I did a simulation for Honu yesterday which was a 45 minute swim, 30 minute run, 3 hour bike, and then another 30 minute run. I have heard how a lot of people are going with the concentrated bottle of their powder of choice and then picking up water at aid stations to minimize weight on the bike.
I tried a 1200 calorie bottle of Infinit yesterday and I found that while my normal mix doesn’t bother my stomach at all the very concentrated bottle probably would have had me on the sidelines had it been a full IM. Having read all of the race reports and the large number of stomach issues I am wondering if other people can’t handle the very concentrated mixtures as well.
It isn’t such a huge deal for the half, but for the IM to minimize the junk on the bike I probably can’t go with a total Infinit solution since I will probably be in the 5:30-6:00 mark on the bike. I am thinking that the best solution is to make the switch to Gatorade Endurance since that is what is on the course, but I find that it gets too sweet on a hot day.
Curious what other combinations others have found useful it you prefer something other then Gatorade Endurance.
Concentrate shouldn’t affect you at all…you’re supposed to swig some of the concentrate and then suck down some water…in the end it should end up about the same concentration by the time it hits your stomach. Keep working at it…
Concentrated solutions are simply a way to get all the calories you need for the race into 1 or 2 bottles… You still need fluids…
Will - What has worked great for me is to make my 6 hour bottle a clear or semiclear bottle. With a sharpie I have marked off 6 equal servings up the side of the bottle. On the bars I have an aerobottle. Every hour I pour into the aerobottle one hashmark worth of infinit and mix it with one of the 20oz water bottles they hand out at the aid stations. It tastes just like a freshly made bottle. Good luck.
PS - Like a lot of other posters here I got my 21 coupons for free Gatorade Endurance in the mail today. They are blowing a ton on marketing. $42 for the coupons plus a ton on the box they came in. Can’t see how that math works.
What I have done with my InfinIT to save precious water bottle space on my frame is to create a mix with hardly any flavor and to grind it into a paste and fill a flask or two with it (500 a flask). This works great as it leaves me two bottles for water and the ability to sip off the flask mounted on the top tube. Hope this helps!!!
1200 calories in a bottle is a bit much for Honu… I’m assuming you’re doing this for Ironman training later as well?
I have a hard time drinking it straight that concentrated as well. If I’m going to go that route I’d rather use gel.
What I do is use an aerobottle and a concentrated downtube bottle. I’ll start with sports drink in the aero bottle and concentrated drink in the downtube, probably enough for a bottle every hour at honu (200 cal per bottle) so I’ll have 400cal of drink in the down tube bottle. After I’m almost through the front aero bottle at the next aid station I’ll dump half of my concentrated bottle into the aerodrink and top off with cold water at the aid station. This way you also have cold water pretty much the whole race versus lukewarm and sometimes spoiling (if you’re using protein drinks) sports drink. You can scale this up for Ironman distance by just using a stronger mixture. When I’m refilling for the third time I toss the concentrate bottle and take on aid station bottles to finish off with as I’m pretty sick of sports drink by that time.
Thanks. Yeah it was a hot day and I was more trying to figure out for Wisconsin what’s the best way to get nutrition/hydration and minimize weight as best possible. For Honu in particular I think I can get by with what is on my bike. I have found that the Cliff Blocks work well for me so I might throw the bento box back on and use them for calories and supplement with cold water from the aid stations.
mmm, I’m not really the one to ask experience wise as I’ve only done one Ironman and a handful of halfs. I personally would go for a concentrated energy drink like Hammer Perpetuem, HEED (depending on if you like protein or no protein), carbopro, Spiz, stuff like that mixed extra strong in a bottle and keep diluting it with aid station water in a front aero bottle. This keeps you from carrying too many bottles during the race and allows you to use the sports drink you’re used to and like the whole race. Supplement with Gels, bars, Clif blocks, etc to achieve the calories you need every hour. I take in about 300-400 an hour and that seems to work well for me. I’m 155lbs btw. You also may need to supplement with electrolyte tabs of some sort, I use Hammer Endurolytes (seeing a trend here as they sponsor me:). On carrying the gels and stuff I’d prefer to use a gel flast or two. Granted you can’t really figure out the dosage quite as easily but you know how much is in a full gel flask so at that point you have it figured out and it’s a lot cleaner and easier (less stressful) than packets. A small box or something on your aerobars to hold salt tablets. A bento box or similar if that helps. I’m pretty minimalist now as I’ve slowly figured out what works for me and what I absolutely need and what I don’t really need.