First HIM Nutrition Plan - Jonas McCluskey
Hello all, 11th hour and I'm just posting this. I've been working on it all week, but boy is there a lot to sort through. My first HIM is tomorrow (Grand Rapids Michigan) began carb loading as outlined in screen cast from Jesse in Wiki Nutrition info. Will follow again today to finish carb load up, then do the prescribed applesauce, banana, whey protien, sport drink (Powerbar Perf.) 3 hours before race start (7:30am). I have been training w/ the products, so I know my stomach jives w/ them.
Here is my in race plan:
0:15 before PowerGel 1 x caff.
Swim - just go! 
But slow out.
Bike - drinking Powerbar perform every 10 min.
1/2 a Powerbar once situated on bike (w/in 10-15 min.)
0:50 into bike - 1 Powerbar Gel 1 x caff.
1:30 into bike - 1 Powerbar Gel 1 x caff.
2:10 into bike - 3 cliff bloks
Hopefully off bike after 2:40.
Run - Drinking Powerbar Perform on coarse as can stomach.
0:10 into Run - 3 cliff bloks
0:50 into Run - Powerbar Gel 1 x caff.
1:30 into Run - Powerbar Gel 1 x caff. (will this last one even do anything? Too late?)
Target donw w/ run by 1:40-1:45.
Appreciate any feedback.
Thank you,
Jonas McCluskey
Comments
Hi!
I'm relatively new to this as well, but one thing about your plan that jumps out is the amounts of gel and bloks during the run on top of perform. It may be easier on your gut if you just stuck to perform for calories while running and only took a gel or bloks if you felt a bonk coming on. I plan to alternate 6 oz of water and perform at each aid station on the run, but may switch to water only or perform only as I feel. I will carry a package of bloks 'just in case'.
Also, in terms of fluids, the advice I have been given is to make sure you get enough fluids on the bike to pee at least once. I am riding the same kind of bike split you are and did this in my second race rehearsal yesterday, and felt great on the 10k run afterwards despite the heat.
Satish,
Thank you for your input. I like the idea of eating less! And relying on the Perform unless Im heading towards a bonk.
Thanks,
Jonas
Well. I survived my first HIM
. Grand Rapids Michigan Triathlon.
12th out of 53 in Age group.
62 out of 242 male overall.
Swim 0:34:17. Went just as I planned, in my previous races (2) Sprints & (1) Olympic I had a tendency of going out too fast (excited) and getting winded, nailed it this time though went out real real real slow & by 0:10 into race had my stride and picked up speed the rest of the way 7th out of water in my AG I've never had so much fun swimming!!!
_____
Bike went as I planned as well, although I really don't think I targeted correctly (too aggressive). I must lock myself down for some time and get more intimate w/ the watts / TSS / IF data tools. Not sure if I have my threshold in the WKO software set exactly perfect, but my TSS was 266 w/ an IF of .99, I think that is about where I should have been?
I targeted 200 - 205 watts, and ended up at 200 watts exactly. Crazy though, the bike course according to my Garmin was 57.4 miles! My time was 2:42:31, speed 21.3, 7th off bike in my AG. Not too much drama on the bike, a mix of flats & hills, I like the hills so I can stand up and stretch a little. Somehow I lost one of my two bottles of PowerBar Perfrom, no idea how that happened, I had not even started using that bottle yet, I struggle to yank those out when I need them? Grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from the next water stop and moved on. By the end of the bike I had completed my nutrition plan 1/2 a Powerbar 10 minutes into bike, Powerbar Gel at :40, Powerbar Gel at 1:30, then 3 Cliff Bloks at 2:10 and was happy stomach wise I felt good.
I'm not sure if I drank as much as I should have though, I made sure I drank every 10 minutes, but I only ended up drinking (1) 24 oz. water bottle of Perform & about 1/4 of the 20 oz. Gatorade. Temperature was only low to mid 60's, I was not sweating much (my HR monitor didn't start working until 1/2 way through ride because it could not make good contact w/out sweat.
I really had to pee about 1/2 way into bike, this is one question I forgot to inquire about. Most of you guys just let her rip on the bike? I had to admit it but I ended up holding it the whole race, I wonder how that impacted my performance? I had to go, but it wasn't like killing me, at least I don't think it was.
Run - 1:47:59. 14th fastest in AG. This is where the wheels fell off. My pace plan was mile 1-3 at 7.8mph, 3-6 at 8.0mph, 6-9 at 8.2mph, 9-13.1 at 8.4 or whatever I had left. First 3 miles I held 7.8, not too uncomfortably but I could tell I didn't have much more speed in me for the remaining 10 miles. Once mile marker 3 went by I attempted to bump up to 8.0 mph, but nope not there. Not sure if it was too much exertion on the bike, or lack of fluids on the bike, but no matter how hard I tried I steadily slowed down. HR held around 150 the whole time, in hind sight maybe I just didn't grind it out hard enough
. So rather than hitting my 8.1ish mph target for the run, by the end I had fell about 7.3, losing about 0:09 on the run. Killed me to see some of the guys I knew I should be in front of get me on the run. Normally the run is where I've reeled people in in my other races I've done (albeit Sprint & Olympic). I was extremely thirsty on run course as I'm sure everyone is, but I mean like all I wanted to do was stop and grab all the cups of everything and drink them all, but I knew my body wouldn't go for that. I grabbed Gatorade as I felt my stomach could handle, took 1 gel about 1/2 way through but that was all I consumed on the run. I was able to finish the last mile fairly strong, catching 2 guys in my AG, and in doing that made me think I did not grind it out enough. I was so worried about bonking 1/2 way through the run I went a little too conservative.
Overall I'm happy w/ my results. Swim I'll just keep on gaining speed w/ technique and fitness. Bike I just need to keep building fitness as well, but spend time w/ the WKO+ software to make sure I didn't spend too much on the bike which cost me on the run. I'd need to figure out how / when to pee
, I just didn't want to take the 1 minute, in hindsight not very smart.
One of my big questions of course is did the run let down occur from giving too much on the bike, and possibly not drinking enough fluids? Or lack of nutrition on the run, a few cups of Gatorade & 1 Powerbar gel seems like to little to me now, I just didn't want to add stomach issues to my already state of exhaustion.
Of course feedback would be greatly appreciated EN'rs! With what I learned yesterday I am very anxious for my next event, HIM Indiana on July 14th.
Thank you,
Jonas McCluskey
Thank you so much David, so much fun! Outside of the run being a little more than I was anticipated, but I'll make that better next time! Thanks again for the kind words, can't wait to get back on the bike in 1h adn 15 min. as soon as I rip through some work here
.
Jonas
If you were that thirsty on the run (and given how little you drank), I would tend to think you under-drank on the bike.
For what it's worth, even on a cool day, I try to consume at least a bottle between aid stations. I raced in good conditions (but warmer than you report) and consumed about 4 bottles total in 2:41 last weekend. I choose to get the vast majority of my calories from liquid, but that is a personal choice. 4 bottles of sports drink is around 800 cal.
Run calories are harder. Again...this is just my experience... I tolerate a gel pretty easily, so I always carry a couple in my jersey, and if things go south for calories, I can start doing 100 calorie gels and throw them down with water at the aid stations. But my preference is to get the 20-30 cal at the aid station through sports drink or cola. Both are about 10 calories per ounce.
One good reason to wake up 3+ hours before the race is so that you can get to the state where you've "gone" all you need to before the race. I will admit to being an unusual case, but I've not ever peed in a HIM race in 9 tries. And if you're willing to pee on your bike, consider that the wetsuit is also another pre-race line avoidance strategy.....