Triathletes Village Forum

 Great to hear that we're not doing the horible double this year. Once up Sugarloaf is enough for me. Maybe I can get to the finish line this year.

 Today was supposed to be a swim day. I didn't feel like swimming, I felt like running. So I went running. I ran 6.5 miles.  Turned into a fartlek session. Felt good. 

 We must be less that 100 days by now..

Hi All,

I love KAR's post......it is great to see someone listening to their body. While sticking to the plan is important for the most part, your body will tell you when you are pushing too hard or in the wrong direction.

Pixie, great job on the race last weekend. You rock in the rain......

I've read the posts on the GFT bike segment this year; any idea if that is the course for Assult this year? I'm jumping into that this year and would love to know where I'm going. I got an e-mail last week from Monkeyboy and he is planing to come over as well. 

Hopefully the Tribe will be well represented. 

IC 

Questions?/ Oppinions?

Does anyone else use pepermints after swim/start of bike to clear sinuses? I'm thinking about switching to Atomic Fireballs!

I'm not going to take any solid foods on run so that I can go faster? But what about defissed coke, or chicken broth?

So what time is sunset in Clearmont 10/25?
Since we can't use our MP3 players, can we get the aid stations to play request?

I tried the Snickers Charged bar and it seemed to do pretty well. So I think I'm switching from Payday (at bike special needs) IF I can find a way for it not to be melted.

Is there anything to see/do at the Training Center? Massage, wirlpool, sauna....  I really want to get a sports massage on Thur. 10/23

If you're going to go with a peppermint why not just use a Hall's mentholyptus or something similar?  In any event ALWAYS experiment with this stuff BEFORE your big race, not DURING it.

I had great success with de-fizzed cola (after the halfway point of the run) in all my ultras, including going sub-3:15 at a couple of them.  Again, though, try this stuff out at a non-important race, or during training.  And it's so high in sugar that you're going to have to take in a little bit at each aid station (1 mile apart) thereafter or you'll have a decent chance of experiencing an insulin dump and feeling a bit wonky.

Why not try a Powergel or Cliff Shot or something like that, if you don't want to risk taking in any solid foods?  Also, bananas and orange slices can work well.  Use them in training first.  I know I sound like a broken record, but you really do want to duplicate as much as possible in training what you'll be doing during the race.

Tony

IC,

I'm glad you wrote what you did about listening to your body. My body told me earlier this year: "You're a middle distance swimmer. Why are you making me do 10 mile runs??? You're killing me!" So I stopped.

I'd like to do another Ironman, but the more I think about it, the more I think I should focus on sprints and try to improve there. So what I'd like to do is to actually start riding with fast people regularly and then run to see if I can get faster on the bike and run for sprints. I think I can.

Have fun w/ your training and the big dance, everyone! And listen to your body!

Pixie

Tony, I never thought about using Hall's, I've always used peppermints. I think I might try them a couple times. I don't do well with gels so I've worked out a good system for the bike to fuel up.  What I'd like to modify is the run nutrition. I think one thing I've been doing wrong is using cookies and other solid food that I think don't really digest.
The de-fizzed coke is really great, and I just might test it for a real "run" to see what happens at speed.

What's everyones plan for this weekend?

Happy Friday to all,

Well we made it though another week and have the weekend ahead. Always a great feeling.......

E-Dad....pepermints????? I never thought of it but yea....my sinuses are always screaming coming out of a fresh water swim, so something like that might make sense.

TonyG, I'm with you on the de-fizzed coke, but also agree that it is better to hold off till you are half way through the run. It really tastes great after all the gels, fruits, and replacement drinks of the day. It also does give you the instant energy, pleanty to get to the next aid station, but too much too soon can set up a crash. Frankly I don;t drink soda at all, except after a tough race. It helps to get that foggy feeling out of my head.

I think as a general statement calorie replacement is a very individual situation. Try it all to see what works best. It can sometimes be a tough balance between how many calories you are burining vs. how many your stomach will consume without pushing back. I do think that like everything else in the sport, this improves with training.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe training weekend.

IronCoach

Ahh, the nutrition beast.  It always seems to come up in every IM discussion forum.  As Tony said, it is so important that you practice what you want to do on race day.  Don't try it once; practice it every time you go out. 

Last fall I tried sometime different by trying to use all gels for an IM and it blew up on me during the run.  I had practiced using it but I guess I didn't practice enough (or under race conditions).  I got 4 miles into the run and horrible stomach cramps and had to start walking at that point. 

