Exercising in a fasting state - during the holidays

This article was sent to me by my sister - Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast

I have mentioned that last year was the first and only year that I have actually lost weight over the holidays. The reason for this was a lot of run volume while training for my first (stand alone) marathon. I had a line in the sand and an aggressive goal time (BQ). I also truly believe that when it comes to running – light is right. Most references note that you can increase your speed by about 2 seconds per mile per pound. For example, 5 pounds could reduce your running pace by 10 seconds per mile - in a marathon that could over 4 minutes (a 3:04:00 marathon is 7:02 pace while 2:59:59 marathon is 6:53 pace). So, last year with this aggressive running goal I was able to not only maintain my weight but lose a little bit of body fat.

For the study, researchers in Belgium recruited 28 healthy, active young men and began stuffing them with a truly lousy diet, composed of 50 percent fat and 30 percent more calories, overall, than the men had been consuming. Some of the men agreed not to exercise during the experiment. The rest were assigned to one of two exercise groups. The groups’ regimens were identical and exhausting. The men worked out four times a week in the mornings, running and cycling at a strenuous intensity. Two of the sessions lasted 90 minutes, the others, an hour. All of the workouts were supervised, so the energy expenditure of the two groups was identical.

Their early-morning routines, however, were not. One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions.

The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.

The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.

Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”

You can read the actual study here.

Exercising in a fasted state has been debated on countless exercise forums. There are a number of opinions ranging from burning more fat to the wasting of lean muscle mass. This study only reports what happened to these individuals when on an increased calorie, high fat diet (like the holiday season). It did not study what the effects are on a normal diet – well, normal for us – I hope we do not eat a holiday diet year round.

I routinely exercise in the morning; I simply just don’t get up early enough to have a meal before hitting the pavement. I think for more intense sessions (running intervals or cycling time trails) this can be a liability but for moderate intensity up to and including tempo work this fasted state is effective. I do not notice an inability to perform my workouts as long as the duration is less than 90 minutes.  For a race, I get up early and have my oatmeal.

Another benefit of running before breakfast is that it does not matter what happens the rest of the day – I have already done my workout.

Pay yourself first and then go have a (light) breakfast.

Running frequency

I attended a seminar by Justin Trolle back in September. As a side topic he mentioned that he had been training a young female that was prone to stress fractures. He prescribed a high frequency of running. Something in the order of 25 – 30 runs per week. Of course these runs would have to be short in duration. He proclaimed that this would increase her durability. In fact, in as little as 3 weeks Justin claimed that the athlete was able to perform at a high duration and intensity and has not experienced any additional stress fractures.

Recently, I have adopted a similar training program. Thankfully, I am not plagued by injuries or stress fractures but when I have increased my mileage in the past I have had some soreness. To combat this I have started running twice a day – morning and at noon. I started out with a limit of 6 miles per run – mainly just as a time constraint. I am trying to run this pattern 4 days a week and keeping the longer / faster run for the weekend. For example, leading up to the Baton Rouge Beach Half marathon, I ran a total of 44 miles during the week and then tapered for two days and ran the race. This gave me around city miles for the week – I ran a couple of miles after the race as a cool down. Granted, there is no intensity in these weekday runs – I keep these runs at my comfortable, conversational pace which is just under 8 minutes per mile.

I have noticed that as the number of runs accumulate, the first mile of each run I feel tired. However, after this first mile the fatigue subsides. Although I have mentioned that it is difficult for me to schedule cycling while trying to achieve my best marathon I am being hard headed and keeping two regimented trainer sessions during the week – these are scheduled on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.

I believe that this progression will allow for me to build my mileage into the high 60’s / low 70’s with very little chance of injury. Once I have the mileage established I will be able to add some sharpening – quarters, Yasso 800’s and mile repeats. The bread and butter of this training plan will be volume and weekend long runs / tempos. Sounds like fun to me!

My next race is the Ole Man River Half in New Orleans on 12/19/2010. This should be flat, fast and cold – I had a PR at this race last year and I look to repeat! Last years race report.

LTHR Training Zones - Cycling

So we have been talking about heart rate training zones. I prefer the field testing method to determine heart rate training zones.

One interesting aspect regarding setting your heart rate training zones using LTHR is that they will vary by sport. How is that?

Well, I have been using the term LTHR very loosely. Other terms are anaerobic threshold, aerobic threshold, and maximal lactate steady state. I am simply trying to find the heart rate that can be maintained for an extended amount of time without dipping into the red – without blowing up. This heart rate is difficult to maintain. However, once this has been determined you can train at this level. The goal is to increase your LTHR or get faster at your LTHR or hopefully both.

So I just happened to do a cycling time trial yesterday morning. It was an impromptu challenge that was scheduled the night before. There were 5 of us who would do the ‘race of truth.’ I looked up my best TT from last year and this would be my mark.

I wanted to race a good solid hard effort to determine my cycling LTHR. The time trial consists of an 11.83 mile out and back. I had the data from last year. My average heart rate for the entire 30:40 was 172 BPM at 23.0869 MPH. (Well, looking back through my blog – that is why I write this dang thing – I’m wrong. My PB for the TT was June of last year (before I used the gps watch) with a total time of 30:26 – furthermore my blog states that my average heart rate was 162 – something is fishy here – I will have to pull up the data and take a look).

