IM bike nutrition plan
I realize nutrition is a very personal thing and everyone has
a different system and products that they use. I'm less interested in advice
about products (and please, no replies urging me to use Infinit). I'm more interested
in:
- Caloric sufficiency
- Hydration sufficiency
- Practices that are known to cause stomach problems
For reference, I'm ~140 lb.
I have always done "minimalist nutrition" in
training and racing to the half-iron distance. In a half-iron I usually do a
gel before the swim, 2-3 gels on the bike and maybe a gel on the run (usually
not). That ends up being 300-500 calories for a race lasting about four and a
half hours, i.e. somewhere in the 80 cal/hr range on average. Hydration is
water only, no sports drink.
For my first Ironman I realize the importance of nutrition
as the "fourth discipline". As such I have been experimenting on my
training rides with ways to get in more calories. So far I have found:
- At the lower bike intensities, solid food seems to be
well-accepted by my body and I like easting it compared to gels
- Gatorade yields an inconsistent experience…when the temps
get higher the stickniess grosses me out, and occasionally if I overdo it my
stomach revolts, and overdoing it seems impossible to quantify consistently
- Gels agree with me but I do like to mix it up,
flavor-wise, and once I get to 7+ gels I start to get a bit grossed-out
In my last few 5-hour rides I have honed in on the following
nutrition protocol:
- Every hour on the half-hour have half a Clif Bar (Toffee
Peanut Buzz with 50mg caffeine), up to 3:30 ride time, i.e. 2 full bars (500
cal)
- Every hour on the hour have a Gu gel packet, usually 2 Roctane
Cherry Lime and 2 Chocolate Outrage or Salted Carmel (400 cal)
- Drink 4x 22oz bottles of water, mandatory sips every 15'
For the actual race I'd need to modify the above to (a)
start the bike with a gel, since I'd be finishing a swim lasting over an hour
(well over!!) and (b) take in an additional gel since I'd be running a marathon
after the bike.
Modified per the above, this would be 1100 cal for a bike
ride in the 5:00-5:30 range (prob closer to 5:30 given the IMWI course), so
about 200 cal/hr, or ~185/hr for the race up to the end of the bike, assuming a
gel at the beginning of the swim. In terms of water, I will typically drink a
little more if it's hot and I'm not rationing to the 4 bottles I carry, but anything
less than mid-70's temps and my body just doesn't want that much water.
Does this seem reasonable and sufficient assuming it works
in training?
Many thanks for the input!
Comments
Fluids are the run are the make or break, though. More on that later when you post RRs and Race Plan. Me, 40-48 oz per hour seems to be all I can handle, but I NEED more.
As long as I'm using water than hydrating more isn't a problem..the issue I have there is remembering to hydrate, not getting it in.
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After posting and having some time to think about it, I realized it will not be useful to you, especially since I use Infinit.
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I was going to recommend PowerGels instead of your GUs but it looks like GU has removed Vitamins from most of their flavors and actually upped the sodium count. I would double check that what you are taking doesn't have 100% vitamin C in it or other vitamins as this can upset your stomach. Especially if you are taking several Gels along the way.
for a hot race in the 80s or higher I think that's light on the fluids. I'm a sports drink drinker of 40 oz an hour until I have to pee and then I back off. In my last IM that wasn't until mile 65 of the bike. I take in some water as I get tired of sports drink towards the end of the bike.
1) Hunger after the swim. Personally I come out of the swim STARVING! Solid food is a lot more satiating to me than a gu when I feel like that. At CDA I ended up scarfing down a whole 220 cal bar in the first 10 min (not planned) to satiate that hunger. I think that is early enough in the day and you'll be starting the bike at a lower intensity, so can probably handle more solids up front. I'd replace that gu right out of the swim with something more as a way to get more cals.
2) Make sure your plan works on the WI course. The first time I rode that course, my plan of drinking on xx intervals, etc was screwed by the fact that the course wasn't always convenient to when I planned on drinking/eating. Some of those technical parts require both hands. Minor point, but I remember the first time I rode it I was underfueled because I couldn't find a convenient time to eat!
3) I've heard a lot about how fat and fiber are such bad things come race day, but I think this totally depends on what you are use to training and your daily nutrition as well. I am generally a higher fat/fiber eater in my daily diet and lower carbs, I'm use to it. I have used larabars without issues for a long time, and many would say they are the devil. If it works for you, I wouldn't worry.
Nate, you bring up some important points, some of which I
have thought through and others that I haven't. As to fiber and fat, I do think
individuals' capabilities to process these things is different. But then again,
there's a reason the guys riding the Tour (who eat a ton of solids but of
course don’t' have to run) eat a lot of rice cakes and other sorts of cakes
while riding. So I've thought about this a bit and my idea is to find something
that works in training, and try it out. I am looking for less fibrous things
too but I'm also not sure that the 10g of fiber and 12g of fat in 2 clif bars will
be the difference-maker…but you never know. When I was looking for a good bar
to eat on the bike I naturally thought about Bonk Breakers which are marketed
specifically for cyclists. I put together the below comparison of nutritionals (numbers
are all normalized to a particular Clif Bar) and was amazed at how overindexed
the Bonk Breakers are to fat and how they are lower on carbs compared with clif
bars. When I did the analysis I didn't look at vitamins …the vitamin C point is
really well-taken and I need to think about that really carefully. It may cause
me to re-think the products I use so many thanks for pointing it out. One last note
which is that obviously my comparison was among solids and not between solids
and gels. Gels are a whole different animal of calorie and sugar density. I
just can't think about eating 15 gels. And I'm not too keen on Shot Bloks either
although the Clif Black Cherry isn't bad.
Have you thought about Power Bars? They have a lot of sodium and I can eat a lot of them — one per hour, plus liquids.
