8 November 2008
Fuel Plan Rethought
Posted by Brad Hefta-Gaub under: Fitness; Ironman; triathlon.
Ok, so day before the race is no time to be planning your fueling strategy… but I’ve been thrown a curve-ball, and it’s forced me to rethink my plan.
The curveball: T1 and T2 bags must be left with our bikes TODAY by 4pm. Oh wait, there’s a mandatory athletes meeting at 3pm (30 minute drive from the bike drop off), and so really that means dropping of T2 bag at 2:30pm…
So, why does that affect your fuel plan? Well, I was planning to have Hammer Gel Perpeteum mixed up in flasks on my race belt for the run. And that stuff can’t last 30 hours at “room tempurature”, let alone in the sun of Nevada, which is how long it would need to sit in my T2 bag.
So, my options:
- Just don’t go with flasks on the run.
- Mix it, and hope it doesn’t go sour, and if it does, throw it away on the run.
- Put the powder (stable) in the flasks, but don’t mix it until I get to T2, and mix it before I start my run.
I have a similar issue with a hand held bottle of Nuun that I want to run with, but the Nuun won’t go bad, it just runs the risk of leaking all over my shoes and hat and run shirt.
So after thinking about it, I’ve decided to do the following:
- Get rid of the Perpeteum on the run…
- Use the Hammer Gels provided by the race (plus I have sports beans).
- Leave the bottle of Nuun, UNMIXED, with tables in the bottle, with a bottle of water in my T2 bag. Mix that before I run.
I am not too worried about losing my Perpeteum… because I will still have it on the bike, and that’s my key source of fuel for MOST of the race anyway… so… it’s all going to be fine.
Now, off to take a short ride on my bike, and drop things off at T1.
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