Is 250 Cal/Hr Enough for 6'0" 160# Dude?

jmoss70

For 3 IMs I've gone total liquid (except for a Snickers bar @ SN).  My Infinit formula is dialed to 250 Cal/Serving/Hour.  I've had a couple of bonking episodes during my long rides recently.  Classic stuff like the rubbery feeling in the upper body, weak, massive loss in power output.  In most cases I have overcome it by pounding more Infinit and it comes back around.  

I've never been a big student of the nutrition piece.  I've always just targeted 250 Cal/Hr because it felt right.  How do I know what the right intake is for someone of my size?  Is this question easily answered by just bumping up my intake to say 300-325 Cal/Hr and seeing how I feel?

scottwstewart

@ Jim, I'm about your height and weight (6'-1" and 155 pounds) and I used 250 cal/hour for IMFL last year with no bonking issues. For HIM's I even drop that down to 225 cal/hr. Your long rides and RR's are your opportunity to test your nutrition strategy to see if it works. If you've been experiencing bonking on your training rides then you likely either didn't fuel up properly before the ride or just need to bump up your calorie intake a little during the ride. Hope this helps.

Coach Rich

Experiment to find what works for you but, in all cases, start with the low side and work yourself up. If what you described were to happen in a race, you can roll into an aid station = infinite number of calories and be back in the game in minutes. In my experience, you can turn a bonk around very, very quickly. But if you make the mistake of taking in too many calories and shutting down your stomach...you're basically done. It takes drastic measures to fix that, if it's even fixable.

Now, I'm not saying that we race on the edge of bonking. I'm just saying that the typical IM athlete is fearful and will latch onto any ridiculous advice they hear out there -- you need to eat 400cal/hr, minimum, twinkies are a great race fuel, etc. EN = hundreds of athletes who've raced very well on ~175-300cal/hr. Experiment with those numbers to find what works for you but, again, start on the low side and work your way up.

Scott Alexander

I'm 6'1" and 205lbs right now, rode 65 miles two weeks ago with less than 200cals/hr. It's just so individual, you've just got to test it out during our long training rides. Also, take into account the temperature and humidity of where you live and where you race.

There's always talk of nutrition (cals) vs hydration (h2o) - they're separate but definitely both as important, IMO.

Norton

Keep at it until you find what works for you.



I tried my damndest to adhere to the 240cal/hr guidelines, but in the end I work best at IM intensities taking on at least 350o400 cal/hr. I did venture into 500 cal/hr, but that ended up with me curled up into a ball under a bush; not so hot.

Nate Parady

@jim, i've been playing around with my nutrition a lot these past few weeks/months. Have done as little as 150/hour for my Saturday longer ride of 3+ hours. I can get away with it for a training ride but will keep to 250 for race day along with about 30 oz of water depending upon the temp. I'm finding that what impacts how I do during these training rides isn't just the calories i'm putting in during the ride but the fact that I'm in the middle of this IM training plan that is taxing my body. Did I fully Hydrate and replensih my sodium stores from Thursday's long run and Firday's epic long swim in the 80 degree water that is my local Rec Center? Hardly activities that i will be doing two days prior to IMLP...

I think you've done more than one IM (If I remember from previous posts), Did you bonk during those races? I might consider changes to your nutrition plan from your prior performance during an actual race plus any recent Big Day or RR events...just a thought...

When I've practiced with my Race Day nutrition of infinit with 250 Cals and 500mg Sodium/serving for my bike nutrition i've had great results...this is my race day plan for the bike plus water and some Perform to fill the in the gaps. RR coming up so more data for me. I think RnP got this one dialed in for most folks...

penlynwilson

Jim: As others have said - you need to look at those times you bonked and figure out what was different about them. If your nutrition works as designed, often when it doesn't work it is an execution issue.

Scott Alexander

Interestingly enough, I tried an experiment this weekend, rode the same 65 miles Saturday morning, less wind, but did it with only water, for 3 hours. Must have enough stored calories to pull it off!

Gordon Cherwoniak

Jim,

Not much else to add but as Scott S pointed out perhaps this could be an issues with shorting yourself in overall calories.  Look at your daily caloric intake to ensure that you are getting enough including recovery after longer sessions. 

I say this because of your other thread on TSS and IF.  If you push the envelop some or its hot out the body will compensate and not process the calories as quickly.  If you can make do on 25 less calories an hour by insuring proper nutrition throughout the day and leading up to the race it could help alleviate race day nutirion stress to the body.  Having said that perhaps you need more and do as the coach said start low and work up.  Use the long rides and RR to dial this in.

Gordon

 

Cary Blanco

6'1 162-168 and 200-225 cal/hour is fine for me - test it out. Start low, it's easy to add calories if you "get low".