Mark Izhak is an elite bicycle racer who has raced all over the country with several wins and many top tens. He has experience in 80 to 100 mile races and has raced in fields of over 125 riders. He holds degrees in nutrition and exercise science and is the founder of Sunrise Bootcamp in Brooklyn. Mark will be leading the Bike4Chai team to Camp Simcha and is now available to answer any questions about riding in general and specifically about preparing for the Bike4Chai ride.
Please email all questions to markizhak@hotmail.com.
All questions and answers will be posted on the website.
Hey Riders!
You’re less than 3 weeks away from the ride of your life.
By now you’ve gotten some nice riding in. These last few weeks should be spent with some quality rides. Our goal is to get to Camp Simcha. It’s a long day and a half in the saddle. To help you get there, it’s time to make a few additions to your training.
Mileage
The first day is long. Really long. I’d like to ride the 110 miles with each and every one of you. To get through the day,
you want your legs to be ready to spend hours on that bike. Whatever distance your long rides are now, add 10-15 miles in the
next few weeks. You don’t have to ride 110 miles in training to be able to complete the ride. If you can ride 75 miles, you’re
golden for the 110.
Intensity
We’re all ok with riding on a flat ground at a decent pace. But there will be two obstacles along the ride that you’re
going to need to overcome. The first is wind. At some point, a mighty gust will seem like Mother Nature wants to make it
hard for you to get to Camp Simcha. The other obstacle, I’m sure you know, is hills. Luckily for us, Beth and Bob tried to
flatten our course. But we’re still going to get our fair share of them.
Along with your long rides, which are typically done on the weekends, your shorter rides should be at a higher intensity. The best method is to throw in some interval training into your rides. One way to do it is to ride your local hills that take 2 to 3 minutes to ride. Go up as hard and as fast as you can.
It’ll be a tough few minutes, but well worth it. When I do that kind of training for a race, I think to myself that the harder it hurts while training, the easier it will be during my event. Let your legs burn!!
Nutrition
I can’t wait until we all sit down for our lunch in Camp Simcha. Until then we need to nourish our bodies for our training and
the ride. We all know good nutrition; plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats. What I’d like you to focus on
is just 2 things.
First, pay attention to what you eat during your long rides. An energy drink and water is your foundation. Drink plenty of both. Also, for a long ride like Bike4Chai, you’re going to be eating throughout the ride. Experiment with the foods that you can eat during the ride that agree with your stomach. Gels and Gu’s are great, but not if they upset your stomach during the ride. Try new things on a training ride before Bike4Chai.
Second, with 3 weeks to go, you can make the entire Bike4Chai easier by making a few healthy choices that will help you lower your weight. In cycling, for every 5 pounds you lose, you become a whole lot faster. With all your riding, 3 weeks is plenty of time to do that. Here are some nutrition strategies that will help you shed the pounds.
- Don’t skip meals – even a light breakfast is worth it.
- Drink more water – don’t drink your calories. Ever.
- Snack on vegetables with light dressing – humus is great with your veggies.
- Stop eating after 8pm – at 8pm brush your teeth for the night and call it a day.
- Eat more home cooked meals – You will save hundreds of calories in just one meal.
If you have any questions on training or nutrition, e-mail me at MarkIzhak@hotmail.com
You’re well on your way for an epic adventure. Take it up a notch in the next few weeks. I know you can do it. You’re going to have a great ride.
Mark Izhak, RD
Bike4Chai Coach
I have some questions.
- I work out at least once a week. August 3rd and 4th is a wednesday thursday. I usually work out tuesday evenings. Should I work out earlier that week or not at all?
- In the days before the event, are there any tricks to boost energy for the ride?
- I also read that excess drinking while riding is a problem and can cause cramping. I think that's what happened to me last year. I way approximately 170 LB, what should my drinking habits be?
