IM Nutrition

Jeff Braaten

 I keep reading in a number of threads about everyones nutrition plans for IM and Half IM. Does anyone just use what is on the course?  I am going back and forth on this. One reason is that is seems crazy to spend all the money on a light bike and trying to lose body weight just to load the bike back up with all the loads  infinit and water as if we are going to cross the country without any stops. Since there are aid stations every 10 miles with Gatorade ( or equivalent  with 175 cals per 20 oz. ) and water it would seem feasible to just carry what you needed to get to the next stop. I am thinking a couple of hammer gels per hour and a gatorade and water should do it and still keep my bike as light and simple as possible. Any comments?

jwpicciotto

There are plenty of people who use what is on the course. The important thing is that you train with what you are going to use. If it is Gatorade, then train with Gatorade, if it is IronMan Perform then use IronMan Perform. I hear people talk about that they weren't feeling good on the run and grabbed a flat coke and it perked them up. One time on a HIM, I decided to do this. Instead I felt like I was going to puke for the next 30 minutes.

On the weight issue, most people do a concentrated bottle of Infinit and then grab a bottle of water at the aid station. Weight wise this will be the same as the one bottle of IM Perform and one bottle of water that you will grab at the aid station, so it nets out. Somewhere on the forum there is a video of "what's on my bike" that the guys did at one of the IMs last year. This shows good examples of what not to do.

Gordon Cherwoniak

Jeff,

I went with what was on course last year at IMC.  Just make sure you get enought electrolytes from what's on course or bring extra.  I did not get this right and it caused some issues.

Gordon

Coach Rich

Jeff,

The concentrated bottle of Infinit trick is one that's I and many others have been using for years. It works. I'm now going to an all Perform plan for IMWI, for the dead simple simplicity. I will likely have no more than one bottle of anything on my bike at any time during the race.

Al Truscott

Just make absolutely sure you can stomach nothing but Perform for 6-10 hours (bike + run). I like Gatorade OK, but Perform tastes nasty to me. Buy some powder and try it on your first long rides of 4+ hours to see how you like it.

I've found I do best with a little liquid variety, so I carry 6 oz of Hammer gel and a bottle of super strength Pertpetuum on my bike, taking water on board as/when I need it. PowerBars, bananas, oranges, pretzels, anything solid doesn't work for me.

I agree with Coach, that simplicity is best, and becomes more important the faster you want to go. For some of us, comfort and reassurance have an equal priority.

kurshing

I love this and agree to the simplicity approach. I have never had a problem stomach anything...but, I have heard that you really ought to have different bike and run nutrition because you eventually will just not be able to stomach that same stuff for 10 hours. I have debated whether I wanted to buy into this or not...thoughts?

charris

A few random thoughts.

In terms of weight:

-as John said, a standard "carry your nutrition" setup usually involves one bottle of concentrated nutrition (pick up a second at special needs) and a bottle of water (grabbing replacement water bottles at aid stations) so it pretty much nets out. Unless you're carrying all your bottles of nutrition, or only taking one bottle and alternating between sport drink/water at aid stations - which is what CoachR implies above (which, IMHO, seems weird - but he's moving a lot faster than I am).

 

But even if it didn't net out, a 20 oz bottle of water is ~1.3 lbs (or ~590 grams).  500 grams of weight adds ~10 seconds to an IMFL bike time of ~4:40. For a ~4:40 IMC ride it adds ~14 seconds. For a ~6:00 IMC ride, it adds ~34 seconds.

 

Summary? Weight matters, but not nearly as much as you might think ("source" material here&#160.

 

As for using what's on the course, there's nothing technically wrong with it. The main risks:

-more moving parts at aid stations - now you need to grab water and sport drink instead of just water - those zones are chaos and I prefer to get water and get out of dodge ASAP

-more moving parts on the bike if you have to supplement from an electrolyte perspective or a protein perspective (whether it's placebo or not, I found protein helps me "not feel hungry" despite the all liquid nutrition)

-you're going to be really sick of the taste by the end of the day

-your body might not be used to it (as others have said, make sure you practice with it in training)

-it might not have been mixed to the proper ratio by volunteers (if it's pre-mixed and not in bottles)

 

In many ways, I actually found the Infinit approach simpler.

 

FWIW, I did IMC as described above:

-~4 hour bottle of infinit to start, ~2 hour bottle at special needs

-replaced water bottle at aid stations

-Plan B if I dropped either Infinit bottle was to switch to gatorade instead of Infinit

-a bottle of powerade to run out of T2 with (nice change of taste, helps to ensure I get some nutrition in the first few miles - I think I stole this idea from Chris Whyte - although he might start with Coke?)

-by the time I got a few miles into the run, the sport drink was actually a pleasant change. Clif Bloks chased with water is also a nice change on the run.