Nutrition preference

I’m a big fan of First Endurance and Gu products.

After training, I like to eat food.

Said like the true king you are.

The gels are a little less viscous and don’t require gulping a bunch of water for digestion.

Thanks, that’s good to know. I still like to drink after a gel, no matter the brand. It removes the residue from your teeth.

Any generic brand of maltodextrin and on course electrolytes and whatever they have supplied at aid stations.Anything longer than Ironman or each stage of an Ultraman style event then more real food is added to the menu.

Evening before pasta.
Morning pancakes and a coffee.
Bike first hour 2 powerbars (no liquid to avoid having to urinate)
After that on the bike every 15 minutes a powerbar-gel; same on the run: every 15 minutes a powerbar-gel.

I’ve used tailwind the past two years and have really enjoyed it. I used infinit a while too but couldn’t bring myself to keep paying that much. A group ride had tailwind out at the aid stations and I’ve been using it since.

My go to gel lately have been the Clif shot mocha with caffeine. Love that stuff!

Last Saturday I did the new Ironman Canada course using only F2C glycodurance. No gels. No solid food. No gut issues. Solid energy. Didn’t taste like crap after 90 minutes in the heat of the day.

Last Saturday I did the new Ironman Canada course using only F2C glycodurance. No gels. No solid food. No gut issues. Solid energy. Didn’t taste like crap after 90 minutes in the heat of the day.

Have been using F2C Glyco-Durance for the last year and it’s been great. Usually mix the unflavoured with the some of the flavoured stuff to make high calorie bottles that aren’t too sweet. Great product.

Just wondering if the stuff is avail. in the USA? I know they are big in places other than Canada.

Just wondering if the stuff is avail. in the USA? I know they are big in places other than Canada.

I’m in Canada and can’t speak for certain, but the online store does have options for the US and Europe, so it can be purchased and shipped there. Not sure if it shows up in stores down there at all, probably depends where you are, but I’ve only every purchased online.

Last few years have been on a mix of Infinit and CarboRocket products. We’re sponsored by CarboRocket but I can only handle it for ~6hrs +/- while others have no problems.

Curious to see which nutrition brands are preferred among the slowtwitch athletes. I’ve always used Optimum Nutrition or Dymatize for my protein and Scivation Xtend for my BCAAs when I lifted in the past. TImes have changed and I’ve been cycling and swimming more as I train for upcoming events. I’ve always been curious to try Xendurance, SIS, or Pinnacle Nutrition Group (just came across them). I’ve never used gel packs for energy. I know SIS is well used and PNG appears to be as well. I’ve been researching the various gel packets with the sodium and carb content, and then the electrolytes for endurance and recovery. Just curious, thanks!

**Use table sugar for 80% of intra-workout carbs. **Pick something like Gatorade or any other carb/sugar beverage of your choice to add flavor. This approach keeps flavor lighter and moves the dial more towards a more optimal 1:1 glucose to fructose ratio. And it’s WAY cheaper.

Use table salt rather than expensive higher-electrolyte endurance drink mixes. In more extreme cases (hotter, more humid, very long-duration and high-effort) you may need to make a one-time purchase of sodium citrate (Amazon) to meet high sodium needs while allowing maximum hydration with reduced osmolarity.

Cost for table salt = less than $0.01 per 2000 mg sodium (sufficient for most folks 2-3-hr training, ~1 tsp)
Cost for sodium citrate = $0.10 per 2000mg sodium serving (~1.75 tsp).
Cheapest Gatorade Endurance Powder = $2.75 per 2000mg sodium.

Skip gels & chews altogether.

I like Alex’s approach, though I have not tried it. I think I will do that.

I have a friend who is experimenting with unconventional fueling and a few things he’s tried are instant mashed potatoes, gravy, and even real baked potatoes. I had a look at the gravy nutrition and one pack of McCormick Mushroom Gravy has 1,000mg of sodium!

I tend to take three things for races:

  1. Carbs = UCAN, Hammer Perpetuem, PURE, or CarboPro have all worked nicely for me
  2. Sodium = I race in hot climates and humidity (SE Asia) and have both a high sweat rate and a high rate of sodium loss per litre of sweat (1,400mg per l). The highest concentration of sodium I have found is the UCAN Hydrate; second is Precision Hydration 1500. On the run, especially in a full Ironman, I’ll bring the PH 1500 capsules, but on the bike I’ll mix it in a bottle.
  3. Back-up = I stuff my bento box with gels in case I lose a bottle (it has happened before). At about 100 cal each most are pretty much interchangeable except for the isotonic gels as they have added fluid to reduce the need for you to have to drink water afterwards; however they take up lots of space. I like PURE, Hammer, and SIS especially

Here’s a nutrition calculator you can use for your nutrition planning: https://ironmanhacks.com/nutrition-calculator/

I like Alex’s approach, though I have not tried it. I think I will do that.

