bhoover10001's Group - Closed for the holidays! (Page 8)

OK, IM vets, here's the sort of thing that keeps me up at night....  (I've got a million of these, but I'll spread them out!)

Suppose I wanted to do both of these things:

1. Race belt, preloaded with GU, is waiting for me in T2.  (I.e., I don't wear it on the bike).

2.  Change from bike jersey to running top in T2.

Can I accomplish both of these?  If so, how would I handle my race number?  Transferring it from the bike jersey to the race belt is not a very attractive option.  Is that the only way?

Two race numbers -- that would be great.  I'll check on that.  Thanks for your answers everyone. I'll try out another of my silly anxieties on you all some other time...

Weather here has not been bike-conducive yet.  We got a very rare (for us) smattering of snow today.  I'm sure those of you up north will get a kick out of this:  last night the weather prediction was a 50% chance of light snow (no accumulation), and the schools all immediately closed, at 6pm last night.  I grew up in northern Wisconsin and walked to school in snow drifts as tall as me (up hill both ways!), so I find this whole thing amusing when I'm in a good mood, and annoying when I'm in a bad mood.  In fairness, I think they just wanted to stay home and watch the inauguration.

The annoying side to this is that the pool was closed today for the second day straight. 

arny - 2009-01-20 12:09 PM Congratulations to all of you in the United States! Your new president did a great job this morning...I have to say that I was glued to the screen during the proceedings this morning. I am presently watching Mr. Obama signing. A great morning... RE: Ironman numbers...I am novice but did spend alot of time planning transitions...I found it fine just wearing my race number on the elastic belt through both the cycle and the run...I also wore a hydration belt for the run, but it was not a problem having both on . Just my 2 cents Happy Training all...did the new bike get out yet???? Ann

I'm sorry, but i had no desire to watch the inauguration.  I'm am sooooo sick of all the presidential crap.  Here in the states its been almost a full year of media coverage from the nominations to the election.  I would be happy if i never had to hear about another election in my entire life! Blah!!!

Yesterday was an exciting day in American history.  Rarely do we get to be in a point in time where people openly recognize it as historical - so it was pretty cool

So all, question time - I think once Bill got rid of his ennui, he passed it on to me.  I don't think it's burn out, but I just cannot get into my training this week.  I am good paying attention to my nutrition, etc but I just cannot get motivated to do anything this week.  I did my run training on Monday instead of Sunday and I was slower than usual. 

Part of it could be that I was disappointed in my paces for my LT test, which is dumb since I'm still new and building, and it's not that it discouraged me, but I thought that would have gone better. 

Maybe I'm just a whiner this week :-)  I'm going to keep forging ahead and sign up for a swim clinic and head to spin class tonight... but any ideas on how to mentally motivate myself?

Hey Bill -

You're probably pointing your toes involuntarily during race situations which are more tense.  Stretch your plantar facsis and pay attention to make sure your legs stay as relaxed as possible during your swims. 

I have the same prob when I snorkel with fins bc my feet insist on pushing the fins instead of relaxing.

Either way, it's muscle tension causing it.

As far as nutrition, I have the same curiosities.  I know hammer nutrition has an Olympic starter pack with stuff we might need.  But, I've never used it.  Link to short course fueling kit ---> http://www.hammernutrition.com/za/HNT?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD.ID=5381&OMI=10082,10047&AMI=10082

billsorg - 2009-01-21 10:00 AM Thanks for the info, Sam. Now a really stupid question to show my "newby-ness". Are you supposed to eat/drink ALL of that in one race??? I think I'd be more full than if I ate Thanksgiving dinner before/during the race! Hammer Gel Raspberry Jug 8 Hammer Gel single serving packets, one of each flavor (not including Raspberry) 3 Strawberry HEED single serving packets 3 Mild Melon HEED single serving packets 3 Mandarin Orange HEED single serving packets 2 Lemon-Lime HEED single serving packets 1 Plain HEED single serving packet 2 Strawberry Recoverite single serving packets 1 Citrus Recoverite single serving packet

HAHA I have no idea, I didn't really think about it!  I figured it was enough for a whole season of short races (I have 3 this summer).  I can't see anyone would need to intake that much during any short course, so I'm gonna go with no. 

OH, the website has an awesom book on racing nutrition, it's a pdf: http://www.hammernutrition.com/downloads/fuelinghandbook.pdf?utm_source=Endurance%2BAthletes%2BGuide%2Bto%2BSuccess&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=fuelingbook

They have some other things, like product usage manuals in their library I haven't gotten through yet either.

arny - 2009-01-21 10:23 AM Samantha: You don't want good results from the LT test now...you want them to be borderline now and then AMAZING after all your hard training .... just kidding... you had a busy time over the past weeks getting swimming rolling, etc...you can't be up all the time...busy/hard training days are often followed by low energy/gloomy days for me as my body works to recover. Just my own 2 cents worth Hang in there

Thanks, Ann! :-D

When you truly bonk you have basically used up all of your glycogen stores available to your body.  Most often times, this prohibits you from finishing your race.  It's also called "hitting the wall". 

