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Home > Forum > Triathlon Forum > Nutrition help....for a BIG guy.

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Nutrition help....for a BIG guy.
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cornick
Jun 23, 14 6:05
Post #1 of 7 (1003 views)
I've really been struggling trying to get my nutrition figured out and could use some advice from the guru's here. Although I'm proud of my success this is NOT a brag post but think that some of the information might help in figuring out where I'm going wrong.

I'm 6'6" 215 ish. I'm not fat...although could lose a couple pounds, I'm naturally muscular so getting rail thin doesn't seem possible for me as I look at people finishing in the top 3. I sweat like crazy...just a stupid amount to be honest.

Tried Infinit, custom mix for IMLP12, and just couldn't stomach it anymore...especially when I was puking it up. Ha.

I've been using UCAN and I just don't feel like it's working the way it should. I use 1.5 servings compared to 1 because of my size. I've done IMLP13 and 5 halfs on it. For some reason I feel like I should be getting more out of my body than what I'm getting.

This past weekend it was really showing me that it didn't work. 35 miles into the bike and I was starting to crash (granted the course has a 5 mile brutal climb to start). I was able to get a GU and some sports beans in and by time I got back to transition I was feeling much better but still was pretty burnt out.

On the run I've been using a GU every 15 minutes and that seems to work pretty well for me. It's the second half distance I've done that for and had some decent splits but think I'm going INTO the run more exhausted than I should be.

I'll take any advice people want to share. Should I stay away from liquid nutrition? It doesn't seem to be doing much for me or is there more to it than that?
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [cornick] [ In reply to ]
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Kevin in MD
Jun 23, 14 6:15
Post #2 of 7 (987 views)
Half iron distance 1.75 cals / pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.5 on the run


Iron distance 2.0 calories per pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.75 on the run.

Only follow fueling plans that account for body weight or lean body mass, ones that simply say grams or calories per hour will be low for you.

Check out good iron distance race reports from real people who raced well (rather than people trying to claim some point or angle) and convert them to calories per pound per hour, you'll come out close to the above, in fact higher than that in many cases I seem to recall both Jordan Rapp and Mirinda Carfrae at 2.25 on the bike last time I did the math on it.


Now, the flip side, ride or run only as hard as you can and still have that amount of calories go down. Some people try to get by on fewer calories because they want to "go faster" than only works for a little while, you will pay the price. Ride at a pace or effort or power or hr that allows you to get those calories in and processed and you'll be strong at the end of the race when others falter.


I and people I coach have had good experiences using maltodextrin mixed into gatorade or some other sports beverage in order to get in that amount of calories with no stomach problems.
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [Kevin in MD] [ In reply to ]
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TriBiker
Jun 23, 14 7:47
Post #3 of 7 (940 views)
Kevin in MD wrote:
Half iron distance 1.75 cals / pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.5 on the run

Iron distance 2.0 calories per pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.75 on the run.

Only follow fueling plans that account for body weight or lean body mass, ones that simply say grams or calories per hour will be low for you...

I'm going to have to disagree with this advice. The ability to digest food is dependant on effort being put forth by the body. It's not a question of what you need, it's a question of what your stomach can handle. The harder you are working, the less your stomach will be able to tolerate, regardless of your weight. Obviously one needs to practice what one hopes to put in to place on race day. A good rule of thumb is 250 - 275 cal/hour on the bike. Yeah, sure some can handle more, but you may pay a heavy price when it comes to the run. Remember, it's easy to correct under-fuelling, near impossible to correct over-fuelling. No way I could handle the 250 cals/hour you are suggesting for me for the run.
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [Kevin in MD] [ In reply to ]
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cornick
Jun 23, 14 7:49
Post #4 of 7 (936 views)
Kevin in MD wrote:
Half iron distance 1.75 cals / pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.5 on the run

Iron distance 2.0 calories per pound of body weight per hour on the bike, 1.75 on the run.

