Acupuncture. Begin with x1 a week for 4 weeks. The session is typically 45 minutes long and the price is around CAD$100 for Toronto GTA area.
Meditation.
Massage.
Nutritional Corrections & Recommendations
Increase daily caloric intake. Begin increasing the amount of food you eat on a daily basis by 200-300 calories a day. Pay attention to your weight and body image. If you notice a rapid weight gain, cut the increase to 100-200 calories. If there is no weight gain, increase caloric intake by another 100-200 calorie a day, totaling at about extra 400-500 calories a day.
Increase the frequency of the water consumption. Instead of drinking more water in total, make the emphasis on drinking it more frequent with little gulps. Drink the clear water, consistently and frequently throughout the day. Reduce water consumption 1-2 hours before bed.
Consume protein from clean animal sources. The list below is organised in order from most nutritiously rich foods to least:
Raw pork belly fat (30 grams a day)
Fatty fish
Beef
Turkey
Eggs & Plant based proteins
Chicken (The least nutritious. Nutritional value = 0)
1hr’ ride holding 180-200 watts At the top of the 20th min put in an 8′ effort as follows… 2′ at 210W at 90rpms 2′ at 210W at 100rpms 2′ at 210W at 110rpms 2′ at 210W at 90rpms
2′ soft pedal then go directly into the following bout
2′ at 225-250W at 90rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 100rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 110rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 90rpms
At the top of the 50th min put in the following… 2′ at 225 at 90rpms 2′ at 210 at 90rpms 2′ at 200 at 90rpms 2′ at 190 at 90rpms 2′ at 180 at 90rpms
Pre-weight: 67.6 kg (66.8 kg last week) Post- weight: 67.1 kg (66.4 kg) Consumed: 1000 mL (plain water) Loss: 1.5 kg (2%) GOOD!
Fueling (200 Cal: 21/12F/4P): VEGA Bar Liked it. Tastes good
Felt strong! 200 Watts were so much easier to hold than last week. Not sure if it’s because I was using the “Standard mode” instead of “ERG”. Or maybe it’s because the plantain I ate before (high GI food). Also yesterday, 90% of my carbs came from the brown rice, instead of oatmeal, as usual. Is it the thing that made a difference? I am really proud for myself and my body. I can say that I even enjoyed the workout. Feeling good and strong!
On May 19th I am doing the SPARTAN race near Montreal, Quebec. A day before, I’ve got scheduled a long bike ride which I planned to do in Mont Tremblant. Why there? This is where one of the most popular IRONMAN races take place in June. I am not doing that particular race, but since I’m in Quebec, it’s a great opportunity to ride along the bike course. Mont Tremblant bike course (100 km).
IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant
Arrived to the Mont Tremblant at 8 am. Had no specific agenda for the ride. The only plan I had is that the ride had to be no longer than 3.5 hours. Studied the map, packed the pockets with protein bars and headed out on the course by myself.
Leaving the parking lot I noticed two guys with fancy TREK bikes, getting ready to head out. I started the conversation by asking if they’re going to ride to IRONMAN course and what should I be aware of, going into such a long ride.
I learned that they came to Mont Tremblant for a training camp. And they, along with the group of other athletes are going to ride the full course. They also said that the group will be heading out in an hour and invited me to join them for the ride. I was hesitant to agree for two reasons:
I haven’t payed for the training camp;
One hour wait seemed like forever.
However since I haven’t done the course before and wasn’t familiar with it I decided it will be a good idea to follow the group so I don’t get lost and it’s always more fun to ride together. I agreed to wait and I am glad I did.
One hour later I met the rest of the team on the main square. There were about 20-30 athletes all excited and ready to roll. Everyone seemed to be talking French – the foreign language to me. I introduced myself to the coaches and asked for permission to join on which I got a positive response. Great!
Athletes were really nice and welcomed me into the group. I met a lot of cool guys and made new connections. Thank you for being so nice and accepting a random guy off the street to your group.
At the beginning I got assigned to the slower group, however after the first 10 km I was suggested that I go ahead with 3 other faster riders. Christopher and me went ahead and were cycling side by side for the most of the time. Two other guys couldn’t keep up so we just dropped them. Sorry folks =)
At the beginning I was worried it will take me much longer than 3:15 hr, but now I am really surprised to see how perfectly the time aligned.
How me being here at that exact time, that exact parking lot allowed me to meet all this people and cycle with the group for free. WOW!
