All,

I'm getting down to the wire for my first Olympic Tri (Capital of Texas Tri, in Austin, 5/28), and I'm trying to decide what food/drink I need to carry with me on the bike.
My training time has been pretty limited (toddlers at home, work, yadda yadda) so race day will likely be the first time I put the full distance on all events back to back. Therefore, I won't get to practice much with feeding myself for the 3+hours it will probably take. My primary goal is to finish, with a secondary goal of not walking (too much) on the run. My split guesses are 35-40min swim, 1:25 - 1:35 bike, 65-75min run. (Yes, I'm slow. But at least I'm doing it.)

For my swim-bike bricks, I seem to do ok with two 24oz bottles on the bike, one electrolyte, one water. For bike-runs, I do a pre-ride clif bar and the two bottles on the bike. The run gets a little thirsty, but other than that, not bad.

For race day, I'm currently thinking of doing a clif bar at T1, downing the two bottles on the bike, and stopping for water several times during the run. Does this seem sufficient for a slow first-timer? Or should I try to work in some more calories with a GU or something on the bike?

cliffs sit in my stomach like lead bb's.... lots of em, but if your cool with em all go, plan on a bottle of sports drink per hour (or equivalent caloric intake with equivalent water) per hour good rule of thumb ive heard

I would drop the cliff bar in T1 and maybe eat it about 30 minutes into the bike. After the swim you need to let things settle down a bit before you start eating and drinking.

Good luck & have fun

Jim

Ok, no offense, but this is stupid. Advice to anyone reading this, NEVER try new stuff on race day. Though you are kinda stuck because you wont have the few months of training to figure out your nutrition.


Ok, I would say, depending on what you have pre race. I usualy have a protean shake when I wake up(2-3 hours before race). Then half(or all of, depending on how i feel) of a peanut butter and banana bagel about 30 minutes before the swim.

T1-usualy take a swig of water or something, whatever I have extra.

Bike-For an Olympic distance(40km), you should count on being on the bike for 1:30, so that should be atleast 2 gels, and 1 3/4 bottles of water. I would take the first gel about 15-20 minutes in. Then the second one about the 1 hour-1:15 mark.(this will leave residual energy from the gell for the transition to the run wich tends to play havoc on your legs)

T2-Again, a swig of gatorade or whatever I am using

Run- You are figuring on being out for 1:05-1:15. So I would say you will need atleast 1L of water on the run(should be easy to get with enough water stations), but take a gel at the 5km mark or a little after. The gell will help alot with the fatigue you will be feeling after the about 2:30 you will be at.

So in total we have approx 3 bottles worth of water, 3 gels. All within the limits of what common race nutrition suggests.

If this doesnt help you enough, there is a little teeny tiny button about 1" down and about 2.5" across from the top left corner called "search the forums". This topic has come up a few times, even in the short time I have been a member here.

None taken, although the word "race" probably doesn't apply to both of us the same, since I'm just trying to finish something I've never done before. As long as I cross the line I get a PR, and I don't care if I'm anywhere close to my splits. Most first-time marathon programs ramp you up to somewhere in the low 20 mile distances by the last few training runs to position you for a one time effort to hit a longer distance. I'm trying to mimic the same thing here. And it's amazing how difficult it is to get 4 hours in a row with a pair of 2 year olds at home.

I know what food works for me through the training distances I've done. It's just a question of how much I need to add for the longer distance.

Yeah, I forgot to mention. I do a bowl of cereal + banana with a 1/2 cup coffee. My first and only tri (sprint) I added sips of water and bites of a second banana every time I thought I was going to get sick from nerves. It seemed to treat me ok.

So just to sanity check, I was planning
a Clif Bar == 1 gel?
1 water on bike, 1 electrolyte on bike == 2 water and 1 gel?
water stops on run
So I'm at 3 bottles worth of water and 2 gels. So the only thing I'm missing is a gel on the run. Or more likely, another Clif bar, since I've never really tried out a gel. Which I'll have to eat while stationary over several water stops, since I don't know how to eat and run. ....sigh... just one more thing to improve for next time.

Does that sound reasonable?

It's a little hard to pick up if this is sarcastic or not. I'll assume not. I actually did some searches, but came up empty. Of course knowing now that there has to be something out there, I just found one under the title "You guys haven't missed yet" I mostly filtered everything by title, so skipped it the first go round.


Thanks,
-B

Ya, it was my try at humour....on some fourms I wouldnt be kidding. but here its layed back....

The big thing with the gels is that it sits in your stomache better then a solid. plus is easier to take on the bike/run, it is really easy to do while riding at full speed(aslong as it is a straight away).

If you have been training with cliff bars, dont try something new. What works for you could totally mess you up. If it works it works.

With the coffee thing. I have heard that green tea is a great replacement for that. Not as much cafeine, but alot less chance of it upsetting your stomach.

Oh, and I am kinda biased(on the training thing). I am 21, live on my own, but stay ay my parents house on the weekend(friends there, work here). They are training for an ironman. Plus, me and my siblings have always been into competitive sports of some sort, so my parents could do it easy.

Like I said, the best way is to play with nutrition on training, so if you bonk hard on a new bar/gel, and thats the only change, then you know not to use it. In this position, like I said, stay on the bars, your body is used to them. Be carefull about drinking too much water at the end of the bike(to much will make it slosh in your stomach, which makes you sick....I bonked because of this once). Other then that man, you seem to have a fairly good working knowlege of basic nutrition. Just need to fine tune it. Best of luck in the race, let us know how it goes...

Try the gels first, as they are strange when you first eat them..and you will need water to wash them down. Some nutrition stores that carry gels will allow you to sample some of the flavors and brands. Since you already like Clif, you may want to try Clif Shots. I use them and they're great. Word of caution...some have caffeine and some don't. I use the caffeine Sonic Strawberry. Make sure your stomach can handle caffeine during exercise. Most gels are 100 calories and have around 25g of carbs, 50mg of sodium, and 50mg of potassium. They are close to the same as what you will get with one of your Clif bars, except your stomach won't have to process a solid...like what Batman said.

Some people actually mix the gels with water in one of their water bottles, which you could try. It makes it easier to take while riding. Crashing trying to open a gel pack would not be a positive experience! Considering the date of your olym, I think you have enough time to try out some gels. I agree with Batman that gels are usually easier for your stomach to process; however, everyone is different and you should make sure they work for you BEFORE the race.

Just an example of why NOT to try new things during a race. I ran a 1/2 marathon a couple of years back and used gels. At one of the aid stations, a volunteer handed me a gel, which i put in my pocket with my other gels...dumb move. It was a mocca/coffee flavored gel and I ate it without even looking at it. STUPID. Seems very innocent, but I ended up with the worst stomach ache from it...and was miserable for the last 4-5 miles.