bschulte mentor Group - Closed (Page 7)

MacMadame - 2009-05-16 3:17 PM I'm in transition right now. I'm still losing, but I want to slow that down and I'm close to where I want to maintain. Plus I'm ramping up my training so that's in flux too. So it's hard to generalize, but I'll try.

I start the morning with a protein shake almost every day.  It's easy and it sets me up for the day by getting in a lot of my protein requirements and a decent amount of calories. (I operate on the principle that breakfast should be your big meal of the day, not dinner.) I also end the day with a protein drink -- usually protein hot chocolate. It's more of a light snack in terms of calories and protein grams. I think of it as topping me off for the day. Protein is supposedly more readily absorbed in the morning and at night so I try to maximize what I'm eating then to take advantage of that fact.

In between, I have lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner. These are almost always protein based. Often some sort of meat (or fish or eggs) with veggies for the meals. Snack are often yogurt, cottage cheese, string cheese, or hard-boiled eggs. Once in a while I'll have a handful of nuts. I will occasionally have something starchy in there, like potatoes, but I find the cheese, nuts and veggies have plenty of carbs. I have fruit once in a while too. Right now I don't have fruit every day but I think I will eventually. Other occasional foods are things like avocado and protein bars.

OTOH, I find protein bars to be basically candy so I avoid them. Yes, they are slightly more healthy than candy, but only slightly. Plus they are a trigger food for me and lead to other bad things. But they are convenient and work well when combined with a workout.

The big question mark in my diet right now is fueling, especially on race day. Right now my workouts aren't long enough to *require* fueling but I use them to experiment with what I need to do on race day. I've tried a lot of things -- gels, Gatorade, GU20, Recoverite, bananas, clif shot blocks, protein bars, HEED, etc. The thing that seems to work the best is bananas, Recoverite and protein bars. But Recoverite tastes like crap.  So I have worked up a special mix where I add other things to it that taste better but preserve the 3:1 carb to protein ratio. Plus, I can't eat bananas on the bike and I need something on longer bike rides besides my special mix.

So I'll keep experimenting... 

fireman70 - 2009-05-19 4:22 PM Jonathan read your eating plan do you  like it better then solid food on the bike? I did one bar on bike in my last oly. Another quest for you what type of workout plan are you using? I was reading your logs and our times are similar but I need to work on run. Terrain down here (FL) is flat so I may start using the track this summer while school is out to work on sprints. My questions deal with HIM distances for you. Thanks

fireman70 - 2009-05-20 6:35 PM Alright asking again what type of cyclocomputers or gps devices do you guys use on your bike? I am looking to get a new one and thought why not ask the group. Any advice is appreciated.

rymac - 2009-05-21 7:23 AM

Garmin 305 - love it!

fireman70 - 2009-05-22 10:21 PM Thanks for the input on the electronics. I will probably wait until the 410 comes out and hear how it plays out. The other idea was the 405 for me. I am a gadget freak. I have been having issues with my suunto t4 with hrm. makes it hard to stay in zones. Today I did the old school method every person I passed on my run I would actually say hello have a nice day. That way I would not be running so hard. Who knows what the hr was but felt pretty good on the run easy pace for me did a nice 8 today skipped the pool in between storms. We are definitely out of our drought down here now. HIM for some of you guys is coming up. Taper week?

bschulte - 2009-05-22 9:06 PM Sorry folks, I've been a little absent for a few days.  Work and training have been crazy.  Great discussion on race nutrition and the advice is spot on.  Different for everyone and only you can figure out what will work for you.  As far as electronics.....I have a pretty simple bike computer as I really on you speed, and the odometer, so minimalist approach.  I think it is a Cat-eye Strada as well.  I like it.  I would suggest wireless as it is just so much cleaner and easier.  I use the Timex Bodylink system (HRM, GPS which link to the watch).  I must say I am not terribly happy with it.  I have a healthy inventory of spare parts as I have acquired back ups and spare.  When the Garmin 405 multisport (I think it will be called the 410X or something) comes out I am upgrading.  Waterproof, 20 hr battery, HRM, ANT compatible (will read Power Tap Wireless hub).  My issue with the 305, is the inability to wear it for an entire IM (battery life and not waterproof).  The new one is supposed to be out this Spring, but in typical Garmin fashion it is behind schedule.

