Hey BTC!

Spring has arrived, and with it literal winds of change and energy. This month’s news comes a little later than usual, but the content is well worth the wait–many thanks to all who contributed!  We’re introducing a new nutrition spotlight, wherein our wonderfully knowledgeable Max Muscle nutritionists will be regularly addressing key questions and concerns as they relate to fueling for, and from, multisport. Additionally, Tressa Ferrell lends some adventurous spirit and pre-race season momentum in recounting Team 3 Tacos and a Corn Dogs’ Moab adventure race experience; Trent Mera invites everyone to walk a mile in his (minimalist)shoes; and other notes and tidbits highlight some of the talent and energy in our club.

Letter from the Prez

A couple of updates as race season begins to go into full swing.  We are very close to finalizing the club kit for 2010.  Although we are largely leaving the design alone from 2009, Pearl iZumi is adding a few touches for us.  Everyone will need to have their orders in by April 12^th.  This will give you a chance to place your order while at the same time coming to the club gathering at Full Cycle on April 12^th.  To start the year we will be ordering men and women’s tri-tops and tri-shorts and I think you will find the prices to be pretty darn good.  Let’s fill the shop up and get a jersey on everyone in the club!!

We also have the opportunity to man a BTC aid station at each race of the Boulder Tri Series.  It is a great chance to give back to members of the club who will be racing, and our participation will result in $1,500 being donated to the Boulder Community Hospital Foundation.  This is a great opportunity to have some fun with club members and also get your family involved.  Get your name to Sally or Jayme as those races are rapidly approaching.  One lucky volunteer will win a free entry to a 2011 race!!

Lastly I’d like to thank Dave and Artie for reliably organizing group rides and runs every week.  This can be a big responsibility and our weekly training wouldn’t happen without their effort.  We are always looking for a few people who can assist Dave and Artie in making sure these training events are well received, especially for new club members attending one for the first time.  If you can be available to lead or simply organize any one of the weekly training opportunities, Dave and Artie would sure appreciate the help.  I am also continuing to try to get some traction around Wed am swims at Flatirons Athletic Club.  If we can’t get the participation up we may discontinue them so if you are interested email me at andy@teambtc.org.

I hope to see a HUGE turnout at Full Cycle on April 12^th as the BTC Beat continues.

~Graz

PROPS!

Congrats, BTC! In the USAT Challenge overall category, BTC was able to collect the most miles in the Division III standings.  He’s graciously received many thanks already, but one more big round of applause to Mike Ellis for patiently and tirelessly logging in all those miles on behalf of all who participated!

NUTRITION SPOTLIGHT

Many thanks to our fabulous sponsor, Max Muscle, for taking time to answer and discuss key questions and concerns that confound athletes regarding nutrition. This will be a regular segment in our club newsletters! If you have nutritional thoughts or issues you’d like addressed, please e-mail them to mcmillan.w@gmail.com, or directly to Craig at c.david@maxmuscleboulder.com, and we will keep an ongoing compilation.

Q. There’s a lot of varying information out there concerning protein needs. Just how much does an endurance athlete need?

A. As we head into pre-season training, the questions arise: how much protein does the endurance athlete need?  How much protein do I need if I want to stay lean and not get “bulky?”  Protein needs vary based on each individual, volume of training, and type of training.  With that being said,  endurance athletes in training actually need more protein than  a typical “strength training” athlete would.  Let’s look at why…

Are you doing “2 a day” training sessions?  How many days off are you taking in a week?  How’s your sleep?  How are you fueling before a brick workout? You need to recover from multiple hours of training, right? Not just 3-4x/ week in the gym.  Think of it this way: every foot strike, revolution on the bike, stroke in the pool is a repetition; you’re contracting the muscle, doing multiple repetitions over a longer period of time.  Think about how many repetitions you do on a 5 mile run, 2500 meter pool workout: in short, a lot!  Much more than a person curling a few weights in the gym for 45 minutes!

Another concern that commonly arises is the uncertainty that women might get “bulky” from protein – this is completely un-true.  First, getting “bulky” depends on the mode of training (e.g. heavy weights at a low rep range with 48-72 hrs of rest).  Secondly, a female doesn’t have the level of hormones (testosterone) to bulk up; hence,  females have to work even harder to preserve lean mass (lean mass is our calorie burning furnace, allowing us to train).  This would indicate a need for slightly higher ratios of protein as well.  Ultimately, meeting protein needs, women are likely to get firmer and stronger.

Consider a 170 lb athlete training 12-15 hrs a week, one who needs to consume about 4000 calories.   Even on the low end, taking in 20% of calories from protein would yield 800 calories, or 200 grams of protein.  That’s about 33 grams spread out over 6 meals.  In the end, recovery is increased, soreness lessened, and  metabolism increased; moreover, this yields greater glycogen retention because of repair.

Everyone is different, and there is no “one size or formula” that fits every person and athlete.  Get educated and work on formulating a personal meal plan that fits your energy and recovery need before, during, and after training to optimize your results!

