Race day nutrician, energy supplies?

Triathlon Forum
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Hi All,

I’ll be competing in my first triathlon this upcoming summer here in Iowa. I’m 38, 5’9, 170 and have always been a very active person, although never in an endurance competition. I play and referee ice hockey, weight train regularly, run and bicycle, and also ride dirt bikes. One of my many concerns is the best way to ensure I maintain the proper energy level during race day.

Are supplaments required to do this(i.e. endurolytes, gels, etc.) … or can it be done with food and liquids alone? I will start with a sprint, then move to an olympic, and hope to work my way up to a half IM. Family time is always my priority, so anything beyond that is probably out of my reach for now. I appreciate any and all advice as I am a true newbie!

Thanks in advance

Kevin

2

My opinion: nuitritional needs change from race to race and person to person. I doubt you will need and of this for a sprint, and many people don’t use anything but water for an olympic distance. Heat can affect your plan a lot. I recommend training and experimenting with gels and different caloric intake amounts. For the half distance, etc. I recommend reading an endurance nutrition guide at www.e-caps.com

or: http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=FUELINGGUIDE&OMI=10074,10071&AMI=10074

This will assist you in needs per hour of carbs, H2O, electrolytes, more.

3

This is my opinion on race nutrition for the distances you specified. I’m not a qualified coach so take this with a grain of salt.

Sprint: Energy bar and gel before race, Gatorade or water during race. You will probably be in near 1.5 hrs anyway.

Olympic: Same pre race, Bike: 3 gels + Gatorade or water, Run: Gatorade or water, maybe 1 gel.

HIM: Same pre race, maybe add a banana, Bike: gel every 30 minutes + Gatorade or water. Run: gel every 30-40 minutes + a little bit of Gatorade or water from aid stations.

Practice eating in your daily training so that you know what works for you. Some need more and some need less. I can eat allmost anything during a race.

I also came from Hockey and had a difficult time with the run cuz I’m used to 1 minute shifts on the ice. I feel that hockey developes a lot of Fast twitch muscle fibers that need to be retrained. Long slow distance runs near AT seems to work best for me for building endurance.

Good luck in your first race, be sure to let us know how it goes.

jaretj

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Thanks for the quick replies!

As far as taking the gels during the bike & run, where do you carry them? In a fanny pack, or a jersey pocket ??? Do you just grab these at the T1 point after the swim. As far as water, do you rely on the aid stations during the run, and carry your own during the bike?

Any must read materails, or websites to better prepare a newbie? Especially where for transitions are concerned. I’ve been to active.com and slowtwitch so far. I expect alot of it just has to learned by actually racing … can’t wait to get started.

With the time I have available, I intend to swim, bike, and run, each twice per week, trying combination of two on the weekends. I’ll slowly build up my distances with each week.

Long slow distance runs near AT seems to work best for me for building endurance.
“AT” ???

5

Kevin:

I second what Jaret said and would add these general tips.

  1. For any race distance, most people don’t swim all that well with food in their stomachs so eat your breakfast (low on fats, high in complex carbs) at least two hours before the race start. Anything that appeals to you in the morning will be fine for the most part.

  2. Topping up right before race start with a GU washed down with some weak Gatorade or water is fine, just don’t drink a ton. If you are not a great swimmer you will likely drink some lake, river, or sea water so leave a little room in there :wink:

  3. As said, for sprint and olympic, you really will be burning mostly stored glycogen supplemented with some liquid carbs. The bike is a good time to make sure you are topped up and well hydrated but, with a caution. Starting a run with a sloshing stomach is not fun so drink early on the bike and taper at little in the last couple of klicks on the bike.

  4. About the only thing you can do for nutrition while running is consume liquid fuels, again a gel or two, washed down with some weak sports drink. The hotter the run, the more important it is to hit every aid station and get the liquids in you (walk the aid stations if you haven’t practiced drinking on the run otherwise much of it ends up down your front or in your shoes which is nasty).

For a half IM, your meal on the bike will be a bit more substantial like a PowerBar with a banana maybe washed down again with weak sports drink. Run nutrition will be the same as above though.

I keep emphasizing the weakened drink mix because most people don’t tolerate the high suger concentration in the full strength sports drink, especially when it’s hot. If you find you have a hard time drinking the sweet stuff then try a gel washed down with water. It amounts to the same in your stomach but without the constant sticky sweetness of just consuming Gatorade (plus if you go the gel/water route, you can always dump some water on your head and back for a cool down).

Anyway, you don’t really need a lot of fancy supplements to do this really well. Regular food works great but the convenience of gels and sports drinks make them worth the money so at least invest in some of each for racing and training.

All the best,

Tim

6

Olympic distance I tape 3 gels on my top tube and tear them off as I use them, I then put the empty package in my back pocket. On the run I put one in my back pocket in T2. Water or Gatorade I have in my aero bottle. Unless its really hot that’s all that I will need. I will drink from the aid stations for the run.

HIM distance bike, I will take a gel flask and put it in my back pocket, The Hammer Gel flasks will hold 6 GU’s. I have also taken a Cliff bar with me and ate it about half way through the bike ride. For fluids on the bike, I start with my aero bottle full of water and then grab a bottle from every other aid station. For the run I get a gel from every 3rd or 4th aid station and a drink from every one. Some races will have gels on the run and others won’t, check and make sure for your particular race. You will probably need no more that 4, 2 or 3 is the likely amount.

Try all of the gels, drinks and bars before you race. Practice to see how much you can take without getting sick (so you can catch up if you need to) and how little you will need to get by.

For Gels I like GU, Hammer gel, Cliff shots, and Powergel in that order, there are many other to try too, find the ones that work for you. Practice with the ones the races supply. Some others are Carboom and E-gel.

For drinks I like Gatorade and Accelerade, there are also many others for you to try too.

For energy bars I like Cliff bars, Power bars, Gatorade bars and I just started to work with Snicker’s marathon bars, so far I like them but they may get sticky in the heat.

Books I like are Triathlon 101, Triathlete magazine’s complete triathlon book, Triathletes training bible (a difficult read) and Going Long. Training plans for multisport athletes is great for beginner training plans.

Websites, Gordo’s site, www.gordoworld.com, make sure you read his four pillars. www.trinewbies.com is good too as well as this site’s resourses.

AT is aerobic threshold heart rate, it is about 20 beats below lactate threshold. I believe in testing to determine LT but a conservative way to start is to take 180-your age to get the top of your AT. So for you that would be about 142 for running, add 5 beats if you have been very active for the last 6 months. That route of training is pretty controversial around here but you need a place to start. Heart rate training is a whole other argument.

Sorry to have written a book here.

jaretj

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If you have other questions, feel free to email me directly at jaretj@gmail.com

I’m far from an expert but am willing to share what I know from my transition from hockey to triathlon.

jaretj

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Again, thanks for all the tips.

I’m sure i’ll have more questions for you jaretj, I sure appreciate the help!