Monday, April 5, 2010

Training Fueled by Homemade Sports Drinks

This past weekend was loaded (well, what I call loaded) with training. A 2.5 hour brick on Saturday morning and a 10 mile run on Sunday. When you have kids and you try to train, weekends are really no different than work-days as far as how much sleep you get. I was up at 5am on Saturday so I could get in the 2.5 hour brick--that way I would be done by the time Carin goes to work and could take over the parental responsibilities.

I was on the bike (indoor--QR on the Kinetic Road machine) by 5:15am. I rode for two hours mostly high zone 1 to middle zone 2. Got off the bike soaking wet then changed to tri shorts and a jersey and was about to head outside for a 30 minute run. Then I noticed the temp was in the low 30's! WHAT! I guess I wasn't thinking--it's only early April, but I thought it would in the 50's for some reason. So I threw on some wind pants and a long sleeve underarmour (ok, generic base layer) and a thin running jacket. I headed out and kept my HR pretty much in zone 2 and covered 4.23 miles in 30 minutes (7:20 pace). Turned out to be a solid brick.

The sports drink (Saturday morning)... Did you see the homemade sports drinks in one of the more recent active.com emails? I am trying to go with a more natural, less chemical/processed way to fuel my training. I made the Pina Colada Sports drink found here and it WORKED GREAT! I thought the pineapple juice was going to be a little rough on the gut, but when it comes down to it, there isn't much in it per serving. The drink was smooth, had a mild flavor, and didn't cause any indigestion or any thing. When you go to make this, be sure to buy coconut WATER, not juice or milk. I admit, I didn't know there was such a thing, but it is incredible smooth tasting and loaded with potassium. Also, make sure the ingredients say coconut water only. I almost bought a flavored one, but it had added sugar--which you don't need.

Sunday, after the Easter Bunny eggs & baskets were found and we got back from church, I had an hour and 15 minute or 10 mile run scheduled (which ever came first). I headed out with the Fuel Belt equipt with the other sports drink recipe from the link above. Well, I altered this one and instead of using tart cherry juice, I used a blend of Apple-Cherry-Banana (Seneca 100% juice--it's mostly apple juice). It worked pretty good too. Last week I didn't have any hydration on the 8.5 mile run and it wasn't that much fun during the last couple of miles. The 10 miler yesterday felt great the whole way thru. It was a mostly flat course with 1 steep hill and a handful of rolling hills which stretched over a 2 mile period. I was able to keep my HR pretty low--43 minutes in zone 1, 32 minutes in zone 2, but averaged a 7:32 pace. I was so close to hitting 10 miles at exactly 1:15:00 I kept going and ended up hitting 10 miles at 1:15:26.

Three weeks of Base 2 down--now its R&R week with the Fetzer 20k at the end of it.

2 comments:

Brian said...

Looks like you are back in the pink. Good workouts for you.

I started to pack my winter workout clothes yesterday and then left a few things out. You just know this above norm weather is not going to last!

Mario said...

I'm training thru the hip problem. They want to use ultrasound to deep heat my hip so I can get the flexibility back without pain. If that doesn't work, they'll shoot it up. I decided hold off until after the 20k this weekend. I am also massaging and applying cold/hot packs. If that doesn't do it, I'm going for the deep heating.