Friday, July 15, 2011

Nutrition at Buffalo Springs (and Muncie), yum...

Hello all, I'm trying to get my stuff together after two races in two weeks, and a family reunion in Estes Park in between. Those of you who have been so lucky to spend time in Estes know that there is little reception in the area, so I apologize for the delay! More to come about my races, but I wanted to give a quick run down of my nutrition at Buffalo Springs, and Muncie for that matter!

After Quassy I realized I need some more calories. I knew Buffalo Springs was going to be a race that would afford little mistakes. With temps well over 100, nutrition would be key (even more than usual!) in this race. I woke up and ate 3 hrs before--my usual bagel with Justin's Nut Butter with honey, totally 400 calories. I made sure to drink lots of water, but also to sip on mild grape EFS before the race. About 45 minutes before the race I took one scoop Pre-Race with roughly 100 calories of EFS liquid gel. One thing I did do differently this race was to stay away from caffeine before the race. After getting a little light headed in Quassy, I just wanted to see if staying away from the coffee would make a difference. So, in total before the race I had about 600 calories.

Once on the bike I had two bottles of EFS mild grape with 300 calories each. I made sure to grab water at every aid station. So I drank an EFS bottle, then a water, EFS, then water. The temps started to climb, so of course my appetite went south. I couldn't quite stomach all of my send bottle of nutrition, so I made sure I had plenty of gel, 300 calories in total. I was able to get this all in, so a total of roughly 700-750 cals. Also, I took salt every hour on the hour, as I knew I'd really be sweating a lot this race.

During the run it got even hotter. I made sure to grab every liquid I could get my hands on, which included water and the occasional coke. I took about 100 calories worth of gel on the run.

I ended up the day in 2nd, which I'll gladly take! I did get a little light headed, but this wasn't until mile 12.5. I think just about everyone was light headed at this point! It was a brutal day out there!!!

As you can see, my nutrition continues to be tweaked just a little each race. In Muncie I had the same game plan, but this time I decided to break up my pre-race. I had half a scoop before the race, and then put the remaining half (so a quarter scoop) in each nutrition bottle. Did a make a difference? Well, I finished 6th, so let's just say that's obviously why I didn't podium. Joking!!! I really couldn't tell much difference. I will say my swim was terrible at Muncie, so perhaps I'll use the whole scoop to rev of the engine a little better next time!!

Thanks First Endurance for the continued fuel!!

2 comments:

  1. Great nutrition report Jess. If only this stuff wasn't so damn complicated, we could just focus on racing and that is it.

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