IronmanHacks

Text Instructions

Here’s how to use it:

1. Estimate your race duration in hours and minutes. This should be just for the bike or the run (do them separately). Enter that into the calculator.

2. Determine your hourly requirements for sodium, water, calories, and carbohydrate.

Below are some guidelines. Keep in mind that everybody is different and these are just estimates. What you will actually need will likely be different and you will need to experiment to know. As always, test your fueling as you train to avoid any surprises on race day.

• Calories: A good starting point is around 300-350 calories per hour, on the bike. If you’re bigger or smaller adjust accordingly.
• Carbs: On the bike, you can start by aiming for .6 g carb/hour per pound of body weight, and half that on the run (.3 g of carb/hour per pound). So a 150 pound guy would need 90 g on the bike per hour and 45 g on the run, per hour. Here’s a video I did with nutritionist and triathlete James Bell on carbs.
• Water: This one can vary tremendously depending on conditions. In a hot and humid race you may lose up two litres of water per hour, but it may not be possible to replace all of that. Check out this video all about hydration and sodium for more guidance.
• Sodium: This nutrient is lost through your sweat, and knowing how much of it you lose per litre of sweat allows you to replace it as you lose it. Unlike water or calories, you indeed can replace it as fast as you lose it. If you have not been sweat tested, enter 1,000 mg per hour, or even 1,500 if the conditions are hot and humid. Here’s an explainer video I did on how to determine your sweat and sodium needs.

3. Enter the nutrition products you have and you intend on racing with. Start typing them in and if they’re in the database, select them. If they’re not in the database, you may add them (click on Add New Product), along with their nutritional data.

Please make sure to enter correct data as other athletes will be using it. Maybe you are not concerned about one or two of the nutritional fields, but please enter it anyway for the benefit of other athletes. Thanks.

4. Adjust the servings or dosage levels of each product until your nutritional figures hit your requirements (as established in step 1 above).

For example, change the number of gels from 1 to 3 or 4; change the other product servings from 1 to 3 or 4 as well, and watch the sums change.

The numbers will turn green when they are within 10% of your targets. They’ll turn yellow when within 15%; red beyond that. Keep adjusting them up and down until you find your ideal combo.

5. Download results so you have a record of what you need. You can save this in your phone or email as a reference and reminder of what you need to pack and prepare for your race.

Description of the table

Totals: This row shows the grand total sums of calories, sodium, carbs, etc. However, this number may not be very meaningful to you, as you may be more used to thinking in terms of hourly totals.

Per Hour: This row is the sum of the Totals (above) divided by the number of hours you input. So this is your hourly intake. You want this to match your hourly targets.

Targets: These are the hourly targets you set above. Ideally, the Per Hour figures will match these figures.

Let us know in the comments if you have any feedback or if there are missing products you’d like added, or email me here: andrew@ironmanhacks.com .

Video on how to use the calculator

No-BS Guide to Triathlon Nutrition

If you really want to up your nutrition game, you can grab my No-BS Guide to Triathlon Nutrition below.

The guide is a 52-minute video with frameworks and rules of thumb to follow to dial in your best nutrition plan possible.

Read more here.