What kind of workout do you do? You shouldn't do any lower body strength training that week. If you do upper body lifting, that would be fine as long as you're not going to be sore the next day. Let me know what you plan on doing. Your best bet is to do your workout earlier that week or just go at an easier intensity on that Tuesday night. If you want to wait to Thursday night, I'll work out with you (we'll see who else would want to join us at that point).
When we ride our bikes, our body is working to create the most ideal environment to continue the physical demands we're putting it through. Drinking too much can cause cramps because you're diluting the salt concentration in your blood.
At 170 pounds, you should be drinking 65 ounces of water a day. That's without the water you would drink during a ride. During a ride you can drink between 20 and 30 ounces of water and sports drink. To avoid the cramps that come with diluting your blood's sodium, you can drink more of the sports solution which will have more electrolytes. Some athletes take salt tablets, or other products with sodium. With the long Bike4Chai ride, you can include a salty snack like pretzels at one of your stops, too.
You might be drinking a very large amount of water on your rides. Try to take your weight before your ride and after your ride. It's normal to see a 2 to 4 pound drop in weight.
I will send out an email talking about carb loading before Bike4Chai.
I have a few questions to ask you, and here they are:
- How many feet of total elevation is on the first day of the ride?
- When I ride for more than 3.5 hours on both legs where the IT band runs, it gets really sore, is that because I'm riding for a long time, or is it a concern to worry about?
- and finally, to make sure I'm staying hydrated how often should I be putting fluids into my "engine"?
The elevation gain for both days is 6322 feet. Most of that is on the first day, but I couldn't give you an exact number. We'll find out together ;)
Since your'e feeling the soreness only after 3.5 hour rides, I don't think it's anything to be concerned about. A change in your positioning may help. To help relieve the soreness, try foam rolling that your IT bands before your ride and after. Warning, it will be very tender to foam roll right after your ride, but it will feel much better afterward.
For your fluids, first you want to make sure you start your ride well hydrated. It's been very hot lately and you need to drink throughout the day. Starting a ride already dehydrated is bad. You should have at least 20 ounces of water or sports drink every hour of riding. Also, if you weigh yourself before your ride and then immediately afterwards, you can see how much volume of water you sweated out. Take that number and you know how much extra to drink after the ride to replenish yourself.
For example, if I weigh 165 pounds before a ride, and after my ride I weight 162 pounds, then I need to put 3 pounds of liquid back into my body. A pound of water is 16 ounces, so 3 pounds would be 48 ounces of water.
I rode close to 50 miles yesterday which included many hills. We left at 6:00 am and returned at 10:00 am. I was completly drained and sleepy for the remainder of the day. Please help. What should I eat?
Isn't that post ride sleep the best?!
You're fine. You just need to keep riding. Get more of those 50+ mile rides in before Bike4Chai. You'll be amazed at how much improvement you can get in just a short time.
If you can, do a short easy ride the day after those long rides. This will help you recover quicker. Are you doing short intense rides during the week? They can be an hour or less, but do some 3 to 5 minute intervals at high speed.
Also, did you eat and drink enough on your ride? With this heat you should have at least 20 ounces of water/sports drink every hour.
Don't forget that our ride to Camp Simcha will be different than any other you've been on, because you'll be riding with great purpose. A friend sent me this story yesterday. Read it, you'll see what I mean.
Ideally, you'll want up to 60 grams of carbohydrates every hour. That's like having 16 ounces of a sports drink, or an energy bar like powerbar.
The fuel you get from food should start before your ride. If you're doing a 6am ride, then it's the supper you eat the night before that is filling your gas tank for your ride. Have some complex carbs like rice, pasta, or potatoes (not fried).
After your ride, you should eat something small within the first 30 minutes. A carb/protein snack like a peanut butter sandwich would be great.
In 1939, the University of Illinois had an awful football team, they tied Peoria, and lost 6 other games. Their 8th game of the year was coming up against the defending National Champions: the University of Michigan lead by the great running back Tom Harmon. Michigan had gone undefeated the previous year and had a 17-game winning streak going.
