Half Ironman and Ironman Nutrition

If you do a search of this forum under something like 'nutrition' I'm sure you'll get 100's of hits, but yeah, alot of it is trial & error. Seeing what tastes good to you, what your stomach can handle, etc. A good rule of thumb to start with is to take your body weight x 2 and that is how many calories you should aim to take in each hour on the bike. What form it takes is very personal. Some people can handle solid foods and some can only take in liquids. Search around, try some different products and experiment during your long training rides. You also want to find out what they will be providing on the course & see how that treats you. For example, if they are providing Powerade on the run, but you don't like Powerade yo uwill have to adjust your plan for that.

Edited by drewb8 2007-04-30 6:07 PM

I am still learning and recently picked up a very good book (Recommended by someone in the Nutrition Forum) called "The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition" by Anita Bean.

Has lots of very good info with plenty of science to back it up.

The info in the book seems fresh and up to date with the current science of sports nutrition.

It is not the only authority out there, but is definitely a good place to start

All of the IM veterans we know keep hammering home the importance of having and following a nutrition plan, since so many people screw this up on race day and end up bonking. We just did a duathlon this last weekend and found that, because we were competing at a higher HR than zone two, it was almost impossible to eat--another reason why IM will be so great!

I'm in the same boat as you--trying to figure out what works by trial and error. I figure that the only times I'll be able to eat will be in T-1, on the bike and in T-2. I practice my nutrition plan on our long bike/run brick workouts, with Payday bars and PBJ sandwiches in my Bento Box. I eat a little piece (like 1/10 of a sandwich) about every 20 minutes, and that works for now, but I know I'll have to increase it for later. It's good to figure out what doesn't work for sure, especially knowing what will be on the course and what you'll want to avoid. For example, my husband can't tolerate Power Bars at all, which will be on the course for IM CDA.

The other thing to try--it works for me, at least--are any other ergogenic aids you might want to use on race day. I take 400 mg of caffeine a few hours into my long workouts and it really gives me a boost without any diuretic effects, but it doesn't work for everyone.