Nutrition Question - 70.3 Practice Next Weekend. Help!!

What has and has not worked for you in the past? No golden key here.  Need to figure out how your body reacts to exertion over the long haul.  I sweat profusely with a high amount of salt discharge. Accordingly, I need to take a lot of salt.  In term of calories and hydration, you need both so focus on what sits best in your gut.  I really like Nuun for the electrolytes and GUs and gels that are more mild in flavor.  There's a lot of trial and error here so take notes.

I can't tell you what you will need for your nutrition since you need to figure that out yourself.  Some people like HEED, some people like Gu, some people like something else, I prefer InfinIT.

Start hydrating during the week, and not the day before and/or day of - practice this, especially since it appears that it will be extremely warm out.

Before the swim, do a gel approximately 10 - 20 min. before the start with a little water.

On the bike, eat, eat, eat what you can, but not to the point where you'll be overdoing it.  Identify your caloric (and needed protein/carbohydrate) intake.  A gel every 20 min. is a good rule of thumb, but you can decide if that is too much or not enough.

Have you experiemented with Endurolites or salt pills at all (2 - 3 pills an hour)?

Good luck and happy training.

IME, there are more people who have a tendency to take in too much fuel than too little.  You've already gotten some general advice above, but since you're asking specifically what works for others:

I eat breakfast of oatmeal with fruit or dry cereal with a cup of coffee about 2 hours before starting.  A gel about 30 minutes before the start.  During the bike, my hydration varies based on the temperature.  If it's 90+, then I drink more than 1 bottle per hour and reduce my effort to keep from overheating.  80-90, Still about 1 bottle or slightly more per hour, but I don't need to reduce effort.  Less than 80, and I drink less than a bottle per hour.  The humidity level also affects these adjustments.  Half of my bottles are water, and half are a mix of sports drink and water.

For fuel, I count the sports drink into the total, and have found that I do best at less than 200 calories per hour.  I actually had one of my best races at Savageman last year on only 800 calories the entire race (Bike & run combined), which is only 150-170 calories per hour, and even though I'm not a Clyde, I'm still not a tiny guy at about 175 lbs.

I like some solids for the first 2/3 of the ride in the form of Clif Bars or PowerBars, but I'll also mix in some gels or chews for variety.  During the last 1/3 of the ride, I eliminate solids, and stick to gels and sports drink.  During the run, I take in a minimal amount of fuel and hydration, taking water, Coke, HEED, (or whatever they're offering and I feel like I need at the moment) from as few as only 2 aid stations if the temperature is down around 70, or almost every aid station if it's in the 90's.

for my last IM and half, I did the following:

Bike - concentrated eload (4 scoops in a bottle).  2 bottles for the IM and 1 bottle for the HIM.  I like eload because it has more salt than gatorate.  water, and clif shot blocks.  every 10 minutes on the bike I alternated between a squirt of the eload chased with water or a shot block chased with water. (~200 calories per hour)

Run - shot blocks, water and salt tabs.  On shot block every aid station (~1 mile at the IM 2 km at the HIM) water, and salt tabs. (~180 calories per hour)

This worked brilliantly at IMFL when the temperatures were moderate, last year at my HIM, I bonked pretty badly on the run.  I think I needed more water and salt?

This year I'm mixing it up because Gu is now the official gel sponsor.  I like Gu, but hated Powergel, so I didn't consider using the on course gels before.  (FWIW, I did try using IM Perform while training for my last IM, but I couldn't stomach it.  for HIM last year they had Heed on course and couldn't find a local supplier, so just went with what had worked before.)

This year plan is (Still to be fine tuned over the summer)

Bike - concentrated e-load (same mix), gu chomps and gu gels (adding in the gels since gu chomps have less calories than shot blocks.)  plan, alternate eload and gu chomps and have a gel every 30 miles.  Should average out to about 200 calories per hour

Run - one gel and one salt tab every 4 miles.  water at every stop.  I will have exta salt tabs if needed and if I need extra nutrition I will take in coke from the course.

Thanks....I have not done the salt tabs before and think I may need them since I am a heavy sweater.  May be a dumb question.....but how do you know you need an extra salt tab?  Do you start to feel a certain way....stop sweating??   

Thanks for the help.

By the time you stop sweating, you are way too late to repair the damage with just a salt tab.  You are into full-blown heat illness, progressing to heat stroke.  I stopped sweating and started shivering during a long run in 90+ degrees last summer... that was scary.  

 Be proactive with your fuel.  Eat calories before you get lightheaded and hungry; drink before you get parched and dry mouth; replenish your electrolytes before you notice the lack.

I am underfueling.   Probably not good I read the article in Runners World on running after a Fast to teach the body to burn fat (Id really like to lose the last 5 pounds around the abs.....its hiding my ripped 6 pack .  

I did 13 last week after a 10 hour fast and felt ok (did it very early).  Today I started at 8...did 6.5 run....it was already warm.....after a 14 hour fast.  Had to fuel as soon as I got back and still had the shakes in the shower.  Never again.  I was too lazy to eat before i took off today, since I was running late.  Had a GU but it didn't do anything.