Fueling differences for 70.3 &140.6?

Question from an athlete:  What do you do for nutrition in a 70.3 race?

Answer: Same thing I do for 140.6.  Although I am going faster, the event is still long. A high level of carbohydrate consumption allows me to race fast and recover well. Avoiding GI distress in racing requires practicing your fueling in training.  More here,

I am about six weeks out from Ironman Texas. I have a four hour ride tomorrow with a two hour run off the bike. On the ride I will take in 83.5g of carbs per hour (355 calories). On the run I will take in 75g of carbs per hour (300 calories). And I will consume enough caffeine to power a small city. (Lying. Medium sized city.)

Interesting side note is that some new research by Nanci Guest RD, shows that not everyone responds positively to caffeine.  It possibly depends on your genotype and other factors.  Thankfully I am a high responder or a great example of the placebo effect.

Science works.  You can absorb higher levels of carbohydrate if you use multiple transportable carbohydrates.  My hourly nutrition mix contains sucrose, dextrose, maltodextrin and fructose.  My big day of training nutrition:

Ride:

• Four 24 ounce bottles of 180 calories of Gatorade mix per bottle
• Seven gels starting at the thirty minute mark of the ride.  Goal is a gel every thirty minutes

Run:

• Three gels per hour.  The first gel at the start of the run with lots of water. I practice full belly running during my transition runs.  Hydrating early in an Ironman marathon helps with dehydration late in the race.
• At some point I will switch to Coke after mile 15.  Lots of Coke.  I don’t even like Coke unless I am racing.  Then it tastes like the nectar of the Gods.

 

Once I start practicing my race nutrition, I find not only do my workouts improve but so does my recovery.  And I stay healthy too.

No easy way.