FIRST 5K IN A LONG TIME

SKIRT CHASER!!! Sponsored by Lifetime Fitness/Red Rock Racing.   Ran my first 5K running race since sometime in the 1980's.  Things have changed, not the least is my speed.  This picture is 2 hours before race start;  I have a tendenacy to always be early.  Beautiful day, same site as the AZ Ironman.

Change number 1:  According to the race results, there were 1399 finishers, 523 of them male.  You were encouraged to attach a sticker someplace on your body that would signify if you were single and looking for love.

Change number 2:  This picture is 2 hours after the race.  Free beer, wine, food, band, great 70+  sunny weather.  Everybody stayed around to enjoy the atmosphere.  The race ran back and forth across the bridge in the background.

So, how did the race go.  Well, I was a bit nervous due to my long absence from such short, hard effort runs.  I adjusted my training prior to the race and put in my longish bike on Friday (instead of Saturday) with a short run afterwards and only swam Saturday morning (with a pull buoy) so my legs wouldn't be trashed for the afternoons race.


I had mentally established some achievable goals (sub 22) and a streatching goal (sub 21) based on training runs and a bit of wishfull thinking.  Recently I have not been able to break 22 on the finishing 5K leg of a sprint tri, but surely I could in a 5 K running race?  With Garmin on wrist, I nosed up to a reasonable close distance to the starting line, once the women had started 3 minutes earlier.

When the men were let loose, I had to run harder than I wanted in order to work my way to some open air.  My Garmin said 6:20 pace, way too fast for me to sustain.  I settled into a sub 7 and felt OK at that pace, but wished to see a faster number for my effort.   There were some small hills on the run, 160 ft of verticle climbing according to my Garmin, so it was not exactly a flat course.  But I took advantage of the downhills and pushed to the finish in 20:43, 6:40 pace.  38/523 males, 46/1399 runners.  Ahead of anybody over age 54.  Anybody got an extra beer ticket?

MY MAGIC NUTRITIONAL NUMBERS FOR LONG DISTANCE RACES IS 1440

As I rode down to the VILLAGE in the dark this morning to meet up with ONE MULTISPORT for a team ride, I thought how this was wonderful winter weather (38 degrees, windy, 30% chance of rain) -- for Minnesota!  not Arizona!

During the ride a conversation ensued with some experienced Long-Distance Triathletes regarding race nutrition.  I shared with them my nutritional experiences and "Magic Numbers", and thought I'd post them on the blog as well.

How do you like the photo?  It spells out 1440, my magic numbers.  I even figured out how to put in two of our sponsors products, e6 and FIX Performance.  Cliff is not a sponsor but it is a product I do use.  I do not eat solid food on race day until after the race.  I do eat bars on long ride days as I get tired of liquids and gels.  Solid food upsets my stomach during races.  But I digress.

With over 50 years of running and triathlon experiences, and the help of my son (PhD in BioMechanics) who has researched race day nutrition over the years, I came up with the numbers 1440.  They are meant to be a memorable way to  represent the amount of salt, calories, and liquid per hour  that the average body needs to keep going during multi-hour races.

1000 is the mg of salt that is sweated away per hour of strenerous exercise.  In steady state the body  maintains abour twice that amount, so for short races salt should not be an issue.  For long races you should count up the salt in your energy drinks and food intake and supplement the shortfall with salt capsuls (my favorite as they are usually buffered). If you don't, the liquid/salt balance becomes distorted and the stomach/intestines cannot effectively pass liquid into the body.

400 is the calories that the stomach and intestines can process into the blood stream per hour. Consume more than that, and it will become a burden on the stomach and not help your energy levels.  So, again, count up the calories in your energy drinks and supplement the shortfall with calories from your favorite nutritional source (gels, bars, blocks, etc.)

40 is the ounces of liquids that the stomach and intestines can process into the blood stream per hour.  Drink more and you accumulate volume in your stomach (usually not comfortable) which will also mess with your salt/liquid ratio.

So there, 1440 is my number and should serve as a starting point for you to experiement with on your long ride days.  Let me know if this computes with your experiences.

OK, I'm new to this social media thing.  When I was in college we wrote programs in fortran, cobal, or machine language, punched holes in punch cards and submitted them tied up with a rubber band for an overnight batch run. So, bear with me as I figure this out.

The main reason I'm even attempting this is because the triathlon team I joined in Arizona, ONE Multisport, strongly encouraged me to do so as a way of sharing experiences, promoting our team, and promoting our generous sponsors.

First, who the _____ am I?  Well, I'm at the leading edge of the baby boomer generation, retired early, and returned to triathlons after a 13 year absence.  Found out I could still swim, bike and run and was still competitive within my age group, which was 60-64 when I first returned.  Now I'm in the 65-69 age group plotting my strategy for when I roll over to 70 and will be the young, hopefully fast guy.

I took the USAT (the governing body in the USA for triathlons and duathlons) age group 65-69 national championships titles for triathlon in 2011 and duathlon in 2012.  Also set the American course record for the 65-69 age group at the World Championship Ironman in Kona in 2011 (drats, finished second to a Dutchman).  I was rated number 1 in my age group for both Triathlons and Duathlons in 2011, and number 1 for duathlon and 4th for triathlon in 2012 by USAT, who keeps statistics on such things.

I hope to post a picture and story following each race this year.  First race up is the 5K Skirt Chaser which typically draws 2,000 racers.  This will be my first running race since the 1980's as I've only race triathlons and duathlons since then.  It'll be interesting.