Month: May 2019

If you are reading this, you are probably thinking, “How did you get nutrition during the race”? Great question! I feel like I got lucky. What worked for me, doesn’t mean it will work for you. But – It might!

Prerace:

I treated my days as normal before the race. I did take one GU Hydration Drink Tabs with a G2 Gatorade two days before the race and the day before, I took two GU Hydration Drink Tabs with two G2 Gatorades. I sipped on these between meals.  The evening meal before the race was pad thai – not spicy.  I did spike my sugar a bit (expected with me) and caught it on the way down at 58, and then ate a few gummy packs to bring it back up. But – no major issues.

Pre-race: wake at 4:00 – 3 oz of Espresso

Eat a “One Protein Bar” at around 5am (takes about 45 min)

7am: start sipping on First Endurance EFS: Lemon Lime and water (two separate bottles)

7:55am: last sip of water. Race Time!

On the Bike about 42 min later. I have water up front with one GU Hydration Drink Tab, 4 GU Energy Gel (tri-berry) mixed with water on the frame, and Hammer Perpetuem on the back.

I sipped all these every few minutes, mixing it up as I went. I grabbed water at the water stations and refilled my front water container and dropped one more GU Hydration Drink Tab at around mile 45.  I also had a bag of ruffles that I started eating around mile 30 because sipping sugary drinks becomes boring. Dang – those chips taste amazing.

In transition from the bike to the run (T2), I put an ice filled water bottle (smart water bottle) down the back of my tri-suit – and took a bottle of Hammer Perpetuem on my fanny pack and 2 extra GU Hydration Drink Tab in my pack.  Those were extra should it get hot. Well – it got very hot. 91+ degrees.  The ice melted around mile 5, then I drank that.  And I popped those extra GU Hydration Drink Tabs with water at mile 5 and 9 and got more GU Gels from the volunteers on the race to mix with water when I refilled the water.

I really expected to blow up or cramp or “fail” or something during the run. But – this plan worked very well. I walked the transitions when I needed to refill, but beyond that – I had a great race and didn’t have major issues. It was hard – but it was so rewarding! Thank you, for everyone who cheered me on along the way and tracked me live. I felt like I was getting energized by the support!

Love ya’ll. Would love to do a full IRONMAN soon. But the primary challenge is scheduling the training around family, work, etc.

Tweet me at @GoWithoutYoGut if you want me to blog about specific topics.