The Silver Lining

With most rides that don't go as expected, there is usually a silver lining. That silver lining would be that I would continue to ride throughout the night, despite the numerous stops.  And if this were one of my worst days during RAAM, I would still have met my goal of 300+ miles per day.  Though bad days are not the goal.  Endurance cyclist know that you have to keep moving as best you can to maintain forward progress.

Now let's back up a bit.  Upon returning from Sebring, Susie and I reviewed the race log to try to figure out what had gone wrong and why my ride did not go as expected.  We would share this information with our chief medical director, Al Delany and his wife Mary, also owners of Rehab to Racing.  We had a one on one consultation to review the race log and there were several helpful things that came from this.

First, something I failed to mention, was that I was stung by an insect about 10 miles from the end of the 100 mile leg.  I'm allergic to some insect stings and I'm never sure which ones give me the worse reactions, so I always take a Benadryl as soon as I can.  Unfortunately, I did not carry any on this particular day, so asked Susie to grab one from the tool box upon my arrival.  This may have contributed to my drowsiness later in the evening. Resolution is to switch to Cetirizine as an antihistamine, as it is a stimulant and not a depressant as Benadryl.

Secondly, Al and Mary have found that higher doses of magnesium have aided in eliminating cramping.  The recommended dose is 600 mg/day (RDA for adult males over 31 years of age is 420 mg/day).  Heavy training leading up to an event can deplete a substantial amount of your magnesium.  So I will be testing this out as well.  Also noting that excessive amounts of magnesium can lead to diarrhea.  So be aware as some bodies will have a different level of tolerance than others.

On a final note, we could not pin point what caused the nauseous feeling.  The Ensure was new to the mix as it's application in the race, but I had never had problems consuming Ensure in the past.  So we will be experimenting with Ensure a little more before my next event.

One last thought has been that I simply went out a little harder than for what I was prepared for.  A very good possibility as it's always hard to pin point these issues after the fact.  You just need to apply it in training and monitor the results.  We shall see what happens.

Thanks Al and Mary for the valuable feedback.  I have a few things to work on in my training.