It took me 3hr 16 minutes to do the full IRONMAN course. Have no idea of how good or bad, slow or fast this is. Moreover I don’t give a crap.
The question that matter is: Did you ENJOY THE RIDE? Yes I did!
Could I’ve done it faster? You bet I could, but this was not the day and time to give my all. Hawaii 70.3 will give me the chance to push the pedal to the metal.
FUELING
We had a support vehicle and a mid way fueling station with bananas, oranges, Gatorade and this “Fruit” bar:
They are 25g pure sugar in a form of jelly worth of 100 calories. I loved it. And what a boost I felt after just taking one. Felt the warmth in my stomach and the power in my already pretty fatigued legs. Rocket Fuel! Unbelievable!
Note: Don’t be afraid of sugar while racing or training.
Fuel: 145g Carbs 30g Protein 21g Fat Total: 822 Calories
I don’t think I am consuming enough calories.
The nature at Mont Tremblant is so beautiful! Woods, lakes, mountains… Being an outdoorsy guy, I can’t stop enjoying the scenery along the course.
There are IRONMAN signs along the course, which makes it easy to follow and not get lost. They look like this:
It was a great ride! A challenging one.
Training 95% solo I made a new discovery and learned the lesson: it’s much safer and enjoyable to ride in a group of like-minded people.
1hr’ ride holding 180-200 watts At the top of the 20th min put in an 8′ effort as follows… 2′ at 210W at 90rpms 2′ at 210W at 100rpms 2′ at 210W at 110rpms 2′ at 210W at 90rpms
2′ soft pedal then go directly into the following bout
2′ at 225-250W at 90rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 100rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 110rpms 2′ at 225-250W at 90rpms
At the top of the 50th min put in the following… 2′ at 225 at 90rpms 2′ at 210 at 90rpms 2′ at 200 at 90rpms 2′ at 190 at 90rpms 2′ at 180 at 90rpms
5′ easy spin
Afraid that I’ll fail to complete the workout again. Afraid it will hurt a lot. Not looking forward to it.
Fueling (380 Cal: 58C/11F/21P): Questbar Cliff energy shot Gatorade G2
Pre-weight: 66.8 kg Post- weight: 66.4 kg Consumed: 2240 mL (2.24kg) Loss: 2.64 kg (4%)
200 W – somewhat ok to hold. Stay focused, you can do it. 210 W – didn’t feel the difference 250 W – RPE 8-9 was able to hold for 5 minutes, then switched from “erg” to “standard” mode. Can’t hold anymore. 200 W – RPE 8-9. HR is really high (163). 225-210-200 W – pulled as prescribed (RPE 9). Barely held cadence of 85-90. That’s all I’ve got…
55 minutes into the workout. 35 to go Can’t hold 200 W Completed remaining part of training to the best of my ability: 180 W – HR 156 (unusually high for this wattage) – Cad 80
Overall performed better than expected, however not as prescribed.
IRONMAN Marbella 70.3 is over and Kona race is in 2 weeks. I took about 10 days of recovery and this is the first somewhat serious bike workout.
Since Hawaii race will be done in much warmer climate than I’m used to, I need to train for that. To do so, I implement the “heat training“. I am not using fan + wearing warm cycling pants, windbreaker, long-sleeved shirt underneath and a heat.
10′ easy spin
Complete 75′ ride holding 150-175 At the top of the 20th min put in 5×5′ bouts at 205-210W on 3′ soft pedal
5′ easy spin
FUEL No fueling. Workout performed in PM. Properly hydrated and eaten.
I totally failed to complete this workout as prescribed. Again… I am beyond being disappointed with my bike performance over the past 2.5 months. I’ve been steadily declining up to this point, where I can barely hold 140 Watts… I try so hard, I put so much effort, but I keep on failing and failing. I am not enjoying the workouts. With so manny failures I am afraid of bike. I don’t even want to touch it. My confidence on the bike is below the ground. I absolutely HATED this workout.
What is wrong? I can’t find the answer. What am I doing wrong? What is missing? I need help, I can’t figure it out on my own.
Lessons Learned:
Didn’t learn anything… Besides that next time use the “standart mode” instead of “erg” on the trainer.
