Going From OLY to HIM, What Did You Learn? (Page 2)

The guide does mention GU regular and Octane as well as GU Chomps at bike aide station.  I use both GU and love GU chomps.  They have a couple other gels I'm not familiar with, but I also plan to have plenty of gels with me.  

If I take gatorade on the bike, I'll be running really fast on the run, but into the woods.  No issues when taking it on the run, but my body doesn't like it on the bike.  

Just remember this Guppie... your HR will be elevated, and race pace is not the same as training pace. IMHO, for me, it seems nutrition, and pace, are talked about as seperate issues. We do what we do in training and think we have it down, then don't understand what went wrong in the race. Nutritional intake is DIRECTLY related to pace. And Oly and shorter races are not long enough to see how much this effects you.

So you do your swim, you get on the bike, your HR in unaturally elevated, yet you are excited and want to hammer. You never recover. Half way throught he bike you are behind, yet you feel great for a bike ride and are excited from the race. Then you hit the run, HR is through the roof, but you feel fine. You are now way behind. You will not prcess anything you take in. All you see is time slipping away, and wonder what is wrong. You just blew up.

Have the patience, have the dicscipline to let your HR come down on the bike before you start to work. Hold to your pace. Forget any notion of holding to a time or speed. Sure you can easily do it any other day, that does not mean you can do it for a HIM. Manage you intake. Do what you think is best. When you hit the run... calm down. Let your HR come down before you start to work. If it does not and you just start to hammer, you will not process anything on the run.

You have worked really hard. You are going to do good. Some things not so good and you will learn and work on it next time. But if all you do is do what I did my first HIM and blow up.. then all you learn is not to blow up. This year I listened to what people were saying about pace, and this last one I was in the ball park. Now I have something to work with. Can I go a little harder on the bike, keep taking in fluid on the run no matter what...wait a little more for the HR to come down...

I learned that the hydration plan that I had developed in the hot desert of drinking 20oz/hr, was too much when I competed in a cool damp race.  I ended up having to stop and pee 3 times.  oops.  Guess that's better than being dehydrated.

Other than that- provided you've got the training volume in- an HIM is easier than an Oly.  in that- the whole race is less intense.  All below LT- so it was easy to chat with people along the way and just make a good time of it all.

have fun- good luck

I just removed my PD aerobottle and put a regular waterbottle cage in it's place.  Little dremel work and it's nice and secure.  I have some rides this week so I'll nail down getting use to that set up.  I'll be able to use my 'mountain bike race bottles' which have marker lines I've put on them at certain fluid measurements.  In a mountain bike race, you don't have the luxury of looking at your bottle so a quick visual has worked very well in the past.  

Pace is definitely top on my mind as well.  Controlling HR is vital in mountain bike racing at that's moved over to triathlons very well.  It's a very good point so thanks for bringing it up.  

Thanks to everyone.  These are very helpful.

Biggest thing I have learned is too stick to the plan.  Too many times I've gotten ahead of plan, start crunching numbers and projected finish times in my head, next thing I know I've talked myself into thinking I'm going to finish 15 minutes faster than my goal, after a few more miles start to realize I've made a mistake, and then the freight train of runners start passing by me.

If you're feeling too good to be true, stick that energy in your run bank, and don't spend it until the last three miles.  Good luck with your race.

a) I saw a bunch of people I passed on the bike again on the run.  I was not in good enough bike shape for the HIM.  Sounds like you're ready there.  Well done.  Now don't overcook it.

b) Nutrition.  The other reason I bonked on the run.

c) Don't forget the sunscreen.

d) Mentally pace yourself too.  By the time I was halfway through the "run", I was ready for the race to be done.  Part of that was physical, but part was mental.

Have fun and good luck!

1. My body and mind take more naturally to HIM training and racing than shorter stuff, but I'm not necessarily any better, because the bike takes up a greater proportion of the race.

2. Break the race, and each leg of it, mentally into sections. Thinking about the whole thing is pretty overwhelming, even coming from an Oly/marathon background.

3. Don't take nutrition that all tastes the same. You'll get sick of it in a 5-6+ hour race. (I kind of suffered from "chocolate overdose".)

4. Really work out your nutrition and hydration plan before the race thru careful experimentation in training. (I did and had no serious issues; the chocolate overdose was due to a new energy bar flavor and caused no real problems, just chocolate fatigue!)

