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July 31, 2006
Road Food*
There is a saying that the Ironman is not a race but an eating contest. That's because keeping the calories coming in and digesting them successfully is one of the biggest challenges of racing for 9 to 17 hours non-stop. Nutritional mistakes can end your race. Or make it really miserable.
You can eat anything while you're out there, but certain things go down a lot easier. Some people eat only "real" food: pb&j sandwiches, pretzels, pringles, fruit, candy bars. Then there's sports food that I consider "semi-real": PowerBars, Clif Bars, Balance Bars, etc., which are heavily engineered but still contain ingredients that vaguely resemble real food (e.g. chocolate chips, nuts, raisins, and so on). And then there are the foods that do not have any real-life analog at all: gels and drink-mix powders. The ingredient lists on the powders can look like chemical formulations more than anything. (USE IN A WELL-VENTILATED AREA. EYE PROTECTION IS RECOMMENDED. just kidding. heh.)
For my last two Ironman bike rides I have carried Clif bars broken into chunks. My watch beeps every 20 minutes, and I gnaw on a chunk of bar. Adding in some Gatorade and bananas from aid stations, this has worked out to about 300 calories an hour and near-constant chewing during the bike leg.
After my last half-ironman I realized that my jaw was getting tired from the non-stop mastication (and my taste buds were really effin' sick of that Clif flavor), so I'm trying a new approach: Carbo-Pro.
From the manufacturer's site:
CARBO-PRO is a nonsweet (neutral flavor) glucose polymer that consists of D-glucose units linked primarly by alpha-1-4 bonds, having a Dextrose Equivalency of less than 16 (high molecular weight).
Now, as much as I enjoy good food, it may seem plain wrong that I am choosing to eat D-glucose polymer units instead of something made with fruit and nuts. But I took the plunge and bought a three-pound vat of the white powder. When the giant plastic tub arrived in the mail, I was instantly reminded of the South Park Weight Gain 4000 episode. (BEEFCAKE!)
It is a white free flowing powder prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis (patented process) of grains (corn/barley/rice) with safe and suitable enzymes. It is safe for direct human consumption.
I think more of the foods we eat need to be explicitly labeled "safe for direct human consumption." Because I've often wondered about Diet Mountain Dew.
I've started mixing a carefully measured amount of powder (it's about a cup of powder, seriously scary) with Gatorade to make a 24-ounce bike bottle that contains 800 gooey calories. I take a slug every 20 minutes and chase it with water. It is sort of like drinking fruit-punch-flavored pancake syrup, but it is way easier than trying to chew and swallow a Clif chunk while breathing heavily through my nose.
I'll also eat bananas from the aid stations, and I'll probably pack a pb&j and some pretzels in the bag I pick up mid-way through the bike for a nice real-food boost. But that thick Gatorade will be my liquid rocket fuel.
My goal in all this is NEVER TO EAT ANOTHER CLIF BAR AGAIN. No hard feelings, Clif, I still love you and buy your other products, so feel free to sponsor me. I'm just sick of picking Clif Crunch™ out of my teeth.
*Apologies to Jane and Michael Stern.
July 28, 2006
Sensory deprivation
I swam 4,200 meters this morning. Eighty-four laps. That's a little longer than the swim in an ironman-distance race. It's about as much fun as...
- riding a stationary bike facing the wall, wearing earplugs, for an hour and a half.
- running 84 laps at a track with blinders on.
- walking up, and then back down, the fire-escape stairs of the 84-story Standard Oil Building in Chicago, holding your breath for three steps at a time.
BORING.
July 27, 2006
On fire, I am
I was riding a spin bike this evening when The Cult's "Fire Woman" started playing on my ipod. I hadn't heard this song in aaaages and I'm not embarrassed to admit that it transformed me into one of those uber-dorks at the gym who lip-synch and rock out to their ipods in total silence. (Silence because the spin class hadn't started yet -- I got on the bike 20 minutes early to squeeze in a longer workout.) But man, that song TOTALLY ROCKS. The way Ian Astbury turns "fire" into a six-syllable wail got me pumped to do some sprinting. Like I said, dork.
I decided that "Fire Woman" should be my theme song, if you will, for IM Wisconsin. Because it kicks ass, and because my hair is the color of flames and my bike is fire-engine red, and because of the near-spontaneous-combustion that occurred last weekend. How awesome would it be to cross the finish line to the sound of Astbury howling "come on, shake it" rather than, say, Shania Twain's perky chirping? Too bad the song is about a stripper.
Tell me: what's your theme song right now?
July 24, 2006
A week of Ironman training. In case you're curious.
New iron woman sculpture on the SF waterfront. (Click for more info.) This is often how I feel when I emerge from the Bay after a long, cold swim. Rusty.
