After 25 IMs and who knows how many RRs, you’d think I’d have nothing left to learn. But I’m always game for some improvement, so I focused this RR on my nutrition. Last year, in my two IMs, I tried some nutrition modifications on the system I had been using for years. Coach P and others have been preaching “more calories!”, Coach R is always going on about “living of the land” (just use what they’ve got at the race, minimize stuff you carry, etc), and I can no longer swallow pills while riding or running. So I bumped up the Perform, and added some PowerGel with high sugar content, and proceeded to sputter and walk, throwing up, near mile 16-18 in each IM.
So I determined to find something actually works for me. My plan: Perpetuem has always been good to me, go with that for 390 calories. One 32 oz bottle for the whole ride. I’ve been using Infinit with low flavor and higher salt now for 8 months, so 20-24 oz with 260 cal each x 3. And EFS gel has a slightly lower calorie count with twice the salt of PowerGel, so aim for 360 cal from that. That plus 3 shot blocks totals 1630 calories, or 270 per hour. That’s still a lot for me, usually in a race I’m getting in 220-240 during the bike. So I had some excess to account for spillage, and whatever. Then, on the run, go with a bottle of 260 cal Infinit and an oz of EFS gel in T2. Oh, and I had two extra bottles of water in case I needed more fluids.
My RR route here is a set of three out and backs, each about 34-38 miles. Because they are out and backs, I can modify the distance and the amount of climbing I do, on the fly. I stage @ 6500′, and go down to 5800 on the first lap, then up to 7500 (or above) on the second two. The day promised to be warm (upper 80s if sunny @ 6500′, maybe mid-upper 70s higher up, or if thunderstorms fired up and obscured the sun.
First lap went exactly as planned: 38 miles in 1:55. I refueled with a new bottle of Infinit, and added water to fill up and dilute the Perpetuem bottle. Second lap goes up a river road, which ends in as much climbing as I want. In the event, I did 2:10 for 34 miles (the last 2-3 miles is at 5-7%). The temp started to rise on the way back, which, though downhill, is into the wind. Midway on the way up, I started to fade mentally in focus, but some extra fuel took care of that. By the time I started the third lap, I had to make a game time decision ad to which route to take, the one straight up the valley, or another with more climbing, but into what looked like a pretty juicy thunderhead building up. I opted for the cool, but dry choice, and ended up going only 32 miles in 1:35. Total 105 miles in 5:43.
I didn’t feel guilty about the missing 6 miles/17 minutes I could have added, considering the day before I’d done a 90 minute FTP workout,and I was only 48 hours into my stay at altitude. I transitioned fairly quickly, and noted with pleasure that the clouds were obscuring the sun, and the air felt almost cool. I grabbed the 20 oz bottle of Infinit I’d prepared and put in the cooler, and headed down (literally) the road.
The first three miles are DOWN, then flip it back up a 1-2% rail trail grade. I started off exceedingly slow. My LRP is 9:07, and I usually run an IM marathon @ HR 123 and cadence of 91-2. I was going 10min/mi, 86 cadence and HR of 103. But I had nothing more to give, so I just let it build. First mile/HR/Cad were 9:22/107/88. The next two down hill were 9:13/117/88, 8:41/122/92. I guess it took me a couple of miles to get warmed into it. I was working, but not in distress.
“And here my troubles began”. Looking at the local NWS weather station data, which records temps, etc on a ten minute basis, I see that when I started the run, it was 78F. In the next 30 minutes, it rose to 88, and hit 90 by the time I made it to mile 5. (Temps had also gone up and down like that 1-2 hours earlier, during the end of my second bike lap.) The sun had come out, and the winds which were in my face on the way down, were now at my back, meaning I felt no breeze at all while running. The next two miles were: 10:12/124/86 (I walked a bit more trying to get my HR down from 131), 10:05/124/90 (again, more walking than usual). But the bad part was, I was feeling like I was boiling over, like I could not control my core temp. Not only had I unfortunately taken only 20 oz of fluid with me (I had a 32 oz bottle I could have filled at the car), but there were no aid stations with ice, extra water to pour on my head, sponges to put down my shirt and shorts, etc etc. As I watched my HR continue to creep up unless I slowed to a crawl or walk, I decided to pull the plug on the last mile.
Lesson learned: take the bigger water bottle next time! I think the nutrition plan is a sound one, meaning I’m going to stick with multiple fuel sources for variety, and lean towards the lower end of the calorie intake scale. I suspect that my size (145#) and age (64) both are factors in limiting my calorie needs and intake. Paying attention to HR is an excellent way to monitor the effects of all the various factors affecting pace: gradient,altitude, temperature, hydration status. My HR going up was my cue to go slower, get more fluid, and use more cooling measure. But since I didn’t have the latter two, I threw in the towel and walked the last mile. Total: 5.1 miles in 49:12.