What Kind of Fuel Am I (going to need?)

A friend and multi-IM finisher once described the race as "an eating contest". This after another friend got himself into a jackpot midway through IMLP2005, but took a break and fueled up and eventually got back into gear. It's a long long day and if you don't keep those calories coming you are going to be in serious trouble. I've posted earlier about the incredible caloric requirements for the race - the importance of nutrition cannot be overstated.

I had a small reminder of that yesterday during a 3 hour brick session. a two hour ride (easy-ish) followed by a one hour run (again, not too fast) didn't seem too ambitious but I made the fatal error of not eating enough on the bike. I ran out of energy bars so I relied strictly on Cytomax and Hammergel to provide fuel for the day. That caught up to me about 3/4 of the way through the run - I felt decidedly bonk-y and my heart rate was too high for my liking (over 160 on a moderate pace is too high). In short, I had run out of gas. Stupid? You bet. A valuable lesson? Yes indeed.

Eat eat eat eat eat. Then eat some more. Maybe I should tape that message to my handle bars.