Lemuel Beauchamp Micro
Coach,
I've been practicing my nutrition for quite some time now; the weeks leading to an event i train like i race, same pace/nutrition/mental focus/embrace the suck/ you name it.... the only issue that I have is hydration, not that i dont hydrate during my training, the problem is that when i finish a race i need an IV becuase my stomach cramps up about 5mi into the run and i stop ingesting any type of fluid to prevent a bigger problem. I've followed your nutritional guidelines, weighted myself before and after to see how much water im loosing and done the math to see how much i really need. apparently I cant absorb the amount that I am calculating, all I can ingest is 30Grams of Carb and about 1000mg of electrolites in a single bottle per hour plus one hammer gel every 45min ( I got these numbers performing trial and error for many months). Since i joined EN my times have gone down, meaning that my performance increased following your plan but my GI issues are the same, do you have any suggestions on what could I do? I've asked several doctors but they all they give me is this look 
and ask me why am i doing this in the first place and not just quit... I answer the question followed by my question of why did you go to school for 15+yrs to become a doctor.
During my last event at Challenge Atlantic City 70.3 I drank the course drink, gatorade; I trained with Gatorade so that was not a problem, the issue was after 5mi into the run my face turned 
... i thought that my race was over, menaing i was not going to PR, so i stopped drinking, all I did was put ice in my pants 
and under my ballcap to keep the temp down. I finished with a PR, but the price that i paid was steep, my body broke down for 2 days, my calf muscles would twitch like if they were possesed, and I could barely eat. eventually I jumped back but it would be nice if i dont have to go through that again.
Comments
1) Increase sodium on the bike to 1000 mg per hour. 2 x gatorade + a salt stick pill per hour should do it.
2) plan on a banana in T2 (or in go bag as you head out) to help settle stomach and get some potassium in.
3) switch to powerbar gels vs hammer if you can (more sodium in them).
Now, how do you handle hydration on the run??? What do you do?
During the run, on race day, i drink one full cup at each hydration station, and if they have ice down the crotch it goes. If the sponsor is gatorade, then i train with gatorade for about 4 weeks before race day. I have a fuelbelt even though I dont normally use it on race day, but i still keep the discipline of drinking every mile to simulate the distance between stations on race day. I think I just talked myself into using it on race day...
the problem that I had during the last event at AC was that I drank a soup of gatorade at mile 5, at least thats what it felt like... it was as hot as a sunny day in the caribbean. my stomach felt like if i swollowed a granade. after that I stopped drinking. I finished dehydrated, obviously, but during my other events I've finished the same way even after drinking at every station inlcuding mile 12.
Today I'm recovering from the most brutal race I've done in my triathlon career, Savageman 70.0. I had to dig deep for this one; it was brutal, painful, and exhausting but gratifying. I was not shooting for a PR, finishing is an accomplishment on its own. Surprisingly i got a 2nd place in the military division, i was not expecting anything. My run was a horrible 2:11, you should have seen the hills. i barely had any legs left from the 6,718ft climb on the bike.
I kind of cheated my plan last week. I was challenged by my friends to do the Nations Tri Olympic distance, i got a flat last year and they all beat me so i had to regain my title.... so I beat them all, by a lot... i got 4th place in my age group, PR'd on all 3 legs. I don’t think it hurt me physically for the Savageman but i was mentally exhausted, it was the 1st time i do back to back weekends.
To wrap up the tri season i wanted to give you some feedback: from January of this year, when i started training with you until yesterday my swim went down 5min, my bike power went from 178W avg to 256W avg, and my run went from 50min 10K to 44min (oly) / 2:20hr (13.1mi) to 1:48hr (70.3). i did a couple of 10k's and halfs but those don’t count, all i care about is my times on Triathlons cause that’s where i gauge myself. I wanted to thank you for your help and feedback, i stuck to the plan, I missed a couple of sessions, life happens, but in general i followed it to the dot. I never thought that I could make it this far if you asked me 5yrs ago. I' excited for next year, season kicks off with Chattanooga 70.3 so I have some time to decompress before i get on the saddle again.
savageman is on my bucket list. I'll be using a road bike with triple chain for sure.
did Escape from Alcatraz and Lanzarote in the past couple years.