In health, Craig

Director, Max Muscle Sports Nutrition

Cert. Sports Nutritionist

RACING

Congratulations to everyone as always on great performances and sporting accomplishments! Here are a few results we know about. Please send me your PRs and achievements…or, boast on behalf of your modest and amazing friends!

Congrats to all racers in:

Canyonlands Half Marathon: Bruce Wilson, 1:54:43; Vickie Stubbs, 2:04:45; Megan Phares, 1:55:48; Joni Kozdeba, 1:47:32; Kristin Knous,1:54:48;  Melissa Mosley, 1:49:35

Boulder Spring Marathon events: Half marathoners Julie Olsen, 1:34:38 (1st AG); Laura Rivera; 1:45:12 (1st AG) 10K:  Pam Sinel, 50:45

Showdown at Sundown Olympic triathlon: Leena Figall, 3:21:07

IM New Zealand: Jenny Arden, 12:27:04

Lake Havasu Triathlon: Mike Ricci, 1:09: 12 (6th overall, sprint); Steve Pyle, 2:08:25 (Olympic)

LA Marathon:  Debi Rose, 5:40:30 (1st marathon!); Randy Rose, 4:55:49

AXS Moab: Team 3 tacos and a corn dog (featuring Artie Sandman and Tressa Ferrell), 8:26

Luck to:

All the Haystack team and solo time trialists!

Las Palomas Triathlon: Diane DeRoia

National Duathlon Championships: Steve Pyle, Ann Remmers

Cherry Blossom 10-miler (DC): Megan Phares, Mary Nodine

…and all other racers in April events!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Upcoming Events

April

11- Platte River Half Marathon

12- Club meeting at Full Cycle, 6:30; guest speaker Gale Bernhardt at 7:15

13- Dash & Dine Tuesday 5K series starts, 6:30 pm at Coot Lake

15- BTC TT series starts! Stay tuned for specifics coming soon!

17- Haystack Mountain Time Trial, 16.5 mile loop

18- Blaster Blast Triathlon, Golden, CO

18- Horsetooth Half Marathon

24-25 National Duathlon Championships in Richmond, VA

25- Boulder Distance Carnival

26- Full Cycle Bike Repair Clinic for BTC. Look out for details forthcoming!

ADVENTURE LOG

Team 3 Tacos and a Corn Dog take on Moab Adventure Race by Tressa Ferrell

Moab Adventure Race March 27^th: the first race in the Extreme Adventure Series put on by GravityPlay

http://www.gravityplay.com/index.html

Sport Distance Adventure Race: covers ~50 miles;  Elite racers will finish in ~5-6 hours, most teams finish in 7-9 hours; 12 hour time limit. 3 tacos and a corn dog finished 8:26.

Team: Tressa Ferrell, Emily Morton, Renee Nowicki, Artie Sandman

Total Completion Time 8:26. Position 13/32 4 person teams. Splits in order of execution:
Paddle 1:18 – This time was really set by the Artie/Tressa boat, and we only made it the 7 miles or so down the river as fast as we did because of Artie’s experience with the crowds during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  He shoved his way through the crowd with me in tow and a 19 foot kayak between us.  We took off leaving our other two mates to sort their kayak out, which of course breaks the 100 yard rule.

Bike #1 2:45 – Once out of the water, now freezing, we attempted to pace line on our mountain bikes while riding the 3 miles to the trail head, where it was an all uphill climb. I think there might have been a total of 20 minutes downhill in that whole 2 hour, 45 minunte stretch. I was never so grateful for those intense anaerobic workouts we had under our belts in preparation for those hills.

Rappel /Run2:12 – Artie was the hero of our team on the Rappel. With only brief instructions on how to handle the ropes the week prior to the event, he was able to confidently walk over the edge of the 275’ cliff and drop down the face faster than anyone else on our team. We are still not sure if he had no clue that there is such a thing as brakes on ropes,  or if he watched too many movies, but he did mention that he would “look down” next time. Our run in the desert was slow following the rappel as we needed to cover ~6 sandy miles and climb back up to the point where the bikes were dropped.  Important lesson here: always take water and extra fuel when in the desert. You never know how long it is going to take you. Some of us started to bonk when we took longer than planned to get back to the bikes and fuel supplies.

Bike #2 2:11  - Upon reaching our bikes we ate our the PB and honey sandwiches which are NOT part of my ironman nutrition plan but a special add-in for adventure racing. They tasted like the best meal we ever had. Somehow Artie managed to lose his sandwich before the race even started, but we all shared whatever treats we had and the entire team was ready to log the ~17 or so miles back to the finish line.  This included climbing out of the canyon and miles of flats before we were able to really let it fly, rattling down the fire road that nearly killed us on the ascent.

A very important aspect to adventure racing is navigational skills. We received our coordinates on Friday night and plotted out the checkpoints where we needed to have our passports stamped. Thankfully, advanced navigation skills were not exactly required for this race, and we looked up cheat sheets on the internet to figure out how plot the UTM coordinates.  I would not bank on it being that easy next time.

