You have been training for quite some time now and it is your chance to express all of the fitness you have accumulated. As the date of your first race creeps forward you witness your anxiety level elevating exponentially. Questions start to flood your brain and hopefully this article will answer most of them for you. If you are traveling a long distance please refer to our Travel for Tri article for additional details. Let’s start with the few days leading into the race. Gear and Nutrition are often the focus during this time. Swim – Most training plans have you staying in the water so you won’t lose your feel for the water as close to the race as possible this often gets tricky if traveling for a race and a swim the day before or the morning you start travel to the race venue is often recommended. Hopefully you have swam in your wetsuit previously if not be sure to use it in the pool on this last swim and be sure to flush the suit inside and out to remove all chlorine. Pack List

Most age group athletes work full time and have family lives that causes them to be spread very thin at times. The compounding rigors of their training and racing may cause excessive stress and distorted behavior patterns and even may cause the athlete to relapse in diet and or alcohol use. H-HUNGER This is not saying you aren’t going to be hungry. Everyone gets hungry after a 3 hour run. This is saying that if you skip a meal because you failed to plan or ran out of time this is going to be a trigger that can lead to a cascade of negative consequences later that day or the next. Setting up an evening ritual of preparation of meals for the following day can be a quick way to mitigate the mishap of missing or forgetting a meal A-ANGER We all get pissed off and sometimes rightfully so. Take some time and evaluate what actually is setting off your anger? Is it a stressful commute where you barely make it to work on time every morning? Do you get stuck behind the same school bus every other day. Can you avoid these situations? Can you change your morning routine to help? Would a 15 minute earlier wake up call lead to less stress throughout the day and give you 5 minutes alone at your desk to decompress before your first meeting of the day setting you up for success in the workplace? We can cover every possible trigger here but more than likely it is a scenario that we can avoid or take steps to improve. L-LONELINESS As humans we are very social creatures and rely on others more than we realize. Maybe you have a spouse that leaves you at home while they go on a business trip or you yourself has to go on a business trip. This loneliness can leave a person feeling very anxious and uneasy. This may cause the person to lash out and guilt their vacating spouse to gain their attention and is often very self serving. This could cause the person to grab a bottle of wine for their dinner after the workouts for the night. Loneliness is natural but noticing that it causes certain behaviors is the first step in dealing with a plan to reduce it. T-TIRED Are you a plain old crab apple when you get overtired? Do you lose discipline on your diet when you get overtired and don’t feel like making something? Do you grab a cocktail so you can just pass out? Sleep deprivation is one of the biggest problems we see with athletes. Sleep deprivation isn’t just a single night event. We develop a sleep debt that we need to repay over several nights to make up for it. Sleep deprivation sets us up for being in a metabolic state that not only impacts our recovery but also can have large consequences on our body composition. A person who is sleep deprived is often walking around insulin resistant sometimes at levels of a pre-diabetic. This means Insulin the transporter of the energy from the food we ingest can’t get the energy into the target cells and it gets stored as fat. Some quick tips for improving sleep hygiene would be: 1. No caffeine afternoon 2. Reduce screen time 1 hour prior to bed 3. Make room as dark as possible 4. Lower temperatures from daytime room temperatures in bedrooms 5. Don’t drink excessively prior to bedtime (water and especially alcohol). A personal analysis of what is HALT’ing your progress and triggering your negative behaviors is not only going to help assist with your performance in endurance sports but also your performance in life.

