Freeze your bottles and put them in an insulated envelope. The kind with bubble wrap material you can buy for $1 at an office supply store. Depending on the temperature the bottles will thaw some or all the way and will most certainly be cooler than if they are only in the plastic special needs bag.
in IMLP 04 i used this strategy and the bottles were half thawed at the special needs pick-up. Thawed enough to start drinking and they thawed the rest of the way as I did the 2nd loop. It worked perfectly. In warmer races they will be completely thawed.
Do you have a spot to carry a bottle with plain water? With gel and concentrated bottles you may need some dillution and more fluid. A 500ml in a cage or jersey pocket if necesary. Replace them at the aids. With concentrated simple sugars you will need lots of plain water.
Each accelerade bottle is 330 cals x 6 = 1980 calories.
Gel is 90 cals x 8 = 720 cals.
Total cals = 2700 for a 5.5-6 hour bike = 450-490 cals/hour. That seems quite high but it depends on who you are. I’m aiming for more like 300/hour (5’9/150pounds).
Also I’m not a huge fan of all the protein in acclerade. I do fine on it in training but it causes me some GI issues in races. I guess as long as you have practiced it in a half IM and done o.k. - I’d be happy. The overall consenus I’ve seen has suggested that protein in a 1:5 ratio is too high for racing…At most I’d use a bit of accelerade for flavor (if you like it) and then add carbo-pro ir something so the protein ratio is a fair amount lower (like 1:10 or even 1:20).
The stuff tastes bad hot.
I’d also carry some plain water to wash those gels down - plus 330 cals/24 oz is running a bit high on the osmolarity (or is it osmolality?).
Do you have to use accelerade, or can you use the on-course support during your race? It may make life simpler for you…
This worked for me at IMUK:
Plan: one gel every 20 minutes, no less than one bottle of fluid every hour, plus a banana every hour, for a total of around 400 cal or so per hour. I knew from long rides that my stomach could take this. I also knew from looking at the locations of the aid stations that if I picked up one bottle and two gels at each station, I’d stay ahead of the plan. I did not plan to use a special needs bag.
How it worked out: I left T1 carrying two bottles of Gatorade and two gels. By the time I reached the first aid station (45 minutes or so), I was ready to toss one empty and pick up a refill and two more gels. I repeated the process for the rest of the course. I never ran short of anything, and was “peeing clear” all day. I got off the bike with a 6:03 split, feeling like it was a non-event.
Some things I learned:
Bike nutrition starts before the swim. Like most, I forced down about 1000 cal of breakfast at 3:30 AM and then went to the transition area. BUT I kept eating right up to the start – I had brought some dried figs with me and was munching on those right up to the (delayed) start. 4 figs = roughly 100 cal, so I got another 500 cal that way. Plus I downed another bottle of Gatorade.
Gels are great, but a banana is good for getting the awful gel taste out of your mouth.
Planning to survive off of the course is no good if you blow the “handoff” at the aid station – you have to remember to slow down at the aid stations in order to give the volunteers a chance to hand you anything. (I felt really bad when one guy in his 60’s sprinted after me to get me the water bottle I dropped – really above and beyond the call if you ask me.)
Blink – and you’ll miss the special needs station.
Of course – none of this is valid if you can’t stomach what they’re sproviding on the course.
You might consider having all but one bottle of your accelerade in powder form while on the bike to mix with with cold water from the support stops. Saves weight and makes the drink more palatable. The time savings in having it premixed is nominal.
IMO You will need to take some water or your concentration (osmolality) will be too high. Mixing Accelerade concentrated (with the large amount of protein that it contains) with no additional water is asking for issues at race pace IMO. My guess is that you will need to take in an extra 12-20 ounces per hour of water minimum.
Also, if you are taking gels on top of your concentrate, you will need to account for this also, meaning you will need even more water.
Gatorade WILL NOT dilute your concentrate. It will actually make it worse depending if it is the endurance formula or the regular. You need to take in water.
The best is to try it in training under race conditions. Hope that helps out.