Anyway, during yesterday’s effort I clicked the lap button on the gps watch 10 minutes into the TT and kept pushing hard. I finished the TT 3 seconds slower than last year – the one from July. The average heart rate for the entire time trial was 171 BPM but the average for the second 20 minutes was 174 BPM. Using this value I can now determine my heart rate training zones for cycling (notice that the percentage values are slightly different from the values used to calculate the running heart rate zones.

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = 113 - 139
65% - 80% LTHR

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = 140 - 155
81% - 89% LTHR

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = 156 - 163
90% - 93% LTHR

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = 164 - 173
94% - 99% LTHR

Zone 5: Racing, speed = 174 - 185
100% - > 106% LTHR

So, my Zone 4 heart rate training range for the RUN is 175 – 184 and for the BIKE it is 164 – 173. These are my tempo zones for my hard efforts. These areas are challenging. Funny how the old rule of thumb is that biking heart rates will be about 10 BPM less than running heart rates at the same intensity.

These calculations are mostly based off of The Cyclist's Training Bibleand The Triathlete's Training Bibleby Joe Friel.

I also found this great excel spreadsheet at sisu-multisport.com - download here.

LTHR Training Zones - Running

Another method used to determine your heart rate training zones is based off of your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). LTHR is the intensity that lactic acid starts to accumulate in the blood stream. Exercise below this threshold and lactic acid is flushed from the blood stream.

Your LTHR can be measured in the lab by taking blood samples as exercise intensity increases. This is an intrusive test and not readily available to everyone. However, your LTHR can be estimated with a field test. You can test this value with swimming, biking or running.

The test consists of a warm up followed by the fastest pace that can be maintained for 30 minutes. This is a time trial and it is all out. These tests are very difficult and take a lot of mental and physical stamina. At 10 minutes into the 30 minute session hit the lap button on your heart rate monitor. Continue to push hard until 30 minutes has elapsed. At that point end the session. You should feel very relieved that the session is complete. Your estimated LTHR is your average heart rate for the last 20 minutes of the session.

You may need to do multiple LTHR tests (separated by several weeks) in order to get your best results. There is a skill to performing well at time trials. With this LTHR value you can determine your training zones. Although I have not done an all out 30 minute LTHR test I do have the value from the pump and run race. In that race I averaged 185 BPM. Using this value I get the following heart rate zones. The numbers in parenthesis are from the MHR (max heart rate) calculations yesterday (using the Karvonen method).

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = (136 – 152) 139 - 157
75% - 85% LTHR

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = (153 – 160) 157 - 165
85% - 89% LTHR

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = (161 – 168) 166 - 174
90% - 94% LTHR

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = (169 – 184) 175 - 184
95% - 99% LTHR

Zone 5: Racing, speed = (185 – 200) 185 - 196
100% - > 106% LTHR

These are different methods to determine heart rate training zones. As you can see, in the lower and upper heart rate zones the numbers are fairly close. However, zone 3 and zone 4 numbers diverge. For example, Zone 4 is where the LTHR is supposed to take place. There is an enormous difference between the lower ends of this zone (169 BPM compared to 175 BPM). For me, running at 169 BPH is much easier than running at 175 BPM.

I guess after all of the math you still need to use feel to determine where you should be training.

NOTE:  One quick proviso – these zones might be a little high considering that this was a 20 minute all out effort and not the average of the last 20 minutes of a 30 minute all out effort.

New Heart Rate Zones

So my MHR (maximum heart rate) is higher than I thought it was – so what? Well, my heart rate training zones are now off by a fair amount. It is time to recalculate them. On a side note, there are other ways to determine your training zones that do not employ your MHR but that it for another time. The formulas that I am going to take a look at each require an accurate MHR. You can obtain your MHR from testing, observation or by estimating. Like I mentioned earlier I have recently seen a new MHR from the pump and run race a couple of weeks ago. FYI – resting heart rate is your heart rate taken early in the morning before you get out of bed. This value can be one parameter in quantifing fitness.

I am going to use the following values for the calculations: MHR (max heart rate) = 200, RHR (resting heart rate) = 40, HRR (heart rate reserve = MHR – RHR) = 160, Age = 47.

I was going to go into detail and list several different ways to calculate heart rate zones based on MHR, however, I have decided to only list the method that I prefer – the Karvonen method. This method uses your RHR to help determine your fitness level. Since most athletes have lower resting heart rates the zones are calculated higher. The formula is as follows:

Zone 1: Overdistance, strength = 136 - 152
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .60 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .70 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 2: Endurance, strength = 153 - 160
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .71 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .75 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 3: Endurance, strength = 161 - 168
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .76 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .80 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 4: Intervals, hills, race/pace = 169 - 184
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .81 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .90 + Resting Heart Rate

Zone 5: Racing, speed = 185 - 200
Lower Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * .91 + Resting Heart Rate
Upper Limit = Heart Rate Reserve * 1.0 + Resting Heart Rate

So what does this mean? One of the main training zones that I use is Zone 4. Previously this was calculated with a MHR of 194 and gave the spread as 163 – 178 BPM – about 5 beats per minute less than the new calculation 169 – 184 BPM.
This zone is where I like to do tempo runs, most of my triathlon runs and my half marathon runs. This is my hard effort. Over the past year I have noticed that I am able to run hard at or around 172 but if I let my heart rate drift up around 175 or higher the effort is greatly intensified. I can only manage a few miles when my heart rate drifts much higher in this level. I think the zones calculated with the new MHR make since. I had already adjusted my paces northward but the math reinforces my observations.

