|
||||||
|
So I have my own sports drink now. Yep thats right … you can ‘Be Like Nuge’ now with a bottle of The Super Nuge from Infinit Nutrition. This is a pretty interesting company which allows you to create your own custom mixed sports drink to eliminate the need for complex nutrition regiments. Nutrition is one of the most unique and complex pieces of triathlon training as every athlete’s system plays by its own sets of rules. After 2 hours of endurance training, your body runs out of its own fuel and will ‘hit the wall’ if you dont replenish calories with some sort of quick burning sugars such as sucrose, or the glucose based dextrose and maltodextrin. The equation gets even more complex considering the amount of calories, carbs, protein and sodium a person can tolerate vary wildly from one triathlete to another based upon their fitness, physiology, age even taste buds. Even for the same athlete, what goes down smoothly after 70 miles on a bike may not prevent cramping and vomiting after 5 miles on the run. Typically triathletes combine a routine of taking a sports drink like Gatorade for hydration, gels or gu for added calories, salt tabs for sodium to prevent dehydration. There are about a hundred different ways to personalize your nutrition plan with various types of solid foods or liquid carbohydrate supplements. For an athlete worried about the complication of carrying a small bodegas worth of snacks, someone who has encountered gastrointestinal problems with other products, or maybe even an athlete who has bonked and had to drop out of a race due to improper fueling, a customized solution like what Inifinit offers can be very appealing.  I decided that I wanted to simplify my nutrition and only carry liquids with me on the course. I don’t have to juggle pills, gels, water and a sports drink … I just grab one bottle and drink. Inifnit guides you through a process to help you determine your exact nutritional requirements. I have done a good deal of research and feel confident in my routine that I have used in multiple Olympics and a Half Ironman. I used the caloric requirements that I used during those races and came up with a formula that will give me exactly right amount of sustained nutrition for an endurance race. I just ordered a half bottle (12 – 20oz servings) to give it a test and see how my body reacts. Its actually very price competitive and I think perhaps cheaper in some cases than buying bottled Gatorade, gels and using salt tabs at about $1.83 per 20oz serving for my order (including shipping). Back to some significant training hours after a much welcomed taper week.? A big week on the bike going over 100 miles for the first time this year.? Part of the fun with training is finding new routes to take which offer a safe and enjoyable workout.? I have built a few new routes which leave from my house and take me on a 2 hour/35 mile loop south towards McNeely lake, and the other a 3 hour/55 mile loop heading north and east towards La Grange.? Both of these offer mostly 2 lane 'country' roads with few exceeding 35 mph, rolling hills and some good scenery to help pass the time.?  ? I tried running just once due to my sore foot which I diagnosed as metatarsalgia.? I decided that against my desire to push through the pain, Im 4 months away from the starting line and I need to pay attention to my body and avoid risking a far more serious injury.? A podiatrist who is on the Team In Training team for Philly recommend that I pick up some metatarsal pads.? These are cushiony inserts that you place right behind the ball of your foot to help relieve some pressure on the affected area.? I have been wearing them since last Wednesday and they seem to be helping.? I tried running for the first time again last night and while I only ran for 25 minutes I think I'm starting to recover.? Today is an off day, and I will move my long run scheduled for tomorrow to the weekend to give me a few more days of rest before jumping back in to serious mileage. Working on my least best items from last month, I was two out of three: I added two days of core training and stretched after each bike workout, but getting to bed early still eludes me.? Part of it is just adapting to a new routine, part of it was this dang book I was reading The Afghan by Frederick Forsyth. Swim: 7874.02 Yd 2h 40m Bike: 108.72 Mi 6h 07m 16sRun: 3.13 Mi 27m 34s Total: 9.25 hours? ?? Mental Health: Excellent Injuries: None Aches & Pains: Significant – Ball of left foot Nutrition: Good Party Days: 2 Good Nights Sleep: 4]]> This was a welcomed taper week, letting some of the bumps and bruises heal as I finish up the Prep phase of my training and enter Base 1.? The first month was all about establishing a routine, not only for training, but for adjusting to life with the demands of training.? Finding time to grocery shop, cut the grass, do laundry, spend time with family and friends, have band practice etc is equally as challenging as putting in the extra hours of training.? The key of this past month was to find the balance between the personal, professional and training schedules. ? Overall I am very pleased with the way this first month has gone.? My body has been mostly cooperative, with no nagging repetitive injuries.? Consistency of the workouts has been good, nutrition with few exceptions has been under control.? A recent conversation with my brother gave me a good idea for how to evaluate my performance over the next couple of months.? For his work, he does a self evaluation of the three best things he has done over a quarter, and the three worst things he has done in a quarter.? He then challenges himself to make the three worst into the three best over the next couple of months.? I thought this would be extremely helpful to do once a month so here goes: ? Best 3 1. Consistency – No problem getting all of the workouts done in a certain week. 2. Nutrition – With a few exceptions, the diet was healthy and stayed well hydrated 3. Effort – Put in the appropriate amount of effort for each workout? ? Least Best 3 1. Sleep – This has long been an issue of mine, averaging 6.5 or less a week.? With the demands of Ironman, I need to get that above 7. 