Week 8 high miles and better treats

Who's on a slow internet connection, been in an airport for now six hours and watching people board a plane bound for London to watch the Olympics? Blair and Brennan. We're waiting for United to get it together so we can board our own flight for a work trip to Boulder... but I digress. 


At the end of the week something happened. I looked at my training log and realized I had ran over 30 total miles. I felt pretty good during most of them. Another thing happened, I realized I had swam over 13,000 yards and felt good during most of those too. Maybe the training is working. Even in those "just get through it" moments, I feel strong enough to push through. 


During all of this mad training one of the things I've really begun to ponder is the gels and powerbars. I eat fairly clean (especially compared to the rest of the nation) during the day but then on a ride or run I eat these gels and other "carbohydrate mixes" made mainly of Maltodextrin. All the while, I've had stomach issues in nearly every race and once in awhile on longer rides. 


But does it need to be like this? A few training partners in Sergio's group really advocate whole foods. Heck, the pro's in the 80's were eating fig newtons and pretzels. Now, the more I look into it professional cyclists are all eating real food. It makes sense. Most of the gels are just marketing and things of convenience. I found out some of the gels line your stomach like pepto bismol, not allowing hydration to be taken in. 

Well let's take a shot at this. I made these rice cakes for preworkout and riding. Here is the link for the recipe I made. Super, super easy. They taste really good too (who knew dried figs were this sweet). It only takes 30 minutes.

I then watched this video to see how to wrap them but it sounds like anyone could just add anything to white rice and have a good ride meal. I like eating before a ride, run or swim too so this is a heck of a lot cheaper than a Clif Bar or Powerbar. 

I added up all the carbs to make sure the recipe said the correct amount. 42/grams using a tablespoon of brown sugar. I added a bunch of salt as well since at my size I need the electrolytes. 

On Sunday's ride I took two rice cakes along with a banana. It worked great. I ate all of that in the first two and a half hours then stopped at Camp Pendleton's store (tax free I might add) for two Clif bars opting to stay with the solid food approach. Feeling strong on the 30 minute T-run post ride I need to keep trying this approcach. More experimentation to come. 

Now to consider purchasing an over priced book for this flight delay.