Nutrition

vtate75

I am starting to train longer distances than my "just a sprint" distance, and I am realizing that I will need to take some sort of nutrition in an Olympic distance. I didn't in the sprints and was fine. This morning I swam a mile, ran 5 miles, and then biked for 30 minutes. Though that isn't all that much, I did find that after the run, I needed something (last food had been at 7:30 the night before). I think that the heat actually made it worse too...it's very hot in South Carolina. I was reading about what nutrition people do, and it seems as though most rely on a goo or two in an Olympic. So.....what advice do you guys have? Do you need anything on Olympic distance races / practice. I want to start "playing" with it so that I don't get sick in an actual race. Thanks for any help!

trijoe

My best advice, you already mentioned: Play with it and figure out what you do/don't respond well to. For instance, I've found from experience I can't handle hammer products. They either make me want to puke, or send me to the bathroom. Gatorade, also, is bad bad bad. So I get all my electrolytes through NUUN tablets.

Outside of that, here's what does/doesn't work for me:

Gatorade and Hammer DO NOT WORK. No matter how much I wished they did. Chocolate gels are great AFTER a race, but they suck while racing. Can't stand the cake frosting consistency while I'm going as fast as I can. If it's raining, I stick with as much gel as possible. A WAY bad experience with gummies and sport beans during a rainy race.

On the bike, I just love gummies and sport beans. Preferably shot bloks. And in the heat, preferably margarita shot bloks (extra salt). And sport beans. Gummies and beans. I load them into my bento box, and go to town. I set my Garmin to go off every 4 miles, and grab about 50 calories worth of gummies, and some big gulps of liquid. Admittedly, this is as much for liquids as for the calories. I usually race with NUUN water in my bottles. It's not very pleasant warm, but does well when the temps stay down.

On the run, I'll either take one gel, or no gels. If I'm doing well and I can see a butt kicking run in my future, I open my gel in transition and eat it on my way out to the course. My logic is, if I wait too far into the race to eat it, my stomach will shut down and bad things will happen. So I try to eat it before I start pushing really hard. My favorite gels depend on the temp. No chocolate or coffee during really hot weather, but I do enjoy the high caffeine stuff. Gu Roctaine goes down well, and I feel strong when eating them.

Then, lots and lots of water at the water stations. And ice.

I hope this helps.
TriJoe.

scott091501

I've become a recent convert to diluting my GUs in water. Oly morning goes like this for me: Breakfast (toast, natty pb, maybe an ensure), after I've set up my transition I snack on shot blocks, swim, transition, start sipping on water with GUs on bike (generally 2 packets), also have a bottle of just water, make sure I'm done with nutrition bottle 20 minutes out of T2, T2, then I live off the course on the run whereas some like to take a bottle or gel flask with them.

ka97

I haven't done my Oly yet, but this is my plan after playing around with it in training:
My usual breakfast - english muffin, PB, banana, coffee. Then sip some gatorade and a graham cracker if I feel I need it in transition before the swim. GU and a couple swigs of Gatorade in T1 then water on the bike. Another GU and a few swigs of Gatorade in T2 and water from the aid stations on the run. I'm not a big fan of the hammer gels either, and any of the fruity flavored gels make me gag. I like the vanilla and the peanut butter GU.
I really would prefer to skip the first GU and take Gatorade on the bike, but I have a really hard time drinking while I ride. Its my weakest area and I'm pretty scared of riding on the road. I cannot take my hands off the handlebars for anything, so my drinking options have come to either stop riding in order to drink, or use a camelback. So I'm going with the camelback, but don't like the idea of putting the gatorade in there, so that let me to my final solution.

scott091501

I haven't done my Oly yet, but this is my plan after playing around with it in training:
My usual breakfast - english muffin, PB, banana, coffee. Then sip some gatorade and a graham cracker if I feel I need it in transition before the swim. GU and a couple swigs of Gatorade in T1 then water on the bike. Another GU and a few swigs of Gatorade in T2 and water from the aid stations on the run. I'm not a big fan of the hammer gels either, and any of the fruity flavored gels make me gag. I like the vanilla and the peanut butter GU.
I really would prefer to skip the first GU and take Gatorade on the bike, but I have a really hard time drinking while I ride. Its my weakest area and I'm pretty scared of riding on the road. I cannot take my hands off the handlebars for anything, so my drinking options have come to either stop riding in order to drink, or use a camelback. So I'm going with the camelback, but don't like the idea of putting the gatorade in there, so that let me to my final solution.

You just described one of the reasons I got clip on aerobars and an aerodrink setup. I constantly found myself dehydrated due to lack of bike handling skills and my inability to drink and ride at the same time. So I figured if there was a straw in my face I'd be good to go. Works like a charm.

ka97

You just described one of the reasons I got clip on aerobars and an aerodrink setup. I constantly found myself dehydrated due to lack of bike handling skills and my inability to drink and ride at the same time. So I figured if there was a straw in my face I'd be good to go. Works like a charm.

I actually looked into the aerodrink setup, but I could never do the aerobars. I suppose I could get them and just not use them.

Canuck_TriFit

I haven't done my Oly yet, but this is my plan after playing around with it in training:
My usual breakfast - english muffin, PB, banana, coffee. Then sip some gatorade and a graham cracker if I feel I need it in transition before the swim. GU and a couple swigs of Gatorade in T1 then water on the bike. Another GU and a few swigs of Gatorade in T2 and water from the aid stations on the run. I'm not a big fan of the hammer gels either, and any of the fruity flavored gels make me gag. I like the vanilla and the peanut butter GU.
I really would prefer to skip the first GU and take Gatorade on the bike, but I have a really hard time drinking while I ride. Its my weakest area and I'm pretty scared of riding on the road. I cannot take my hands off the handlebars for anything, so my drinking options have come to either stop riding in order to drink, or use a camelback. So I'm going with the camelback, but don't like the idea of putting the gatorade in there, so that let me to my final solution.

You just described one of the reasons I got clip on aerobars and an aerodrink setup. I constantly found myself dehydrated due to lack of bike handling skills and my inability to drink and ride at the same time. So I figured if there was a straw in my face I'd be good to go. Works like a charm.

I have this too, same reason, I couldn't pull a water bottle out and drink on a regular basis but with the straw in your face it's much more convenient.