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Nutrition during IM Races
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What do you recommend for nutrition during an IM distance race? Gels, bars, drinks, etc? How often? I have been training with Cytomax, CarbBoom gels, METT Endurance/Cytomax mix, and have had good results but I don't know if there is anything better out there that I may have overlooked.

Also, does anyone have any advice on electrolyte capsules like EXCEED or anything else.

I'm just planning ahead for IMF.

Thanks
----->Trent
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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Keep in mind that I don't know what I'm talking about.

I'm going mostly liquid next time(IMCDA): Carbo-pro in a Camelback. I may supplement with Carb-boom, Mojo bars (made by Cliff), and bananas at bike course aid stations, but the bulk of my kcals will be liquid.

I use Thermolyte for electolyte replacement. The only other thing is that I will probably experiment with including some protein during training. Maybe somebody can talk about a specific plan (how much/how often) but I think this is individual and needs to be played with in training.

Follow up question: has anyone mixed anything in with Carbopro to add protein in liquid form?
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [Rocky] [ In reply to ]
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Try the MET Endurance to mix with your Carbo-Pro. It has 15 grams of protein. I mix it Cytomax and it seems to do me pretty well. I'll look into Thermolyte. Is it a liquid or pill?
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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I did the following for IMFL in November...

I mixed one bottle with 12 scoops of cytomax. I kept this bottle and got water from the course. I add as needed. In addition to that I used 15 clif shots which were all on my top tube at the start. I also used one GU from the course and one bottle of gatorade from the course.

On the run I took in 3 clif shots in the first two miles of each loop. Then at every aid station I alternated between gatorade and coke, probably only coke for the last 6-8 miles. I also took in one additional GU on each loop towards the halfway point, say miles 7 and 20.

So on the bike

1200 calories of Cytomax, 1500 calories of clif shot, 100 calories from GU, approx 200 calories from Gatorade.

on the run

6 clif shots at 600 calories, two GUs at 200 calories, then probably 300-400 liquid calories as well, so about 1200 calories on the run.

roughly 4100-4300 calories ingested on the course, had a good race.

Justin D
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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thermolyte is a capule; I think I have heard of people opening them up into the liquid they are drinking, but I just swallowed one every 30-60 minutes based on best guess of my needs.

What I like about Carbopro is that it disolves so well that you can mix quite a bit into one water bottle--this time I'll put all my kcal needs into one 72 oz camelback and just get water from aid stations (gatorade if I feel like it)

Justin's post reminded me to add--one strategy is to figure your kcal needs and then work backwards to decide when where you are going to poke it all down your gullet (sp?). So if you decie you want to take in 3000 calories on the bike you can decide how you want to divide it--how much of what product at what time.

I for example would get sick of gels if I tried to eat 15 of them, but they are great if I want to get 100 high GI carb calories in me quick. i put a flask with 5 apple/cinn carb boom in my jersey pocket at IMC and used up the whole thing. on the bike and used up another on the run. plus about 3 peach ones from special needs, by the last one I never wanted to see a gel again for a while.
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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Good advice above, so I'll give you some bad advice (i.e., what I did).

My plan was to rely completely on the Gatorade at aid stations. IM North America advertised "Riptide Rush" flavor for A YEAR prior to the race. So, I trained with it exclusively. Race day flavor was the now-discontinued "Fierce Grape." Wanna know why they discontinued it? Because it's undrinkable! Wanna know what they did with all the overstock? Right -- foisted if off on IM racers.

That stuff gagged me so bad I probably only drank half of what I should have. I was convinced I was getting Gatorade poisoning. The fact that I didn't pee even once all day tells me I was dehydrated.

Second mistake -- I fueled up for the bike like I do on long rides. Lots of tasty things like chocolate Cliff bars and Tigermilk Bars. I didn't eat any of them. I was craving liquid calories and didn't have any.

Anyway -- live and learn. Do a couple of nasty long tiring days in the months before so you can practice your nutrition plan. Things that you like on a 5-hour ride can look like poo on IM day.
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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As far as a digestive system goes, I'm running straight pipes. So the nutrition thing is pretty key for me. I use Cytomax, Champion Nutrition Metabolol Endurance, old-school Powerbars, Muscle Nitro, a Red Bull in the special needs bag (that's what makes it "special") and something else with salt. I hit the aid stations on the run for water and Coke.