2. Stretching – One of the first things that tends to go out the door when you are pressed for time. Important for flexibility for the bike and avoiding overuse injuries. 3. Core – Another item frequently dropped when pressed for time.? Important for lower back strength, efficient positioning on the bike and good posture and form on the run. ? The next month of my training is the Base 1 phase where I will start to add strength workouts on the bike and run (meaning hills), and I will add 1 hard workout per week.? This will typically include some sort of tempo or interval work designed to simulate race pace for a period of time.? This month will really ramp up the training hours, peaking with 16 hours and including 4 three plus hour workout days.? Working on my Least Best will be at the top of my list along with dropping a few extra pounds.? Now is the time to get on top of the diet to save myself any extra baggage on race day.? ? Swim: 5271.48 Yd 1h 40m Bike: 61.74 Mi 3h 22m 29s Run: 14.34 Mi 2h 03m 50s Total: 7.00 hours? ?? Mental Health: Good Injuries: None Aches & Pains: Significant – Ball of left foot | Minor – Inside rear of right knee Nutrition: OK Party Days: 3 Good Nights Sleep: 3]]> Today I officially registered to compete in the 2008 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships. Its an honor that I even qualified to compete in the event as you have to win your age group in a USAT sanctioned event, something which I have been lucky enough to do twice now. Im entering more for the experience of the event and the opportunity though as this race is 3 weeks after Ironman Louisville, so Im unsure what kind of shape my body is going to be in. Depending on how well you do in this event you can qualify for the International Triathlon Union’s World Championships. While it is unrealistic to consider it this year, qualifying for Worlds is something that Im toying around with for 2009. It would take getting a coach, getting a serious core and strengthning routine going, nutrition would have to become a top priority, new equipment for the bike. The 30-34 age group is also the most difficult age group in the sport of triathlon, both in sheer numbers of the athletes competing, but in skill and speed as endurance athletes start to peak in this age group.  Hours were down this week just slightly coming off of the performance in the Mini Marathon.? Running that distance is doable, but racing that distance puts a few days of hurt on ya.? I decided to take things slow and not worry about missing a workout as I was having some significant discomfort in my left calf for most of the week.? Things feel better now and I dont think it will be a long term issue.? Sleep is becoming a more precious commodity and I can see myself getting used to a 10:30PM bed time rather than my usual 12:30AM.? The boss is being very flexible with my hours and is OK with me taking extended lunch breaks to get swimming in during the week, but thats in exchange for getting to work before 8AM.? Natually with the increased training schedule, my body is demanding some more shuteye.? Im coming into a taper for week #4 and will drop back to 8 planned hours before I exit the Prep phase of my training and enter Base 1 where the hours will steadily increase and start adding some intensity.? So far the workouts have all been at an easy pace to get me used to the daily routine, but thats about to quickly change. Swim: 3390.20 Yd 1h 00m Bike: 72.38 Mi 4h 15m 55sRun: 20.17 Mi 2h 57m 57s Total: 8.25 hours? ?? Mental Health: Excellent Injuries: None Aches & Pains: Moderate – Left calf Nutrition: Good Party Days: 2 Good Nights Sleep: 4 ? ]]>
This came from a post on www.beginnertriathlete.com asking what people put in their mental toolbox for the day of the race. My favorite reply was: 1. Why Ironman? - You need to know why you are doing this. When you are on the course and feel alone, knowing your reason for being out there and focusing on that can help you through the tough moments.
2. Manage your expectations – This was a big one for me because I felt a tremendous amount of pressure to finish. The pressure and fear of failure was weighing so heavily on me. When I let that go and made my goal getting to the starting line I felt so much more relaxed and confident about the race.
3. Focus on what you can control - You can’t control the weather, the condition of your fellow athletes, the course etc so don’t get yourself stressed out about those things. Instead dial in the things you have direct control over. Your gear, your nutrition plan, your training.
4. Stay Present - This is the most important one. For us the day is going to be long and when you are out there pretty much alone at mile 90 of the bike or mile 20 of the run you can’t be thinking ahead to having to run a marathon or those last 6 miles to the finish. You have to stay in the moment and not get distracted by the next thing. Learning to be with yourself during the highs and lows of the day is also very important.
