The nutrition info I've read listed 400 cal/hour as the max you could hope to digest while working hard but I've never come close to that. It could also be the concentration not just the amount. With most products, I've always done better with a lower concentration than the recommended dose and about 200-300 cal/hr.

At 6'2", 205 I feel your pain.. I usually try for 200-300 cal/hr... so far it has worked for IM Cal, and IM FL... I primarily use Power Gel or Gu with cut Gatorade.

---

S 36

I think that, in general, people overestimate the amount of food they require. I'm pretty sure I heard in one of my physiology courses that there is no benefit of consuming more than 1 to 1.5 kcal per kg of body weight. Or maybe it was per pound. If I wasn't working so damn much, I'd look it up. Either way, we are talking between 200 to 300 Kcal per hour of exercise for guys our size.

Now, you could probably consume more than this, but just because it goes down your throat does not mean you absorb it. I have finished 8 hour bike rides on gatorade alone without any hint of bonk. However, I almost always (and at ironman, did) mix it up with solid food, but only because liquids alone all day nauseates me. A couple of turkey on wheat finger sandwiches + a couple powerbar and I feel much better. I steer clear of GU.

Ironman can be done on gatorade alone. I know a guy who qualified for hawaii on gatorade alone. Getting calories down during long periods of exercise is a trainable thing, but it probably has something to do with your own system and preferences besides. find what works for you and stick with it, and don't let anyone dictate what you should or should not do once you find what works.

philbert

---

Dr. Philip Skiba
Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes now available on Amazon!

6' 3" 200#, and I sweat like maryland basketball coach Gary Williams. I can get by with gatorade, Gu and salt tablets. I recently added the salt tablets and they have made a big difference at mile 85 of a century or on the run of an IM. I have no GI upset with this combo and if I start the Na early I can skip 2/3 of the rest stops on the run. I do like to chug coke on the run.

How many calories can you consume in an hour? The answer for me is zero if I get depleted. My absorption shuts down. I have not had a problem with too much intake, so i do a Gu every ten miles a salt tablet every hour, and 24 oz gatorade per hour. If it's hot add water and an extra salt pill, so 150cal/24 oz gatorade, 100 cal/gu-- near 300/cal/hr.

I've read that GI problems are most often volume issues, not calorie problems. Sodium intake is directly correlated with intravascular fluid volume. Therefore carbopro is no good for me because it does not provide enough fluid volume for my excessive sweat. Supplementing the sodium in gatorade with salt pills works. i would love a supplement with higher sodium concentration and fructose to drive the fluid in.

6'1", 185... I sweat buckets-full too! Done two IMUSAs and preparing for IMWI... I've had the GI problems, but I am getting to the point where I've done enough long racing and training over the last couple years that I am starting to base my nutrition more acccurately on what's worked for me and less on what I read. Reading la's post, I think that it almost hits it on the head for me. For long races like an IM distance, I am now putting in more calories than I used to during the bike (around 400 per hour), and taking salt tablets or eating pretzels periodically during the bike and run. On the run I get away from the bars and fruit and get more cals from gel, but stay up with the salt intake.

---

***

Chappy: I feel your pain! :), Oh, to be 130 lbs! Two things that have worked for me so far:

1. Losing weight. Now that I'm down to 172 from a high over 200 lbs., I find nutrition is much easier. My body is more efficient at using glucose I believe. You're about my height, but a little bigger boned than me. So, 185 would do wonders for your times. (I only mention this because I know you have a solid head on your shoulders and won't go ballistic at the mention of the "w" word. :) )

2. I have discovered that I am better off eating solid food on the bike but ending it at least 30-45 minutes before the run. During the run I am better off if I'm on an almost entirely liquid diet. I purposely run a caloric deficit during the race because I feel I can afford to do so without bonking-but it is tricky-and because I just feel better.

Oh, and I stopped with the electrolytes because I drink gatorade on the bike. I am not convinced most of us need more sodium, phoshpate, or magnesium than we get from our drinks, power bars, and other foods, like the universal "gas" peanut butter sandwiches! :)

This is me.

-Robert

---

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank