Performance -Not Enough!

another huge day of learning.

Sparrow you were right. I have to cover my torso during the bike portion of the race. It really makes no sense, even to the lady i talkee to, but it is a Trimerica (?) rule.
thank you for posting to my thread, I may have meesed this up. AGAIN!!!

so, then tonight I got to swim with an Ironman. Yes, monday is supposed to be my night off, but my inlaws are in town as of tonight so i wanted to get another mile. (and like Matt mentioned, I am not addicted- other people matter still)

Anyhow, this IRONMAN!!! yeah baby! he was a hoot. He told me I was going to look funny doing sumersaults in the middl of a lake.-- HAHA told me to dich the flip turn unless I plan on competition swimming. He also told me to stop pushing off the wall, none of those in the ocean. hahha

so, then he tells me he got disqualified from his first event because of drafting on the bike, and he didn't even know what drafting was.

Sheeee Whiz... and with everything else, it's almost like me and God are partners in this whole thing.

i say that cuz it's got to be a God of some sort that brought these wonderful peopl into my life.

FF
 
got home from work at 6:30... light dinner and asleep by 7:30, got up at 6:00. NICE!!!
 
over train, under eat, and fatigue is the reward it seems.

But, got with my nutritional coach and I GET TO EAT MORE!!! heheheh

I can't wait to get back into the gym and pool, and bike, and running with soem more food in me.

I've been running on empty.

so, here is what I learned for the benefit of all who are paying attention to this looney tune.

you do not train for an athletic event and run a diet deficit for vanity at the the same time. DOH!

my pain your gain. well and my gain,, or loss. Pretty cool though to lose nearly 15 lbs in 2 months, while knocking off a few inches all the way around, and increasing performance.... heheheh

it's the wall that could of really hurt me. BUT- I have this place. and here we are. ALL IS WELL.
 
He has already hit his target----its the personal dimensions within FF, and his beautiful competitive personal spirit, and I +rep..........in advance, to provide the extra boost in motivation..........ROCK ON BROTHA!
 
And we continue the push-postive approach, with our fellow forum buddy, getting ready to steady the unready:

To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it.
(You are the seeker, bro)

One person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who have only interests.
(and the competition only have interests, my friend)

Power never takes a back step - only in the face of more power.
(now, in the next two weeks, you set up MORE POWER!)

Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power.

Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, "Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary."
(your state of mind is one of a kind, my friend)---Take this with your WILL to WIN when you compete, bro!
========================================================
I wish you the best as you are my friend, and I know you will stand up to the test and leave all the rest.........................


Chillen
 
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OK- Made it thru the Olympic length Triathlon today.
total time of 3:29:01.

Weight in 192 Weight Out 183.5
Drank 3 16.9 Fl. OZ. fitness water, ate 2.5 cliff bars, and 1 bar 22Gram pure protien during the event.

Times
1 mile swim - 36 min
24.8 mile bike - 99 min
6.24 mile run - 69 min

Ate a half pound of chicken slices, 1/4 pound of roast beef, 2 bananas and a 1/2 gallon of water. current weight - 189 flat.

I'm tired!
 
Good Job FF!!!!

“A man grows most tired while standing still.”
Chinese Proverb
(Your physcially tired, but your passion and desire, is never tired, FF)

ROCK ON WITH YOUR BADD @SS SELF!


Chillen
 
Okay FF, I'm caught up on your journal. I must've zoned out there a bit cause I'd missed some stuff.
First of all, yeah, duh don't diet while you're training for these things. Clean eating is going to help you but a caloric deficit is not. Most people lose weight without even trying while tri training.
Second-I agree and disagree with your ironman friend. I am in NO way an ironman (or woman!) so maybe I don't have room to talk but I used to be a pretty serious swimmer and know for a fact that even if you aren't going to use those flip turns and streamlines (pushoffs) it definitly has its place in your tri training. You know from experience how much that winds you correct? The turn and streamline build your lung capacity, thats for sure. One of the main ways I can tell when I'm getting out of shape in the pool is when the turn and streamlines start to wind me again. I know I'm in prime shape when they don't. They make a difference in helping you get through that breathlessness you feel working hard in the race. If your body already recognizes that feeling it helps in the race to push you past it and keep your endurance up. Thats my .02 anyway.

I don't feel like an expert in triathlons. I've only done 3 in my life, but I feel like I have enought competitive experience swimming and in race strategy to know a bit. I also study that beast like nobody's business. I read blogs, talk to people, watch professional transitions while volunteering for races and tuck it away in my noodle. I can only tell you what I've seen and whats worked for me thus far.

