PowerBar Wafer Bars are the BEST!

Going to Lititz with the intention to try out new combinations for my nutrition, I think I found the winner for Ironman Zurich...POWERBAR WAFERS!

Here is why I liked them so much...
Easy to swallow...
I was looking for a food that would have a different texture than the traditional gels or energy bars, and something that would be easy to chew and break. It was important to me that the food did not "stick" in my mouth or oesophagus like some thick gels do. I wanted something I could chew on and rapidly swallow, with no residue in my mouth. The Wafers were perfect for that. They are easy to take in, and don't "stay" in your mouth where you have to rinse it 3-4 times by swallowing your saliva, or by taking a sip.

Easy to digest...
I know that I can easily get GI issues, and finding a food that would fill me without requiring too much digesting is key. This is obviously specific to my needs and cannot necessarily apply to everyone, but it is something I learned about my body through all the training of this winter, and through my racing last year.
On a long race day like IM Zurich will be, I need all the blood possible to be sent to my muscles, not to my stomach.

Perfect option with liquids....
Water bottles heavy in calories and electrolytes work for me for shorter distances, but for long distances, I realized that I will need a more balanced combination of "food" (if you consider gels and chews food) and liquids.
300 calories per bottles would most certainly lead to a disaster on race day. Wafers give me that balance. with 170 calories per package, it gives me the flexibility of having a light bottle of water with roughly 100-120 calories, and food I can chew on and digest easily. The wafers are very easy to chew and give that crispiness that makes your feel like you are eating real food...only difference is that it is jammed with the necessary calories! At least I like the sensation of eating something and not
swallowing something like gels. I notice after the first hour that my stomach was not upset, and did not require much work either. I had another wafer in the 3rd hour of the ride, and felt great. I was able to maintain my form all throughout the 7-hour ride, and had 4 wafers todal (720 calories), and alternated with some gels and Powerbar Perfrmance Energy Blasts chews.

Lastly, it tastes great...
The berry yogurt ones tasted great! I'd be interested to try out the chocolate peanut butter ones. Though not a big PB fan, I think the savory tastes that will come with it will be much appreciate at around mile 100 on race day...let's try it in training!

Lititz Training Camp Day #2

Day #2 of training and a long ride in the books! We rode 119 miles total and climbed 10,500 feet. 

After a good first day of training yesterday, I expected more soreness and tired muscles, but I felt great.
We had a long ride scheduled today, with a 20-30 min cool-down swim after. After a big breakfast with baked oatmeal, fresh fruit, yogurt, and coffee, we started the day around 8:30 and rode towards Columbia and across Susquehanna River.
Our first hill came in early, at around mile 25 with Turkey Hill, a nice, steady, steep 2-mile hill. We then rode our favorite section of the ride, a flat, fast section along the river, and right before crossing the bridge to get to the other side of the river.
We climbed some more hills before reaching the highlight of the day with the highest (as we claim it to be) peak in Lancaster County, 80 miles into the ride. A fun, 1.5 mile climb that starts easy and has 2 massive walls in the last section, with the first one to average 23% gradient, while the top of the second one averaged 26%. Needless to say the legs burnt, but it was one of those burns that I was looking for. I knew I was working hard, and that it will only
make me stronger in the long run. I enjoyed it a lot!

Nutrition to the rescue!

The rest of the ride was a succession of hills, up and down Lancaster county. One of us started feeling weaker, so we slowed down the pace. I carried an extra PowerBar Performance Energy Blasts and gave it to him. it helped him a lot! We hate the whole 8-9 chews in 2-3 minutes, which totaled 200 calories (give or take, we took in 100 calories each). We washed it down with few sips of energy drinks, and he felt much better almost immediately,  allowing him to rally home. I love these chews! There are easy to chew and taste great (all flavors I tasted were delicious). The sugar and calories kick in right away, and with some water or energy drink to help wash it down, it is the best combination I could find to get the extra boost of energy I needed during this ride. My friend clearly loved it too.

We wrapped up the day with a 20-minute swim and 1,200 yards. Needless to say a good stretch was much appreciated. Quads, calves, and IT bands were tight, but was a great day!

Lititz 2014 Training Camp Day #1

For the next 4 days, Jared, Matt and I will be training in Lititz, PA in the heart of Lancaster County. This is the second time we are coming down here (7th for Jared), after last year's 2-day training. This year we had a whole different mindset, focusing on high quality training, high volume, and over 3.5 days, from today until Sunday afternoon.

What did we do today?

Swim

5,300 yards in the pool. The most I have done before today was 4,250 yards back in March. We had a great swim, and Lititz Rec Center provides a great facility, beautiful pool, and warm water. 

Bike 

63 miles riding up and down the hills of Lancaster County was fun! It was a nice ride, yet a bit chilly and windy for April 24. Leg warmers and long sleeve jacket was in order for this ride. Unfortunately I couldn't work on my farmer's tan today! We did not push too hard as we have a long ride scheduled for tomorrow (6+ hours with hopefully 120 miles in), but it was amazing to finally ride on nice and smooth roads, without having to swerve around potholes or tranches like we have to here in the NY area. The other great thing was that we had the roads to ourselves, often finding ourselves riding side by side, and taking the entire road. There barely was any car around, and we did see bogeys...yup we are in Amish country after all! Overall, we covered 63 miles and climbed 3,500 feet. 

Run - We got LOST! 

