Hydration

As previously documented (below), things did not go well a week ago when I towed the line for the Peterborough Half Ironman.  After an initial day or two of moping in disappointment, I got to work trying to figure out what went so wrong.  Since then, I have done lots of reflection, and had many discussions with those around me - mostly with my wonderful coach and friend Sandy.

In a nutshell, we soon targeted that my "flatness" and under-performing was most likely due to a fueling/hydration issue.  Since it seemed I was off form, from almost the onset of the bike, it seemed to me this had to be a bigger issue then what I did or did not do during the race... I had only been racing for about 45 minutes (swim included) before I had been riding long enough to know things weren't feeling right!  So, it seemed something in the bigger picture of what I was or wasn't doing had to lead to this.  The leading candidate soon became hydration and now it seems clearer how I got in that mess.  So here is what NOT to do, and then I'll list what I am doing to hopefully make things right!

What NOT to do:

1. Do NOT treat mid-week "short" runs as though they don't require fluid. This may sound crazy, but I rarely used my fuel belt (an accessory for carrying water bottles and gels) for any run unless it was more than 1:15-1:30.  In and of itself, its not that big of deal and the body can certainly do it - but when its done regularly (week after week) you are always running a deficit, and it can be hard to catch up.  This becomes even more critical with the warmer weather that summer brings, and I certainly did not adjust my habits that worked in the spring, for summer training.  

2. Do NOT short change yourself on fluid.  Just because you can do a workout on no or little fluid does not mean you should.  I was notorious for this.  Even when I did take fluid with me on long runs, it often was not enough.  Or when I ride, I purposely waited until 30, 45 or sometime 60 minutes, before starting to drink just so I'd "have enough" to complete the ride and wasn't really thirsty yet.

3. Avoid point-to-point long routes in training, unless you are sure you can stop somewhere and get more fluid.  Most of the time, you start and end your workout at home and although not as "fun", even for a long ride you are better to do loops back to your home, so you can refuel/fillup bottles if necessary.

What TO DO (this is what I'm shooting for and practicing):

1.  Daily hydration - the recommended formula here is to drink half your body weight in ounces every day, and the key is with electrolyte (ie. 190lbs / 2 = 95oz).  Yes, this is a lot of drinking and it does NOT include what you drink during workouts or additional fluid that you will drink in the day like a glass of milk or water :)  I never gave this any thought previously in my training and can honestly say that so far, it seems like a very good move! In fact since doing this, my body weight has gone up 4-5lbs in a week - this indicates to me, that I was in fact under-hydrated for quite some time.

2. Increase hydration during workouts - In both quantity and frequency.
The fuel belt is not just for long runs!  I am now going to take fluid with me for every run (except maybe the short 15-20' transition runs (scratch that - I'll even grab 1 flask and carry it with me for those runs as well - good race practice, and keeps the hydration going - Credit the coach for that one, thanks Sandy!)
On the bike, I am going to drink every 15 minutes minimum.  I used to aim for 20, but 15 will help me get more in.

3. I was advised that in a long race you should have to pee about every hour and half (I just read one article that stated if the athlete was not peeing a very hour it was an indication things may be going very wrong - granted this was for an extreme endurance event in extreme temperatures).  I can honestly say, I've never been anywhere close to this - in daily practice or racing!  I am now much more aware of this, and weird as it may be, am going to be aware of how often I am going and try and at have to "go" during longer workouts.

4. I am going to be using Infinit sports drink as my primary fuel ( I have used this in the past, and I'll save the story for why I wasn't this year so far - its not that exciting).  I have been advised to take 1 to 1.5 servings per hr, during training.  This will equate to approx. 750ml - 900ml (minimum) an hour, and also approx 350-420kcals per hour.  I used this tonight in a ride, and it was excellent.

So, that's the plan right now.  I am hopeful that this will keep me topped up, and fresh for the demands of training and racing.  I also just came across this post, for some additional information to test out and try if you are trying to educate yourself more about hydration here's the link:

Fuelbelt Hydration Tips

These next two weeks will be a real test for me, as I have some serious training to get done, and if I can execute it well, it will serve as a nice conformation that I am back on the right path.

