Ironman Race Nutrition (Page 4)

Ding! That makes sense. My zone 2 is around 175, so I think that qualifies as 'high HR'.  (gotta love that lil chipmunk, eh?) NUUN sounds like a good suggestion to supplement the gels, etc. Thanks guys.

That's possible.  If it's really a side stitch, then I think the cause is something else.  But if the sensation of a side stitch remains after repeated trials, whether it's an actual side stitch or not is academic.  I'd agree it's time to accept that it doesn't work for you and try something else.   I'm not trying to cram the square peg into the round hole for anybody. 

No idea if you should try it, but 3 gels an hour for 6 hours... and that's the bike alone.  Lets add another 2-3 gels for another 5 hours (slow runner here) I think I'd wan to spit my teeth out at that point.   I guess I could HTFU and just get used to it, but I am much more apt to take in the nutrition if it's something I can stomach from a taste standpoint.

Oh I realize that JK, I just have the same problem so I am very familiar with it. NUUN works well for me as well as many of the Hammer Products since they have maltodexrin.

I took @2-2.5 gels/hr for 6 hours on the bike.  One on the run.  2-3 is too many IMO.  Especially if you are also drinking sports drink, coke, etc.  I guess I don't see mcuh difference in a "gel" or a "highly concentrated carbohydrate solution".  Both need to be taken with additional fluid to dilute them.  Anyway, I was mostly thinking out loud.  If it works for you, that's all that matters.

No, I appreciate the other considerations.  In my first HIM I didn't take in enough calories, and paid heavily at the end, so I am (perhaps overly) sensitive to the issue, especially now in light of jorge's and others posts that people take in too much nutrition.  Finding that balance

You're right, if I didn't have to concentrate I wouldn't necessarily need water, but I would think that even if I had an unconcentrated 1 hour bottle I would still take water at the aid stations?  for nothing else as a change of pace.

As a result of these threads, I've decided to test out GE further in training........  sure would make life and $$ easier.  Haven't done particularly well with G products, especially later on and as they get hot.  Maybe I can make it work anyway (a bg reason I like Infinit and customization is the flavor, which I dial way back, that's likely to be an issue with me and GE....)

And I thought buying a bike was hard......

Making a highly concentrated drink bottle can potentially cause issues. I have friend on my bike race team who did IMWI last year when it was really cold. She did the concentrated bottle method with water chaser. Since it was cold she didn't drink much water so she ended up drinking very high concentrated mix without diluting it with water so it was way above the normal 6-8% concentration ratio in her stomach.

She had big GI problems on the run and was in the porta potties a lot and missed KQ by 15 minutes.

She told me don't do concentrated drinks as the weather being extremely hot or cold weather can effect how your rhythm of drinking and can cause like she had major problems.

I'm going to train to live off the course. When does IM tell what will be on the course or is it always the same year to year?

bryancd - 2007-11-23 11:04 AM Hey Steve, thank for the kind words . Also, you and I have the same ride! I have the Litespeed Saber which is the sister your your QR. Heck I even have that same front carbon fork!

PROOF POSITIVE that a $6,000 bike and $2,100 wheels does NOT make you fast (my IM bike split vs yours)....ha ha ha 

I had already decided to try to live of the course, and ordered a tub of GE powder but hadn't actually tried it until after this post started. I wanted to finish up my last cytomax first. So I've now done 3 trainer rides using GE and water. 2x 90 minutes and 1x 2 1/2 hours. ALL 3 times I threw up in my mouth. Litterally. I don't usually like lemon-lime but I can't imagine that is causing me to throw up. So I bought some of the nuun berry flavor (usually my fav flavor in whatever product) and hated it. Just ordered some ecaps so I'll try those next with just water and stick to my stinger gels for calories. If the ecaps don't work then I might be doing the concentrated cytomax and just mixing with water from the course as someone suggested. I love the taste of the cytomax, so according to the adage, it should work come race day. Luckily I have 10+ months before IMFL to work this stuff out. I finished the 2 1/2 hour trainer ride without a problem even tho my stomach was ill about 45 minutes into it. I'm pretty sure I won't finish a 112 mile ride plus a marathon if I'm ill 45 minutes into the ride.

BTW, I think everyone should try the stinger gels. They're honey and taste great and very easy on the stomach. They will definitely be with me at IMFL.

I'm riding indoors. We have about a foot of snow on the ground

I'm mixing 3 scoops into a 24oz water bottle, so 3 servings. I also have water. So at :15 and :45 I have 1/3 of a bottle of GE, and at :30 and :00 I have a gel and 1/3 of water. I'm certainly sweating my butt off, and i don't think its too much. I was doing exactly the same with cytomax with no problems. So that's about 100 cals of GE and 240 of gel, 340 total, which I thought was kind of light actually for an IM, maybe 60-160, depending on how I handled the extra calories in future training rides/runs. Any ideas?

Bryan, looks like you were exactly right. I did my long bike just now on the trainer (2:45), bottle of GE and 2 bottles of water, drank when thirsty and a couple of gels when I felt like it and it worked fine, absolutely no digestion problems, I finished only 1 of the 2 bottles and the bottle of GE and feel fine. Thanks for your help. I guess I'll worry about figuring out the nutrition when I get back to riding outside in the summer. Foot of snow on the ground right now so I have a few months unfortunately.

Thanks again!