Matt (left), Jared (center), me

That was one interesting run today. Matt found a trail with a 8-mile loop that looked good. And it looked good, indeed. I enjoyed it. It was how I envisioned it, technical, with lots of rocks and roots on the way, forcing us to be very vigilant with our foot work. Matt and Jared weren't on the same page,
though. The main concern, clearly, was ankle sprains. But that did not happen. Instead, we got lost! Yup, lost on a trail with the sun setting on us. It started to get dark, and though we weren't too far from the car, we just did not know how far. To top it, Matt had stomach issues and could barely walk, let alone jog. Not the best, but I'm sure we still all thought that we were going to make it back to the car before dusk. 

Me running the trail @ Governor Dick Park

Funny fact: Jared, aka Papa bear, started talking about how he would cry, should we have to sleep outside! We were on a trail with trailblazers, so I thought to myself that we were fine. We also were walking back the same way we came from, so it would take us longer in the dark, but we would have made it back to the car eventually...just a fun, unexpected adventure out of what was supposed to be an easy trail run. 

Day 3/3: Great 3-hour ride to wrap up the weekend

Incredible ride this morning despite the wind. I left earlier, around 6:20am, to avoid traffic and it paid off. I got 3 hours in with barely any traffic and found the perfect road for tempo interval workouts!

I rode up to the GW Bridge and through the Palisades Park. After the Ranger Station Climb that averages 9-12% for about 1 mile, I continued towards Piermont and Nyack to start my interval sets. 

On the way back I decided to go onto route 340 (Southbound), and about 1.5 miles later we were forced to make a detour, which turned out to be awesome! I got on a road called Knickerbockers Road and what a delight for interval training! I rode it until I reached Englewood. The road is in much better conditions (less potholes) than 9W, and traffic is much lighter than 9W. It is fairly flat with some false flat, which makes it a perfect one to do long interval sessions.I highly recommend it to all NYC area cyclists!

Great ride and great weekend overall. I totaled around 140 miles on the bike in 3 days, which should help me be ready for Lititz training camp next week. 

Now onto some Post-training fun with the Mets - Braves game at the Citi Field ballpark with Mariesa, and dinner date at Landmarc in Tribeca! Yummy! 

Wrapping up Good Friday with 3.8K in the pool

Full day of training yesterday: 4.4+ hours on the bike, 30min run, and 1 hour in the pool. I went to Asphalt Green in Battery Park City for 1 hour with Mariesa and Carsten. I did not have much will power to do it, but forced myself and it turned out to be a good session.

I did 3.8K yards, split as follows:
Warm-up: 700 yards total: 400 Freestyle, 100 Kick, 200 Pulls
Drills: Pyramid swim with 100F, 200F, 300F, 400F, 500F, 500 Pull, 400F, 300F, 200F, 100F
Cool down: 100F

I am exhausted, but I feel good about my training. I learned a lot today on the bike and on the run, about myself and about my limits.

Asphalt Green - Battery Park City, NYC

Day 1 of my 3-day training turned out harder than expected

Training is ramping up. Yesterday's good Friday meant an additional full day of training, a test before Lititz. 

Morning Bricks: 4 1/2 hours bike ride & 30 min tempo run

Though it was a chilly morning (34 degrees), I was very excited about riding my first 4+ hour ride of the season...outside! With IM Zurich being a hilly course, I chose a hilly road today, going through the Pallisades Park, Tweed (near Piermont, NY), and little Thor. I believe I totaled 5K+ of vertical climb, which, if my Garmin is accurate, is pretty good for a long ride.  

I took time to prepare my drinks and nutrition, and really thought that I did it right, only to realize that I forgot to add EFS to CarboPro in all 3 bottles! I was on top of my liquids intake, taking a sip 10 minutes into the ride. I thought that the taste was light, almost tasteless, but I felt good in the first 2 hours. I started to feel weaker in the 4th hour, and struggled to rally home with 10 miles to go. Not fun, but these training sessions are eye-openers, and though very difficult, they are very important. Someone twitted once: there are no failure in training, only positive feedback. I prefer messing up my nutrition on a training day, than on race day. I ended up riding with less than 150 calories/24Oz per hour, well below the 250 calories/hour I was supposed to take in. 

I got home with little energy left in the tank, and knowing that I had a 30 min tempo run was not the best. I figured that being negative about it would only make the run tougher, so I took it positively,

convinced myself to look forward to it and accept the challenge of running in an empty tank. I was determined to get it done, and not just going for the sake of putting the minutes in, but I went out with the objective of hitting my target. I ran the 30 min at a 7:17min/mile pace, not my best, but I focused on keeping my HR in my zone, and more importantly focused on my form and strides. The 30 min went faster than I anticipated, and not as bad. What the power of the brain and self-motivation, persuasion can make your body do is pretty impressive! I am glad I powered through this tough workout, and really think that it was an important one to go through. 

TRI COACH athletes rocking IM 70.3 Puerto Rico!

3rd of his age group and 27th overall, papa bear is off to a great start! What an impressive start of the season after a harsh winter where he hibernated in his garage, spending hours on his trainer focusing on his wattage. And it's paying off. 4:41 in a hilly and hot race! Congrats!

C.W Moran, who turned pro last year while working with my coach Kevin Danahy from tricoach, raced his first half ironman as a PROFESSIONAL TRIATHLETE. for his debut, he finished at an impressive 5th place and on the podium in 4:16! Way to go!

All these results make me want to race! June cannot come soon enough, though there's a lot of work to be done!