Nutrition 101

Why don't you show my pal Lewis some love on his blog?  He's writing his first blog and chronicling his 2014 adventures including the London and Berlin marathons and Ironman Kalmar.  You can find it here.

Before I get to the new content, yeah, here is my plea again.

I wanted to bring some attention to the charity I'm supporting as I ramp up to Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June 2014.  Yes, I'm going to keep asking until I reach my goal of $2500 :)

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso


Recently, there has been some chatter on my tri-club's Facebook page about race day nutrition, especially coming from people new to the sport.  So I thought I'd write a post about it instead of trying to cram it into a Facebook comment.

When I first started, I rather overlooked nutrition as I figured there would be stuff on the course to eat and drink, so what was the big deal?  However, I quickly learned (probably the hard way) why nutrition is often called "the fourth discipline."

The epiphany for me was on my first long training ride in 2011 on the actual Ironman Louisville course.  I ended that ride in tears and frustration after about 50 miles, nearly 15 miles from my car, with a call to my wife to come rescue me.  I was so dehydrated (I think I lost 10+ pounds that day) and had bonked so hard, I couldn't even pedal.  I thought my Ironman dream was over.  If I can't even manage a 60-70 mile ride, how am I going to manage 140.6 miles?  It came down to nutrition and hydration.


So where do you start?  The biggest mistake most newbies make is trying to replace calories.  Let's say for your weight, you burn 1000 calories an hour on the bike.  Should you try to then replace 1000 calories?  Simple answer:  NO!  Your body cannot process that many calories.  Most of the research I've read says your body can process about 300-350 calories at the top end per hour.  So as a bigger guy, I personally shoot for 300-325 calories an hour while riding but you have to test and practice during your training.  Your per hour caloric needs may be SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT so you must do some experimentation to figure this out for yourself.


How do you get those calories?  I usually drink about 20-24 ounces of sports drink an hour during typical temperatures.  That is about 160 calories.  I may supplement with more water if it's a hot day.  That leaves about 150 calories that you need to add.  This can be nearly anything.  It depends on what your stomach can handle and what you enjoy eating.  Gels, fig newtons, nutrition bars, potatoes...I've seen it all.  The one thing I've found is that over the length of a day, my body's ability to process food gets less and less.  So on hour one of the bike, I might be able to have a Bonk Breaker bar, but by hour five, it has to be something more simple like Power Bar chews or a gel. 


Once I hit the run, I'll admit I get less formal as I know my body will guide me.  Each aid station, I grab a serving of Coke, yes Coca Cola, and water.  A serving here is probably 4-5 ounces of each.  I also add chicken broth to the mix when they bring it out, which is usually at dusk.  For those wondering about chicken broth, it's like crack.  A little warm, salty, made of easy to digest calories.  Just about the perfect thing.


The last thing you might need to do, especially in hot weather, is supplement your electrolytes as you'll lose a ton of them while you sweat.  I personally use Salt Stick but there are a lot of different products out there you can try.


To sum up a typical Ironman day for me (I also use a similar strategy for a half Ironman):


Pre-race breakfast:  Bagel and peanut butter, oatmeal, something like that.  Some water.
In the hour leading up to the start I sip on a bottle of sports drink.
10 minutes before the swim start: a gel.  Pick your favorite flavor. I also take a pre-race dose of Salt Stick.
Immediately after the swim: another dose of Salt Stick and start my eating/drinking plan.  I set my Garmin to honk at me every 15 minutes to remind me to drink and eat a bit.  For example, if I know I need to eat one Bonk Breaker bar each hour, I try to eat about a fourth of one each time my watch beeps.
At the top of each hour:  electrolytes.
On the run:  Coke/water/chicken broth at each aid station, depending on what's grabbing you and what time of day it is.  I also try to eat a little something every other aid station.  No set plan here, just depends on my gut.  Could be some crackers, pretzels, a gel, grapes, orange slices, peanut butter crackers, etc.

I hope all this helps!

Until next time...

Looking Back and Pondering a Big Goal

Before I get to the new content, you know what's coming first!

I have a friend who's writing his first blog and chronicling his 2014 adventures including the London and Berlin marathons and Ironman Kalmar.  You can find his blog here.

I wanted to bring some attention to the charity I'm supporting as I ramp up to Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June 2014.  Yes, I'm going to keep asking until I reach my goal of $2500 :)

I’m competing in 2014 as a “Blazeman Warrior.” In 2005, Jon "The Blazeman" Blais raced the big Ironman, in Hawaii, and completed it even while suffering from ALS/Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His family started the Blazeman Foundation for ALS. I’m raising money for them and in honor of Jon, I plan on rolling across the finish line in Coeur d’Alene just as Jon did when he finished. A famous quote from Jon is, "Even if I have to be rolled across the finish line, I'm finishing," so you often see Blazeman Warriors rolling across Ironman finish lines.

I also lost an Aunt to ALS so this charity is very personal to me. Any help would be appreciated.

An Ironman is 140.6 miles so even if you donated just 10 cents per mile, that would be $14.06. You can donate at the following link:

http://www.active.com/donate/teamblazeman/blazemanJJohnso

Recently, a friend asked me to look for something in my Training Peaks account that I really don't use much.  For those that don't use a website like Training Peaks, Garmin Connect, Strava, etc., they essentially do a lot of the same things.  They store the data gathered by your GPS, like my watch, and give you all kinds of metrics to go with it, such as heart rate data, pace, calories burned, and so on.  Before I got my Garmin watch I was using a Timex and Training Peaks was the place the watch data went.  So for all of my first Ironman training, the data was stored there.

So on a lark, I decided to take a look and boy was I pleasantly surprised and a bit shocked at the numbers.  A "good" run pace for me was probably 11:30/mile even over a relatively short distance but it wasn't uncommon to find runs at 12 or even 13 minute pace.  In July, 2011, I ran a half marathon, albeit in scorching temperatures, in 3:28.  This was only 6 (!!) weeks before my first Ironman.  I recently did a 2 hour half was upset at the time. My oh my, how times have changed. 

From a prior blog post, I recently did a 5 mile run with a seriously hilly first half in 7:59 pace so it got me thinking.  If I focused solely on running for a season, could I achieve a Boston Marathon qualifying time? For my age, that would require a 7:49 pace.  My pal Ryan, who is a phenomenal runner, even offered to coach me and said if I gave him 6 months and it was running only, we could do it.  I'm not so convinced but my gains this year have me at least contemplating it.

Something to ponder....

Until next time.