Feature
Ask an Expert
Sometimes no matter how many questions you ask before your first race, nothing can provide the answers you want or need like the true experience of the race would ….but we still ask tons of questions anyway!
Are you a first time racer or a racer looking to go to the next level in competition? Here is your chance to ask away. Meet Chris Koch who has generously agreed to be our - Ask an Expert . See Chris' full bio to the left.
Our first question comes from racer Rhonna Gurevich who has completed several sprint races in the lower mainland including Suburban RUSH.
Rhonna:
How do you eat properly during the race? Do you depend on power bars and gels etc. or do you eat "real" food?
Chris:
This is somewhat like asking someone what running shoe they recommend in the sense we all have different requirements and preferences. But without defaulting to "it depends", I can tell you what works for me. Simply put, I must be able to eat it.
I can survive on gels and electrolytes for a short race of about 4-6 hours. That is after all, what they are designed for. I've gone through almost all types of bars, and they work. Practically speaking, I can't get them in, so like others, they don't work well for me.
The real food comes in to play mostly in longer stage or endurance events. If you are in race with transition areas, you can often grab a meal out of a can that can quickly inject you with 2-3,000 calories. Keep in mind, for longer events you will be burning about 10-12,000 calories a day (24 hours).
I don't profess to pay too much attention to what I "should" be eating as, from experience, I've learned that my body "knows" what I should be eating. But, if you do some background reading in fueling for racing, you can hopefully eliminate some of the ‘learning by mistake’ scenarios.
So what foods have I enjoyed? Well sweets are pretty much taken care of in anything you buy over the counter - trail mix, bars, and candies. Your body needs these but after awhile they don't seem to crave them. (TIP: On a long endurance race, brush your teeth when you can and take a multivitamin to help with canker sores) Sugars are described as the "pilot light" in your furnace and carbohydrates are the ‘fuel’.
You may have a stronger desire for savory foods - most likely from your body wanting electrolytes replaced. Pringles, salty nuts, electrolyte replacement drinks, and believe it or not pickles can taste phenomenal. I remember finishing a race at 4 am and finishing off a jar of green olives with my teammate. I don't like green olives normally.
Whole foods are the most desirable and some examples of this include sandwiches, burritos, cheese, instant potatoes, and one of our favourites - instant noodles (though not really a whole food).
Normally you wouldn't want weight on your back. But if you have a long paddling section during the night, you can go a bit heavy with cans of ravioli, beans, or fruit. Your teammates will worship you for a brief spell when you pull out that smoked trout or an ice tea drink box you've secretly hidden away.
That science on 4:1 carbohydrate: protein ratios or mineral displacement among many other items does exist and I would recommend you have a rudimentary understanding of it prior to undertaking a long race, but this doesn't add up to a "hill of beans" if you can't stomach it. Your body does know what it wants, you just have to learn to listen to it.
Our next question is from Marie. She is a first time adventure racer.
Marie:
The Suburban Rush will be my first adventure race. How much training should I be doing per week to be race ready for Suburban RUSH?
Chris:
How much training?
I don't know your health background, fitness level, athletic strengths/weaknesses, race goals, time available for training and so forth. So I won't be specific. I do know that the Suburban Rush is designed to be approximately 30km long. In doing some more research, I do know the spread in times for 2006 were 2:03:57 to 5:11:57 and 2005 were 2:02:00 and 4:01:38. Now if I can find someone familiar that I can relate my abilities to in that mix Icould possibly guestimate a time for me. Not knowing anyone, I'd be assuming the winners were strong, fit, and prepared and those bringing up the rear may have had an off day or just be enjoying themselves - I would then try to place myself in that fold. For the sake of argument, let's say I was guessing I needed to prepare myself to race for 3 hours. I wanted to be a solid competitor and put in a healthy effort.
The disciplines are trail running and mountain biking. The best training for these disciplines is to...trail run and mountain bike. Looking ahead, we have about 8 weeks to prepare for this race. I would aim to be able to mountain bike for 2 hours and trail run for 2 hours by the time of the race. Using periodizationwe would build up to those time levels. I would try to get out for a run at least twice a week and a bike at least twice a week. You may possibly consider dividing the focus up between having one of your training days be for a longer time at a slower pace to build endurance and the other be for a shorter time and at a quicker pace to build speed.
One thing to keep in mind is running is harder on the body than mountain biking (unless you hit a tree). In the ultra-competitive world, a runner can only run so much (say 12-15 hours week) while a biker could bike for much longer hours (say 25 hours a week). The point is the body needs its recovery time after each training event in order to prepare for the next training event. This is where focused quality training becomes important along with good nutrition, cross-training, and stretching all being factors.
Be honest with yourself when you train. If you go to the gym and count your time finding parking, showering, and stopping to watch the news above the trainer, it may look like you've got your two hours of training in that day with little effort. Keep a training log and you can watch your progress.
Now that I've said all that, the Suburban Rush is a very fun event, where the main focus is not necessarily on winning it. Anyone with a generally healthy lifestyle could go out and finishthe event (hint: just look at how many people didn't finish). It's just that you might be a little sorer the next day then someone who prepared for the activities.
Good luck,
Chris
Do you have a question? Email info@suburbanrush.com and type 'Ask an Expert' in the subject line and we'll get an answer for you!