This might be a long post, I'm just warning you ;)

Ok the week before an event is key in nutrition and hydration. You need to NOT try anything new as far as food goes, don't overeat, neither undereat. Keep your blood sugar up with eating balanced mini meals every 3 hours (complex carb/lean pro/healthy fat). You can taper the carbs off towards the end of the day if you get worried about gaining weight during this week and replace the starchy ones with fiberous ones as your day wears on. Do pack good nutrition around your workouts as it will help you with quality workouts and recovery, keeping your glycogen stores stocked. Drink a gallon or more a day. If you already do this on a regular basis go for 1.5 gallons. The point is stay ahead of your hydration. who cares if you have to pee a lot :) Get a lot of sleep 8 hours a night is the goal, and if you're like me this will be challenging, especially closer to race day.

First and foremost. No matter what you do this week, you cannot do anything more in your training to help you be in better shape for the race. That is over and done with. All thats left is being smart about accessing the speed and power you already have. There are times in the week you might feel funky. Things might start to hurt, you might feel lethargic for no apparent reason, and because you're doing less than you're used to you will NOTICE these things more because you have time to! Don't worry. Your body is used to creating endorphins that mask owies that might normally be there...thats what you're feeling...your glycogen stores are getting primed and stockpiled and if you're not used to that feeling (because maybe they're usually half empty!) it may make you a bit sleepy and heavy feeling. You will NOT feel that way for the race. Those muscles will thank you for the glycogen storehouse when you'd normally bonk and all that stored energy will be used up.
The first day in the week is pretty much a "normal" workout. Don't worry about overdoing it too much cause you're going to taper down. Don't do anything new, but don't hold back too much. If you weight train this will be your last day doing that. Trying a "brick" (swim to bike or bike to run) might be a good thing today.
The second day you'll want to drop a little of what you normally do. Go for a HIIT-like run to keep your speed there but it doesn't need to be for a long duration. stretch each day this week and start to visualize your race with transitions every single day of the week. Don't do it when you go to bed cause it WILL keep you awake!
Third day into the week is more high quality stuff. If you're in the pool do some sprints between long easy swimming. If you're running HIIT is good, as long as you didn't do it the day before. If you're biking do some fast intervals and practice drinking and eating while you're working out hard. The slow long stuff should far outweigh the short hard stuff.
Fourth day. Things really slow up. You might do a few running sprints between a few miles, a few sprints in the pool etc but nothing big. Your workout shouldn't last beyond an hour and you should feel bummed that you can't do more :).
Fifth day stretch a lot, do some low intensity stuff and maybe ONE sprint if you're freaking out about not working out much. This is an EASY day, like ridiculously easy. You'll want to do more, but don't. Make a list of stuff you'll need for your race and shop for what you don't have. practice laying out your stuff and know what you're going to put on or take off, when.
Sixth day NOTHING. do nothing but eat well and drink a lot. pack up your stuff or practice your transitions again. know what you're going to eat in the morning and make sure you have enough time for it to digest.

before I go into the actual race part....what did you eat the morning of your last race and when did you eat it? How did you feel with the full energy bars and all that fluid? How did your stomach feel the whole time? What did you feel worked, or didn't work? what typically works for you when you work out as far as eating or drinking? Did you actually get hungry when you raced?
 
sparrow said:
First of all, yeah, duh don't diet while you're training for these things. Clean eating is going to help you but a caloric deficit is not. Most people lose weight without even trying while tri training.



Ok the week before an event is key in nutrition and hydration. You need to NOT try anything new as far as food goes, don't overeat, neither undereat.

Keep your blood sugar up with eating balanced mini meals every 3 hours (complex carb/lean pro/healthy fat). You can taper the carbs off towards the end of the day if you get worried about gaining weight during this week and replace the starchy ones with fiberous ones as your day wears on.

Do pack good nutrition around your workouts as it will help you with quality workouts and recovery, keeping your glycogen stores stocked. Drink a gallon or more a day. If you already do this on a regular basis go for 1.5 gallons. The point is stay ahead of your hydration. who cares if you have to pee a lot :) Get a lot of sleep 8 hours a night is the goal, and if you're like me this will be challenging, especially closer to race day.

First and foremost. No matter what you do this week, you cannot do anything more in your training to help you be in better shape for the race.


That is over and done with. All thats left is being smart about accessing the speed and power you already have. There are times in the week you might feel funky. Things might start to hurt, you might feel lethargic for no apparent reason, and because you're doing less than you're used to you will NOTICE these things more because you have time to! Don't worry. Your body is used to creating endorphins that mask owies that might normally be there...thats what you're feeling...your glycogen stores are getting primed and stockpiled and if you're not used to that feeling (because maybe they're usually half empty!) it may make you a bit sleepy and heavy feeling. You will NOT feel that way for the race. Those muscles will thank you for the glycogen storehouse when you'd normally bonk and all that stored energy will be used up.

