My first Ironman, to say I slept well would be a misstatement, if I were to guess, I slept about 5 hours of restless sleep. Woke up about 4:30 AM to head out the door, I stayed at my sister-in-law's house and, therefore, didn't want to wake anyone, so I slipped out without making a noise. I got into the car and started driving to Boulder, Colorado.
On my way in I was wishing I had left my home where I would have prepared a "bullet coffee" butter and coconut oil blended in a cup of joe. But I drove on, heading to parking that was described as sparse at best. I'd swing into a McDonald's order a coffee ask for some butter, and get a sausage sandwich and get rid of the bread that was the plan. Miles went by, no McDonald's ok, any place ... even a gas station. Distracted I took a call from a friend and continued to drive, next thing I know I'm at the parking garage, having eaten, or drank nothing. Oh well, they will have coffee and "energy" bars at the start for sure.
Load the bus, looking for coffee, none, everyone on the bus is eating their squares or bars, I have nothing. This was my first sign of my screw up. Well before the swim they will have coffee or bars. Wrong, nothing, reality sets in, I haven't eaten in 10+ hours, and I'm about to swim 2.4 miles. Wow.
The swim starts, my stomach is growling, from lack of food or adrenaline, make it through the swim to find NOTHING, no coffee no food no nothing, just a bike waiting for me to ride 112 miles!
15 Miles into the bike ride is the first station; I have now swum 2.4 miles and riden 15 miles, without an ounce of substance, only water!
AND ... I feel great! I had loads of energy, I stopped to refuel, but only ate 1/4 of a cliff bar, packed my rear pockets of my jersey with cliff bars and headed out.
What I learned is that I had trained my body properly to use my fat storage as energy, and trust you me I have plenty (of fat storage that is)! Utilizing fat reserves will not get you on the podium, but it will get you to cross the finish-line! As a matter of fact, I didn't loose my "reserves" until nearly 90 miles into the ride, when I energy crashed for the first time, where my fat reserves will not filling my glycogen levels properly.
The easiest way to explain this would be if I can keep my heart rate below a level where my body needs to use any glycogen, in other words, my energy output is less than or equal to the conversion of fat to glycogen, I can do whatever exercise forever.
Let us use an electric car with solar panels (this is an example, not reality!) as an example, if said car is driving in full sunlight, and the solar panels (your fat supply) can produce 200 watts an hour, and you are driving using 190 watts an hour, theoretically you could drive forever. If you start driving faster and start using 300 watts an hour and your batteries (glycogen supply), have 500 watts remaining. Your batteries will be replenished at 200 watts an hour but spent at 300 watts an hour, thus creating an energy deficit at 100 watts an hour. If your batteries supply 500 watts of power (glycogen) you could go at this pace for 5 hours prior to crashing.
Using this same concept we find that if we are sprinting, we will use up our glycogen supplies very quickly, and if we can operate below our glycogen production threshold, we could go forever. The key is training your body to produce a substantial amount of glycogen utilizing your fat stores. You do this by training your body that it will not be fed during low output exercise, and instead, work out below your threshold with out substance and continue to extend the time that you exercise with no substance. This will train your body as I was able to train my body to use fat supplies for energy.
On my way in I was wishing I had left my home where I would have prepared a "bullet coffee" butter and coconut oil blended in a cup of joe. But I drove on, heading to parking that was described as sparse at best. I'd swing into a McDonald's order a coffee ask for some butter, and get a sausage sandwich and get rid of the bread that was the plan. Miles went by, no McDonald's ok, any place ... even a gas station. Distracted I took a call from a friend and continued to drive, next thing I know I'm at the parking garage, having eaten, or drank nothing. Oh well, they will have coffee and "energy" bars at the start for sure.
Load the bus, looking for coffee, none, everyone on the bus is eating their squares or bars, I have nothing. This was my first sign of my screw up. Well before the swim they will have coffee or bars. Wrong, nothing, reality sets in, I haven't eaten in 10+ hours, and I'm about to swim 2.4 miles. Wow.
The swim starts, my stomach is growling, from lack of food or adrenaline, make it through the swim to find NOTHING, no coffee no food no nothing, just a bike waiting for me to ride 112 miles!
15 Miles into the bike ride is the first station; I have now swum 2.4 miles and riden 15 miles, without an ounce of substance, only water!
AND ... I feel great! I had loads of energy, I stopped to refuel, but only ate 1/4 of a cliff bar, packed my rear pockets of my jersey with cliff bars and headed out.
What I learned is that I had trained my body properly to use my fat storage as energy, and trust you me I have plenty (of fat storage that is)! Utilizing fat reserves will not get you on the podium, but it will get you to cross the finish-line! As a matter of fact, I didn't loose my "reserves" until nearly 90 miles into the ride, when I energy crashed for the first time, where my fat reserves will not filling my glycogen levels properly.
The easiest way to explain this would be if I can keep my heart rate below a level where my body needs to use any glycogen, in other words, my energy output is less than or equal to the conversion of fat to glycogen, I can do whatever exercise forever.
Let us use an electric car with solar panels (this is an example, not reality!) as an example, if said car is driving in full sunlight, and the solar panels (your fat supply) can produce 200 watts an hour, and you are driving using 190 watts an hour, theoretically you could drive forever. If you start driving faster and start using 300 watts an hour and your batteries (glycogen supply), have 500 watts remaining. Your batteries will be replenished at 200 watts an hour but spent at 300 watts an hour, thus creating an energy deficit at 100 watts an hour. If your batteries supply 500 watts of power (glycogen) you could go at this pace for 5 hours prior to crashing.
Using this same concept we find that if we are sprinting, we will use up our glycogen supplies very quickly, and if we can operate below our glycogen production threshold, we could go forever. The key is training your body to produce a substantial amount of glycogen utilizing your fat stores. You do this by training your body that it will not be fed during low output exercise, and instead, work out below your threshold with out substance and continue to extend the time that you exercise with no substance. This will train your body as I was able to train my body to use fat supplies for energy.
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