Norseman is on bucket list as well... I think I'll wait a couple years till I'm 65 for that one
Let's kick things off by hitting coach Rich for a TSR for next year, including the NOV OS...let's see what he comes up with and we can go from there.
While he does that, tell me where else you think you can improve for next season!
I think I need to improve my bike mechanical efficiency. I have Garmin Vectors so I can see how much pressure I'm putting on the pedals, I tend to push 60% right and 40% left when i don’t pay too much attention. I concentrate on the push/pull as much as I can but I don’t know if I am missing something that can increase my efficiency. I've read books, magazine articles, charts that explain the muscle groups that perform the work at each stage, you name it... but its not the same in paper than when you go out the door, I try to think of all that information while I'm pedaling and it can be overwhelming. I got a bike fit done several months ago that improved my knee and hip angles, the position is more aggressive and less comfortable but I think it increased my power output. Do you have any coach secrets that might help me?
Do you need me to contact Coach Rich directly for the OS?
Thanks Coach P
The OS...it kicks off with the team on 10/26...so you can submit a season survey to get Coach Rich's input or simply ask him in the Macro (since you already know the OS will be the "next" plan)...
On Sunday I finished the Marine Corps Marathon, last race of the season. The day started off raining and with a ton of security screenings, took me 1hr 10min to pass.. i understand the need of security but they just over did it... many of us had to jump into the corral that was next to us when the cannon went off since we only had minutes to get to the start line, which was about a mile away from screening (I'll get to why i mention this scenario). I started off running with the 4hr EFT, when i really wanted to join the 3:20hr pace, so i went a little fast swerving between people (who should have been on the 5hr pace, not exaggerating) i felt good for the first 13.1 miles, my form was good and my pace was on target. Problems with my right hip flexor started on mile 17, I pushed through it and kept going, only 9 mi left... right... then mile 23 comes around, I was hurting, pretty bad. on mile 24 i stopped to stretch my "hammys", bad decision... lactic acid rushed through my legs like there was no tomorrow, for the next two miles my pace went from 8:05 to 10:00 with walks every 1/4mi. i finished in 3:46, 14minutes faster than last year, but i still think i should have done better. Those last two miles were harder than the previous 23 put together.
I went into detail so you could help me plan a good outseason, I don’t have a schedule yet but I already signed up for Chattanooga 70.3 in May.
Thanks again Coach, I had a great season, cant wait to see what next year will look like.
Bottom line a great race if not the performance you wanted. PLEASE recover for a few weeks (aerobic, light cycling, some swimming) but no running again for minimum 2 weeks...stretching and yoga are okay!
Ps if you haven't submitted your TSR, then you'll want to do that so Coach Rich can get you...on plan!
Of course you are doing the half, so don't worry about the red parts of the course!
You won't want the leg warmers as they'll drive you nuts. Here's what I would wear to race:
- Base layer snug athletic shirt.
- Long sleeve technical t shirt.
- Cycling vest (no sleeves).
- Gloves.
- Beanie.
- Run shorts.
- Calf compression sleeves.
- If really chilly, then arm warmers over the technical t shirt.
I can see you warming up in sweatpants and and a windbreaker over ^that^ but I wouldn't race in them.I hope that helps...
The hand warmers could go in your vest pockets...use as needed!
Crush it!!!
~ Coach P
@CoachPatrick - I ended up wearing leg warmers along with everything that you mentioned, it was 17F for the 1st half of the race, got some chaffing but it kept me warm, wind was cutting right through it. I ended up taking off the beanie and gloves at mile 10. I could not meet the target by 5min, my heart rate was high the entire time, avg 170. I tried doing longer strides and deeper breaths but nothing helped, maybe the cold played a factor here. every time I took a deep breath I could feel a burning sensation on my lungs but I pushed through... pain is temporary and I wasn't going to quit. I did negative splits just like you asked, mile 7 was the exception, that hill was very steep. goal was sub 1:40, I think if the course was flat or near flat I could have done 1:37 at least, fitness was there.
I took 2 days off (sun/Mon) and will start again Tuesday with the last week of outseason.
thanks for the race strategy breakdown, that headwind really put a toll on everyone on the course.
Lemuel