Ironman 70.3 Muncie

 With the Y-Tri this Saturday we'll dedicate the blog this week to the Triathlon and those few who are crazy brave enough to take it on, below is a race report from Matt Etieene from the Muncie 1/2 Ironman, enjoy the report and Good Luck to those racing this weekend.

Ironman 70.3 Muncie

Matthew

Etienne

When Jeff asked me to do a write up about my Ironman 70.3 experience, I did not know what to focus on more, the race or the training. To me the race was just a few moments and the training was an eternity. 

One evening back in December I was swimming with the Southern Indiana Triathlon Team at Castle High School. Everyone was talking about the upcoming races for 2011. As I listened to everyone’s races, several stated the Ironman 70.3 in Muncie as the big race for 2011. I do not know if it was my youth or machismo but I decided to do it as well because if these “old timers” could do it, so could I.  Heck, I swam 1.2 miles so many times that I cannot keep count. Fifty-six miles on a bike is a cake ride. I knew the run would be the easiest part of the race since I ran 12 miles or more almost every Saturday since October with the Band of Runners.

My official training began the day after Band of Runners’ short road race in Little Rock (well it was short for me; the others did a full marathon). I was convinced after this race that the 70.3 distance would be difficult but not too difficult (of course I learned I was wrong). Something happened during my training that I did not foresee; it rained. When I say it rained, I mean we had Amazonian type rains but in Indiana.

So when June rolled around, I was ahead of schedule on swimming and running but behind on my bike mileage. So I did what any person with “under training phobia” would do, I increased my bike mileage and kept my swimming and running totals the same. By the time my taper came, my IT Bands were screaming. My hamstrings hated me and my grocery bills resembled that of a family of four. Keep in mind, I live alone.

My mother and sister traveled with me to Muncie to cheer me on. When we went to check out the course, I will never forget the look on my mother’s face when she saw the white caps on the lake. She asked if I realized how strong that current was going to be. Naturally I acted as if it was nothing. Inside, I was thinking, “WTF???? Matt you are an idiot. You will not make it pass the swim!” The bike course seemed flat which does not suit me. I love rolling hills. The run course did not seem difficult. I had been on hillier runs with the Band of Runners.

So race day finally came. As expected, several in the later start waves passed me on the swim. Fortunately there were not white caps on the lake. I came out of the water 4 minutes slower than my expected time. The first half of the bike ride was incredibly easy then came the turn around. It was at this time that I realized I had a tail wind and now I had a head wind. My hamstrings and IT bands were screaming by mile 40. I kept remembering a mantra from Thomas the Tank Engine; I think I can I think can.  I kept this mantra up during the run, even after my hamstrings locked up on mile 6. Although I was well over 2 hours into the run, it felt like I blinked and I was at mile 12. All the pain left my body. I had a mile to go. As I crested the last hill at mile 12.5, I saw my sister and mom. I felt immortal. I kept chugging along like Thomas the Tank Engine. I crossed the finished line and nothing but relief ran

through my body.

I did it!  I had my Ironman 70.3 hat and medal. My biggest disappoint was that there was not a beer tent at the finish line. I compromised for half a pizza instead. I cannot forget to say my thank yous. I want to thank anyone who supported me or trained with me. If it was not for you, I would not have been able to do it. When I doubted myself, you were there to pick me back up.

So do I recommend doing a half Ironman? ABSOLUTELY! It is a major test of endurance and motivation. I tip my hat to anyone doing a full Ironman. I wish Michelle the best of luck in Louisville and I hope to be there along with the other Band of Runners cheering you on the entire time. I hope you don’t need a mantra to keep going but if you do, I will let you borrow the one that got me through my race.

http://ironmanmuncie.com/

Electrolytes 101 | Active.com

Electrolytes 101

By Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD
For Active.com
When he entered my office holding a sports drink at 9:00 a.m, and mentioned he wouldn’t be training until 2:00, I wondered why he was sipping a sports drink right then. His response “For the electrolytes—not that I even know what electrolytes are…!” Like many of my clients, this runner was confused about electrolytes: Did he need them? How to replace them? Are engineered sports foods the best sources? If you are also confused about this topic, keep reading!

