Beach to Battleship and Heed on the course

Pat Koss

Reviewing on another window the top video from the wiki for race nutriition. Heed is not recommended by far, but that is what is on the course at Beach to Battleship. I'm perfectly content packing 3 bottles of infinit on the course. I could also load more in the special needs bags, but to avoid water I'm going to have to hit the Heed. I will add Powerbar Performance and Saltstick caps. However the Heed is what is on both courses.

Any experience with a similar race and what was your strategy?

wareagledusty

I raced B2B last year as a relay team (swim and bike) and will be doing the full this year. I use Ironman Perform as my hydration and last year I carried 5 bottles on my bike. I pre-measured servings of powder in baggies and used those to mix with water at an aid station when I stopped. It took me a bit longer (7 minutes total stop time including going to the bathroom) but well worth it over drinking Heed. (I would rather drink water from a ditch...)

I'll stick to the same strategy for the bike this year. For the run I am debating carrying a fuel belt and doing the same or planning to take in a lot more of my calories/sodium from nutrition and drinking water or coke at aid stations. For the past two years I have only drunk Perform on the bike and run and I really like it. I don't want to go back to water and get the sloshy stomach so I will likely carry powder for the run as well. I drink a lot so that strategy might slow me down too much.

I wish they served anything but Heed...!

Coach Patrick

What dusty said. The alternative of HEED is just sooo bad. I would figure out how to get max bottles on your bike (torpedo + down tube + seat tube + 2 behind seat = 5), that would be good through 1/2 way....then a big pit stop to get it all right. I would consider it the "cost" of racing there, and also consider it offset by the faster than usual swim....just be safe at the aid station when loading up!!! 

Let us know what you decide!

Pat Koss

I have my first RR this weekend. Was considering giving Heed a try as a fluid, but not much else -- that it would be better than plain water. Logic is to get used to the taste and see if I could stomach it for just fluids. I was considering to use a combination of an Infinit concentrate bottle(s) plus a mix of PowerBar, Powergel, etc. Currently my bike has 3 fluid positions. If it is cool there I could wear a bike jersey and get more in...that is a real possibility with historical weather patterns. I've done Infinit concentrate bottles last year at IMFL and it worked pretty well...there I used water for fluid. (Last year I did no solids and now that I'm calculating the numbers this year I was short on sodium and probably calories, and bombed the run, but feeling good this year with all the EN lead nutrition planning, including your new spreadsheet).

Fallback for RR2 would be just Infinit bottles and to carry double bagged powder on my person to mix at the rest stops like mentioned above (used power bags before when a runner. single bags are a real pain when they split open on a sweaty run).

wrightb2

I did the full at B2B in 2011 and I am doing it again this year. On the bike, I will take 3 bottles + 2 in my Speedfil (all Infinit). I will also take two small flasks of Infinit Napalm in my jersey to finish the bike and start the run. After the Napalm is gone I'll switch to Coke and water. I followed this strategy in 2011 (except for Napalm) and had a pretty good race with a strong run (4th in my age group).