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VERY new to the sport here, and an olympic distance that I will be participating in this July will be my longest triathlon, and then registered for a 70.3 in October. I have gotten better at fueling over a couple half marathons and a several 10 mile runs and practice fueling during long workouts, but I know I am still far from having this all figured out.
That being said, what is more painful/detrimental in your experience, over fueling or under fueling during a race?
You can't overfuel in a race. Your body simply can't absorb as many calories as you're (likely) putting out.
Now if you're talking about just chugging some hyper-concentrated drink mix or something, then that'll likely leave you spewing on the side of the road, so that would be pretty detrimental. But otherwise, no.
The most important nutrition happens in the days before. During the race you're just trying to maintain your caloric stores as long as possible.
Agreed with rubik. The only sympton of over-fueling would be feeling bloated or other GI distress. Under-fueling will absolutely ruin a race no matter what level of athlete or training. Once you bonk, it is very hard to come back from. You will learn your body as you continue to progress in the sport and understand what you need / can handle intaking. Always practice nutrition during your training. There are some pretty good averages for calorie and hydration intake if you do some googling. If you are debating a range of how much you should intake, lean towards the higher end of the range to start. You can dial it in from there.
If you are debating a range of how much you should intake, lean towards the higher end of the range to start.
This is exactly what I was wanting to know! Thank y'all for the input. I'll continue the googling and training with nutrition as well.
I prefer to err on going under than over.
If I'm not keeping up with fuel then I get a nice clear early warning in the form of hunger well before the bonk sets in and can dump in some extra calories, and maybe back off the pace a little to let them process. Also, the cost of under fueling too much is just bonking which sucks but it's an obvious problem that I'm pretty comfortable dealing with.
When I've gone over the early warning signs are more subtle, like a mild bloating, and more difficult to manage because I may want to keep dumping in fluids to stay hydrated which could aggravate the situation. Plus, the cost of going over is GI distress, puking, and probably some bonking mixed while trying to get back on track, that's a more complex set of symptoms that could have multiple causes, is mentally tougher to deal with, and usually takes longer to recover from.