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Radcliffe vows to continue campaign Paula Radcliffe insists she will continue her fight to expose drug cheats in athletics. The British runner knows her campaign is dangerous but says she will not be deterred. "There is a risk in rocking the boat and I realise that I could become a target for those who have something to hide," she said. "That will not stop me." More…. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/in_depth/2001/world_athletics/… Ken Ken Parker Runner’s Web <http://www.runnersweb.com A running and Triathlon Resource Portal

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Radcliffe vows to continue campaign Paula Radcliffe insists she will continue her fight to expose drug cheats in athletics. The British runner knows her campaign is dangerous but says she will not be deterred. "There is a risk in rocking the boat and I realise that I could become a target for those who have something to hide," she said. "That will not stop me."<<

Good for her. I found it hillarious that El G. could _only_ barely break 3:31 in a timetrial-type EPO-TESTED WC 1500 final when he has no trouble running 4-5 seconds faster at the invitational meets… More…. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/in_depth/2001/world_athletics/…

id_1488000/1488232.stm – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Ken

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Question:

I trained for thr half ironman in Muncie IN. It was right on the mark! It suited for all tiathletes from begginner to pro. tom

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has anybody tried his training software? is it worth it thaks in advance Albert

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Ron: You are in luck. There are plenty of group workouts during the week that begin at the local Triathlon Store. Give Jerry Frostick a call at Final Kick Sports. (757) 481-3400. Cheers- Keith — Ironman Triathlon Wetsuits Website: www.ironmanwetsuits.com toll free order line: 800-897-6464 international calls: 804-288-6000

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I’ll be in the Virginia Beach area next week on business and was curious if there are any scheduled runs or swims next Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?  Also is there a good Tri Store in the area? Thanks Ron Fry

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I’ll be in the Virginia Beach area next week on business and was curious if there are any scheduled runs or swims next Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday?  Also is there a good Tri Store in the area? Thanks Ron Fry

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Question:

Does anyone know if they are going to post the Mrs. T’s results on the internet? Or do we have to call a 900 number from work and explain to the boss that it isn’t a porno/sex number js

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Does anyone know if they are going to post the Mrs. T’s results on the internet? Or do we have to call a 900 number from work and explain to the boss that it isn’t a porno/sex number js

http://www.mrsts.com Click on Chicago Triathalon Results and then the appropriate category.  It will probably take awhile to load. Also 900-786-7555 at $2.00 a minute, kind of steep.  Splits wont be ready until 9/3, or at least that is what I have heard. td

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Question:

I use WD40 to clean the chain, and then lube with white grease. Ray Mascia – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text –  I would like to find a good method of cleaning/lub the chain on my  road bike.   Stuff deleted Park makes a little plastic thing called a chain mate.  You can fill it with an environmentally safe degreaser like simple green and clean your chain on the bike in 5 minutes. Also, the cheap sedisport black chain works fine with top of the line campy and dura ace or almost anything else… the chains are only $7 or so mail order.   I use them as a disposable item.  If you ride a lot, 3 a year will do and you save wear on your cogs from stretching chains. |  Ray Plotecia            | |  Image Control           |

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 I use WD40 to clean the chain, and then lube with white grease.

St uff deleted… WD40 is great for cutting grease and especially TAR  but:  It clings and attracts dust and dirt, turning into a viscous goo.  I would wash it off with soap before re-lubing the chain. |       Ray Plotecia            | |       Image Control           |

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I would like to find a good method of cleaning/lub the chain on my road bike.  I have tried several different methods and have yet to find a method that works very well.  Thanks.

I use Finish Line citrus degreaser which you can get at any bike store. Spray it on and brush it around with your toothbrush (buy yourself a new one first).  Once the grease gets all runny spray it off with a high pressure stream from your garden hose.  Presto!  You’ll have a clean chain and dirty shoes!  Make sure to do this on a grassy area and wear some old clothes since the grease will fly when you’re spraying.   joe jankovsky "Your mother sews license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?" -Val Kilmer in _Real Genius_         WWW:    http://minerva.cis.yale.edu/~jjankov/             New England Triathlon Page:           http://minerva.cis.yale.edu/~jjankov/ne.html

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 I would like to find a good method of cleaning/lub the chain on my  road bike.  