#1: Increased volume (three times a week 1 hour each) #2: Proper mechanics #3: Proper training plan (most important) #4: Having a coach
3 Essential Aspects of Swimming to Work on:
#1: Tautness #2: Alignment #3: Propulsion
Tautness
It’s the ability to hold properly our bodies in the water. It’s about holding a proper pasture of your body in the water when all your weight is displace in the water. Don’t be a spaghetti stick. To develop it we do:
A lot of kicking. You need a snorkel and kicking board. Face in the water, hands are holding the board under, stabilize your upper body and kick for several laps. Don’t wobble, stabilize the upper body.
Vertical kicking. Begin from 10-15 seconds and work your way up.
Workout:
Warmup: 2500 (zone 3: 70% effort) Main Set: 6x(50 zone 5: fast/uncontrollable followed by 100 zone 2: easy/recovery)
Alignment: “The channel”
Imagine the straight line going through your spine, your head and between your legs. The goal here is to keep this line straight while we swim. Look at your hand, watch it stay in the channel between center of your body and a shoulder line all the way through. The hand can’t go to the left or right, outside of the channel. If it does, your body gets miss aligned.
Another thing to focus on is the position of your head. It has to stay absolutely stationary. It turns only when you take a breath. When you ride the bike and turn the head, you get misaligned and loose balance. Same occurs with swimming.
Pull with buoy, ankle band and snorkel so the head stays stationary. Feel the fishtail. Engage your core. Point your toes. Take off the equipment and replicate it without.
Workout:
Warmup: 500 Pull with snorkel, ankle strap and buoy (easy 60-70% effort ) 5×50 Keep snorkel and strap on
Main set: 12×200 swim with 30 sec rest: 1: 4×200 (Easy Zone 2) 2: 4×200 (Medium Zone 3) 3: 4×200 (Fast Zone 4-5)
PROPULSION
There are 2 phases in propulsion:
Set up (or commonly called a “catch”)
Propulsion
In the set up phase a lot of athletes reaching straight upwards. Wrong! It slows you down. While you extend upwards you also extend downward. Thats important. Don’t try to create the “distance per stroke“, there is no benefit to extending upwards. It loads your shoulders and slows you down.
The next thing you need to focus on in the set up phase is keeping your palm and forearm in a straight lane. Don’t twist or bend your wrist, it got to stay straight. As you move into propulsion phase your elbow starts to bend sideways and stays above the wrist. You need to create the tension in your hand and forearm. There will be not much of propulsion without tension. To create the tension you need to keep in your hand and forearm straight and sturdy. So you’re bending your elbow more and more as you move along the propulsion phase. You are holding onto the water with your wrist straight, now you focus on the direction on the pull phase. Keep it super simple: You literally pushing water straight back towards your feet. Always keep your finger tips pointed towards the bottom of the pool. As you push the water towards your feet, you need to do it explosively. Your hand goes faster and faster as you push back, making the movement ballistic. Most people push the water at the very consistent but slow pace throughout the propulsion phase. Grip it and Rip it.
Front-mounted Swimming Snorkel (by Finners): to break down your mechanics into bite size pieces and work on each individually. It eliminates the head movement.
Buoy. Used for pulling.
Ankle Strap. Eliminates kicking while pulling.
Paddles. Mostly beneficial for elite athletes. Not necessary for regular athletes like me and you. The purpose is to desensitize the hand and give the feeling or forearm engagement and creates facilitate high elbow.
Bouncy Shorts. They give you extra floatation. Used on recovery days.
Stretch Cords. For on land training. Great for warming up before the race.
Fins. The right fins should be made from sturdy material on the sides, so they’re not too playable, medium length and the blade that’s playable. The main reason for use is to promote recovery. With long bike and run sessions they are great to facilitate recovery of your legs. The another reason of use is to learn the proper mechanics of kicking.
As you already know, during exercise you lost a portion of electrolytes along with sweat. As you drink after the training, you increase the fluid levels in your body, which will lower electrolyte concentration even more. Natural foods, like fruits will replace nearly all the electrolytes, except sodium. Add two-three pinches of salt to your post-exercise recovery drink for sodium replenishment. The table below lists great fruits and juices for your recovery drink to replenish electrolytes in your body.
Notes: Liquid protein consumed within 30 minutes after exercise improves muscle repair. Including fruits and greens will deliver extra antioxidants. Stay aways from added sugars.
To fully restore the fluid and electrolyte losses after the workout, aim to drink around 24 oz (700 mL) of liquids for every pound lost. Don’t drink too fast, but instead consume your solution or water slowly over a 60-minutes period and later throughout the day. Listen to your body and use the thirst as an indicator of your hydration status. Doesn’t matter if you replaced all the fluids lost, forcing it down if you’re not thirsty is not a good idea. As a general guideline: if you urinate more often than 10 times in a 24-hour period and your urine is clear – you’re drinking too much.
