I was suprised to see no thread given his recent video about how he will do nutrition in Kona.
Basically it will be Gatorade endurance all the way, only fluid, no gels no solids, drinking a bottle every 25 min on the bike. He will also be running with a 400-500ml bottle on the whole run. He says his max sweat rate in kona conditions is above 2l/h.
It might just be my ignorance, but does he have an overly high sweat rate? I have not seen any other pros run with a bottle, i have also seen other pros eat bananas and other things even on the course. And do you really need to drink 2l/h in hot Kona conditions?
I watched it yesterday and it’s very similar to what I’ve found out. I sweat that much on really hot days. Other people that doubt it may not live in a place where it’s that hot. Here in southeastern Texas, we have months in a row where the peak heat+humidity= 120 degree F heat index. I’ll weigh myself before and after a run and can lose 4 lbs in just one hour. That’s around 2 liters per hour. Since you need to try to replace most of that water anyway, might as well put calories and sodium in it.
I don’t handle gatorade endurance quite as well as he does - it’s got a bit too much simple sugars or salt or something, and that upsets my stomach. So I do around 2/3rds gatorade endurance, 1/3rd maltodextrin powder instead and that goes down nicely. I can do 220 cals per hour on the run like that, nearly 400 per hour on the bike at the moment. Training yourself up on the bike is weird. A lot of it isn’t just downing more calories. You have to have faith that if you slow down so your HR drops below your aerobic threshold (180 minus your age, usually), then you will actually be able to eat more and then that will generate more power. You have to slow down to take in the fuel to go faster. This is because if you go over that HR, your blood leaves the stomach to go help the muscles. The fuel doesn’t digest, and then you’ll be weaker in a few minutes. It’s training the mind to be ok with backing off the pace so you can digest and then strangely, each pedal stroke has more watts when its got more calories behind it.
I noticed on the bike that using that high of calories mixed in the right amount of fluids equals a massive output of power. I’m pedaling along at 265 watts at only 133 bpm, but it feels like I’m pushing only half that. It’s amazing. After getting decently fit, Ironman is truly an eating and drinking competition. Here’s a file from my bike ride yesterday where I was doing that type of fueling immediately after already running an hour in the heat. 3 bottles per hour. My power was actually going up, 5 watts higher the second hour, even though my heart rate was going down!
Where Sanders might have trouble is wearing that fanny pack thing on the run. I haven’t seen him do that in a race unless I missed it. It’s a fine idea, but there’s a lot of unknown unknowns for him doing that in a race. But carrying extra crap on you is not the problem; Lange looked like a human shopping cart carrying all that produce at the end of the run last year. It’s somebody handing you random bottles that you think will fit in that thing and they bounce out, stuff like that. And if I was him, I’d carry one extra bottle of gatorade endurance on the bike in case he misses one at an aid station. Make it an aero bottle full of it on the frame or put it behind the saddle. His world now revolves around this fueling plan, don’t screw it up.
The guy has got me worried for his performance in Kona. He appears to be making significant changes in a lot of areas - general nutrition, race nutrition & strategy etc when he wasn’t far off victory last year. I just wish he would of just put in another solid year of training, slightly alter his race strategy and see if he could take the top step of the podium. I don’t think wholesale changes were required.
It’s so easy to h8 on someone when they put something out there.
He is so open with his strategy and so meticulous in his planning.
The thing that really comes out to me is his planning. Hes tested his nutrition plan and knows it will work for him. Can you imagine driving 2L/hr and runnnong two hours?
He just did an 8:20 Ironman completely glycogen depleted at the start. His feeding strategy was good enough to overcome that depletion.
I love that he puts these videos out. I find them very entertaining. That said, it also highlights just how badly he needs a coach/advisor. The stuff he is just now figuring out is the kind of stuff you hear about at a Tri 101 talk. Like I should probably eat before a race. Well, yeah, that would be a good idea.
I watched it, it was pretty enlightening and transparent…but how the hell do you not know “carbohydrate loading” is a real thing? How do you think that’s a wive’s tale?
**You equate athletic performance to intelligence??? You can’t possibly be serious. **
I was responding to a guy who said Lionel is an idiot because of his diet choices, or lack of accepted nutrition advise. I don’t think that is a reflection of lack of intelligence, it may be a lack of knowledge, which is very different. I never said anything about intelligence.
So, using “idiot” to mean someone with a lack of knowledge, as implied, I am saying that despite his lack of knowledge, he still did an Ironman in 7:44:29 so maybe he’s more knowledgeable than many here give him credit for.
It’s amusing to me to see so many experts come here and trash a professional triathlete with outstanding results who has one bad result (coming 2nd) and suddenly he’s an idiot who has no clue and the only way he could possibly meet the Slowtwitch standard is to get a coach…It’s laughable.
I absolutely love that you said this. Could you imagine if the trial and error of Jan Frodo was documented, Maybe like why he did bad last year and how he is on fire this year and more then likely to win Kona? Maybe Tiger Woods, Phelps, Jordan and his decision to play MLB. Thats the beauty of life. Its so cool to see people fail and attempt to pick them selfs back up. Imagine how many athletes have failed and just pulled out of races or DNF or 2nd place but you had no idea what they were doing. I think its pretty cool he documents it for people to see. I wish some of the other athletes that I recorded were more open about their training and nutrition so we could see more into their logic as well. Just my 2 cents. But thanks for watching man. I appreciate you following the journey.
I agree with this. I feel the video shows a pretty raw Lionel and I like that. I would think most “big” athletes have a PR team or their agent and sponsors that makes sure everything in a video comes off perfect so when you hear their story you get just enough good with the bad so they come out looking like a hero or whatever.
Now I would have assumed Lionel would have learned some of these lessons over the 1000s of hours of training and racing he has done. I understand that sometimes you may take for granted advice given to you or things your read when you first start out and are just a freak athlete so things just kinda go your way for the most part but you’d think he’d have known what is best for him to eat before, during and after any training or racing he does.
