I’m 2 weeks away from my first Ironman and I’m a bit worried about my nutrition plan. I’ve trained with the Enervit energy bars / liquids, which will be available during the event, and I’m comfortable with it - I’m eating way less calories than recommended though.
Here is what I do on long sessions:
- bike:
- 1 energy bar every 1h (106 Calories)
- around 400ml of isotonic drink (about 85 Calories)
Assuming I’m doing a bit less than 6h (I will aim around 5h30-5h30), this gives 6*191=1146.
- run:
- 1 energy bar every 1h (106 Calories)
- around 300ml of isotonic drink (about 65 Calories)
Aiming for 4h, it gives (I don’t count the last hour) 3*171=513.
This is only about 1650 Calories total, and definitely less than 250 Calories / hour, which I read everywhere is a lower bound of what I should eat.
That being said, on 5-6h workouts, I’m comfortable with this - I’m quite hungry at the end but not excessively. I feel like I can increase the intake and eat 1 energy bar every 45 minutes (tested it already - works OK), but I didn’t found it necessary nor improving my pace.
I’m planning to stick with current plan, but I’m just fearing than on a full Ironman distance I will lack energy towards the end. Common fear I guess… Any thoughts and experiences appreciated !