Stuff deleted Park makes a little plastic thing called a chain mate.  You can fill it with an environmentally safe degreaser like simple green and clean your chain on the bike in 5 minutes. Also, the cheap sedisport black chain works fine with top of the line campy and dura ace or almost anything else… the chains are only $7 or so mail order.   I use them as a disposable item.  If you ride a lot, 3 a year will do and you save wear on your cogs from stretching chains. |       Ray Plotecia            | |       Image Control           |

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I would like to find a good method of cleaning/lub the chain on my road bike.  I have tried several different methods and have yet to find a method that works very well.  Thanks. —         Life is like an emotional roller coaster, the         challenge is to stay on till the ride is over.                         ~     ~                         o     o                            L                         _____/

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Would greatly appreciate advise on chain cleaning products/techniques. What has worked well for you?  How often do you clean and lubricate.  Is it best to remove the chain each cleaning? thanx, Mike Mike Mauldin Charlotte, NC

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Would greatly appreciate advise on chain cleaning products/techniques. What has worked well for you?  How often do you clean and lubricate.  Is it best to remove the chain each cleaning? thanx, Mike Mike Mauldin Charlotte, NC

Here’s the scoop: use a chain cleaner such as park, vetta, finish line, etc. Use an environmentally unfriendly solvent such as varsol (my favourite). The chain comes out perfectly clean as you backpedal the chain through the clamp-on cleaner. Allow solvent residue to evaporate to dry before applying lube. Don’t remove chain. This weakens the links.

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There’s a good article on how to clean and lube your chain in this month’s (August) Bicycling Magazine.  They also review a bunch of lube products.

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Here’s what works for me…. I clean it thoroughly once a week — as I commute on it. I use a small piece of old rag (a disposable) a small splash of kero (a litre has lasted me over 3 years) and some elbow grease to work the entire drive system. I then wash the bike (including chain etc) using a small amount of detergent and hot water in a bucket.  Do it on the lawn — the grass loves it. It works a treat and the bike (and chain etc) looks like new. Once fully dry, I lube the chain with standard 20/50 motor oil – a drop on each link. I NEVER remove the chain, except to replace it (every 3 months — or about 5000km). I don’t believe that you gain anything over a thorough "in-place" cleaning job, that isn’t un-done within the first 10mins of riding the bike (especially if you commute in the rain). Anyone who wants to chastise on "environmental" grounds, re: small use of kero and detergent — I refer to the first line — I commute on it — and I don’t own a car. — MB.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Would greatly appreciate advise on chain cleaning products/techniques. What has worked well for you?  How often do you clean and lubricate. Is it best to remove the chain each cleaning? thanx, Mike Mike Mauldin Charlotte, NC

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Anyone who wants to chastise on "environmental" grounds, re: small use of kero and detergent — I refer to the first line — I commute on it — and I don’t own a car.

Mike: I’m with you all the way and am impressed that you don’t own a car (the worst polluter on the planet).  I commute by bike also.  But there are citrus-based degreasers available (I like Pedro’s) and biodegradable detergents. Keep it up! Doug

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Question:

There was one on June 1st and another coming up on June 28th. Did anyone here participate?? I’d like to enter one next year and wanted to get an opinion on which of the two is better. Thanks, Meika

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There was one on June 1st and another coming up on June 28th. Did anyone here participate?? I’d like to enter one next year and wanted to get an opinion on which of the two is better.