5. I'm seemingly incapable of "overcooking the bike", since I'm so slow, but others are. I biked at exactly the pace I figured I could go on a flat course in training and still have a good one-hour run, and finished a much hillier bike course and had a strong run. But passed plenty of others who probably left it all out there on the bike.

6. Six hours (well, almost) is a long time to be racing. Make sure to eat plenty after so you don't become ravenous the next day, in the car in the middle of nowhere!

Thanks to the OP for posting, this thread is enormously useful. HIM #1 in 3 weeks, and if that goes well I am thinking of doing another one 3 weeks after that. I am such a slow swimmer I tend to hammer on the bike and suffer on the run. I guess that won't work for a half! So I appreciate everyone saying how important it will be to keep the bike reined in. I will be using a powermeter, for a first half, what % FTP would people recommend? It's a very flat course, total elevation gain is only 472 feet.

Also what about hydration and nutrition, I have a 32oz PD aerodrink up front and a bottle on the cage. Is that enough? Should I just stick a gel bottle in my bento box, or put the nutrition in the cage bottle and keep refilling the PD? I plan on some shot blocks to go with the gels since after a point all that goo becomes hard to swallow. Also I will have electrolyte tabs to put into the water. Total around 750 calories on the bike, then 3 gels on the run.

This almost exactly. I paced the bike at what felt too easy and didn't worry about getting passed as my mentor group recommended. Sure enough, those same people were cramping on the side of the road in the run. I had a very slow run plan which included me walking through the aide stations and I still passed a lot of people on the run.

And especially d) about the mental side of it. On my second lap of the run, as I continue to see people cramp up right in front of me, I had to constantly evaluate how I felt and remind myself -yes, I'm tired, but other than that there is nothing bothering me. I was not sick, puking or cramping, just tired so KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!

More good luck wishes from me!

I don't want to be picky here, but Ironman Perform is not Gatorade. It is a product from Powerbar and is the official drink of Ironman events for 2012. I can drink either Gatorade or perform with no issues, but it sounds like some people on this thread have had some issues with different sports drinks. I just wanted to be sure that they know this isn't Gatorade and if they are going to be counting on bottles from the course they should test the Perform before race day.

Great thread...

I was in the same boat as you (ie. OP) a couple of years ago, and the main lessons that I took away from my first HIM were about nutrition/hydration and pacing.  I won't repeat what everybody else said already, but these are the two keys IMHO.

Also, I think it would be helpful to set a moderate goal for yourself, and this is even more important if the weather is hot and humid.  Don't get all Type A in your first HIM by setting a too fast of a target time - you'll only increase the odds of blowing-up on the run.  Your first HIM should be about learning and gaining experience, not worrying about podium.  

Good luck.  

Guppie, thanks for starting this thread.  My first HIM is on Sunday too (Pigman) and I have really learned a ton from the responses.

If I can sum it all up:

1.  Relax on the swim.

2.  Relax on the bike.  Take in enough calories and hydration to feel good.  Start it early but don't over do it.

3.  Relax on the run.  Take in enough calories and hydration to feel good without overdoing the hydration. 

4.  Break up the long day into mental and physical segments.  I like that piece of advice. 

I recently added a front mounted PD water bottle to my Road Bike aero bars.  It works pretty good and holds 20 oz.  I will also have two cages with throw away bottles for the exchange.  My plan is to just fill the PD water bottle with the cage bottles.  One thing I want to make sure is to see if the bottle exchange bottles will fit in my post cages.  They should, but that is a day before the race decision.  The race will be doing 5 different bottle exchanges (mile 7 and 36 are only water) and the other 3 have HEED lemon lime.  It tastes pretty good.

With this dramatic (25 degrees) drop in the temperature here in Iowa, I'm less nervous about becomming dehydradted than I was a week or two ago.  The expected high now is only 75 degrees for Sunday!!  SWEET!!!!  Now it's a matter of nutrition.

This may be a dumb question, but those of you bringing power bars or other forms of non-gel nutrition, where are you holding it?  In your back pouches of your tri suit / shirt, or on your bike somewhere?  I usually tape a bunch of gels on the top bar of my bike, which has been more than enough for my Oly's and Sprints, but I've never needed to take anything more.  

Getting nervous but really more excited.  Can't wait.  This will be my first event (out of 8) that my entire family will be with me.  I hope to finish on my feet!

