1/2 Iron Nutrition

[Brian]

Hello,

Doing my 1st 1/2 in June and was wondering if I could bend an ear (or finger
in this case for typing) and ask what is a good nutrition plan for race day.

I know its an individual thing but any ideas for times for ingesting
whatever would be great.

Oh yeah and I am a completer not a competor, so I would imagine I would
finish in the 6-6.5 hr range.

thanks,

Brian

 

[Tony]

This is a good topic. I was wondering the same thing about my Olympic and
Quarterman distances. Thank you.


"Brian" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:WvORf.142878$sa3.19947@pd7tw1no...
> Hello,
>
> Doing my 1st 1/2 in June and was wondering if I could bend an ear (or
> finger in this case for typing) and ask what is a good nutrition plan for
> race day.
>
> I know its an individual thing but any ideas for times for ingesting
> whatever would be great.
>
> Oh yeah and I am a completer not a competor, so I would imagine I would
> finish in the 6-6.5 hr range.
>
> thanks,
>
> Brian
>

 

[Mark Cathcart]

Brian, some extra information is needed to make any reasonable comment,
like weight, height, likely temperature on race day, what you normally
do on a training ride of 60-miles, a half marathon run etc.

I can tell you that fluids are much more important if its hot, getting
the mix right and testing out your race plan will be much more
important than what you eat.

 

[Rookie]

Mark Cathcart wrote:
> Brian, some extra information is needed to make any reasonable comment,
> like weight, height, likely temperature on race day, what you normally
> do on a training ride of 60-miles, a half marathon run etc.
>
> I can tell you that fluids are much more important if its hot, getting
> the mix right and testing out your race plan will be much more
> important than what you eat.

As above, it's a personal thing, but for me at that distance the most
important thing is staying hydrated. I find I don't need to take too
many calories on and if I do it can slow me down.

To give you an idea, my nutrition strategy at that distance is: Drink
as little as possible on the swim. On the bike I have an energy bar in
the first half hour which is the only solids I take on for the whole
race. Rest of the bike I drink some energy drink (maybe 2 bottles
during the whole ride) plus however much water I need to stay hydrated,
depending on conditions. On the run I plan to drink only water,
although I may take on 1 or 2 gels if I feel I need the energy and they
won't slow me down.

I weigh 180lbs and run a 1/2 in a bit under 5 hours. Estimated calorie
consumption is 4000-4500. Figure I get maybe 1000-1200 of these on the
bike, 1500+ from fat and the rest from the glycogen stores I start the
race with.

 

[Brian]

I am a big guy 205 6'3".

On a normal bike I have been trying to ingest a gel every 35-45 minutes.

I also try to limit the amount of hydrating I do on the swim

"Brian" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:WvORf.142878$sa3.19947@pd7tw1no...
> Hello,
>
> Doing my 1st 1/2 in June and was wondering if I could bend an ear (or
> finger in this case for typing) and ask what is a good nutrition plan for
> race day.
>
> I know its an individual thing but any ideas for times for ingesting
> whatever would be great.
>
> Oh yeah and I am a completer not a competor, so I would imagine I would
> finish in the 6-6.5 hr range.
>
> thanks,
>
> Brian
>

 

[Helen]

There ar two things that are important here: WHAT you eat/drink, and TIMING
of ingestion! Both require considerable experimenting and self-discipline,
especially if the weather on race day is very hot.

As other people have noted, liquids go down far better than solids,
especially on a hot day. But too much liquid will literally plug up your
intestine and keep it from absorbing any nutrients. If you have too much
liquid on the bike or drink before starting the run, you'll really pay for
it.

In terms of what to eat: everyone is very, very different. You really have
to use all your long runs and long bikes throughout your entire training
season to experiment with various foods and liquids. One way to make the
decision about what to eat easier is to see what the race organizers will be
offering on race day for the event you have in mind. I train with Gatorade,
for example, because that's what Ironman (my goal races) hands out. It
makes my life a lot simpler!

Timing is critical because it affects performance: too early after the
swim, and your stomach won't be happy on the bike. Too late on the bike,
and you'll never get running. I use a 20 minute countdown timer on my watch
to remind myself to have a Clifshot (gel) on long bike rides. Again, it
took about two months of experimenting before I settled on 20 minutes. 15
minutes made me feel bloated; 25 minutes made me feel faint and gobble up
too much at the end.

Over the years I've really turned away from solids and rely pretty much
entirely on Gatorade and ClifShots. Mark Allen has some of the best
articles on the Web and in various triathlon magazines for describing the
various types of sugars and products. I settled on ClifShots because the
type of sugar from the corn syrup is absorbed a bit more slowly than other
sugars.

Hope that helps!
Helen


"Brian" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:WvORf.142878$sa3.19947@pd7tw1no...
> Hello,
>
> Doing my 1st 1/2 in June and was wondering if I could bend an ear (or
> finger in this case for typing) and ask what is a good nutrition plan for
> race day.
>
> I know its an individual thing but any ideas for times for ingesting
> whatever would be great.
>
> Oh yeah and I am a completer not a competor, so I would imagine I would
> finish in the 6-6.5 hr range.
>
> thanks,
>
> Brian
>

 

[Harold Buck]

In article <rX%[email protected]>,
"Helen" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Timing is critical because it affects performance: too early after the
> swim, and your stomach won't be happy on the bike. Too late on the bike,
> and you'll never get running. I use a 20 minute countdown timer on my watch
> to remind myself to have a Clifshot (gel) on long bike rides. Again, it
> took about two months of experimenting before I settled on 20 minutes. 15
> minutes made me feel bloated; 25 minutes made me feel faint and gobble up
> too much at the end.
>
> Over the years I've really turned away from solids and rely pretty much
> entirely on Gatorade and ClifShots. Mark Allen has some of the best
> articles on the Web and in various triathlon magazines for describing the
> various types of sugars and products. I settled on ClifShots because the
> type of sugar from the corn syrup is absorbed a bit more slowly than other
> sugars.


Brown rice syrup in Clif Shots, IIRC.

You and I have settled on similar plans: Gatorade and Clif Shots. But I
can't believe you can do a Clif Shot every 20 minutes! I can do one
every half hour for about 4-5 hours, and then I can't handle the
sweetness anymore. Over what time frame are you taking one every 20
minutes?!

--Harold Buck


"Hubris always wins in the end. The Greeks taught us that."

-Homer J. Simpson

 

[MK]

Here is my approach.

I am about 180 lbs, burn calories at about 700 per hour. My calorie
ingestion rate is about 250 per hour. If you do the math, there is NO
way you can ingest enough calories to replace what you are burning.

Also, calculate your perspiration rate to figure out how much liquid
per hour you need to ingest. I sweat at one ounce per minute
regardless of outside temps. Yes, you read that right, I sweat a lot.

I take the one liter (approx 22 oz) gatorade bottle, this has 250-280
calories, all the calories I can ingest per hour and dilute it with
straight water. I do a liquid only appraoch.

Also, I take one salt tablet per hour, and mix in a
mineral/anti-oxidant formula with the gatorade/water.