Time for healing.

I've been taking it really easy for the last four days. I injured myself more than I initially suspected. Turns out I bruised my ribs pretty bad. Unfortunately this is a slow healing injury that reminds you it's there with every sneeze, cough, or deep breath. At the same time, I ended up coming down with that cold that was coming on during the race. Guess what, lots of sneezing and coughing, what a bitch. The perfect storm of injury and sickness. Luckily, I'm turning the corner on the cold so there is a lot less suffering.

I talked to Jim on Tuesday about my race and we discussed everything from transitions to nutrition especially the cramping issue. We know that cramps can be caused by dehydration and electrolyte depletion primarily sodium. I took some time to analyze my sodium needs. I need about 250 mg sodium for every 8 ounces of fluid intake. I had taken in 950 mg in 70 ounces on the bike. If I do the calculation that's 1237mg deficient of the 2187 mg that would be required. Wow! I took in less than half my needs on a relatively hot day. I'm pretty sure that's what caused my problems on the run. Jim had mentioned that fatigue can play a significant role in cramping but I think both are the case in that premature fatigue can be brought on by even slight dehydration and electrolyte depletion. Even though this was the longest race I've done, I wasn't really feeling the fatigue or loss of strength as much as just being debilitated by cramps. This will be a huge lesson learned for my personal nutrition plan going forward. Why I didn't figure out my exact needs before race day is just a mistake and plain stupid. The information is out there!

This week in training had been mostly elective workouts. I did get on the trainer for 45 minutes on Tuesday just to get a good blood exchange going in the legs but mostly I've just been staying loose, stretching. Running and swimming are still out of the question, but I'm gonna try to get out on the road bike today for an easy 90 minutes. Other than that I'm hitting up the Arnica and eating well.