New Max Heart Rate?

There are several formulas for determining your maximum heart rate. Most are so generic that sometimes they are not even in the ball park. They are generalized for the entire population.

Let’s run through a few with my numbers (these are from wikipedia) – Age = 37 (MHR = Max Heart Rate)

MHR = 220 - AGE -> 183

MHR = 206.3 – (0.711 * AGE) -> 180.4

MHR = 217 – (0.85 * AGE) -> 180.0

MHR = 208 – (0.7 * AGE) -> 182.1

The following are from Sally Edwardsand for me seem to be the most accurate - (although a few years old her Heart Zone Trainingbook is very good).

Males: MHR = 210 – (AGE * .5) – (WEIGHT * .05) + 4 -> 187.5

Females: MHR = 210 – (AGE * .5) – (WEIGHT * .01) + 0

Max heart rates vary substantially from individual to individual. I have known blazing fast runners whose heart rates never got out of the 150’s and I have also known people with sky high heart rates. Also, maximum heart rates do not vary much over time. This is a genetic determined value. In addition, as long as you are fit your maximum heart rate will not decline as you age.

Furthermore, maximum heart rates are sports specific.  I cannont come close to my running max heart rate while biking.  There is about a 10 BPM difference.

Also from Sally Edwards:

Max HR is genetically determined; in other words, you're born with it.
Max HR does not reflect your level of fitness
Max HR is a fixed number, unless you become unfit.
Max HR cannot be increased by training.
Max HR does not decline with age.
Max HR only declines with age in sedentary individuals.
Max HR tends to be higher in women than men.
Max HRs that are high do not predict better athletic performance.
Max HRs that are low do not predict worse athletic performance.
Max HR has great variability among people of the same age.
Max HR does not vary from day to day, but it is test-day sensitive.
Max HR testing requires the person to be fully rested.
Max HR testing needs to be done multiple times to determine the exact number.

I have observed 194 BPM several times at the end of all out efforts. These were always race situations with an all out sprint to the finish. If you remember, my last 5k race (the Pump and Run) ended in a no holds barred straight away slug fest with Board Shorts. This was the hardest that I have ever sprinted – period. Further examination of the race data shows that my maximum heart rate is actually higher than the value that I have been using. The reading towards the end of that race showed 200 BPM (on garmin connect and 199 on sporttracks - either way it is about 5 beats per minute higher than I have ever seen).

I believe it – there were no power lines or other means of interference. On top of that I had to sit down at the end of that race. I guess that I had just not been in a situation to really push to the limit. Now I need to reevaluate my training zones.

Pump and Run Heart Rate profile

FYI - DC Rainmaker is giving away a really cool scale!

Transition prep - Heat Wave

Last year the Heat Wave Triathlon was unseasonably cool - it was actually wetsuit legal (for the first time I believe.).   Not this year.

not so lucky with the weather this year

I used to go over and over all the things that I needed to take for a triathlon. It is a LOT of stuff especially compared to a running race (shoes, shirt, shorts and race belt if you have one).  But now I have it paired down to what I think are the necessities. Let me share.

just in case

flip flops, sunscreen (you saw the UV INDEX = 10+ EXTREME) and an extra tube

goggles.  I have another pair in the truck - just in case

gps watch and heart rate strap.  now I use it more for pacing

towel for my stuff in transition

rocket helmet and bike shoes

running shoes, race belt and race hat (I prob won't wear the ironman one - maybe)

sunglasses and crack pipe (for my race wheels)

water bottle and 2 gels (one before the swim and one before the run)

extra tube (this would be extra, extra) and Allen wrenches

scissors and electrical tape (someone will ask if you have one of these)

it all fits in the transition bag

oh yeah - what do you do with the USAT key fob membership card?  it is on my transition bag.  I do not think I will ever do a race without my gear so it is always handy.

the bike (since this is only a near olympic race I took off all of my water bottle cages except for front mounted one

There you have it.  Easy stuff.

Horse and Deer Flies on the attack

Horse and deer flies are now patrolling the trace. They have staked out several areas between stations and are laying in wait. They are ambush predators that notice movement. I witnessed the pests this past weekend while doing several group rides. The horse flies will actually join the pace line and draft. You can see them between you and the next rider. This is simply amazing. At some points during the ride we are cruising at 23+ MPH and the horse flies were taking it in stride. Some of the buggers were actually large enough for me to draft off of them. However, they are selfish and never actually take a full pull.

