hanshun

I'm training for my first triathlon on July 19, its a sprint and I've been training for about 3 weeks now and I'm starting to step up the work outs. I wake up and run for about 20 minutes , then I ride my bike to work, 19 miles round trip 30 minutes to get there and 45 minutes to get back due to hills and head winds. I work at as a swim instructor at pool and I will either do a swim workout for 30 minutes or go to track across the street to run some more and get used to the running right after riding, I generally run 2 miles there. I do this mon-sat and then rest on sundays.

My nutrition with workouts for the day goes like this:

morning run
bowl or raisin brain with dried apricots and skim milk
bowl of low fat yogurt
glass of water or a couple ounces of juice diluted with water

lunch
turkey sandwich: mustard, lettuce, avocado, onions, pickle on multi wheat bread
banana
granola with blueberries and walnuts

ride 9.5 miles to work and then either swim or run
clif bar
apple

work
then a plain bagel if I feel hungry

ride 9.5 miles home then dinner
brown rice with soy sauce
chicken breast with lemon pepper
broccoli
asparagus
piece of toast
bbq corn the on the cobb

This will be my first tri and I know that I can complete it, but I would like to do fairly well, so if anyone has any suggestion on anything that I should be doing differently, please let me know. I feel like this belongs in the training and nutrition forum, but if anyone thinks that I should put in the tri forum please let me know and I'll post there instead. Also I am 6'4" 190 lbs if that helps

Thanks

mjw16

Never done a tri (tore a rotator cuff just before my first attempt a few years ago) but typically do several centuries, metric centuries, multi-day credit card tours, in addition to my daily commuting and weekend mountain biking. So, I'm no expert with regard to triathlons, however, it appears to me that, given your size and activity level, you may not me getting enough calories. I'd really ramp up the calories and increase to 5 to 6 meals a day with healthy snacks in between, I'd also "carb up" the night before with something (pasta, for example) that agrees with your stomach. Keep your fluid intake up and pay attention to potassium and electrolite intake as well. Sounds like you'll do just fine, but these tips may help you better fight fatique and feel more energized for your race. Good luck.

hanshun

thanks, I was worried that my calorie intake was a little low, but I haven't felt faint or tired so I thought I was doing ok, I'll try to start eating more. As for my potassium levels, isn't the dried apricots and banana enough. And what can I do for the electrolytes? just start drinking some sort of electrolyte enhanced drink, is cytomax a good example.

Also I forgot to put in my original post, but I also take a multi vitamin and 2 1000mg fish oil capsules throughout the day.

The_Spaniard

the hard part is the time it will take you to figure what works for you. I suggest figuring out how many calories you will be burning during your event. Since its a sprint , im pretty sure you can make do with just sport drink, with a energy gel or similer during transitions. make sure to stay hydrated before , during and after the event. Give yourself a easy workout towrds teh event , you dont want to be sore on event day. Get a good nights rest, and do allot of raceday practices, where you pretty much dot he routine you plan on doing on race day, do a practice of the event and make adjustments on things you think would be better. Winning is int he details. Get everything ready so you dont have to think about anyhting else buy racing on race day. Not sayin your goal is winning but for you winning would be just doing well right heh. Good luck to you. Hope i helped a little