I put the energy bars in the "bento box" (a container for bike muchies).  Tried putting them in my tri top in an Oly but had one fall out somehow and become trapped in the spokes. Thus the bento box. I saw people taping several gels to the top tube for the HIM, but personally I can't take a steady diet of sweet, gooey stuff. As it was, the three gels I did have (two chocolate and one tangerine) were a bit of a struggle. Next time I'll definitely take my usual salty peanut butter pretzel Mojo bars, NOT chocolate/almond/cocount, since the only Gu flavor I really like is Cliff Turbo Chocolate Cherry. Guess you've got to consider the whole menu when planning nutrition, esp. if a picky eater!

*Might add that I thought it was worth it to carry my own fluids on the run (in a waist pack), even though there was an aid station every mile. They were serving water and Heed, and I can't tolerate Heed.  It was really useful to have an electrolyte drink I knew I liked and could tolerate (lemon-lime Endurolyte), and be able to drink it whenever I wanted. I haven't done this for other races but felt it was worth it for the HIM run.

Good point.  I plan to run with my Nathan belt.  Holds 2 - 10 oz bottles and the fanny pack can hold a ton of nutrition.  I just never see people wearing these at events.  Oh well, to each their own.  Thanks for the tip on the bento box.  I may need to check that out.

Wow, that did not even dawn on me this year because they look the same. Last year it was Gatorade that I had, and  I assumed the same this year. Similar looking bottle. Good catch.

It's all sugar water to me. I'm not picky. Pretty much any electrolyte sports drink is fine by me. I still drink water and take a gel if I feel like it. When I look at the sodium/potasium levels, and then look at tablets and what not.. they are all in the same ball park. So I don't sweat it and I don't rely on any "specialty" cocktail. I do like Nunn tablets... but again, sports drink is easy and lots cheaper for training. I like to keep it as simple as possible... not being picky certainly helps.

As I said earlier, I just replaced my PD aero bottle with a zip tie cage/bottle between the arms.  I never did this before because I had a larger garmin unit (edge 705) but now I have the 910 which will be on my wrist (no quick release for fear of losing it in water).  This opens up my aero bars to a larger water bottle.  The PD was only 20oz.  I also never practiced refilling the PD on the fly.  

I'll still have one bottle off the back of the saddle with sport drink and my aero bottle on seat tube will just be water.  Like I said, I'm not going to risk with the IRONMAN perform drink.  So I'll need all my sport drink on the bike. 

I'm trying to break down my nutrition and compared it too some benchmarks from the forum and other sites.

400-800 calories 3 hours prior to race.  1gm protein for every 4gm carbs

100-200 calories as close to start as possible with 8-12 oz of water

Bike/Run: 20-30 oz water per hour, every 15 minutes, don't rely on thirst.  300 calories of carbs per hour.  Little solid food as possible. z

I'll compare these guidelines to what I used in training.  I don't think I'm too far off with calories, but I tend to over hydrate.   

Practice exactly HOW you plan to hydrate.  You mention that you never practiced refilling on the fly.  During my first HIM, I was fiddling around with a new and not well tested system of bottles/mounts, didn't see that I was riding into a big pothole and went skidding 15 feet across the road on my butt.  Bike and I were okay to finish but it's not fun to race with fresh road rash....or trying to ride, breath and cry at the same time!

I also missed applying glide around my neck where my wetsuit hits.  I had never had an issue in all the training or racing in that suit until doing the 1.2 mile OWS in big waves.  Had a nice burn on the back of my neck that started stinging promptly upon exiting T1.

After my second HIM, I learned that nutrition is not nearly as important as you first think it is.  During my first...I was like you...trying to plan everything out exactly.  Scared to death that I was going to bonk or something if I forgot to take 1 gel.  But really you just do what you do in training more or less.  Be sensible, take in a steady stream of calories, but don't over do it.  Drink when you are thirsty.  I took in half as many calories during my second HIM and was fine. 

Remember...it's always easier to recover from not taking in enough calories or hydration.  You just eat or drink more to recover.  It's much harder to recover from eating or drinking too much.  The way you recover is by sloshing, getting nausia, and possibly throwing up.

Good luck.

Good point. On my training rides, I didn't really refuel until the 25/30 mile mark.  

What size water bottles do they hand out?  Will it fit in a cage or will it be kinda loose in a cage?