On Tuesday morning I went on a 10 mile run from my house along the trace. This is the first time that I have ran ‘out in the woods’ in a while. I have been running during lunch at work which is more populated. This turned into the hardest / worst run that I have ever done. I had wanted to maintain a challenging pace for the entire run and I was successful for the most part. But, there were several stretches of the trace were I would get a dozen deer flies pursuing me. They were tenacious. I knew that I could not out run them. All of the swatting and arm flailing actually raised my heart rate a good 5 beats. This put me over the edge for the LT run that I was attempting. I had remembered that Jen over at The Running Artist had encountered the devils and had come up with a solution. She would grab a small branch from a pine tree (a switch if you will) and run with it. She said that the swishing motion would keep the flies at bay.

I jumped off of the trace and grabbed a limb off of a small pine tree. I started to run with the branch oscillating in a circular motion. Occasionally I would have to swat my back because I was being bitten. This was terribly frustrating. I actually had to stop twice and fist fight the creatures. They won. One time I broke the switch as I was trying to knock one of them off of my back.  The swtich helped but was not a complete solution.

I finished up my 10 miles strong and started my cool down. The damn things were still on me and I had to pick up the pace. One of the horse flies even followed me home like a puppy dog. As I got near my house I started to sprint to lose the girl. She still snuck into the house. I later got her with a dish towel near the back door.

Horse Fly - That'll teach him!

With a little research I have found that these biting flies are in the horse-fly family (Tabanidae). According to Wikipedia:

While female deer flies feed on blood, males instead collect pollen. When feeding, females use knife-like mandibles and maxillae to make a cross-shaped incision and then lap up the blood. Their bite can be extremely painful, and resulting allergic reaction from the saliva of the fly can result in further discomfort and health concerns.

Wikipedia led me to here:

Tabanids lie in wait in shady areas under bushes and trees for a host to happen by. Sight is the main host finding mechanism, but carbon dioxide and odor also play a role. Moving objects, especially if dark colored, are most prone to attack. Attacks occur during daylight hours with a peak beginning at sunrise and lasting three hours. A second peak is two hours before sunset and commences shortly after.

I do not like to use insect repellent – it repels me as well. I have found a couple of ‘traps’ that I will be experimenting with in the coming weeks. I will keep you posted of the results.

Why I (YOU) need a triathlon coach. (overview)

Yesterday I was perusing the blog-o-sphere and came across a question that I have asked myself many times. Matty O over at Staying strong and positive was questioning a training plan that he has been following (for a couple of days anyway). He wrote, “I feel that the training sessions I was doing before I started this program were MUCH more well rounded and intense than this program recommends. … Do you typically add more mileage or time on your workouts across the board? I feel that I am slacking pretty hardcore now and yet I say, this is what the plan says I need to do???”

I have written a number of training plans for myself and for others. But when it comes down to following the training plans I always want to add more – more intensity, more volume, more speed, more reps – you get the picture.

Time to get a pair of coaches shorts

This is so short sighted. As self-trained athletes we only see the workouts in front of us. When I have used generic training plans I have rarely even looked past the current day much less the current week. I certainly have not looked at the entire training plan. I do not take into account all of the thought that has gone into the plan. Even in the simplest of plans there should be a base, build and a peak to prepare you for your A priority races.

Now when I follow my plans I always forget (disregard) why I have put these steps in place. I have a group of cyclist that I love to go out and hammer it. I have a group of runners that I love to go out and smash it. It is hard for me to have the discipline to not DO IT ALL – everyday. It is hard for me to take recovery into consideration. I have a bias when it comes to my training. I believe that I know best on a day to day basis but I am not looking at the big picture.

The times that I have followed a training plan, and I mean really followed a plan has been few and far between. But this is where I have seen the most progress. This is where I have done the best. It takes discipline and trust to follow a structured plan but the rewards are great.

To be fair, Matty O has only been following this plan for a couple of days and it may indeed need a lot of tweaking. It would appear that his current fitness is greater than the new plan recognizes.

It would be much easier to rely on a coach to make these training decisions for you. A coach can put an end to all of the second guessing. They can tailor the training plan to your lifestyle – your strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. You just have to get up and just do the workout.  The training and the workouts are the easy part.

A good coach should provide the following (I did a quick brain storming session and put these in alpha order - I will elaborate on these in coming posts):

Accountability
Belief
Confidence
Goal Setting
Information
Knowledge
Mentoring
Motivation
Objectivity
Organization
Personalization
Purpose
Race strategies
Race weight management
Responsibility
Restraint
Sounding board
Structure

Eating on the road

While the title of this post could easily be about gels and sports drink while cycling it is much more mundane. It is actually about driving. You see this past weekend I took a short trip to my father’s house. He lives in east Texas about 6 and half hours away.

Now I know that I am a snacker when I am bored. So to combat this practice I usually bring a ton of good foods with me for the ride. By good foods I mean baby carrots, fat free refried bean burritos, maybe some granola bars, etc.

I have eaten so many baby carrots while driving that I have even coined a term for it – carrot belly. This is when you have eaten 2 pounds of carrots in as many hours. I swear my skin is an orange tone and I have a slight belly ache.

The problem is that when I am bored I will eat. I eat non-stop. So even though I pack these good nutritious foods they are gone before I hit the highway.

