Need some motivation to get out and endure the cold and wet weather this winter?
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An excellent way to loosen up the ol’ bod from the day’s previous activities is to swim in the evening for recovery. Even if you feel wasted from a hard workout, it is amazing how much better you feel after a dip in the pool to revel at the [...]
This post is not about all the factors that affect your race nutrition, just the nutrition itself. Specifically, the concentration and dilution of your carbohydrate intake. Okay, we’ll mention a couple issues first. Adequate training being the number one concern – if you haven’t done the work you will fall apart before the finish line, regardless of what you eat. Issue number 2: Pacing. Simply put, know your limits. 50% of the ‘nutrition’ issues in a race are actually pacing issues. You’ve gone too hard on the bike in order to keep up with stronger cyclists, then blow up half way through the run. There’s a reason why more men fall apart at the end of race than do women…and it’s not because woman are tougher, it’s because most are better at controlling their ego on the bike. With respect to ACTUAL nutrition issues, here’s what we’ve found after talking to many ‘people in the know’. First off, be wary of anything containing complex Fat or Protein (as opposed to nice, easy to digest, amino acids and cabohydrates) making their way into your stomach during the race. Calories from those sources are very hard to breakdown efficiently and can cause some intestinal shut down once the intensity (on the run) picks up. If your race intensity is low enough, you can most likely digest fat/protein properly without adverse affects to your performance. So, if you plan on walking the entire marathon or half marathon, go for it! The other item to consider (as if there were only two!) is how you dilute the carbohydrates you take in. Most drink mixes out there give you a suggested serving like 1 scoop per 12 Oz. TURNS OUT, there’s a reason for that!!! Wow. On our First Endurance EFS drink for example, they say exactly that (1 scoop per 12 Oz), and because they’ve done their research they know that this the optimal dilution for our bodies to process those carbohydrates without leaching water from our cells – therefore keeping you hydrated and fueled properly over an endurance event.
If you live in a cold climate and spend a lot of time indoors on the trainer it is generally easier to keep yourself in check. A note – your HR is likely lower on the trainer than the equivalent perceived effort out side so don’t stress if you can’t get it into your usual outdoor zone. The workout is definitely still worth it. You see some athletes training really hard in January, but hopefully these are the ones that have years and years of solid aerobic base in their systems – not the typical age group athlete that has taken a few months easy/off and needs to gradually build fitness. |
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Winter training is a good time to build a solid aerobic base, and this means staying within defined heart rate zones. This can be tricky if you do your riding in a group setting or live in a place with lots of cyclists on the roads with whom to get competitive – damn speedy commuters with panniers! This is when it is important to let go of your ego: yes you can likely outride that person, but not if you stay below your heart rate cap of 145 BPM. If you are out there for 5 hrs grinding away with your Ironman goal in mind, don’t let the annoying dude out for an hour ride who hangs on your wheel and then blows past you on descents, force you to abandon your plan!
