Try this little recipe and I am almost 100% sure you will have enough fuel to finish and finish strong at The 70.3 Durban Event. It may not work for everybody but goes some way to helping you sustain the energy levels needed for a good result.
Go large! Pasta, pizza and the like. Heavy on the carbs and plenty of food. Eat at around 5pm (no later) so you can store up the fuel reserves you will need to draw on the following day. If you’re still hungry at bedtime, a small energy bar should do the trick.
Eat breakfast a minimum of 3hrs before race start. I know it’s an early start but chances are you’re nervous and awake anyway. Some form of energy porridge would be recommended. If that’s not your thing, the usual toast with honey or water based cereals should also do the trick. You should still feel content from the binge the night before, so do not go over board. Avoid dairy and bananas as they dissolve really slowly and that could upset the stomach with all those digestive juices floating around.
One bottle of 750ml isotonic/carbo drink and one bottle of coke (750ml) for the bike. No more is needed. You can always top up at the water points with an additional glug or two of water if it’s really hot. If you cannot drink coke, then an additional 750ml isotonic drink will be needed. Also bring two energy bars, cut up into pieces and stuck onto the cross bar of your bike. An additional three energy gels in the back pocket completes the package for the bike.
If you’re a little bit peckish, then eat half an energy bar within 45 minutes of race start. Drink 500ml of water twenty minutes before race start.
Once you hit the bike, drink the isotonic drink at regular intervals (small sips) and eat a piece of energy bar and/or equivalent food you would get from the water tables, every 15 – 20 minutes depending on how fast you are riding. Once you hit the last third of the bike (30-35km) then switch to coke on the bike and the gels you have. Take one gel immediately, then another 10km later and then save the last one with 10km to go.
You want to carry at least 3-4 sugar based/high fructose gels with you plus have a 500ml bottle of coke (if you can drink it) waiting for you in transition. Down one gel and drink the bottle of coke, before you start running. If you cannot drink coke, then try an alternative that has sugar in it. You can walk whilst you do this and then start to run once the coke is finished.
Now for the tricky part. You will need to take a sip of coke at each water table to ensure that you sugar levels remain constant. If you do not do this and miss a turn of coke at the aid stations, you will more than likely hit the wall. Once you spike the sugar levels (as we have done off the bike in transition before the run start) you need to maintain those sugar levels.