I mean, I will eat the snacks and lunch in the first couple of hours. One time I was travelling to see some friends back in the Midwest. This time I had to fly and the airport is about an hour away. I had a couple of fiber one bars during the drive and another couple while at the airport. Due to some non-act of God the flight ended up being cancelled. By the time I got my airfare refunded I had consumed 12 fiber one bars – 100 + grams of fiber in about 3 hours. I was unpleasant to deal with.

So this time I took a different route. I would be driving for about 6 and half hours on Saturday and the same amount of time returning on Monday. I dug around the refrigerator before I left and I grab a single grilled chicken breast. True to my nature the chicken breast was gone in the first 2 hours. But I had nothing else to eat and I did not stop. This was enough. I did not need all of the snacks.

On the return trip I did not pack anything at all. I had a good breakfast before leaving my father’s house and I was not hungry until several hours later. I did stop and have a subway sandwich. Calorie wise, I did much better than in the past.

Sometimes planning ahead is not the right answer.

4 essential elements of multisport

You can’t open a magazine or view a website without being bombarded with the latest and greatest supplements. They have names like Xplode and Ripped Freak (yes that is a real one)  They tell you to drink this to recover faster. To take this to drop body fat.  And to take this one for unlimited energy.  While some of these items might improve your fitness that is only after you have everything else in order. Here are the essential elements to better yourself in multisport.

1. Water – You have to have this one. Proper hydration is important. You just can’t perform well, especially in the heat, if you don’t take care of your water intake. You really do not need the sports drink unless you are working out extremely hard and for more than an hour. The shakes and sports drinks are not as important as the advertisements would have you think. While they won’t hurt you they can provide a lot of sugars that your body probably does not need. Sports drink after a vigorous workout of more than an hour is not going to be a problem but you do not need to be sipping on the stuff will walking around the mall. Drink up – Hyponatremia (water Intoxication) is probably not much of a risk for most of us.

2. Food – You have to fuel the body. Performance will suffer if you work out on an empty stomach. Food is also important for post exercise recovery. Try to eat real food. This means items that do not come in a box. That’s right – fruits, vegetables, whole grains. If the food does come in a box pick the one with the fewest ingredients. Something like oatmeal is a good choice – 1 ingredient – rolled oats.

3. Exercise – You have to tax the body. You need good solid works that have structure and overload the body. There is no replacement for a solid workout from a solid training plan. You only want to work the body hard enough to adapt.

4. Sleep / recovery – The body needs time to adapt from the training load that you have provided. The muscles do not grow during the workout session. In fact that is when they are damaged. Your body needs rest and recovery built into your training plan in order to become stronger. When training hard, a nap or a few extra hours of sleep is probably better than waking up early for another strenuous work out.

Get all of the basics down.  Once you are seeing results and making gains then you can start to think about supplements.  They still won't do what they claim.  There are not any short cuts.

TIPS: Flip your cleats – MacGyver or just cheap.

The frugality theme was not intentional but I might as well finish out the week. Oh the stories I could tell …

A few days before 70.3 New Orleans I was doing a comfortably hard ride out on the trace. I was starting to pick up the pace and really drive a big gear and it happened. During the down stroke with my left leg my shoe unclipped. I did not think much about it. I was starting to push really hard and maybe I twisted my foot a little bit. This was not a big concern.


But it happened again.

Well, I thought about why they were ejecting. It was only the left leg and only on full power. Why just the left side? It so happens that I always unclip from the left side when stopping or slowing down. Granted, most of my riding is not in heavy traffic with stop signs or stop lights but I would guess that I have unclipped the left pedal at least at a 10 to 1 ratio to the right side. I examined the cleats and the right side had much less wear.

I took notice of the orientation of the cleats and swapped them left for right. I took the bike for a brief yet hard test ride and there was not any additional play. Problem solved. I don’t know how much more mileage you can get out of flipping your cleats but I would guess that it could be significant – depending on wear.

Since then I have replaced my cleats. Cleats are cheap – at least my off-brand Look compatible cleats are cheap. Actually the price of replacement cleats was a consideration in selecting the pedals that I ride.

Racing is expensive - 10 ways to cut cost!

1. Register early –

For example, the Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon series has a tiered fee. Early registration is $95, late registration is $115 and registration at the EXPO (day before the event) is $145. Early registration is a 21 % savings over late registration and a whopping 52% savings over registering at the EXPO. You would have to really want to race if you waited until the last minute. They had a special at the New Orleans race if you signed up for next year. The fee was $65 – this was a huge savings!

2. Mail your entry form –

Active.com has become the ticket master of endurance sports. I understand charging a fee for convenience but this is getting out of hand. The charge for signing up early for the New Orleans Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon is $7.95 ($95 + 7.95 = $102.95). That is an additional 8%. When I was registering for the 70.3 New Orleans the active fee was an additional $15. Always print out the registration form and stick it in the mail. Even better, split the stamp with your racing buddies!

3. Pick a ‘non-branded’ race –

Look, the WTC (ironman) and the competitor group (rock ‘n’ roll marathon) put on a great race – but you pay for it. The Baton Rouge Beach Marathon is $65 (with pre-race dinner) and the First Light Marathon in Mobile is only $45. For iron distance triathlons, you have the Great Floridian and the beach to battleship race just to name two. These races are 40 – 50% cheaper than a branded event. On top of that you do not have to register a year in advance!

