RR#1 - learning what not to do...
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Ater reading all of these great race reports, I am so inspired and getting psyched for my first Ironman in August. Kind of long, so you can skip to the last 3 paragraphs for my questions:-)
So... yesterday was my first race rehearsal. I was really looking forward to it, despite the prediction of mid-90's. My husband and I had decided a while ago that for my first RR, we would take a road trip back down to Maryland, home of Eagleman, and ride that course - two times. We love that bike course and always enjoy going down there. The trip started off not so great. We were about 45 mins from home and for some reason I asked my hubby if he packed my bike shoes. He is always in charge of getting all of the biking gear together so I never worry; and I don't know why I even asked him. He then realized that he had packed his but not mine! So instead of going all the way back home, we went back to Brielle Cyclery and I got a new pair of bike shoes. He said I needed them anyway, but crisis avoided. At least we found out then, and not yesterday morning. Then, later on in the ride I said, did you pack my running shoes? He said, no, didn't you? My Bad! They were on the front porch and I guess I walked right by them on the way out. There were no running stores in Cambridge or Easton so I ended up at Walmart where I bouth a $20 pair of Dr. Scholl's "women's athletic shoes"! I figured it was only for 1 hour so at least it was something besides bare feet or sandals:-) Also forgot the Tums and my iPhone charger. Geez. Next time I will not be rushed out the door. Oh - and it took us 5 hours to get there instead of 3 1/2 because of bumper-to-bumper traffic in N.J. Duh - Friday afternoon in the summer in NJ? What were we thinking?!
Stopped for dinner on the way, then Walmart, then got to the hotel and got to bed finally. They were predicting a really bad storm in Maryland overnight which apparently came and we slept through! Hit my snooze button a few times and never got up 'til 6:00. Had a bagel with PB and coffee and a bottle of water. We FINALLY got to Marsh Park and hit the road at 8:15 a.m.! Oh well, good training or IM NY/NJ in August, right? The first loop was really nice. I felt strong and we only had to dodge a few branches and limbs on the road along the way. They had paved one really long stretch of road since Eagleman and it was wonderful! We could feel the heat climbing as we went, but it really wasn't all that bad since we were moving. There were a few shady roads too which were delightful. Came back to the truck and cooler and changed out all of our bottles, etc. Reapplied sunscreen and were on our way. We decided to do the loop in reverse just for a change of scenery. By now it was in the 90s and you could feel the heat a LOT! I was trying to stay in low Z2 and not push it too much, but hubby was antsy and a much stronger biker so sometimes I had to reel him back in:-) What a great guy though - not even training for anything and rides 112 miles with me in 95 degrees! Felt really good until about the last 10 - 15 miles when my stomach started cramping. Also my heartrate was about 20 bpm higher than the first loop, obviously from the heat! But we made it back to Marsh Park and I actually started crying because it was just overwhelming for me to have completed 112 miles on the bike! It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be!! The run/jog was REALLY tough because of the heat and stomach cramps but I managed about 5 miles with lots of water and finished with 10 push-ups because that is what hubby did after his race rehearsals last year and I figured he'd get a kick out of that:-)
So - the reason for all of this story is that I am trying to figure out the nutrition aspects of this race rehearsal. I was trying to take in lots of calories based on some recent race reports, but I think I overdid it. I am 5' 3" and 110 lbs. The first half (3:12), I took in a little over 1,000 calories, 212 gr of carbs, and 2,350 mg (or whatever) of sodium. The second half (3:13), I took in 935 calories, 210 gr of carbs, and 1,935 mg of sodium. Totals of 1,980 calories, 422 gr of carbs, and 4,285 mg of sodium. Total fluids 180 oz. which was 3 1/2 bottles of Infinite and 1 bottle of water on the first half; 2 1/2 bottles of Infinite and 2 bottles of water on the 2nd half. I also had a 1/2 of a PB and J at 2 hours, a Stinger bar at the beginning of the 2nd loop and some Blocks throughout. I am thinking that I should have had more water and less Infinite. Or maybe not had the PB&J and/or Stinger bar. I only pee'd once near the end of the 1st loop, and once early on the 2nd loop. I didn't pee after that until well after we were on our way home. However, hubby brought the scale and I weighted myself before and after the ride. I only lost less than a pound so that was good. Just thought I should be peeing more. He actually lost 8 lbs!! And he pee'd more than I did. Go figure.
