What a second day of attending training camp for our triathlon team in preparation for their second Olympic trials! My day began with a modest 3 hour and 14 minute trail run in the Tucson mountains, covering about 17.6 miles. It was very beautiful terrain but technical with good climbs and gnarly descents. I was not fully prepared to run this long from a hydration standpoint so I only had my one hand bottle for the entire run (about 20 ounces of fluid). I had to partition this wisely along with the two gels I had but it all worked out in the end. I was dehydrated and did pre and post body weights on me. I managed to lose only (ha!) 3.7 pounds which actually isn't bad considering my higher sweat rate. We did get on the trail at 7am before the sun peaked. We ran down Seven River Trail which is conveniently name for its seven river crossings and my feet where a bit warm so I decided to start my water crossings at the third crossing. Boy did that feel good and it brought back some good memories of Leadville!
After the run it was back to the hotel for a quick shower. Then the compression socks went on (and they have been on most of the day...great recovery technique!) and I was out the door to talk to the tri team about taper nutrition. By the way, this is a huge concern for most athletes and my underlying messages for short course athletes were:
1. Master your nutrition plan in training so you don't do much (if anything) different in your taper week that may lead to GI distress, unnecessary weight gain or bloatedness.
2. Shift your macronutrients as volume goes down and intensity is moderate (remember my mantra, "eat to train") to favor just a bit more protein (not high) and focus on a bit less whole grains. I know this may be a paradigm shift and you may be somewhat skeptical but trust me, for short course athletes, this works!
3. Don't have to think about your nutrition plan during the race. You should have mastered this during training so that you can focus on the race rather than nutrition intervals and quantities. Remember, this is short course racing...you have better things to spend your brain energy on during the race!
After my talk it was back to my room for a little rest and work then off to swim practice for more fluid balance testing and leading the dynamic warm-up before practice. I have to say, all of the athletes listened to my hydration points and the net fluid loss for the 90 minute swim practice was much improved versus the day before. Gotta love it when athletes listen to their sport dietitian!
And there you have it. Day three of training camp begins for me at 6:15 with testing hemoglobin in the athletes then heading off to swim practice at 6:45.
Until the next post...
Coach Bob
coachbob@fuel4mance.com
