On course nutrition

mbeavers

Hey guys -- what should we expect for on course nutrition? The website says Gatorade...is that the plain Gatorade or will they also have the endurance variation? Does anyone use nuun (with water) as opposed to the sugar stuff? I figured it would be easy to have four bottles of nuun but wondering how easy it would be to carry a tube of tabs. Thanks in advance!

JenHen

When I raced there two years ago, I think it was just regular Gatorade. That being said, it could have been the endurance variety and I just didn't pay attention :-

I've used nuun before for training and shorter races and I know others use it. For my longer races though I use Gatorade for the calories/carbohydrates/sodium. I think carrying nuun tabs should be pretty simple. If you don't want to carry a tube, maybe place them in a tiny zip plastic bag -- I use the kind for pills. That way I don't have to carry something that rattles.

mbeavers

Thanks! The ziploc is a good idea to avoid listening to rattling for several hours. The Gatorade is so sticky and sweet that I don't enjoy drinking it....then again it's never fun shoveling a powerbar down

Did the race have sunscreen last year? IM Boulder had a station in T1 and I wasn't sure if that was standard

JenHen

I don't remember sunscreen -- but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. Maybe someone else who has done Cozumel will remember...

One thing I do remember is that the transitions were much different than my experience in Arizona. For example, in Arizona, the volunteers helped you a ton. I had wonderful women help me in both the transitions -- basically, dressing me and pushing me out the tent with a smile. I think a lot of the volunteers there are volunteering because they are also triathletes, so they know the best ways in which to help you. In Cozumel, the volunteers were all pretty young and really only asked if I wanted gatorade or water -- which is still helpful, but not quite in the same way as the volunteers in AZ.

Shaughn Simmons

Should be Gatorade Endurance Formula on the course.

If Nuun is what you have trained with and are used to then, use that.  Don't try something new on race day.  I don't like Nuun because a) It has a relatively low sodium content compared to other electrolytes and b) it is not buffered. When you are pumping 1,500mg/hr like I do during warm races, it wreaks havoc on me internally.  I use Salt Stick (buffered) capsules for those reasons.

Good luck out there!

SS

mbeavers

Interesting…thanks! I had to do some research on the difference between the buffered and it explains a lot!

I was thinking of trying the GE for the last 8-weeks but will stick to my nuun

salbrecht

So how do they get the Gatorade to you? Is it in 20oz bottles like you get at the store, or in bike bottles? How are the gels they provide?