What are electrolytes?

Electrolytes are electrically charged particles that help the body function normally. Some of the more familiar electrolytes include sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Calcium and magnesium help muscles contract and relax. Sodium and potassium help water stay in the right balance inside and outside of cells. Sodium is the electrolyte lost in the highest concentration in sweat.

Do active people need extra electrolytes?

If you are a fitness exerciser, you are unlikely to need extra electrolytes to replace those lost in sweat. If you exercise hard for more than four hours in the heat (such as triathletes, marathoners and even tennis players), you may benefit from replacing sodium losses, particularly if you sweat a lot or have been consuming only plain water or even a standard sports drink. In that case, salty recovery snacks could be a smart choice—particularly if you are prone to muscle cramps.
Potassium deficiency is unlikely to occur in athletes because the body contains much more potassium than even a marathoner might lose during a hot, sweaty race. Never the less, you can rule out this issue by enjoying potassium-rich fruits and vegetables (oranges, bananas, raisins, potato) and dairy (milk, yogurt). You can easily replace the 200 to 600 milligrams potassium you might lose in an hour of hard training by snacking on a medium to large banana (450-600 mg potassium).
To consume the electrolyte calcium, plan to include calcium-rich foods each day, such as (soy) milk+cereal, yogurt, a (decaf) latte. For magnesium, as often as possible, enjoy a pile of  magnesium-rich green leafy vegetables, as well as whole grains, nuts, peanut butter, dried beans and lentils.

Who needs to worry about replacing sodium?

Not many people! When you exercise, you lose some sodium via sweat, but you are unlikely to deplete your body’s stores under ordinary conditions. Problems arise when people overhydrate during exercise with too much plain water or standard sports drink. The very small amount of sodium in a sports drink is added to enhance fluid retention, not to replace sodium losses
The concentration of sodium in your blood actually increases during exercise because you lose proportionately more water than sodium. Hence, your first need is to replace the fluid. You can easily replace the 800 mg sodium lost in two pounds of sweat during a hard hour-long workout by enjoying a recovery snack of chocolate milk and a bagel with peanut butter.
Keep in mind, most health organizations recommend we reduce our sodium intake because the typical diet contains too much sodium for the typical person who is unfit, overfat and at risk for high blood pressure and stroke. 

I am training for an Ironman triathlon. Should I consume extra sodium?

After extended sweaty exercise, you should plan to replace sodium if:

1. you are craving salt, and
2. you are covered with a layer of salt on your skin.

Many tired athletes report the salt helps revive them so they feel better. Plus, it helps with rehydration because it holds water in your body.
You can also consume salty foods, such as chicken broth or ramen noodles before extended sweaty exercise, so the sodium will be in your system, helping to retain fluid and maintain hydration. Experiment with consuming pre-exercise sodium during training. Some athletes complain of intestinal upset or heaviness. You are an experiment of one!
Assuming the longer and harder you exercise, the hungrier you'll get and the more sodium-containing foods and fluids you'll eat—and easily consume more than enough electrolytes during and after the workout. Standard snacks (yogurt, bagels) and meals (pizza, pasta) have more sodium than you may realize. Nibbling on olives, pickles, crackers & cheese can easily replace sodium losses. (See the table and read food labels for sodium content.) As for potassium, chugging 16-ounces of chocolate milk for a recovery drink more than replaces the potassium a marathoner might lose.     

What about commercial sports foods with sodium?

If you are tempted to replace sodium losses with commercial sports foods and fluids, note that most of these engineered products are relatively poor sources of sodium. (See the table below.) Some frugal ultra-distance athletes simply lick a small packet of salt from their palm or suck on a boullion cube. Tastes great if you crave it!

