My Half Ironman Nutrition

My Half Ironman Nutrition

!!I love how he guards his apple!!
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After six half 70.3s I think I may have finally gotten my race nutrition correct.  At Ironman FL 70.3 I finally did not bonk or hit the wall once.  Maybe it was dumb luck or maybe I got something correct this time.  Either way I thought maybe one of the four people who read this blog would find this useful. :-)

I am about 173 lbs and this is what I do for nutrition.  It may not work for you but it seems to work for me.  Do what works for you.

Race Week

• No new or spicy food.
• Every morning I have a glass of Heed (high energy electrolyte). One scoop
• Constantly drink water all day, every day.  I stop hydrating an hour before I go to bed the day before the race.  I live in Florida and races are known to be in REALLY high heat and humidity.  Drinking this much before the race gets by body ultra hydrated.  This way I can worry less about getting dehydrated for the race.  Most people are under hydrated and do not know it.
• I go to bed around 9:00 PM - 9:30 PM.

Day Before The Race

• I have a glass of Heed (high energy electrolyte) in the morning.  Two Scoops
• Keep hydrating throughout the day
• Make sure to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It is easy to forget to do this in all the excitement.

Dinner Before The Race

• I try to eat dinner around 5:00 PM.  That way the food as time to digest and I have time to get back to the hotel relax and do any last minute things. 
• Nothing new or spicy!!
• Nothing high in fiber!!
• I normally eat something lite like fish, salad and vegetables.  (no potatos they take to long to digest)
• I avoid the normal pasta meal.  Pasta takes a long time to digest.  Those carbs will not be in your body by race morning.  It will just feel like a rock in your stomach
• If I get hungry before bed time I eat an apple or banana.
• Go to bed around 8:00 PM

Race Morning

• I eat two Smuckers Crustables sandwiches and sometimes a banana.  I usually at this around 4:00 AM.
• I sip some water

Pre-Swim:

• I eat a Stinger Waffle about 30 minutes before the swim.  These things are awesome and help my stomach settle down because they are solid food.

T1:

• I shove down a Powerbar gel.  I have switched to these because they are much thinner than Gu and I can get them down quickly.  They also do not have that thick Gu consistency.
• Sometimes I swallow two Advil.  Many people will say this is not good for you (which it is probably not) but this is just what I do.  I have a feeling I will die of something other than two Advil.  I like living on the edge. :-)
• Swallow plain H2O from a spare water bottle

Bike: (The bike portion is around 3 hours for me)

• I consume most of my nutrition on the bike. That way I do not have to do much on the run.  By the time the run comes I am sick of all things sugar and I do not want to eat anymore
• I carry two nutrition bottles.  Each bottle has 2 scoops of CarboPro, 1 scoop of ELoad and one Salt Stick cap.  I drink a bottle of hydration each hour.  I drink a nutrition bottle on the first hour.  Then grab a water bottle at the first water stop and fill up the empty bottle while I ride (practice this first).  I drink the plain water bottle the next hour.  Then I drink the other nutrition bottle for the last hour.  I use the other two water stops to drink sips of normal water and pour it on my legs and head.  Do not drink any of the Gatoraid, Poweraid, etc they give out unless you trained with it.
• I consume a Powerbar gel about every hour on the bike so about three.

T2:

• I shove down a Powerbar gel.
• Swallow plain H2O from a spare water bottle.  End up wearing any remaining water
• Sometimes I swallow two Advil. Many people will say this is not good for you (which it is probably not) but this is just what I do. I have a feeling I will die of something other than two Advil. I like living on the edge. :-)

Run: (The bike portion is around 2 hours for me)

• Drink only water.  Do not drink any of the Gatoraid, Poweraid, etc they give out unless you trained with it.
• Sometimes I will shallow a Salt Stick if needed.
• Sometimes I will eat a banana piece if I feel a cramp coming on.
• I shallow a gel around 45 minutes into the run.
• I shallow another gel (if needed) around mile 10.
• Loads of ice down the front and back of the shirt, in the hat, in the pant legs, carries in my hands, etc.  Most of my races are in the high 90s and feels like 100s (seriously).  Ice is NEVER turned down and is taken at all stops.

