RR #2 today for Rev3 Maine HIM. Not pretty. (Last RR a few weeks ago was great!) I made some nutrition changes based on the Core Diet seminar and I don’t think it works for me. So here’s how it went. I actually had planned on doing it Sun. since the weather was supposed to be crap on Sat. but it looked OK when I got up and saw that I had a window of about 3 hours that looked fairly rain-free. Had the recommended b-fast of applesauce, whey powder and banana. Since it was only about an hour before I was to head out, I skipped the bfast bottle of sports drink. Also had my usual ½ Red Bull. Typically, I have 2 Nutrigrain waffles w/ 2 tbsp PB and some honey and ½ banana. (PBJ in some form is pretty much my go-to pre-workout meal) Here’s the ride stats for today vs. last RR: .746IF vs .775IF, 15.17 vs. 15.31 avg. speed, 113 vs 116 AP, 119 vs. 123 NP, 71 vs. 79 degrees. Not a huge difference and I wouldn’t even give it a second thought except for how I felt towards the end of the ride and for the run…. Like crap… tired, no mojo.
Nutrition-wise on the bike, I made some changes as well. I have been having some post-WKO gas/bloating which I suspect was due to way high protein in my Infinit (they are reformulating) so today I just used Perform + Clif Bloks + PowerGel. I don’t think I was under-hydrated or fueled. (Peed twice on the bike… well, I got off the bike J) and once between bike and run. I drank about 52oz of Perform on the bike (about 11 scoops total for 770 calories) plus one pack of Clik Bloks (200cal no caffeine) + 1 PowerGel (110) YUK! w/ 2x caffeine w/ ½ hr. to go on bike. Everything was pretty evenly spaced out so about 300 calories/hr. (BTW, I’m 5’6’, 155lbs) Total sodium was about 2,400mg (675mg/hr)
I’m going to go try to figure out what went wrong by process of elimination…I don’t think I started too hard on the bike. First half was .757IF, second was .735IF. Both still lower than my target of .77-.78IF. Also, I don’t think it is any fatigue as I had a pretty easy week last week due to some family stuff/travel so I didn’t get in any longer bikes last weekend. (Was a stressful week, but not due to training) Could that have had an impact? I was rested but feeling results of missing some training?
After the bike, I was near exhausted and rested my head on my aerobars for a moment. I also felt cranky. (Like I get when I’m hungry, but again, I didn’t feel like I was under-fueled.) The run was tough. Last RR, I felt fine and did 5mi in 1 hr. (On target for me) Today I did 4mi in 57mins. Walk/run. Very tough.
Thoughts on what happened? I have a few hypotheses: 1) Change in b-fast didn’t work for me. I know Core Diet says not to eat anything your body doesn’t need on race day, but if the PB/banana waffle sandwich works for me for bfast, shouldn’t I keep it? 2) Lack of any protein on the bike perhaps detrimental (again, for me) I couldn’t “get it up”….. meaning my power (Get your mind out of the gutter), above .75 and I had to really work to hold it there. 3) Maybe a little more caffeine throughout the bike?
4) Humidity factor? 5) Over-fueled?
Since my last RR went well, I’m going to try not to let this screw with me mentally, but race is in 2 weeks and if I feel like I did today, it’s going to be ugly. Thoughts on how to get my groove back for Maine would be greatly appreciated!
Comments
Hey Kim,
First off, good job today gutting it out! And this just means that you are gonna K some A at the race! I am not an expert of any kind obviously, but I suggest that maybe you changed several things all at once and that might have been a factor. Without a doubt, personal stress affects everything we do and takes its toll with fatigue. Don't beat yourself up. I suggest that if what you normally ate works, it might be too close to the race to change so stick with what you know. I know you had 675 mg per hour of sodium, but today in New England it was like 95% humidity so believe it or not you probably needed more. I had the same issue just on my ride. If you can, take some time (even if it is an hour) away from triathlon doing something just for you. Maybe just sitting quietly by the lake/river/ woods- whatever feeds your soul. Sometimes our minds need rest and when we don't give them rest, it manifests as fatigue. You have done the work and will do awesome at the Rev. We believe in you!
In the future, when riding so close to eating, go for the sports drink and cut out other stuff. Need those carbs in your system, not so much the scoop of protein and the fewer carbs of the applesauce.
Don't let today get you down. We all snork up nutrition from time today. Your mojo is under your pillow. It will rejoin you after a solid 8 hours with your head in the same place.
- 8 oz Pickle Juice Sport (tastes awful but it works for me)
- 16 oz Diet Coke (nectar of the gods)
- 2 snack pack size apple sauce cups (not remotely close to 3 cups)
- 1 full banana
- 2 packs of instant cream of wheat
Anyone tells me to get rid of cream of wheat and I'm going to tell them they are a nutritional quack. So if waffles w PB works then keep it in your line up. I'm going to experiment over the coming weeks with some other modificaitions. I bought a couple trial packs of Whey Protein which I'll try next weekend. I'm going to try and get closer to the recommended diet, but only as my gradual adaptation suggests is wise. And cream of wheat stays!
Don't let this get you down...I know that's easier said than done but most folks have been there with a bad training day or RR..
Do what you know will work for REV 3 in terms of nutrition....
For IMFL prep, AFTER you recover from Rev 3 (physically and mentally), use every long bike session as a chance to experiement with your IM breakfast routine...
I don't think its all that uncommon for RR#2 to go worse than RR#1....your tired and need to rest a bit before the race...that's what the taper is for.
My RR#2 for IMLP 2011 was UGLY...fookin hot and nearly walked into a fire station seeking help after my bike and run...um walk...
Lots of excellent advice here. And I agree with all of it. We had some seriously high humidity here recently and that zaps your energy as well. If you had no way to cool off (wet arm coolers, ice in bra, cold water over head) that may also have affected your fatigue and ability to hold pace.
Go back to what works, and also look at cooling systems.