In late July, I gave a small presentation about the importance of nutrition to an endurance athletes.  I covered most of the important topics like what to eat before, during and after.  Also, what to eat for the rest of the day (is there anything else?!).

The basis of the presentation was how [...]]]>

In late July, I gave a small presentation about the importance of nutrition to an endurance athletes.  I covered most of the important topics like what to eat before, during and after.  Also, what to eat for the rest of the day (is there anything else?!).

The basis of the presentation was how to control insulin levels.  During exercise, insulin spikes creating a large window for eating simple sugars.  This quick energy is easily absorbed and distributed to the working muscles.  Post workout, insulin levels begin to fall.  If you’ve ever heard of a “recovery shake” this is where it becomes very important.  Science supports a 4:1, carb to protein drink which is again made of easily digestible sugars and some protein.

Outside working out, insulin levels should not change.  This is accomplished by eating whole grain foods, lots of  vegetables and proteins.  In my presentation I basically said that the ideal meals would consist of protein sources and veggies outside of working out.  This I feel is the case for extreme circumstances (ie. for the elite athletes) but not for everyday athletes.  Carbs are important and unless you can prepare ahead the task of cutting them out becomes unreasonable.  A person will tend to experience large energy lows as their bodies adapt from not having carbs as an energy source.  Eating whole grain carbs during meals would be the smart alternative.

One question that came up was “should I carbohydrate load before an event“.  Marathons typically put on a pasta dinner the night before an event.  The idea (in the minds of the organizers) is that if people stuff their mouths full of carbohydrate rich foods, there will be less people “bonking” or running out of energy on course.  This may work for a small amount of people but eating a large meal the night before the race is going to leave you feeling bloated and could make you worse off.   How so?  Well if your eating more than you should, your stomach is going to stretch to accommodate all the food your putting in.  This is going to cause you discomfort and effectively make you less hungry.  Instead, if you ate your normal amount your probably going to be able to eat more food (spread out over the day) and be able to store more energy than at one sitting.

If you want to carb load for your race do it during the week leading up. Eat more carbohydrate rich foods at each meal.  Now I don’t mean eating more food!  If your general meal is a chicken breast, some rice and a salad.  Try eating half as much chicken and increase the amount of rice.  Or even better, don’t cook with oils and eat more rice (less fat more carbs).

Another good question was “what should I be drinking the day before a race?“.  In this case, most people wanted to know if they should be consuming a sports drink like Gatorade.  The answer, is wait till you begin your warm-up for the race.  Again, this is about insulin.  The ideal way to take advantage of insulin is when you want your body to work; drink or eat sugar. If your sipping sugars all day before the event, your insulin levels will rise and fall; basically missing out on opportunities to dowork .  Where as if you wait till the big dance to start your sport drinking, your going to be ready to go!  In short: keep sugary foods to a minimum before the race.

If you have more questions about the above topics leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

There isn’t a triathlete alive who absolutely loves running off the bike.  Even the fastest athletes like Alistar Brownless and Craig Alexander probably wished the race stopped after the bike.   But a triathlon can’t be completed unless you finish the run (or it’s just an aquathalon).

So how do you run faster off [...]]]>

There isn’t a triathlete alive who absolutely loves running off the bike.  Even the fastest athletes like Alistar Brownless and Craig Alexander probably wished the race stopped after the bike.   But a triathlon can’t be completed unless you finish the run (or it’s just an aquathalon).

So how do you run faster off the bike?

First, determine what fast is.  Typically in an Olympic triathlon, the elites will run 1 minute slower than their best 10K time.  You may want to re-think your strategy if you’re trying to run a PB during your race.

So lets say you can run 40 minutes for a 10K road race.  There are a couple of ways to increase your foot speed so you’re not far off this time.

1 – Practice makes perfect. If you’re not already running off the bike in practice you should start now.  The key is getting your legs comfortable to changing from the mechanics of pedaling to quick leg turn over on the run.  If you’re truly concerned about how fast you want to be, run after every ride.