Better Hydration = Better Performance
References:
Karel, L. (1948). Gastric Absorption. Physical Reviews, 28(4), 433-450.
Cordain, L., & Friel, J. (2012). The Paleo diet for athletes: The ancient nutritional formula for peak athletic performance. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.
Land, S. (2018, March 18). Everything About Getting Enough Electrolytes While Fasting [Digital image]. Retrieved February 3, 2019, from https://i0.wp.com/www.wildfirex.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/08/Electrolytes.png?zoom=2&w=700&ssl=1
What we are trying to achieve here is to prevent more than a 2% drop in body weight caused by fluid loss (about 3 lbs (1.4 kg) of weight loss for 150 (68 kg) pound athlete). The two main goals of performance hydration is to:
Improve calorie absorption by utilizing performance hydration as a “transporter”
Maintain blood volume.
Don’t wait until you get thirsty! Remember: better hydration = better performance. Now pull out your calculator, I’ll teach you how to create your ideal hydration solution:
Carbohydrates: 4-8% solution. To calculate it, divide the grams of carbs (sugar) per serving size by the volume of the serving size (in mL), then multiply by 100 . So let’s say you want to fill your bicycle flask of 500 mL with a 6% solution we will need 30 grams of carbs (sugars).
Electrolytes. Calculations are easier here: 0.5-0.7 grams of sodium per 1 liter (34 oz) of water. So in the same 500 mL cycling water bottle you will need to add 250-350 milligrams of sodium.
The chart below describes carbohydrates and electrolytes needs for optimal hydration during exercise, based on time. Athletes don’t always need to take extra electrolytes during training or racing. Anything under 75 minutes doesn’t require extra supplementation with sodium pills or salt tablets.
Notes: Glucose can be absorbed around 1g/min and fructose has been shown (when combined with glucose/maltodextrin) to be absorbed at 1.5g/min.
The reason is why you should include calories into your hydration solution is to improve fluid absorption rate. “Fueling” and hydration should be separate from one another, so you’re not trying to get your fuel from your hydration solution. A little bit of sugar works as a transporter to pull the sodium across the intestinal barrier to keep your blood plasma volume up.
Hydration guidelines:
When creating your ideal performance drink strive for 2:1 ratio of glucose:fructose as it has been shown to improve absorption rate.
Drink 5-8 oz (150-250 mL) of your solution every 10-15 minutes.
Train yourself to get used to drink fluids on a schedule while exercising.
If exercising at higher temperatures or humidity, reduce the intensity to improve the gastric emptying.
Go with sports drinks over the plain water to minimize the risk of hyponatremia.
As I already mentioned in the introduction, starting a workout in dehydrated state will take you places you don’t want to be in. As little as 1% of body weight decrease due to fluid loss will make you competitively disadvantaged and put you at greater health risk. Research shows that adequate hydration level prior physical activity reduces muscle tissue breakdown. You don’t want to use the muscles to fuel your workout. You should always go into training or competing in well hydrated state.
Pre-exercise hydration general recommendations:
4 hr before: 16-20 oz (500-600 ml)
1-2 hr before: 12-16 oz (350-500 ml). Water only. Carbohydrate (sugar) rich drinks can cause hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar), making you dizzy or lightheaded right before the start.
10-20 min before: 8-12 oz (250-350 ml). High glycemic drinks or sports drinks are safe to consume.
Add a pinch of salt to retain fluids in your body. Avoid drinking too much too fast as you may have to interrupt training session to use the washroom.
Morning Training
The first thing to do, straight from the bed, is to objectively access your hydration status. Run quick self-assessment on your body:
Do I feel not thirsty at all or particularly thirsty and your urine is bright yellow? You’re starting your day in a good state and there is nothing special you need to do before your workout.
How dark is my urine? The first pee in a day is the most accurate indicator of your background hydration status.
If you feel quite thirsty, the good idea would be to postpone the session 15-30 minutes to get some fluids in and make sure you’re not putting yourself into the deeper hole.
Afternoon Training
If you train in the afternoon and especially if you also been training in the same day morning, you have to take more aggressive approach to your hydration. Before going into your evening training, you have to completely restore your hydration status, especially if the morning session was challenging.