4. Car Pool –

Since you have already talked someone into racing with you (you saved the money on the stamp) you might as well split the gas. Over the winter I raced an aggressive schedule of something like 7 races in 9 weeks. I did not do a single event alone. Besides enjoying the company of my buddies, it really cut down on the cost of the day trips. At most races there were at least 2 or 3 of us. The trip would only cost a few bucks or a lunch or something for the driver. I think I traded the same $10 bill with one guy three times!

5. Pick nearby races –

Since you are driving it is better to pick races close to home. The price of a race starts to become insignificant when you factor in the cost of a hotel room in a major metropolitan area. Now you are looking at  > $100 per night plus $30 for parking.

6. Share a room –

This goes back to the car pooling. It is not much of a step up from sharing the open road to sharing a hotel room. This will cut your cost by a huge amount. Even better, stay at a friend’s house when you travel. I have made some connections near many of my race venues. Besides saving the cost of a hotel you get a home cooked meal and all of the race prediction smack down you can handle. It really is a lot more fun to stay with friends. However, you had better be prepared to have your friends stay at your house when the big race is in town. In fact for one of the New Orleans races there were about 5 of us staying in a friend’s parent’s empty house (tough housing market but the house has since sold). Sure we had to bring air mattresses and stuff but the house was quiet, clean and free.

7. Eat your own food –

People love to eat on the road. It is an easy way to blow your diet and a wad of cash. Let’s face it – restaurant food is always going to be bad for you and expensive. Hopefully you have gone with one of the previous scenarios and you are either making a day trip or staying with friends. But if not, then you should pack a lunch, a dinner and breakfast for the next day. You are going racing after all so food should not be a high priority. You really do not need that huge bowl of pasta (or the beer that goes along with it). I take a couple of granola bars for the drive, a sandwich or two for dinner and some instant oatmeal for breakfast works out great. You can also select races that have a pre-race dinner. The Baton Rouge Beach Half and Full Marathon will feed you the night before the race.

8. ‘Priceline’ the hotel –

You don’t always have to use Priceline to book the hotel. In fact, many hotel chains have a best price guarantee when you book through their website. But I do use Travelocity or Orbitz or Priceline to find the hotels that are of the quality and price that I am willing to pay. I almost always just use the services to find the ‘best deal’ before booking through the hotel website.

9. Stay at a hotel away from the race venue –

The host hotels are way expensive. If you do not mind walking a couple of blocks you can save a lot of money. For the Mardi gras marathon I was in a hotel about a half mile from the race expo and ¾ of a mile from the race start. I felt that I was in town to run a marathon so a mile or two of walking was not going to kill me. I was able to get my room for just under $100 for the night. On top of that there was curb side parking. This saved another $30.

10. Pick the “no T-shirt” option –

This really only applies to small local races. If your closet is anything like mine then it is packed with t-shirts that you do not wear. There is nothing wrong with these shirts but they are a waste of resources and a waste of your money. There are just not that many 5k shirts that wow me enough to wear them on a regular basis. I wish all local races had a no T-shirt option. They would only have to deduct $5 off of the registration – it would be a win-win situation.


Using these tips you can really save a bundle! Depending on the amount and type of racing that you do it is easy to spend thousands of dollars. Racing can require a big budget. But, you can have the experiences that you want without breaking the bank.

TIPS: Make your goggles last forever (or at least not get scratched in your gym bag).

Sable Water Optics Competitive

I got a really nice pair of very expensive Sable goggles a few months back. A friend had a few pairs and let me have a pair at wholesale (a review is in the works). They are still the most expensive goggles that I have ever owned. They come in a nice plastic case that keeps the lenses from getting scratched. This container is a great idea. I have always just thrown my ‘ordinary’ goggles in the back seat of the car or in a gym bag. After a few weeks the lenses always get scratched or damaged.

Goggle container

I would not say that I am a pack rat but I do like to look for secondary uses for disposable items. With that thought in mind I have kicked the diet soda habit. However, I have replaced the soda with a diet kool aide or some variation of flavored water. I dilute the power so that it only has a minor taste. I hope to eventually just drink plain water. But until I am able to completely taper off of this stuff I have amassed a collection of these kool aide cylinders.

Diet drink powder container

But, they just so happen to be the perfect carrying case for goggles. Scratches no more!

Cool cheap goggle container!

Shower Poufs and water bottles

The other day a friend asked me about something on my bike. I do not run some super exotic tricked out triathlon bike – not by the standards of those who upgrade every year. I do have a triathlon bike that is a couple of years old and it does have an aero frame and an aero seat post and all of that stuff. But in the transition area it barely gets noticed. So when someone says “Hey James what is that on your bike?” I take notice. The next question was “Is that a shower pouf?”

You see, although it is definitely old technology, I still ride with a first generation profile design front mounted aero bottle (I’m going to refer to this as simply the bottle from now on). These things have gotten more bad reviews than I can count. Everyone hates these bottles. They hate the mounting mechanism (rubber bands), they hate the yellow spongy thingy, they hate the lack of a lid and they even hate the non-aero straw. But you still see hundreds of the dang things at every race (as evidenced by all of the yellow spongy thingies at the first big bump).