2 – Running favours a certain body type. Look at the finish of any large running race:  “Skinny-Minny takes the Winny”.  Depending on how ambitious you are,  losing weight is beneficial for running faster.  A 10% drop in weight has been shown to improve performance by 10%.  So if you’re 150 lbs, and drop 15 lbs (10%) that means you could potentially improve from a 40 minute 10K to a 36 minute 10K.

3 – Go slower on the bike. This is the area where most triathletes destroy any hope of having a good run split.  As soon as they exit the swim, they get on their bikes and just jam it till the next transition.  Then as if unexpected, their legs tie up and they slowwwww down.  Only to cross the finish line disappointed with yet another spoiled run.

Going slower on the bike isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Figuring out how much slower requires some testing.  A powertap is the best way to accomplish this (combined with heartrate).  Basically you need to find out what your “threshold” power output/heartrate is for a typical distance.  Or in laymen’s terms: how long can you sustain an effort without slowing down.  A lab is the best way to get this information.  Peakcentre.ca is good place to start.

If you don’t have a lab at your disposal then try using a stationary bike or flat road and go as hard as you can for 15 minutes.  Your heartrate average over the last 5 minutes will be your threshold.  Now this is going to need some tinkering because the average your going to sustain for 90Kms isn’t the same as it is for a 20Km time trial.  But it will at least give you a starting number with which you can stay under for the first part of your triathlon.

Running off the bike is crucial if you want to finish high on the leader board in a triathlon race.  Being able to, takes work but is not impossible.  Try using the three steps above to help you progress as a fast finisher instead of a slow tire leak.

Here are sample workouts that can be used to help you progress into a faster runner:

Ride 2 x 15 minutes at below threshold (-10 beats) then run off the bike for 15 minutes at race pace then 10minutes at slower than race pace.

Ride 4 x 5 minutes (with 5 minute rest in between) at goal Olympic Bike Pace then immediately after run 20 minutes at goal race pace.

Ride 30 minutes at just below threshold (-5 beats) then run off the bike for 2Kms at slightly faster than race pace.

In the whirl wind season that is triathlon, sometimes its easy to get away from your goals.  At the beginning of the season, in those dark days of winter, you may of had 1 or 2 solid goals in mind.  These were to become the foundation of your season.  Then as the  season [...]]]>

In the whirl wind season that is triathlon, sometimes its easy to get away from your goals.  At the beginning of the season, in those dark days of winter, you may of had 1 or 2 solid goals in mind.  These were to become the foundation of your season.  Then as the  season begins, other races start to attract your attention away from your key races.

This isn’t a problem as long as you keep your expectations in check.  Be realistic, if the goal was to finish top 10 at your two priority goals but your now compromising this with racing too much or to near your goal races – re-evaluate.  Maybe top 10 isn’t as important as it was 6 months ago.  Before making the change to write off your goals.  Take a second, and think 6 months in the future: how would you want to remember your season?  Does achieving your goals give you fulfillment?  If no, then what made you choose them in the first place?

Maybe having a solid goal isn’t your ideal way of planning.  Instead, maybe you would be better off with having a list of values to follow and help you stay on track.  This can help keep training/racing in check while letting you focus on what means most to you.  Choosing from the list below, this can also aid in the choice of races you’d like to do.

Below is a table of values.  Evaluate yourself by putting a number beside what is important (for example 3 is important and1 is not).  What is it that you seek when you race?

Hopefully the above table will give you an idea of where you want to head in the future.  Review these when your brain swirls with excitement about choosing a new prospective event.  If  adventure or something new is rated high then maybe you can give the green light.

Living with the reckless abandon that today is your last is fine in training (or interval training specfically) but not in racing.  Believe it or not; there will be another year to attempt other ventures.  Goals can change.  Priorities can change.  But try to keep your values the same.