I'm guessing the stomach cramping was due to too many calories and carbs vs. the amount of fluid intake? I couldn't even think about taking anything on the run other than water. The cramping did start to subside towards the end of the run (in my Dr. Scholl's
) Interestingly, my hubby switched to Ironman Perform. He only used that and Blocks (no solids) and his stomach was fine. I think he just needed more water in that heat! So maybe I'll try that next time?
The good news is that my ride stats were pretty good, I think. My NP was in middle Z2 for both loops. Almost identical. My IF was .69 for both loops as well. My HR was in mid Z2 for the first loop, but in mid Z3 for the 2nd loop. I assume that was because of the heat. I guess in the IM I should make sure that my HR stays in Z2? Is that IF too high? I really felt fine, of course I didn't have to run a marathon afterwards! I'm pretty certain that I could have negative-split this ride if a) it didn't get so hot, and b) my heartrate wasn't so high in the 2nd loop.
Comments
Coach Patrick was emphasizing in his IM TX report that *he* tried a higher calorie plan on the ride. But he is about 50% heavier than you are, as well as working harder!
At your size, 160-200 cal/hour sounds about right to me; other smaller folks might want to give you more precise guidance. Also, like your husband, I'm a believer in all liquid calories when riding steady in an RR or race (I also carry shot bloks and gel for variety). When doing a ride which has some stoppage time built in, solids can be digested all right, but when you're working your muscles constantly - which allows less blood flow to the gut - liquid simple carbs are more easily digested. The cramps were probably your poor small intestine working overtime trying to off-load al that stuff you gave it.
Your IF is perfect - 0.69 is the minimum for anyone in an IM bike. And the elevated HR is indeed purely a function of heat - trying to get more blood flow to the skin to cool you off.
Good lessons learned on this RR. The next time, you'll have a better fluid/nutrition plan, and you can see how much better the run will feel.
Great job getting the RR done in some killer heat.
So, 6 bottles infinit
3 bottles water
PB J -
Stinger bar -
Is your sodium count right? It seems high to me. (341 mg in one S Cap!. On a hot day, I'd take one/hour supplemental on bike, two for the run would equal 2728 + some in sports drink).
Yup -- I'm thinking you may have had too many calories. Maybe somewhere around 1200 or so? Although don't discount the PBJ --- I'd just pay attention to how those things make you feel while you are riding. It could be the stinger, the PBJ, or maybe just too much Infinit that was the thing that made you unhappy.
And packing checklists rule! Google spreadsheet is fantastic for them!
Lucky us, we get to do it again in a few weeks and get this stuff sorted out before IMNYC!
I think the sodium is right. 500 mg in each 2 scoops of Infinite (that's 3,000 just with the Infinite), 215 in each salt stick (1 ea. hr), 120 in pb&j, 160 in stinger, some in blox. I read somewhere that you should take in 500 - 1000 mg of sodium per hour in a race. Maybe I'm off the wall on this...
I am looking forward to RR#2 so I can modify this nutrition plan. I've been doing well on the training rides and have increased my calories with no problem, but 6 1/2 hours on the bike is a lot different than 4 hours! And I obviously went a bit overboard... Good to know now.
Jess, have you been training on/near the course at all?
THANKS again for all of your input and advice.
So by this rule of thumb you appear to have over-fueled.
Also, as other have said, liquid is much easier on your GI tract when exercising.
But great execution
It feels too me like you had too many calories. I'm ~190lbs and the most I can do is about 300 cals or so per hour during a race. My Infinit formula is actually ~280 per hour and that is usually enough for me. Every person is unique, but on my RR last week, I did ~5 bottles of infinit and 1.75 Powerbars for the ~6hr ride (total calories ~1,850) but I'm 50% bigger than you and should need a lot more calories. I actually added the Powerbars in to get ~400 more calories than what I normally would do because I have read those same race reports...
The bigger issue that jumps out at me is the lack of water. "Osmolality" is very important and will be a determinant on whether or not you can digest the nutrition and have your body absorb it, or simply have it sit in your stomach and get you sick. My Infinit formula has an Osmolality of 259. So if I mix 1 serving, with 16 oz of water, it will be just right for me. If you had 3.5 separate 16 oz bottles with Infinit and 1 bottle with simply water, then please disregard everything I am going to say next...