That has been tried and true in two Ironmans and what I'm going with in N.Z.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [trent] [ In reply to ]
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A huge part of nailing the nutrition is luck unless you have done a whole bunch of ironman races. IMFL was my 3rd and I got my nutrition figured out a little better this time. I had one oatmeal-type snack bar in my transition bag from swim to bike that I ate while grabbing my stuff out of the bag and running to the bike. On the bike I had 2 flasks of Hammer Gel and took a shot from one every half hour. I also had my Bento box stuffed with Power Bars that I had cut in half and ate one half power bar every 1/2 hour too. To drink I relied on the Gatorade and water at the aid stations and just made sure I drank a lot and kept my bottle as full as possible. On the run I used a Fuel belt with 2 flasks of gels and drank lots of Gatorade and water at the aid stations and didn't rely on Coke until the last 6 miles. It worked pretty well for me and I didn't use any eloctrolyte tablets (hadn't used them enough to give it a try). One mistake that I made was to try and eat a mouthful of pretzels at around 18 miles into the run (I was getting tired of the gels by this point) and I ended up spitting them out .... don't try anything new on race day!

I am 6ft tall and weigh 170lb (at least I did on race day!) which also has a big impact on how many calories you'll need. My advice is to try a lot of different combinations in training to make sure that you are comfortable with what you ultimately decide on. My other advice is to try as many different types of drinks (Gatorade, Power Aid, Cytomax, etc.) as you can get hold of in many different flavours so that no matter what you're served on race day you can just go with the flow (unless you want to pack 6 or 7 water bottles on your bike). I was shocked a few years ago in Roth when they handed me mineral water on the run and I splashed it all over my face and into my eyes.... ouch, thinking it was just regular water.
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Re: Nutrition during IM Races [Allan] [ In reply to ]
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Per a thread I started a month ago, I've been experimenting with various drinks, trying to find the perfect formula for me. I do know that my reliance on Gatorade+bars in my first ironman (10'56") did not work for my stomach, which was in major pain by run time. I've become a firm believer in low glycemic index drinks for long workouts, but not all have worked for me.

So here's what I've found, for me:
  • Cytomax - Love it, but it's too much of sugar rush for anything over 2.5 hours. I'll use it in high-intensity, <3 hour road races, but I can't use it for long course tris.
  • Accelerade - Doesn't keep me feeling fully energized. I use it for training (up to 2 hours) since it's compatible with my recovery drink of choice, Endurox R4. But it leaves me too flat on long rides to want to use in ironman.
  • Hammer products (Gel, SE) - Tried full containers of each, and it leaves me even flatter than Accelerade. Simply didn't feel energized. And the need for so many supplemental pills was more complexity than I could tolerate.
  • GPush + Carbo-Pro - Now we're talking. Have used the G3 (2 scoops) + Carbo-Pro (1 scoop) + 1 Thermolyte tab per hour approach, and this seemed to rock. Tastes good, keeps me energized, no sugar spikes. Am just getting used to this, and I haven't used the products individually as much, but I'm thinking this could be the magic formula. If it keeps working, I'd use this throughout the bike, then switch to gel on the run.


For the run I use gels because they're transportable. I've used Gu for 10+ marathons and love them, but I'm going to try a gel with protein to see if there's a difference (does Powergel have protein?).

I've also been trying Metalbol Endurance before long workouts. Love the taste of Mountain Raspberry. It leaves my stomach feeling a little weird, but doesn't push it over the edge. Don't know if it works well with the GPush + Carbo-pro that follows later; I'll keep experimenting to find out.

So in sum, based on weekly long ride trial and error, here's the current plan:

1) Metalbol Endurance before the race (need more experimentation here)

2) GPush G3 (2 scoops) + Carbo-Pro (1 scoop) + salt tabs, each hour, during bike

3) Gel (Gu or equivalent) on run, 2-3 per hour

4) Endurox R4 after every workout and race, religiously

If anyone else has experience / comments with the above plan, I'd enjoy hearing it.
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