Gear - Perpetuem

First up is Perpetuem, a fine product from Hammer Nutrition.
Hammer has come a long way in engineering their products to work for distance athletes for the duration.

One serving of this stuff, was 260 calories from 54 grams of carbohydrates, most of that from maltodextrin, a long chain carbohydrate. I mixed almost 1.5 servings per 22 oz bottle and found that it dissolved with a little work and stayed that way for the duration of my workouts. I liked the mild flavor and could handle it repeatedly over a long workout, sometimes 5-7 bottles worth.

A note here, there is 6g of protein per serving. Now we've entered in to some dicey ground. The debate over whether or not protein should be a part of your nutrition regiment during exercise or race is a hot topic of debate. Personally I'm not sure. See, honest. Dean = not sure about protein. Some people say that it increases active recover or feeds muscle. Some people say that it throws a monkey wrench in to the digestive process. Some people say that it does nothing.

Dean still = not sure.

Perpetuem remains on my shelf as a staple product for 2-3 hour workouts. The jury is still out as to whether or not it causes some level of problem in my stomach or if it is any of a hundred other factors including but not limited to stress, over training, poor combination of solid foods, improper pre-workout nutrition, sleep deprivation, stress (oh, did I say that one already), heat, and the list goes on and on.

If there's one thing I can say about all of this it is this, think about it. Yes, you heard me right, think about it. Read what you can get your hands on. Try the free samples. Buy small bottles of concentrate or single serving pouches, and try it out. What works for one person may not work for you. You may thrive on nothing but fructose (fruit sugar) based sports drinks. You may reject protein completely. You may discover, like a friend of mine, that vitamin water though carb free, and gu's with a power bar thrown in are the perfect mix.

You have to try it. In the meantime Perpeteum gets a 4 our of a 5 rating in my book for being good, but with a small reservation due to something unknown. Plenty of carbs, salts, and a nice mild taste, a little like vanilla if you ask me.

Links:

• Hammer Nutrition
• Deep link to Perpetuem

Nutrition

When you talk to distance athletes, long course triathletes in particular, you find that beyond physical gear the conversation will drift towards nutrition. "What do you eat/drink", "How much do you take with you", "What do you use?" The answers and solutions vary even more widely than the products available. Combinations of products often work better for individuals as different people metabolize and burn nutrients at different rates. Scientific studies also prove and disprove concrete training methodology every year. So what do you take?

Me personally, I've tried quite a few products and here's what I look for:

• Calories per bottle (as this will help me calculate total calories sustaining me over the distance)
• Carbs per bottle (major source of fuel)
• Type of carbs in the drink/food/gel (different sugars have properties that lend themselves to easier, slower, faster, absorption rates and may have an effect on one's digestive system)
• Flavor (All the above properties are meaningless if you don't want to or can't drink/eat it)
• How mixable is it at the concentration I need it?
• Does it still taste good when it's been baking in a plastic water bottle for four hours?
• Very important!!! (See Flavor)

See then next few posts for my reviews on selected nutrition products and their virtues

A new milestone

So we're back in Malibu for the weekend. I can seriously think of worse places to be for a Saturday. We break through a new milestone for us this weekend. The five hour ride. Five hours at fifteen miles an hour puts you at seventy five miles.

More importantly it requires a higher level of attention be paid to nutrition planning and pacing. From here on out expect longer and harder rides. At the very least this ride will prep people who are training for the California Half... opps, California 70.3 race in Oceanside at the end of next month.

We should have some nice weather though:

Looks like that's all from me for today! See you at Zuma.
-dean

Out of the woods

After what must have been four weeks I'm finally almost clear of a nasty cough/cold/flu-like plague that took me down and out of training. (Read: WHOOOOOO HOOOOO!) And with that we're five real weeks away from the 2007 Ford California Ironman 70.3 Race, or for those of you who know it from way back, The Ralphs Half-Ironman. Whatever you might call it, it's going to be down in Oceanside on the 31st of March and she's-a-comin'.

A 70.3 race is (duh) half of an Ironman distance 140.6 mile race. It consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile (half marathon) run. It's fun in the sun and if you're interested in it at all you should come on down and race, volunteer, and/or watch as we take this course on.

Quite a few of our Team in Training team will be out in force that day. Look for a quite a few new personal records (PRs) being set and a modest number of first timers completing their first race at this distance. Go Team. Five good weeks of training and we'll be race ready, just watch.

