HIM: Living off the course even a little more...

William Jenks

I've heard Rich mention in recent talks that he's thinking about doing an all off-the-course nutrition strategy (save for what he starts with) for his next IM.   It set me thinking a bit about HIM, and how easy that might be, and its potential advantages.

Normally, I'd think of bringing a ~500 calorie bottle and a water bottle for HIM bike, then taking water from the course.  Of course, this works and there's nothing wrong with it.  (Then live off course calories for the run...)

However, we've all been through a recent heat wave, and it struck me that this actually limits the amount of fluid you can consume to basically one bottle's worth between aid stations, because the 2nd bottle (with the calories in it) doesn't provide more than about 8 oz per hour.

If, on the other hand, you start with ~150 calories of gatorade (or whatever) in a normal strength bottle, plus a water bottle, that bottle can "count" more towards your hydration.  Say the aid stations are 10 mi apart, i.e., 28-40 min, depending on how fast you are.  You can either hold a gatorade bottle over two aid stations or drink some large fraction of it and exchange at the next one.  As long as you can manage to pick up two bottles at the exchange (gatorade/power ade AND water, or 2 x water, as appropriate), it seems like you have a lot more flexibility about how much you can drink on a hot day.

My tummy does fine on either gatorade/powerade or other stuff like Perpetuem, and this might not be as attractive for a full-day event, but what do you think?

Probably not an issue for races in the 60s and 70s, but if it happens to be really hot, staying hydrated seems to have been a problem for some, given race reports I've read.

Paul Hough

I started the bike at IMCDA in June with 6 GU gels and 2 bottles (1 water/1 gatorade) then lived off the course the rest of the day. I rotated between water and gatorade and pitched a bottle at each water stop starting at about 20. I ran out of GUs and took 1 PowerGel at an aid station late on the bike, and several PowerGels on the run (plus gatorade and water). I'm more likely to start a HIM with 3 water bottles because the water stops tend not to be as frequent as they are in a full Ironman.

But yes, you can live off the course. I saw one guy on the bike who had these huge cake-like squares taped down his top tube in two layers. It was a freaking banquet and I'm wondering if he was puking during the run.

Al Truscott

Alternatively, you can grab a "gatorade" bottle at the start of the aid station, drink as much as you can as you roll through, then grab a full one (water or gatorade) on the way out to last until the next stop. In addition to the "calorie" bottle you carry.

I think calories are not AS important on an HIM as they are for an IM, assuming you are in the 5 hour range. 1.5 x strength perpetuem (375 cal.) plus some gatorade on the bike is usually enough for me, along with a Gu each in T1 and T2, and then the usual stuff on the run and prior to the race.