Monday, July 30, 2012

Day ein, uno, un, 1!

And away I go! Day 1 of my 13 week 1/2 Iron Man Training is under way. I'm traveling all week and weekend so my schedule is a little jacked up. I get to babysit my too cool nieces this week so I am super pumped! To make sure I stay on track I'm bringing my bike out to GR with me so I can get in some cool west Michigan ride.

 Today's workout was a 2 hour ride. Alarm went cray at 5:45am, I turn on the coffee, slugged down some chocolate coconut water and hit the streets by 6:05am. Today's ride was probably my favorite of the season. My road bike is now adjusted just right, the temps were perfect, there was no wind and I felt great. I tried to stay at the 17mph'ish range the whole time. I also worked on not mashing but instead staying consistent with a higher cadence. Felt great and no aches and pains the whole way! 31.5 miles at 1 hour and 59 minutes was just fine for me!

Nutriton is always something I struggle with on the bike, I tend to overeat, bonk or my blood sugar drops real low. Last week I was able to reach out to Sage Rountree (see below for more info on her) and she supplied me with tons of tips and great nutrition advice. So today I tried this method out: GU and water at 30 minutes in and then every 30 after. I had 1 water bottle and 1 with G2 with a ton of added salt that I sipped throughout. Remember, CF patients lose a shit ton of salt when we sweat so I have to be careful with endurance exercise, especially in the heat. 1/2 of a peanut butter PowerBar was my last intake on the bike and everything seemed to work very well. No bonk, constant energy and no feeling of dehydration at all. This equation seems like it may work though I may add on something more "real" to eat around mile 40 or so to get me through the 56 mile part of the race...oh and then something in the transition area to get me set for the run.

So in January I took a Yoga for Athletes workshop taught by Sage Rountree. Sage is an internationally recognized authority in yoga for athletes and an endurance sports coach. The author of many books on yoga for athletes, Sage writes on sports for Yoga Journal and on yoga for publications including Runner's World, Lava Magazine, USA Triathlon Life, and Endurance Magazine. She co-owns the Carrboro Yoga Company in central North Carolina. Read more about Sage and her practice. I learned a lot from her at the workshop and remembered that she is a great coach. She graciously hooked me up and I really appreciate it!

My favorite quote of the day "I don't train hard enough to taper...", came from an older man in my last 30 minutes of riding today. We rode together for a bit and he told me he was training for a sprint tri in Chicago. Very cool to run into cool people on the road!

Happy Monday!

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