will make the differents in weight loss or toning.  You can't' really do the Protein only diet while racing or having big events going on.  Going long or going VO2max and other tough efforts are miserable.  It's everything you can do to do base miles at 80%.  After that phase is over we ad clean carbs like brown rice, wheat pasta, steel cut oatmeal and such to the diet to get the carbs we need to store glycogen and then fuel the workouts properly.

Omahabritt - 2013-05-07 8:49 AM Thanks everyone for the encouragement/tips! Feeling better today, & had a really great 3 hour ride outside yesterday. The weather was perfect (reminded me of riding by the ocean when I lived in CA). There was wind (always!), but it wasn't gale force. With rain in the forcast the rest of the the week, I'm headed out in a minute for another ride outside. It's amazing what some sunshine can do! DJ, ok that makes me feel better! I thought you had 5 rides just over the weekend! I'm still impressed with all the riding you do. It's nice to see it's normal to have some struggles with getting up in the morning and tiredness. Working on getting used to it & pushing through! Bill, don't you sometimes get up at 3 am? I do regularly get up at 5am during the week, so I've got a good start, but you're right, I might need to get up even earlier!

I do the 3am thing from time to time.  Can't sustain that very long!  I regularly get up at 4am though just to get to work.  Most of my workouts end up being at night, but I don't have kids and can pull that off.  It still sucks working out after a long day.  All you want to do is relax, so you really have to tough it out and just get it done.

It's a rest week for me, thank goodness, as I worked the night shift and slept badly.  Plan is to take and easy bike to the gym for an easy swim before heading back to work.  I'm having fun reading all your bios and comments.  

I am really nervous about figuring out my nutrition, especially on the bike, for a possibly hilly and hot HIM course.  I have some problems with nausea, especially when I am getting up close to threshold HR in an Oly or sprint race, so I usually don't eat much of anything.  I realize that is not an option for a HIM.  And here's the embarassing part...one my biggest problems is just the logistics of drinking/eating on a bike, ESPECIALLY my tri bike.  I can drink out of my aero water bottle between my handlebars--barely--but it's pretty small.  It's not going to last me 56 miles.  Do you stop to get a new water bottle on the course and refill?  Do you try and grab water bottle while riding by?  Where would you put a gel flask?  I am such a klutz, I am honestly more worried about getting a water bottle from a volunteer than I am about finishing 70.3!

Jaime

I have learned with my coach that unless it is set as an "A" race, no taper and no recovery!!  Although after the HM he did cut my mid week long run from 14 miles to 3.  But the bike time was still significant.

Hi Karen,

Good to have you back with us again!

jennifer65 - 2013-05-07 5:22 AM I have been for a half hour very slow 'recovery run' Ouch ouch ouch. I could feel my body saying oh no, not this again. Jennifer

You might need a little recovery Jennifer after 2 races in 3 days!

I am with you Bill, if my workouts don't get done in the morning, odds diminish of them ever happening.  I do get a little better in the summer but with work etc. it is still a challenge!

Thanks for posting Todd!!

I spend some time at our office in Eau Claire, it is a nice part of the country over there. 

IMWI is a very popular race!

Jaime,

For my first (and only to this point) HIM last year (Racine 70.3) I grabbed the water or energy drink bottle as I rode by.  I was very nervous about this before hand and it turned out to be pretty much a non factor.  I know this can be hard to believe at this point though.  What you want to do as you come to an aid station is slow down some, point or make good eye contact with a volunteer, and say "water or perform - or whatever the drink you want is and hold out your hand.   Many of the volunteers will somewhat run backward to make the hand off.  I just placed those water bottles in my cages, but you will probably want to dump the water into your aero water bottle. 

Now for a related question:  How did the "perform" sports drink work for those that have done HIM or IM.  The only time I used it was for the above mentioned HIM, but I was thinking of getting some now to train with so I can get used to it prior this time.  I did pretty well nutrition wise at the HIM, but did feel a bit bloated toward the end.  The majority of what I drank that day was water though.  Otherwise, as has been stated previously by other in the group I really like the Hammer products (perpetuem and endurolytes fizz) and the vega electrolyte hydrator, but would love to "live off the course" if I can.

Todd

Jaime,  I stressed out about getting water on the course for the first HIM, and really, Don't.  It's a lot easier than it seems.  Because there is on course support, you really need less fluids than in an Olympic, or even a long sprint.  My aero bottle is only 20 oz but I keep a throw away bottle on bike frame for just in case. 

Taking a bottle from a volunteer is really easy, just slow down, pick a specific volunteer and point at him/her so they know you're coming to them.  If there are those annoying pull tabs on the top of the bottle, volunteers remove them before handing you the bottle.  If you're worried this is a very easy thing to practice in front of your house with your someone simply holding out a poland spring sports bottle for you to grab, and pour in the aero bottle.  No need to stop.  I just did a quick search and found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkXyrYu-Bew.  It looks and is pretty simple.  You'll notice these riders are coming off of an uphill so going pretty slow.  If you're going faster, just SLOW DOWN.

For Me

Scenario 1 - Aero bottle is almost empty, but the bottle on the bike is full - Grab a bottle from a volunteer, settle down while trucking along slowly, then dump the new water in the aero bottle, and toss it aside.

Scenario 2 - bottle on bike is half empty or less - pour what is left in my aero bottle before hitting the aide station, toss it aside Before taking a new bottle from the volunteer.  Stick on my my frame and use it if you need it later.

Nutrition - On the bike, I only get calories/electrolytes from a jel flask and if worried about heat and excessive sweating, some salt pills.   I keep these things in a bento box on the bike top tube.  But if you don't use something like that, most tri suits or tops have a small pocket in the small of your back to fit a flask.  If you're wearing a more traditional bike jersey, there will be pockets galore.  Only drinking water makes life simpler for me, but everyone does their own thing in that respect.

I have gone back and forth between Muscle Milk and just plain chocolate milk.  I have also used the Shakology meal replacement shakes from Beach Body, but these are kind of pricy.  I have not tried any of the recovery drinks from the sports drink folks.  

Are you looking to supplement your regular meals or replace a meal?  Personally, if it was just for recovery the chocolate milk plan works pretty good unless you are lactate intolerant or avoid dairy products for some other reason. 

In the past my only HIM's were always the same one and they served HEED, which for me is the worse.  So I would just tape gels to the top bar and carry my own Gatorade.

This year I have switched to EFS products which my plan is one 24 oz bottle on the bike along with a water bottle.  Also a 5oz gel bottle attached to the top bar (possibly 2).  This should give me plenty of calories for the bike, the only reason I may have 2 gel bottles is in case I drop one or to throw in the back pocket for the run. 

The biggest question I am having with myself right now is how to carry the water.  I can continue with the frame mounted bottle carrier (the EFS drink bottle is in my aero mount) or I have one of the frame mounted speed fill set ups with the drink tube.  My biggest concern with that is the weight of it mounted in the carbon frame.  It seems heavy when full  and when you dump a water bottle in it on the fly I am sure it is also pushing on the mount screws in the carbon.  It is convenient though. 

If you are going to use energy bars or some other solid nutrition, make sure you have it partially open or even cut into smaller pieces so it is easier to handle. 

Todd,

I have tried IM Perform and it isn't bad.  The biggest thing I have with it, which probably isn't an issue at a race, is that it doesn't seem to dissolve completely and the bottom of the bottle gets gritty.  Typically the races use the premixed bottles that don't have this problem.  I would pick up a tub and try it though before racing with it.