8/28/08: Hoodoo 500 Q&A with Alex Isaly

Q. Alex, you are two weeks away from the big race. Tell us what your next few weeks of preparation will look like?

Riding preparation: I am reaching the peak of my weekly training mileage going into the race. My riding volume over the past two to three weeks has ranged between 300-350 miles per week, and I still plan to do quite a bit riding before the race.

This week will be my biggest volume of training. Most of it will be done over the weekend. I am planning on riding between 250-300 miles broken up over three days. My biggest ride will be this Sunday where I plan to ride between 10-12 hours straight.

Next week, I will do one night ride, leaving around 7 p.m. and riding into the middle of the night. The weekend before the race, I will keep my mileage low – no more than100 miles total. I will start my taper (aka: rest period) on Monday, keeping my mileage and intensity low.

Nutrition preparation: During the next couple of weeks, it is very important that I continue to eat well, get lots of sleep and take care of myself. With all of the miles that I’ve been riding, my body feels really fatigued and I am very prone to injury and illness.

It’s important that I listen to my body and don’t over do it; It’s easy for endurance athletes to do that because mentally, we feel like we need to get in as many miles as possible to help train for the race. Unfortunately, that could backfire and do more harm than good.

For the next couple of weeks I won’t change my diet from what I am currently eating. I will to continue to eat “clean” foods (i.e., high in protein, good fat – peanut butter, nuts, and olive oil), and sugar in moderation. Basically, I’ll keep a good ratio of carbs to protein to fat. It’s also important that I continue to stay hydrated by drinking one to two gallons of liquids every day (preferably water), and this doesn’t include the liquids I’m drinking during my training rides.

Race nutrition is much different. It’s just a matter of finding what works for you, with respect to taste, and how your body responds to it. Your training ride is where you dial this in.

Mental preparation: I think my challenge during the race will be how to stay mentally focused. My goal is to finish between 36 to 40 hours. The hardest part of the race is going to be dealing with sleep deprivation. I don’t plan to sleep more than two to three hours during that time.

Q. Mentally, what goes through your mind as you train? What will you be thinking about during the actual race?

As I mentioned before, this is going to be the biggest challenge. On my training rides, I spend a lot of time visualizing the race and how I am going to be feeling during certain stages. I have never been on my bike for this long and for this many consecutive hours so this is all new to me. I have no idea where my mind is going to go. That actually gives me chills because to me, I think it’s so cool to push your body to its limit.

Q. Do you have a support team that will remain with you throughout the Hoodoo?

Michele (my wife and Crew Chief), Bob (my father-in-law) and Carl (a good friend of the family), comprise my Support Crew. I feel really blessed to know that I will have them by my side every mile of the way. They are going to go through the same experience that I will, but on a different level.

Ultracycling is not for the weary. Whether you are racing or supporting, you will be mentally and physically challenged. The most important thing about being on the Support Crew is to ALWAYS keep a positive attitude, especially when you go through challenging times and stretches. The slightest bit of negativity or “not wanting do to it anymore,” will ripple through the team and rider, and put added stress on everyone.

Q. What is your motivation for participating in this race?

What honestly motivated me to test the Ultracycling world was a discussion that I had about three years ago with one of my best friends. Ironically enough, it was on a bike ride when he started talking about Race Across America (RAAM). He had done a couple of these long distance races and was explaining to me how he trained and the experiences he went through when he raced. That’s when the seed was planted.

Since then, I have raced mostly road races and criteriums. It wasn’t until this summer that I decided to pull the trigger and register for a 520-mile bike race. What motivated me to do it this year was following RAAM on the internet in June. It was then that I decided to register for HooDoo and set a personal goal to race RAAM in 2009.

Q. How many calories will you burn during the 40-hour ride?

This is going to sound crazy, but based on my training numbers, I will burn at least 40,000 to 50,000 calories during the race. That’s equivalent to 22 medium size cheese deep crusted pizzas or 176 slices. Yikes!

Q. How do you stay motivated throughout the arduous training and preparation process?

I just stay focused on what my goal is for the race and that is: to qualify as a solo rider for RAAM in 2009. Most importantly, I want to keep it real and just have fun, take it all in, enjoy the experience and get to the finish line. Having the support of my family and friends also helps keep me motivated.

For continuous and real time updates before, during, and after the race, keep your eye on this journal and check back often.