Intro to Nutrition: Imagine if you were in a big city traveling with a large group of people. You got to the subway station and realized only a small amount of you would fit on the subway car. You are left with two options: wait for the next subway car and continue to move your group over a longer period of time or use the bus that runs at street level and move some of your group to your destination at the same time on the bus. Even though the bus takes longer the synergistic effect of being able to trickle some of your group members to your destination via two transport systems is most efficient. Race day nutrition functions in a similar manner. An average size male athlete has absorptions rates between 30-90grams/hr during exercise. The upper end of this scale 90g can only be achieved with utilizing multiple delivery methods our bodies can utilize. We transport glucose and fructose via different transport systems. Knowing what is in your nutritional product is key and what you tolerate well is vital to your performance. Triathlon Fueling Options There are many triathlon fuel options available and an entire industry devoted to it. Glucose, fructose and maltodextrin are the primary ingredients that contain the calories of these fuel sources. The delivery methods come in powders that are mixed into liquids solutions, gel packets, bars, chewy candies etc… The delivery method to use is very individual. As intensity increases blood is shunted from the core of the body and shifted out to the working skeletal muscles. This slows the digestion process down significantly and may wreak havoc on a normally iron stomached person. With under-fueling the dreaded “bonk” or “hitting the wall” technically called hypoglycemia may show up stopping an athlete in their tracks whereas on the polar opposite end of the spectrum over fueling in a short duration may lock up the stomach and shutdown all forward progress and leave you lying on the side of the course in the fetal position contemplating jumping in front of traffic to end the misery. As the distance of your triathlon increases nutrition inevitably becomes more and more important. As any motor vehicle is limited by it’s efficiency and size of it’s gas tank the human body functions in a similar manner. We can store around 1hr-1.5 hrs worth of calories on board in the form of glycogen which we store in our skeletal muscles and liver. Practicing Nutrition for Half-Ironman and Ironman Distance Events In half Ironman and Ironman distance events developing and practicing a nutritional strategy is vital and should be implemented in to the specificity of the workouts during the build- up. The old cliché “Nothing new on Race day” is very fitting in regards to nutritional strategies, therefore rehearsal and fine tuning is imperative. Individuals usually tolerate liquids fairly well. If you can find out what you’re “A” race will have available on course it is a good idea to start utilizing that on your longer workouts, or have a strategy and set up that allows you to carry all you will need on board your bike of a liquid of you’re choice. A host of bike hydration options are available, often a simple behind the seat and between the aerobars set up is a good safe option. Practice with that bottle location to assure you can that it can be safely and effectively reached during the ride. On the run there are options to carry your own liquids as well through the use of fuel belts. Maltodextrin products such as CarboPro are tasteless and easily dissolvable in most liquids. There are also flavored options available @ INFINIT Nutrition (IREPINFINIT for 10% off at check off) Practice adding these at different amounts to deliver more calories during exercise to replace the calories burned and increase performance. Triathlon Fueling Options Continued Gels would be our next easiest product to process during an event. Some gels are mixed with sources of fuel that come from fructose and glucose. Also pay attention to your electrolyte needs, a “salty” sweater may benefit from a gel that contains more sodium in hot/humid conditions. You may also get some benefit from gels that contain caffeine as it is a proven performance enhancer. As food sources start to get more solid the processing time increases as some more complex digestion is required. Some may choose to experiment with more semi solid/solid food sources. While some do very well with these types of fuel, be cognizant of how easily these are eaten at race pace. The unwrapping and chewing process can be more difficult than one may think and leave people unsteady on a bike or choking on the run. A quick and easy starting point is to assign 2 calories per hour per pound of lean body weight. Example: 200lb @ 20% Bodyfat 200lbs x .20 = 40 lbs of fat 200lbs – 40lbs = 160 lbs of lean body mass 160lbs x 2 cals per lb per hour = 320 calories/hour In summary, KISS (Keep, It, Simple, Stupid). The less moving parts the better and the simpler your nutrition strategy the more likely you are to execute it perfectly. Sometimes Less is More and Nothing New on Race Day!!