The first day in the week is pretty much a "normal" workout. Don't worry about overdoing it too much cause you're going to taper down. Don't do anything new, but don't hold back too much. If you weight train this will be your last day doing that. Trying a "brick" (swim to bike or bike to run) might be a good thing today.

The second day you'll want to drop a little of what you normally do. Go for a HIIT-like run to keep your speed there but it doesn't need to be for a long duration. stretch each day this week and start to visualize your race with transitions every single day of the week. Don't do it when you go to bed cause it WILL keep you awake!


Third day into the week is more high quality stuff. If you're in the pool do some sprints between long easy swimming. If you're running HIIT is good, as long as you didn't do it the day before. If you're biking do some fast intervals and practice drinking and eating while you're working out hard. The slow long stuff should far outweigh the short hard stuff.

Fourth day. Things really slow up. You might do a few running sprints between a few miles, a few sprints in the pool etc but nothing big. Your workout shouldn't last beyond an hour and you should feel bummed that you can't do more :).

Fifth day stretch a lot, do some low intensity stuff and maybe ONE sprint if you're freaking out about not working out much. This is an EASY day, like ridiculously easy. You'll want to do more, but don't. Make a list of stuff you'll need for your race and shop for what you don't have. practice laying out your stuff and know what you're going to put on or take off, when.

Sixth day NOTHING. do nothing but eat well and drink a lot. pack up your stuff or practice your transitions again. know what you're going to eat in the morning and make sure you have enough time for it to digest.

before I go into the actual race part....what did you eat the morning of your last race and when did you eat it? How did you feel with the full energy bars and all that fluid? How did your stomach feel the whole time? What did you feel worked, or didn't work? what typically works for you when you work out as far as eating or drinking? Did you actually get hungry when you raced?
Click to expand...


GOOD STUFF!
 
sparrow said:
Okay FF, I'm caught up on your journal. before I go into the actual race part....what did you eat the morning of your last race and when did you eat it? How did you feel with the full energy bars and all that fluid? How did your stomach feel the whole time? What did you feel worked, or didn't work? what typically works for you when you work out as far as eating or drinking? Did you actually get hungry when you raced?
Click to expand...
totally appreciate what you said about the flip turns a pushing off. I'm no puke, and it made me kinda mad that I had put all that effort into learning that and it is smooth andNOT EASY, the first thing I thought was you just don't know how to do it ol man!! but what he did say was right- I'd look funnu doing somesaults,, so i laughed and said thanks. AND, I love that you have the esteem you have to stand your ground Sparrow!

So,
race day questions. I have never done a triathlon in race conditions. I do know race conditions, lots of races in my history!!
yesterday I ate 2 servings of oatmeal, 2 bananas and that was about it. My belly was empty at the start so I ate a protein meal bar, and got in the pool. It was heavy in there a bit. but no biggie.
I didn't feel hungry at all during the 3:29 but I did eat two cliff bars. I was thirsty but I could only carry that one drink with me, so I had to ration. obviously at race day, I will need to show some restraint.

getting off the bike- I was gassed out! I needed to walk for some recovery. the water I drank, I gulped too much, and the cliff bar was lemon-poor choice.

at the end of the activity, after cooling I was STARVING!!! omg,, I ate an entire 1/2 pound of thin sliced roast beef and still felt empty.

thank you so much for the attention and advice. IT TURNS OUT THIS TRIATHLON THING IS RATHER DYNAMIC ENDEAVOR! heeheehee

and Chillen- dude! feeding the brain!! some of us actually go out and work the body, knowing that, and thinking on the thoughts makes all the difference.

Today is church, skydiving, and tonight I will weight train. It is my last day for doing that this week. BACK and BICEPTS and soem other stuff. hehehe
 
