« Preparing for Tomorrow | Main | Weekend Results »
June 7, 2008
Mission Accomplished!
I didn't melt! Five hours of training completed today and I didn't melt! Mission accomplished!
As planned I pushed off relatively early this morning. So much for beating the heat though! It was already 75 and VERY humid when I started at 6:30 am. But on the bike, the heat isn't too bad. Don't get me wrong, within 15 minutes I was a slimy mess but the primary benefit of the bike on a hot summer day is going downhill at 30 mph. Ahhhh.... :)
My main goal for the bike today was NUTRITION! Despite the fact that I'm a dietitian my nutrition during training leaves a little to be desired (in general I eat pretty well though). I'm going to blame this on my nausea issue all last year but really it's most likely a result of a lack of discipline.
Let me explain. You know how everyone has these really meticulous plans for nutrition during longer events? Like every 7.645 minutes their watch beeps and they take in 65.4% of their gel and 10.52 oz of fluid and this is all based on sweat tests and metabolic testing? Yeah, that's not me AT ALL.
Not that I didn't want to be like that because trust me, meticulous could be my middle name. But the problem was, I would have all these grand nutrition plans for my races and then I was just so dang nauseated that right away I would be off schedule and then when I did take something it I just threw it right back up! So I sort of grew lazy with nutrition - even during long training sesssions, because I knew during racing getting in some water was maybe the best I could hope for.
Well times have changed! Prevacid has saved the day and all of a sudden I can take nutrition in races! And I can keep it down! At Columbia I actually took some gel during the RUN of all things. Amazing!
So anyway, this has given me renewed motivation to practice a good nutrition plan in training so that it can be carried out in racing - especially at the 70.3 distance. (I do have to admit that my nutrition during an Olympic distance race is still a bit squirrelly at best, mostly because I know I can get by on very little and I'm usually wayyyyyy too into racing to pay attention).
So given the fact that by an hour into my ride it was in the high 80s, fluid intake was my key focus. Every 15 minutes. And for the most part I stuck to it! I was so proud of myself. And I took a gel every hour! Over a 3.5 hour ride I took in 700 kcals on the bike today! Seriously people - if I took 300 last year it would have been a miracle. And BOY does that nutrition make a difference! My legs felt great - the whole entire ride AND even on the run after. Superb. Really gets me excited for my first half IM this year because I think this can make a big difference for me.
Anyway, nutrition aside, the ride did go very well. I rode ~64 miles and did a fair amount of climbing again and despite the heat I kept my HR just where it needed to be. And I think the drinking every 15 minutes made the ride go faster because I was always thinking...time for a drink, time for a gel, etc... Off the bike and onto the run without even stepping inside the cooler house because I knew how sad I would be to go back outside into the heat! :)
I did have to slow down on the run to keep my HR under control. It was blazin' hot by then! But my legs felt very good right away. Yipppeee!!
When I did make it home I was just dripping. I checked the weather right away and it was 88 with a "feels like" temperature of 93. No wonder I was dripping! So I got a towel, got some water, laid down on the floor and drank and ate a Powerbar Recovery Bar until I finally cooled down some. Of course this whole time Roxy licked my legs over and over and over. Yummy salt! :)
I had to get to the pool within the next 30 minutes in order to get my hour swim in before the pool closed so I put my bike and gear away (and I even cleaned all the sticky gel off my aerobars! :) and then got changed into my suit. And then I made the mistake of sitting down at the computer to just check a "few things". Famous last words!
The problem was, I stumbled across the live coverage of the ITU AG Worlds and I was glued to the screen! It was so fun because they were updating the placings and times of all the AG races. I saw Jen was in 6th place in her race and on the 2nd loop of the bike. And I really wanted to watch her finish! But alas - the pool called! I had to get there or risk missing my workout. So I grudgingly turned off the computer and drove to the YMCA... :)
The first 400 yds of warmup in the pool was a bit rough. My legs were angry from just having 4 hours of training on them and my arms were sore and angry from my lift yesterday. Not many muscles left to swim with! But I eventually loosened up and the cool water felt great and to tell you the truth, I really swam well! Surprising but pleasing. And even more pleasing was finishing that last repeat and pushing myself up out of the pool. Great training day completed.
I came home for a nice big lunch, ice bath, shower, stretch, rolling, and then just as O was getting home from golf - time for a nap! Of course the FIRST thing I did after the pool was to look up how well everyone did at Worlds. Huge congrats to all that competed. Sounds like it was a ROUGH day, bad swim (that was eventually cancelled!) and wind and cold on the bike and run. Way to survive out there everyone!
Posted by beth at June 7, 2008 7:03 PM
Comments
BETH! Glad you didn't melt... Super training day!
Oh man, it is almost exciting that you haven't gotten your nutrition dialed in yet... If you are already doing as well as you do imagine what will happen when you have your body FULLY fueled! Oh man, that will be cool- good luck getting it together!
Posted by: breewee at June 7, 2008 10:54 PM
Hi BETH!Nice job w/ your nutrition. AMAZING how well you will be racing when it is dialed in. What a relief. Jerome takes Prevacid too & it has worked miracles for him as well. THANKS for the wishes and cheering for me in PA -- all the way out here in Vancouver. :)
Posted by: Jennifer Harrison at June 7, 2008 11:12 PM
Re: Prevacid, there was an item at Runnersworld.com about Frank Shorter taking antacid before he ran to minimize the acid buildup in his stomach. I guess the Prevacid works the same way.
Posted by: brian at June 9, 2008 12:51 PM