Drink Up!

Jon  

 

Peterborough Half Iron - Debriefing

I don't feel much like dwelling on yesterday.. but I do know there is value in learning from the tough days on a race course, and hopefully its helpful to some readers who have either gone through similar disappointments and/or are sharing in their own racing journey, so here goes.

Usually these are called race reports, but there wasn't a whole lot of racing for me going on yesterday, so here are my point form take-a ways from the day.   And before, I go further - HUGE THANK YOU, to my wife and kids for their undying support and to  mom, dad, bro and friends who were there lending an encouraging word yesterday.  I really do love having people I care about at races with me and I appreciate it.  That said, on days that go bad (like yesterday), I almost feel more bad, as you have made the efforts to be there and I fail to reach my goals.  I know you love me just the same, but that's just a reality I face when I'm out there.

PRE-RACE:  Going in, I felt fine.  I had no reason to really expect being off, or to under perform.  I did have a few small doubts in my head (from the odd "flat" workout that had popped up over the past month - but they can't all be 100% strong) - and I had hoped the doubts would be positively answered with a strong performance on race day.  On Thursday, before the race, I had a great brick workout where I rode for 1:30, and ran for 30'.  I averaged 36km/hr+ on the bike, and ran 4:35/km, both in easy Z1/2 efforts.  This is the type of workout I've been doing week in and week out, and I mention the paces because, surely it reasonable to expect to race at at minimum - these speeds (on similar terrain of course), but really, I hoped and should be able to go even faster.

SWIM - The swim was pretty uneventful.  I expected to be around 30-32 minutes, and came out in 31:41.  Not super fast, but a minute here or there didn't matter much in my game plan, as I really wanted to nail the bike and run.

BIKE - I got on to the bike, and had the usual high heart rate from the swim and transition.  The first 5-10km, can often feel awkward, and they did.  I tried to settle in and let the heart rate come down, which it did.  I was hoping to start feeling strong, but it seemed to be taking longer.  I keep spinning, taking on nutrition, and by 20-25km, doubts start creeping in as I was not moving through the field like I planned.  My lower back started getting unusually tight and I was getting discouraged, because I should have been passing a lot more people by now, but instead I was basically holding my place, with the odd rider going by me.  Anyways, a tight back and lack of strength, led to a very underwhelming ride. I had hoped to be around 2:25-2:20, but instead was 2:32 (avg speed 33.6ish km/hr), and the course was short, so it was more like a 2:40 (which for me, is way off the mark and concerning, to say the least!). (For reference, 2 years ago I rode a 2:26 for 90km)        

RUN:  Sadly, things just got worse here.  I had very "heavy" legs and the tightness in my back, ran through my glutes and into my legs - taking any smoothness of stride away.  Mom commented after the race, how skinny I was looking, but I felt like I was running with a 100lb Gorilla on my back!  To make matters more annoying, I did not get my racing nutrition right, as I had some cramping in my quads around 2km into the run.  I stopped and took down more salt, and a gel and that took care of the cramps - which never did return, as I kept taking on nutrition as much as I could.  I haven't had a run.. more like "shuffle/walk", like that in a long time, and it was so hard mentally to keep moving.  It just gives you way to much time to dwell on all the doubts, and questions that days like this raise.  All those training runs where I've been cruising 4:30-4:40/km, and now 6 minute km's are a pipe dream - that is UGLY and hard to take, and frankly far to great of drop off for what I have put it, for even an Ironman - let alone a half.  The "run" was 2:17:42... I was hoping at worse to run a 1:35, (and should be able to go 1:30 or better - 'nough said.

At the end of the race, I finished in 5:24:09 - 24/34 in my AG. 

As I was typing this, Jodie said to me "I feel like I have a hang over or something", and that sums it up well!  Its a mix of disappointment and anger, going through me today.   I know, it was "just 1 race", but I love to compete - and to me that's as much a part of it as anything, and this was way far from the competition I was expecting to bring.  I felt like I was fighting my body pretty much the whole day, and I don't enjoy that at all.

Time to go back to the drawing board and re-build from this - I will get stronger.

Jon