I’m doing my first half IM this year. I would like some suggestions on what to eat or not eat during a Half IM. I assume you can’t make it just sucking down water and sports drink for the entire race. I assume you have to consume something of some substance. What do you experienced Half IM’ers do? How do you structure your food and drink intake during a Half IM? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
(FTI: This is posted on Gordo too.)
Nutritional requirements vary greatly from individual to individual so your best bet is to experiment until you find out how much food you actually need. In a 1/2 I typically consume one flask of Hammer gel and 1 power bar on the bike along with a couple bottles of gatorade and then just gatorade and water at the aid stations on the run.
I did one 1/2 (duathlon) last year went through about 6 gel packs, lots of h2o, I had a clif bar with me but it never sounded good I believe I could have used more sport drink on the bike than I had. Once again personel trial during training is going to be your best advice.
Jim
An example!: would be.
2:30 am 200 calories I use spiz
4:30 am 250 calories
6:00 water bottle of gatorade or I use a can of red bull and mix in propell. One electrolite tab
7:00 race starts
swim finish sip some water
30 min. into bike start drinking gatorade and take 1/2 a gel
Continue to drink sports drink
Every 30 min. take a gel and drink water with it. Some prefer solids (bars) I alternate
Every hour take an electrolite tab with your gel.
On the run: drink 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup sports drink each mile. e-cap/1/2 gel each hour. If you think your stomach is ok bite some orange slices along the way.
Use your plan on all your long training.
It changes with how you feel and the heat . This is just an example.
have a look at http://www.byrn.org/gtips/halfpace.htm.
dont know what your background is but your first 1/2IM will be a learning experience. It is a great distance but IMO the key to a good race is to realize that you are racing only yourself. You bring to the day what you earned training - no more no less, so IMO it does no good to compete against others. Race within yourself especially on the bike (i.e., dont worry about people blowing by you. either you will see them on the run or they are flat out fitter than you!) Really “stay within yourself” on the bike (which is easy to say but in reality can only be learned through experience) with the aim of NOT SLOWING DOWN on the run. You wont be able to fine tune pacing (i.e., know how fast you can push the bike) until you get more experience but walking the run SUCKS so on your first try IMO it is best to make sure to leave plenty of gas in the tank. IMO, even (or maybe especially) if you like me are strongest on the bike, view the bike as a long transition to refuel and regroup after the swim and get ready for a kick ass run. If you can hold a steady pace on the run (or even put in a negative split) you WILL pass a lot of folks that hammer by you on the bike. So IMO you should hop on the bike, get your heart rate down and settle into a nice cadence. I have a target HR range 5 or so beats below my target HR on run which I set based on training info. I think conventional wisdom says wait 10 or so minutes to let your stomach settle before beginning the refueling process, although a swill of water to get pond gunk out of your mouth is not going to kill you. IMO if you plan to race the run (rather than merely get through the run) you will not want to eat on the run - rather you fuel for the run on the bike. Gel or bars or both is personal preference. Some people like to set times and amounts for fueling, but just get it down. Then in T2, like the byrn article suggests, I like to have a drink ready. I actually like flat cola. I’ll take a chug and then set out to run. If you have fueled properly you will not need to WALK THE AID STATIONS!!! I did on my first saying: “Jeez, I must be bonking due to improper nutrition.” Fact was though I hammered too hard on the bike and just didnt have enough left for the run! IMO if you have fueled adequately on the bike you won’t need to fuel on the run. At my 1/2 marathon pace I simply cant ingest anything other than water as I dump it on my head. Also, I know from my training runs that glycogen depletion is not an issue for me given my run time so I really have no excuse to slow down to mess with a gu packet. Yeah that bowl of pretzels at mile 10 might look damn appealing but at that stage “race nutrition strategy” IMO is just an excuse to not kick for the line.
Caveat: These are just my lay ramblings mostly related to my own race prep for this year. Good luck!