Half Ironman nutrition.. What do you do (Page 2)

I'm doing my first HIM tomorrow. I have trouble with taking in too much calories and getting a sloshy stomach on the run during my longer workouts, so I've been doing lots of thinking about what I'm taking in. Gotten some good advice.

Breakfast - (3 hours before) - PB toast, Clif Bar, banana, water

15 minutes before swim - 1 Power Gel

Bike: Planning on 3-3 1/2 hours

450 cal bottle of HEED, 1 Powergel per hour, Elete salt tablets (enough to get 600mg sodium/hour) - goal is ~260 cals/hour, 600mg sodium

Run - 1 Powergel, 2 or 3 salt tablets per hour, water and/or gatorade every few miles

I guess in 20 hours or so I'll know how it went.

I was going to buy lots of gels, bananas, and gatorade but learned that this would all be handed to us at the aid stations during the event.  This was great because I would not have to carry all that stuff in my jersey pockets. 

Pre race: My usual breakfast of 1 coffee and a bowl of oatmeal.  Another coffee upon arrival at the race site.  And a gel about 1/2 hour before the swim 

At T1, I took a gel before heading out on the bike.

On the bike leg there was an aid station at the end of each of the 6 laps at which I took on water, Gatorade and either gel or cookies.

At T2, I drank a lot of water.

The run leg had an aid station at every 1.9 kms at which I took on water, Gatorade, gel and Smarties each time.

This worked very well for me because I finished my first HIM with plenty of energy to spare. 

Some people might take that much. I have a touchy stomach and can only handle gels every hour or so. The best plan I've used to date was:

Bfast:  PB&J on whole wheat bagel, banana,  sip sports drink until about a 1/2 hour before the swim.  2 endurolytes 1 hour prior to race start.

Bike:  Carried 2 bottles of Carbo pro mixed in water with a squirt of lime juice (ONLY a squirt!) for flavor. 2-3 swallows every 15 minutes, and a Hammergel at 1:15 in to the ride then another at 2:15. 2  endurolytes every hour (this was an EXTREMELY hot day).

Run:  3 gels and a lot of water. 2 endurolytes every hour.

Of the 3 1/2 s I've done this plan was the most stomach friendly for me, but I did run out of energy a little on the run.  This summer I plan to do this again but probably try one more gel on the bike, and maybe carry carbo pro in a fuel belt on the run.  I used perpetuem this summer and I like the energy I get from it, but I ended up with GI issues on the run (although I had no problems in training). 

On the bike, typical cal recommendations are 200-400/hr.  If you ride for 3hrs, you may need up to 1200 cal.  If you did that all with gels, you might take 12.  Personally, I have used just sports drink & gels and use @9 on the bike (ending up with closer to 500 cal/hr--I'm a bigger guy and this seems to work for me).  On the run, I may use only 1 or 2 and rely mostly on sports drink and the fuel I took on during the bike.

Chris, yes, I took at least 9 gels during my HIM in September but you have to remember that it took me almost 7 hours to complete so that is only a little more than 1 gel per hour.  I did drink at least 10 full bottles of water along with other goodies all along the route.  AND, I did finish the event with plenty of energy to spare so I could have gone faster on the run segment.  Find out what the promoters of the event are offering as food and drink during the HIM, as well as where and when they will be available.