Fueling And Racing - It Takes Practice

I wanted to touch on fueling for an event but I am not going to go into detail about how many calories and what type of calories or sports drinks you should be consuming.  There are so many articles out there about what to take and how much to take during a race.  As a coach I always tell my clients to practice what they are going to fuel with during their training leading up to the event.  I give them suggestions and tell them to try a few different sports drinks because each person is different and what works for me may not necessarily work for someone else.  Once I give them a few suggestions I make sure to tell them to practice with what they are using during their long workouts.  I'll ask them how their fueling went during training and often they say great.  Then as we get closer to the race often they tell me they are going to try something else because someone told them about a different product.  I don't suggest anyone change what they are doing close to an event unless its not working for some reason. If something that works well for you and stick with it and I wouldn't recommend changing things up close to any race.  I definitely wouldn't try anything new race day.  The only thing I do different during training is I use a camelback on the bike in the summer.  I only do this because I live in Vegas and in the summer its so hot my fluid doesn't stay cold.  Otherwise I train with the same system and nutrition I do when I race.  Here is my plan:  (keep in mine this works for me maybe not you)

- Carbo Pro mixed with powdered Gatorade (not a lot of Gatorade mostly to flavor). I also add Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes to this.
- Cliff Kids Z-Bars - I like these because they are just over 100 calories per bar and they are not too chewy or hard to eat and they taste great.
- Fruit Chews - just plain fruit chews or I also like the ProBar fruit blocks because they have caffeine.  I will use both the regular fruit chews you can buy in the store but if I feel like I need caffeine I will use the ProBar ones.

I try and take in most of my calories on the bike for long events.  When I get to the run I take in whatever they offer on the run course in fluids and mostly the fruit chews when needed.  Gels don't work well for me but for some people they work fine.  While on the bike I try and take in 150-200 calories per hour.  I usually do best with the minimal about needed to keep my energy.  I don't seem to do better with more calories.

The bottom line is you should have  your nutrition plan in place months before your race.  You could be in the best shape going into the race and if you don't have a good nutrition plan you may not succeed.  Put time and thought into what you are fueling your body with during training.  This also includes your breakfast.  Don't suddenly decide race morning to eat a lot more because its race day. Breakfast on long training days should be the same breakfast as race day.   This includes your fueling system such as how many bottles on your bike, practice with the area system, and bento box.  Lastly consider how you will get enough nutrition on your bike or consider using the special needs bag for the ironman distance.  For long distance races I do not use a special needs bag, instead I make my original drink extra concentrated.  As I come to aid stations I add water to it my bottle between my bars.  Typically two extra concentrated bottles are enough for me for a full ironman.  Again you need to practice all of this on your long training days.

Train Hard. Have Fun.  Recover Well.
Coach Cyndee