What you need

I try to prepare for long rides the night before. I'm not a morning person and it's likely I'll forget to bring along something the next morning in my fogged rush to get out the door. While I prepare and load my gu, water, salt tablets, oatmeal and raisin bars, Gatorade and nutrient drink I'm struck on the difference between what we eat and what we need to survive.

What I load onto my bike is hardly gourmet food – in fact it's hard to call it food. It is more or less the stripped down version of a meal or the bare minimum of what you need to peddle a bike for 6 hours (in solid, liquid and pill form). While a couple of cheeseburgers could probably get you through a long ride – these nutrients have been consolidated and largely deflavorized for easy consumption. It's a sad commentary on what we devour on a daily basis versus what we need. It's no wonder the country has the weight problem it does. Of course that still doesn't stop me from having pizza, coke and breadsticks after a long ride.

With Ironman Louisville only three weeks away I biked a couple loops around the LaGrange portion of the course (over 80 miles) this past weekend. After that, I ran 40 minutes. By the time I got off the bike it was in the 90's. While I didn't speed through the workout, I was happy that I tolerated the heat as well as I did. The last two weeks have probably been the most extreme of my training – it's downhill after this. Could I be better prepared? You bet. But I think I'm ready to at least make an attempt.