One of the biggest barriers into age group triathlon is the fear of the swim. This is also one of the reasons why completion of a triathlon is so rewarding for individuals. Now most athletes can swim but they have never taken a competitive stroke. So they can make it across the pool without drowning but initially even one or two lengths of the pool is exhausting. Some will quit right here. This is very natural response. Our body is telling us that this is an unsafe environment. Let’s break it down we are in a medium of water where we are horizontal, buoyant and floating, our hearing is disrupted, in open water we often can’t see even our hands in front of our face and we are face down somewhere we can only breath in a metered fashion. This foreign proprioception and kinesthetic awareness creates a fear inducing panic. It takes a while to shift our natural defense mechanisms over to gain comfort in the water. Below are 3 drills that will assist with gaining comfort in the water and develop sound swim mechanics: 1. Sink Downs – one of the biggest problems we see athletes suffer from is body position in the water. Instead of traveling through the water in a tight cylinder the feet sink lower than the torso creating a parachute effect making the swimmer struggle to gain propulsion forward. It is helpful to think of the body as a teeter-tooter pivoting at the center of mass. While lifting the head is a common problem, a bigger contributor is the athlete has pressure balance scenario created from the air-filled barrel of the chest. It is not enough just to tuck the chin a fist or tennis balls distance from the chest. The athlete must also be pushing down the torso into the water to elevate the feet and back of the teeter-totter. This becomes easier to do as air is expelled from the chest in a consistent fashion when the mouth is face down in the water. We get the added benefit of having all of our air out so when we go to sneak a breath during a breath cycle in the tiny window of opportunity in the trough of water we are only taking air in. So the drill is rather simple, the athlete gets into a medium depth of water goes under water and raises feet off of the bottom. Most athletes at this time will start to float near the surface of the water. The athlete starts a steady stream of bubbles out from the nose and mouth as this air is expelled they will naturally sink to the bottom. When you hit the bottom pop up and catch your breath. Rinse and repeat. Initially this may be 10-15 minutes of a beginners swim workout. 2. Kicking on Side – The best drill for developing proper posture and alignment is the side kicking drill. In this drill, the athlete is rotated 90 degrees to either side. They have one hand extended in front of them where each distal extremity component is lower than the previous joint. So elbow lower than shoulder, wrist lower than elbow and fingers lower than wrist. The shoulders are retracted and held together. This not only keeps the athlete in a small cylinder but allows them to spear through the water and stay taught in a perfect set up to initiate the catch portion of the stroke. Fins can be used initially to help the athlete propel across the pool. We recommend short fins that allow the athlete to have a more natural kick rate. Finis Zoomers would be an example. This is a drill that we use even with our elite athletes and should be a staple of a sound well-rounded swim program.

Heel Striking Now this isn’t entirely the athletes fault. From a very young age we are shod in this high heel to toe drop relationship shoes. This big cushy heel just screams land on me and sure enough we develop and ingrain that motor pattern. Heel striking isn’t just a product of landing on our heel but is also exacerbated by a stride length that is too long aka over-striding which will be our next category. Drill to combat Heel Striking – strides which can be done barefoot if terrain is safe for this. Sample workout: 10 minute warm up Z1 ++ 6 x 30 second strides with a 2 minute recovery Recovery protocol as follows: 1. walk the first third of the recovery back to start 2. choose- a drill of choice for the middle third Drills to focus on: (click on the workout for an example video) Butt kickers Ankling Pawing Lateral Shuffle/Carioca A Skips B Skips 3. walk the remaining third of recovery ++ 5 minute Cooldown

Fueling In and around the workout is the most important nutrition of the day and influences the workout they are in as well as future workouts and performance. What athletes don’t understand is that this also has a major influence on body composition. You aren’t just what you eat but when you eat it is also important. If you don’t want to know the “Why” skip to the bottom to the “How” section at the bottom. If athletes don’t have the ability to have a meal 2-3 hours prior to their scheduled workout session it is imperative that they get started fueling just prior to the start of the workout. This timing should happen within the last 10 minutes prior starting the workout. This can be as simple as 6-8 ounces fruit juice, a gel with water, or starting their intra-workout nutrition formula. An average size male athlete has absorptions rates between 30-90grams/hr during exercise. The upper end of this scale 90g can only be