Race Day Nutrition

Inspired by the new Wheaties Fuel cereal, Racedaynutrition got to work in the kitchen on a brand new protein bar recipe.  In addition to Wheaties Fuel, the Yukon Rooster serves up three other sources of protein: whey protein isolate, edamane nuts, and everyone’s favorite, peanut butter.

This protein bar is incredibly rich and full of crunchy texture.  Try the recipe for yourself.  There are quite a few ingredients, but not a lot of steps.  Offer a sample to your friends and they’ll soon be asking you to make them full batches.

Here’s a bar for all you trend-seekers out there.  Resveratrol – the reason red wine is touted as a healthy addition to your diet – has been isolated and injected into a new energy bar aptly named Winetime.  Just in case resveratrol doesn’t quite live up to its free-radical-fighter billing, the manufacturers of this bar went ahead and tossed in all the other trendy “superfoods” like blueberry, dark chocolate, goji, and cranberry.  Does it have acai?  Oh boy, you bet it does.  We’re talking a full-on, mega- antioxidant, live-to-be-120, cancer fighting, über food!

Manhattan restaurant and food store, The Pump, is gaining ground as a healthy eatery in the Big Apple.  They don’t use mayo or butter, and nothing is ever fried.  Friends of the owners produced this special video to promote their efforts and a new Union Square location.  Look for the subliminal bacon!

I called a few times to get into one of the Carmichael Leadville 100 training camps.  No luck – the phone lines were busy every time I called.  It turned out the camps were filled in fairly short order.  I checked the Carmichael website a little after noon today and the “Sold Out” banner was already spread across the image linking to registration info.

I’m not really disappointed.  This secondary option for getting a spot in the 2010 Leadville 100 didn’t sit well with me in the first place.  I understand that Carmichael is a sponsor of the race, and his prodigy, Lance, won the race last year.  But, dangling this $1250.00 carrot in front of mountain bikers who didn’t get a spot in the race doesn’t exactly emit a “plays well with others” vibe.

The race can’t grow due to the limited infrastructure of Leadville, CO.  As “insurance” in case I did receive a race entry, I reserved what I believe was the last available hotel room in vicinity of the old mining town.  I did this in mid-January, weeks before the results of the lottery were announced.  Naturally, with this kind of demand, the event is ripe for someone to profit.  The area hotels have gotten their cut, now enter Carmichael Training Systems.

For the lucky folks that made it through the “second round phone lottery” with CTS, they will enjoy a day and half with CTS staff.  One lunch and one dinner included.  No lodging, no transportation, no beer.  Let me know how it goes!

Waiting for me in my inbox today:

Dear Leadville Trail 100 Family,

We deeply regret that we were unable to accept your application into
the 2010 Leadville Trail 100 Mountain Bike Race.  We really wish we
could accommodate every interested rider, but we simply can’t.    Our
goal and primary obligation is to offer every racer the nation’s
highest quality athletic experience with the utmost degree of safety,
medical care and racer support.  The ever increasing numbers of
returning racers and new applicants are testimony we are meeting our
goal.  We do not keep a waiting list and cannot yet accept entries for
2011.

There is still ONE way you can gain entry into the race. For the third
year, the Leadville Trail100 has partnered with Carmichael Training
Systems to host three 2-day mountain bike camps in Leadville in July
2010 in preparation for the LT100 MTB Race.  Camp participants will
earn guaranteed entry into the race and the race entry fee is included
in the camp fee.  Athletes who are unsuccessful in the lottery will
have first priority to get into a CTS LT100 Camp. Call CTS today at
866-355-0645 or visit www.trainright.com to reserve a camp spot and
we’ll see you at the start line on August14.

We would also encourage you to consider entering the awesome 50 mile
“Silver Rush” on July 17.  It’s a tough, demanding and incredibly
beautiful ride in Leadville’s historic east side mining district.
Also new this year is 24 Hours of Leadville on Sept. 4 & 5 – for when
100 miles isn’t enough! Try it solo or grab some of your friends and
sign up as a team. In addition, we are offering a special $50 discount
on the 24 Hours of Leadville race by including this Code: 24Pb on the
race application. Simply download it from the web site, fill it our
and mail it in!

Last, but certainly not least, we always need and welcome volunteers
to assist the mountain bike and running events.  Not only is it very
rewarding to help other riders and runners achieve their goals, but
preference in the 2011 entry process is also given to those who
volunteer for any of our 2010 races.

We are sincerely grateful for your enthusiasm and dedication to the
“Race Across the Sky”.

In appreciation,
Ken Chlouber
President, Leadville Trail 100

Leadville Trail 100
www.leadvilletrail100.com

Why is it that all shoes are displayed showing their outside?  Why do I always have to pick up a shoe from the shelf and turn it around to see the inside?  Even product images from websites like Road Runner Sports only show the outside.

Serious runners, especially those with flat feet or overpronation problems, will agree that shoe-buying is more than a fashion search.  The outside of a shoe tells us very little about the supportive structure of the shoe.

Racing flats?  Sorry, we’re completely out of luck there.  Can a manufacturer please make a racing arch?  These shoes would truly be the Ferrari of the distance racing shoes.

Neutral-footed runners must thoroughly enjoy shopping for running shoes.  They can sit in the center of the shoe store and spot a good fit from across the room.

Shopper: “Size 9.5 neutral, please.”
Sales Person: “We have 273 in stock.  Which one would you like to try?”
Shopper: “Oh, the pretty one in the fourth row.”
Sales Person: “We stock that model in 13 different colors and 7 widths in your size.  Do you have a preference?”
Shopper: “Oh, they’re all so nice.  I’ll take this one in a EE.  Thanks!”

