In my previous IM runs I’ve started to drink coke at roughly the halfway point and it’s always helped me a lot. It seems to me that it might be possible to drink coke right from the beginning of the run to help me out. Is this bad news? I suppose there is the possibility of setting yourself up for a big crash? Any insights on this would be much appreciated. Thanks.
Unless you can be absolutely and irrevocably convinced that the supply won’t run dry partway through the run, I’d stick with starting about halfway through. If the supply fails at, say, mile 16, those final 10 miles could be miserable. I’m doing a small first-year iron in 25 days, and even though they say there will be coke on the run, i want to make certain it will be there THROUGHOUT the run.
The sad thing is that one can’t count on cola at any particular point in an IronMan. At IronMan Lake Placid my wife who placed in the first 700 and second in her age group only found coke at a few aid stations through out the run. So many athletes were requesting Coke that volunteers went to stores and purchased it with their own money. Sadly, Diet Coke showed up at least one aid station as a result. After the race G.F. proclaimed that they had tons of Coke on hand. For some reason it didn’t make it to many of the aid stations in a timely manner.
Bike racers have used Coke as a not so secret fueling weapon for years.
SciGuy
as a rule, once you start on the coke you should be able to follow through and use it for the remainder- Ilike to have it as alast resort- it is awesome. Having said that the most amazing drink I ever had in an IM was an ice cold RedBull at IM Germany- man that stuff s like aviation fuel…
Weman
You’re doing the Canadian Ironman event! I’ll be there doing the Half.
Did they send something out saying there would be coke?
Why coke? Why not Pepsi or Mountain Dew or Dr Pepper? Just wondering . . .
To be honest the point I hit the coke,anything like that wil do… I wanted coke in Germany but all they had was ice and redbull, and I’m telling ya it was like heaven.
Weeman
This is something I didn’t think about. It is probably wise to not start on the coke until maybe halfway…I’d hate to start on it right away and then find out the later aid stations have none available. Thanks for the guidance.
I would think anything with sugar and caffeine would do the trick. Mt. Dew would probably be better with more caffeine.
The theory is the simple sugars tend to get oxidized quicker and caffeine does work, no question. I have been doing a lot of work with Mark Allen and he is a big believer in Glucose, a simple sugar that get broken down quicker. He lived on Coke in Kona. If it worked for him…
Yes, Terry sent out an e-mail (late last week) to all iron participants, and in it he mentioned Gatorade, Powergel, bananas, and Coke. At least I THINK it went out only to iron people. I can forward it to you if you want.
Sorry I didn’t find you at K-Town. Are you going to be at 1000 Islands…maybe in an, uh, official capacity?? See you there!
Taking part in the 1000 Islands Tri are ya? GREAT!
I’m not hard to miss. I’ll be the one with the crazed look on my face on Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday 
I’ll most likely see you at Race Kit pick up Sat/Sun or after, during the awards etc!
Have a great race.
I’ll add to what everyone else is saying. Try not to start the Coke until the halfway point since once you start you’ll need some more (it’s very addictive stuff during an IM!). I try and get my nutrition planned so that I don’t start drinking Coke until I’m well past the halfway point (18-20 miles then begin).
Definitely don’t start on the Coke unless you’re pretty convinced that it will be available throughout the run. I feel my run really suffered at Lake Placid because I had started on the Coke and they quickly ran out (I finished in the top 200) by the time I completed the first loop. I think my sluggishness on the second half of the run was at least partly due to the lack of Coke…