I seem to have sprint distance, 1/2 Im and Im distance racing down. BUT the Olympic/1/4 IM stuff really throws me every time. I always eat around 3 A.M. 700 calories spiz, 5 am 250 calories slimfast, 6am one bottle propell/redbull and a sodium tab. Race at 7/7:30.
During a sprint I eat a carboom toward the end od the bike.
Full and 1/2 ironman starting on the bike: gel on the 30 min., bar and sodium tab plus water on the hour. RUN: alternate water and gatorade bite oranges.
2 - 3 hours of gong hard is right at the outer limit of the bodies glycogen stores. In theory, if the event lasts about 2 hours, you should be able to do the race on stored gycogen/glucose and water, but this is not advisable. Therefore, what to do? My suggestion would be any of the regular sports beverages such as Gatorade should work if the are mixed at 7% or less.
Getting more complicated than this can, well, make things more complicated for both your digestive tract or your replenishment strategy. You want something that is simple for the stomach to work on and simple for you to get access to.
I’ll usually drink water and take a salt tab, and maybe a Gu, before the race, then try to have 2-3 Gu’s on the bike, and another salt tab. I might bring a Gu on the run, but at that point, I’m mostly focused on staying hydrated, not eating.
I find that having a big pasta dinner around 6PM the night before, then a banana, yogurt, and some Mueslix for breakfast gives me a good fuel base. As fleck said, if you’re doing 2:30-3:00, you’re right on the edge of having to take in fuel while racing, so I try to take in whatever I can beforehand.
Note: Jmorrissey is not a nutrition expert, nor has he ever won his age group. He is simply a MOP triathlgeek with an abiding love of beer. Racing allows him to drink more of it. ;p