2016 IM Maryland Week 12- Be a Scientist

Laura Becker

Week 12 - Be a Scientist
Hello Maryland Crew! Hope everyone had a great BIG DAY!! Let’s hear about it!! I really love seeing your posts---keep the mojo flowing!!
This week is a test week.  The coaches want us to focus on the following:
- Measure
- Gather Data
- Don’t forget to Sweat Test



When you head to an Ironman event, you will see lots of athletes suffer because they did not know something as simple as having a nutrition plan.  However- in the “haus”, EN’rs know how important EXECUTION is because we practiced and show up prepared. Lots of little things can take a toll on you over 140.6 miles.  Having muscles be so tight on the run from poor form on the bike. Not knowing sodium totals to account for the change in temperature on the course.  Not knowing their power meter numbers, not knowing thier heart rate numbers in case power meter fails, etc. Coach Patrick has said how important it is to have multiple "A games" because so many things can change within a race. This is what we talk about when we say "stay inside your box" You can adapt and change to the things outside of your control on the course but that comes from testing, gathering data about your body, how it reacts to nutrition, heat, cold, rain etc. And those results are gathered now. Be a scientist, a student of your body as an athlete in this sport. This is another reason why posting in the forum and weekly training recaps is critical!!!
Here are the sweat test rules in case you forgot or haven't done one in awhile
1) Weigh yourself nude right before a run.
2) Run at race pace for one hour, keeping track of how much you drink (in ounces) during the run.
3) After the run, strip down, towel off any sweat, and weigh yourself nude again.
4) Subtract your weight from your prerun weight and convert to ounces. Then add to that number however many ounces of liquid you consumed on your run. (For example, if you lost a pound and drank 16 ounces of fluid, your total fluid loss is 32 ounces.)
5) To determine how much you should be drinking about every 15 minutes, divide your hourly fluid loss by 4 (in the above example it would be 8 ounces).
6) Because the test only determines your sweat losses for the environmental conditions you run in that day, you should retest on another day when conditions are different to see how your sweat rate is affected. You should also redo the test during different seasons, in different environments (such as higher or lower altitudes), and as you become faster, since pace also affects your sweat rate.

P.S. Ya'll Rock - Now go out there and crush it!

cldavis

Finished up another week! I am going to change some of my nutrition but I would love some feedback from ya'll. For the last several months I have been using Infinit: one blend for the bike and one for the run. I did the switch from GE because I have experienced bloating on the run and thought a change may help. I thought everything was good and working, but when I get around the 3 hour mark on the bike I start to feel achy. On the last couple of 4 hour bike rides I have added more fluids to 1 1/2 bottles and have supplemented with salt pills, but I still feel achy. I am going try GE this week and see what happens. Anyone else use Infinit?

Al Truscott

I've always used multiple sources for calories on the bike. On last week's five hour ride, I had 64 oz of Infinit, 840 calories; 50 oz GE, 480 cal; and 200 cal from EFS gel, and a Clif bar, 280 cal. In a race, I would use additional gel instead of the nuts I ate at the top of the climb. On long runs, I use dilute GE. Runs over 110 min, I use gel as well, 1 oz per hour.

Patricia Rosen

I have difficulty being a scientist. ... except that I have experimented.... I take EFS on the bike... two large bottles in the back, one on the down-tube and one in front. I need the salt. I use one cliff shot block per 30 miles and one small cliff bar at the beginning and one in the middle. however, sometimes I don't need the cliff bar in the middle of the ride... I find the EFS pro is about all I need for many of these rides and maybe the cliff shot blocks.... I can't do math while I'm on the bike... if it is a hot ride, I use one sport-leg at the start and a salt stick capsule in the middle and at the end. Liquid EFS shots on the run until I run out and need gatorade.... or coca cola. everyone is different. I weigh 115 pounds and tend to lose a lot of salt so the EFS is critical for me.... I use whatever is on the course once I run out of EFS... and use Gas x and Immodium if needed... (hate that Gatorade!)

cldavis

@ Patricia - thanks, I will look at EFS. I also sweat a lot and the heat and humidity in The woodlands is high!
@ Al - I think my calories are pretty good, at least they are roughly the same calories per hour that I took in during IMFL, they are just in a different form. My problem in FL was around mile 16 on the run I became extremely bloated, so I was trying to find something that worked with my stomach.