IMFL-7 weeks out. 1st RR !
Hi everybody,
I'm excited to do the first RR this week. I have to tweak my week-DH has a cyclocross race saturday and kids and work stuff so my first RR will be tomorrow, long run on thursday and long swim on friday.
For my RR i plan to try multi hour btles of Infinit and have a goal of .70IF. (calories around 200/hr, sodium around 650-700).It will be a nice warm day here so it will look like Florida . Nutrition will be key and hopefully I have it dialed in. If not fix it before the next RR ! I will try to do my swim OW, hopefully it's not too cold. It's been cold here the last 2 weeks so it should be interesting. Long runs have been great lately so i'm hoping for more of the same.
Good luck in all your RR"s this week.
Happy training,
Nathalie
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As for nutrition, I did the two Infinit feed bottles. I rode a two loop course and refueld half way. The loop was long enough, though, that I had to carry all my water. During the race, i can plan to drop the uneeded weight and just get new bottles at the exchanges. I'm thinking I need to up my electrolytes and protein in my formula. I was still a litte hungry and became dehydrated. I also need to consume more than 1 bottle an hour of water. Probably need 1.5 bottles.
In conclusion, I learned some valuable things. First, I can do 112 miles relatively quickly and keep my HR low. Second, I need to adjust my Infinit formula. Lastly, I can slow my run down more. Had a difficult time slowing to a jog, but I think I attribute that more to just wanting to get the day over with. I'm taking today off!
Good luck with the RR today, Nat! Can't wait to hear about it! super cool you got a place at the Summit! Hope you like it, I thought the location and amenities were great!
Nice job, Clinton!
I experimented with concentrated infinit this past weekend (1 bottle = 3 hours) and it worked okay. My RR this weekend will be at an iron distance AV (amazing how well the timing worked out). I'll be riding with one bottle on my bars and water in my speedfill... and will have a second infinit in my special needs bag and will pick up water as needed on the course. Not sure if I've ever ridden this distance before and a bit nervous!
I also experimented with a new saddle this past weekend. Saturday was fine, Sunday not so much. On Saturday I put body glide on the chamois (never done that before)... Sunday I forgot... but I don't think that's the reason I don't like the saddle (a cobb v flow max), it's wider in the nose than I'm used to... so the Terry went back on today. I'll play with saddles in the off season - had the terry since I had the bike... and it's been fine so far. I will say I'm a fan of the de soto 400 mile shorts. A bit more padding than normal tri shorts, but not bulky... I rode de soto forzas on Sun, like those, too!
I actually did both scheduled workouts yesterday! Amazing... so nice to come to work Ts and not already be down a swim!
I may take today off (I'm exhausted) and make up the swim Thursday afternoon... since I'm not swimming Friday (doing the AV Saturday will cover my swim). We'll see... Hope everyone has a great week - can't wait to read the RR debriefs!
The route i take which is hard to find around here which is Florida like . It's mostly a nice road but goes through several villages ( about 12 intersections total to go through) and 6 miles of road which is in the process of repaving so "grated" road.
Overall it went well. IF of .70 after 1hr. Nutrition went well and felt great for entire ride. I took caffeineited gel after hr 3 which had more effect then all caffeine gel which I was doing in the past. A few bumps though in the ride but nothing too bad.. Early in the ride I got a flat, no biggie. It did take a while to change, I had problems with inflater. On the grated road I lost of btle of nutrition, so quick stop at convenience store, got some gatorade and adjusted my nutrition. A mistake I did coming back is about 30min left into the ride I took 2 scaps but didn't have much water left and took just a bit of infinit with it. When I started running I had a sizable side stich which I think was because I didn't have enough water with the scaps. I did have a nice run. It was warm by then. I didn't bring anything because it was "just 1hr" but I really should have. It would had helped. Pace was really good. It was hard to start at z1 +30. ( ended w pace between z1-z2) It felt hard to run slow even with my side stich but coming back I had it dialed in ( pace)
Things i've learned and will try for next RR:
-make sure btles are well secured. Road work should be done by then anyway
-Take enough water with scaps
-caffeine gels only after 3h
-Bring some nutrition,hydration for run after
-be displined about pace during run especially in the beginning
congrats, Nat! Thanks for the update. I know what you mean about liking the idea of food... I usually get hungry between my timed sips, too... but after talking to Lori and moving to concentrated (and actually drinking everything I'm supposed to), I'm hoping that won't be a problem... but I'll have a few gels with me just in case. She actually suggested that if I feel like I need anything else a banana would be my best bet. So, we'll see how things go for me (glad this one will be supported).
Grated roads are the worst - I've lost many a bottle on them!
As far as side stitches, be sure you're breathing, too. Well, of course you're breathing, but fully and from the diaphragm, not shallow breaths from the lungs/chest... that may help.
Having some residual knee pain from working with my new bike. Todd is happy with the post-weekend adjustments, so I'm hopeful it will be okay Saturday... provided the inflammation is gone (so I'll truly get a better sense if the seat height is good). I couldn't go all out on the 30/30s this morning, but did what I could under a load I could manage without pain. No problems at all on the brick run, so I'm cautiously optimistic! Will continue with ibuprofen this week... fingers crossed.
