what to eat?

And......be careful with your "carbo load".  The idea of carbo loading has been way overblown for years.  Your carbo "load" should start several days out, which really means to lower the amount of high fibre, high fat and heavy proteins leading up to your race.  It doesn't mean to eat a giant serving of pasta the night before a race.

As far as race nutrition....do as wurkit gurl stated....nothing new.  Eat what you've been training with.  Depending on the amount of time it will take you to finish I would say you shouldn't need more than 200 calories per hour on the bike and nothing but water on the run.  Maybe one gel....but not much more.  But again....you should have practiced this by now.

Good luck!

Right. The night before I have SOME pasta or rice or whatever, with some lean meat (chicken or fish) and some veggies (some people can or can't tolerate a certain amount of veggies, but at least a salad or something). But I usually start eating like that a few days out. I'll also tend to eat more fruit that week. But that's just me.

I think you're overthinking this.

Sports drink should be all you need.  You probably won't need 200-300 calories per hour, you won't need electrolyte replacement.

As for the overheating, what do you mean? 

Maybe she means dehydrate? I know that I dehydrate easily and sometimes plain water doesn't cut it, esp. very quickly.

What do you mean?  How do you know you're dehydrated? 

For my first Oly, I had a gel 15 mins before the swim, one a couple or so miles into the bike, and one at the end of the bike, and I was out there for three hours... 300 cals total... didn't worry too much about electrolyte replacement.

That said, if you've been training with 200-300 per hour, stick with that. 

I'm with Scout7 that you are probably overdoing it; if you are interested I posted my thoughts on short course nutrition here.

Good luck at your race,

Shane

Her skin turns prune-like.  Trust me, I've seen it, it ain't pretty. 

I always have, ever since I was a kid. Running around in hot weather - I get headachy and dizzy and my stomach acts up. Salt/electrolytes helps. It works for me. So I'm not gonna change it. Would you like me to discuss pee color too? Cuz I can.

I'm not disagreeing that she is overdoing/overthinking it. Merely suggesting a POSSIBLE answer to the question you posed. Some people do dehydrate easily.

Sure, go for it.  But I doubt it's going to bring much to the conversation here.

Not to be argumentative but that sounds like heat stroke/stress more than dehydration.

Shane

I'm detecting a little smart-assness here.  Obviously you know what she means.

Anyway....because the original poster does not use her logs it's impossible to tell what level of athlete she is.  If she's a 4.5-5 hour Olympic finisher and you're suggesting she takes in nothing but a swig of sports drink....then you're wrong.

To the OP:  It would help us help you if you'd give a little background into your fitness level and what your anticipated finish time is.  As you can see....nutrition is a very individual thing and you can't take one person's recommendations.  This is why it's so important to practice your nutrition long before race day.

Oh forget I said anything. I don't usually get that way - it was worse when I was younger. I'm conscientious about hydrating etc. I've run in hot weather and been fine, plenty of times. But I DO sweaty very salty sweat, rather easily. Which is probably not a good thing. And so I am careful. If it works for me, who the hell cares? It was merely a suggestion as to what she might have meant - not the be all and end all.

No, I honestly don't.  I know what dehydration is, and I know what heat injuries are, and the two are different.  Hence the reason I ask.  There was no tone, other than a simple question.

As for the OP, I still think there is no need for much more than sports drink.  Or gels.  Not both.  200-300 calories per hour is a lot, and could cause GI issues.  I think people overdo the electrolytes in shorter events, and that causes issues as well. 

For the record, I use straight up water in all my sprints. I only use electrolytes on long runs in hot weather and I switch between it and plain water. Normally, I train with water, or diluted sports drink if I am going on a long ride. And use gels if I feel like I need them (long rides).

And then of course, one could always go and say that I don't use enough for whatever reason. So I don't really care. I do what I feel works for me. I'm not an expert.

Oops. Sorry Scout.  I detected a "tone" with the assumption you had experience in triathlon competition.  But after looking at your logs I see you're just a runner.

Agreed that many people overdue their nutrition.  Gels and water is all I do for an Oly race.  But for others solid food such as bars may work better.  Hence the need to practice.

The only reason I pointed it out is that one of the first aid recommendations for heat stress is to give water with a teaspoon of salt (in addition to resting/moving out of the heat) or sports drink.

I'm sorry you took offense; was not my intention.

Shane

Sure, people need to practice.  My issue was not with the type of nutrition, more the amounts.  If she wants to eat hot dogs, I'd say go for it.  Just don't eat a whole pack while on the bike. 

New sport: speed-eating hot dogs while riding a bike. Now that would make good televsion. You guys from ESPN listening?

Meant to say this too: there is a 'nutrition calculator' here

http://www.tri-talk.com/TriTalkNC/TriTalkNC.htm

I'm not claiming it is good, but it does appear that the author put some thought into it. There is an episode of his blog where he discusses it as well, I think.

EDIT: not 'blog' but 'podcast' 

I think the amount of liquid, nutrition, and electrolites varies with the amount of training.  I am always surprised when the very experienced, well trained athletes tell a newbie, that they only need a little bit of this or that for a short event like an OLY.

Depending on your level of training, a mini spint can be a long event for you.  I know that for me, at my first triathlon, it felt fantastic to have a bit of sports drink vs water during the run.  Yes, it was a mini-sprint, and I felt like crop at the end.

Having said that; I think the plan is good.  However, I would add.

Eat your last meal a minimum of 2 hours before race time.  Drink only water during that 2 hours.  Take a gel with a half bottle of water immediately before the swim.  I like to have caffeine in my first gel.  Powerbar makes some good caffinated, high electrolite gels.

Of course she is overthinking this, she said it was her 1st Oly.  Didn't you overthink it? 

Suzy i'd love to help but after a year I feel as i'm still too new at this too give advice.  So, just give a bit more info about you and your workouts then stick around and see who else answers. 

If it seems like you've gotten a couple of tough replies, they're probably just having a tough day.  If their answers seem a bit "tone-ish" , just shrug it off and wait for someone else to post.  But, we are an easy going group for the most part and you will enjoy your time on the site and you will learn a ton.  Have fun and good luck.