Let's Talk Fuel

Before I hopped on the trainer this AM, I searched our cabinets in vain for something quick for breakfast, forgetting that we'd finished off the loaf of bread the night before and I had no bagels left from the Great Bagel Heist of The Previous Friday (loot=9 bagels, a new record). We don't buy cereal because it doesn't last more than 5 minutes in this house anyway and I didn't want to take any time to fry up some veggies and eggs.

So I had SportBeans and a lemon flavored HoneyStinger waffle instead.

There is something inherently wrong with eating those things for breakfast and consuming something so sweet as SportBeans before 7am (and I like sweet things, so this is saying something). I gave up chocolate for Lent this year, and I'm also making an effort to stay away from sweets in general - chocolate or not - and practice the whole mindful eating thing (in terms of what I'm eating - no crap - and how much I'm eating - I do not need a billion snacks). I'll still indulge in my favorite snack - apples with sugar and cinnamon - but that's about it in terms of crap. Long story short - it has been a few weeks since I've been on a sugar high and this morning I did not feel great after eating the sport beans. Bleck.

This morning made me think about what I'd like to do about my fueling for training, racing (and specifically Ironman) this year. Not to beat a dead horse, but almost every time I do Ironman, I have some type of nutrition fail that usually manifests itself on the run. I eat mainly gels (18 gels on 112 mile bike ride, anyone?) and that's alot of sweet stuff - no wonder I don't feel awesome. I've tried the liquid calorie thing (complete disaster) and I've also done the sandwiches, cookies, crackers, and chips on the bike thing (not a complete meltdown, but that is alot of food). I received the Feed Zone cookbook for Christmas from Mr. Sweetie and it has a whole section on making your own portable nutrition for the bike. I've already made their banana rice muffins and they were yummy and filling. I think this weekend I may try to make another recipe. In short, I'd like to incorporate more real foods into my training and racing. I think on the run I will still need to stick with gels and whatever else I can shove down from the aid stations (mmmmm chicken broth) because eating alot of solid food during the run is just gross. But for the bike, I'd like to gravitate towards something that isn't a gel, sport bean, or chewy blok for the majority of my nutrition. I'm glad I'm starting to think about this early, before the season really gets going, so I can experiment with stuff this spring during training. I'm also open to hearing what other people have used/done/found what has worked for them. I really thought in 2011 I had it all figured out with gels, but 2012 proved me wrong. Back to the drawing board.