Crunch Time

Here we are at the end of May, and I've been falling behind on my workouts. Again.

I still get out to keep myself in shape, but I'm recommitting to the process right now. I'm forcing myself back on track, and making time for my workouts. I think I'm at a point where I need to make a decision on my priorities and commit to saying "No," to things that don't fit inside those priorities.

That's what I'm finding to be the hardest part about being 26. There are so many things that I could do, so many things I want to do, a few things I really should do, a lot of things I told myself I would do when I was younger, and only time to do a couple of these things. I'm seeing older guys than me around me who seem to have their priorities sorted out, like it's no big deal. I'm sure they went through a similar period of paring things down, but it doesn't necessarily make it easier.

Compound that with impending large scale life changes, and you can see where I might miss a workout or two. No more. Because...

With just over a month until my A race (Muncie), it's really getting into crunch time. I'm seeing my workout times increasing through the week, and I'm really pleased with how my fitness is coming along. I've started experimenting with my nutrition to make sure I've got that dialed in for the bike and run, I've started searching for missing pieces of equipment to add to my arsenal (can anyone say feed bag?!) and I've been working on my mental focus as I'm training.

While Muncie is over a month away, Cicero is just under a month away. I had a great brick workout this last Saturday, and after running some quick numbers I'm really excited to see how my time shapes up. N won't be around to see the race, but I will be providing her with a full race report when I pick her up from the airport that evening!

I'm now officially signed up for Winona Lake, and I'm reexamining the course in my mind. My fitness is up to snuff for these two races, so I'm going to work on my focus and nutrition in these two races. They're just long enough that I'll need some additional carbs in order to make it through strong, plus it will give me an opportunity to see what I like and what I don't.

I just bought a grab bag of nutrition items at The Runner's Forum in Avon, Indiana last week, I'll provide a picture and some thoughts as I go through and try each individual item.

Over the weekend I used a Clif energy gu to supplement my brick, as well as some BASE Performance electrolyte salt to help me stay hydrated. If you've never used the BASE salt, I would absolutely 100% recommend it. If you're doing an Ironman branded race, it'll be there for you on the course. If you're coming to Muncie, I'll be in the BASE tent, come by and see me and I'll hook you up with a sample tube.

The salt tasted, well, like salt. For whatever reason it surprised me at first that it was so salty, I thought it was my sweat that was influencing the taste, but I realized I was eating salt, and that it should taste salty. Duh. I noticed the effects within minutes, my legs began to feel more energetic, my sweat level increased slightly and I felt cooler overall. I kept sucking in water and I felt great! I was only out for 2 hours, and I used one finger dip of the salt, and that felt about right to me. I'll review the serving recommendations and see if I need to adjust, but that felt pretty good.

The Clif gu I used was a Lemon Lime flavored gu. I've used their Razz gu before, and liked the taste and consistency, and the story was no different here. It's got enough sugar in it to provide that initial burst of energy, and the carbs to provide a longer lasting kick as you progress through your workout. The taste is exactly what you would expect from Lemon Lime, a great citrus flavor that is neither overpoweringly sour nor underwhelmingly weak. So many times the problem with a Lemon Lime flavor is that it's too weak, not the case here. Consistency is on point. I felt like I didn't need to chew the gu up to get it to go down, but I prefer to chew it a little bit just to make sure I'm not guzzling the whole thing down. It didn't dry my mouth out or make it so sticky that I needed a drink of water to wash it down like other brands have, which is great on the run course where you may or may not have water with you.

I've got plenty more single serve items waiting for me to try, and I'm sure I'll have an update next week as I get back to the road and to prioritizing training. I've got some new gear on the way, including a BASE Performance tri kit, and a Rudy Project transition bag! New gear will be acquired, tested, and reviewed here, so keep looking for updates!

Later on...