2011 Muskoka 70.3 Nutrition Report

Michael and I arrived in Muskoka, Canada after an 11 hour door to door trip. During this time, we ate our normal breakfast, lunch and dinner while munching on snacks such as fruit, crackers, while constantly hydrating with water. 

We stayed in the Deehurst Hotel which hosted a gorgeous breakfast buffet. Michael and I took full advantage of the good nutritious food!

Friday night is usually our Go Out BIG night. We like to eat a full meal consisting of appetizers, salads, entrees, and desserts. We fell in love with a Muskoka favorite: 3 Guys and a Stove. 

Blueberry Pie and Creme Puffs at 3Guys and a Stove!

Saturday meals are a bit more normal. We typically follow a gluten free, dairy free diet. We stick to safe foods the day before. I usually start off the day with a bigger breakfast and taper off through the day. ML tries to eats big always...

Dinner the night before race day was at 5:30pm: About 2 cups of Rice Pasta with a bit of sauce and some salad. 

Breakfast on race morning was a little lighter than usual: At 6am I had 2 Packets of Gluten Free Oats with a few spoonfuls of Strawberry Jam. When we don't have a fridge or microwave, we use a hotpot or coffee maker for hot water. I sipped on some Lemon-Lime EFS which was fairly diluted with water. I probably had 400 calories for breakfast.

Race time was at 8:06am. Between breakfast and my swim start, I sipped on EFS. Ten minutes before the start, I had a nice hit of vanilla liquid shot. 

On the bike, I had 1.5 scoops of Grape EFS mixed with water in my Jetstream (28oz). On my downtube, I had 2.25 scoops of Lemon-Lime EFS mixed with water in a 32oz bottle of water. In my bento box, I had my Liquid shot gel flask and a package of lime-aid Honey Stinger gel bites that have a little caffeine. I have been staying away from caffeine in previous races this year as it makes me too jittery and amped. However, since I had tried it in training the past few weeks, I wanted to give it a go on race day. 

I drank every 10 minutes or so...I took a hit of gel every 30'. At 2hrs, I took in 4 energy chews. At 2.5hrs, I took in 3-4 more of the chews. I drank water at every aid station. I had about 20oz of water and 60 oz of EFS in 2hrs and 43 minutes on the bike= 80oz of liquid on the bike...and yes, I did pee.

I had about 750-800 calories on the bike.

I felt fresh and good to go on the run. I don't like drinking the power bar drink on course, so I typically stick to water and try to get as much gel as I possibly can. I find that it is hard for me to take in gel on the run as I am breathing fairly hard and I end up spitting it all over myself. I guess it would help me quite a bit if I just tried to slow down a bit...but I don't seem to think of these things while racing.

I probably had half of a gel on the run. Despite my low calorie intake, I did feel pretty good during the run. I had a low patch at 18k-19k, but after a little patience, I seemed to come right out of it. 

After the race, I felt the best that I have post race all year long. I did not feel the need to immediately have a coke and I did not feel the need to lay down. While I did have a minute or two of discomfort during the run, I came right out of it.

Every race I tweak my nutrition a little bit here and a little bit there. This race was no exception. For the first time this year, I tried a little bit of caffeine, and I did like it. I didn't seem to need very much as I find that I am some what sensitive to it. A little bit seemed to go a long way for me in Muskoka.

My next race is in Augusta, September 25th. This next two weeks, I plan on taking my recovery very seriously. Not only will I be taking ice baths, and using my recovery boots, but I will be making wise nutritional choices all the while, using Muti-V, Optygen, and Ultragen.

Thank you First Endurance for making the best Sports Nutrition on the planet!