Only follow fueling plans that account for body weight or lean body mass, ones that simply say grams or calories per hour will be low for you.

Check out good iron distance race reports from real people who raced well (rather than people trying to claim some point or angle) and convert them to calories per pound per hour, you'll come out close to the above, in fact higher than that in many cases I seem to recall both Jordan Rapp and Mirinda Carfrae at 2.25 on the bike last time I did the math on it.

Now, the flip side, ride or run only as hard as you can and still have that amount of calories go down. Some people try to get by on fewer calories because they want to "go faster" than only works for a little while, you will pay the price. Ride at a pace or effort or power or hr that allows you to get those calories in and processed and you'll be strong at the end of the race when others falter.


I and people I coach have had good experiences using maltodextrin mixed into gatorade or some other sports beverage in order to get in that amount of calories with no stomach problems.

Oh yea, I'm way under for the bike then. I'm only putting in about 150/hour. No wonder I'm starting to falter on the bike with my number so low.

The run on the other hand is high at about 400/hour. So looks like I can back off a bit on the run actually according to the math you've posted. A GU every 20 minutes instead of 15 will make the difference for that.

Is it usually easier for people to digest liquid or solids on the bike? or is that really based off of how hard you're racing. i.e. you get to a point where you're body stops digesting...?
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [TriBiker] [ In reply to ]
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jdais
Jun 23, 14 8:16
Post #5 of 7 (899 views)
I trained with UCAN for about 6 weeks prior to using it during Rev3 Quassy this year. No issues with 6hr rides and long runs. During the race I bonked around mile 40 on the bike. I took a bottle 1hr before race and a bottle every 60 min. I switched over to gels as my backup and got my energy level back up enough to finish. IMMT will be my first Ironman, so I have switched back to Maltodextran as my fuel to be safe, which has worked for me at previous HIMs. I guess I needed more time using UCAN and adaptation at race pace.
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [cornick] [ In reply to ]
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Kevin in MD
Jun 23, 14 9:48
Post #6 of 7 (848 views)
cornick wrote:
Is it usually easier for people to digest liquid or solids on the bike? or is that really based off of how hard you're racing. i.e. you get to a point where you're body stops digesting...?

Usually liquids go down better, but some people use solids as part of their fueling strategy. Allen Lim is a scientist and now salesman that promotes using solid food, though I am somewhat skeptical of how well it would work for triathletes who don't have a section of the race to back off and get their food in, as opposed to road cyclists in feed zones. Though hell, maybe we SHOULD back down for 15 or 20 minutes to let some solid food go down.

In general liquids go down easier, and definitely the rate at which your stomach empties is dependent on effort. The harder you go, the less you will be able to absorb, the slower you go the more will go down. You have to find the right balance, a fair chunk of people have found that balance to be around 2 cals / lb / hour and 1.75. That feed rate seems to allow a person to go hard enough to have a good race and also get enough calories to keep going - for IM distance that is.

Use your race simulation type workouts to figure out the right levels for you. Practice race day effort and nutrition and make sure your food will go down and that you can finish the race simulation workouts without fading.
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Re: Nutrition help....for a BIG guy. [Kevin in MD] [ In reply to ]
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cornick
Jul 29, 14 7:34
Post #7 of 7 (666 views)
To report back I tried some bonk breaker bars at 270 calories and water for liquid but they didn't quite seem to work for me.

This past weekend I did my ride with half of a EFS Liquid Shot (http://firstendurance.com/...efs-liquid-shot.html) and 1.5 bottles of the EFS Electrolyte Drink (http://firstendurance.com/...ition/efs-drink.html) per hour. Coming out to about 344 calories per hour for a little over 3 hours. Felt decent going into the run portion and was somewhat happy with how I felt.

On the flats I was averaging about 21mph for the flats and the climbs I was down into the single digits as there is one monster climb on the course (IMLP course backwards).
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