Monday: 2,500m swim/50 minutes. Post-race recovery day. Skipped weights.
Tuesday: 8.9mi run/1:30. Supposed to do tempo pace, but I'm still recovering. Moved today's swim to Thursday to accommodate L'Alpe d'Huez viewing party.
Wednesday: 30mi ride/2:15.
Thursday: 3,500m swim/1:20. 1:15 bike trainer intervals + 4.5mi run/45 minutes.
Friday: 4,000m swim/1:30. Weights.
Saturday: 100mi ride 67mi ride, 4:40. 50-minute brick run Bailed on run due to heat stress. When I made it back to the car alive at the end of the ride, I kissed its dented taupe backside.
Sunday: 14mi run/2:20. 13mi ride/60 min.
Total distance: 10,000m swim/110mi bike (plus 75 min trainer)/27.4mi run.
Total time: 17:25.
Total calories burned: 11,200ish.
July 22, 2006
What I learned today
- 100 degrees is HOT.
- Cold water stays cold for about 4 minutes when it's 100+ degrees outside.
- Hot Clif Shots are NASTY.
- Taking a wrong turn and riding an extra ten miles early in a long ride can deal a tough psychological blow.
- I do not deal well with extreme heat.
- 67 miles is not 110 miles. However, when the outdoor temperature is in the triple digits, it will have to do.
- If it is 100+ degrees at Ironman Wisconsin, I probably will not finish.
Update: It was actually 108 degrees on our ride in Santa Rosa. Hottest day of the month (so far), and broke the previous record of 97.
July 21, 2006
"Being outdoors, being fast, being fit, but most importantly, being free."
I didn't say much about Ride the Rockies in my photo entry a couple of weeks ago. I have had a hard time knowing what to say. I still don't, really.
We had a wonderful five days of hot, sweaty, beautiful riding. There is something to be said for just getting on your bike and riding. And not thinking about work, or watching the clock, or wondering where the next public restroom will be. Just riding. We spent the week with a great group of folks, friends of my friend Leishia, who organized the trip for us.
At the end of day five, tragedy struck the ride, and our group. Just a few miles from the day's finish, a cyclist died in an accident with an RV. The cyclist was Leishia's mom, Diane. She had been participating in Ride the Rockies for years even after enduring multiple knee and hip replacements due to rheumatoid arthritis.
I only met Diane at the beginning of that week, but I know that she loved, loved, loved to ride. Earlier in the week, I passed her as we climbed a hill, and she said to me, "Ariel, don't ever get old." I told her, "I hope I'm doing what you're doing now in 30 years." I hope I'm still riding in ten years. I can see a lot of her spirit and passion in Leishia. I can see where Leishia got her extreme competitiveness, and her generosity.
Leishia and her family received a thoughtful letter of condolence from someone Diane had greatly admired. Someone who knows a lot about cycling. Read it here.
July 19, 2006
Donner Lake Triathlon
Donner Lake is one of my favorite places on earth. It's a small mountain lake just a few miles northwest of its much more famous cousin, Lake Tahoe. Like Tahoe, Donner is deep, cold and clear. The sparkling water is spectacular for swimming.
It's also home to my favorite triathlon. I've done the Donner Lake Triathlon six times -- I raced the sprint distance once (it was my second-ever triathlon), and last Sunday I raced the international distance for the fifth time. I've come up to Donner every summer since I started doing triathlons in 2001.
The first time I did the international distance, I finished last, in over four and a half hours. OK, maybe one or two people finished behind me. But it sure didn't feel like it. It's a pretty difficult race and the bike course got the best of me. I walked the 6.7-mile run.
The next year I went back with a score to settle and took an hour and ten minutes off my time. The year after that, in 2004, still coasting on the fitness I gained training for Ironman New Zealand, I lopped off another 7 minutes, and that time remains my best for this race. In 2005, I raced Donner three weeks after finishing Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Stupid, I know. My legs were dead, but I didn't want to miss this race.
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This year the race flew by so quickly, I could hardly believe it when I was done. This race is usually a sufferfest. The lake is at 5800 feet of elevation. Way less oxygen than I'm used to. Then the bike course climbs 1300 feet in the first three miles, descends the same amount of elevation over 12 miles, then comes back the same way. Lots of climbing. Thin air. Intense heat.
Around mile 20 of the bike, where I'm usually suffering most on the long return climb, I saw a man walking the last uphill back toward Donner Pass. He pushed his bike with one hand and carried his broken chain in the other. I assumed he was done for the day. That's a fair assumption. So I was pretty surprised to see him run across the finish line a couple hours later. He had walked -- in cycling shoes -- all the way to the top of pass (a couple of miles from where I saw him, and I don't know where he was when his chain broke), coasted down, and headed out onto the run course. And finished! He probably beat my time from 2002, too.
