I have done a lot of experimenting with food during Ironman. Some successful, some not so. What are your favorites for food during Ironman on the bike? I’m always interested to hear new ideas.
I used Gatorade bars in my last Ironman. Oatmeal raisin I think. Those things taste so good that I am able to get them down. I ate four on the bike, which may have been overdoing it, but at least I got them down.
They taste so good, the only problem is not eating them before the race. They taste good even if you aren’t working out, unlike Gatorade.
I’ve only done 3 IM and I’m still searching for the “perfect meal”. I will keep it simple for IMNZ with H2O, accelerade, powerbars and 1 or 2 peanut butter and honey sandwich(on wheat bread of course). I’ve had problems in the past with gells on the bike. I have heard people take immodium or pepto bismal (sp?) to combat the GI distress off the bike. Anyone else try this? I may take some in my special needs bag.
Interesting. I’ve used Metabolol Endurance with some success. It uses MCTs (Mono Chain Triglycerides?) as its primary calories source. It is frothy and hard to mix though, and develops an odd black color when exposed to heat. I also too “Muscle Nytro” and that stuff seemed to help delay muscle fatigue. I have no idea how it works, butit seemed to.
I’ve found that listening to your body is way to go for IM nutrition. Drink at every aid station, eat when your hungry (bars, bananas, etc) and start on the coke around mile 13 of the bike. Also, on hot races, take in plenty of sodium. The chicken broth on the run is mmm mmm good.
If you’re planning on using Accelerade at IMNZ you should plan on bringing your own and putting bottles in your Special Needs bag. The official drink on the course is PB, which I think stands for Putrid Bullocks – it’s absolutely the worst rubbish I’ve ever put down my gullet. I’m so glad I ordered a batch of their powder well in advance of IMNZ in time to discover there was no way I could use PB drink during the race. Instead, I used super-concentrated Gatorade and took water at some stops, and took two Accelerade bottles from my Special Needs bag.
A bit more on topic regarding IM nutrition, I’ve never been able to get any solids down while riding or running, so I rely exclusively on sports drink (anything but PB so far), water, and gels, plus salt tablets. I’ve never felt a big bonk in four Ironmans and have only erred on the side of too many concentrated carbohydrates in too short a time, resulting in some interesting projectile vomiting at IMNZ;-)
-David in Taipei
I have had very good luck with Carbo Pro.
Accelerade: The two guys I train with that have tried Accelerade has had the same problem that I have…unbelieveable upper GI pain from air/gas. It feels like your heart is in pain…all the way from the epigastric area to the spine and up the sternum. It’s debilitating, to say the least. Whenever we can manage to release that air, everything is OK, for a while, but it comes back. This goes on for about 30 minutes to an hour after taking the stuff, and gradually subsides. It also seems to be worse as the workout intensity increases. We don’t get the same distress with Endurox, made by the same company, but, we all threw our Accelerade in the trash. Anybody else have that same experience with this or other “aids”?
For my '99 Ironman Florida race I did 18 servings of HammerGel on the bike (they were in a water bottle diluted with water.) I took a bottle at every station, alternating between the sports drink and water just to keep everything diluted. I did another 8 gels during the marathon using a fuel belt. I had no nutrition issues during the race, but I do have an iron stomach. My only post-race issue was too many of those gels were caffienated. Ugh!
I stick to the liquids, too, since anything else usually comes right back up. I used the Ironman Cocktail recipe (Metabolol Endurance+Cytomax) for a couple years, but the stuff is like sludge and can block the water bottle nozzle…then you’ve got real trouble. The last few years I’ve used Champion’s Heavyweight Gainer 900. I know it sounds like one of those bodybuilder mixes, but I spent quite a while in the store, reading labels, and this one is different from most others. 4 scoops in water gives you…1260 calories! 17g Fat, 206g Carbohydrates, 70g Protein. And the best part is that it dissolves completely in water. Also has an assortment of vitamins and minerals and even MCTs. I use the vanilla flavor, and last year I added a bit of Espresso flavored Hammer Gel. One bottle on the ride, along with bottles of Gatorade from the aid stations is plenty. I set a timer to beep every 15min, and take a good hit from the bottle each time it beeps. YMMV
I prefer the GU powdered drink mix (GU2O). It’s easy on the GI and is almost pure maltodextrin and sodium. Simple and quick into the muscles. I use Extran Pro as heavy artillery on the carb/calorie front.
I did IMF2001 on Gatorade, milk, salt tablets, and a little gel. I had a decent race with a 10:27. Okay everybody say, “MILK??!!” I always drink it before I ride, and on breaks during long rides. I had been using a bunch of other stuff, but decided to use it during the race since my body digests it well. I was not completely pleased with my race, but I felt I nailed the nutrition.
And that is whole milk, not any of that watered down crap.
Like many aspects of training for and doing an Ironman the nutriational situation on race day can be very individualistic. You have to find what works for you in training **at racing intensities and in similar environmental conditions to race day. **Note carefully the last part of the last sentence. What works on an easy 4 - 5 hour ride at 18C may be disastrous for a hard, hilly and hot and humid Ironman race-day bike/run or vice versa!!