I have a friend who is experimenting with unconventional fueling and a few things he’s tried are instant mashed potatoes, gravy, and even real baked potatoes. I had a look at the gravy nutrition and one pack of McCormick Mushroom Gravy has 1,000mg of sodium!

I tend to take three things for races:

  1. Carbs = UCAN, Hammer Perpetuem, PURE, or CarboPro have all worked nicely for me
  2. Sodium = I race in hot climates and humidity (SE Asia) and have both a high sweat rate and a high rate of sodium loss per litre of sweat (1,400mg per l). The highest concentration of sodium I have found is the UCAN Hydrate; second is Precision Hydration 1500. On the run, especially in a full Ironman, I’ll bring the PH 1500 capsules, but on the bike I’ll mix it in a bottle.
  3. Back-up = I stuff my bento box with gels in case I lose a bottle (it has happened before). At about 100 cal each most are pretty much interchangeable except for the isotonic gels as they have added fluid to reduce the need for you to have to drink water afterwards; however they take up lots of space. I like PURE, Hammer, and SIS especially

Here’s a nutrition calculator you can use for your nutrition planning: https://ironmanhacks.com/nutrition-calculator/

Love it. If you want to tinker with the sodium content and see just how high you can push it, per L, you can add sodium citrate to any of those beverages. Sweet calculator by the way. FYI: Sodium Citrate has about 1000mg sodium per tsp. Table salt is about 2000mg sodium per tsp. Can get Sodium Citrate on Amazon.

Curious to see which nutrition brands are preferred among the slowtwitch athletes. I’ve always used Optimum Nutrition or Dymatize for my protein and Scivation Xtend for my BCAAs when I lifted in the past. TImes have changed and I’ve been cycling and swimming more as I train for upcoming events. I’ve always been curious to try Xendurance, SIS, or Pinnacle Nutrition Group (just came across them). I’ve never used gel packs for energy. I know SIS is well used and PNG appears to be as well. I’ve been researching the various gel packets with the sodium and carb content, and then the electrolytes for endurance and recovery. Just curious, thanks!

**Use table sugar for 80% of intra-workout carbs. **Pick something like Gatorade or any other carb/sugar beverage of your choice to add flavor. This approach keeps flavor lighter and moves the dial more towards a more optimal 1:1 glucose to fructose ratio. And it’s WAY cheaper.

Use table salt rather than expensive higher-electrolyte endurance drink mixes. In more extreme cases (hotter, more humid, very long-duration and high-effort) you may need to make a one-time purchase of sodium citrate (Amazon) to meet high sodium needs while allowing maximum hydration with reduced osmolarity.

Cost for table salt = less than $0.01 per 2000 mg sodium (sufficient for most folks 2-3-hr training, ~1 tsp)
Cost for sodium citrate = $0.10 per 2000mg sodium serving (~1.75 tsp).
Cheapest Gatorade Endurance Powder = $2.75 per 2000mg sodium.

Skip gels & chews altogether.

This is interesting, never considered table sugar or salt. Will research this further, thanks!

You’re welcome! Curious if you’ve tried it yet. Seems to work phenomenally for me on the bike.

I need to experiment more on the run. Just haven’t yet due to return from long-term foot injury. More mileage and experimentation coming soon.

You’re welcome! Curious if you’ve tried it yet. Seems to work phenomenally for me on the bike.

I need to experiment more on the run. Just haven’t yet due to return from long-term foot injury. More mileage and experimentation coming soon.

Unfortunately, I have not. I’ve either strained my IT band or I have hamstring tendonitis. The weather’s turned by me and I haven’t ridden outside much, and a recent ride resulted in significant pain on the outside of my left knee. I noticed the pain before, but it was manageable until now. I’m resting it to see how that responds, otherwise I need to have it checked out.

Nutrition brands…UCAN

For IM
Bike:
UCAN (hydrate/bars)
Extra salt like thermatabs
Gatorade carb energy gel
Water

Run:
1st 1/3 water, gatorade, occasional gel, salt
2nd 1/3 coke water salt
3rd finish coke water salt maybe red bull if stomach can handle it

I use the UCAN plain superstarch mixed with hydrate on all my training runs but prefer the bars on the bike and I don’t like having to premix or carry my own stuff on the run during a race

I’ve also done the bike completely on the Gatorade endurance on course with water. I had orange/brown piss after the finish haha

I go since 10 years always with 300kcal per hour with good results, using

  • Clif Bloks 1.5 packs per hour (200kcal per pack)
  • Scivation powder, no calories, BCAA and salts inside only for the bottles

very simple, fully 100% on carb (no fats, no proteins, just BCAA as extra)
.

I have used Hammer Nutrition products for over 30 years. HEED is clean and easily digested and works well for half and full Ironman distance. You can top up your electrolytes desired by adding endurolytes extreme powder or pills if training or racing in hot conditions.