I know this course so well by now that it feels like an old friend. As I soaked my legs in the lake after the race, I shook my head at the thought that another year and another Donner have already passed. This race is the one event I do every year and eagerly, honestly look forward to every year. It is in many ways a highlight of my summer. We get to go up to the mountains, relax by the lake, enjoy the Sierra scenery and get in a great workout.
What races, bike rides, hikes or events do you look forward to every year? And why do they make you happy?
July 17, 2006
Glug glug glug
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My waterproof camera is back.
July 15, 2006
Song and dance
Meet Jackie Jones and her tap-dancing cat. They entertain at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market on Thursday nights. I could have watched for hours as Jackie played old-timey songs and tapped on a foot pedal to make the wooden animal dance, a couple of two-year-olds nearby trying to mimic its moves. Later on she set down her washboard guitar and played the saw for a while, creating a wonderful, eerie ode to woodworking that resonated in the open halls of the Ferry Building.
I got organic produce, I got fancy cheese, and I got a shuffling cat wearing a tutu and pasties. What more could you ask for on a Thursday night?
July 12, 2006
I'm a salty treat
I am Bold, Grown-up Cheese.
I'm a bold, big-city person. Museums, theater, fine dining and cool shops... I can even appreciate performance art. I've got grown-up tastes but I'm not stuffy or stiff. I know how to have fun and I'm just as comfortable at a white linen-laid table as I am at the hot dog cart. I've got style. An individualist who isn't afraid to show my true colors or to stand out in a crowd.
I do like hot dogs. There's a hot dog cart about a mile from home, in Golden Gate Park, where I once stopped for a salt-crusted giant pretzel at the end of a 100-mile bike ride. (salt. mmmm.) Dave told me that he ate a chicken sausage there at the end of his 85-miler on Sunday.
Funny that someone sent me this today, because my stomach has been growling all morning. My training partner Marissa and I rode about 28 miles before work, and one thing we discussed is how hungry we both are now, pretty much all the time.
But... I don't think of cheddar as being particularly bold or grown-up. How about a nice gorgonzola?
July 9, 2006
My other job
The length of my ride yesterday (104.6 miles) nearly matched the peak temperature (103 degrees). What's my prize? Leg cramps, dehydration, general malaise, and oh yeah, a 30-minute brick run at the end. I left the house at 7:30am and got back at 5 PM. This Ironman training is like having a full-time job on the weekends. I'm not complaining -- I'd rather cook in the sun on my bike all day than stare at the computer screen.
Today I ran for two hours, hung out for an hour or so, then went on a very easy 1-hour bike ride. Then I attacked the laundry. A mountain of laundry. It always amazes me how much laundry just two active adults can generate in less than a week. Now there's chicken in the crock pot and a cold Biere de Mars in my hand. I think I pretty much earned it.
July 6, 2006
Black and white
A few weeks ago I spent some time working on a project with a colleague in my company's New York office. He called me to chat and said that to thank me for my time, he'd like to send me something from New York. Was there any New York treat I'd like to get my hands on?
I immediately thought of the venerable Black and White Cookie. (OK, first I thought of a box of Magnolia cupcakes, but that wouldn't have been practical, and Lord knows I'm practical.) I told him you just can't get a good Black and White Cookie anywhere but in NY. Oh, San Francisco bakeries try to make imposter versions, but they're always just leaden sugar cookies dipped halfway in chocolate. A real b&w cookie is a round of white or yellow cake -- not a cookie at all, really -- with semicircles of delicate chocolate and vanilla glaze.
A week later, a huge box showed up at work. I thought I'd be lucky to get one of the cookies in a FedEx envelope. Instead I got a dozen large cookies plus a one-pound box of minis, all shipped fresh (and kosher!) from the Delancey Dessert Company on the Lower East Side. We had a hard time finishing them off before they got stale.
Over the long weekend I came across a recipe for the cakey cookies, so I had to give it a try. They didn't look too pretty -- see above -- but they tasted darn good.
July 5, 2006
Marshall
Where the population minus the elevation equals the speed limit.
You can buy a t-shirt with that slogan at the one store in town.
Marshall is exactly 50 miles north of San Francisco. It is often the turnaround point on our 100-mile bike rides. And it's a great place to get fresh oysters. But I wouldn't recommend doing that 50 miles into a 100-mile bike ride.
July 1, 2006
I am not being paid for this endorsement
96.2 miles on the bike, 7-ish hours, hills and wind.
One Peanut Butter Crunch Clif Bar, one Banana Nut Bread Clif Bar, two Cranberry/Apricot/Almond Clif Nectar Bars, two Razz Clif Shots, one package Strawberry Clif Shot Bloks.
Not pictured: peel from one banana.