Im sure there are days, probably the overwhelming majority of days in fact, that having kids is harder than having a pet. Kids are much harder to let’s say, keep alive, cost more money, will suddenly turn from Mommy’s little angel into a clown faced goth kid who hates their parents for the next 15 years on the drop but the hat, but then there are those rare days. Days when sheer inexplicable animal behavior combined with the complete inability to communicate with your pet in any significant manner drive you to the limits of sanity. Ok Ok … I’m sure the pro kid people still aren’t sold yet, but in my absence of firsthand comparison, Im gonna run with my story anyways. (This is your first chance to avoid a pretty disgusting story). So Ginsu has Sebaceous Adenitis, a genetic skin condition which in lieu of a fancy medical diagnosis I will simply refer to as dry skin. Today I had scheduled an appointment for her to get her annual checkup at the vet as well as inquire about getting her back on the one antibiotic which seemed to have any effect on her condition. It’s expensive and I have been putting it off since its no more than a nuisance to her and doesn’t cause her any pain, but I could resist no longer and got her the meds while I was there. I brought her home and around noon gave her first dose. One side affect of her condition is that it makes her have a musty odor, which as of late had begun to intensify. It was about 4PM now and since I was off work, and it was raining outside I decided a long overdue trip to the pet store for a bath was in order. And boy was it ever. Pretty uneventful at first as she is pretty good in the bath. I hooked her up to the restraint and hosed her off, lathered her up with the Banana Nut shampoo for dogs with dry skin … two coats in fact. I also proceeded to brush away alot of extra fur and clean out some of the more scaly areas. Everything was going great, I was all done with her save for drying off and some leave in conditioner. A mother and daughter had entered with a handful of dogs taking up the stalls next to me, but they were all restrained so I walked out of the room to grab a few towels and come back and dry her off.  When I talked back in the room, Ginsu was just about to climb all the way out of the stall and a pit bull with the mother daughter team was face to face with her. (This is your last chance to avoid a pretty disgusting story) That’s when I noticed the smell. Instead of fresh baked Banana Nut bread, it smelled like dog poop. I figured it must have been the other dogs since there were four of them in there; maybe they all got into something. That’s when I noticed the dog poop splattered over the wall, right behind Ginsu. All over the wall, all over her, all over the floor, all over the side of the stall. I had left her side for less than 30 seconds and you would have thought I uncorked a water cooler. I was speechless. I guess if I had to put together a list of top 10 places I would want this to happen, this would be #1 every time. Why here, why now?? I figured it had something to do with the other dog in her territory so I shooed him away and started hosing everything down. About this time I got to witness it. Those with kids Im sure are aware of the phrase explosive diarrhea …. yeaaaaahhhhhh. So you get the drift. I sat in there with her for maybe ten minutes as she battled this. At first I was shocked, then pissed, then eventually realized there was nothing she could do so I just patiently waited and kept hosing everything down. After it seemed like it would have stopped I hosed everything down one last time, which was getting more and more difficult since the drain was backing up and there wanst much room for her to maneuver and not be standing in … well, so I dry her off and make a break for the front door. Good thing you pay for the dog wash on your way into the store because the second I get outside onto the sidewalk … she unloads again. All over the walkway right in front of the store. I nonchalantly keep walking her as fast as I can, get to my car, wipe her off with a towel, give her strict instructions to behave when in the back seat and race home. Somehow she was able to get it together for the short trip with some encouraging words. Ive been told, after seeing a friend’s 4yr old throw up on himself, that Im not ready to have kids. Thats about the most accurate character assessment money can buy these days. I love em, I can’t wait until that magical day God willing it happens to me, but for right now, Derby Eve 2008 … I’ve got my hands full. Im pretty sure that I can narrow it down to the meds that I gave her, but this has never happened to her the previous times she was on the medication. To give everyone a respite from all of this triathlon training hoopla … how about this. Even though this New York Times article claims that ” Sharp increases in the price of commodities worldwide, particularly record wheat futures and soaring flour costs” are sending the cost of a slice up in NYC … how the heck do all of the delivery pizza chains keep lowering their prices!? Dominos … $4 a pie (minimum purchase 3 pies I know) … but still … 3 friggin pizzas for $12?!? How is it possible?  I started wearing my knee brace during my runs and it does seem to be helping.? Looks like Ill have an even awesomer tan line this summer.? I didnt wear it in the mini on Saturday, and I wont wear it in races, but I seem to have suffered no ill effects thankfully.? Training hours increased a bit this week and will increase again in week 3 before a regular low volume week every 4th week as part of my monthly cycle.? Week two offered the exact same daily training regiment in order to get me into the habit of busting some long days out.? 2 hour training days are becoming the norm, sleep becoming much more desirable and the need to keep up and excellent diet absolutely critical to give me the energy for workouts, as well as help me recover immediately afterwards.? No breaks after the mini, and no breaks for the Derby this weekend.? Scheduling early morning workouts around summertime activites is going to become more common.? Swim: 4987.23 Yd 1h 40m Bike: 66.04 Mi 3h 45m 57sRun: 23.45 Mi 3h 05m 02s Total: 8.5 hours? ?? Mental Health: Excellent Injuries: None Aches & Pains: Minimal – Left calf Nutrition: Good Party Days: 1? Good Nights Sleep: 5 ]]> |
||||||
|
Copyright © 2012 www.garrettmcalister.com - All Rights Reserved |
||||||