Sodium in Popular Recovery Foods

Food	Sodium (mg)
Chicken noodle soup, 1 can Campbell's	2,350
Pizza, 1 small Domino’s cheese	2,330
Ramen noodles, Maruchan, 1 packet	1,580
Spaghetti sauce, 1 cup Ragu	1,160
Boullion, 1 cube Herb-Ox Chicken	1,100
Salt, 1 small packet	590
Pretzels, 1 oz (30 g) Rold Gold thins	560
Bagel, 1 Thomas' New York style (3.7 oz)	540
V-8 Juice, 8 ounces	480
American cheese, 1 slice Kraft	250
SaltStick capsule, 1	215
Cheerios, 1 cup multigrain	200
Yogurt, 6 oz Stonyfield Farms vanilla	115
Bread, 1 slice Pepperidge Farm hearty slices	190
Saltine crackers, 5	180
Potato chips, 20 Lay's	180
Chocolate milk, Nesquik, 8 oz	150
Gatorade, 8 ounces	110
Endurolytes (electrolytes), 1 capsule	100
Powerade, 8 ounces	70
Beer, 12 ounce can	15
Coke, 12 ounce can	10
Orange juice, 8 ounces	5
Potential loss in a two-hour workout	1,000-2,000

Electrolytes 101 Active.com

How Much Is Enough?

Outside Magazine Friday, June 24, 2011

How Much Is Enough?

By Outkicked
In 2003 and early 2004, in the months leading up to the Athens Olympic games, Kenya's Paul Tergat was obsessed with winning an Olympic marathon title. Tergat was one of the best runners in history and held the world marathon record, but his two Olympic medals were silver, and a marathon gold would have secured his legacy among the best ever. After all, at that point no Kenyan had ever won an Olympic marathon title, despite the country's dominance in non-championship races like the Boston Marathon. (Hard to believe, isn't it?)

Among other things, Tergat was a legendarily hard worker, and to prepare for the race he decided to out-train his competition. Through the spring and summer of 2004, he often trained three times a day, at times running as much as 190 miles per week (some news reports said 200). Most pro marathoners log between 120 and 140 miles per week, and, outside of Kenya, few marathoners run more than twice per day.

Somehow, the work did not pay off. In Athens, Tergat struggled home four minutes behind winner Stefano Baldini in tenth place. Of the nine men who beat Tergat, only three were legitimately world class, and only Baldini had ever finished ahead of him in a marathon before. The result wasn't exactly an upset—Olympic marathons are famous in their unpredictability—but neither did it entirely make sense. Tergat was the best runner in the race, and he had trained the hardest.
It isn't terribly original to draw a distinction between training hard and training smart, but in real life, finding that balance is a struggle for everyone, even the very best.

  Overtraining is evidently what undid marathoner Ryan Hall last year. After announcing an attempt on the U.S. record at the Chicago Marathon in October, Hall overcooked himself and withdrew before the race even started. By the time the dust had settled, Hall had dumped his coach, moved from his training camp in California, and redrawn his schedule to include less mileage and only six days of running a week, a somewhat heretical move for a pro marathoner.
On his blog last week, Hall wrote that he had become obsessed with big mileage at the expense of performance:

Now, when I look at a week I don’t see the necessity for mileage, I see the necessity for hard, quality workouts followed by adequate recovery and even making sure to over-recovering (if there is such a thing)...The art of running is learning when to push and when to rest, but in general I have found that when in doubt it is best to error on the side of rest.

Typos aside, Hall appears to be his own best asset. At April's Boston Marathon, he finished fourth in 2:04:56, a time that is almost a minute faster than the American record. (Because the Boston course is a net downhill and therefore record ineligible, Hall won't get offical credit for the time.)

Should Paul Tergat have trained more like Ryan Hall, then? It is hard to say. From the little we know about the habits of elite marathon runners, it appears that hard training and high mileage, in the long term, do pay off. National class runners run a lot, and elites (probably) run even more. Anecdotally, the evidence seems stronger still: the runners who run more also run faster. But the questions persist: What are the limits? How much is enough?

The best guesses are unhelpfully vague. It is doubtful that anyone will run a world-class marathon on fewer than 80 miles per week or more than 180. Practically, that leaves an enormous sweet spot, lots of room both for Ryan Hall's art of running and Paul Tergat's three runs a day.

Tergat, though, eventually got a little vindication: A year after the Olympics, in November 2005, he won the New York City Marathon in a one of the greatest sprint finishes in the history of the sport.
@petervigneron