General Discussion Triathlon Talk » IM bike hydration -- bottles Rss Feed  
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2006-12-13 7:25 PM

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Master
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New York
Subject: IM bike hydration -- bottles
This came to me over the last hour and a half while running. On the bike portion of an IM, if I were to start riding with 2 of my own water bottles (standard bottles, not Gatorade bottles or the same), once I finish them, what am I supposed to do with them? They obviously can't be refilled at aid stations. Do you just chuck them in the garbage pile at a station when you're finished with them? Does that skirt around the abandonment penalty?


2006-12-13 7:29 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Master
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Frisco, Texas
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles

You chunk them at the aid station.  You are allowed to abandon stuff at the aid stations, no where else on the course.  You could stop and refill your water bottles if you want to.  At IMFL there was a huge dumpster at the far end of the aid station.  It was a 'last chance' to toss your bottles.  Some of the volunteers would paint 'bull's eyes' on them.

TJ

2006-12-13 8:03 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Master
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Gulf Shores, AL
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
I started with my aero bottle full of water and a gatorade endurance bottle on the bike. As you approach the aid stations, toss the empties in designated areas. I rotated between grabbing a water bottle or a gatorade bottle while rolling through the aid stations and would pour the water into the aero bottle or put the GA bottle in the cage. If you haven't done it in a race before, you probably should practice it before the race to get compfortable doing it. The last couple months of riding, I started just using the GA Endurance bottle on my bike for long rides. The nice thing they do at the race is pull of the seal on the gatorade bottles and put the sports cap back on.
2006-12-14 12:13 AM
in reply to: #623612

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Expert
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
What I do to start is have my areo-bottle full with water and NUUN, then carry one water bottle on my frame. I just use a disposible bottle with pull top. On the other frame holder I have my nutrition (a 24oz bottle full of gel and topped off with water). I use e-Gel due to the eleclrolytes in it, saves me from having to carry that too. I have a couple of extra gel packs with me too, just in case I loose the big bottle of them.

With how frequent there are water/aid stations on the courses, you really only need two bottles (for me the areo and one on the frame).

When I come up to a station I toss the empty water bottle, then grab two new ones. Put one on the frame and pour one bottle in the areo bottle then toss that empty at the end of the aid station. I might grab an other bottle and use that to wet my mouth and then dump over me, then toss it the empty at the end of the aid station.

On my first IM I took like 4 bottles with me, and ended up tossing a couple at an aid station simply because they got warm and there were cold ones there. Thinking back, I have no idea why I took that much weight with me in the first place.
2006-12-14 1:39 AM
in reply to: #623612

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Pro
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Los Angeles, CA
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
A suggestion of the your water bottles is to use some gatoraid bottles filled with whatever you use. Then when you toss them at the first or second aid station, you won't toss your "real" water bottles.
2006-12-14 8:45 AM
in reply to: #623612

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Pro
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Wisconsin near the Twin Cities metro
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
Stay in this sport long enough and you'll start viewing HIM and IM races as a good way to get rid of those cheap water bottles that you typically get in your race packets.


2006-12-14 8:50 AM
in reply to: #623874

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Champion
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles

Birkierunner - 2006-12-14 9:45 AM Stay in this sport long enough and you'll start viewing HIM and IM races as a good way to get rid of those cheap water bottles that you typically get in your race packets.

Ding.  Come to think of it, at Steelhead I got rid of a bottle where the top leaked no matter what I did to it, and another bottle where the plastic was so hard it was almost brittle, and a pain to squeeze (and the graphics on this one were Lewinsky-ugly, too).  I had a little involuntary smile as I pitched 'em....

2006-12-14 6:23 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Extreme Veteran
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Colorado Springs, CO
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
easy way to carry your specific mix of whatever you want for the entire race....

super concentrate one or two water bottles and put them on your bike. squirt a measured amount (permenant marker lines on the concentrated bottles) into your aero drink. Then add the cold water from the aid stations and toss the empty water bottle. Walla!!! nice cold drink of your choice without a lot of extra weight on your bike.
2006-12-15 1:39 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Elite
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Austin, TX
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
Since I used GE only for nutrition at IMLP, I actually didn't start with anything on the bike at all. The first aid station at LP is at mile 8 or something like that. That means I hit the first aid station in less than 30 minutes. I wasn't planning on starting nutrition until that point anyway so that my stomach would settle down from the swim. It didn't seem to make sense to drag several bottles with me out of T1 especially since IMLP starts with a 550-foot climb in that first 8 miles. Why drag that with me up the hill when I didn't need to?
2006-12-15 4:27 PM
in reply to: #625165

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
dgunthert - 2006-12-15 2:39 PM

