IMMT Nutrition
As requested via IMMT EN team mate!
My day before and raceday nutrition. Background racing the M 50-54AG @ 5'6" and 120 lbs. Also note Plant-Based athlete or Vegan.
The weeks leading up to the race I eat normal with the only exception being tapering my food volume along with my training volume , making sure I still eat before during and after workouts. I don't count calories but I have a general idea of how many I am eating and how many I need. For a reference my resting metabolic rate is somewhere around 1400 calories a day (sitting on the couch) so I know I need around 2000 for minor activity day. For every hour of training I add about 500 calories to that give or take depending on the goal adding or subtracting.... So a do nothing day is 2000 , a 2hr day is 3000 , etc.... So when tapering from a 15hr week to a 11hr week and then a 6hr week one needs to cut back accordingly.
This is what I did most recently at IMTX and plan to repeat at IMMT.
2 nights before the race . Veggie burger, bread , sweet potato fries ---- May have pasta dinner and bread instead.
1 Day before race.... Breakfast Bowl of brown rice 3-400cal , with hempseed , coconut oil , almond butter ,salt , maple syrup or honey (not anal about honey) and coffee ..... couple hours later snack banana and coconut water, lunch sweet potato , with tahini , hempseed, honey, salt , coconut oil , snack mid afternoon banana and coconut water , dinner bowl of white rice again with coconut oil, almond butter , hempseed , syrup and salt. After dinner snack salted dark chocolate. Each meal is 6-700 calories, lots of carbs , fats, protein , sodium , easy to digest , add in the snacks and I am up to around 2500-2800 calories.
Raceday breakfast.... cream of rice or bowl of white rice prepared the same as dinner and followed up with salted dark chocolate and coffee. 6-700 calories.
Pre-Swim--- one bottle perform and 1 powerbar caffeinated gel
Bike--- I eat 60 calories every 30 minutes (starting at zero on the bike as soon as I am settled I eat right and drink right away and this becomes more important the longer your swim was) in the form of a 1/4 toffee peanut clif bar , or 2 cliff shot blocks together one margarita and one black cherry (margarita is 3x salt and not as sweet and the black cherry is caffeinated) I pre-wrap these blocks and clif bar pieces in edible rice paper (the kind they put on top of cakes for pictures) and then lay them in my bento box so all I have to do is open box, grab one, pop in mouth, keep moving with no wrappers to deal with.... Drink 20-24oz perform per hour.... Note that is a very small amount of fluid compared to most but that is what works for me... 1 caffeinated powerbar gel at around mile 90.... This gives me around 260-280 calories per hour... Also in the bento box but not always used is a couple of tums tablets also wrapped in rice paper.....If I feel like it I will eat those with about 1/2 hour to go in the ride used more as an insurance policy more than anything .
Run--- Start the run with a 4oz hand-held flask of caffeinated perform gel usually around 3.5 gels. I sip out of this every 3 miles starting at mile zero , 3,6,9,12,15 and sometimes make it to 18.... So I am consuming roughly 1/2 a gel every 3rd mile w/water , miles 1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11,13,14 all perform , when gel is gone , switch to coke..... When I switch to coke is when I start consuming salt stick tabs about every other mile and usually only a couple say one at mile 20,22,24 again more for insurance and because no longer consuming the sodium thru perform products. Usually don't take anything the last 1 or 2 aid stations unless its insanely hot and am stopping for water and ice anyway. This again puts me in the high 260-280cal per hour and 20-24oz per hour fluid.
Note: I practice raceday fueling on every long ride and long run as close as I can... Last saturday AM before my 4.5hr ride I had my rice breakfast , started the ride 1.5hrs later , was not ready to eat so had 1 bottle of Nuun for the first hour and then started on the perform and clif bars, then blocks exactly as race day... Usually on RR's I will replicate the day before and morning of almost exactly.....
This very individualized and my fluid/sodium intake is on the low side compared to most. Sweat tests and practice thru training and racing will determine each individual's need for a more specific amount of calories, fluids, and electrolytes.
