long course nutrition-where to start?

Read this.. http://www.hammernutrition.com/hnt/1275/

 Keep in mind that they are selling their product, but it does give you some good info.

Listen to what Bryan posted.

If you ingest protein during your race it can cause stomach issues for some. Others like protein as it makes them feel full. I don't like protein in longer races.

X2

Quick and to the point.

Thanks bryan, et all, for all the good advice.  I will try and keep it simple and live off the course, adjust as needed per conditions/fitness and just listen to what my body says during practice runs. 

bg.

bg-

It might seem like Bryan didn't answer your question, but it really is that simple.  There will be an aid station about every 10 miles at IM brand races, and they will hand you Perform, water, and sometimes bananas or gels.  This works out to about every 30-40 minutes you can reload. If you can learn to eat that stuff it is so much simpler. 

How much you need depends on your height, weight, pace, and how much you can digest per hour.  It varies widely between athletes, but it's generally between 200 and 400 cals per hour on the bike.  I have found the best plan for me is to drink 200-250 cals per hour of perform and eat gels or peanut butter crackers when I feel a little low.  I can catch up if I'm behind on my nutrition by simply eating a bit more, but once I eat too much I'm doomed. 

Good luck!

Agreed. I hope it did not appear that I did not like his answer. 

Just don't have a nutrition strategy such as this

:15 take in gel

:25 drink water, ear .5 of bar

:35 salt tab

:45 take another gel

1:00 finish water

1:10 gel time again

1:15 more water

1:20 finish bar

1:22 eat a porterhouse, why not?

seriously some athletes nutritional strategies can be a little nuts. Bryan has given some great advice here and less can be more as he said. Just with my own experience I found that learning about what I needed to take in for calories per hour helped me. Simply put I took in x number of calories per hour on my long rides as a starting point and then decided if I needed more or less and slowly over time refined that. once i figured out the calories I when I tested with various products to see what I liked best. 

I prefer gels mixed with water, salt tabs and a nice munchy snack in my SN bag of something a little more dense, but a very small portion.

That's probably my fault.  The coffee hadn't fully kicked in at 5:45 this morning. 

The "average" adult male who weighs 150lbs can absord approximately 240 calories per hour.  Two big variables in that statement but that is a good place to start when planning your nutrition.  Keep in mind that consuming more calories per hour than your stomach can digest per hour can cause a slow down in the water absorbtion leading to dehydration.

As others have stated, this varies from person to person.  You will need to find what the optimum caloric intake is for your body.

x whatever regarding keeping it simple.  There has been some great advice in this thread, and it didn't take 6 pages of debate to to get to it.

I also think that over-fueling is a more common cause of issues than under-fueling is.  N=1, but the more I've gotten away from the common advice of 200-300 calories / hour on the bike, and stay more in the 150-200 range, the better I feel at the HIM distance, and that was racing at almost 180 lbs.  I agree that doing sessions this time of year up to about 2 hours with nothing but water is a good way to test if the "less is more" approach is viable for an individual.

Not an expert of any means in nutrition but I'll just tell you what I did.  First of all I was getting dizzy reading all the advice on nutrition.  Didn't know what to do.  i tried all sorts of stuff in training including some of the powdered stuff.  Nothing seemed to work well. 

Then I read that for my body weight that I'd could digest about 250 cal per hour.  So in keeping with Bryan's advice I kept it simple.  I bought stuff and put it in 100 cal bags in my shirt.  Had Cliff shots, Stinger waffles, Uncrustables, mini Pay Day candy bars, M&M's and jelly beans.  I sorted  them all into 100 cal snack bags (not very big) and loaded my pockets.  That way I could just reach back and grab anything every 30 minutes.  Didn't matter what I grabbed, it was 100 cal.  The extra 50 or so cal I got from Perform on the course.

As for the run I just took just what they had on the course.  I didn't bring anything with me. 

Worked great for me.  I felt my nutrition was perfect.  A little GI distress on the run but just went to water only for a few miles and it went away.

enjoy,

Duane

You can keep it really simple........most gels are about 90-100 calories per serving.  For you plan, just take a gel every 30 minutes and you don't have to worry about dividing things up into little bags.

Yea, I know, but I couldn't take gels for 6+ hours.  UGH!  That would be 12 gels (just on the bike) and there is no way I could do that.  I did take 1 or 2 gels but pretty much saved the gels for the run.  On the bike I could actually eat something and something that I liked.  I also wanted some solid food along the way and knew it would be easier on the bike.  That's why I took other stuff. And, it was pretty good.  I really like the Pay Day candy bars

enjoy,

Duane