Race Day Summary

• 2 Smuckers Crustables
• Sometimes a banana
• 1 Stinger Waffle
• 7 Gels (watch out how much caffeine you are consuming and when you are consuming it)
• 2 nutrition bottles (each has 2 scoops of CarboPro, 1 scoop of ELoad and one Salt Stick cap).
• 4 Advil (again I am living on the edge)
• Optional banana pieces 

Ironman FL 70.3 Review

Ironman FL 70.3 Review

It seems like the whole of Central Florida came out for what could have been called LANCE FEST 2012.  Man do some people love them some Lance Armstrong.  I will leave this part for a post later in the week.

What I do when I am bored in a hotel room to pass time.

New Location

In previous years this race was held at Disney World.  This year WTC decided to move the race to Haines City.  Haines City is about one hour south of Orlando and about thirty minutes from Disney World.  It is a small, quite city with not much going on.  It is a city the use to have a theme park called “Circus World” that closed down in 1986.  Then it was replaced by “Boardwalk and Baseball” which I thought was pretty cool when I was a young boy.  That park lasted only 4 years and now that land is a shopping center.  This race was a big deal to the economy and town.

Me playing on the playground toys.

The city folk came out in great numbers to support the race.  There were about 6 – 8 people who turned on their water hose and sprinklers to cool down the hot participates.  They sat out in lawn chairs and cheered.  The local kids came out and clogged and put on entertainment.  It was nice to see a small town get so behind something.  It was also nice to see a small town get some of my money and not Disney.

Huge Race Props

Friday and Saturday were packet pickup and shopping days.  All three days the town provided entertainment.  There was a stage in front of registration that provided a pretty constant flow of entertainers.  They had live local bands, clogging kids, the professional triathlete panel, etc.

Bonnie and I pre-race

Bike racking was optional on Saturday so I decided to skip it.  This area of Florida usually rains around late afternoon and I did not want to have the bike sitting out in the rain.

The motley crew

Race Morning

Sunday morning I was awaken at 3:00 AM by my alarm.  I had a vivid, realistic dream I did not wake up in time for the race.  I normally set two alarms (good race tip) but I had my family with me and I did not want to wake them up so early.  Bonnie and T were volunteering at one of the bike water stops and they did not need to leave till around 6:30.  I must have been real quite because T woke up later on and was worried it did not wake up and was late.  I arrived at the race around 4:45 AM and the normal process went very smooth and efficient.

Sickly skinny me!

The Swim

The swim at the race was laid out very strange.  The lake is not big enough for a normal swim so they had to shape the route like a big “M”.  That meant we had 6 turns during the swim.  This course shaped caused a lot of congestion in the turn areas.  There was a lot more of the normal bumping, grabbing, poking, etc.  It was not a swim for the weak at heart.  But maybe I just got a really bad position. 

The swim start and end was really muddy.  Once you were out into the lake it was not so muddy but it was very dark.  The darkness just added to the bumping, grabbing, etc issue.  It was really hard to see the person in front of you.  Florida lakes are usually very tannic (dark) so this is not unusual. 

One of the bad aspects of the lake was that it had some really deep holes that came out of nowhere.  You would be walking in ankle deep water one minute and the sink to about your head in the next step.  I was warned about this so I was somewhat prepared but many were not.  This caused the race to be a in-water start.

My swim went fine and I felt great.  The only highlights of the swim was seeing and yelling at a friend who was volunteering on a kayak.  He was clueless where I was at but he heard me.  I also had my goggles nearly ripped off my head.  They filled up with water and my eyes stung from the sandy water for about ten minutes.  I also got kicked under the arm pit by accident.  This is something we learned in self-defense.  Being hit under the arm pit not only hurts to high heavens but also stuns that side of your body.  It took a good 30 seconds to regain control of my right arm.  It was kind of a weird sensation (kind of like when your arm falls asleep).  Likely it was only a bump and not a hard kick.

After race shot.