After taking [...]]]> I had been looking forward to this race for a long time: Bridgetown Long Course (Swim: 2K, Bike: 94K and Run 20K).  At Christmas time I asked my parents if they minded me coming back to the farm; both to paint their house (no problem with that) and to do the race.

After taking 10 days off from structured training and a week long vacation in Nice, France, I was back to the “grind”.  My preparation for Bridgetown was less than ideal.  After returning to Ottawa for 3 days I was on a plane to Halifax to stay with my folks and fulfill my commitment to paint their domicile.

In the little training I did, I was happy to not feel too sluggish.  There is a local TT on Tuesday nights here,  a 10K which showed me that my “form” was okay to compete.

Fast forward to the race.  It started off early, 4am early, as we made the 75 min drive.  On the way Dad drove like crazy and killed a porcupine on the way but we go there in an hour!

Race start was supposed to be at 6:30 am but with a heavy fog on the river, it got pushed back to 7am.  This was to be a foreshadow as I was prepared nutritionally for the original start but the extra 30mins was to play havoc later…

Swim was… interesting.  The Bridgetown River is tidal, meaning its current can go either way.  On Sunday we had to swim into it; HARD.  It was quite comical to throw sticks in and watch them float down at warp speed.  When the horn finally went we were off to fight our way up stream like a bunch of salmon at breeding time.

My swim went ok.  I missed a lead pack and had to swim the majority by myself.  The fog was still prevalent so it made sighting even more important.  I just followed the group that was 25m ahead and hoped they knew where they were going!

At one point during the swim, we made our way under a bridge.  I took a couple strokes then sighted only to be surprised at how little ground that I had made!

Coming back down the river really wasn’t that exciting.  I wanted it to be like riding a wave but to be honest, it didn’t feel any faster than going up.

There was one last section of the swim which was everyone’s least favorite.  You had to swim down past the exit point then swim back up to the water exit.  This is where you really felt the current.  It felt like swimming in molasses.

Exiting the swim I muttered a few choice words as I saw my time.  Luckily for me, everyone felt it!  I was in 4th but exited T1 in 3rd.  The race was on!

My bike had been strong before the break so I was curious to see how much fitness I had lost.  Traveling home I didn’t bring any of my time trial equipment (helmet or wheels) so it was just a stock P2SL for me.  I did however, bring my powertap.  Since this race was really meant for training, I wanted to see what my numbers were like.  Here is a snippet:

Average Power = 227 W (quite low for me)

Average HR = 170

Work = 2071 kJ

Cadence = 85 RPM

The graph of the data was very telling: I went out a bit too hard!  My average through the first half was almost 40km/h.  This fell down in the second half due to a couple of things.  The first, I needed some more racing (it’s been over a month since my last one).  More importantly, I lost my water and gels with 20K to go.  This left me in a real bad state…  I was hitting the wall slowly and my power was suffering.

My first lap I had made my way to second.  On the way back from my second lap I was within passing distance of first when I dropped my bottle and gel.

After coming into T2, my deficit was doable but I was worried about my empty stomach.  I took extra time before the start of the run to have something to eat.  This seemed to help as my legs found an adequate rhythm.

Run Numbers

1:08/1:20: (turned the Garmin on late) AHR 168

You could feel the heat pouring down now as it was almost midday.  There was little shade and my body felt it.  I tried something new in this race and brought water along.  It seemed to help as I moved into first place within the first 4K.  After taking the lead I just put it on autopilot making sure to drink and eat on the way.

I knew I couldn’t slack as the other athletes would be strong on the run.  Luckily, I had what it took and took 1st.  The race took a lot more out of me then I planned on but it was worth it!

Great job to the other BTC athletes!  It was great to win in my home province.

Next up for me is a house to be painted.  As for racing, it will depend on what happens in my future.

Happy Trainin

Cliff

So, whose going to win the Tour?

