July 22, 2018 Lake Placid, New York. What follows is a rundown of my race and description of my nutrition. Previously, I have completed 2 other Ironman races, Tremblant in 2014 and Chattanooga in 2016. I ran these races as a carb burner. To be fare I did have problems at both of these races but I do not blame carbs or sugar. Tremblant was a electrolyte shortage and Chattanooga was both a salt and high temperature issue (I over hydrated). The reason I sought change was to reduce sugar intake, period.
Got up around 4am, yuan. Made coffee with collagen powder and MCT oil. MCT is a fairly pure source of healthy saturated fat. My wife and I started getting our racing stuff together. Time to ready my race day fuel. Smoothie. Makes enough for two! 3 cups unsweetened coconut milk, 2 scoops collagen powder, 4 scoops SuperStarch (more on that at end of article), 2 scoops amino acids, 2 tablespoons MCT oil, and a cup of frozen blueberries. Quite tasty!
Bike bottles. Total six, 3 to start with and 3 in special needs. Each set had 1 bottle with 2 scoops SuperStarch and 1 scoop amino acids, second bottle 1 scoop SuperStarch, and 1 bottle just water. All 3 bottles had a electrolyte tablet.
Running nutrition. I decided to run with a running vest which carries 2 500ml water “bags”. I filled 1 bag with water and a scoop of SuperStarch and the other with just water. Both had a tablet of electrolyte. I also made up a couple of small squeeze bottles with 1/2 scoop SuperStarch and water to make a paste (LC GU?!?). Special needs had the same.
Probably most important of all, I carries 3 “lick” vials of salt (“BASE Salt” in this case) in my bike pouch and in my vest. My coach advised that I increase salt intake from past experience and also to bring a few packets of GU just in case my plan didn’t pan out.
Race course plan/execution. 3.8k swim. About 20 minutes before the swim I “licked” about 1000mg of salt. Thought my swim went pretty well at 1:34. Transition – get “peeled” out of wetsuit, run up to tent, grab bags, change into bike gear. Decided this time to ride without socks, went well! During the remainder of race I planned to lick 2000mg of salt every hour and did. For the bike and run I decided to only take water and ice off the course aid stations (unless I blew up). 180k bike. First loop cloudy and some heavy rain during first section, especially during Keen descent. I was very cold and tense going into Keen and I’d feel the effects later during the run. Stuck to plan, no problems at all, stomach felt great! Hit special needs at about 3:28. Second loop about the same but more windy. Again stuck to plan, water and ice off aid stations. Finished bike 7:00:34. Happy with race so far, as per my coach’s advise, dialed it back on the bike as I tend to go too hard because it’s my strongest/favorite part of Ironman. 42.2k run. Weather improved and temperatures stayed around 20 C. My plan was to run 7k every hour, that’s a 6 hour marathon. Pretty much worked but I did slow as the day turned into night. I decided to run between aid stations and walk through them as I drank a cup of water and ice. I also did walk a few hills on the course. Every now and then, I took a mouthful of my paste. I never felt out of energy but muscle pain is petty much unavoidable. I also was feeling the effects of the first Keen descent on the bike. My shoulders and upper arms were kind of sore but not a show stopper. Near the end of the run I did try a cup of chicken broth and a cup of soda just to see if my energy levels would be even better but nothing changed. I still felt great, zero GI or stomach issues. I finished the race running and smiling to cheers from friends and a hug and kiss from my wife at the finish line. Run 6:26, total race time 15:24 a PB.
SuperStarch. SuperStarch is produced by Generation Ucan and is a complex carbohydrate made from corn. It delivers a slow steady glucose release to the bloodstream, not spiking blood sugar and therefore lending to a minimal insulin response. This permits fat adapted athletes to get a majority of their energy from stored body fat. I started using SuperStarch during my training last winter. I would only use it during bikes and runs longer than 90 minutes. I started LCHF in January 2018 and figured I was fat adapted around mid February. Anyway, great product, the future of endurance sport nutrition I think. For Ironman Lake Placid, my Garmin said I burned about 6000 kcals and I consumed about 800 kcals of SuperStarch, salt, electrolytes, water, and ice.
To find out more about SuperStarch Google it ha ha. Also watch Peter Attia’s YouTube videos on the subject, very good!
Rick Keto Ironman 