How many carbs during HIM

Bryan Fugate

 I know the total calorie count is between 150-200 for a HIM, but how many grams of carbs should we consume?

William Jenks

1 gram = 4 calories

And I think you mean 150-200 cal/hour, not 150-200 calories total.

If you drink sports drink, it's really easy to figure out how much fluid that means from the widely available nutritional information. I think it's something like 50 cal per 8 oz for most of them.

penlynwilson

On the bike, I usually start people at 60 grams of carbs/hour.
On the run, I start with 45 grams of carbs/hour.

Then, depending on how their body responds we go up or down from there. The max that has been shown to be absorbed without GI distress is most people is 90 grams of carbs/hour.

matthewbward

I just raced a super hot half and my bike nutrition was water and 500 calories of EFS drink (~125 g carbs) for a 2:30 bike. I didn't drink any of them in the first half hour (water only) so consumed all them over the next two hours of riding. I raced at 133# and I wouldn't go any lower than that.

Bryan Fugate

So 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories, then 60g of carbs would equate to 240 calories? How do I stay between 150-200 calories/hour?

Brenda Ross

Bryan, I go by a calculation of 1g of carb per kg of bodyweight per hour of exercise.

William Jenks

Bryan - you are correct. If you want lower than 240 cal, you have to eat fewer than 60 g carbs. :-)

For the half, I err on the side of less nutrition, but that is very n=1.

mgraffeo

EN guidance (see the wiki) is to take in calories on the low side, especially in the HIM distance, since you're never more than 10 minutes away from an infinite source of calories, so bonking is pretty low risk.

Individual experiences vary wildly, and you can certainly experiment with your own ideas, but it's worth trying out the EN recommendations first. take a listen to the podcast RnP did along with Mike Folan from Infinit (also in the wiki) for a great background.