Daily Maintenance Weigh In - Monday, April 20th 2013

Good for you!

174.1

Yesterday was my big race in New York... I posted comments to the main VSG group, so I'll just summarize here:

110 miles ridden. 100 miles "timed."  Official time, 6h 55min 44 seconds.

50th out of 181 in my Gender/Age group.  I'm very pleased with that as it was my first competitive event.

Around 5500 calories burned (+/- 1000 depending on who's calculation you look at.  With the shivering from the cold, I'm inclined to go toward the + side )  I consumed more calories (3300) than any day since WLS, and still had about 3000 c deficit.  Mostly in liquid endurance drink (Hammer Perpetuum - which tastes like wallpaper paste with a slight  orange/vanilla back-note - but it seems to work!)

Hopefully a picture or two to come from the official race photographers.  There was video of me crossing the finish line, but it's laughably foggy from the rain and mist.  My own mother wouldn't be able to tell that it's me.

We were instructed to be on the GW Bridge  2 hours before the start (5am on bridge, start at 7am).  I thought some of the skinnier guys were going into hypothermic shock.  I wore leg warmers and a wind jacket and I was cold.  The majority of people believed the weather forecast which was mid-60s and no rain - they wore a thin jersey and bike shorts - they were extremely cold.  In reality the weather was rough.  Rain every moment of the ride, never warmer than 50F.  Lots and lots of leg breaking hills, including a timed, 4+ mile climb right in the middle of the race.  That took me 29 minutes to climb.  Not a great time (dead middle of my Gender/Age group) but it shows me where I can make the most improvement - a 10% improvement on the climb would have moved me from 101st of 200 to 38th place!  We just don't have these kinds of hills in Minnesota to train on... 

I learned some important things:

1. I can do this

2. I can do this under less than ideal conditions - yes it was wet, cold but i was able to re-frame it and "endure" the endurance race.

3. I noted some areas for improvement and can improve

4. having a goal, such as an event or competition helps drive my workouts and keeps them focused and intense, they have "purpose"

5. One worry was being able (post WLS) to consume enough calories while riding to keep up.  In reality, no one can keep up. We burn about 1,000cal/hour but our bodies can only process 300c per hour on intake, so keeping up isn't going to happen.  Measuring out about 300c per hour of easily digestible stuff with electrolyte replacement seems to be the best strategy for me.  That and pre-loading 3-6 hours before the event.  Nearly a year after WLS, I think my body may be well adapted to burning fat when it has to, so I may have a good advantage in longer endurance events.  We shall see!

My next event is another challenge - 200k (124 miles) in June in Wisconsin with 20 nasty hills.  Then a 300k (186 miles) in August.  My hope is to end the year with a 400k (250 miles) - but I'm not going to pu**** I'll see how the intervening events go.

Wow - sounds like the weather was a bit rough - but you did it, congratulations on your placement!!!! Time to go scout out some hills - I grew up in Minnesota - hope you can find some hills to train on...Best of luck on your goal!!!

Not much in the twin cities, where i am - I'll have to check across the boarder in western Wisconsin, or up toward Duluth.  To the west it gets pancake flat... as you know...

Where did you grow up?

I was born in Sauk Centre, grew up in Marshall (talk about flat - and windy). Duluth has got some pretty good hills and I bet the north shore would be a beautiful ride. My parents live near Alexandria now as does my sister. I have a brother in Moorhead and one in Rogers, I am the only one living in the heat! We are planning a trip up there sometime in August. We haven't be up that way in nearly 2 years but have been to Scotland twice in that time, crazy!

Congrats Tom!  I'm sorry about the nasty weather - I would've bailed!  Good for you that you stuck it out!  I think your point #5 about cals consumed versus cals burned was really quite interesting.  It looks like one really has to carbo-load post WLS.  That makes perfect sense, actually. 

Congrats again!  If you'd like some good hills to train on, come to San Francisco!

Fiona

Morning everyone:

Happy Victoria Day to all the Canadians.

Congratulations on the surgery Rob. Glad for you that it is over.

And congratulations on the strenuous rainy bike ride. Well done.

Down a pound.  Goal is 160 now sitting at 158.8  

Have the best day.

162.1 - yeah, whatever!

So tempted to take about a week off from any kind of training - but that's not going to happen. Very frustrated about this weight gain. Still hoping a portion of it is water and/or muscle - need to get back to running more miles (put in less than 7 this week), maybe that will help? Have been weight training, spinning and actual cycling, oh, and I swam this week too - so don't think increasing my exercise will make much difference. Maybe time to cut the carbs a bit though?

Doing the triathalon thing?  My hat is off to you - that is a lot of work.  I've noticed that as I've increased training volume I jumped up a couple pounds in weight.  I think it's a combination of muscle growth and water retention to aid the repair cycle.

I track my weight, daily.  But i feel that my quarterly BF% measurements are where the real information is.  Planning to go back for another bod-bod mid-season and make sure I'm still on track.  I don't want to haul one extra pound up these damn hills.

I hear ya! I really need to get my BF% measured before I drive myself nuts!