Tapering and nutrition for HiM

As far as tapering goes 3 weeks might be a bit excessive. I'd probably lean closer to 10-14 days, even. As you get closer try to move your workouts to have an intensity at the same as or just slightly above what you're going to be doing your HIM at, but cut the volume to 70% and then to 50% (use your own judgement).

As far as nutrition, try to eat something easily digestible before the swim (If you're comfy with gels, do a gel 15min before the swim). Personally my favorite is peanut butter & banana with a healthy amount of water. I've never done a HIM before but this is my pre nutrition choice for sprints. Once you get out of the water, start your nutrition plan.

Everyone has something different. Personally, I'm going to rely on exclusively my gu flask (5 gel packs + some water to make it easier to down) and liquid nutrition; 400 calories in a concentrated water bottle; gonna carry a separate flask for the run as well. So yes, you can do exclusively liquid nutrition or exclusively gels, but you should practice it in training. If you wanna do solid food, do that!

Calories per hour can range anywhere from 150 to 400. 300 is a pretty safe starting zone, if you feel bloated back off if you can take in more, do so! And good luck

i wouldn't eat something as dense as a bonk breaker right before a brick run. if you're going to go with solids on the bike make sure to break them up (like 1/4 of the bonk breaker at a time) and spread it out. this worked for me on a four-hour ride yesterday. 

have no idea how to taper for a HIM, i'm on my first too.

I am thinking of doing the gummy stuff like shot blocks or something.

Anyone tried beef jerky on the bike?

You need to pay attention to nutrition first as that needs to be sorted out asap. The taper can wait until you actually need to taper (within a few weeks of the event). With what you've been using, has it been sitting well with you? Particularly on longer and/or harder rides & runs. Do you know how often you've been taking it during these workouts? If it seems to be ok, then work more on how much to take. Nutrition like this isn't so much about getting it *perfect* to give yourself a boost for race day, but more getting in things your body can tolerate so that you can keep on going. It'll be more avoiding things that give you problems.

I don't know much about Bonk Breakers, so can't say anything about them. Are you using Gu brand gels or do you call everything Gu? There is a difference between them and you should know that. Keep these things simple and familiar, provided they work for you.

I didn't have one for my HIM but "Bento Boxes" look cool. One can keep a lot of stuff in it. I don't usually take in much bike nutrition, but my stomach was queasy on race morning so I didn't each much more than a banana and a gu before the swim. I was STARVING on the bike. I was glad I had stuff with me. 

 Also, at my race, they did not offer on the bike, everything they'd advertised for. I was glad I was pretty self sufficient for that portion because the aid stops are farther in-between. There were plenty of solid foods on the run course though.. 

What about these kind of stuff? Do you think it would help?

http://www.possessedbycaffeine.com/2011/04/powerbar-cola-flavored-energy-blasts.html

Also, you can eat them one by one during your bike often...

for my HIM im planning on using Gatorade mix with enduralytes(1 bottle per hour on the bike), and waffle/gel every 45 minutes on the bike, followed by a gel after 45min/6miles on the run.  not sure on the stinger waffle vs the gel yet; hasn't gotten hot enough for me to really test out my nutrition yet... i do know its a pain to chew while actually riding, so the gels will probably win. 

does everyone really take 2 weeks to taper? i was only going to do one week of "light" workouts with the preceding weeks being light volume building. ok that sounds like 2 weeks to me, kinda. but really isn't the goal to have fresh legs/arms on race day?  i was thinking of just increasing my swim volume the last week or two so i don't get grumpy about not working out as much.  what is a typical ride/run volume during taper?  im currently training with 120-150bike and 30-40run