RR #1 for IMMT - Is this what dehydration feels like?
I went out for my RR #1 this morning for IMMT and it turned into a disaster, a potentially dangerous disaster. I'm hoping you guys can help me diagnose what happened.
Background for me: 34 YO male, 133#, 3.7 w/kg, 54 VDOT. I just completed MT70.3 in 4:50 and am doing my first IM, IMMT, in 7 weeks. Today was RR #1 following a tough week including 16 mile run last Sun (delayed due to MT 70.3), 17 mile run on Wed, and 2.4 mile swim on Friday.
My plan was to ride about 112 and run 6. I was shooing to ride an IF of .7 with minimal VI. MT 70.3 was a very high VI race for me so that was job number one. I picked a two loop course with about 5000 total feet of climbing. A bit less than Tremblant, but not exactly flat.
Hydration started yesterday due to the heat enveloping Chicago right now. I sipped water and a gatorade yesterday. Woke at 4:30 AM with a breakfast of an Ensure and a Stinger Waffle (typical breakfast) and was on the bike at 5:45. Temperature then was over 80 and peaked on my ride about 94 with nearly 60% humidity.
I split the ride into two loops.
First loop
Up until 20 miles, I rode about .67 with a 1.03 VI (good for me). From 30 until the end of the loop at about 53 miles, I rode .7, again with a 1.03 VI. Finished the first loop in 2:45, right on track. I consumed 80 ounces of water during the loop, 20 ounces of Perform, 1 EFS gel flask, and 2 SaltStick capsules. That yields an average of 210 cals/hr, 52 g/CHO/hr, and 474 mg of sodium. Avg HR of 132. For 80% of the first loop, I felt great. I felt a little fade coming on at the end as my power dropped steadily over the last 13 miles to an IF of .66 and my HR climbed from it's average for the first 40ish miles of 128 to about 140 over the last 13 miles. I didn't think that much about it at that point.
Second loop
My power was immediately lower starting the second loop. From miles 53-94, I averaged .65 and didn't know why. My legs felt good! My VI started creeping up too towards 1.06. The last 13 miles were murder. Power was at .48 and I just couldn't do anymore. HR crept up to an average of 144 over the second loop. Consumption on the second loop was worse than I planned. In total, I took in 48 ounces of water, about 30 ounces of Perform, 3 SaltStick capsules, and about half an EFS gel flask.
When my ride went to crap, I felt drunk, which I'm assuming was dehydration. While I was never confused, I was dizzy, unable to bend over to the aerobars, and probably generaly wobbly. My pupils felt slow in tracking head movement. I felt cool from the wind which I believe was a red herring. I didn't note if my sweating stopped or not. At a couple times, my tongue felt swollen but that may have been psychosomatic as I attempted to self-diagnose.
Once back at the car, I crashed on the grass for 30 minutes to find stasis again. I downed water, drove home, have been rehydrating and feel pretty ok now.
So, is that what dehydration feels like?
Beyond that, I've gotta get my confidence back for IMMT. I feel like I need to do another RR next weekend. Is that crazy?
Comments
Hi Mathew,
I am also doing IMMT. I have moved my RR to next weekend. I have been with EN since 2008 and have done tons of RR's. It looks like you overheated. Yes, likely some dehydration too. Did you do a pre RR body weight and then a post RR body weight? That will tell you if it was dehydration. Were you peeing? My symptoms with dehydration are cramping and weakening. When I overheat I feel cold and confused and my vision is affected. I have a question. Why choose such a hilly route? The RR protocol is to find a fairly flat, rolling course. To practice clothes, food, hydration, pacing and gear etc. and to be able to run afterward.
Personally - I have done a RR in 80-115 degree heat. So I have been there. I chose a flat to rolling course and adjusted watts due to the heat. I felt great the whole time. Even running 6 miles at 115 degrees.
For RR # 2. Maybe pick a different route and adjust wattage due to conditions?
Recover well. These RR's are such good practice.
Carrie
Yes and Yes.
Instead of a full RR, you might want to make one your scheduled long weekend rides a steady, 0.7-75 IF/3 hours, and do a "sweat test" to check on your actual fluid needs. The difficulty is finding the right environmental conditions to mimic what will happen on race day, which is of course unknowable.
As an example of what can happen to hydration status, I just checked my weight before and after my last long run, which was 1.5 hours with 40 oz of fluid intake, temp @ 70F. I lost 2# during that time (I weigh about 145#), which would indicate a fluid loss of 48 oz/hour. Shocking.
This describes heat relates illness. Do you think you had either of these?
@Al - I just did a sweat test based on a Z1 run in similar conditions and lost about 32 ounces/hour. I've never done one on the bike. The run sweat test is what guided my fluid intake. In the first half, I took on 80 oz water + 20 oz Perform so I felt like that was ok. My gut is that I was sweating far more than this today. My diagnosis is that the excess sweating dehydrated me and caused a bit of overheating. The hydration debt I assumed in the first loop (when I was hitting my hydration goals) came back for payment in the 2nd loop.
FWIW, I've never done well in the heat. I don't know why. I'm a small guy but the heat just kills me. At Racine last year, I had a miserable run.
Your second loop sounds like the effects of heat stress compounded with a calorie deficit for your workload you were never able to get out of.Your judgement and decision making were impaired and you probably never recognizied this early on enough. Were you in survival mode" let's just get this done", nutrition plan out the door! Your RR 1 sounds very familiar to my LP ride in 2010 a total bonk 7 hr + ride.( last 2 less than 6 hrs)
To me not a disaster for your but a great teaching tool. Probably tired coming into RR 1 from a hard trg week and your choice of a not so rolling course. Self dx sounds about right. Do you need to do another RR so quickly after for confidence(only u know). As A'sl advice from above if you have never done a sweat test simple to do as above. Yes you are crazy like all of us on this team so you are normal! No need to do another slow close to this one .Analyse, plan/prepare and execute You will do this all over again in a couple of weeks! Cheers!