Mango's Group - CLOSED (Page 5)

So you should be right in the peak phase of your training. You will notice that your hunger will increase. make sure to listen to your body about how much you should eat. Try to put quality food into your body and eat nice and slow so your body can tell you when to stop. 

Also make sure you are refueling 1-2 hours hard workouts. this is key to recovery so you can go hard on your other workouts.

Also, DON'T CARBO load before the race. Keep your eating consistent and healthy. 

and remember everything in moderation, make sure to have ice cream or pizza once in a while.


-Mango 

Shawn and everyone else,

You all have been asking really good questions! like shawn said it sounds like a lot of people are asking nutrition questions. so let me discuss training nutrition now and at a later time I will discuss race day nutrition.

We, as athletes, eat to fuel our bodies. We need nutrition to not only to train but also to recover from training. So....

tips I can give for just daily nutrition

1. Eat breakfast. There has been recent studies that have concluded that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight.  

2. Make sure to eat within 1-2 hours after a hard workout. Your body has a window of opportunity for optimally restoring your glycogen stores. You need to take advantage of this window because it will help you with your next day's workouts. When you do eat after a workout try to keep the ratio of protein to carbs 1:3 (chocolate milk!!   

3. Don't eat too little. I know a lot of athletes you don't eat enough. They are trying to loose weight and just cut out TOO much calories. These athletes are more prone to injuries and fatigue.

4. As for different types of foods that are good, There is a GIANT list but here are a couple that I love
    - avocado (in a salad or as guacamole) 
    - oatmeal (raisins, honey, cinnamon, almonds
    - omelets (any kind!!) 
    - sanwhiches (whole wheat break, turkey, mustard, tomato....)
    - soups
    - spaghetti (whole wheat)  
    - Salads

5. I try to subscribe to the thought of whole foods. I try to eat foods that are closest to the form they look like in nature. Obviously bread and spaghetti are not on the list but I think having this thinking will do you well in your food selections. 

6.  Salads!!!! Now I know everyone is thinking...uggg salads, that will never fill me up. Let me tell you a little about myself. i have a HUGE appetite! and one thing I will never cave into is me feeling hungry. So what I do is eat a salad with all the fixins!! chicken, olives, avacado, egg, fresh mozzarella cheese, cucumbers, carrots, celery. I will also eat a small soup before hand. This one of my fav. dinners.

7. try to eat natural. This will not necessarily make you loose weight but what we put in our bodies has an effect on us. I try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup (new study just published stating there is Mercury in HFCS), artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils (it is in some peanut butters), and deep fried things. When I started looking at labels I was amazed what HFCS was in....Bread and Ketchup!!??

8. Some fats are good. Look for unsaturated fats. Foods high in this type of fat are: olives, avocado, fish oil (omega 3) 

Ok there is a couple of tips that I try to subscribe to when I eat.....

I will discuss more nutrition with racing next week,

-Mango  

AWESOME!!! Great to hear your improving. remember to listen to your body and keep up the fantastic work!!  

Mango,

Hey Brother THANK YOU very much for making the nutrition response so friggin easy to understand.  I actually understood all of it.  Too many times, I've asked individuals the same simple question, and got a long complex answer that made no sense at all to ME!!

I do have question, what is your opinion on protein mix shacks that you can purchase online or at stores like GNC?  I know they are quick and easy to make, but do they really provide recovery fuel to the body after a workout.

Also does working out long vs. short, hard vs. light make a difference.

Oh by the way, I experience runners high two days ago, and being that I'm no runner big guy, I ran 7 miles without a problem.  This is the longest I have ever ran in my entire life.  I actually could have gone another 2 or 3 miles but my feet started to hurt. Maybe I need new shoes, I but had a great time running, and to be honest, I'm dam proud of myself.

Thanks for all the help, and thanks to everyone who are asking questions that I also have.

Shawn and remember "What doesn't kill you, will make you stronger"

I second ootman on that one!!

I have an aeorobottle on front(20oz maybe) Drank it and filled it up once. Drank another 20 oz bottle. So, maybe 50 oz. Also what was left of 20oz perpetuem+1 gel. So, maybe 500 calories on bike.
Calves are still sore due to the 4 hours of severe cramping. Think I'll go for a short spin tomorrow.
Thinking about racing a 400meter-18.5m-4m sprint in the middle of June.