Lessons Learned:

1. Your team does not actually have to train together to be effective.  Strengths and weaknesses come out pretty quickly under extreme physical pressure and stronger team mates adjust to accommodate the weaker teammate by pushing, pulling or just sharing water.  Your team is only as strong as its weakest link.
2. Bring a bungee cord to pull your weaker biker up hills or a slower runner along even if you don’t think you will need it. Plan for the unexpected. At the end of the day you have to cross the finish line together and throughout the race should be no further than 100 yards from each other.
3. It is really hard to paddle a kayak while drinking from a squeeze bottle.  Wearing a small camelback seemed to do the trick for some other racers, and we will adopt this for the next race. I might wear a helmet on the next kayak ride as well to protect myself from Artie’s paddle.  It seemed to find itself perilously close to my head many times making contact at least twice.
4. Endurance Racing Nutrition Plan, think somewhere between 70.3 and full ironman nutrition for an 8.5 hr Adventure race.  Be sure to carry extra salt tablets for any old timer on your team that hasn’t heard about the wonders provided in that little white capsules. I didn’t do this and really regretted it as I doled out the 8 I had on me amongst the other tacos to keep them from cramping. It wasn’t until the last third of the race that we found out Artie had a whole stockpile of those salt tablets and didn’t know our dilemma. Communication is key.
5. Adventure racing with a team is a ton of fun especially after all those long hrs spent training solo for triathlons. With the perspective of having fun, enjoy each others’ company in a competitive environment and finish a great adventure together, and this may well become your favorite race format.

P.S. we did find Artie’s sandwich after the race under the transition tub where our gear was stored. It tasted great.

Athlete Perspective: Minimalist Shoes by Trent Mera

Running injuries?  Consider minimalist or neutral shoes.

For years, my running caused an inflammation-type pain extending several inches above the medial malleolus (the knobby inner ankle joint bone).  I looked for shoes to fix the problem, but no modern shoe technology (triple density foam soles, plastic midfoot shanks, air or gel cushioning, memory foam sockliners, stabilizing heel-pockets, you name it) seemed to help.  Orthotic-type running insoles didn’t do much either.  So ultimately I settled on limiting my runs to every other day.  Then I heard about Vibram FiveFingers and it struck me that if complicated solutions hadn’t worked, maybe a simple one would, and running in VFFs indeed immediately fixed the problem

But this isn’t a review of Vibram FiveFingers. Rather it’s to advocate trying any minimalist or neutral footwear (e.g. any racing flat) if more complicated shoes haven’t eliminated your running injuries.  Other shoes of this type that I have used include the Inov-8 Roclite 312 GTX (a neutral trail-running shoe that I can attach traction spikes to for running icy trails), and Converse Chuck Taylors for just walking around.  But the brands aren’t important: the key change that all of these shoes have made to my running (and walking) is that they have stopped my tendency to heel-strike.  Or more precisely, they don’t actively encourage me to heel strike like shoes with thick heel cushioning can.

The obvious reason that thick heel cushioning can cause heel striking is that the heel of the shoe simply sticks out more.  Cushioning might also cause heel striking by masking the pain it would otherwise cause if you were unshod (try a heel-strike gait when barefoot – you’ll stop right away!), or by making the foot stomp through a squishy surface in order to find a firm running foundation.  Additionally, heel-striking might lead to lazy arches and overpronation by allowing the runner to habitually land with an untensed arch.  So all of the pronation control that modern running shoes trade on might just be solving problems that they themselves are causing.  (If you don’t think that a shoe can instantly change your running mechanics, watch this video http://www.youtube.com/user/njsportsmed#p/a/u/2/9itkEkcQ8WM.  And then try it for yourself.

Research has revealed the benefit of barefoot running (and all of this likely applies to the use of neutral or minimal shoes).  One of the more recent studies, “The Effect of Running Shoes on Lower Extremity Joint Torques” shows that shod running results in increased forces on joints compared to barefoot: http://www.pmrjournal.org/article/S1934-1482(09)01367-7/abstract.  One of the more prominent researchers in the area is a Harvard Evolutionary Biology professor, whose website (http://www.barefootrunning.fas.harvard.edu/) links to quite a bit of the research in the field.  He also has an interesting video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jrnj-7YKZE.

So, in short,  consider that maybe your feet aren’t broken, and that 2 million years of hominid evolution has naturally equipped you with all you need to run.

ATHLETE PROFILE: Tom Kissinger

PARTING SHOT: Who’s the bees’ knees?

Send your best guess to Wendy at mcmillan.w@gmail.com.

RED LINE REMINDER: Just a heads up, the following memberships are expiring/just expired. Please renew quickly to continue taking advantage of all the great benefits of BTC!

Expiring in April:

• Maria Stadtler
• Klaus Stadtler
• Marty Stanton
• Molly McAllister
• Terri Menghini
• Paul Santagata

TRI-IT TRIVIA (should be an easy one!): Which married local duo were both elite duathletes in the early 1990s?

Last month’s answer (no correct responders/cookie winners): Javier Gomez ran 28:58 at an event in Plymouth NZ in 2008—thanks for sharing, Steve!