Race Day Fluids - Part 1

You must have heard the phrase 'nutrition is the fourth discipline' in Triathlon multiple times - why do you ignore it then? Time after time I see folks putting in seemingly endless hours training for a Triathlon, but they pay little to no attention to nutrition and fluids. Ask around next time how many people know their approximate sweat rate? Their caloric need or intake ... you'll be baffled by the responses.

I am not saying that my strategy is perfect, but I wanted to pass on some thoughts on this topic. This blog post is mainly geared towards long distance races or races in extreme heat, in my opinion in a sprint distance race you can pretty much do whatever if you finish within about an hour and half (please don't eat a burger now in your next sprint). We start by this:

Determine your sweatrate:

Next time you go out on a ride or run weigh yourself in. This is best done with minimal clothes (nude for Europeans), but likely that's not suitable in most cases. Make sure you weigh in with an empty bladder and account for the additional fluids taken in and lost at a pit stop.

Simple example

• weigh-in with empty bladder at start of workout: 150lbs
• intake 2 500ml bottles = 1000mls = 1kg = 2.2lbs
• additional loss at pit stop approx 500ml (this is hard to guess) = 1.1lbs
• net: 
• You should weigh in at 151.1lbs (150lbs+2.2lbs-1.1lbs)
• You weigh in at 149 lbs
• You lost 2.1lbs of something =  0.95kg or almost 1liter of fluids
• sweat rate = 1liter per (duration of workout in hours)
• I think I have this right

Now note that this is highly dependent on the actual temperature of the day and workout intensity. I know for example that at a constant workload an increase in workload (from 50% to 70% of max effort) my sweatrate doubles. So consider this guidance not exact science. If you have had a net loss of about a bottle on a 4 hour ride on  a cool overcast day and you are going to race in the heat you need to adjust dramatically. Consider that most experts believe that a small loss of total body water, low 2-3%, reduces your physical performance substantially (http://goo.gl/gIQX5).
What are indicators of hypovolemia? That's difficult to assess in race day, unless you experience full blown dehydration with dizziness and more severe outcomes, what you want to prevent is even the mildest form of water loss. Look for signs of pee frequency, thirst (very late sign), increase in HR at same effort level and count your bottle intake.

The next critical topic is salt. Sodium in the form of sodium chloride is the most important one, but recent data suggest that potassium is also very important.  So step one know the salt content of your nutrition. Your loss is a bit harder to get to as it is highly individual. If you are a 'cruster' (you know what that is if you are one, otherwise no need to know) you will need a lot more than someone who has never seen the white lines of doom on their jersey. There are tests being offered now to assess the salt content of your sweat, which seem a god way to get an idea, but then again like with fluids, these data may vary from day to day and condition to condition. You should fall somewhere between 150 to 700 mg / salt / hour. If you are on the low end, a bottle of most electrolyte drinks will suffice, if you are on the high end, you need to add salt in the form of tablets. I find that taking two 100mg pills / hour are a good addition. Now when you play with salt tablets, take them with lots of fluid and test (read 'in training') how many you can tolerate in a single serving (salt water is given to kids to induce vomiting, try it for yourself, I tried 8 at a time once and boy did I feel nauseous!). 
Another good thing to do is to salt load in the days leading up to a race by eating salty foods and adding salt to most meals you take in the 3 days leading up to a race. Salt has been blamed for an increase in cardiovascular events, but consider this an effect of chronic salt overdosing, and recent research even shows a negative effect of low sodium diet in the long run. This would be a separate topic, but for today and for race day you probably don't have to worry about your salt intake, although no study has this really addressed to my knowledge. So asses your sweat salt and play with substitutions.

... to be continued as part 2 on nutrition

THE Diabolic Triple

Here is a good one. Last year I fell in love with Mt.Diablo (Nicole it's a different kind of love). Riding it for the first time inspired me to make this a mainstay of IM preparation / training in general. With it's seemingly never ending 'gradual' slope, the fast descents, the views and the option to climb from both the North and the South - why wouldn't you. After doing a single climb early last year for starters, I quickly designed the triple climb and termed it the 'diabolic triple' - go up via North Gate Road, up via South Gate Road and up again from the North. This, for me, is about a 6 hour day, with 75 miles of climbing and just about 11.000 feet of elevation gain. I was very pleased to have Mike V. join me this time. Going up the third time is truly a test of all kinds of things and somehow it must have some benefit one would think.
So this last Saturday we drove to Walnut Creek and started our ride at 8.30AM.

Here is what the day looks like in feet-terms ;-):

 

Temperatures seemed perfect for climbing (I revise that later, because they were freezing for the downhill). Mike put out a great effort and kept me honest on this first summit. I was about a minute slower than my very best time, which I had done on my TT and with no powercranks. Given that the old and faithful and yellow Giant TCR is 25lbs with powercranks - this seems like a good day. So here we are at #1:

 

What followed was a very (very very) cold downhill, which only increased our lust for the second climb - this time up from the South Gate. On the way we chatted with 2 guys training for the Death Ride, doing 1.5 climbs. Not bad, but Mike and I were in for more. 2nd time's a charm they say. And it was. The hardest thing is that you just know that after all that climbing you still have to do that nasty, completely unnecessary final 100 yards that seem to go straight up! But here we go, we did it:

I initially had my camera zoomed in, so here is a shot of Mike surely expressing his real feelings:

But hey, we didn't come to stop now. So down via the junction again, turn around at the North Gate and up again. Driving out to Walnut Creek I was secretly hoping to better my time on the 3rd climb, but ... nop not today. It was a challenge, but well worth it and ...

... here we go #3! Welcome to the Diabolic Triple Club Mike. This is the 3rd time I have done it and you are the first one that stuck it out. More to come this season and hopefully one day I will just go out there for a single assault to see what the best time can be for me without worrying about another 2 summit pushes. As true athletes of course we finished it off with a 4 mile brick run ;-)

How wants to join next time?

I composed this 'manual' for anybody interested in trying it:

I would drive to Walnut Creek, take the Ygnacio Valley Road exit and park at Sportsbasement. There is everything you want there, restroom at the grocery store, burrito, pizza, bakery, etc. When you start riding go out at the end of the Chase bank, continuing the direction away from SF. At the first major intersection, just a couple 100 yards past where you parked you go right along Walnut Avenue (bike lane). You'll come to a roundabout where you take the first exit on the right to Oak Grove Road and then an immediate left to North Gate Road. That's it. It sounds more complicated than it is. The you continue on North Gate road until you pass the gate to the park and shortly thereafter the climb starts. Climb until the junction ranger station (water/restrooms) about half-way and continue to the summit. Last 100 yards suck, but worth the vista (restroom and water at top). Then down to the junction station, this time go left to the south gate. You will roll down past one gate area, which isn't the base, continue until you hit the second gate, when you feel like you are at the bottom (the road turns into a private road, which is cool, but it sucks, bad road). Turn around at this point. Elevation-wise you are a bit higher than at the north gate. Then back up to junction and up the summit. The rest is your choice.
From the car you can T-run back to Walnut Avenue, turn left this time and run along walnut (called Bancroft here) until you hit a small trail along the canal to the right, just before another shopping plaza. Go along the canal path until you hit a crossroad, or continue, but that's 2 miles.