Is anyone aware of tri-tops that are meant for taller people?  I have tried several on and seems that they all ride up.  I'm 6-3" and would prefer not to wear a belly shirt while running/biking.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I asked one of my tall friends and this is what he said

Hope this helps! 

-Mango:

"Posted on 05-14-2009 16:40

I am 6'8", the Skinfit Tri Aero Zip Top works really well for me. Skinfit makes some great, very functional apparel... http://www.skinfit.ch/index_hot.asp?gruppe=6&land=US"

 

Well, I finished my bike ride.  It only ended up being 260+ miles.  Two of the days were each over 90 miles.  I must say that it was no problem for me.  It is a great feeling to know that I was WELL prepared physically.  As soon as I got back I went right back to running.  7 miles Friday night.  Now I have to get back in the pool since it has been well over a week.

I saw a post about eating and nutrition.  Eat well.  The whole foods idea is great and I try to eat right after the big workout, whether it be cardio or strength.  That is when I really eat as much as I want.  Read as much as you can.  It really isn't rocket science as long as you are informed.  I have found that the more I get into this the more I read and learn.  I won't lie, I still eat cookies and chips from time to time, but I never fee guilty since it is always in moderation and at the right times.  It didn't happen all at once, but the more you learn, you start to piece things together and find what works best for you.

Ok all! It is memorial day weekend. What are all of you up to for this holiday?

Holiday's can be a stressful time in a triathlete's life. The big question is with all this festivities and food when will I have time to squeeze in a workout or how do I limit my food. Here are a couple of things I do.

1. find a family member or friend to run with during mid day. I tend to eat like a pig in between lunch and dinner with snacks. So what I try to do is find a friend or family member to go out on a run with. They don't have to be fast. Just getting out there will get your workout in and also get you away from the food.

2. STAY AWAY from the food. What I do so try to stay away from the snack table. When I am sitting around I sit with no food in front of me.

3. Remember to hydrate. standing in the sun all day will make you sweat. make sure to monitor your fluid intake because being dehydrated will make you hungry.

4. Remember that we work our assess off throughout the season. We are allowed days when we can indulge. some holidays I need a mental break from all the craziness and throw caution into the wind. This helps my mind get back into the game the next day.

What do other people do??

-Mango

I completed my first sprint triathlon a few weekends ago and had a blast.  The swim was a little scary with arms and legs flying, but I got through it.  The only problem I had was on the bike when my contact came out.  I pretty much lost all depth perception from that point on!  I wear sunglasses to protect them, but this seems to be a reoccuring problem when it is windy outside.  It is has happened during training, but usually I'll stop and put in eye drops and start up again.  I don't have time to do that when I'm racing...any suggestions?  

Well the weekend is here!! You know what that means! EPIC WORKOUTS! Lets post our weekend workouts for motivation for others.

I will start:

Today was a 1.25 hour slow run followed by a 2 hours mod. effort ride! Felt great with the warm weather up here in New England! We had 4 days of overcast rain. I averaged 18 MPH.

What else did people do? Did anyone race? Lets get a good discussion going!  

After feeling like garbage physically for the past week or so, I took Saturday off despite the gorgeous weather and I had my 2nd race yesterday.  Another sprint.  It started off well, had a solid swim (300 yd pool swim), and a good first half of the bike.  I should have been paying better attention, but happened to look down for a second to grab my water bottle, and didn't notice the blue left turn arrow on the road marking the course...needless to say, I didn't make the turn.  Ended up spilling into a ditch.  Fortunately I hit the brakes fairly hard to try to make the turn, so I wasnt going too fast.  Chain fell off, so that took me a minute to get back on.  By this time a couple more people start to pass me (I was 2nd in the water, and had only been passed by 2 or 3 by now...).  Hopped back on...but something was/is wrong.  Have to get my bike checked out now.  Can't figure it out, but my avg speed went from 21-22 for the first half down to about 13 the 2nd, same effort.  It was endlessly frustrating.

Dragged myself to the end and had a decent run.  What a great 2nd race!  Oh well...there's always next time. 

Hey Whizzard123,

Sorry to hear about the race incident.  However, I got something even better.  Signed up for my second Sprint Race ever, and did fairly well on the swim.  I beat my swim time by 1 minute from the last (and first sprint).  Came out of the pool feeling pretty great, and then the bike kicked my butt.  No kidding there were approximately 11 hills, small but very tough.  Killed my legs on the bike, and the run was horrible.  As I am going by a water station, I grab a cup, drinking it, at the same time breathing.  To say the least I almost drown while running.

