First Endurance triathlete Jordan Rapp shares his strategy, race preparation, race re-cap and race nutrition following his record setting 2009 Ironman Arizona win. This 10 minute video is a must see for anyone racing Ironman.

Sponsored triathletes Jordan Rapp and Justin Park took 1st and 4th respectively in the Vancouver International Triathlon (1/2 Ironman Distance).  Rapp’s first race under 4 hours saw him dominate with an impressive 3:53 that included the 2nd fastest swim and run and fastest bike splits of the day.

In the men’s race Jordan Rapp of the US took the lead early in the bike and never looked back claiming over a 7 minute lead off the bike eventually leading to his first place 3:53:17 final clocking – also a new course record. Stephen Kilshaw of Victoria, Canada claimed second place besting his mentor and Vancouver defending champion, Jasper Blake who took 3rd.  Kilshaw keeps his Subaru West Coast Series podium streak alive after his victory early this year in the Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon, and 2nd place finish at the New Balance Half.

Men
1st -  Jordan Rapp                New York, USA         3:53:17
2nd – Stephen Kilshaw         Victoria, Canada         3:59:48
3rd -  Jasper Blake               Victoria, Canada         4:02:04
4th -  Justin Park                  Chapel Hill, USA         4:03:15
5th -  Kelly Guest                  Victoria, Canada         4:07:47

FROM JORDAN RAPP

Good swim. Tied for the lead going around the first buoy, and then settled into 2nd position, well because I’m lazy. Honestly, I win races on the bike and run, so all I care about is being in a good position on the swim. I’m never inclined to lead on the swim, especially if it’s a choice between leading the front of the race and being 2nd at the front. A bit of a relaxed transition (i.e. SLOW. But I wasn’t rushed either). Took the lead about 1mile into the ride, once I got my shoes on. After that, I did my thing on the bike, which is what I love to do. I put pretty consistent time on everyone on each lap, despite dodging lots of people on laps 2, 3, and 4. Fortunately, I also love to run lately, and I had a great run off the bike as well. I had a good lead, but really I cared about breaking four hours (for the first time, which I did, by a lot, and also would have if it had been a 21km run instead of 20km, which also felt really good) and also stamping out the bad memories of the past two races. I ran hard but also felt good the whole way. 2nd fastest swim (except for relays, which is forgivable, since they had a former two-time Olympic swimmer on a relay, who led, but by not as much as you’d think), fastest bike by about 7min, and 2nd fastest run (paced for 1:17:00 for 13.1 according to my GPS. Paced for like 1:15:30 according to the race, which had me at 1:11:15 for 20km, which I had as actually being short.) Anyway, good day, and a good way to put the bad memories of the past two races behind me.

JORDAN RAPP’s Nutrition

Breakfast:
Optygen & Multi-V
Ultragen & banana smoothie
Bowl of Koala Krisp & almond breeze (BIG bowl)

Pre-race:
1/2 bottles of EFS grape + 2 salt stick caps + 1 scoop of pre-race
I actually think I threw most of this up during swim warm-up. I f’ed up putting on my wetsuit, and it was squeezing my stomach. Fortunately, I remained calm, adjusted my wetsuit, and was fine.

In Race:
1 bottle of “Rappstar mix” (from a friend, who dubbed it this) 1 scoop of EFS grape + 2 scoops of ClifShot crisp apple + 3 salt stick caps
1 flask of EFS liquid shot (THE BEST!!)
4 additional salt stick caps
2 on course 20oz. bottles of gatorade

Run:
Gatorade at every aid station (12cups?)
Dropped my salt sticks in transition. Fortunately, I had a 7min cushion to rely on… So no salt, which made me nervous. Fortunately, when it’s 75F and you’ve been training in 90F weather, that also makes it easier to run well.

The First Endurance sponsored Astana Cycling team shredded the field on the mountain top finish at  Andorre Arcalis today.  After his team mates set a blistering pace up the final climb, Alberto Contador took off on his own in pursuit of the remnants of the early breakaway.  When the dust settled, Contador had moved up to second place on General Classification with team mates Lance Armstrong in third, Levi Leipheimer in fourth, and super-domestic Andres Klöden in sixth.  Another First Endurance sponsored rider, Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) kept his lead in the young rider competition and is now in seventy place on General Classification.

Race Recap:

A group of nine riders formed the break of the day.  The group included Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel Euskadi), José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Nocentini, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Feillu and Johannes Fröhlinger (Milram) who built a sizable lead of more than 12 minutes over the first four climbs on the day.  Seen riding at the front were Team Astana work horses Gregy Rast, Dmitiriy Muavyev, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia controlling the pace and keeping the team safe from mid-pack accidents. Armstrong appreciated the efforts of the team, saying, “The team is good.  You saw early on that the team was good, then there at the end Levi and Klöden were strong and obviously Alberto is strong.”  Laughing he finished with, “The team won’t be the problem!”

