I know people who race at high levels (sub-9 hour) with extremely varied hourly energy intakes on the bike for instance: ~100 calories all the way up to 300 calories. The marginal cost of adding more calories to an energy drink is quite small (e.g. I don't think Infinit charges you more if you make a custom mix that has more carbs) so don't worry about what is being promoted. Try different levels and see what works for you.

I use one bottle supermixed on the bike and pick up gels on the run.

I'm curious who is taking 100 calories an hour on the bike? I've heard mid-200's to 400. Maybe 100 on a 70.3, but even that seems low.

Matt Bach. that's 100/hr across the race. He does long distance bike rides on a ridiculously small number of calories. Seems to work for him. He is very skinny and done loads of preparation to race that way.

On a recent post I had specifically asking for my weight (235lb/105kg) and durations (70.3) and was told 4-6 cal/kg/hour. So for me that comes in to 400-600 obviously. 600 seems super high. However, during a race sim this weekend, I went with just a standard gatorade which is about 230 cal and shot blocks and I was torched. Fell super short on the nutrition. So I would say that the 400/hour is where I should and plan to be during my first race.

I do 5:00 sharp on a 70.3 and did last year two 140.6 in resp. 10:10 and 10:18.
I weigh 185 lbs.

I take 4 powerbargels per hour, which is 428 kcal/h, in 70.3s as well as in 140.6s.
I used to take only 3 per hour, but tried and I can keep 4 per hour inside.

I think you should go for the maximum your stomach can accept, since you still
burn more calories/h as that you eat.
You must try out in training, don't experiment in races.

I do really well on 250-300 calories of gel and/or sports drink per hour on the bike. This past season I used Hammer Gel (sponsorship) and Powerbar Perform drink mix. For Ironman I used 3 bottles on the bike (one BTA, 2 rear) and also lived off the course. No fuel belt for the run as they had plenty of nutrition on the course.

Generation Ucan works super well for me. only thing that doesn't give me the stomach/GI issues. also really nice only needing to "eat" every 60-90 minutes.

140.6 Plan
I do 6 scoops with water in a bike bottle (it's thick) and take that in on the bike.
2 scoops in T2
2 scoops around 1:30 into run
grab something from an aid station if i want late in the race

70.3 Plan
2 scoops on the bike
2 scoops in T2
that's it.

I'm not super fast (5:15 half, 11:30 full). 5'10" 155lbs

best of luck.

Nice. Experimentation is the way to go. Hopefully you have a couple more weekends to practise to really dial it in

Have a look at this post for nutrition information:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=5516015;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread


It could help in preparation, but in the end, practicing is what will ensure that you nail your race day nutrition.

I'm very interested to watch this thread. I just did Nola 70.3 this past weekend and thought i was going to rock it. I swam well, rode within my power zones and then flat fell apart 2.5 miles in the run. When i say fell apart, it felt like I had been hit in the stomach with a baseball bat. Seemed to squeeze my gut so hard, I had a hard time breathing. I have a history of nutrition problems. Ironman Florida last year, I came off of the bike feeling like a stud and then ended up having diareha 5 times on the run. While I don't remember what I did or didn't take in florida, I was just trying to hold onto the bike (very windy).

In Nola this past weekend, I had three 150 cal Egels, diluted in a water bottle x 2. I also had two 100 cal stinger gels diluted with water in a flask. That gives me a total calorie in-take of 1100 on the bike.

Hi,

Can you tell me how you carried the gels - for me thats 18-24 for the bike, I'd really like to go with just gels, power bar perform and water but cant figure out how to carry them

thanks

andrew

I carry the gels on the bike in a transparent bottle together with water. I drew lines on the bottle
such that I can see how much to drink for one gel. I got e.g. 17 lines for 17 gels for a 140.6. That all fits in one
bottle with so much water, that it is easy to drink. Should work for 24 gels too.
Clearly, the water in that bottle is not enough to drink with the gel. So additionally, I need to carry water to
drink with the gels.

At running I do basically the same, where I have such a running belt with little flasks. A lot of
people take the gels at the aid stations, but I do not want to risk anything so I carry all myself. Also
again of course, the water in that flasks is not enough to drink with the gel.
So I can only drink the gels at the aid stations, because there I get water to drink it with.

To me, that all works great.

Excellent - I wondered if I could do that, awesome - I did not know how well they'd mix.

Cheers

Andrew

I've been a fan of Ucann for the past few years as well. The above pretty much sums up what I do with the exception that I take a scoop a few hours prior to race time.

Same boat, not super fast, in fact more of a middle of the back packer..MOTBP? I've never had GI issues using the normal stuff but rather simply believe the stuff is bad for you that with the added convenience of carrying less "stuff" and it works well for me.