Just read Nemo's post before hitting submit.... Agree with Core-diet mostly.... But like Nemo no-thanks to the applesauce.... I take everything I read or hear then make my own decisions... I find nutrition to be faddish... Meaning just a mere 2-3 years ago everyone was going minimal calories, now its huge amounts of calories.... Infinit was all the rage and now its not (I tried minimal calores once no thanks then I tried Infinit again no thanks) .... Al Truscott tried some of the new theories of high cal's etc with disastrous results (he knows what works for him and wen t back to it) .... Again its so individual and everyone needs to find what works for them....
Comments
Thanks Tim. I need to try your rice recipe- that might work for me for breakfast instead of oatmeal. I'm thinking the rice would be a little more gentle on the tummy. Do you cook the rice ahead of time and then just warm it up? Or maybe you eat it cold? I find the less I have to do in the morning the better!
The rice paper is genius. But where do you get it?
As for me. I recently read through the Wiki on Race Day nutrition and also watched the webcast. I've simplified my former nutrition plan quite a bit from prior years and I'm hoping it works out well this weekend. Here is my current nutrition plan for bike/run (keep in mind I expect to be on the bike close to 7 hours and I'm run/walking the run. Also note I'm 110 lbs, and I consider that about 5 lbs heavy)
Bike: (essentially I "eat" at the top of every hour. Otherwise it's all Perform.
Powerbar Perform - 8 bottles (start with 2 on the bike, take the rest from the course)
Cliff Blocks- 1/2 Margarita and 1/2 Black Cherry (for the caffeine), 3 pcs each taken at hours 1, 3,5,7 (or 6:30- roughly 10 min before I get off the bike)
Powerbar Gel- 1-regular, 2-2x caffeine taken at hours 2,4,6
Totals= 517g CHO, 160oz H2O, 4.8g Sodium, .2g caffeine
Run/walk: (No solids, all liquid)
Gatorade Perform at every aid station
Coke at the top of every hour
Totals= 314g CHO, 128oz H2O, 3.8g Sodium, .07g caffeine
Having read Tim's post above, I may adjust the above a bit to make my eating times start at the bottom of the hour. I usually can't eat right away after the swim, but you are right, waiting a full hour will be a little too long. Starting at 0:30 is a better idea.
As far as the rice goes.... If I have a stove in my room I use cream of rice cereal , cooks up in a couple minutes ..... Or I will use left over white rice from the dinner the night before and just nuke it... If the room does not have a stove , I buy pre-packaged , pre-cooked rice in a bag , then all you have to do is nuke it(even if the room does not have a microwave you can always hit the one in the lobby) , I do prefer it warm with all my toppings.... I really enjoy the meal and that is important to me!....My favorite white rice is an Arborio or a Calrose , they cook up almost like sticky rice......Last week I tried a pre-cooked white sticky rice from I believe Annie Chung? and it was outstanding! Absolutely love sticky rice , became addicted to it on a rock climbing trip in Thailand where they serve it with fresh mango and lots of creamy sweet coconut... Dont eat much white rice so when I do on a training day or race day its a nice treat!
I used to start fueling at the 30 and started fueling on race day at the zero for an IM.... It helps me slow down just a little as I begin the bike and if I want to I can always skip a feeding later but its nice to get a head start early on .
So my Q here is - how does this work? what are the instructions to wrap snacks, home made rice cakes w PBnJ, and some w dates, and some w fig and chocolate......
thanks,
Eva
Danielle
I have also tried knori seewead paper and rice , those ended up a little soggy .
@Danielle..... I'm vegan .... Powerbars have whey and or milk powder in them if I remember correctly.... I'm not that anal about it and will occasionally eat one... But I find them a bit chewy to get down on raceday... I use Choc Mint or my fav Peanut Toffee Buzz cliff bars since they have a little caffeine in them , eating 1/4 bar per 1/2 hour for the first 2 hours on the bike....