Race Sim and Nutrition - 2007 #2

Yesterday (7/29/07) I completed my second race simulation ride, this time I included a short transition run following the ride to drive home the idea about pacing mistakes (if I was going to make them).

If you have not read the summary of my first simulation ride, go review it first and see the mistakes that I was trying to address this time: Race Sim and Nutrition - 2007 #1.

The Stats:

Lap 1 - 36.2 miles, 2:17:29, 120bpm ave, 152bpm max
Lap 2 - 36.2 miles, 2:09:18, 128bpm ave, 158bpm max
Lap 3 - 36.2 miles, 2:06:19, 134bpm ave, 158bpm max
t run - 2.5 miles, 20:01, 158bpm ave, 169bpm max

Lap Descriptions:

Lap 1 - I ended up going really easy to begin with which was similar to my first lap the first time I did this workout. One of the major differences this time around is that I really focused on keeping a limit on my heart rate peaks. This lap I was trying to keep it down below 145bpm, as you can see it crept up on a hill climb once so it ended up maxing out at 152bpm. This change in the peak "limit" seemed to slow my overall pace down quite a bit, but it was worth it by the end of the ride, from my analysis.

Hour 1 - 20oz regular gatorade, water. Hour 2 - 3 egel's, water. 575kcals total.

Lap 2 - I changed the peak limit on this lap to 150bpm, but was very concious about keeping things as steady as possible during the flat areas (not many of those). At times it required backing off on the longer climbs quite a bit as I noticed the heart rate responding (increasing) quicker. This could have been due to the heat / temperature. The ride didn't feel much harder than the first lap, but you can observe the changes in effort by keeping the focus on being steady.

Hour 3 - 20oz regular gatorade, water. Hour 4 - 3 egel's, water. 575kcals total.

Lap 3 - My hope was to decend each lap, but unlike the first attempt at this workout I kept the cap on the efforts for this lap too. In other words, I still didn't allow myself to "push it" through the hills and climbs. I kept the peak at 155bpm (or tried). The entire loop felt very comfortable and the major difference was that I could actually take in all the calories I wanted. Again this lap I focused on keeping everything as steady as possible. You can see a little increase in the heart rates, especially the averages. By this time in the day it was getting pretty warm (mid 80's) so I think some of that increase was in response to my body trying to remain cool.

Transition (before lap 3) - 80% of Iced Honey Bun - appox 400kcals

Hour 5 - 20oz Mt. Dew, water. Hour 6 - 1 egel. 400kcals total.

Total Kcal Consumption:

575 + 575 + 400 + 400 = 1950kcals

1950kcals / 6.5 (approx) hours = 300kcals per hour.

That is a respectable amount of calorie consumption. I had set a goal of 350 kcals per hour, but for no other reason than intuition (i.e. nothing scientific about the 350 number).

Transition Run:

The great thing about this ride opposed to the first attempt was that I felt strong when the ride was over. I got off my bike, threw on my shoes and visor, changed shorts and was off on a short run. My plan was to run 10 minutes out and back. My cadence was quick and comfortable, my heart rate was sitting just over 150bpm, I walked 30 secs at the 11 minute mark (as always) and it all seemed to be going well.

The one thing that I really noticed once I started the run, that I hadn't noticed so much on the bike, was the heat. The temperature felt hot and the sun was beating down on me... good lesson. I should have used the salt tablets on the bike as I usually do, even though it didn't seem "necessary".

All-in-all, a great day!

Race Sim and Nutrition - 2007, #1

Last Sunday (7/15/07) was my first race simulation ride (in 2007) as I prepare for Ironman Wisconsin. The ride was a workout that I took from Gordo's bike workouts within his "Coaching Ironman Athlete's" document. The specific's of my workout were:

Lap 1 - 36.2 miles, 2:10:18, 125bpm ave, 159bpm max
Lap 2 - 36.2 miles, 2:03:58, 134bpm ave, 165bpm max
Lap 3 - 36.2 miles, 2:01:47, 135bpm ave, 169bpm max

Lap 1 description: made sure to ride what I thought felt "easy", used my hr monitor to keep it in check too, tried to not let hr spike on climbs/hills. Nutrition: 3 egel's, 1 bottle of xtra strength gatorade (1 bottle = 200kcals), 2 salt tabs, 2 bottles of h2o.

Lap 2 description: rode a little harder but never felt like I was pushing it, as the Gordo workout says, I tried to ride at Ironman effort/pace, let myself ride a little bit harder on the hills. Nutrition: 4 egel's, 1 bottle of xtra strength gatorade, 2 salt tabs (I use salt stick), 2 bottles of h2o.

In transition: ate a honey bun.

Lap 3 description: rode the loop backwards, primarily to see Nikki and check on her and b/c Jeff couldn't ride entire loop again. Tried to push and "work" the hills. It didn't feel easy, but as you can tell from my results, my body didn't seem to react much differently... (more later on this, see: fatigue below). It was very difficult to eat any calories! I felt like burping or vomiting for about 20 miles of the 36. (I think a really good perspective on this was written by Jeff Shilt, MD titled, "Tips to help prevent Gastrointestinal Breakdown")

What I Learned about Nutrition last year:

So I don't repeat too many things, I'll share two posts I wrote last August in my attempt to straighten out nutritional plans for the Runovia Triathlon:

1. Figuring out a racing nutritional plan #1 - 8/6/2006

2. Racing nutritional plan #2 - 8/15/2006

Here were the highlights of those lessons:

- eat more than you might think you need (in most cases)
- monitor fluid intake; h2o and sports drink
- drink early in ride
- eat early in ride
- comfort food is good when used wisely (re: Ale 8 and oatmeal cream pies)
- move back and forth between sports drink and food by the hour

My current thoughts based upon this past workout; I forgot about the concept of moving from gel's one hour to sports drink the next. I will definately try that option again b/c eating seven egel's in 4 hours was easy to do, but left me feeling like I was unable to eat more. The other issue I feel I had was using the extra strength (not too much extra) gatorade. I'll just use the regular strength gatorade.

A major lesson for me on this ride was that the extra spikes in intensity / heart rate changed my ability to digest the calories I was taking in. - (really go read the post by Jeff Shilt, MD)

A couple changes that I have made are changing from oatmeal cream pies to honey buns. The pies seemed too sweat and actually became hard to eat, while the honey buns go down really quick and are packed with calories... (the jumbo's are over 500kcals and they take about 20 seconds to get down!). The second change is using gel flasks. It seems a whole lot easier to manage than using so many packets.

Fatigue.

So this race simulation ride came at the end of my biggest (duration wise, not counting Brevets) week of training this year. I could definately feel it in my legs and noticed it in my heart rates. The highest my heart rate climbed to was 169bpm on the third lap. This was while I was pushing as hard as I felt possible at a couple points, once during a climb and once at the end trying to fly home and go under 2 hours.

In a normal rested state, my heart rates will easily reach the upper 180's and stay in the 160's for several hours. (Running they'll stay in the 170's for hours.) An example of this was during our 300km Brevet from Atlanta back in May, when we hit a climb in Alabama my heart rate got up to 186bpm and stayed above 180bpm for a good 20 minutes. All of this shows me that there is probably a level of fatigue setting in. (Other signs show this too.)

So yesterday (7/17/07) and today I'm taking it easy, trying to put down a little of that fatigue and come back to have a big training cycle Wednesday through Sunday. While the extra day (today) of less training was unexpected, I hope the rebound will be quicker and I won't end up overtrained.