I have a 1/2 IM on Sat. My plan was to start out the bike with 4 bottles;
1 Aero bottle of Gator aide Endurance
1 bottle of HEED
1 bottle of Carbo Pro
1 bottle of Sustained Energy
along with 6-8 ozs of Hammer gel.
I plan to refill the aero bottle at aid stations along the way.
Am I starting off with too much liquid?
Thanks all
300 calories per hour max, approx 16 oz of fluid per hour. You’ll be ±30 minutes in the hole from the swim (unless you wear a camelback under your wetsuit), so make that up in the first hour.
If it’s hot, add some electrolytes (enduralytes?). Don’t overdo these, or you’re GI tract will speed up ;o)
Don’t over fuel or you’ll initiate reverse peristalsis… aka, the technicolor yawn. Too little is better than too much.
This made me think of another 1/2 question. While biking, as you approach aid stations, do you just toss your empty bottles before grabbing full bottles? Do you get the empties back later (I have a thing about my water bottles) or just concede that they’re gone?
er, my .02 would be yes. that is a lot of stuff to schlep along. I personally dont like the aero bottle coz i like my own cho drink (gatorade watermelon + carbo pro) in 2 moderately concentrated bottles (about 500kcal) in my rear and then 1 water on my downtube which gets replaced if needed from the aid stations. That plus gu and maybe a banana if i can grab it is plenty energy to see me through the run. but do the math calorie wise and based on your training rides and factor in the “dont do anything radical to your race plan the week before the race” rule of thumb. your plan at least has a good fail-safe so you wont be screwed if you launch your two rear bottles in mile 1 (which actually happened to me this year at ralphs. oops.)
That’s quite a bit of mixing and matching products.
My question would be, why are you using so many different products? It seems overly complicated to me. If it works for you, fine. But, if you are questioning your strategy, I assume you’re not sure if it works for you. Don’t try anything you haven’t practiced with.
If you don’t have the nutrition thing down pat at this point, I’d suggest to err on the side of too little calories. You can always walk a while if you are running low on energy, while something you eat is being processed for available energy. However, if you do the opposite, unfortunately, you can’t always just vomit to get rid of it. It can, and sometimes will, sit there in your stomach and bloat you into submission…having birth may not hurt worse than a full-fledged atomic gut bomb that can result…and you won’t even be able to walk fast if this happens to you.
Good luck, you’ll probably do fine, just keep it simple. Here is one idea of simple: if you feel good, maybe eat a little more instead of going harder. If you feel bad because your stomach is getting full, plain water will be the thing you need until your stomach feels OK again.
Be sure and let us know how you do!
It’s rather simple. Determine your sweat rate (oz/mile), and make sure you have enough liquid (between what you start with and what you pick up on the road) to cover your losses, up to the amount you can drink per hour. Calculate the calories you’ll burn, subtract your stored calories, and consume the deficit, up to the amount your stomach can handle per hour.
I sweat nearly 3oz/mile on the bike, and nearly 16oz/mile on the run, so I need to drink a lot.
Why? Remember, train heavy, race light.
The idea is to strip down to minimum weight. For even an IM ride, I rack only two bottles on the frame (the behind the seat bottle holder is only for long training) just to get me to the first aid station. I utilize what the course provides, which usually means bannanas, power bars, cliff shots, water and gatorade. About the only supplement that I absolutely will have on board is salt tabs.
As far as other stuff; take the pump off and put a couple CO2 cartridges and an inflater into your saddle wedge to save weight. In the wedge will be some basic tools, spare innertube plus patches if it becomes a 2-flat day (never had a flat yet in a race, knock-on-wood, but am preparred) and will tape a spare folded-up tire on the back side of the seat tube.
With HED3 wheels, my race set-up as above is so incredibly lighter than when set for training. As far as that aero bottle, you don’t see many pros using them because you have to stop, or at least really slow up, to fill them. Plus, you need to get out of the saddle every ten minutes or so to keep from getting stiff from one position (plus for a male, to keep blood circulation down below). In other words, there is plenty of time to get a drink. I’d get rid of the aero bottle for racing.
On race morning, you should be able to say, wow, this bike is so light, it is going to ROCK. Yet I have everything I need.
Thanks all
I am comfortable with my nutrition plan for the most part. I have practiced on my long rides w/ no stomach issues. I guess I am just freaking b/c its my first half and I am worried about taking in enough fuel. Especially liquid. I also don’t know whats on the course.
As for weight, I am riding a P3 so it weight were important … The course is ‘rolling’ hills and will probably be hot.
So do you all race w/o the aero bottle?
Any one know what Muncie has on the course?
Froggy, I think you just have to let go of the bottles. You can’t expect these guys to sift through 8000 water bottles just to find the one with the ninja turtles on it. The race website might list what they are serving at the aid stations.
I just rechecked the race website and it was hidden on there. Gatorade and water.
Dude, That was funny!
Are you headed to Munice??? If so, I’ll be there as well. My first 1/2 and I’m having the same thoughts and may be planning too much nutrition on the bike as well.
Good Luck,
Paul
How does one detrmine how much sweat per mile?
If I know that I’m going to have to toss a bottle then I just buy a Gatorade sport bottle prior to the race and use it. On Sunday at the Peterborough half I tossed my plastic Gatorade bottle and they gave me another that was the same (although with a different flavour)
2 bottles shold do it w/ the aid stations on the course. I often just hold a bottle in my hand if I know i need a third. I down it before the first aid station and drop it there.
I put away 340 calories/hour and 28-32 oz of fluid per hour at my 1/2 pace. This is 24oz of perpetuem plus a gel and water to chase it. For 56 miles, I will take perpetuem in the aero bottle, two more on the rear, and a water bottle on the down tube. I don’t need to pick up anything at the aid stations, so I don’t have to train on whatever they are providing.
I usually switch to something else on the run - my current favorite is Lemon Lime Cytomax - it is pretty good, doesn’t get fizzy like accelerade does, and concentrates well. I will cut my calorie intake here - usually 150 - 200 calories of Cytomax and one gel/hour.
I always take endurolytes and amino acids to supplement. Usually one endurolyte and 1 amino acid capsule every 30 minutes. I up the endurolytes if it is really hot, but have not taken more than three per hour.
Nutritionally, all of the stuff you are using seems good. One word of warning - do not touch Gatorade or ANY simple sugars on the run, unless you have trained that way. Simple sugars do not mix well with Hammer products - trust me, I know…
Good luck.
John
Weigh yourself (naked) and your bottles before you ride, and then again after you ride. That’s how much you sweat.
you will need to replace more than the total amt of fluid that you lose as you’ll piss some of the replensihment fluid out and it will not be absorbed.
flat coke on run 
.