Here Comes The Warny!

Published October 22, 2009 05:39PM

The Melbourne to Warrnambool (or “The Warny”) is one of my favorite races in Australia and tomorrow it’s showtime! It’s a good thing that this blog also serves as my daily diary or else I might forget some of the stupid things I announce from time to time. About 6 months ago I posted the changes to The Warny and publicly announced that I’m giving it one last shot. Right then and there I registered online so I was firmly committed. What was I thinking? I’m not quite sure to be honest. The idea quickly faded and I completely forgot about it.

Yesterday, six months later, a mate of mine called me up and started asking me about how my preparation for the Warny was going. I laughed at him and told him that I wasn’t doing it. He then pointed out that my name is on the startlist. Like a flashback from a big night on the piss it all came rushing back to me. Fark!

I’ve paid my $120 and being the cheapskate I am I gotta give it a go. There’s no way I’m forfeiting that kinda cash just because I haven’t trained for this race and haven’t ridden in two weeks.

Being unprepared I’m gonna have to be extra careful with my nutrition. A race of this length and intensity will burn about 5000 calories and be over 7hrs in the saddle going full bore. There are 4 feedstations – each of which are about 60-80km apart. At 40km/hr this will equate to every 1.5-2hrs. I won’t eat much during the first 2 hours but will have a bottle of sports drink every hour. Each hour after that I’ll be drinking 1 bottle of sports drink (180 calories), a gel (90 calories), and/or some sort of solid food like fruitcake, a bar, or a jam sandwich on white bread (all about 250 calories). This will give me the 500 or so calories I need to keep topped up. Your body can only metabolize about 500 calories per hour but I’ll be burning between 700-1000 calories per hour.

Directly after the race my focus will be on recovery. Since the State Champs are starting from Warrnambool on Sunday I’ll need to replenish my calorie deficit as best I can. That means getting in 20-30 grams of protein and about 80 grams of carbs within 30 minutes of finishing. A big 750g bottle of chocolate milk is a perfect way to ingest this quickly. Then I’ll have a nice protein and carb rich dinner and will be constantly grazing throughout the evening. I’ll probably even soak my legs in the cold ocean across the street from our hotel!

There you have it. My strategy for the Warny completely hinges on nutrition, following wheels, and doing as little pedaling as humanly possible.

Three of the Rapha Condor blokes will be racing (Lappers, House, and Southam) so I’ll be looking to them for a free ride.

Good luck to the hundreds of competitors having a go tomorrow. To everyone else, ride hard and get home safe. Have a great weekend.