10 Power tips during an IRONMAN

Our collaborator Miguel Ángel Rabanal, offers you some very interesting feeding tips for when you run your next IronMan

 

 

You will often have doubts about what to eat during a long distance triathlon and that is why I want to give you these 10 tips for you to put into practice:

During the SWIMMING:

• 1 TRICK:

A few minutes before starting the 3.800 m swimming try sucking a licorice candy without sugar, type "Juanola" or even one of mint-eucalyptus, it will not only calm your precompetitive nerves, but it will soften your throat and allow you to breathe better by the mouth during the approximate time you will be swimming.

• 2 TRICK:

Just swim out and try to take a good drink of clean water, in order to dilute the sea water that you have swallowed, looking for it to become "isotonic" once inside the body.

During the BICYCLE:

• 3 TRICK:

Do not ingest too many gels at the beginning of the bicycle and opt for some energetic bar of slow assimilation or even some protein bar would also be good, seeking to provide nutrients but without altering the blood glucose, in order to favor the burning of fat that at those moments will begin to be activated and will allow your metabolism to be more efficient during the rest of the IronMan.

• 4 TRICK:

Halfway through the race, it would be good to ingest an anhydrous caffeine supplement to continue stimulating fat burning and glycogen savings, for this choose a caffeine supplement that you can continue distributing throughout the race but you will have to be supervised by a coach so that you get the most out of the right shot for your particular case. And watch out for caffeine because it can have a rebound effect and turn against you in the final part.

• 5 TRICK:

Do not eat only sweet foods rich in carbohydrates and opt for some salty food, ham sandwiches and cheese that not only will sit very well to the stomach but will provide the salty touch necessary to replace much of the sodium lost with sweat .

• 6 TRICK:

When you notice a sudden change in performance in your legs, having the feeling that you go to go with diesel fuel, it's time to loosen the pace and refresh yourself a little more with some more forceful food, for which you can take a sandwich What you like most and know that you will be well, and not just the small refreshments that the organization offers.

• 7 TRICK:

During the bike it is the moment of the race in which the food you eat will best fit you so you should make a race strategy, setting the different shots based on the time you plan to make the 180 km, this plan will be modifiable by the sensations that we have in the course of the IronMan, but what you can not is to leave in the hands of improvisation the food to be made, so the previous days make a chop with the help of your coach who will be the guide in this aspect .

 

During the CARRERA:

• 8 TRICK:

Just start running and to avoid flatus during the race, do not drink too much liquid. This would be a good time to take gels, although I am not very supportive of them because they are basically water with sugar and we sell them at the price of gold, in these first steps of the race they are a good food option to continue contributing energy to the face to the marathon that awaits.

• 9 TRICK:

In addition to the isotonic drinks opt for some cola drink that besides sitting well to the stomach, will give you a plus of sugars and a small dose of caffeine that will reactivate you to keep running.

• 10 TRICK:

Do not want to buy time eating and drinking and opt for each feeding of the marathon, stop a few moments to eat and drink what you need before running, this will help you to set small goals in each provisioning and the marathon will be done more enjoyable

These are just some basic tips of the many that could give you to succeed in your next triathlon, and if you want to know all you just have to ... Train in an "inteligent-e" way!

Miguel Ángel Rabanal San Román

www.intelligentrunning.es