Trifuel

Well it is that time of the season where you have either completed a couple of races or you are getting ready for the first open water swim. Now it is time to leave the comforts of that nice , clear, warm community swimming pool. I have compiled a list of a few tips that might make that experience a little less stressful.

During college in the mid 80's I fancied myself to be quite a pool shark, until one night I got spanked by an old guy. I asked him how he gotten so good, he said, "Son, if you waste enough time doing something and learning about it, you can get good at it, in spite of a lack of talent or intelligence." Lesson learned. After the nutritional mistakes of my first Ironman, I set myself to learning everything I could about race day nutrition. The following is a summary of some good, commonsense race day nutrition info and my nutrition plan for IM California.

Running: Diana Fitzpatrick Transcript
February 23, 2005

What is cortisol? Cortisol, known as the regulator of immune response, is a hormone controlled by the adrenal cortex. This powerful hormone is also known as an adrenalcorticol hormone, a glucocorticoid and hydrocortisone or simply cortisone. Cortisol has a catabolic (muscle breakdown) effect on tissue and is associated with a decrease in anabolic (muscle growth) hormones like IGF-1 and GH. Thus reducing levels of cortisol is ideal for an athlete to achieve tissue growth and positive adaptations to exercise training.

During the Base 1 training phase, most athletes work very hard in the gym, strength training through the Maximum Strength (MS) period. Once this period ends, leg strength is not automatically transferred to the bike. It can be frustrating to see gym built strength fail to transfer to the bike. There are two links that need to be taken care of to ensure gym strength is transferred into on-the-bike strength. The first is core training. The second area is, specific on-bike strength training. MS weight lifting ends with the Base 1 period of training.