It's a bad thing.  Avoidance of bonking is why race and training nutrition are so important (like how I brought that full circle, haha).

LOVE sport beans and also the Clif Shot Blocks! 

Nutrition is tricky, as is hydration.

First, there are a lot of myths out there about the relationship between nutrition and cramping.  The current 'wisdom' amongs sports scientists is that there is little if any causal connection between them, and that cramping is caused simply by overworking a muscle that isn't used to it.  A pretty accessible discussion of this can be found here:  

    http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/11/muscle-cramps-part-1-theories-and.html

For some reason that I don't understand, this is a pretty emotional topic for many people.  They get very worked up when they are told that bananas, or sports drinks, or whatever, do not prevent cramping.  But the studies that have been done sure seem to point in that direction pretty strongly.  I'm not going to preach about it here, but if you're interested, read the stuff at that link, then follow up by reading the actual studies, pro and con, and make up your own mind.

So much for cramping.

Yes, it is very possible to overhydrate.  And you understate what can happen -- people die (not to put too fine a point on it...).

So how do you determine how much to drink, and how much to eat?  Even harder, how do you determine WHAT to eat?

The drink part is not too difficult. You can determine your sweat rate under various conditions (heat matters a lot, as does the intensity of your effort.  So you'll want to do this test under various likely scenarios).  Measure your weight as God made you, then go for a 1 hour run (or bike, or swim).  Don't take in anything while you're doing it.  Then measure again.  Your sweat weighs approximately 1kg per liter.  (If you feel that you absolutely must take in some liquids during the test, weigh the water bottle before and after and subtract the difference.)

Now you know how much you sweat, but it does NOT follow that you need to replace all of that.  In fact, current 'wisdom' is that it is perfectly fine to END the race in a more or less dehydrated state.  Your performance isn't normally impaired until you've lost around 2-4% of your body weight in liquid.  Moreover, it is just not possible for most people to absorb the amount of liquid that they lose in sweat during intense exercise.  Exactly how much fluid your stomach empties into your small intestine, and how quickly it is absorbed from there, is a fairly complex issue, as these rates are affected by the presence of carbohydrates, osmolality of the liquid, the intensity of your exercise, genetics, and so on.  A decent rule of thumb is to take in at least as much as you need to avoid going over that 2% mark.  If you can, and want, to take in more, then fine, but it probably isn't necessary.

So much for drinking.  The science of sports guys also have a series of articles on this, here:

    http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/10/part-i-history-of-fluid-intake-and.html

There's a ton of literature on it too.  They reference a lot of it.  Google scholar will turn up hundreds of articles.

Now for nutrition (by which I mean, everything except water -- but these issues are connected because your ability to absorb water depends in part on what else is in your gut with it).  It is easy enough to estimate how many calories you will burn in a race or during a training session.  There are a zillion calorie calculators out there, but rough estimates are probably good enough.  For example, the estimate of 100 calories per mile is not too far off for most people -- it is more if you are heavier or less efficient, less if you are lighter or more efficient.  Pace has very little effect.  It's the distance that counts.  This is a little less true in swimming and cycling, just because it is so much easier to be less efficient in those disciplines.

So, for a marathon (which is really all I'm familiar with), you'd estimate around 2600 calories needed.  Throw in a few extra as a cushion, and say you'll burn 3000 calories from start to finish.  You already have approximately 2000 stored as glycogen.  (You can increase that a bit with proper carbo-loading, which does NOT mean eating a huge pasta meal the night before!)  In addition, your body will use some fat stores for energy.  A typical ratio for a well trained runner running at marathon pace is something like 80/20 or 85/15 (glycogen to fat), with protein being an insignificant source of energy in this context (and in general, unless you are starving in the desert).  This high percentage of glycogen use is a GOOD thing, because it is a far superior form of energy.  Once you use up your glycogen, you are burning more fat, and as someone said, that's when you hit the wall.

So, you are going to fall short of your energy needs from glycogen by around 500 calories or so.  And in reality, you don't want to use up everything, because as glycogen gets low, the body begins to scavenge more fat for fuel ('the wall' is really more like a really steep hill...).  So to be on the safe side, you'd like to take in around 800 calories on the run.  Your standard Gu has 100 calories, so if you take one in every 4 miles, plus drink some sports drink along the way, you are more than fine.

That discussion was really just meant to be a sketch of how I would think about nutrition, as a starting point.  But it is crucial to experiment with these things.  So, theorize your way to a starting along these lines, then experiment, experiment, experiment.  And have a back-up plan in case things get ugly during the race.  I.e., what will you do if you just absolutely cannot take one more Gu and you still have 10 miles to go int he marathon? Practice that too.  Find out what else might work if plan A goes down the tubes (nasty allusion intended).

By the way, some people are in the 20's on the number of pages lol.  So i have a question or two for Ironman people.

1. What training plan are you going to use to train for the ironman?
2. Are you going to do a HR plan?

I'm about 31 weeks out from the ironman and want to follow at 20 week training plan.  But i also want a plan to follow for the next 10 weeks to ramp up into the training.  Any suggestions?

HHAHAH, yes it was!  But good information - well, from what I got through.  I have a short attention span so have to read in chunks :-)