When I do 3 hours of Infinit, I simply mix 6 scoops in one large 24 oz bottle to concentrate it. So if you did this (like I do) and only had one additional bottle of water, you were way low on water (or way too high on osmolality).
So lets do some math... Assuming your formula is right for you (and lets pretend yours has an osmolality of 259 like mine) then you likely would have needed 3.5 x 16oz of water in total (56 oz). but the bottle holding the Infinit probably had ~24 oz of water, so you would have needed 32oz of additional water. And that is just to digest/absorb the Infinit. Otherwise your body needs to pull water from other parts of your body to help you digest (possibly leading to the lack of peeing or cramps) on a hot day. You would also need extra water to help digest your PB&J and Stinger waffle. And extra water to simply sweat out and keep you cool.
Okay... Disregard everything I just said about water... I just re-read your report and saw 180 total oz of fluids. That should have been enough. So I guess I'm back to thinking your calories were high. If you want the variety, try cutting a couple of your Infinit bottles. If you want to keep it simple, then just try cutting everything else.
of the miles. Ended up using 800 calories (525 Perform, 300 blox) which is ~300 calories per hour (again!) and 1 bottle of water. I definitely wished I had more plain water to drink out there! I felt really great though and was able to pick up the pace for the last several miles. I realize that in the old pre-triathlon days when I was only running, I would only have 100 calories every 45 mins (GU) and maybe a few sips of Gatorade. What I am realizing (thank you all) is that I can definitely increase my calorie intake from what I'd been doing in the past, but not to the extent I did on Saturday on the bike and today on the run.
I'm curious as to how to figure this out for the IM considering Perform and Coke and Blox. I'll have to read Coach Patrick's nutrition report again and take about 1/3rd of that:-)
Also - do you guys/gals have to pee during the marathon? I feel like I don't pee enough on these training rides/runs (TMI?) but maybe I'm drinking just enough to keep me from being dehydrated but not having to pee. Thought I'd ask:-)
Thanks again...
I haven't been training on the course - John has been going up to run it every week for his long run for the past few weeks, but I can't get up there with the kids - its a good 40+min drive, and with traffic being so unpredictable, well, I guess I'll just have to be happy with the fact that I was able to drive it once! Have you seen it?
And I am the WRONG person to comment on peeing - I pee so much it's ridiculous! World's weakest bladder, I swear! I think I stopped four times on the marathon at IMLou. Sad, sad waste of time!
I'll chime in as a little peep. I am your size. I consume 225 - 250 calories an hour on the bike in the form of cytomax for my drink and gels, blocks, banana and an occasional 1/2 a bar for food. I have never had a nutrition problem in 14 IM races. I try for one bottle an hour and eat 100 cal worth of something every 40 minutes.
You really did great ( minus the packing
Carrie
Hi again Carrie!
I seem to be really good at around 230-240 on the bike lately. I find that I need to have something solid in place of the blox every once in a while just for variety! So far, so good (fingers crossed). I don't know of anyone who doesn't have some sort of nutrition problems at an IM so I need to pick your brain a little more. Do you take salt tabs? What do you do for the run for calories? I've been drinking perform, water, and an occasional GU blox. Of course I haven't run more than an hour after a long bike. But that seems to work okay for the long runs. I plan on also drinking some coke during the race. Maybe alternate the perform and coke? Thanks again for your great advice, little peep!
Here's more data from another light person. I weigh a couple of pounds more than you (I race around 112-115). I consume about 225 cal. per hour on the bike but then back off and come down to about 150-200 per hour on the run. On the bike I use the course Perform and gels. I generally will carry a bar too just in case I feel like I need something solid, but generally the caffeine in the gels takes care of any hunger pangs! On the run, I go to Coke, water, and gel - and only a gel every hour for as long as I can stand it! (I generally do 3 or 4 over the course of a 4+ hour run). I am soooo done with Perform by the time I get to the run, I just can't take it any more. And Coke tastes sooo good. I also do a salt pill (whatever brand I happen to have - not that brand loyal) every hour on the bike, maybe sneaking in 1 or 2 extra ones if it is a hot day (so maybe 6 or 8 over the course of the bike ride) and then same during the run - about 1 per hour.
Keep practicing! You are doing all the right things here. This nutrition piece is the 4th leg of the discipline. I know you'll get it worked out!
---Ann.