I'm snowed under with work for a while now but will write a race report soon. In the meantime, I've had a few people ask me about my nutrition during the race so here it is.
During each leg of the race (approx 18-28km)...
- 1.5L of water (made sure I emptied bladder each leg, no excuses)
- 700mL of Hammer Perpetuem, made to recommendation. These were premeasured in two 350mL bottles which crew had ready to go at Checkpoints. These were swigged along the leg, one mouthful at a time.
- Every 40 minutes I would have a Hammer Gel serving, banana flavour from start to 103.7km, then Expresso for the remainder of the run. Garmin set to 40 minute time alerts to remind me.
- Every 5 hours I substituted one of the Gel portions for a Choc Chip Hammer Bar as an alternative
- A Hammer Enduralyte capsule every 40 minutes for salt and mineral replacement
- A banana was taken at each checkpoint and slowly eaten in the beginning stages of each leg.
- Also had some other flavoured gel sachets on standby in case I had 'flavour fatigue' (didn't happen)
- At Somersby I had 2 cups of Coke
I think there are a couple of key principles which I try to keep to in regards to nutrition. You have to predict what your body needs before it tells you (when it is often too late), and you should always stick to what works for you. I had no problems with my nutrition at all yesterday, my body felt strong, energised and relaxed all day. But what works for me may not work for you so it always prudent to experiment and take your nutrition out when you train (in all types of conditions too). Better to find out then than on race day!
