Carbo-Pro Contemplation

What is this carbo-pro stuff about, anyways?

Okay, so not all training weeks are made equal… but I’m doing the best I can during this build phase! I’m already a little nervous about when training officially starts (I’ll start with an Olympic distance training plan in March, and switch to a full-ironman distance training plan in June (a 6 month plan)), because when push comes to shove I’m a Ph.D. student first. My number 1 goal, of course, is to finish, no scratch that. My number 1 goal is to survive Ironman relatively suffering-free, and then finish, and then finish strong. This becomes my mantra when I get really nervous that I may have bitten off more protein bar that I can chew!

So this past Saturday (1/31) I had a lovely 50 mile ride up in Orange County. I hopped on Back Bay ride and took it to the San Diego River trail, which ends somewhere on Jeffrey and I think Barranca in Irvine. Not really knowing where I’d go next, I followed a pack of cyclists (tried not to seem like I was stalk-drafting) on Jeffrey past the 5, and then since I didn’t really know where I was going, I finally broke right at Irvine Blvd. and took it to Sand Canyon. After a brief detour to go see where the Great Park balloon was (now I know where it is if I can ever find someone to go up in it with me), I took Sand Canyon up to Shady Canyon (my favorite part), up to Bonita Canyon, then over Newport Coast, where the going got tough. I crossed paths with a Cyclist (when I have more legitimacy as a triathlete-in-training, I’ll blog more about cyclists with a capital “C”), who was nice and complimented bike… which of course makes me feel like a huge Poser (yes, with a capital “P”). He was riding up and down Newport Coast, which is crazy. What a hill. Anyway, I then decided to ride to Laguna, to add some miles, which was probably a mistake, because it gets super crowded down there, and there’s very little bike path to speak of. Finally I made my way up back through Corona del Mar to Jamboree, and back through the Back Bay to San Joaquin Hills, which is right when I ran out of water, and back to my parents’ house.

OK, things I am learning about/struggling with on the bike:
1. Nutrition: I know I need enough calories not to bonk, but how to get those in is a challenge…
2. Hence, Carbo-Pro, the powder choc-full of carbohydrate energy that you can add to any beverage for calories. The uber-size container it comes in suggests you need 4 calories per lb per hour of exercise, which for me at about 140 lb, is 560 calories an hour. That is a s-load of carbopro. I think I added about a scoop (240 per scoop) to my water, and then another half to my electrolyte mix (which I then dumped b/c I realized I hated the taste). I’m thinking that what I need to do instead is mix up a batch, put it in a water bottle and add a cage to my bike solely for calories… because…
3. I got pretty bloated I think either from that or the protein bar I took with me to supplement those calories.
4. My neck and shoulders are still getting pretty tense on these long rides, and I’m not sure still quite what to do about it. Meredith said she had to adjust her bike fit like 5 times before she got it right, so I might be riding on down to Nytro pretty soon.
5. The whole numb-toes thing; yes, I can live with it, but I’d rather not! I thought at first they were cold but Saturday was really warm, so I think it’s a blood flow thing. Not sure what to do about this.
6. I’m a little bit of a whiner, don’t you think?

Anyway, I’m working on these above items right now. Anyone out there with advice?

Well, I’m off to go sign up for my first tri this season… the Zot Trot at UCI on Valentine’s Day. It’s actually a reverse-tri, so we run then bike then swim. Who knew! Not sure how the swim is going to work since it will be in a what I’m sure will become a very crowded pool.

I’m off to Arizona for a conference… I better find some time to train!