Once the leaders hit the climb the gap came tumbling down and splits occurred in the break as well as the peloton; most notable was race leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) slipping off the back to say goodbye to the yellow jersey.  Team Astana continued to drive the pace at the front, using up rider after rider as the finish line approached.   Feillu attacked his former companions with 6km to go and rode uphill at a steady pace, making a big statement about his abilities as a climber and taking a huge win in his young career.

Cadel Evans attacked at 2km to go with Contador immediately responding, as did Armstrong, Leipheimer, Andy Schleck and others, with the group reforming once again.  Then Contador attacked with a ferocious turn of the pedals that sent him soaring up the hill with no reponse from the other riders.  As teammates Armstrong, Leipheimer and Klöden sat on wheels while the rivals thought about following…..but never did.  Contador didn’t gain enough time to take yellow, but with two more days to ride in the Pyrenees and the top of the GC still dominated by Team Astana riders,  a strategic taking of the maillot jaune is probably on the drawing board at this very moment.

Contador’s fan base in Spain is huge and they appeared on the roadside in full force along the route on the first day in the mountains.  The fans chant a loud “Con-ta-dor” each time they see Alberto come out of the bus, take to the start line or fly up the mountain. He’s much appreciated in his home country.

GC After Stage 7

1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 6″
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 8″
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 39″
5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 46″
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 54″
7 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC

In the women’s masters 45-49 division Endurance Research Board member Kris Walker won the overall title for the individual time trial after taking 3rd place in the road race.

“I’ve found that 1/2 scoop of PreRace in my bottle is plenty for me. During the hour leading up to the time trial, I warmed up and drank a bottle of  EFS with PreRace added.  I had a few sips on the start ramp and left a few sips in my bottle for the turn-around.  It was cool enough and the race was short enough, though, that I didn’t drink at all during the race.” explains Kris following her national title.

“I got 3rd in the road race as well.  It was really hot, so I didn’t use pre-race, but the lemonade EFS was perfect for hydration during the race, not too sweet and no cramping at all.”

1st  Kris Walker  34:30

2nd Terrie Clouse 34:39

3rd Cathrine Dickson34:58

Research Board Member Kris Walker MD lives, works and plays in Pocatello, Idaho. She started her athletic career as a Triathlete back in 1983 before changing her focus to cycling in 1985. Kris athletic talents have won numerous state championships in road racing, time trials, criteriums, mountain bike cross country and cyclocross. In 2005 Kris won the women’s 40-44 master’s national criterium championship and in 2006 finished 2nd in the 45-49 cyclocross Nationals.

Kris Walker brings a wealth of knowledge and endurance racing experience to the Endurance Research Board.  Kris partakes in literature reviews, product formulations and innovative approaches to endurance nutrition.  Her collaboration with athletes and First Endurances allows us to stay at the forefront of endurance nutrition.

South Dakota State University conducted an independent study on PreRace to determine its effectiveness on cycling endurance.  The yet to be published, double-blind placebo, controlled study used seven trained cyclists in a 40K time trial.  Each cyclist performed two 40K time trials.  On the first TT the cyclist consumed either a placebo or PreRace mixed with one serving of EFS 30 minutes prior to doing a 40K TT.  One week later each cyclist would switch the protocol and receive the opposite of what he/she received the previous week.*

THE PRERACE GROUP, ON AVERAGE, HAD THE FOLLOWING RESULTS:
-Time trial was 3′ 17″ faster than with the placebo

-Watts increased by 15

-Work output increased

-Percent of Lactate Threshold increased

-No significant change in heart rate

-No significant increase in RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion)

Further details of this study will be available once the study has been published.

Discussion:  These results, though surprising in their magnitude, are precisely what we would expect from PreRace.   The ingredients in PreRace have been studied extensively for their ability to improve cardiac output, stimulate nitric oxide and stimulate the central nervous system in addition to improving mental acuity.

Nitric Oxide stimulation causes the blood vessels to dilate which, as expected, allows more blood to pass through.  L-Taurine improves cardiac output so more blood can be pumped through blood vessels.  The caffeine, theobromine and quercetin stimulate the central nervous system so the athlete is mentally and physically prepared to go harder.  It stands to reason that this clinical study demonstrated improvements in performance, watts and work output even though there was no increase in perceived exertion or heart rate.

*Note: Preliminary Results

“Since I started to use Optygen and PreRace in 2007, I’ve captured all three Grand Tour titles. Based on these results, Opytgen and PreRace will certainly continue to be part of my daily racing and training routine.” –Alberto Contador

“I started using PreRace in the 2007 Tour de France take it in time trials. I don’t drink coffee so when I take PreRace, I really feel it, it’s a huge boost. I find even half a scoop is enough for me.”

- Levi Leipheimer