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calories during race
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 2014-03-12 8:38 AM |
 439   nashville, Tennessee |  Subject: calories during raceWhat are your thoughts on nutrition and calories per hour during half/full ironman. I have done 2 halfs and cramped up on the run in both. I'm wondering if its from not enough calories. I'm 5'11 155 lbs and pretty lean. My strategy has always been 1 gel(100 cal) per hour on the bike, along with powerade as I need it. I heard second hand from a dietician/2 x ironwoman that in my full ironman in May I would probably need a gel about every 15 min. That sounds really excessive. Do I need to be taken in more than 1 gel/hr during these races? |
| 2014-03-12 8:52 AM in reply to: mchadcota2 |
Member 388 Miami | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by mchadcota2 What are your thoughts on nutrition and calories per hour during half/full ironman. I have done 2 halfs and cramped up on the run in both. I'm wondering if its from not enough calories. I'm 5'11 155 lbs and pretty lean. My strategy has always been 1 gel(100 cal) per hour on the bike, along with powerade as I need it. I heard second hand from a dietician/2 x ironwoman that in my full ironman in May I would probably need a gel about every 15 min. That sounds really excessive. Do I need to be taken in more than 1 gel/hr during these races? I am 5'11" and 160 lbs, so pretty much like you. After meeting with a sports dietician, she told me that based on how my body burns calories when I exercise, I should do this for HIM and IM races: 1. Swim: No much I can do here, just make sure that my pre-race nutrition is adequate and taking a sip or two of sports drink before starting the swim 2. Bike: a. 1 gel per hour (she recommended PowerGel since it has a good amount of sodium. I tried it and I liked the Green Apple flavor); however, the first couple hours I can take a bar or a banana instead (If you are tired of gels, you can start with "heavier" and "harder" to digest nutrition first to make sure my body can digest it before starting the run) b. 0.5 - 0.75 ml of sports drink 3. Run: a. 1 gel every 45-60 minutes. b. 0.5 - 0.75 ml of sports drink This worked very well for me. I went from experiencing performance decrease during the last miles of the run to feeling strong during the entire bike and run legs. Keep in mind that nutrition is very personal though, try it during your long training sessions and see what works best for you. |
| 2014-03-12 9:01 AM in reply to: davidfedez |
| 439 nashville, Tennessee | Subject: RE: calories during race Thanks a lot! So I guess I was doing about right. I may try taking a little bit more in training and just see how it goes. |
| 2014-03-12 9:11 AM in reply to: mchadcota2 |
Veteran 2842  Austin, Texas | Subject: RE: calories during race I've only done one HIM, but my intake was a bit different (as you'd expect - everyone's different). So, for comparison... Swim - yep, only so much you can do. After a good breakfast, I sipped about a half liter of poweraid in the 30' prior, which was about 100 calories the way it was mixed. Bike: 700 calories. 5 PowerGels (well, most of 5 - there was a little left in the flask). Two large bottles of poweraid (each fairly dilute, so just over 100 cals in each). Balance of fluid was plain water. Run: Not exactly sure - guessing ~250 calories. Had another gel flask and was going to go with a gel every 45 minutes, but took one mouthful of it and tossed it away (body said NOPE). Had to audible versus the plan… So, I got coke and poweraid alternating with water at the aid stations (a bit more than one per mile). Guessing that the calorie/caffeine intake was similar to a gel every 45' based on the way I felt by comparison to training (and estimating intake). I've always been able to take more calories on the bike, and that's how the race worked out, as well. Total of ~1,000 calories over the race duration. YMMV. Have fun! Matt |
| 2014-03-12 9:28 AM in reply to: 0 |
Member 388 Miami | Subject: RE: calories during race Sorry! I forgot to mention that the sports drink amount that I put in my previous post is per hour (0.5-0.75 l / h). Sometimes I drink water instead or I drink a combination of both until reaching those amounts. Glad it helped! 1 gel every 15 minutes sounds excessive for me too. You may be cramping because the sports drink and/or gels don't contain enough electrolytes (sodium specially). This dietitian recommended me to take 0.5-0.7 grams of sodium per hour (1 PowerGel has 200 mg sodium + 0.7l of my sports drink has 400 mg of sodium). Sodium is not all you need to replenish, but in my case, it was one of the most important variables that was affecting my performance. Edited by davidfedez 2014-03-12 9:35 AM |
| 2014-03-12 9:32 AM in reply to: mchadcota2 |
Pro 5169 Burbs | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by mchadcota2 What are your thoughts on nutrition and calories per hour during half/full ironman. I have done 2 halfs and cramped up on the run in both. I'm wondering if its from not enough calories. I'm 5'11 155 lbs and pretty lean. My strategy has always been 1 gel(100 cal) per hour on the bike, along with powerade as I need it. I heard second hand from a dietician/2 x ironwoman that in my full ironman in May I would probably need a gel about every 15 min. That sounds really excessive. Do I need to be taken in more than 1 gel/hr during these races? I'm not saying it's NOT nutrition, but athletes often blame a poor run on not eating drinking/ enough (or too much) and don't consider fitness/ going out too hard on the bike/ etc. Food (no pun intended) for thought |
| 2014-03-12 9:46 AM in reply to: trishie |
Champion 10018 , Minnesota Bronze member | Subject: RE: calories during race When I competed in a half iron distance race I used a coach who I believe knows some things about the science behind training, nutrition, etc. Her rule of thumb was basically: 250-300 cals/hour on the bike 200 cals per hour on the run This worked for me, some will say that they simply can't take this much. You definitely have to practice it. How you get these calories is personal, of course. I prefer sport drink on the bike with some supplementary chews, and gels on the run. My understanding is that cramping is usually due to overextending in fitness. In a race you will go faster or maybe take on terrain that you're not used to. Most (all?) studies do not confirm a relationship between cramping and lack of nutrition, a need for salt, etc. I know this is VERY commonly stated, but I've never seen anything to back this up. |