I left the race pretty much disappointed at myself completely.  All my friends attempted to cheer me saying "well at least you went out, tried your hardest, and finished".  I know they meant well, but my training was not up to par these last 3 weeks.  Way too many family events taking place.

Big time learning event for me.  Train, Train, and Train. 

Next sprint should be in August, hopefully a little better finish.

Those type of races can be frustrating but inevitable. It's all about how you respond to the situation. Good for you for finishing! How is your bike? Did you get it checked out? When is your next race?

-Mango 

That would have been a interesting headline in the paper "Triathlete drowns.....on run" HA!

This is good that you are able to look at what went wrong and know what you have to do to rectify the situation. Family parties always put a strain on our training. I find myself getting VERY little sleep when there are parties.

-Mango 

GREAT QUESTION!

I get this question a lot! hydration is something we need to worry about all this time. You NEED to hydrate before a race. I have read some articles that you should be hyper-vigilant with your hydration starting 3 days before your race. 

I would say to you is to evaluate your hydration status days before a race. I do this myself by the color of my urine. Without going into depth about the physiology of the way your kidney's filtrate I will give you a chart

Dark Yellow=need to drink more
Light Yellow (straw color)= just right
looks like your water=need to drink less. 

Also you can't just expect to hydrate the day before. pounding fluid the day before a race or the day of will not hydrate your cells, your kidney's will just filter out a lot of the fluid. 

It's hard to take in fluid while exercising so most of the hydration should come from before the race. It sounds like your taking in a good amount of fluid but there are many factors when judging fluid intake during a race, i.e. humidity, temp, type of sweater you are and how hard you are pushing yourself. If you take in too much fluid while you are cycling and running your will certainly have GI distress. 

With all this said please be carful of overhydration. pounding too much water during the day may cause your blood to become dilute and lower the serum sodium level. This can cause fatal results.

So in a healthy person follow the urine color. This will be the best indicator of hydration status while NOT exercising (you will need a better of an indicator of hydration while exercising). If you are on any diuretics (for cardiac conditions or caffeine in high amounts) the urine thing will not work. 

*Just read an article that caffeine has a diuretic effect when consumed at a level of 250 milligrams per dose and higher. (med coffee from dunkin donuts is 143 miligrams of caffeine)

-Mango

Those type of races can be frustrating but inevitable. It's all about how you respond to the situation. Good for you for finishing! How is your bike? Did you get it checked out? When is your next race?

-Mango 

How long do you guys/gals suggest waiting between eating a breakfast and race start?  I had a 5 miler on Saturday and did terrible.  My stomach felt like complete crap.  It was all cramped up and sour.  Not sure if I ate too cose to the start of the race or what.  It was sort of a recreational race to begin with, so it's no big deal, but I still felt like I was going to die.

What did you eat?  Did you eat anything that was new to your system?  I pretty much eat the same food before a race, and I determine what works well while training. If I want to try something new to eat, I'll try it out before a long workout.

Yeah...I ate the same thing I normally eat.  I had a bowl of kashi with milk and a banana.  You think the milk just isn't a good idea?  I never work out in the mornings, so maybe that's just it.  It seems obvious...just hope I'm not missing something.

Hey everyone,

I completed my first Sprint Tri over the weekend. My results are posted at this link

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=163363

I was close to finishing at my goal of the top 100 and I believe that I was 25th in my age group which means I achieved my goal of top 30. I felt good about all aspects of the race, but was a little off my pace for the swim, but I made it up on the bike.

I also bruised my heel three days before the race and it hindered my ability to run with my normal stride. I was pleased with my time despite that hinderence.

I look forward to my next race. I love the competition and I learned some things that you can't learn no matter how many videos you look at or blogs and articles that you read.

Best to you all.

Brian

Congrats on the first one!  Now its all easy from here.  When are you going to get the 2nd one over with?

There is nothing like your first Tri...............Congrats and the times were really good.  That sucks about your heel, but just think what you can do, being completely healthy.  Please let us know when the next tri is, and how things work out.

I'm in the process of looking for another tri, and I think I shooting for a Sprint first week in August.

Keep it up.