With that experience fresh in my mind (and stomach) I switched back to what had worked for me in the past for my IM this spring.  It consisted of rotating 2 Fig Newtons, 1 gel and 1 banana every 20 minutes while trying to consume a bottle of Gatorade during that 1 hour period.  I would repeat the process for the entire bike segment.  The nice thing about that is all I had to carry with me on the bike was 6 gels and 12 Fig Newtons and that amount was very easy to carry and I could bypass the special needs stop.  I got the bananas and sport drink from the aid stations.

When I got to the run, I switched to just gels and sport drink/water.  I have used the oranges slices during the later part of the run and I really like them as an alternative.  The semi-tart taste is very refreshing to all the sugary crap you have consumed for hours up to that point.  They sort of cleanse the palette.  The defizzed coke can definitely be a boost when you are running low on energy but you will need to stick with it once you start using it because of exactly what Tony said.  And most importantly, don't forget about the chicken broth/soup late in the day.  It can provide that special sodium replacement and again, it goes down much easier than that umpteenth gel that you can't bring yourself to open.

I can’t beat this dead horse enough: practice, practice, practice.  Nutrition training is just as important as your swim, bike and run training.

Rich,  I started to spin yesterday and then quit after 15 minutes as soon as I realized that I still needed recovery time. This morning it was all I could do to skip another work out. Good news is that I should be ok for run tonight and best of all I don't have to work OT tomorrow. So I get to bike on the real roads! I might even sneek in a swim. 
Matt Hill, are you signed up for GFT?

Thought for the day:
You maybe a TRI nut if:
You wash your bike more than your car. (or if your bike cost more than your car!)
You carry a change of clothes just in case you get to do an extra work out..
You get caught doing stretches at your desk.
You've ever fixed more than 5 bottles of sports drink for "a" Sat. morning.
You've consumed an average days calories on a bike.. (or fallen asleep spinning)
You've ever waited at the end of the driveway for a few more minutes so there will be enough light to start your bike ride.
more later...

E-dad,

  Geez, where do you get this stuff? How many times have I waited at the end of the driveway for more daylight? Man, just that, and then end up running back into the house to kill some more time!!!

 Have you thought of Claritin-D to dry up the sinuses?

  Tomorrow is a 4.5 hour ride, then a 20 minute run.

  Kerry Riggs (M 45-49)

Well I could not wait. I thought I'd hold off  on swims until Aug. but the heat made it to tempting. So this weekend I put in (2)  mile swims and loved it!  I tried a long run last night and stopped after 5 miles. I also could not replace enough fluids and I can't get hurt now.

Tri nuts measure everying in workout units.  Mowing = ,  painting = , shopping = ,  sex =.....

Tony, Yakabo still has you beat for knowing every detail of his workouts. Have you ever seen his spread sheets?

I had a tire blow out Sat morning but it was the best kind! It popped just as I left the driveway. so I could walk back change it out for my spare, and was still off to watch the sun come up.

Hi Everyone,

Well and can see from the posts today that I'm not the only one that struggled with the heat this weekend. I learned some great lessons many years back and have tried to limit the risks of heat problems, but they still somethimes can happen.

This weekend I planned an 85 mile bike on Saturday and a 10 mile run on Sunday. The bike was perfect, until 78 miles. I went from a very good and comfortable feeling averaging just north of 18 and still feeing about 80-85% good to having to walk in about 2-3 minutes. Guys, it felt like someone hit me with a 2x4. I recovered enough after a minute or 2 of walking to peddle home at about 12 MPH but it was ugly, real ugly. The only good news was that there was a Starbucks person with banana/mango smoothies at the end of the trail just handing them out to tired and over heated athletes. That gave me just enough energy to make it back to the car and home for an ice bath.

I changed the Sunday plan completly. In fact I had already written in my spreadshet (that I orignaly got from Yakabo) that I was off that day to recover. About 11:00 the fog in my head finally started to lift and I began to feel like I could train. So I went to the pool for 1500 and jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 10 minute miles. It was good to not feel like toast after this light workout.

Like KAR, sleep Saturday was terrible. Bottom line.....hitting the wall is no fun.

I had a good plan for fluids and calories on Saturday and executed it just as planned. This included 5 Endurolites, 60oz Cytomax, 4 gels, 2 bananas and over 110oz of water. I guess there is simply a limit in that kind of heat, and I'm not real good in the heat anyway.

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the weekend other than the heat, and can look forward to a fun work week.

Ironcoach

Thought for the day:

Everyone hits the wall, some just don't stop there!

Does Icy Hot have any real medicinal value?