IM nutrition

Bananas and cheese-crackers are a nice treat for long rides.

I really like a Payday bar at the midpoint of a long ride.  Good taste (salty and sweet), quick calories, protein, and no melting.  I have also tried Honey Stinger waffles recently - also very good, but a little less filling.

Are you loking for ideas for your long rides or for the actual IM race itself?
For long training rides I pretty much stuck to the usual stuff: clif/powerbars, gels etc but if it's a more casual ride where I know I will stop to eat (potty breaks etc) then I like the uncrustable PBJ sandwiches, Trader Joes PB pretzels and pop tarts are great in an emergency (sold at most convenience stores).

IMHO practising with the fuel you will use on race day is more important than whether something tastes good to you on a particular day. I am sure you already have that dialed in as this is not your first IM, find what works and practice with it, to me that is more important than carrying the contents of a 7 Eleven along with you for a long ride

See what is available on the course. There generally always are bananas.

I have 9 IM races and have really perfected "my" nutrition on the bike with the mainstay of solid food being bananas. I don't carry them either, I pick them up at the aid stations. They will be cut in 1/2 with the peel sliced for easy peeling.

I race IMs with the minimum:
- Aero bottle with water
- 1 bottle on the bike
- 2 flasks of gel in my jersey pocket
- a coin purse with endurolytes in case of emergency electrolyte needs

What I do during the race:
- Start with 1 bottle of perpetuem on the bike 2 times the normal mix. After that bottle is gone, I just drink gatorade or whatever the sports drink on the course is.
- At each aid, I slow down. Rule #1 = if you ride through aid because you are worried about your time, you will pay for it later when you run out of what you need.
- I grab a bottle of water - jam it into the aero bottle and squeeze, grab a banana put it in my mouth, grab the extra bottle if needed for my bike cage.
- Discard garbage before the final garbage spot. Banana is either eaten or in my mouth as I toss the skin

*** Remember - Aid stations are generally every 10 miles. Carrying a lot of extra items isn't necessary.

*** Special Needs Bike: 1 tube, 1 co2 (I don't want to have to stop or slow down for this unless I need it and I get my aid at the stations)

Hope that helps some?

These are great ideas. I still haven't nailed a nutrition plan yet for rides over 40 miles. I had a good nutrition day at the Marquee 1/2 but in training I tend to bonk about mile 35. I like the ideas of bringing cheese crackers or a payday bar.

heavily fat laden foods, like cheese, sit like lead in my stomach.  I find that the regular cliff bars digest pretty well.  They're well pulverized and don't have too much fat.  That's good for 60-70 miles.  After that it gets harder to eat, so it's shot blocks.  Or a banana.

Yum! I need to try that Starburst! I love that stuff! Good recommendations here, but I think they would all have the same "dry" effect that the Clif Z-bars have, especially crackers or pretzels. I love the Z-bars and they do very well with my tummy and the long rides, they're just so hard to chew with it being so hot and my mouth being very dry in this heat. It's too bad I hate bananas, I think they'd be great to eat on a long ride. I'm still taking suggestions if you've got any. So far, Starburst will be making a debut this weekend!

Yeah, cheese and crackers are not a great idea, they have all the wrong kinds of carbs and fat. I think Chad was joking, btw..

Fig Newtons. Much more moist than most of the bars I've tried. I'd rather have some oreo or EL Fudge, but the filling tends to get too gooey in this AZ heat.   (and not near as helpful nutritionally)

Man...if you could only eat ribs on the bike. That would be awesome. Or buffalo wings.

Actually that's all my Mom ever used racing in Kona, Fig Newtons. To be honest, there really isn't a huge nutrtioal difference bewteen them and a Power or Cliff bar.

Pop tarts!

Hmmm....fig newtons. I may have to try this on Saturday as well!