#firstendurance

I have had athletes use nothing but coke and candy to get through Ironman. Some have used perogies as their primary source of fuel. Others have used only liquid calories.  Guess what?  They all finished.

Here’s my quick, simplified, low down on nutrition.

If you are training for less than an hour, water is plenty.

One hour or less = one to two bottles of water.

For workouts between one and three hours that include intervals or tempo work, I would add some calories - this can come in the form on a replacement drink and/or it can be a gel or something else easily digestible. You want your body to be able to use the energy quickly without having to take a lot of energy to process or digest it. Depending on your weight and efficiency 100-350 calories/hour is needed.

One to three hours of intense riding = one bottle of replacement drink (gatorade, EFS, Infinite, etc.) and one bottle of water per hour (the exact amount varies per person and weather conditions).  Hot weather will require more fluid, cold weather a little less.  Depending on your size and metabolism, you may also need gels, fruit, or easy to digest bars/chomps.

Think - if you are training at a low intensity (low heart rate) you do not need as many calories as you are not burning your glycogen stores.  If you generally average 19 mph on a tempo ride, a three hour ride at 15 mph is not going to require many, if any - calories.  You will still need fluids.

Up to three hours of easy riding (zone 1-2) = minimal calories and one to two bottles of water/hour.

Rides longer than three hours again need anywhere from 100-350 calories/hour.  Again, you can use all liquid calories, a combination of liquids and solids or all solids.  For a three hour ride with intervals I will drink a double strength bottle of EFS with CarboPro and if I feel like I need extra, will supplement with a bonk breaker, or gel.  Others will use a combination of water and more gels and bars or solid foods to get the calories they need.  You will have more options here as it is easier to digest food at lower intensities. 

More than three hours = one to two bottles of water and fluid replacement drink and gels, bars, solids that total 100-350 calories/hour.

You have to practice.  Food and drinks taste different at different intensities, so you have to train with your race fuel plan at race intensity.  They also taste different at different temperatures.  Since we never know what race day will bring, it is safe to try your plan in all seasons of weather.  

Listen to your body.  When you are on or finish the bike are you starving and/or cranky?  That’s a sure sign you need more calories.  Next time add more and see if your attitude and performance are a little better.  I raced Ironman Wisconsin a few years ago and at mile 80 I suddenly craved candy.  All I could think about was licorice and gummy bears.  I watched my average speed and heart rate go down (sure sign you are depleted).  At the next aid station I adjusted my plan and ate a bonk breaker, a package of chomps and a gel.  I knew if I didn’t listen to my body and add calories, I wouldn’t be able to run strong off the bike.  While I took a two or three minute hit on the bike eating and refueling, my run was spot on!

Be flexible.  Another time my bottle of calories fell off my bike and spilled all over the ground.  Instead of crying over split EFS, I adapted my plan and used what was on the course.  Was it the best for me?  Probably not, but things can and will go wrong, so a go with the flow attitude is really helpful!  

What you need are CALORIES.  Your body will not be able to perform without them.  You have paid a lot of money in race entry fees, coaching and equipment.  You don’t want to have a bad race because you just, “didn’t feel like eating anything”.  There are so many options.  Find what works for you, be adaptable and give your body what it need to perform to its best!

After my last 1st place finish at my first Guts event (Pine Mountain 19), I decided to hit another event from this series because they are super well directed and super fun. Naturally I wanted to do the 50k, but 2 weeks out, i dropped from the 50k to the 25k due to some tibia trouble and I was worried that I would hurt my it even more doing a 50k. I did not want to hurt the tibia so much that it would effect my important races later in the year. I took no chances 25k it was for me. 

Although I decided to run the 25k, this still was not a super easy course. But I love trails like these! The course was three fun  5.2 mile loops of mostly single track and scrambling up boulders. And on top of the awesome course, we were blessed with 35 degree conditions with super soft trails from rain the night before! My favorite!

Then 8:00 am finally came. A few other faster runners and I rushed to the front of the start/finish to hear our last instructions.

3...2...1... Go!

Me being exactly who I am... I did not listen to the very simple directions. I just want to race! Thus, I had no idea where I was going. However, I was not smart enough to start slow and follow other runners, I went off the line like a kid running the 100m sprint. Then I thought to myself “I should ask the others where to go”. I stopped running and yelled “ Im an idiot! Where am I going?!” James Bickelhaupt, yelled from the front of the lead pack, “turn left and follow blue markers!” After this idiotic delay of mine, I hopped onto the trails and unloaded a few fast miles to create some distance between the others and I.

The first lap was super fun and easy, and I had a good idea of how the course was played out. I was confident enough to keep the pace fast on the second lap. Coming into the aid station at 5 miles, my little brother (Crewing Master) handed me a new ultimate direction handheld bottle with more Honey Stinger Gels in the pack. It was now time for my zealous 2nd lap.