Earlier in the week, Illinois best player and team captain, Mel Harter, had to leave the team due to the unexpected death of his mother. His teammates felt real bad for Mel and for themselves; here it is, Michigan coming up in 4 days and the team captain is gone.
After an uninspired week of practice, and some down feelings about Mel, the coach of Illinois took his team to a hotel away from campus on the Friday night before the game. Coach had a skull session and went over some of the basics about Michigan, and just as he finished the door to the room opened and in walked Mel Harter.
The Coach and players were stunned, not expecting Mel to be back, the funeral for his Mom had been that day. Mel looked at his teammates and said: "I did not travel all the way back here to lose to Michigan tomorrow you guys are dead wrong." And that is all Mel had to say. The looks and attitudes on the faces of all the players and coaches in that room changed. FEAR and losing, and the expectation to lose, was replaced by a determined PURPOSE, to WIN, and beat Michigan.
So the next day, just as the 1980 USA hockey Team played with PURPOSE and beat the favored Russians, the University of Illinois football Team, led by Mel Harter beat the University of Michigan on that FALL Saturday by 3 touchdowns.
Keep riding and eat right.
I am commuting 5 days a week, 32 miles round trip. Each time I am only 1 hour and 15 minutes in the saddle. I can do 60 miles once a week by adding a loop to my commute making it 30 miles each way. Or it is better to spend one Sunday going 60 or 70 miles straight?
If you can get that long ride in, get it. If not, splitting it up is a good alternative.
If you do the two separate rides then add a few hard efforts in the first ride.
I would like to join the ride for Chai Lifeline, however I have some questions: How many hours would I have to bike the complete 100 miles the first day? If I go ahead with joining I would like to do the complete 100 miles. I used to be a big cyclist in my single days but unfortunately there is not much time these days for me to bike, so my question is it realistic to think I can do it and then the next day to do another 50?
It's actually 110 miles on the first day and just over 40 on the second.
We start the first day early in the morning and because we take stops along the route, we finish around 5pm or after. Your actual ride time will vary depending on your speed. At 15 to 20 mph it will take you between 5.5 and just over 7 hours of actual riding time.
After completing the first day, I know you will have no trouble on the second. It is just over 40 miles and the thought of getting closer and closer to Camp Simcha will give you strength you never knew you had.
If you don't have time to train long hours that's fine. Focus more on increased intensity even on your shorter rides. This will give you extra power that will keep you from getting tired on the ride.
Right now, I'm able to do about 30 miles on a MTB. Are there any exercises that I can do to build that up?
First, you can increase your long rides at a gradual pace. If you're doing 30 now, add another 3 next week. A 10% increase is the rule of thumb. Spend at least one ride a week working on your long distance and at least one working on your speed. For your speed, do a shorter ride and throw in a few minutes of riding at a fast pace.
The best way to help you build that up is to ride with others. Get into a group of riders that will keep you working hard.
I'm signed up for this year's Bike4Chai ride, and I was wondering if you could give me some diet tips - I would find it really hard to stick to a rigorous plan, but I can avoid certain food groups, and take more of others. What general rules should I follow as I continue to train?
It's great to hear you are focusing in on your nutrition.
You didn't specify that your diet is to lose weight, so I'm assuming that your goal is to eat well enough to maximize your training and to have the best Bike4Chai ride you can. Don't feel pressured to stick to a hard plan, instead, make better choices that will help you fuel your training and recover faster after your rides.
Of the five basic food groups, (vegetables, fruits, grains, milk, meat, fats), You shouldn't cut out any group, except for minimizing the fat group. Because you're training for an endurance event, you want to eat enough carbs. 50% of your calories should come from complex carbs like pasta, rice, and potatoes.
Don't load up on sugary sweets, they won't give you long lasting fuel like complex carbs will. Anything with whole wheat should have extra fibers and B vitamins which helps give you energy for your workouts.
And make sure to drink plenty of water. As the days are getting hotter and hotter your'e going to lose a lot of water. Both on and off the bike, you should keep drinking. For rides that are longer than 90 minutes, take a sports drink that will replace your calories and electrolytes.