A common mistake is too eat/drink too much or two little in the early stages of the bike ride. Either way you can get into trouble early and never really recover. The swim can often leave you with a very unsettled feeling early on in the bike. Some people start gourging on food/drinks right away wich can lead to gastric shut down. At the other end of the spectrum the unsettled feeling may make you NOT want to have anything for the first hour or so on the bike, but by this point you may already have one foot in the graveyard of bonking. Try to get that first hour or so on the bike dialed in for what works for you. 1/2 Ironman races are perfect opportunities to try out some options at racing intensities.
For what it’s worth what worked for me( Low 9 hour Ironman):
Bike - one energy bar an hour for the 5 hours on the bike. At least one bottle of water consumed between each aid station( about every 5 miles) so about 4 bottles an hour. If race beverage was gatorade - try to get in a couple of bottles of that if it felt OK and a couple of bananas
Run - take one energy bar with me and nibble on that for the first hour or so. Several cups of water at each aid station. Maybe a banana or two. Assuming about a 3 hour marathon, shift to coke/water combo with about an hour to an hour and a 1/2 to gobut no sooner!
Did I read that right? Did you say 4 20-24 ounce bottles of water per hour? Wow, that seems like an awfully lot.
Then again, I wound up two quarts down in the med tent on my last IM.
Note that I said **about **and those are the smaller H20 bottles I am reffering to.
Also, I never ended up in the Med tent after my 9 IM races and with the exception of a minor blow-up in Hawaii one year, always closed strongly on the run. I attribute that to being well hydrated at T2.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I hope that your next race goes better.
Actually, it was my best run in the Ironman yet. I imagine it would have been better had I been hydrated.
What size bottle do you refer to? They usually hand out 20 ounce bottles. I do need to hydrate better on the bike. That a top priority for next year.
Tom,
Some of the above is very, particularly the part that it is very dependant on the individual. I am no where near in Fleck’s league, but I have done 12 IMs and usually go under 11 hours (that , for me is like 8 hrs for the pros!). Here is my game Plan cut and pasted:
IRONMAN Game Plan
“Positive Attitude Makes You Faster!”
Smile and have fun the whole day - This is voluntary! Hey, what could be better than doing three of my favorite things - swimming, biking, and running - all day(!) with people handing out food and drink, and people cheering! Not a bad day! I think we’ll get it done.
I Love my SWEETIE!!
Equipment
To Race Start:
Wetsuit
Goggles
Valve adaptors
Gatorade
1 Gel
Helmut and glasses }
Bike Shoes } Leave at
Food to tape to bike } Bike
Bike Bottles }
T 1 Bag: > > > >
# Belt (?) Or put # on Bike shorts
Bike Shorts
Gel flask
Subito top (or wear under wetsuit)
** Pictures of the girls
On bike - shoes, helmut, glasses, bottles, bars
T 2 Bag: > > > >
# Belt
Hat or visor
Gels
Black socks
Race Shoes
Run Speedo
Knee Strap
Nutrition
Morning:
Tape Ring on Finger!
5:00 - 2 Bars + 2 Ensure
1 Quart Gatorade - stop drinking ½ hour before race
1 Gel 10 min before start
Sip of water b/f start
Bike:
1 bottle Cytomax mixed double to dilute during ride
1 bottle Cocktail
3 scoops Cytomax
1 scoop Metabolol II
2 scoops Metabolol Eundrance
2 Bars - 1st ½ hr into ride, and 2nd after Cocktail
1 Gel flask on bike
Drink 1 bottle every ½ hour
Run:
1 Gel every 30 - 40 min + 1 at the start
Coke sits well - save for 2nd half of run
Whatever you can get down!
Oh well, the formatting didn't come out so well, but hope it helps. It works very well for me.
I’m lame I guess - I keep it simple as possible. No special needs, no magic elixirs. Gatorade and HammerGel on the bike, a quick RedBull in T2 and Coke on the run (with a spare HammerGel flask just in case). If it’s particularly hot, I’ll mix in some Endurolytes with my gel. That’s it, works very well for me - I’ve yet to have a nutrition problem (save for the time I went to Olive Garden the night before the race, but that’s another story).
I used something very similar to what Dan has in his article (race fueling) and have a gu every 20 mins on the bike, although first and last gel are actually carbo shotz (more liquid and bigger (bit like leppins))) on run use carbo shotz and power gels (need something different after all thoses gu’s) As for drinking I start with all my bottles containing a mix of PB and Maxim. (I thought the same as he guy above originally about PB but I forund you get used to it very quickly and now prefer the taste to just about any sports drink and I have never had any bad effects using it (think it has higher salt than most))
I have used both the Metabolol Endurance (pre-race) and Muscle Nitro (pre-race and mid-race) and feel they have been part of a successful nutrition plan during 1/2 IMs. (I used GU/CliffShot and G-Push/Revenge Pro for during race hydration and fuel). I am a big believer in the MCTs as a fuel source. I also use these during long training efforts. I have had problems with cramping on the run in the past but it seems that the Muscle Nitro helps this. For a full, I would probably take some more Metabolol mid-bike, start of run, and mid-run as well as Muscle Nitro every 2-3 hours. The thing I have noticed about the Muscle Nitro is that, if I don’t get enough carbs, I absolutely reek of ammonia (a by-product of protein break-down) by the end of the day. However, if I keep fueling at the appropriate rate this does not happen.