I’m attempting my first Ironman distance here in the next few weeks, I’ve done several Olys, a few halfs, now I’m just going for it. I spoke with a friend of mine who recently raced in IMNZ, he advised sipping Ensure during the bike (1 20 oz. bottle per 56 mile lap), keep in mind that he never trained with it prior to the race, just took some advice from another friend/competitor. My friend claims it was the “cure all” for HIS race. Apparently, Ensure is very high in calories and acts well as a food supplement/energy. He liked it very much because he didn’t feel like his stomach was “bloated” or “too full”, yet was able to get the calories he need to sufficiently sustain. I’m curious if anyone on this site has tried Ensure and could post your experience… Good, bad or indifferent.
It’s very caloric (30 calories per ounce if I recall–more for the PLUS), but quite heavy on the stomach. I wonder if one could take enough fluid on to of it to keep hydrated. Especially if one sweats like I do. The pigs don’t sweat as badly as I do.
Anyone out there with more experience using it in hot conditions?
i’ve been using it for pre-race/workout nutrition, and finally decided to try it for a long ride this weekend. we rode the hardest 85miles of my life (tons of hills), and i took 4-5 cans of the stuff during the trip. It worked well for energy, supplemented with 2 clif shots (for the caffiene), and felt great. The one thing i did notice, it’s nice to have water to chase with, b/c it’s a little bit ‘dry’…leaves your mouth slightly dry after drinking. That said, i have the flu right now…so that may have been it as well. My biggest problem right now is figuring out how to hold the ensure and water/gatorade on my bike with only 2 bottles and w/o having to resort to the behind the seat bottles for anything but training.
summary…good stuff, tastes ok, no gi distress and works well!
To clarify the use of the ensure would be for food supplement (energy - high calories, sip over time not consume at once), not a primary source of hydration. I will certainly have my electrolyte replacement fluids and H20.
For those of you that have tried, what about flavors? Plain, Vanilla?
Kevin- Profile Design makes a water bottle that will fit within you aerobars (I forget the name of it, Aero Bottle?), you may want to run a search. That way you could use your two bottle holders on the frame w/o resorting to behind the seat.
For races i run a PD aerodrink + one frame mounted bottle on the seat tube…it’s all that my bike can hold (chronalu)…i only have one set of bolts for frame mounted bottles.
as for flavours…on the go, i’d say strawberry and wildberry are my 2 favs so far…butter pecan is good, but i wouldn’t take it during a race.
