Not looking good!!

[xxmimixx]

Thank you AG!

 

[Doug.]

Here is a mixture of stuff I eat/take and why.
About 25 years ago I was road racing, 1st cat and vegetarian. I read a book called "Your personal vitamin profile" or something like that and worked out from there what I needed to race. (Doing about 250-400 miles a week).

I take a each day 1 Boots A-Z multivit/mineral (contains vitamin A, which you can OD). 1 gram Omega 3/6 fish oil two times a day, 1 gram Vit C with Bioflavinoids twice a day, 1 BCAA (Branched Chained Amino Acid) twice a day and 1 500mg L-Glutamine in the evening.

Boots do a lot of 3 for 2 offers, but HB are much the same. The fish oils dont contain mercury.

The A-Z is a catch all, the fish oil is a brain/body support thing Vitamin D included for bone strength too (needed for the run). Vitamin C as an antioxidant and to assist with immunity which may be depleted by exercise. The BCAA is something that body builders use for repair rather than bulk and it extends the life of rats by 12% (see bbc.co.uk) so I might be racing in my 80's ! L-Glutamin, well the jury is still out on this one. I was introduced to it by a mate who was a powerlifer - british champion. It has been proven to assist in post operative recuperation. It also assists in the absorbtion of nutrients by the body. It's mostly in meat, very common, but a top up is non-toxic and worth a punt.

Training I try to do carb depleted - see Interleukin 6 piece I wrote in the health section of this forum. Post exercise I go straight for a carb drink for two reasons. It prevents depletion of the immune system and the ability to get glycogen back in to the muscles declines with time. If I have been doing a hard session, anerobic or neurological (high cadence stuff) I also go for the whey protein with milk for the calcium similarly described by fimm.

Long rides I go for natural foods, tea cakes with jam, 1 water bottle and 1 isotonic weak mix. I also have to eat/drink on runs of more than say 15 miles and a bottle of weak isotonic drink and a few jelly babies keep me going to about 22 miles.

If I am particularly knackered post race I sometimes have a Tums, digestion tablet for the magnesium.

Pre-race I usually have 1/2 a teaspoon of bicarb in water. It goes back to a myth that it used to help the prevent the build up of lactic acid, but I find it helps me stop getting cramps in the run section.

I don't use caffeine pre race or during the race. 80% of people who die in thriathlons die in the swim, probably due to some kind of heart issue. I won't risk messing with my heart. I do drink tea and coffee every day though but not pre race. I do like a drink though. I'm a light weight, I can chuck up on 3 pints so have a drop of wine instead.

The vitamins I've been taking for 25 years now with no adverse effects. The L-glutamine and BCAA I started when I started to race again about 2 years ago.

My son and Mrs Gere takes the same as me and she is a keen cyclist too, no adverse effects.

HTH

 

[Doug.]

Thank you for sharing your nutrition guide.
I am a vegetarian,how do you take fish oil ?
Yours
Doug.

 

[Arsen Gere]

I'm no longer vegetarian, I was brought up on bacon sandwiches and was lured back to meat. I take the standard Boots fish oil capsules. Usually they do 3 for 2 so I stock up on whatever I need.

I kind of expected a few responses saying I was wasting my money, which is possible but I won't know for another 25 years or more so I'll take chance.

Something else for those who race may be sodium citrate, there are a lot of papers around google/scholar showing it improves performance, here is one http://www.msscentershop.info/content/37/6/485.abstract.
Then there are the odd ones that say it's no good. http://www.springerlink.com/content/lp95324rh7153322/
But if you can get 0.5grams per Kg of body weight down and keep it down, then race, I think you deserve to win.

 

[velocitygirl]

I'm a little late to the thread, and you've probably long since corrected the issue of tightness, but I had a real problem when I ran where my hip flexors were so tight that I had a problem getting out of my car. I am very fit but it turns out that it was two issues, one was that my gait was off because my knees weren't bent enough when running. The other was that I wasn't stretching enough on a consistent basis. Good, slow, methodical stretches. Your hips are often the source for any knee or ankle problems. I couldn't believe the difference once I consistently stretched, and I'm talking eventually doing a straddle split.

The other thing that helped was using a deflated tennis ball to stretch out the fascia under the foot.

Great info on the nutrition.. and if you've already had your race, hope it was successful

 

[xxmimixx]

hi Velocity girl, thanks for your reply. Will be doing my first road running race this weekend!
I have finally found something that suits me, I ll have a couple of Vanilla Power Bar gels and TORQ vanilla pod energy drink with electorlytes. It's the blandest I could find!

 

[velocitygirl]

This weekend! Did the energy gels (bland!) work the way you hoped? What distance race was it? Hope you performed as you hoped!

 

[xxmimixx]

Hi Vgirl
Yes on Sunday lol I did Half Marathon in 2:09:02. Im really pleased with that as I know I gave it my best. I trained actively for in about 3 months in all. The gels worked really well. I took one at 6m, one at 10 and last one at 12 just to give me a kick for a fast finish.

 

[velocitygirl]

Hi xxmimixx
Huh.. I thought I'd already posted a reply but apparently it didn't post! Nevertheless... Wow.. Well done!! Longest race I've done was a 10K and sounds like it was a similar pace to yours! Although a half marathon is quite different than a 10K! Glad to hear the gels worked well and that you were pleased with your performance! Hmm 3 months training, you did well! Congrats!!

 

[xxmimixx]

Thank you very much vgirl x
Since then i did a 10m race a little faster in 1.35 im really happy about my progress but unfortunately im finding that im neglecting my cycling
It s really hard to keep all the disciplines going and trying to improve them all at the same time.
Thought cycling was my 'strongest' but im starting to get addictd to running...swimming which i love is so hard to improve...but admittedly im also quite hard with myself and never think im good enough. Well at least recently i achieved something that i never thought i would (the hm) and that makes me smile inside

 

[velocitygirl]

You're quite welcome mimi! x
Good on you then!! And a bit faster! I feel the same when I don't cycle as much as I want to. But there's nothing like the feeling of cycling.. Just get out there and change it up a bit.. competitions are great but please go out and do some to enjoy it too
I hear you.. it is hard to do all of that and improve. Running is addicitng, I love the endorphin rush for sure, and can't beat walking out of your door and just going. I really do like biking and then running the next day.. biking helps my endurance for running, running helps my biking with becoming stroner I feel. So easy to be hard on yoruself.. and it's not a bad thing to be disciplined.. but certainly watch for your own improvement!. i tape up my running results on my running bibbs and I can see how I've improved.. just careful of falling in the trap to think you're not good enough.. just do the best you can and be happy with it! You're obviously putting in a lot of effort so enjoy it! You did a half for goodness sakes!! Big pat on the back for that one!