baldbuyer - 2009-05-24 5:50 PM June 7th....two weeks exactly until the REV3 HIM for me.  I have to admit, I am getting a little geeked up for it.  We are having a mixed bag of T-storms this weekend in CO, so it's treadmill work today with a swim/bike brick planned for tomorrow (probably full length on both, since I will be packing by bike by Wed to ship).  I will finish out this next week and then taper down until the 7th.  Question for any of you....I live at and have been training at 52-5400ft for the duration up until this event, do any of you have any experience with any possible advantages that I may pick up when I do this event at roughly 500ft above sea level???  Just curious....

MacMadame - 2009-05-24 6:53 PM I have been looking at the Garmin 410 and also something from Polar that seems to have similar capability (the RS300?). I will probably get this for Christmas, so I have plenty of time to research. Anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of each?

I joined a gym and took my first spin class today. I loved it. My gym has two types of spin classes -- Studio Cycle and Road Cycle. Road Cycle is for cyclists so that's the one I took. I think it will help me a lot.

Then I did a short swim and a short run just because I missed my swim class this week and also hadn't gotten in my 3rd run of the week. Now I did do a long jacuzzi stint in between the spin class and the swimming but I was still shocked I could do that. I think I have been babying myself only doing one workout a day.

I'm working off a Half-Marathon plan from FIRST and I'm somewhat confused by it. It talks about picking your HM pace and then doing runs where you go both slower and faster than that pace. But I am not sure how to pick my pace. I expect to not just build up distance, but to also get faster by Oct. But I don't want to pick a pace that is too fast for me to get my runs down now. So I should I base it on my current 5K pace or on the pace I *want* to get to?

Oh and I found two gels that seem to work for me. One even has protein in it! I think this will be good for the bike. I'm still working on how to fuel during the runs in a way that doesn't give me gastric distress. I haven't actually tried gels during the run though, just shot blocs and sports beans. But I sometimes get distress even just from drinking water so I'm thinking it's not what I'm consuming, but just the fact that I am.

Finally, after my bike fit, I started to get the numb toes that were mentioned here. So I asked our tri coach about it and he suggested that I push the cleats on my shoes back. Someone else in our group said going up 1/2 size in shoes can help with that too. Since I needed follow-up from my bike fit, I mentioned the cleat thing to him (as well as the toe numbness) and he agreed that my cleats needed to be farther back. I also bought the smaller seat he had recommended last time. So we'll see how it goes on my next long ride. 

MacMadame - 2009-05-25 1:50 AM
Sorry, I wasn't clear. I put my 5k pace into some calculator and a 13.1k pace pops out.

But I do think I need to be running faster. Every time I run faster on the treadmill than the time before, I am sure before I begin that I'm going to die, but then I do it just fine.

The bigger problem is that my long run in the first week of this plan is supposed to be 6 miles and I can't do that yet. So I need a plan to get on my plan! Heh. (I'm just going to use math to add some weeks onto the front, I think.)

Anyway, I'll keep my eye on my HR and pace and see what happens. I don't want to pick a pace I can't sustain now because I think I'll be able to sustain it in Oct. 

mburkhart - 2009-05-25 10:22 PM My problem is I haven't been able to get back to the pace I was at last season for my HIM (running). I was in the low 9's with intervals around 8:40 and this season after taking about 2 months off entirely I can't seem to break 10:00mm w/o my HR sky rocketing. does it really take this long to get beck in shape after a lapse of that long? I seem to be able to push during races but my HR is always way too high. My first 1/2 Mary is this weekend which should be a good test. Very frustrating!