Food/drink during half-ironman
 

After a few sprint tri's I'm (mentally) ready to tackle a half-ironman. So I'm curious about the eating/drinking part. On a "normal" 56-mile bike ride alone I'd consume 2 fullsize bottles of water+. I can carry 3 bottles comfortably plus food. My questions:

1) Is 3 water bottles enough (in moderate temps & humidity)?

2) Is there any sort of feed zone where riders are compelled to eat?

3) Then does anyone also carry water (or food) with them on the run?

4) Can I count on occasional water hand-outs during the run?

1) Yes, 60-70 ounces of water should be enough in moderate temperatures, especially if you take in some liquid nutrition like gatorade or whatever your drink of pleasure is. I prefer Infinit, I can custom blend whatever nutrition I want into my drink :)

2) Most half Ironman races will have at least one water bottle exchange minimum. Most have multiple aid stations, stocked with water bottles and/or nutrition. For this reason, you should consider not starting the race with 100% of the nutrition you'll need, as you can likely pick up at least one water bottle from the aid stations. I personally race the half Ironman distance with an aerobottle (water, which gets refilled at aid stations) and a bottle of concentrated Infinit. You are not compelled to take anything from or only eat/drink at these stations. However, if you want to dump a bottle you usually must do it near an aid station (so that the race organizers don't have to go all over the course picking up bottles).

3) It depends on what the race offers on the run aid stations. Usually, they'll be pretty well stocked with water, energy gels (Hammer, GU, PowerGels, etc) and some other stuff. Unless you can't digest what they give you on the course, you can probably do the run portion without bringing along your own nutrition.

4) Yep, see above :) Usually aid stations occur about once every 1-3 miles, so unless it's REALLY hot you'll get the water you need.

Post if you've still got questions! In summary, most races will take pretty good care of you, both on the bike and on the run (moreso on the run, but then again on the run you can't carry bottles in the way you can on the bike).

you should really go to your local barnes and noble and read the june triathlete magazine, they have a article in there aobut ironman and half ironman nutrition, wether u want to go solid or liquid or both and its has a really good review and explanation of a ton of products also. i bought it just for the guide, really a huge amount of info in there.

I just finished my first 1/2, and here is what worked well for me:

Bike: 1 Aerodrink with gatorade/Heed mix, 1 waterbottle gatorade, 1 with only water. That allowed me to bypass all of the aid stations. I don't like to stop or slow too much once I get going. For other nutrition, I had some Clif shot blocks, a Gu Flask, as well as a cliff bar which was cut into bite size pieces. I kept all of that in my bento, and pretty muched grazed the entire bike leg.

Run: I carried a couple of gels with me. I used the stations (posted every mile) to hydrate with a mix of Heed and water. Soaking towels were also provided, which really helped with the heat. For the bike and the run, I would pop some Enduroyltes every 45min - 1 hour.

All said, I felt pretty good physically when it was all over, so I'll probably carry this plan to my next 1/2. Best advice I can give though is to try out your plan before the event. Do a 56 mile ride, and see what sets well for your stomach. Hope you have a great race!

Though in theory, carrying all of one's nutrition in order to minimize time slowed at aid stations is a good thing, in practice carrying that second frame-mounted water bottle can have an aerodynamic penalty, perhaps more than the (approximately) 5-10 seconds per aid station lost by slowing down to 15mph (from, say, 19) to grab the bottle and get back up to speed.

John Cobb over at Slowtwitch crunched some numbers a while back and found that over just 40 kilometers, you're talking 38 seconds lost for having two water bottles mounted on your frame, compared to just a bottle on the down tube. (Of course, having an aerodrink would make you more aero in either case.) Source: http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadin...erbottles.html

Also, for some people, 80 ounces of hydration isn't enough for 3+ hours of cycling, especially in hot weather conditions. These people would likely find significant benefit from grabbing the cold aid station bottles, not only for the additional hydration, but for the cooling benefit as well :)

You need to figure out what works for you calorie wise, but remember you are going from a 1:00 sprint where you don't need any nutrition since your glycogen stores are adequate to cover that time, to a 5:00-6:00 or more endurance event where you need to stay on top of glycogen depletion. It is a WHOLE different world and, let me tell you, bonking atmile 8 of a HIM run isn't fun. If you can do that on just water, kudos. Most people find they need anywhere between 200 to 400 calories per hour.

You need to learn more about yourself than just what you need on a stand alone 56 mile ride no prefaced with a mile swim, and having to run a half marathon afterwards.

To your questions
1. For me, not even close. I use Infinit, for a 3 hour bike I take in 1,000 calories (in one concentrated bottle)
2. No, there are bottle handoffs, but no "feed zone" as in a cycling race
3. Some do, but a well run HIM will have aid stations every mile or so