Nutrition and Budget

Made my first big purchase. Yup, I broke down went to Caps to spend $24.95+tax on a tri-bar mounted speed fill bottle. I might have the terminology wrong, so here's the link. I recently did a 70km ride, my longest to date, and realized it's going to take me a few more long rides to get my nutrition sorted out. From ultra running I have a good sense of knowing when I should be eating more and drinking more, but the same cues don't exist or are different in cycling. For instance, doing the 4000ft climb in an ultra you can't help but notice how much you're sweating and it reminds you to drink and take salt tabs. By contrast, all the sweat evaporates much more rapidly while on the bike, so it isn't quite as intuitive to know how much to drink, at least for a newbie like me. The aerobar bottle will make it much easier to sip frequently and having it right in front of me will be a constant reminder. Not sure if the tube in my face is going to annoy me or not though. I'll report back after a few test rides.

Total IMC Spending (as at 9/13/2011)
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Entry Fee:  702.00
Speed Fill:  27.94
            -------
           $729.94

While I'm on the topic of hydration, I think I'll mention one of my theories regarding Ironman insofar as nutrition goes. I've volunteered at IMC several times, always as a finish line catcher. I've found it quite astonishing how many people cross the finish line in a severely dehydrated state. I'm sure my triathlon friends will say, "Uh, hello?? They've been cycling and running in the heat for the last 12+hrs. What do you expect?" But the truth is, ultrarunners don't seem to be so messed up when they cross the finish line. With the exception of races like Badwater and maybe some of the really really tough ultras, you never see a medic tent at the end. You also never see an aid station every mile for the duration of the run.

So here's my theory, I think many beginner IM athletes don't fuel properly on the bike. I think dehydration is harder to monitor on the bike and many people come off the bike already low on electrolytes. Because they're low on salts they start having real stomach issues during the run, they can't get their carbs in and things spiral down from there and they end up walking when they really were trained to run the marathon.

Now I believe there's three key factors working against new Ironman entrants: First, as I mentioned, it's harder to monitor hydration on the bike. Most triathletes take their carbs in liquid form primarily, where as ultrarunners tend to have a little more solid food. Personally I know I'm starting to get dehydrated when I start having trouble getting down Chomps due to lower saliva level. This is my cue that I need to ramp up my drinking and/or salt intake.

Second, Ultramarathons are a much more relaxed environment. Now I'm not comparing the elites here, I'm talking about us middle-of-the-packers. Triathletes are hyperfocused on splits and transition times and shaving grams off their bike weight and they aren't allowed any crew. In ultras we [mortals] always take a brief stop at the aid stations to refuel, chat a little with the vollies and our crew, and our crew is usually reminding us of stuff we should be doing/consuming.

Finally, I believe beginner IM training programs don't focus on the run enough. Now I'll admit my impartiality on this subject, but bear with me. Most programs that I've seen involve fairly short brick runs after long rides and the long runs don't seem to extend much past 20k. Many first timers I've spoken with hadn't done more than a half marathon before IM. Now I won't argue about the effectiveness of this training style in terms of having legs for the run portion. In ultras we have this expression: don't outrun your stomach. I believe the biggest shortcoming of beginner IM programs is that athletes only train to survive the run, where as some minor adjustments in training would teach them how to start the run properly fuelled. They probably get enough miles in during training, but they don't get any miles in that involve having to deal with stomach issues. In ultras, even training for a short 50k race involves a couple 6hr runs. You can run 2hrs without any fuel at all, but you absolutely can't run 6hrs without having your nutrition dialed.

Of course this is all conjecture on my part, since my theory is based on my ultra experience and my catching experience, and not on actually having done an IM. It will be interesting to see how my view changes over time.

I do believe that IM is mostly about the bike, but I want to come off the bike ready to run, not just ready to survive. I guess we'll see what happens on race day. Luckily I've got 347 days to get it sorted out.