The Bike

This area of Florida is surprisingly hilly.  The city of Clermont is nearby and is known for its Horrible 100 Century ride.  The Horrible 100 is VERY hilly with some pretty steep hills.  Even Lance Armstrong said he was surprise how hilly the race course was.  He was not expecting FL to be hilly and so hot and humid.

Compared to last year the cycling portion was much more difficult.  There were no major hills but it was a course of constant rollers that never seemed to end.  The course was pretty much windless so we did not have to fight that.

The bike ride was pretty much on all country roads.  There was not much car traffic so you felt safe the whole time.  Cops were at almost every intersection directing traffic. 

The roads were well kept and the country trees and scenery was very pretty.  Several of the locals were sitting out in their lawns cheering the participants on.
It was well supported with three rest stops about every 15 miles apart.

Pre-race dinner with the team

The Run

The run was very difficult.  It was a three loop course with two major hills in the beginning of the race.  This meant you had to fight those hills three times.  The weather was really hot and humid so if you are not from Florida it would have been really hard.  If you are from Florida you were just happy it was not as hot as some of the summer days we get (one of the FL races I did last year was a feels like 100-110F).  The heat off the black top was pretty darn hot. 

The town also showed up in masses to support the run.  There were water hoses and sprinklers on at many houses.  People were cheering and ringing the cowbell.

Lance failed to catch up to me on the run!

Overall Impression

The move from Disney was a great choice.  This was a much more enjoyable race than last year.  It was one of my favorite 70.3s.  It was not an easy race but then again it was not super hard.  The swim could be in a better lake but you cannot get everything perfect.  I would highly recommend this race and I will be doing it again next year.

!!The Bling!!

My Ironman FL 70.3 Results

BIB:	XXXX
Division:	M30-34
Age:	3X
State:	FL
Country:	USA
Profession:	Dumb Blogger

Swim:	41:50
Bike:	2:59:30
Run:	2:13:44
Overall:	6:03:32

Congratulations, Kevin, on your finish!

Swim DetailsDivision Rank: 93

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
Total	1.2 mi	41:50	41:50	2:09/100m	93	791	585

Bike DetailsDivision Rank: 112

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
38.5 mi	38.5 mi	1:57:00	2:43:30	19.74 mi/h
56 mi	17.5 mi	1:02:30	3:46:00	16.80 mi/h
Total	56 mi	2:59:30	3:46:00	18.72 mi/h	112	1005	789

Run DetailsDivision Rank: 107

Split Name	Distance	Split Time	Race Time	Pace	Div. Rank	Overall Rank	Gender Rank
4.4 mi	4.4 mi	--:--	--:--	--/mi
8.8 mi	4.4 mi	--:--	--:--	--/mi
13.1 mi	4.4 mi	6:03:32	6:03:32	23:34/mi
Total	13.1 mi	2:13:44	6:03:32	10:12/mi	107	903	698

Transition

T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE	4:40
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN	3:48

Place your bets!!

Where's Chewie?!
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Lets have some fun and see who really reads this blog.   If you see this post today, I ask you place a comment guessing what my finish time will be for this Sunday's Florida 70.3.  Have a great weekend!!  Have fun training.

Misc

Strange things you find on long cycling trips!
"Love shake baby!!"

!!Public Service Warning!!
Excessive training can cause unusual growths.



My air plant thinks it's spring. Plant porn

Chew went to a Hawaiian luau

Somebody partied to late into the night.

Only 7 days left till Ironman 70.3 FL

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Only 7 days left till my next Ironman and my legs feel like jelly.  I need them to rest this week.

I weighed myself yesterday, 172 lbs.  Many moons ago when I left high school I was only 168 lbs.  I am only 4 lbs away from my high school (entering college) weight.  That was not a goal I was setting out to achieve.  I think it is because I am eating so much better now.  My pants were almost 3-4 inches too large.  I had to go and get new clothing.  Clothes shopping for a guy sucks!!

I am a little worried about the bike portion of the race.  I just have not been able to get my legs back on the bike.  I am tiring to quickly.

Is anyone going to be at Ironman FL 70.3 this weekend?