Triathlon and balance

Life has a balance, so people keep telling me. Things have places and spaces as do other things in our lives. Earlier this season I was sitting with Jen, one of my ironteammates, and we were joking about how we were dating this raving lunatic named triathlon. My significant other, "Triathlon", was just so needy, we thought, but on our minds day and night. We were spending all our time with and money on "Triathlon." There were days when I couldn't talk about anything other than "Triathlon" and it was starting to drive our friends nuts. More than that people were starting to say that they missed seeing us and the things that we did together before we both met "Triathlon."

What can I say? This sport/hobby/life is demanding and is made more so when you throw in a competitive spirit and the desire to grow and be better every time you hit the starting line. All I can truly offer is this, take the time when you need it. How will you know? You'll feel yourself missing friends and family, and sleeping in a bit more than you remembered when you started out on this. Don't let it get to the point where it's "them or me" before you take a minute and step back for a day or two.

I'm guessing you wouldn't be doing the sport if you didn't like it, and so long as you like it keep on doing it. A day or two won't hurt you quite as much as you think. Just plan on coming back... or we'll end up missing you. -dean

Wow... 19 weeks

I was looking at my friend Heather's blog (also available here at blogspot.com) and realized that we're, gasp, twenty weeks from Ironman. The sound of it just resonates. TWENTY WEEKS!!! A short time in the grand scheme of the world, and certainly less than half a year. It's getting close people. Now we do a little building, a little racing, a little recovery, and for those that are inclined, a little drinking. (Note: replace any of the "a little" for any of the following as the situation demands: tons of, way too much, just enough, well needed, killer loads of.) In the meantime see you all at practice.

2007 Ironman season has officially started. First major race for us is 2007 California 70.3 race at the end of March... Can you hear it coming?

Race Report : 2006 Ironman California

I went to the Ironman California 70.3 race in 2006, not as a participant, but as a volunteer. I remember feeling like I wasn't ready to race in a field like that. My brain just said no. Top that off with not wanting to pay the entry fee but wanting to learn something from racing and voila, what do you have a ready-made volunteer. Volunteering is a wonderful experience and at the very least yields some excellent race day karma. It also let me follow my ironteammates through their race day, from the swim start, through transition, and in to the finish. Oh, and a free t-shirt too.

All right, now let's get down to it.
The weekend. An educational experience. What did I learn on race day?

1. Be careful of where you’re standing before the start of the race. I actually saw a pro warming up by jumping up and down on top of one of the timing mats before they got in the water for the swim. (That’s just silly.)
2. That water, between 52-57 degrees (depending on who you talked to), really was cold enough for people passing through T1 to stop for warm blankets and to pull out of the day.
3. The biggest thing I saw over the course of the day was planning. Plan your day. It’s the one thing (other than training) that we can do for race day, before race day. Get in with time to set up and get in to your wetsuit. I saw a number of people that missed their wave in the chute because they got in late or weren’t paying attention. Plan your transition, I saw people digging through bags trying to find something, which isn’t a big deal but they were getting frustrated and stressed out because it was costing them time.
4. Keeping your bit of the transition area neat with a clear lane in the middle will prevent (for the most part) others from trampling your stuff as they come in and out, or having said stuff “moved”, without grace, to clear the lane.
5. Sometimes all it takes is your haircut to give off the impression that you're a marine. (go figure. oh well, semper fi.)
6. Lots of very expensive, pretty bikes everywhere!
7. From an efficiency standpoint, I saw a lot of people coming in to T2 with full water bottles on the frame. I hear that there was plenty of Gatorade endurance on the course which is great, but by taking that you’re probably not getting the mix of carbs that you’ve added to your drink (assuming carbopro/equivalent). It also means that you’re hauling something like 4-6 extra pounds (depending on the size of the bottles) of your planned nutrition around with you for nothing. Just my opinion. . .
8. Oceanside is a nice place for a race. Lots of really positive people everywhere, very inspiring.
9. There’s an entire volunteer group near the finish line who catch. Their job is to meet finishers after they’ve come in and keep ‘em moving through the finish area, pulling timing chips, gathering race bags, t-shirts, and medals. The most important part is assessing whether or not race finishers can still walk, and if not, catch them as they crumble to the ground and get them over to medical.
10. (Having said, and written, all these things I will invariably forget most of them. Can someone please slap me upside the head in June as a reminder, preferably before race day?)

A New PR... amazing what a little training will do.

Unofficially I have a new PR in the half marathon. On this, a beautiful day in southern california crossed the finish line in 1hr55mins. It was my first time breaking two hours and it crushed my previous PR at that distance by almost ten minutes. The weather was great, cold then nice and warm. The people were great, volunteers were divine. I'll write more about it later, but for now, food then a nap. (And the superbowl!!) Peace. -dean