Since I used GE only for nutrition at IMLP, I actually didn't start with anything on the bike at all. The first aid station at LP is at mile 8 or something like that. That means I hit the first aid station in less than 30 minutes. I wasn't planning on starting nutrition until that point anyway so that my stomach would settle down from the swim. It didn't seem to make sense to drag several bottles with me out of T1 especially since IMLP starts with a 550-foot climb in that first 8 miles. Why drag that with me up the hill when I didn't need to?


whats GE?
2006-12-15 4:38 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Veteran
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McAllen, TX
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
Gatorade Endurance


2006-12-15 10:36 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Elite
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
What Sal said. I had trained for a bit using Perpetuem with the plan of using that. I found two problems with that strategy: 1) For me, it's barely tolerable as far as taste goes (I just don't like the texture and smell of soy-based stuff) and 2) It means I have to take 1/2 my nutrition with me leaving T1 AND stop at special needs for the rest. Since I tolerate Gatorade pretty well, I decided to keep it simple, stupid, and just live off the aid stations. My last three long rides were all done on Gatorade Endurance only with 45-60 minute runs right off the bike. I drank 8 ounces of GE every 10 minutes for the entire bike course. I threw in a couple of Clif Bloks along the way. In retrospect, my body probably could have handled a few more calories and I'll up the number for IMAZ.

Whatever you do for nutrition remember this range: 6-8%. That's the concentration of carbs you want to shoot for. Anything higher than that and your body won't absorb it efficiently and it'll just slosh around your stomach. Bonus: Gatorade is formulated right in that range.
2006-12-16 5:12 AM
in reply to: #623612

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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
If you mix the Perp. as a paste, you have 3 hours of nutrition in a gel flask. The taste is much better than mixing it as a drink and using it for hydration. I've found that using Perp as a paste is much simpler, because hydration-wise, I only have to worry about water.

It's just a matter of how you prefer to take in your calories - from your drink, or somewhere else.

BTW, when I first started using Perp, I mixed it as a drink and HATED it. As a paste, I love it.
2006-12-17 9:19 AM
in reply to: #625590

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Master
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Frisco, Texas
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles

dgunthert - 2006-12-15 10:36 PM  My last three long rides were all done on Gatorade Endurance only with 45-60 minute runs right off the bike. I drank 8 ounces of GE every 10 minutes for the entire bike course. I threw in a couple of Clif Bloks along the way.

Dennis, don't take this as criticism, I'm just trying to understand.  Gatorade Endurance has 50 cal/8 oz serving.  At IMFL I planned to take in 250 cal/hour or ~1500 calories for a 6 hour bike ride.  Using only GE that would be 240 oz. or 10 - 24 oz bottles of GE!  There is no way I could drink 10 bottles of fluid on the bike.  I would be peeing every 10 miles .  At IMFL I had to force down the 6 bottles of fluid I planned on taking in.

Did you mix it stronger than recommended?

TJ

2006-12-17 12:14 PM
in reply to: #626189

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Elite
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Austin, TX
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
No offense taken.

I didn't mix anything. My whole goal was to live off the aid stations on the course.

Typical fluid loss rates range from 1 to 1.5 liters per hour. If you want 250 calories per hour, that's 5 servings of GE, or about 1.25 L. Funny how that works out! I know I sweat heavily, so I planned on taking in closer to 1.5 L per hour. That worked out to 6 servings per hour, or 300 calories. I wanted a bit calories than that, hence throwing in a Shot Blok every once in a while.

I had no problems drinking the fluid. I set the countdown timer on my watch for 10 minutes and took 5 good pulls off the Gatorade bottle every time it went off. That put me right on track.
2006-12-17 2:38 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Pro
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Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
The biggest thing is to have a plan and train with that plan to make sure that it works. Also don't be afraid to "call an audible" if for some reason your body rebels and won't take what you have practiced with. Bottom line is you need calories, however you get them down.


2006-12-17 4:29 PM
in reply to: #623612

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Champion
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Fountain Hills, AZ
Subject: RE: IM bike hydration -- bottles
Yeah, I'm with dgunthurt on this one. A lot of folks WAY over think their IM nutrition. I wil start IM az with 1 water and 1 GE, and 2 gel flasks of GU. Water is for washing down the GU. After I finishe the first GE, I'll toss the bottle and grab an aid station variety. Not only do I train this way on rides, but I even use a Gatorade sport drink bottle just to be comfortable using it instead of a standard bike bottle, as after the first loop of IMAZ, I'll have discarded them. Maybe I'll throw a Cliff Bar or 2 into the back of my race suit, but that's it, I'll live off the land, so to speak .
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