Big Day #1 Report, problems to fix
Belated report here as I prep for Big Day #2 this week - (is this the right place to post?)
Observations from first 6 hour training day: [follow up issues marked with #]
Pre-race - good sleep. Don't remember what I ate the night before, probably spaghetti. Woke up early to let the dogs out and slammed a sport drink then back to bed. 2 pieces of wheat toast and PB for breakfast about 8:30. Got to the pool around 10am. Weather is clear sun, mid 80s and medium humidity.
Swim - no big problems here. Open turns in the pool, kept moving steady but slow. Some leakage and fogging in goggles but stopped to clear periodically - tough to do in open water so will need to fix that.#
T1 - Changed to biking shorts and took off within 10 minutes. Discovered I had forgotten socks# - doh! I guess I'll try riding with no socks like others keep talking about.
Bike - SO HARD to keep watts down at the start #. Odd issue I'd never guessed: arms/triceps were dead after swim and caused trouble in aero position (tri bike is new for me - about 3 weeks experience at this point). General bike fit problems caused lots of time out of aero position; much worse than dedicated bike sessions. 2 Gu's and a mix of straight water and Gu sport drink totalling about one bottle an hour. Also had Camelbak for regular water on demand. Tried Sport Beans today too.
Didn't feel "tired" by the end of the bike, but neck, arms, and crotch were all very sore causing lots of time sitting up. # Never felt thirsty and was trying to put down all the water I could drink. Had a hard time with nutrition other than sport drink # - everything else was too intensely flavored and just stayed in the mouth too long.
T2 - Fairly quick change: compression shorts and lube to avoid chafing and loose running shorts on top. Running socks, hat, glasses. Fuel belt with water and sport drink bottles. Took in some water during T2, but not a ton.
Run - Again, hard to keep pace down at first, even with tight legs from bike - but nowhere near as bad as running off the road bike. Tri bike rocks! MAJOR problem with stomach cramping though, after about 1 minute and lasting most of the next half hour. # Had to walk about half the time in 1-2 minute intervals. Only sipped water at this point waiting for stomach to clear. Ran at MP last 20 minutes but feeling weak, near bonk.
End. Final weight down 7 pounds from start. Never peed until just after finish.
Final thoughts:
Biggest problem appears to be water intake. Have to find a way to force more down. Bike fit is second. Nutrition plan that avoids stomach cramps on run is third. As a slow guy I'm looking at a very long day, so calories will still be at a premium.
I think I'll focus more on prerace nutrition and cut back on calories on the ride for this week, more from sport drink with just a couple of gels or shot bloks. Also need to find more water refill locations for bottles. Camelbak is nice to have, but difficult to monitor how much you're drinking. Will also use tri shorts throughout for this one.
Observations or recommendations are welcome! Thanks all.
Comments
Hope this might help.
---Ann.
I have actually had good success with GuBrew - the Blueberry Pomegranate with 2x sodium (490mg per 16oz). Not sure if that is what you were using...
In listening to a recent podcast from IMTalk with Gordo Byrn talking nutrition, they jokingly said of using nothing but Coke for raceday nutrition. I was thinking about what to drink on the HIM run this weekend and have all but decided it is Water and Coke (might take an SCap for the Sodium).
EDIT - Might want to look at popping a gel pre swim. Long gap in Nutrition from 8:30 until being on the bike with a fairly low Calorie Bfast.
I've tried GuBrew Orange flavor and gatorade endurance formula lemon-lime. Both go down well during the bike but cause stomach issues on the run start. Next up I'll try the Perform stuff from the course.