Remember to stay hydrated during your triathlon training this summer. Triathletes need to train for very long distances, but this means they can’t afford to wait until they finish to rehydrate.
Avoid drinking too much juice, soda and such, because that will add needless sugar and calories to your diet. Just drink water. However a sports drink can help keep your energy levels up during training.
During triathlon training, triathletes need to eat enough to replenish their bodies. I use a protein shake, which can easily be made by using a blender to mix the ingredients:
I use soy protein powder and soy milk, because I’m a vegan. You can use whey protein and dairy milk, but I don’t recommend using dairy milk because it might upset your stomach when drank in conjunction with triathlon training.
Remember to peal bananas before freezing them.
I just heard about ATHLETE, a movie directed by David Lam. The documentary movie about various ordinary athletes through their training and participation in endurance sports. I look forward to seeing the finished product. David Lam says he aims to finish by March 2008 and premier it soon afterwards at a film festival. I assume this interests triathletes and those involved in triathlon. I’ll look for more information about it.
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I have been waking up late and missing my morning cardio workout and Yoga. I could just do my workout whenever I do get up, but I try to start working (not exercising) at 1:00pm everyday. If I started much later, I would either not get all my work done or I’d end up working past midnight.
I have been getting my nighttime workouts in.
I haven’t yet build biking into my regular workout routine. Now that the pool is closed, I need to do that. Although, I don’t have a car, so I often bike anywhere I want to go anyway as a means of transportation.
I haven’t decided to do any triathlons particular triathlons yet, let alone register for them. I want to do that soon, not only because the weather’s finally good enough, but mostly because it will motivate to keep up with my triathlon training.
Do you miss your workouts too? How do you (at least try to) stay on track with them? Tell me at my Triathlon Forums.
Richard Shryack recently wrote a food nutrition article for racing athletes about caffine:
Do you enjoy a good cup of coffee in the morning before your workout? I think a lot of athletes do. The caffeine in coffee has been a good selling point for its usage. Everyone enjoys the pick me up that coffee does give.
A little known side effect of coffee is its laxative effects. Many runners will drink coffee in the morning before their daily runs and races to gain the laxative benefit of coffee.
With the wide use of sports supplements today drinking coffee before taking supplements can have adverse side effects. Some of the performance enhancing supplements that also have caffeine in them can cause stomach upset if taken after drinking coffee. People have reported diarrhea after taking performance enhancers and then drinking coffee.
Case in point, this past weekend I ran a half marathon. Before the race I had one cup of coffee. One hour prior to the race I also took a sports supplement that contains many ingredients. This supplement also contains a large amount of caffeine. Adding to the problem I also drank 32oz of a sports drink.
As the race time approached my stomach started to become upset. I started to get diarrhea and stomach upset. During the time that I usually mentally prepare for a competition I was in the bathroom.
The race started and I did not feel right. At mile 4 of the 13.1 mile race the diarrhea came back to great me. Luckily there was a gas station on the race course at this point. After my unplanned pit stop all hopes of a good time were finished. I completed the race 20 minutes slower than I had expected. Everyone was asking me what had happened. I made a few excuses for my poor time. The real source of my problem was what I had done prior to the race.
My recommendations are not to drink coffee in the morning when you will be taking a supplement that contains large quantities of caffeine. Something in the coffee can possibly react with your sports supplements and may cause stomach upset or diarrhea.
If you are a person who does want to take a sports supplement. Test it out before the big day to find out any side effects that might be caused.
A very good piece of advice that a great coach told me was to never use anything in a competition that had not been tested during training.
Richard C. Shryack is the author of Fatigue Nutrition & Endurance Exercise http://www.fatiguenutrition.com/
Checkout my BLOG http://fatiguenut-curtiss.blogspot.com/
The town’s indoor pool closes after tonight for lap swim. (They have one more general swim on Friday.) I do not know when the outdoor pools open for the summer, nor do I know the summer hours. Depending on those, I may or may not get a summer pool pass. For now, I guess I have to restrict my triathlon training to running and cycling.
How do you swim in the summer? Tell me at my Triathlon Forums.
Niki Aubertin wrote the following article about running a race:
Running and racing are taken quite seriously. One may run or race say on a trail for good health, building tolerance or simply for pleasure. While others are very seriously into specific running events. Racing comes with particular considerations, one could be to choose the best running shoes to help you shave time.
Some of the best manufacturers such as Adidas, Nike and Asics take this point very seriously also. That is not to say that you would not meet the needs you are specifically looking for in perhaps Merrell, New Balance, Salomon, and Mizuno. These just mentioned are also ranked among the best in shoe manufacturers. They have racing shoes with details such as feather lightweight fabrics or mesh, medium cushioning and considerations for full traction while running at top speed.
Choose a shoe that provides enough detail to know if the racing shoes you are interested in are made for the small to medium built runners, check the type of arches they cater to. Choose only what appears to be the perfect match for you. Do not under estimate the difference in the weight of a racing shoe and how much time you may be able to shave off your personal time. I am talking a possible second per mile. Think about it. It is possible and could make a winning difference.
Niki Aubertin is a successful business woman and is the creative writer of http://www.buytherightrunningshoes.com/39426-running-the-race.html for http://www.buytherightrunningshoes.com/
I use a single wrist-watch to time all my triathlon training. I bought it a few months back for less than $50. It’s a Timex Ironman. The colors are yellow and black. Needless to say, it’s water resistant, meaning I can swim with it. I can set it to have up to 9 interval times, so I can do sets of up to 9 different interval times. (For example, if I wanted to run for 3 minutes, walk for 1, and jog for 2, I can set it so that it will beep after 3 minutes, then again after one more minutes, and then again after another two.)
Having this watch has helped my triathlon training. If you don’t have a good sports watch, I highly recommend getting one.
The weather has steadily warmed recently, so I decided to start biking to the pool when I swim (on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Then, I can run on the other days.
I could bike before, because of the cold. Now I can train all three elements of triathlon. However, I don’t plan on training bricks with biking and running.
The indoor pools close on May 18, so I need to find somewhere else to swim. Hopefully, this summer I can train in open water some.