Profile Design Aero AWater Bottle

I don’t have any of these issues. It should not be this way but I have adapted to the bottle – it has not adapted to me. First, the yellow spongy thing does not go in as a vertical cylinder. Some people roll them into a donut shape and others wedge them into the bottle horizontally. Both of these methods work well. If you do stick the yellow spongy thingy in the bottle opening vertically it WILL bounce out when you hit any rough pavement. You have seen the yellow sponge graveyards at almost every race – unless of course you were leading. I doubt Andy Potts or Macca have witnesses this but I have seen it. I bet there were 300 of these in the rough pavement of 70.3 New Orleans this year (rough pavement plus starting in the second to the last wave).

I must admit that the large rubber bands are not the best solution to mounting the bottle. The bottle will fit in between most aero bars so the rubber bands are only used to keep the bottle from jostling. However, these rubber bands become brittle after a few months. After a race last year I went to pick up my bike and the rubber bands had split. The bottle hit the ground. Not the best solution. Profile design sells a bracket that is mounted to your aero bars. This bracket is used if your aero bars are too wide to hold the bottle. The bracket is supplied with a thin piece of hook and loop fastener that should hold the bottle in place. However, threading this hook and loop fastener into the bracket is very cumbersome.

So although my aero bars are definitely narrow enough I use the bracket. This raises the bottle up a little bit higher. Instead of the hook and loop fastener I use a piece of nylon strapping with a snap closure like you would find on a luggage strap. I just had one lying around but a shoe string or any other type of cord would work. Now that I think about it a piece of elastic from a set of Yankz! Would work great (I know you can buy shock cord by the foot from places like REI). I also put a couple of pieces of electrical tape around the bottle where it slides into the bracket. There are no squeaks from the bottle.

Mounting bracket with strap

Next is the splash guard. This is where the shower pouf comes into play. These are perfect replacements for the yellow spongy thingy. They actually do a much better job. The plastic mesh of the pouf is of a finer weave and really traps the liquids so that they do not splash. The shower poufs only cost about a dollar and you can get them in any color that you would like – I have a red one that coordinates with my bike! I get very little splash with my shower pouf in place.

I dispose of these at the end of every season. You see, I used to do the aquarium thing a few years ago. And one of the old techs back then was to use materials that had a huge surface area to ‘grow’ bacteria. This bacterium is used to process waste materials in the aquarium.

Red color matched shower pouf

Why am I telling you this? Well, these shower poufs are perfect if you want to culture large amounts of bacteria. And there is probably no better place than a warm sugary environment – like in the bottle mounted to the front of your bike. Yeah, if you do not clean this bottle and shower pouf after every couple of ride then you will start to see cultures. Yuck!

Now, I am lucky in that I do not drink sugary drinks when I ride. I prefer to get my calories from gels. And if I do carry sugary water while on the bike I will stick it on the down tube water bottle.

Now onto the non-aero straw. You see, there have been wind tunnel tests that show that a cylinder is one of the most non-aero shapes. On message boards, it is discussed at length on how non-aero the straw is. It is said that the straw acts like a flat piece steel the size of a piece of typing paper turned against the wind. This information can from DC Rainmaker’s blog – which by the way, I am a HUGE fan of this blog! This is based on the assumption that the straw is 12 inches long and a third of an inch wide. With my bracket and such I have cut my straw down to less than 5 inches (don’t judge me).

5 inch straw

Now this aerodynamic information came out of a wind tunnel and I am in no means implying that I am an aerodynamics genius, but I would think the non-aero straw is the least of my worries. If I can find a straw shaped like an airfoil I will try it out.

So, why have I made all of these adaptations to use this bottle? It certainly does seem like many trials and tribulations to just use a water bottle. Well, the simple fact is with the water bottle up front I tend to drink twice as much. Really! I have looked at my water consumption on my road bike (no water bottle up front) and I drink a 20 ounce bottle in 20 miles. With my triathlon bike I tend to over hydrate. It is not uncommon for me to look down and all of my water is gone in a little over an hour (the aero bottle and the down tube mounted bottle). I try not to over hydrate but I would much rather have the water in me then left on my bike when I exit transition.

Heart Rate Recovery - You don't get that back!

Earlier in the week I did a 6 minute all effort on the bike trainer. These workouts are killer. My legs were burning, my heart rate was sky high (sky high for the bike anyway) and my breathing was very labored. The last time I did this workout was way back in November. I increased my average wattage by 8 or 9 percent.

But back to the workout. The protocol was as follows: 15 minute easy warm at a set wattage (150 watts – this is very easy), 6 minutes all out (the trainer is set a given slope – I just push as hard as I can) and 15 minutes easy cool down at a set wattage (150 watts – identical to the warm up).

So I did the easy warm up and loaded up the 6 minutes. I went all out for the 6 minutes and alternated between looking at the clock, my instant wattage numbers, and just staring straight down. This is very hard for me. When I finished the 6 minutes of fury I set the trainer back to the easy cool down wattage and pedaled at my usual cadence.


The cool down effort was still easy but not as easy as it was during the warm up. After the work out I noticed how my heart rates differed from the warm up and cool down. My heart rate average was 20 beats per minute higher during the cool down! That is more than 13 % higher after just 6 minutes of hard effort.