Missed my run, but I hope you get to dive. Maybe I'll get to it later. I feel pretty lazy these days. I hate times like that, when the workouts feel like a chore. thats why I need goals!
Per your race: I think that all the carbs in the morning burned off too quickly. While bananas and oatmeal are great, you have to have some sort of stabilizer with them for a slow release. Next time try some egg whites (or eggs) and oatmeal or make a protein shake with some low fiber fruit and oats. that will stick with you longer. My theory on your water situation is that those protein bars take a lot of water to digest. The minute you ate a whole one the water went to digestion, not the hard working muscles. Also once you are working harder than you 80% Vo2 max your digestion pretty much STOPS altogether and whatever is left in your gut, stays there. If the bars work for you, try cutting them up in like 8 pieces and rationing them out throughout the race so a blob of protein bar isn't sitting there all at once. One is all you need for the race. Whatever nutrition you need during the race is mostly going to be found in your muscles beforehand from all the good nutrition you've done during the week. All you're doing during the race is replacing immediate lost sugar, but it takes some time for those glycogen stores to be depleated. How did the propel work for you? I'm not a fan of that stuff. It has artificial sweeteners and personally doesn't sit well or inhance my workouts. Everyone is different though. I have a friend who swears by it. I use Accelerade because it has a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein which helps with the absorption but it also seems to keep me hydrated way longer than even water. I'm not sure why. I put a very diluted bottle of that on my bike and use a camelbak of water on my bike. My camelbak is 50oz and I drink most all the fluid I have there while on that long ride. My tri has downhills so thats when I drink it, all the downhills. The only nutrition other than the accelerade I do is a "gu" or "acellgel" at the start of the bike. I know a lot of people who like bars better though. I personally have tummy trouble if I have solids on race day. In the run I grab a cup of water and drink half of it and pour another cup on my head.
Its really important that the swim is well paced. You may have done that, but if not, that may be some of the reason you could never settle into your bike. If you are a kicker I'd bet thats definitly the reason. I know thats a big issue with me so in the pool I do a lot of pulling with paddles and pull buoys so that my legs get used to not kicking. I have a lot of upper body strength naturally anyway so that parts to my advantage. When I swim long distances I do a "2 beat" kick which is my right leg kicks once when my left hand enters the water, left leg for the right hand. My legs are only moving enough to keep me afloat. This helps loads on the bike. I walk/run to transition. I push the second half of my swim so that I'm pretty breathless going into transition (and we have a big hill up to the parking lot) so I have to do that. It helps me keep my head for the next leg and think about what I'm doing. The first 1/8th mile of bike is just "housekeeping" I take my gu and drink up from the swim to stay in front of my hydration. By the time i exit the marina (3 miles mostly downhill) I'm ready to get down and dirty. DO shift a lot on your bike. Like I mentioned, we have a bunch of hills so on mine shifting is obvious, but if you feel tired stay in a low gear for a while till your legs can handle it. Just like running at the beginning. Just spin your wheels for a little bit and then add more as your legs feel like they're ready. make sure your bike is in that low gear ready for you to hop on it. This will probably allow you to go much harder overall. Don't drink anything the last like 5 miles-water belly. Your strategy on the run was a good one. Do walk or jog lightly until your legs come back. That was the number one reason i think my last run went well. I actually slowed down to speed up. When my legs came back I felt like I could do anything. The first time I did that tri I had to walk half of it cause I didn't know that. Unless you are going to be inhibited from running well because of hunger, don't eat anything on the run. It will be your most intense part and you want all your blood going to the muscles. Plus, its ugly to puke when you cross the finish line. :)
I think you will do great. Its really a big game full of strategy and its so fun. I wish I could do it with you! You are making me want to do that last one I have in August! exciting. Have a great day FF! Soak up the world from the sky for me.

Katie
 
this is so totally packed with info Sparrow! I have it on a word doc and the breaks I am making with notes to myself--omg!

This took alot of work for you to do. wow!! it is making me emotional. thank you sooooooo very much.
 
Oh its ok. I like this stuff and I'm happy to help anyone who needs it. I know that I've appreciated those who have come alongside me to help me understand things better and if it cuts down the time you have to go hunting for your own answers into things you wonder about regarding the race, then its worth it. :D
 
spn class tonight and a short run. Drank a gallon of water at my desk during work and I could actually feel better about my sweat rate, and not getting dehydrated.

You may just know what you are talking about World Fitness community!!

especially you (right now) sparrow-- you are an angel!

FF
 
this complex carb thing is crazeeeeee man! I can feel this stuff running thru my veins!!!!

Today,
4 eggs, 2 serving of almonds, a banana, chillens x 6, oatmeal with four scoops of flaxseed, peanut butter sandwuch, and a small bowl of mac and cheese, pile of grapes, and 3 celery staulks and over 3/4 gallon of water!! Sheeeeyaht!!! I could rip the door off the hinges!!

yeah baby!! fitness and nutrition RULES!!!
 
FF, I give you props on your triathalon endeavors. I hope that I'm in as good shape as you are when I hit your age. I consider you an inspiration in a culture that's overwhelmingly obese and over-weight.

Sparrow, I didn't realize how h4rdc0r3 you are. That's hawt.:)
 
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