Man, I must sound like a broken record, but here goes.  The verbiage below is coddled together from several posts I’ve made on the topic over the past year: There are two Alcatraz triathlons, one on June 1st and one on June 28. They both are the same course.  The difference is who puts them on, and who races at the two events. The June 1 event has $$$ and pros, and this year will be its second year. They have decided after all to use the course of the original Alcatraz tri. The June 28 event is produced by Envirosports.  It will be their 17th annual Alcatraz Tri.  Envirosports put on the original Escape from Alcatraz.  Through some tricky legal maneuvering, the "other guys" legally stole the name "Escape from Alcatraz" so that Envirosports could no longer use it.  Envirosports is a relatively low-budget operation.  When the "other guys" started doing their Alcatraz tri, they took all their $$$, broadcast/TV production rights, and prize purses for the pros with them. Basically, though, the two courses are the same, although the Envirosports run is longer.  To see personal reports from the ‘95 and ‘96 events, which include vivid course descriptions, check out the following web page: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~brooksie/96Reports/Triptych.HTML See you on June 28! Envirosports, a local Bay Area race production organization, put on the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon for 15 years, 1980-1995.  For the last 4 or 5 years of that (maybe more) they contracted with Golden Gate Productions, a local broadcast production company, to produce the television coverage. Envirosports never offered any sort of prize purse for the pros, but many of them showed up every year because of A) the TV exposure and B) the challenge of the race. In 1996, Envirosports and GGP had a falling out.  Somehow, through shady legal maneuverings, GGP succeeded in spiriting away title to the name "Escape from Alcatraz" and decided to put on their own triathlon, at the same time forbidding Envirosports from using the name of the event they’d been putting on for more than a decade.  There’s actually some interesting behind-the-scenes dope on this, but I won’t go into that…. Anyway, so in ‘96 GGP and 24-Hour-Nautilus put on their own triathlon, and because they had tons of $$$$ and the TV coverage, all the pros came to their race.  Dave Horning (race director of the original) put on his race as "Alcatraz XVI", still with no prize purse for the pros, and the only "name" who showed up was Holly Nybo, who’s a local anyway. In ‘96 the GGP Escape had a circuit bike course that many racers found dangerous, so in ‘97 they’ve gone back to the "original" bike course, and now the events are nearly identical. So as far as choosing which one to do, the venues are the same.  I always encourage folks to do the Envirosports event as a way of supporting "the little guy" who’s been shafted by the Big Guy with Big $$$.  Envirosports were the originals, so I’m loyal to the originals. If you don’t really care about that, just do whichever one fits into your schedule better.  June 1 is the GGP "Escape" and June 28 is the Envirosports "Alcatraz XVII". Hey, Tom, can we put this in the FAQ?? Tri-Baby                                      _                                   –    o      ’             –  __o       –    </_  `     ‘         –    <         – __/    /o_         – (()) (())        -  / "REAL Triathletes don’t draft." *** Ironman Canada 1997 *** http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~brooksie        

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There was one on June 1st and another coming up on June 28th. Did anyone here participate?? I’d like to enter one next year and wanted to get an opinion on which of the two is better. Thanks, Meika

In a nutshell:  The June 1st event is glitzy with TV coverage.  The June 28th event is put on by Envirosports who is a first rate outfit. My suggestion would be to watch the June 1st (I did, it was fun), but give your money to Envirosports and race in the June 28th race. Doug Kraus tri-turtle

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Try NYTRO, they are in So. Calif. and handle just about everything on the planet. They are usually in the back of Triathlete magazine. Good Luck Mike

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        hi everyone. i live in los angeles county, particularly in the san fernando valley area and was wondering if there is/are any shops around here that sells this bike, whole or just the frame fork. very interested. comments on this bike also welcomed. please email replies. thanks very much and happy training to all. bye!!! have a pleasant day!

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Question:

Does anyone know where I can find a calendar of Triathlons in the midwest? Barry Roby

Well, the 1997 calendars are still getting firmed up but if you go to either of these websites you’ll find a calendar segment for 1997.    Inside Triathlon: http://www.insidetri.com    Triathlete Online: http://www.triathletemag.com    Marty Miller’s Triathlete’s Web: http://w3.one.net/~triweb/triweb.html -Chaz

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Does anyone know where I can find a calendar of Triathlons in the midwest? Barry Roby