Take the stages?

Crash?

Overrated?

Let’s talk!

Race: Tinman Triathlon

Location: Tupper Lake, New York

Distance: 1.9K swim, 90K bike and 21.5K Run

Description: Swim was in a lake with a rectangular buoy line. Bike was rolling with good pavement conditions. Run was hilly for the first 5 miles then relatively flat (mix of pavement and trail).

Conditions: Cool and [...]]]>

Race: Tinman Triathlon

Location: Tupper Lake, New York

Distance: 1.9K swim, 90K bike and 21.5K Run

Description: Swim was in a lake with a rectangular buoy line. Bike was rolling with good pavement conditions. Run was hilly for the first 5 miles then relatively flat (mix of pavement and trail).

Conditions: Cool and overcast.

Place: 2nd Overall (4:13:44)

It was nearly a month since my last triathlon so I was eager to see where my fitness was. My goal for this race was to really nail my hydration (more on that to come) which would allow me to be competitive throughout. The previous weeks have shown me that my bike is becoming a strong asset as well as my run. The swim though, as always, was a question mark.

Race morning was calm and cool. This was strange turn of events as it had been calling for thunderstorms with rain.

The swim had wave starts with mine starting first. It was a nice change as most times I’m last and have to fight through throngs of people. My goal was to draft as much as possible and try to stay as close to the front as I could. Before starting, another guy called out his friend as the “guy to watch for”, as in he would have the fastest time; point noted.

Off we went into the warmish lake waters. The buoy line seemed to stretch out forever. I got off to a good start and found a small group to hang in with. To my surprise, I surged out of this group and moved forward to find faster swimmers. At the first corner of the swim course, I had found my speed. Two other swimmers, 1 a girl and the other, “the guy to watch for”. I swam right on their feet for the remaining distance. Exiting the water I was relieved to see a new PB, 29:09 for 1900ms. The swim time is starting to pay off! Not only that but I was in 5th spot!

The bike course was undulating. Ups and downs. It was all about how you could carry the momentum. My goal was to keep my fluid intake to 1100mL per hour, something that is very tricky to keep track of but I had worked a recipe beforehand: I drink 50mL per sip and at 3min intervals I would reach my goal quantity. So I set a timer and off I drank.

At 10miles though my day could have been over. My right shifter started to skip gears. Not just 1 or 2 but all of them. The screw that holds the handle on had come loose. At the beginning it wasn’t too bad as I could jimmy it to at least hold a gear. With no on board multi tool I was at the mercy of the shifter. Somewhere along the way, I lost the screw and was now down to just the handle! This meant that I now had to hold the shifter in place in whatever gear that I wanted. It also meant that I couldn’t sit up because then my gears would shift on their own.

This was all going on as I powered through the hills. This whole fiasco never really bugged me till some of the bigger hills on the way back. Because I couldn’t sit up, I had to aero position every hill. Interesting to do in practice but in a race, comfort is more important.

My splits were near identical, 1:09 for the way out and slightly more for the way back. This was good enough to put me into 3rd position going out on the run.

I thought I had it on the run. After 7K I was in second place and had a 500m deficit to second. But something strange happened, I couldn’t catch the guy in front of me. It was like a yo-yo. I got closer to where I thought the next hill I’d be making he pass, then as I crested the hill, he would be far off again.

My thought process was about maintaining a strong speed to catch him but it never came. I finished the race in second but then had to wait and see if my time would hold up (as the other waves finished).

It held up. After looking at the results and seeing that I lost time only in the swim, I felt decent about my performance. I don’t hold the shifter as an excuse but it would have been nice for that not to have happened!

This race has showed me that my swim is coming along, the bike strength is getting better and my run is good even though there has been little work on it. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens come November after a couple of months work on my running form.

Thanks for reading. I’m a little sore today but in good spirits. Hope you had a good weekend.

Cliff