My first ever IM RR is in the books! Happily enough that corresponded to my first first iron distance (or any distance) aqua velo... the timing was just about perfect.
The OWS (my first 2.4 open water endeavor), went off without a hitch. Some pushing and shoving to start, but it was a small race and it opened up in the second loop... in time for the waves to come in... I didn't wear a watch, didn't see the point of it - it's my RR and I wanted to stay in my box. Official results aren't up, but based on what another woman said her time was in the tent, I think I'm in the 1:15ish range. I went to the bathroom treading water to start, I took that as a good sign of pre-race hydration. I also went rounding the last turn to finish... hard to do while swimming, stopped kicking altogether and concentrated on relaxing...
T1 seemed okay to me - think I kept my cool, got my stuff and got in and out smoothly. I know FL will take more time as it's a longer run, I'll shower, and there will be a very much needed sunscreen station.
The ride itself was loooooong and hot. I definitely still have to work on some fit issues... after about 3-4 hours my knee was tweaked and IT band was hurting, but I think it was left over from last week... but my neck/shoulder were off from the get go and that caused some serious discomfort.
My plan was to ride an hour in Z1. Then I programmed a midZ1/mid Z2 range to stay in for the remainder. I programmed my Garmin alarm for every 15 minutes for me to eat and stretch. Because of my aches and pains, after about 4 hours I had to sit up more often than every 15" to stretch, roll my neck, and roll my arm/shoulder... My "line" came on the bike. Miles 64-100 were just plain hard. It was sunny, hot, and windy the entire ride. My knee was hurting. My right shoulder was hurting. My neck was stiff. My forearms were sore/chaffed (I"m shocked that the word "Zipps" isn't permanently embedded in each... (I think I need to body glide my aero pads or something... this is a new hurt and it totally sucked). I was having trouble staying in my programmed Z1/2 range - I was too low... But when I hit 100 my mood just jumped. And I made it my mission to not allow my avg speed to fall below 17.3 (which is what it was reading at mile 100)... and it didn't, I actually picked it up a hair. I definitely had to wiggle around a lot to find the money position that made me forget my knee was buggy... My watch time read about 6:22 for the bike, but I stopped it to pee twice and at special needs... so It's probably closer to 6:30-6:35 officially. With tired legs on a new and not quite perfectly fit bike, on a hot and windy day, I'm good with that. Very Florida esque course... As I mentioned, I went to the bathroom twice. Once about an hour in and the second time about 3 hours in... not again til after I'd finished running, stretching, changing... The first hour my avg speed was in the 15-6 range. Most of my "work" segments were 18-19, but there were some slower ones thrown in there... likely when I was hurting or when it was particularly windy... overall my avg was 17.4, I think.
Unbelievably enough, I was happy to run for an hour and was way too fast the first 30 minutes... Instead of running 10:50 (10:20 Z1+30) I was closer to 10:20 (and then because I stopped to walk and slow myself down). The way back was closer to 10:50, walking through water stops (I ran on the IM course with my own fuel belt). It was flippin hot... I will admit I didn't get to running ASAP, a friend was at the AV finish - she had to drop out as she cut her foot really badly coming out of the swim and blad through her shoes... ugh... so I probably chilled out about 10 minutes or so before I actually got moving...
Morning Nutrition: I did a 1am smoothie, bagel and pnut butter w/ banana when I got up around 4 or 4:30. Drinking water and gatorade as I got ready and hung around the swim start/T1 area. I had a hammer gel about 45 minutes before the swim start then got in the bathroom line.
Ride nutrition: I programmed my watch to beep at me every 15 minutes. I had 2 3-hour bottles (marked bottles to keep me on track) of infinit with water. Every 15 minutes I had a big gulp of the infinit and a gulp or two of water. I would also take the opportunity to sit up, stretch out my back, legs, whatever... then got back down. About 3 hours in I took a banana on the course. Never done that before but I was feeling like solid food (had a hammer gel and a bar on me)... I ate half and kept going. I'm REALLY glad I did that because special needs was at mile 64... so I was off my 15" eating plan - but didn't feel any pangs... Somewhere around hour 3-4 I took 2 advil (it was sort of soon after the banana) to help my knee. Since I'd been going to the bathroom and just had solid food I felt safe doing that. I took 3 sport legs at 5:15.
Pre-run: as I've done for the HIMs (and HIM RRs), I had a gel with some water and then got going. I carried water and PowerBar Ironman Perform for the run... Never had the Ironman drink before - but know that's my only option at IMFL, so I ordered some... no GI problems all day.
Doing the AV and an hour run after gave me some confidence that I will, in fact, actually be able to finish an IM... it may not be pretty, but I know I can physically and mentally do it... so, the event was a success.
Nice job Becky. I added my info to your contact list.
I did my RR1 yesterday and posted to Race Execution forum for some guidance on power and IF questions.
@Brian - nice job on the RR! I read the report, but I don't know power (yet...) so I couldn't offer any thoughts. It sounds like you had a great day!