Bec's SOS Nutrition Report

Nutrition for this race would have been VERY tricky if we had done the full course (ride/run/swim/run/swim/run/swim/run), but since the hurricane shortened course was something between an olympic and a half iron distance race, I decided to go with my traditional nutrition plan, adapted for the reverse order of events.

I started off the morning with coffee with honey and a bowl of gluten-free oats with almonds, dried cranberries, raisins, salt & maple syrup. I also mixed a full strength EFS lemon lime electrolyte drink in a bike water bottle and drank most of this before I left the house and finished it up during the 15 minute bike warm up to the race start. Just before the race started I ate 2 FRS energy chews.

Since the bike was first in this race, I was able to wear a bike jersey, which was key--for warmth and for pockets! On the bike, I brought a bottle of EFS and a 1/2 full flask of vanilla EFS liquid shot. I didn't bring a full flask because I knew I wasn't going to need all 400 calories and didn't want to carry any extra weight up the hills. During the ride, I drank from the water bottle about every 10 minutes and took in the EFS shot about 5 miles before the last big climb. On the run, I carried with me an EFS shot flask that was diluted with water. I sipped from this for the first 7 miles until I was finished with it. I also grabbed water from the aid stations. Looking back, I probably didn't drink enough water on the run because by the time I got to the swim, I was really thirsty and actually drank some of the lake water (on purpose). Maybe this dehydration contributed to the cramps I experienced about halfway through the swim, but more likely the cause was the cold water. After hobbling to the finish line, my post-race nutrition was a cup of hot veggie soup.

Here are some additional photos from SOS taken by Martin Weiner.