Fueling

[kelownagirl]

When I did my sprint-tri I stuck to shot blox (taken on during the bike portion, I'm another one who can't run and chew at the same time. ) and gatorade.

It worked great for me, although gatorade has more sugar then I care for and when I'm racing sugar just isn't appealing. I did find something that I am interested in trying as an alternative. It's called Mona.Vie and comes in a bottle and in active gels. Have any of you tried it?

As far as gels go, I tend to stick to the citrus flavors like lemon, lime or orange that way my taste palette isn't expecting a whole lot and I'm not left with a weird after-taste. So far all of the hammer gel flavors I've tried have tasted pretty good though. Apple cinnamon was surprisingly tasty which seems strange to say about a gel, but it was.

If it's really hot, maybe have a separate bottle with water by your shoes in the transition area for T2 and grab that for the run. I found that I was thirsty before reaching the water-station.

HTH!

Maybe I should have my fuel belt for the run? It has 2 10 oz bottles and is fast to put on.


I have a bento box for shot blox too.

[jesvetmed]

I just got a Bento Box before the last tri I did. LOVE IT! That was so much easier than trying to get into a pocket and having open stuff floating around my pockets. Only problem, when I stand to pedal, my inner thighs hit the edge!!!!!! Not probably a fault of the box, itself!?

I opened the shot blox and my luna moons and just stuck them in there in their open packages-- felt like I was at the buffet while riding!

[Wahine]

Technically, any race over 1 hour and you'll need to eat. Depending on size it is estimated that you should have 100 to 200 cal per hour in addition to your sport drink. For a sprint tri you're really only looking eating on the bike. Shot blocks should be fine. You should have something before the race if swimming is an issue. A gel or a few shot blocks would work for that too. If it's hot, be sure to use electrolyte drink of some sort on the bike and you may want some for the run. Myself, I don't bother eating or drinking anything on a sprint run. The run's only 30 min, I won't even digest whatever I eat on the run in time to use it during the race.

So start with things that you like (shot blocks) and maybe experiment with some gels. I like accelerade strwberry kiwi. It's not really sweet and the consistency is thinner so it goes down better than some of the thicker gels.

Hope that helps.

[rocknrollgirl]

Hi KG,
It is very hot and humis here in the summer, so we always use some form of electrolyte replacement if we are out more than 60 mins. I hated gels at first, but they are the fastest easiest way for me to the job done. Keep trying, you may get one that suits. I use Hammer products also. No simple sugar.

I always gel 20 mins before any race. I am doing a sprint today that I think will take 90 mins. I plan electroltye drink for the bike and I am going to leave a gel in transition. I normally either tape it to my bike frame or stick it under the leg of my shorts. During the last sprint I did not feel like I needed a second gel, but better to have and not need.

Keep trying, you will get it dialed in, and good luck on race day!

Ruth

[Urlea]

Maybe I should have my fuel belt for the run? It has 2 10 oz bottles and is fast to put on.

I have yet to try running/racing with a fuel belt, I usually use something like this...

http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=25549

It seems to me that the water bottles would jostle around with the belt and I'm already wearing one belt (Race # belt). But if you already know it works for you, it's quick and wont slow you down...I say go for it. In my mind it's better to have brought extra and not needed it rather then be wishing I had part way through the race.

This is a great thread! I'm looking forward to trying some of the other ladies suggestions in the future.

[alpinerabbit]

I can give anecdotal evidence as of today (n=1) that you do not need to fuel at all for a sprint. See race report.

[Wahine]

Well n=2 with multiple events. At most on a sprint tri I drink sports drink on the bike. The above was outlined "rule of thumb" style. And when I said to have something for electrolytes on the run, one hit of Gatorade at the first aid station will do it.

[OakLeaf]

I have yet to try running/racing with a fuel belt, I usually use something like this...

http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=25549

I just got one of those last month (Nathan QuickDraw handheld water bottle carrier, for those who don't want to click on the link), and have to review it as mediocre.

Biggest negative: the bottle that comes with it leaks. Not enough to lose a whole lot of water, but enough that I feel like I have to put my phone in a ziploc bag.

You definitely have to close the pull-out valve every time you drink, to prevent losing lots of water from sloshing, and that's an extra step and effort.

I tried putting my .75L Camelbak Better Bottle (LOVE that thing!) in the Nathan carrier, but it was just too heavy and really messed up my arm swing and torso rotation. Plus, drinking from the straw meant that once the bottle was about 1/2 to 2/3 empty, I was sucking a lot of air as the water sloshed around.

Other dislikes: the elastic at the top of the bottle is pretty loose and it gives the impression it won't last long.

The elastic cross at the bottom of the bottle means you can't set the bottle down while you're warming up or stretching, it will fall over.

There's room in the pocket for my phone (LG VX 5400), but that's a smallish phone, and a larger phone or smartphone wouldn't fit in the pocket. Especially with a ziploc bag around it.

Having the pocket opposite the strap means that when the bottle's empty, the weight of the phone is at the farthest point away from your hand, which makes the weight more noticeable (not sure how that problem would be best resolved though).

Likes: the hand strap is comfortable, especially with the flexible bottle that comes with it. (Although I think my hands are about at the limit of comfort. Anyone whose hands are too small to use un-shimmed Shimano brifters comfortably would probably find the strap/bottle combination too large to carry.)

Handheld means that by rotating my hand, I can let the water slosh in the direction of my body's travel to minimize the disruption of my momentum.

It's pretty easy to switch from hand to hand while running, for muscle balance.

Bottom line: I will continue to use it. I haven't tried a water belt - but considering how hard my ID belt bounced when I tried to put my phone in it, I'm very reluctant to shell out the $ for a water belt without being able to try to run in it. I guess I should try to run in my Platypus backpack, but between the bouncing and pulling my shoulders back, that really doesn't appeal much to me either.