But for the rest of us, we must continue to struggle.

Me: “Do you have a stability shoe in size 13?”
Sales Person: “A what shoe?”
Me: “You know something with arch support.”
Sales Person: “Like this one?”
Me: “Why is it pink and yellow?”
Sales Person: “It’s from 1989.”
Me: *sigh* “Does it come in a 13?”
Sales Person: “Let me check.  Ha ha.  No.”

When all else fails, make your own arch supports:

Using Dr. Scholl’s Molefoam

Using Sculpey Clay I, Sculpey Clay II

Gripped Films is set to release another cycling film this Spring.  Chasing Legends is a Tour de France documentary featuring the HTC Columbia team. HTC riders like Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel danced all over the sprint challenges at road races last season. Follow this team behind the scenes and see what made it as fierce as it was in the 2009 Tour de France.  Flim expected to be released on May 15, 2010.  More trailers here.

We already have caffeinated soap.  It seems only natural that butter would be the next consumable product to receive the caffeine treatment, right? According to grainpower.org, over 75 million Americans enjoy a piece of golden brown toast every day.  And, what goes on that toast?  Butter.

Now imagine the advantages of toast – with butter – with caffeine.  Holy cow!  If you’re a coffee drinker, you could skip an entire cup in the morning.  Think of the time you’ll save… and no more coffee stains… and no more coffee breath!

Making homemade butter is quite simple with the Racedaynutrition.com Caffeinated Butter Recipe.  Start with heavy cream (or double cream) at room temperature and whip until you get separation of butter and buttermilk. The labor-intensive way to do this is by shaking the cream in a lidded bowl for something like 40 minutes.

Churning butter is a good task for your kids if you want them to settle down and take a nap later, but tiring for you. I highly recommend a stand mixer or food processor. After mixing, drain off the buttermilk and store it for use in another recipe. Take the remaining butter and rinse with cold water to ensure that all the buttermilk is gone. Buttermilk will make the butter go rancid (Not good). Now add pure white crystalline caffeine to the butter. Finally, add salt to taste.

Too much work?  Rather wait for a commercial product?  Don’t hold your breath.  I don’t know of any company preparing to release caffeinated butter onto the market.  But when it happens, remember you heard it here first!

Have impact or repetition related injuries sidelined you from your beloved sport of running?  Consider this: modern running shoes have helped lead the change in our running style from forefoot strikers to heel strikers.  By planting our heels on the ground first we eliminate a major cushioning joint – the ankle.

Add 800 or so heel-strikes per mile and you begin to understand the toll this running style takes on our bodies.  This month’s issue of the scientific journal, Nature (Volume 463), features a letter exploring the history and mechanics of human running styles.  Below is an abstract from, “Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners,” by Lieberman, et al.

Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s. For most of human evolutionary history, runners were either barefoot or wore minimal footwear such as sandals or moccasins with smaller heels and little cushioning relative to modern running shoes. We wondered how runners coped with the impact caused by the foot colliding with the ground before the invention of the modern shoe. Here we show that habitually barefoot endurance runners often land on the fore-foot (fore-foot strike) before bringing down the heel, but they sometimes land with a flat foot (mid-foot strike) or, less often, on the heel (rear-foot strike). In contrast, habitually shod runners mostly rear-foot strike, facilitated by the elevated and cushioned heel of the modern running shoe. Kinematic and kinetic analyses show that even on hard surfaces, barefoot runners who fore-foot strike generate smaller collision forces than shod rear-foot strikers. This difference results primarily from a more plantarflexed foot at landing and more ankle compliance during impact, decreasing the effective mass of the body that collides with the ground. Fore-foot- and mid-foot-strike gaits were probably more common when humans ran barefoot or in minimal shoes, and may protect the feet and lower limbs from some of the impact-related injuries now experienced by a high percentage of runners.

“I will be in Kona 15 months after the final Tour,” Lance Armstrong told Australian Associated Press on Friday. “If it’s 2010, then it will be Kona 2011. If it’s 2011, it will be Kona 2012.”

So… let the predictions begin.

First off, when will he declare his final Tour? Will this year be his last if he and the Radio Shack team put in a dismal performance? Or, what if Contador is right and the Radio Shack team is strong, will Lance want to lead the team again in 2011?  What if he finds himself on the podium in Paris with a 9th career Tour victory in 2011?  Will he go for a nice, round 10 in 2012?

But, the man said he’ll be there and he usually follows through.  Then, perhaps the more lively predictions will involve his Kona Ironman finish time and place.

Armstrong has three sub-3-hour marathons under his belt.  His best time was 2:46:43 at the 2007 New York City Marathon.  Craig Alexander ran to victory at the 2009 Ironman World Championships in Kona with a 2:48:05 marathon.

Stage 6 of the 2009 Tour de France, Gérone – Barcelone, was flat and about 113 miles in length – comparable to Kona minus the wind factor.  The peloton finished in 4:21:33.  Alexander pedaled the 112-mile 2009 Kona Ironman cycling stage in 4:37:33.

With these results, plus reasonable times for the swim and transitions, Lance can capture 1st place in Kona with a time on par with Luc Van Lierde’s record setting finish of 8:04:08 in 1996.  But we all know it’s neither as simple nor as easy as that.  The Ironman is not a month long stage race.  Lance has to put together his top performances in multiple disciplines in one LONG day.

Armstrong’s own predictions?  “I don’t know I could be top three, top five or top 10, but anyway, I want to come and finish.”