achieved with utilizing multiple delivery methods our bodies can utilize. We transport glucose and fructose via different transport systems. Knowing what is in your nutritional product is key and what you tolerate well is vital to your performance. Endurance Athlete Fueling Options There are many endurance fuel options available and an entire industry devoted to it. Glucose, fructose and maltodextrin are the primary ingredients that contain the calories of these fuel sources. The delivery methods come in powders that are mixed into liquids solutions, gel packets, bars, chewy candies etc… The delivery method to use is very individual. As intensity increases blood is shunted from the core of the body and shifted out to the working skeletal muscles. This slows the digestion process down significantly and may wreak havoc on a normally iron stomached person. With under-fueling the dreaded “bonk” or “hitting the wall” technically called hypoglycemia may show up stopping an athlete in their tracks whereas on the polar opposite end of the spectrum over fueling in a short duration may lock up the stomach and shutdown all forward progress and leave you lying on the side of the course in the fetal position contemplating jumping in front of traffic to end the misery. As the duration of your workout increases nutrition inevitably becomes more and more important. As any motor vehicle is limited by it’s efficiency and size of it’s gas tank the human body functions in a similar manner. We can store around 1hr-1.5 hrs worth of calories on board in the form of glycogen which we store in our skeletal muscles and liver. While we are working out and immediately post-workout we are very insulin sensitive and have the ability to not only shuttle nutrients we ingest almost directly into the liver and skeletal muscle but also supercompensate to a level that has an added benefit for future workouts. Glycogen debt is a phenomena where athletes progressively dig deeper and deeper into a state of having less and less in the tank. We find that this leads to cravings outside the optimal window of nutrient timing which may lead to some of this eating be excessive and/or at a time that the athlete especially if sleep deprived or stressed where they may be insulin resistant where they literally can’t get the nutrients into the target cells and stored as fat. In addition to the carbohydrate profile it is also important to have a electrolyte profile of your solution that still allows for an optimal osmoality to assure absorption without gastric distress. For carbohydrates a starting point for this would be to target at least 2 calories per lb of lean body mass. To do this calculation we need to also know that carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram. If the food source has fiber with it we net out the fiber prior to doing the calculation. So if a food source has 20 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of fiber we have a net 15 grams of carbohydrates which would be 60 calories. Example: 200lb @ 20% Bodyfat 200lbs x .20 = 40 lbs of fat 200lbs – 40lbs = 160 lbs of lean body mass 160lbs x 2 cals per lb per hour = 320 calories/hour 320 calories / hour / 4 cals per gram = 80 Grams It is obvious that the simpler form that these calories are in the more readily they will become bioavailable and be efficiently processed. For this a fluid solution is our top option. Secondly, a gel with water would be another option. Protein – while some athletes like to use protein during exercise as it gives them a bit of satiety we know that protein will also slow down the carbohydrate delivery. During the workout (especially races) and in the post workout recovery window solutions sans protein would be preferential. Yes so that post workout recovery protein shake should wait until we get a chance to get our carbohydrates replenished. Immediately post workout we want to shift our blend to a more fast acting carbohydrate solution to take advantage of the cells being insulin sensitive at this time and to refill the gas tank of the liver and skeletal muscle. If it is a morning workout we have a caffeinated blend which we can use for a pick me up and should help shuttle nutrients a bit faster. We don’t want any caffeine after noon for our athletes that have a classic work schedule which would affect there sleep. If this is an afternoon or evening workout we want to start fueling about 10 minutes prior to the exercise bout. 6-8 ounces of orange juice for example is not only good for the liver but will get some fructose in the mix. Follow this by starting your Intraworkout and continue through the entire workout.

The IRONMAN Bike is the longest discipline on race day. Performance here is critical for race day success. 3 P’s to Bike Performance Practiced - perform what you practiced in training. Use nutrition and gear that you are accustomed to Patience- a proper taper will leave you with the freshest legs you have ever had. Holding back early will pay its dividends on the run. Remember if you bikes to easy you have 26.2 miles to prove it. There is no such thing as a great bike with a poor run. Persistence - sticking to the race plan. Don’t let the excitement of the big day intrude your preparation. Perpetual forward progress is the name of the game.