Critique my big day nutrition plan!
I took a stab at outlining my nutrition plan for the big training day I have on Sat, what do you think? Alternating PowerGel (no caffeine) and Roctane (caffeinated), plus one Powerbar (and I will have had a small amount of caffeine before starting). First time I've ever created a plan like this - too much/little of anything? I sweat a moderate amount (never been tested), so I'm not sure if I should toss some salt sticks in there somewhere? Never needed them before but at the same time I've never had proper nutrition for anything this long. Don't be shy!
| Discipline | Segment Time | Nutrition | Discipline Time | Total Time |
| Pre Workout | Perform (sip) | |||
| Swim | 1:00 | None | 1:00 | 1:00 |
| T1 | :15 | Perform 20oz | :15 | 1:15 |
| 1x Roctane | ||||
| Bike | :45 | 1x PowerGel | :45 | 2:00 |
| Perform 20oz | ||||
| Bike | :45 | 1x Powerbar | 1:30 | 2:45 |
| Perform 20oz | ||||
| Bike | :45 | 1x PowerGel | 2:15 | 3:30 |
| Perform 20oz | ||||
| Bike | :45 | 1x Roctane | 3:00 | 4:15 |
| Perform 20oz | ||||
| Bike | :30 | 1x PowerGel | 3:30 | 4:45 |
| Perform 15oz | ||||
| T2 | :15 | Perform (sip) | 5:00 | |
| Run | :30 | 1x PowerGel | :30 | 5:30 |
| Perform (sip) | ||||
| Run | :30 | Perform (sip) | 1:00 | 6:00 |
Running the whole thing from a local gym which is why I've left so much time for transition (tough to get in/out quickly).
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Comments
The only real fault I saw was not eating before the swim. Get up early and eat your planned race day breakfast. If you really dont want to get up early at the very least eat a couple hundred calories one hour before swim. Should be easy since your driving to the gym.. Not eating breakfast and then swimming for one hour puts you into a deficit to start the day....Duplicating race day as close as possible is key to learn from it.
I have to Ditto what Tim said; your plan is outlined well...and you may have to adjust fluids based on our sweat rate/conditions...but importantly agree with Tim on the "Before" calories....I never used to eat upon waking or before workouts....have done so this year and noticed a BIG difference...so highly recommend something..your choice (carb).
My plan this past Saturday was very similar with the exception of higher perform volumes (37 ounces an hour based upon sweat test) with 1 salt stick added to each bottle of perform and the Applesauce breakfast. I was very happy I included the breakfast in my plan as I have never eaten so much applesauce at once. I have to say I never cramped or ran out of energy and hit all my numbers. .796 IF.
One more RR to get even more dialed in.
--Larry
@Joseph Yea I did eat a solid breakfast and took a gel about an hour before.
Unfortunately my day didn't go very well. I was very happy with my performance on the Swim/Bike, but the wheels came off on the run (and came off early - I was hoping to run a ~8:15 pace, but could barely hold 9min pace starting at mile 2-3). Around mile 7, I had to stop completely as my HR dropped to 100 and I was extremely dizzy..thought there was no need to tempt fate on what was just a training run for all intents and purposes. My problem is I'm not sure what exactly caused this - looking back I did keep way too high of a pace on the bike, probably averaged 80% rather than the prescribed 70-75%. But I've also never consumed that much salt in my life, and it was only ~60 degrees so I barely sweated on the bike. I'm wondering if I had a bit of a salt overdose in addition to the fatigue caused by the bike? Any thoughts there?
Did you stick to your nutrition and fluid consumption as written? Do you think you need more or less calories/fluids?
How long was your bike? IF .80 for 4hrs is most likely too high and the reason your searching for.... Your words "I did keep way too high of a pace on the bike" lower IF ???
What is your EP for the run? Is it 8:15 your target for the day?
Salt... How much did you consume? I didnt see this in the plan other than you may add it. It probably was not a factor but it was probably not necessary on a 60degree day.
Calories , fluids, and sodium per hour are highly individual and change dramatically based on temps, humidity, and intensity. Recommend that sweat test and very good tracking of calories, fluids and sodium so that you may adjust in the future.
Stuck to it however it was probably more like 20oz of Perform per hour on the bike rather than every 45min. I felt like I hit the sweet spot calorie wise, but maybe a tad under with the fluids. Although I really wasn't sweating much on the bike so I don't think lack of fluids did me in, I never felt that dehydrated.
Yea the bike went to 4hrs. I am sure this played a part in my unraveling, but it was just such a strange feeling at the end that I'm doubting it was just fatigue - the drop in heart rate is what really freaked me out to be honest.
Yea 8:15 was the average pace that I was targeting.
So let me do the math: 200mg per Powergel (4x) and 125mg per Roctane (3x), plus 190 per 8oz (~14x) of Perform, totaling over 3800mg sodium throughout the day. Nothing else, like a Salt Stick, was added.
Agree it was probably the intensity of the bike that did me in, but I'm definitely doing a sweat test in the very near future.
When you got light headed, were your hands cold? feeling irritable? If so, my guess is you were in a blood sugar bonk - high RPE, low HR, low performance, cold hands and feet, feeling loopy and irritated. classic symptoms.
Many things could be factors. Hard swim, longer bike, too high an IF, low muscle glycogen from prior WKOs, forcing a fast run pace following an over cooked bike.
Just my $.02 based on incomplete info.... more details may help.
I'm a really inexperienced swimmer, and as a consequence I'm really bad at judging my pace w/o constantly looking at clock. That said, I was attempting a t-pace plus 3'' for the duration of the swim (plus a short warm down). RPE was low-med the whole time, maybe med by the end.
I don't have a power meter, but was constantly watching my HR, and looked to be 75-80% for most of the ride. My (percieved) power didn't taper off the last 30min -1hr, mostly because I didn't let it, but I definitely felt my perceived exersion start to ramp up quickly after the 3hr mark.
I was aiming for marathon pace + 15''/mile (8:15). I made it probably 2 miles running right at that pace, and then dropped to 8:45/9 pace on miles 3-4, then 9-9:15 for the remainder. Perceived exersion on everything after mile 2 was through the roof, harder than anything I had experienced in any prior run (and you may recall I just ran Boston with you). I didn't have any bloating or sloshing but did get very dizzy and soon after a little nauseous. I remember thinking there was no way I was going to be able to choke down my gel, although I was able to get it down w/o much issue.
No cold sensation in hands/feet, and not irritable that I noticed, although was definitely very dizzy/out of it. Although the more that I read into this, the more I agree with your diagnosis - some combination of dehydration and low blood sugar. However I have definitely "bonked" before on long bike rides, and that sensation is completely different - those bike "bonks" are usually a feeling of extreme emptyness and lethargy, where as this felt like I needed an ambulance haha.
Next time, I'm going to try to take in more calories/fluids on the bike and slow the RPE down. Still not convinced the salt overdose thing is out of the picture though...