Fuel During OLY Tri

^^^ I was going to ask the same ... is a banana all you usually have for breakfast, even on long training days?

A decent (some carbs, a little protein, a little fat, probably go easy on the fiber) a couple 2-3 hours out, and then maybe some sports drink on the course should hold you in good stead if you're going to be out there less than, say, four hours.

Have you taken gels on long bikes before?

Unless the course doesn't have water stops on the run, you probably don't need anything like a carrier belt.

My expected numbers, which obviously will be different than my actual.

Swim = 40 minutes (I'll have the hudson river current with me, this should be the max time)

Bike =  90 minutes (I average 18.5 mph usually, would think I'll reduce my speed for the race?)

Run=  70 minutes, avg 11/mile

Total = 200 minutes, about 3:20

As of the last few months my AM sessions I've only had a banana, I've also been trying to lose weight for 2 months so it's affected my consumption. I dropped 16 lbs, and with my race 2.5 weeks out it's time to get into some proper consumption, adding more carbs, protein, etc.

I've taken gels on long rides, and some long runs.

Congrats on the weight drop

If you have a couple gels with water during the race, or a bottle or two of sports drink, that's about the same. If you're used to going long on a banana breakfast and then some nutrition during, you should be fine with a little more breakfast and then about the same on the course. The simpler you can keep it, the better.

Good luck and have a great race!

That's great, I've done the same thing, my 2xu shorts have some pockets for gels, i may try them next time!

Thanks for the info, nothing new on race day so I guess a banana it is

Unless I start adding a better breakfast now so I'll get used to it.

glob o' peanut butter on that banana and a drink with some calories, like juice or sports drink--that should be a fine breakfast.

Do the 2XU shorts have a tight pocket and/or little velcro closure? You could tuck a gel in there before the race and it'll be fine the whole way through, plus the tape over the top on the bike tube is a good idea.

Pockets in my Zoot shorts ended up being where the empty GU packets went on the ride in my last race...race belt kinda gets in the way of the little pockets in my tri top... 

I plan to drink a Mighty Mango Naked Juice and eat a cliff bar 90 minutes before my Oly & then pop a gel at race start & one halfway through the bike.  It's probably excessive, but that's the plan.

btw, this is what I have before any race I do (5k, 10k, HM, FM, Sprint, etc...) and I always eat waffles the night before, yummy.

In my last Olympic, I went through 2 GUs on the bike while drinking about half a bottle of FRS and then 2 GUs on the run and I felt ok.

2:30 of work.

I did my first two Olympic tris this year.  Normal breakfast 2 hours before (a banana and yogurt for me).  I skipped the gel before the swim (forgot it at my first race and was fine).  1 gel 15 minutes into the bike and another about 15 minutes before the end.  On my second race I actually took half, waited ~10 minutes then took the other half of the gel so I didn't have to choke down the whole packet at once.  Just water on the run.  My times were just under 3 hours.  If it's hot, I'll take some salt capsules on the ride too.  I can probably get by without them.

I'm assuming this is the NYC TRI and if it is unless your pool 100's are somewhere close to 3:00/100 there's no way it'll take you 40 minutes. Last year only one person exceeded 40 minutes and only 39 others out of 3484 exceeded 30 minutes.

Conversely the bike is much hillier than people expect so I'd be careful not to blow up on them.

I'm doing the event this year for the first time so I'm not an expert on the course but I've tried to do my research.