Race Nutrition

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by lisa fields on March 21, 2012 at 8:10am

my husband and i were trying to calculate my intake last night. it's just a rough estimate but i think around 120 oz is probably pretty close. definitely need to drink more next time and do a better job of hydrating before the race. i was trying to "live off the course" but maybe next time i should also take some fluid with me.

Permalink Reply by Skip Slade on March 22, 2012 at 1:48pm

 How long were you out there? Were you hydrated when you started? About how much do you weigh? Not to discount any other input here - just trying to help - but it seems like there might be something else. 30 oz/hr during a cool marathon might be plenty. On your long runs, including your 16 miler, how did you hydrate?

Permalink Reply by lisa fields on March 22, 2012 at 2:14pm

well, the answers to those questions are a bit embarrassing, but here they are - i am 5'8' 200 lbs and it took me 6 hours to finish. looks terrible on paper, doesn't it? for my longest training run i had my hydration belt with 4 eight oz containers of water that i refilled once during the run - so approx 64 oz total. oddly i felt "sloshy" during this run and wondered if i had taken in too much. additionally, i sweat pretty heavily, am typically coated in a salty crust at the end of workouts (quite sexy, eh?), and have problems with extreme swelling in my hands after about 10 miles. by the end of the marathon i could not touch my pinkie fingertip and thumb together on either hand. thank goodness i took my rings off. i try to swing my arms around at least once a mile to keep things flowing, but haven't found a successful solution to that either. just thought i'd add that in, just in case it means anything. this is my first real foray into the world of endurance sports. i played basketball in college, but this is a completely different animal. thanks for your help!

Permalink Reply by Skip Slade on March 23, 2012 at 1:50pm

Sorry Lisa, unintentional. I sent you a private msg.

Permalink Reply by lisa fields on March 23, 2012 at 1:58pm

no worries skip! didn't mean it like that. just embarrassing that my time was so slow and that i'm abiut 20lbs heavier than i need to be. it's the truth though - nothing i can do but roll with it and try to improve. i just want to be the best "me" i can be! :-)

Permalink Reply by Sasha on March 24, 2012 at 9:32am

My have needed more gatorade & less water.  I'm not a huge fan of gatorade while working out (esp the lemon lime usually used in races), but when I'm going more than an hour, I do drink more then just water - I have a different drink that works well for me.  However, for IMKY, I will have to work IM Perform into my training so I can get use to that for the marathon.  I will be taking my own drink on the bike, but will have to rely on aid stations for the run.

When you're working out less then an hour, water is fine.  Longer than an hour, you need something to replace the electrolytes you're losing.  I just read a part of MACCA's book this week about hydrating and how he used water and it didn't work.  I'll try to find it & pass it along later.

Permalink Reply by Amy Slater on March 20, 2012 at 9:12pm

I am already working on my nutrition and hydration plan. Sodium has a negative connotation in our society but is critical to performance so I am working on embracing it. My current need estimate is 500 mg per hour (1 tsp pf sea salt is ~2300 mg). I followed some of the suggestions in this article and am shocked at how much I'm sweating - http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/hydrationandfluid/a/Sodium_Salt.htm. Another article - http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/hydration/a/aa053001a.htm

Last Saturday during a 12 mile run I had 72 ounces and still lost 3.5% of my body weight! I wasn't sloshing at all and should have drank more but ran out. I am realizing that thevrun aid stations alone will not be enough and I am going to carry some beverage with me on the run.

I too am a Hammer Nutrition fan and use Perpetuem. I am going to try the new solid tabs too during training. Tried the banana gel last weekend and loved it! Usually I despise gels.

In 2010 at IMKY I had heat rash and got 2 IVs after the race. I will avoid that in 2012!!!

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyd on March 20, 2012 at 9:43pm

a friend of mine from long ago when we were doing these silly IM things each year, used to ask (and get) an IV at the end of the IM race. i never did (yeah call me scared of needles) but he used to be bouncing around fine an hour or so later, and i was miserable.

Permalink Reply by Amy Slater on March 20, 2012 at 9:50pm

After my 2 with the heat rash, I felt SO much better and it did expedite my recovery a lot. One of our fellow racers this year is a nurse ;)

Permalink Reply by Jessica on March 20, 2012 at 9:57pm

I'm glad so many people are posting their tips, as this is exactly what I'm trying to work out right now. I have been plagued by digestive woes while running and am working hard to come up with a solution that, first, simply lets me complete my workouts, and then maybe I can start to nail down how to optimally fuel for performance. Since I'm heading back to school for a dietetics degree, this should be fun for me, but man, being the guinea pig who has to urgently bail on a workout is decidedly not fun.  Calling nutrition the 4th discipline is no joke!

Permalink Reply by Dallas Malone on March 20, 2012 at 11:04pm

I am doing a 70.3 this weekend in Fl in the HITS series.  Any good ideas for nutrition, I am 6'2 200lbs.  Weather should be mid 80's.  I have been using Infinite and works good. But what else do I need?

Permalink Reply by Danny Boyd on March 20, 2012 at 11:29pm

too late to going changing stuff dallas. just go with whatever you feel comfortable with. 

IF on the day you start using some sports drink for instance that you havent trained with, you take the risk it might not agree with your gut. 

if you use gels, take a gel every 45 min on bike; and 1 every 30 on run - with water. if you're a heavy sweater, then pop a few salt tab's at start of run, and again a couple more an hour later.

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