I agree about the idea of taking down 15 Gels during the bike. I think the most I've done is 6 plus drinking Gatorade/perform and a sleeve of cliff bloks. Racing at 145lbs.
a general note on all this nutrition stuff in terms of taste/preference. You don't have to like it, you just have to eat/drink it. So if the bloks or gatorade or gels or whatever are going to give you what you need but you don't love the taste...eat them anyways.
Al Recommended EFS liquid shot as an option. I would second this idea for something to try. Each 5 oz flask gives you 400 calories and 1500mg of electrolytes. Maybe fill a bottle with 10 oz of EFS, top off with water, and this could become a feed bottle during the race. the EFS goes down really easy from what I remember. More Liquid than Gel.
1. I see materially different calorie numbers between Garmin Connect and TrainingPeaks... What do you use / trust?
2. Of the calories that you are burning - what % do you expect to replace with carbs? I've seen suggestions between 50% & 60%... I typically use about 50%
I weigh 154#. If I average the Garmin & the TP numbers, and use 50% replacement, (for the bike) I need to replace about 3 calories per hour per watt (Pnorm). for IM distance, I have been front loading that a little. So for a 190w target ride, I'm taking in 300-325 calories in the first hours and 250-300 towards the end. I'm finding that pushing the hydration towards the second half of the bike helps significantly with the run, but I "want" fewer calories while doing that.
Ultimately - I know that I am going to dehydrate towards the end of the run and for me, delaying that as long as possible is the priority.
I don't look at ratios of fat/carbs in terms of the nutrition I'm taking in - only in terms of what needs to be replaced. The calories that I am burning aerobically (burning fat and oxygen) don't really need to be replaced with carbs during a race. The glycogen that I am using anaerobically does need to be replaced (to the extent that it can be) with carbs throughout the day. The reading that I have done points towards ˜50% of the total calorie burn being aerobic for endurance sports.
Looking at a recent ride of 94 miles in 4:15ish, Garmin says 2,439 kcal & TrainingPeaks says 2,851 kcal, or 545 - 696 kcal/hr. 50% being aerobic leaves me with 273 - 348 kcl/hr to replace. This is pretty consistent across all rides, with Pnorm being the main factor that causes variance (high intensity rides cost more).
Matt...how did you feel the last 3 days in Madison when you got off the bike? Did you feel fueled and hydrated like you feel when you start a stand alone marathon? That is the goal, even if a hard one to achieve after you've been racing for 7 hours. I believe it is really important to have "2nd breakfast" (to use a hobbit term) during the last 60-30 minutes of the ride. On the IMWI course, this means using the flat section from Verona to the stick on the 2nd loop to fuel up and let it settle before the start of the run.
My observation riding with you today was the Cliff bars went down fine, and that you even enjoyed them. If they work, then question is how many do you need and when do you need them?
I race at 160-161 pounds. I just reviewed my spread sheet on my calories/hour consumed. At IMMT last year I consumed 453 calories/hour on the bike & 266/hour on the run. At Kona it was 415/hour on the bike & 237/hour on the run. At IMAZ, it was 472/hour on bike & 266/hour on run. I'll send you the spread sheet in an email.
There is no benefit (that I know of) gained by replacing aerobic calories with carbs. Only need to replace the glycogen burned with additional carbs. I weighed 152# this morning. I rode 94 miles and burned about 2,900 calories in 4.6 hours, or 630 kilocalories/hr. At 50% aerobic - that is 315 per hour that I can replace with carbs. I typically plan from 275-325ish / hour, and stick to the lower end on hot days.
I've tried taking more (based on the EN formula weight# * 0.625 * 4) and found myself feeling bloated and sick. Especially on hot days.
Just remember the sole reason for eating during a race is to stave off the point where you exhaust all of your glycogen reserves.
So how much is enough is the real question? Studies suggest 1 to 1.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour. However, the correct amount is an individual thing. And that individual thing needs to be determined for each of us, and once determined, it needs to be practiced on all long bikes and runs, so on race day, you can actually process all those calories you are trying to eat.
FWIW, I race in the low 140s (pounds) and I probably need at least 400 calories per hour (that would be 1.5 gms per kilogram per hour)— I still don't know how much I need in an IM but am working with Coach P to nail that down. It may be that I need even more that 400 cals. There is even a study that suggests up to 2 grams per kilogram per hour (Roy L. P.> G. et al High Oxidation Rates from combined carbohydrates ingested during exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exercise 36(9): 1551-8. 2004).
Ultimately, each of us is different, has different levels of fitness etc and will have different needs. There isn't an equation that will work for each of us - there will be some trial and error to find what is working for us individually. I personally really like the concept of using my power meter to help sort our my caloric needs because:
a. it provides objective feedback related to the work that I've done, and
b. it was damned expensive - I like getting more use out of it
Temperature, body weight, intensity factor, ride duration are all variables influencing the burn rate and the source... but I can look at my training data and see that on IM distance rides I am in the 275-325/hr range @50% and it would be 330-390/hr @60%. The work done is a number I can read off my power meter. The 50%-60% range is cited in numerous articles as the aerobic efficiency for endurance athletes performing at intensity levels similar to our long bikes and I use it as a starting point... from there I start honing in one which end of the 50%-60% makes me feel good.
BTW, a 3:20 marathon pace after your 5 hr/110 mi ride is probably the fastest you could/should be going given your open marathon time, I suspect. For some reason, it's always a little harder on race day, what with no empanadas and all...
Weight 208. EN Formula 208 * .625 * 4 = 520
Simplified to use course nutrition
Gatorade Endurance, GU gels, GU Chomps = 400 per hour.
Working on another long ride next Saturday to test again.