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Posts Tagged ‘BRick workout’

Half Ironman Race Simulation

Saturday, May 15th, 2010

Today I did an epic workout. Not because it was ridiculously long or hard, but just because I tore my own legs off for five solid hours.

I want to get some final tweaks in my half iron nutrition/pacing/hydration before Rev3 Quassy next month. What better way to test out your fitness than to replicate a 56 mile bike and 13 mile run back to back?

If you like shaky videos with lots of wind noise, this explains my whole day.

If not, here is the quick synopsis.

The bike went great. I was rocking it. The best long bike ride of my life, then I cramped up at around mile 40. My legs still felt pretty good, but my stomach was all bloated and unhappy.

56 miles later, I rolled back to my car, downed some water in hopes that it would help reset my gut and jetted off on the first of five loops for the run.

I pushed it hard for the first 5 or 6 miles of the run. I got into a rhythm pretty quick and was feeling good, but then totally bonked. I kept on pushing through, tossing water over my head and alternated sucking down EFS and straight water. Nothing was really doing the trick, but I eventually made it through.

Once I got home, I realized what the problem was on the run. All that water I sucked down went right through my system and didn’t get absorbed at all. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but at least it helped me figure out what was happening to me.

So here are the lessons from today’s epic race simulation.

I have a lot juice on the bike than I thought.

Sucking down tons of sports drink is great, but I’ve gotta mix that with plenty of water to keep things flowing.

“Emptying the tank” before a race and pre-hydrating is just as important as hydrating durring the race.

The more I learn about how my body works at race pace, the better I’ll be able to rock it once Ironman race day comes around. I’m slowly getting there…

Tags: BRick workout, runners diarrhea, self supported triathlon | Posted in Cycling, Nutrition, Running, Training Log, Triathlon, Videos | 2 Comments »

Revolution Two-Thirds

Sunday, June 28th, 2009

It was a beautiful day out on the Rev3 course. I’ve been in a major training slump lately and had a major “what the hell am I even doing here?” moment at about mile 5 of the bike. My body just wasn’t there. Thankfully after a few good standing hil climbs and spiking up to z5, I was back in the game 100%. Nothing like some hurtin’ to snap things right back into place.

Minus a few mojitos yesterday, I was all about the pre-workout hydration. I sucked down a bunch of water and gatorade throughout the day, before I went to bed, and as soon as I woke up. It had a major impact on my bike hydration. I was back on schedule, doing one bottle per hour and I was a happy little camper.

Now the run? Not so much. I took in about a half a bottle of gatorade in T2 (the trunk of my car) and carried another bottle of gatorade with me. I felt a lot better starting the run this time than during Rev3, and was totally psyched. I didn’t even need that much extra water, and ended up just swirling it around in my mouth and spitting it out to wet my lips.

That was until my stomach totally cramped up. I think once my HR jumped up during the run, the mix of Infinit, water, GU and gatorade was just too sugary and it seized up. The rest of the run sucked, but at least I learned something. I felt like crap as I shuffled back to the car. I couldn’t even listen to the radio. The noise was pounding through my skull. I got home and took in two glasses of water to dilute the sugary sludge in my stomach, and I was back to normal again.

Next try, JUST water on the run, and maybe a GU or two depending on how I feel. If I can get this down before Timberman in August, I should be ready to tear it up. This is the last piece of the puzzle to fall in place (I hope…).

Tags: BRick workout, gatorade, infinit, stomach cramps, Triathlon, triathlon nutrition | Posted in Training Log, Triathlon | 5 Comments »

Specificity

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Now that Rev3 is far back in the rear view mirror and the only thing in my sights for the rest of the season is Timberman, officially 58 days away. With some time on my hands before the next time I enter race mode, I’m taking a look back at everything, reexamining my training and changing things around a lot. The one major change that I’m making is MORE BRicks!

And in the spirit of making changes real fast, I’m heading back to Connecticut for my little sister’s college graduation party and decided to take advantage of the time back at home base to redo the Rev3 bike/run course. I feel like I still have something to prove out there. Not to anyone else. Just myself.

I know that I can push through the bike and still have enough juice left in the tank for a solid 13.1 mile run. I’m dubbing this weekend my “Rev 4 BRick Workout.” I don’t know if I’ll be able to sneak my way into Quassy for an early swim, but if not, it will be a nice hard 69.1 miles of LOVE this weekend.

Hopefully this time I won’t bonk like last time and have to drag myself across the finish line. Wish me luck!