| 2014-03-12 10:09 AM in reply to: trishie |
| 145 | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by trishie p>I'm not saying it's NOT nutrition, but athletes often blame a poor run on not eating drinking/ enough (or too much) and don't consider fitness/ going out too hard on the bike/ etc. Food (no pun intended) for thought  Exactly the same in my experience. The only time I've ever cramped was going harder than before or changing form and exhausting a weak muscle. |
| 2014-03-12 10:27 AM in reply to: trishie |
| 439 nashville, Tennessee | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by trishie Originally posted by mchadcota2 What are your thoughts on nutrition and calories per hour during half/full ironman. I have done 2 halfs and cramped up on the run in both. I'm wondering if its from not enough calories. I'm 5'11 155 lbs and pretty lean. My strategy has always been 1 gel(100 cal) per hour on the bike, along with powerade as I need it. I heard second hand from a dietician/2 x ironwoman that in my full ironman in May I would probably need a gel about every 15 min. That sounds really excessive. Do I need to be taken in more than 1 gel/hr during these races? I'm not saying it's NOT nutrition, but athletes often blame a poor run on not eating drinking/ enough (or too much) and don't consider fitness/ going out too hard on the bike/ etc. Food (no pun intended) for thought You're exactly right. I'm sure I pushed way too hard on bike both times. Got too caught up in wanting to have a good bike split instead of good race time. If I had to bet I would definitely say that is the reason, but I was just curious about the nutrition. |
| 2014-03-12 10:41 AM in reply to: BikerGrrrl |
| Alpharetta, Georgia Bronze member | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by BikerGrrrl When I competed in a half iron distance race I used a coach who I believe knows some things about the science behind training, nutrition, etc. Her rule of thumb was basically: 250-300 cals/hour on the bike 200 cals per hour on the run This worked for me, some will say that they simply can't take this much. You definitely have to practice it. How you get these calories is personal, of course. I prefer sport drink on the bike with some supplementary chews, and gels on the run. My understanding is that cramping is usually due to overextending in fitness. In a race you will go faster or maybe take on terrain that you're not used to. Most (all?) studies do not confirm a relationship between cramping and lack of nutrition, a need for salt, etc. I know this is VERY commonly stated, but I've never seen anything to back this up. x2 - I take in ~250 calories per hour on the bike with no issues, but my tummy always gets funny on the run. In the past I've ended up choking down 3 GUs (total on the run - not a lot over 26 miles!) and a variety of fruit, candy, and sports drink from aid stations. |
| 2014-03-12 11:20 AM in reply to: BikerGrrrl |
Member 1748 Exton, PA | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by BikerGrrrl When I competed in a half iron distance race I used a coach who I believe knows some things about the science behind training, nutrition, etc. Her rule of thumb was basically: 250-300 cals/hour on the bike 200 cals per hour on the run This worked for me, some will say that they simply can't take this much. You definitely have to practice it. How you get these calories is personal, of course. I prefer sport drink on the bike with some supplementary chews, and gels on the run. My understanding is that cramping is usually due to overextending in fitness. In a race you will go faster or maybe take on terrain that you're not used to. Most (all?) studies do not confirm a relationship between cramping and lack of nutrition, a need for salt, etc. I know this is VERY commonly stated, but I've never seen anything to back this up. I've heard your body can handle about 300 calories/hr but everybody is different. Swim: chow down on any minnows you can catch along the way, drink whenever just remember I'm in front of you and warm my wetsuit at any given moment. Bike: I try to keep things simple, for a HIM I'm on the bike about 2 1/2 hrs. I take a gel every 10 miles and I make sure I drink every 10 minutes. So that's a gel every 30 minutes and I use Gatorade to drink. I try to use what ever the race will be handing out and the 1/2's I've done all used Gatorade. Drinking is the variable, 3 20 oz bottles will usually do it for me but last year at Eagleman the high temp did me in and I should have had 4(this slowed my run considerably) Run: Mostly drink alternating Gatorade and water, but will use gels and other items at the rest stop mainly in the first 12 of the run. |
| 2014-03-12 11:44 AM in reply to: mike761 |
Pro 5169 Burbs | Subject: RE: calories during race Also, OP, if you love GUs, no reason not to continue them, but I found that for HIMs, IMs, I could tolerate more "real" food on the bike and ate that (mainly payday bars) to take a break from GUs (14 hours of GU is a lot of GU!). Running = GU only (for me). Try out different foods/ drinks and see how it works out for you! It's very individual! |
| 2014-03-12 12:45 PM in reply to: BikerGrrrl |
Pro 6011 Camp Hill, Pennsylvania | Subject: RE: calories during race Originally posted by BikerGrrrl When I competed in a half iron distance race I used a coach who I believe knows some things about the science behind training, nutrition, etc. Her rule of thumb was basically: 250-300 cals/hour on the bike 200 cals per hour on the run This worked for me, some will say that they simply can't take this much. You definitely have to practice it. How you get these calories is personal, of course. I prefer sport drink on the bike with some supplementary chews, and gels on the run. My understanding is that cramping is usually due to overextending in fitness. In a race you will go faster or maybe take on terrain that you're not used to. Most (all?) studies do not confirm a relationship between cramping and lack of nutrition, a need for salt, etc. I know this is VERY commonly stated, but I've never seen anything to back this up. Yeah, this pretty much sums it up. The fueling rates that Emily mentions above are generally considered starting points to test during training. Some people do best with less, some with more. The bolded part is also noteworthy regarding most instances of cramping.
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