Sprinting off for my 2nd lap I thought that this was going to be cake, I hopped onto the blue blazed trails and just started hammering the 4 mile section of flat/down hill. Then when I started running up the only hill on the course at around mile 8-9 ish my heart rate must have been the highest it has ever been. At this point I was passing some of the people at the back of the race (still on the first lap). I yelled out “ Ahhh This Sucks!” (In Pain) and continued to charge the hill. The people I was passing just stopped moving all together and just kind of stared at me as I unloaded my victory screech and ran up the hill for the second time. 

At last I finally got to the top and hit the last aid station. I took in one last Honey stinger gel and chugged a bottle of First Endurance electrolyte mix. I asked how far back the nearest person was to me, and the race director told me I had a gap of about 7-8 min. This meant that as long as I didn't bonk, I had the win in the bag. I then decided my next goal was to attempt to break the course recored since I was on track anyways.

I then began my last lap! I started out feeling great at the pace I was running. But it was going to be close, and I knew that I had to keep my pace consistent through this last lap to break course record. So my goal was to just average 8:20 min miles for the last lap.  I hit my goal pace no problem through the 4 mile flat/downhill section. But then the last climb came, and i could not keep my turnover high enough up the climb with the ground being so wet and not having ran for 2 weeks due to the tibia pain. The when I reached the top, I knew that I had lost a significant amount of time on the climb. I ran as hard as I could to the start finish. Sadly I fell just short of the CR.

Aside from this minor set back of falling 20 seconds short of the CR, I had an amazing time in the FA25k and still took home the win! It is such a blessing to be able to have ran this race completely (tibia pain) free! It was a super well run race with quality people/runners. And the post race chili was all class! 

God has just been so good to me by keeping me safe through this race. To go from having pain in my tibia and not being able to run 1 week before the race to coming close to a course record, it is just a slight sight of Gods goodness and blessing given to me. 

1st place finish with a time of 2:10:50, and awesome chili. What a great way to end my Christmas break.

Thanks for reading guys!

Until next race,

                   Michael Conkel

One month out from my last race of 2015, I was feeling faster than I have ever felt. I was consistently dropping 6-5 min miles in my mid distance training runs. However, around 2 weeks out from the race my achilles tendon and a localized part of my tibia started hurting to the point that i could not run. So I started a very long and early tapper for the PMTR.  

I was so unsure of how my tibia and achilles tendon would hold up in a fast paced race. And after much prayer and lots of resting, I decided that I was still going to try and end 2015 with a bang.

The day before the race consisted of lots of praying, and lots of driving trying to find where packet pickup was. I was fortunate enough to pig out a Cracker Barrel with my mother and little brother that came up for the race.

Race morning had finally come. I woke up and ate a whole half of home made banana bread (Thank you mommy) and headed to the start/finish. The weather was absolutely outstanding for a race in December! Mid 40′s and dry trails!

With so much doubt about my injury’s, I toed the start line at 7:00 am in the dark with a bunch of the same talented runners that I have been running with all year.  3...2...1...GO!

I bolted off of the line and shot out ahead of the others within the first few seconds of the race. I wanted to use the quarter mile road portion of the race to my advantage.

Once I hit the trails, I hit four 7:30 min miles  just to get some sort of a gap formed between the lead pack and I. and this is where most of the climbing of the race was! 

After I unloaded those 4 miles, I looked behind me and saw nothing but trees, however that means absolutely nothing, I knew that the others were close behind. So I continued my efforts in hopes to keep my gap open.

As the sun started to come up I got to see the most amazing sunrise running on top of one of the ridges, it was just the thing I needed to remind me that I am so blessed to be able to run these races, yet see the glory of God through his creation while competing. 

Miles 4-10 were some super fun rolling yet technical trails. And I had not felt any pain in my tibia or achilles so i decided to keep pushing. 

I came to mile the Fox Den aid station around 12 miles in and by this point I still had my gap open somehow. But through running so hard up and down the hills, i blew out my climbing legs and any hills i was going up my heart rate would rise significantly. This is the point to which I knew that this was really going to take some guts. Because I had already done 12 miles averaging 7:40 on trails; now the rest of my run was to keep my gap open.

I stole 3 PB&J sandwiches from the aid station and began the harder portion of the race that had gradual yet long climbs. 

Hitting 13 just hurt, it was my slowest mile @10:30 min mile. I knew that I had to kick my pace back down to at least an 8:30 pace keep my lead. Doing this was made easier because the the super runnable rolling trails. @mile 15 I took a Honey Stinger energy gel pack to help get me through the next 4 miles. 

Knowing that my turnover was gone, my efforts were pretty high nearing the end of the race.  At mile 18 I kept telling myself that I only had one more mile to go and that it would be worth it to just keep moving fast. Before I knew it, I was running toward the finish line, once last kick through the finish and my journey was complete! 

Crossing the finish line at 1st place over all and claiming the course record @2:44:17 averaging 8:39 per mile, Thomas Armbruster (Race Director) was waiting on the other side to shake my hand. 

I want to say thank you to my family, friends, and sponsors. God uses every single one of you to encourage and build me up, it is truly a blessing.

Until next time,

         Michael Conkel