When I do hard intervals I notice the trend of a rising heart rate at the same efforts, but this got me thinking about endurance racing. And all triathlons are endurance races after all.

So, have you ever been in a race where someone just blew your doors off in the bike? And you second guessed your efforts – after all this is a race – you need to go hard. So you pick it up a notch or two and let your heart rate start to rise. The adrenaline is pumping like nobodies business. You are feeling strong! You are racing hard. You are passing people left and right!

What happens next? You end up dipping your toe into the red zone. Maybe you are just in it for a few minutes. Maybe you are pushing just a little bit too hard. That might be okay in a shorter race, but remember, you do not get that back.

When you are into the run is where you will feel those minutes in the red zone. You will be running at a hard effort but you might not being going as fast as you should. After all, you blew up a little earlier and you just can not fully recover back to normal. Twenty beats per minute in the run is an entire zone for me – almost a zone and a half. This translates into minutes per mile. I was very surprised too that my heart rate was having trouble recovering after only 6 minutes of very hard effort. My heart rate will generally drop back in line quickly after hard intervals. I guess the 6 minutes was overload.

In longer races I am overly cautious. I do not want to blow up. I do not want to be the one who is giving up tens of minutes in the run because they gained a couple of minutes on the bike. There is a fine line when pushing the bike. I am still working on how hard I can push on the bike and have a solid run.

In the short stuff you have to push hard but in longer races you have to let your ego go. You can flirt with the red zone but you can not get into it for long. You will not get those resources back – they are already spent.

TIPS: Where do you wear your timing chip?

At my last race I noticed the timing chips on people’s ankles. I remember the first time that someone handed me one of these straps. I was not sure what to do with the thing. Where do you put it? Oh, on your ankle. Well, which ankle? It doesn’t matter.

It might be a minor consideration but it does matter where you put the timing strap. If you look around there is no consensus. I was looking at pictures of the pros on this site (not in English) to see if the pros had a preference. Nope - the pros don’t do it uniformly.

Andreas Raelert (GER) – RIGHT

Chris McCormack (AUS) – LEFT

Dirk Bockel (LUX) – RIGHT

Pete Jacobs (AUS) – LEFT

Andy Potts (USA) – LEFT

Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) – RIGHT

Maik Twelsiek (ALE) – RIGHT

Mathias Hecht (SUI) – RIGHT

Eneko Llanos (ESP) – RIGHT

Luke McKenzie (AUS) - LEFT

Does it just not matter? Well, it matters to me. There is a very remote chance but the sprocket, the crank arm or even the chain can pull the timing chip from your ankle. And even if these rotating parts of the bicycle drivetrain do not remove the strap from your leg the rubbing would definitely be distracting. I had a timing strip strap that did not fit just right and the end of the Velcro was not held down. This little tab would brush the drivetrain on every rotation. Nothing bad happened but I was ‘worried’ about it the entire ride.

When I checked out the photographs of the pros I was certain that they would all have their chips on their left ankles. I was surprised to see that there is no rhyme or reason.

But, I always wear mine on the left.

TIP - Gels on top tubes

Gels on top tube

Last year when I was at ironman Louisville I saw almost two dozen gels taped to a single bike. That many gels might be overkill but if you have done any moderate distance races then you might have thought about taping a couple of gels to the top tube of your bike. Placing the gels in this fashion facilitates taking gels while on the move with few hysterics. You can reach down with one hand to pull the gel from the top tube which also removes the top tab. You don't want to liter. This is not only bad but it is also a penalty. Once you have torn the gel free you then simply squirt the caloric goodness into your mouth. Next, stuff the empty wrapper into your aero water bottle. Once again no littering – that penalty thing and you are done. That is it. No fuss no muss. You didn't lose a single valuable second taking in the calories since you never got out of your aero position.

Last year at the half ironman in New Orleans I had eight or nine gels on my top tube. That might have been excessive but my stomach can take it. This allowed for me to stay away from the liquid calories. I am fine with the sports drink on the bike. But on longer events the Gatorade and stuff can leave me bloated. This can detrimental to the run.

However, most gels come in a foil type wrapper and they have sharp corners. In that half ironman race last year I must have taped one of the gels slightly askew, they were definitely off center.

Sharp pointy tips

While turning the cranks at close to 100 revolutions per minute my left leg was rubbing across the corner of one of the gels. If this occurred just once or twice I don't think it would have mattered. But multiplied by tens of thousands of times – this sharp tip started to slice a gash into my leg. Compounded with the sweat and grim of the road it became uncomfortable. I don't think this had any bearing on the outcome of the race but now I take precautions.

Removing sharp corners

Now with just a little bit of forethought and planning I cut the sharp tips off of the gels before I tape them to the top tube. Take a look at the gels and it is easy to see how much of the foil is not necessary. I use scissors to round off all of the edges. In addition I also trim the top of the gel. This makes it even easier to tear it open. During this years 70.3 New Orleans race I plan on taking a gel about every 20 minutes. This means that I will tape 8 gels to my bike. All of these gels will have rounded corners.

Close up of nice rounded corners on the gels