Friday, August 21, 2009

Countdown to Tuscaloosa - Friday



I thought it would be nice to post a picture of someone besides me or Stephen. The woman in the picture is Jennifer Hutchinson who is sports dietician, a USAT Certified Level 3 Elite Coach and a ten time Ironman competitor, including the 2003 and 2007 Ironman World Championship.

This morning I attended a two-hour clinic on “Nutrition Tips to Race Well in the Heat,” which she conducted. The first thing she told us was that those who don’t live year round in a high temp / high humidity climate should ideally arrive about two weeks before the race to become fully acclimated to the high temperature and humidity. But since that is not a practical option for most, she offered many practical suggestions for what to eat and drink on the day before the race and on race day. I won’t try to reproduce all of her suggestions here, although she did have a really cool slide on the various colors of urine and what they all mean in terms of our level of hydration and dehydration.

She recommended that for our pre-race dinner we should eat moderately, avoid roughage like fresh vegetables (something I have always been good at) and to have some carbohydrates. So tonight I went to the Outback Steak House, which I would be happy to have advertise on my blog – very good service and a nice bar – and had a chicken quesadilla and for a little extra carbohydrate I ordered a fancy Belgian wheat beer with an orange slice so that I would get my Vitamin C.

Nine hours from now I’ll be starting the swim.

Workout: Bike – rode the bike course – 12 miles; Run – ten minute run after the bike.

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