From working with a nutritionist, I aim for 60-90 grams of carb per hour of exercise (after the first hour, since I can coast off breakfast for a while). Usually I aim for the low side end and feel fine. I also have an awesome stomach that will eat anything, and only got sort of cranky at me when I drank 20 oz of improperly diluted Gatorade Endurance during a hot ride (like possibly not diluted at all when it was supposed to be 1 part concentrate to 5 parts water).
So, for example, this was my plan for a ride that should take between 5-6 hours
The section on the left in the black box is what I taped to my handlebars. For each hour (row), at each 15 minute increment (column) what am I planning to eat?
I always plan to take a drink every 15 minute interval. For this ride, I started with two half-strength bottles since it was going to be hotter and I wanted to get more liquid in me, so my first two hours have 80 calories of Skratch.
Then I started eating 1 gu per hour and half a bar on the half hour. This ended up calculating to be at the high side of my nutrition goals, but it was a long ride early in the season, and I didn't want to feel hungry and I was just starting to work out my plan.
The plan has been refined, and a recent Gran Fondo gave me a chance to try out my IM plan, which hopefully will not also feature poorly diluted Gatorade Endurance
I used the aid stations to refill liquids, filling up with Gatorade Endurance once I had emptied a Skratch bottle, and then mixing two bottles of Skratch up about half way through the day.
Since that early ride, I've learned that I can delay starting the bars until I've finished two hours of riding without feeling hungry or tired later. This is nice because it gives me something to start looking forward to when the day gets longer without getting sick of the snacks early.
For that particular Gran Fondo, I was excited to substitute an Oatmeal Creme Pie for one of my packed bars, even though it meant carrying the bar around with me all day long :)
Looking forward to Ironman, I think I'm going to go with a plan remarkably similar to this, with two refill Skratch bottles waiting for me in special needs, and one Gatorade Endurance bottle from an aid station in each half of the ride.
If it's a hotter day, I'll drink water in between these calorie drinks, but I'm not a heavy sweater and don't get super thirsty, so I don't expect that to be a significant factor in the day.
For my longest training bike ride, it will have three loops and one thing I've discovered is that I love Gu's even more when they are cold, so I'll be mixing up the order of bars and Gu's to make it so I can eat two fresh-from-the-cooler Gu's when I come back around to refuel in the middle of the ride. :)
I also predict that there will be team mates with snacks out on the course, especially for the third loop, so I might replace the Gu or bar calories with surprise snacks -- maybe Cheetos!
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