Ironman Florida : Official Thread (Page 39)

I have a podium quest aerobottle that holds about 50 oz and I have 2 bottle cages.  I also use solids.  I like accelerade and in an IM I usually go thru 4 servings and the rest is water or NUUN (electrolyte fluid no calories)   I can't stand lemon lime gatorade and that is what they used to have on the course and you didn't knw if they would have LL or orange on the run or the bike.  Solids I use gels and candy.  I live in FL so I need something that does not melt.  I usually use twizzlers, airheads or orange slice candies.  Really you need sugar it doesn't need to be labeled as sports food to work and I might as well enjoy it.  I need vareity and can't stand eating the same thing over and over.  I'm slow and I will never KQ so I might as well make my mouth and stomach happy with what I like and honestly carrying 20oz of fluid is not going to make any difference in my result, but if I dont' eat or drink anything that will crush me.

4 bottles- 2 Infinit concentrate and 2 water. Picked up my extra bottles of Infinit at special needs last year.

Hi All,
Thought I'd join in on the thread.  I followed the race talk during training for CDA and received a lot of good information.  I assume most are just startig a training program or about too begin.  Good luck with your training an look forward to following this race talk leading up to Florida.

I use Lava salts too.  I have a ridiculously high sweat rate with a ridiculously high sodium content (I had it tested)  and I live in a stoopid hot place.  I've become good at adjusting my fluid needs accordingly as IMFL will be 20-25 degrees cooler than what I normally train in.  A lot of it is experience and experimenting.  Like Kathy said keep track of what you do so you can go back and say OK that worked or that didn't.  I'd suggest a plan A and B if nto C as well.  I have read a LOT of IM race reports and I can tell you the 2 places people fail where they could have controled things are nutrition and mental game.  I'm a BOPPER and I need to control the things I can control.  That may be the difference between finishing or not finishing for me.  There are so many many things that can happen on an IM race day that you can NOT control to me its racing stupid to let something you can control but didn't ruin your day.

Now is the time to start dialing in your nutrition. I had to make some last minute adjustments to my nutrition plan in early October. Which IMO is way too late to be changing things up.

When laying out my nutrition plan I didn't factor in the amount of caffeine that I drink during the day. My IMFL nutrition plan didn't come close to matching that amount. Yes, I know I shouldn't consume that much caffeine on a daily basis..... During a race simulation I learned what happens without caffeine. It wasn't pretty.

I tried supplementing with GU's that had caffeine. We ended up changing my Infinit bike formula and adding in caffeine. Which worked great at IMFL.

Most people don't train for 10+ hours. My nutrition worked for the individual swim, bike, run distances of the IM. It even worked with longer bricks. It didn't work over 9 hours before we changed my formulas and plan.

If you think you might eat anything on the course during race day try it out on a long training day. I tried flat coke, chicken broth (much to the amusement of my family), pretzels, oranges etc., during training. I can't drink Gatorade.

You don't want to try something new on race day. There are times in the race that you will think about trying something new. If they offered poison people would take it. When you see (and you will see them) people throwing up remind yourself that they deviated from their nutrition plan. This may or may not be the case but it will keep you on track. When you see people going to fast on the bike tell yourself that you will pass them on the run..When you see people walking tell yourself you will run past them even if it is a 15minute miles. Learn to lie to yourself during training. It will come in handy on race day.

Kathy G can attest to the "interesting" mental conversations that go on in my head during a race!

My favorite long ride snack.

No offense taken. 

I agree on most of this.  I don't add salt to ANYTHING I hate it.  I don't even have any in my house much to the chagrin of visitors   But alas my body chemistry is to be a heavy salt sweater.  Its individual know your needs

My first IM I threw my nutrition plan out the window the first 10 miles of the bike.  I had trained with fig newtons and that day I just could NOT imagine eating one more.  I ate bananas and gels and i was fine.  I do have an iron stomach.  Being able to change things up on the fly is improtant and if that doesn't appeal to you have a plan A B and C.  Know whats on the course and what you can tolerate.  I think if you have  decent idea of how much fluid, calories and salt you need it makes that stuff easier

You never know what is going to appeal to you on race day.  I pretty much chose from the sports food buffet on the run and bring some cliff shots which I like.  Its nearly impossible to replicate what you are going to feel like on an IM marathon, and for a BOPPER like me its a long day.  Just do thebest you can.