It doesn’t take a genius to work out that we need to eat and drink to keep our fuel going for a race, and even less of a genius to work out we need more than we would consume than sitting around the office all day at work….but unbelievably as it may seem most have far less than that, they start off with a plan, can’t stand anymore then go backwards from there. The run reduces to a walk and the times blow out.

So today I look at what happens and why does this happen?

Amazing!!

So why?

Let’s take Mr. Average in training

On training day his heart rate is not usually what it is for all the bike and run.he,ll have the odd bar and sandwhich at lower heart rates…do a few surges during training and think his nutritions sorted

During this odd training day he’ll start with his “chosen drink”…..stop at drink stops have a chat etc…hopefully rehydrate himself a bit and again think his nutrition’s sorted

Run time after bike, same story, stop, maybe drink, maybe decide too tired and do it tomorrow

So what are the main problems going on here?

1) When a calculation is done for nutrition, say. so many grams per body weight or so many ml of fluid per hour it should be calculated at a specific heart rate that you will sustain during the event, you must also make sure that you stick to this heart rate and not get carried away when someone you know flies past or the other end of the scale go too conservative because you have a long way to go.

What usually happens is the sun comes out and all of the sudden your salt and fluid intake requirement is higher, or Mr. Average's training buddy flies by and you chase him which lifts the heart rate increasing your fluid and carb requirement.

All of the sudden all the calcs go out the window…

2) The other big problem is in training Mr. average popped down woollies and got a bargain bar or drink...it worked in training but on race day when the gut is under constant pressure without stops that bargain bar wont go through the gut and in turn clogs it up stopping the fluid getting through and dehydration occurs.

3) Next problem is calculations are done on requirements per hour but most people don’t put the food in so that the gut can manage it. Remember if u eat say half a bar then the blood must rush to your stomach instead of your muscles, and also too much again blocks up our small pathway of our gut….the answer must be to eat lots in really small increments and better still have your fuel more broken down i.e. in gel form…many feel hungry if don’t have solids myself included but all u need to do is break the solids up..My personal preference for example is every hour eat the following

on bike:

start –1 gel
20 mins –1 gel
20 mins –1/3 bar that goes down easy
repeat each hour

on run:
1 gel every 20 mins, solids don’t work well at all at ironman race pace for most, the gut can just not digest it unless u slow down

note I’m 60kg and this is at h rate of 80% of max

4) next problem is “awareness”…THIS POINT IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT

You must be aware of the temperature and the pace of the race and how this is effecting you, you must think about this all the time …throughout the race these elements are going to change, you must change with it or you get nutrition problems….what am I talking about?

Here’s an example or two…when u start on the bike it might be cold, your sweat rate low and your heart rate high because say the hills at port maq….so therefore if your sweat rate low don’t over drink, if your heart rate high eg over 80% then that means your consuming more fuel than u calculated at 80%…u need to adjust these factors as you go along…..so many people scratch their heads and say I had this product and did this nutrition plan but it didn’t work this time???…well this is the reason why, a good seasoned ironman will be able hopefully to “feel” these things going on….an ironman is like driving a plane, there's never a dull moment and always something to think about.

5) More on the “adjust these factors”….a very important point regarding going to hard, if u go at a pace over 85% for longer than an hour u will deplete your fuel stores without a doubt, you’ll actually be lucky to get that far, and once it’s gone it takes hours to get it back…the reason is because as mentioned before the gut can only allow so much through at any given time, ideally we’d all like to do an ironman flat out if we could but physically our bodies just cannot, even if our muscles were bionic and made of steel our body would require more fuel per hour than we can put into it because of this restriction with the gut, and also as mentioned before if u overdo the gut with calories of bars etc then it blocks your hydration too and u will be reduced to walking or collapse.

Just a note here regarding the amount the gut can take n….remember high5 have developed the “supercarbs” to combat this problem, the fructose and caffeine opens up the gut to allow more through see website for details of this or email me if u require more info. Or see previous newsletter nutrition tips

6) Lastly the problem of dehydration…remember that again it’s very hard to get enough hydration in, the rule of thumb is take around 1 litre an hour of a good sports drink …NOT JUST WATER…water just flushes out your salts and this makes things worse by not being able to retain the fluids your putting in, mentioned previously in newsletters is articles about using salt even on top of sports drinks…this is definitely required as you go on into the race, again it’s a factor u must keep your eye on, early in the race u have natural salt in your body but as u get further and further in the race it becomes more depleted and must be topped up to decrease chance of dehydration or hyponytremia