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Fellow RST’ers, The text of this post comes from a fellow trigeek, Doug Marocco.  Some of you may know him, a Marine Staff Sergeant, who has done Kona numerous times, and has been the Department of Defense Athlete of the Year in the past. These are Doug’s words: this is in reply to my good friend Ron William’s post on RST.  I was quite surprised to see/hear about a post like this when all he had to do was pick up a phone and give me a call.  Well to answer his question, here it goes: During the sale of Ironman from Valarie Silk to the WTC, Valarie wanted to protect the rich military history of Ironman and ensure that the military would still have a continued role in the rase.  As part of the contract it was decided that each service would be allowed to have five participants in each year’s race.  The top three combined times from each service are added and the lowest combined time would win the Military Trophy. The five athletes are made up from qualifiers from IQ events and lottery selection.  IRONMAN WANTS ALL PEOPLE TO QUALIFY, THEN THEY DON’T NEED TO SELECT ANYONE.  If there are not five athlets by the last qualifying race, then athletes are selected by resume to fill out the remaining slots.  Military athletes wanting to be considered for resume selection MUST have entered the General Lottery in March.  A team captain is selected from the previous year’s Ironman race to select the resume athletes, if necessary.  It’s that simple.  No hidden agenda.  The only way to be sure of going to Hawaii  and being one of the five members of the team is to qualify!  If five people qualify or are selected in the lottery, then there are NO slots given away.  Example;  2 years ago the Air Force had seven athletes qualify, only five could be named to the team representing their service.  Six of those quys went under 9:50:00.  Hardly Ho Hum.  As a member of last years winning Marine Corps Team, we had 5 go under 10:35, in terrible conditions.  Remember ron, you were there cheering us on (I thought). For any triathlete thinking of jointhe military, simply for the chance to work out and go to Ironman, think again.  Sometimes things can be great, but other times—–well, ask Tony DeBoom, William Magagna, Calvin Curnutte, Jim Knight, Sean Drake, and oh yes, you too Ron, along with many others why they got out.  I’m sure the "EASY" opportunity to go to Ironman had nothing to do with it. It should be noted that many spots go unused each year, When an athlete qualifies and pays the money to claim a spot but later decides not to race, he/she has just taken a spot from an athlete that would have toed the line.  It also should be said that corporate sponsors are allocated spots for their sponsorship to the WTC.  How do you think Daryl Haley raced last year.  For a man that didn’t qualify, he did more for the race in terms of PR than Mark Allen did for winning! The "No Kidding" truth about Ironman and the Military is that the only sure way to make it to Kona each October is to Qualify.  Thanks to a supportive family, work place and sponsors, along with a lot of training, I’ll be making my fifth trip to Hawaii via the Wildflower Triathlon.  See you in Hawaii! Doug can be reached at and I am Tim Jonas Major, U.S. Marines May I ask why there has to be a separate "military" slot? Is it not possible to just qualtify like everyone else? R.W.S.

The reason behind military slots is because of Team competition. Although the Ironman is done as an individual competion, Team Awards for service Champions were instituted long before the Ironman had a qualifiing system and have become an important part of Ironman history.  There are two perpetual trophies given each year that remain on display at the Ironman Museum.  The overalll winners trophy and the military Team trophy.  The the top three members from the winning service are listed.  The Team competition has remained intact because of the aggreement from Valarie Silk and the WTC.  It should also be noted that the Marine Corps provides a considerable amount of support for the race with manual labor for almost a month before race day.   The good old days of show up and race are long over.  The rules for getting to Ironman have changed with the popularity of the event.

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Fellow RST’ers, The text of this post comes from a fellow trigeek, Doug Marocco.  Some of you may know him, a Marine Staff Sergeant, who has done Kona numerous times, and has been the Department of Defense Athlete of the Year in the past. These are Doug’s words: this is in reply to my good friend Ron William’s post on RST.  I was quite surprised to see/hear about a post like this when all he had to do was pick up a phone and give me a call.  Well to answer his question, here it goes: During the sale of Ironman from Valarie Silk to the WTC, Valarie wanted to protect the rich military history of Ironman and ensure that the military would still have a continued role in the rase.  As part of the contract it was decided that each service would be allowed to have five participants in each year’s race.  The top three combined times from each service are added and the lowest combined time would win the Military Trophy. The five athletes are made up from qualifiers from IQ events and lottery selection.  IRONMAN WANTS ALL PEOPLE TO QUALIFY, THEN THEY DON’T NEED TO SELECT ANYONE.  If there are not five athlets by the last qualifying race, then athletes are selected by resume to fill out the remaining slots.  Military athletes wanting to be considered for resume selection MUST have entered the General Lottery in March.  A team captain is selected from the previous year’s Ironman race to select the resume athletes, if necessary.  It’s that simple.  No hidden agenda.  The only way to be sure of going to Hawaii  and being one of the five members of the team is to qualify!  If five people qualify or are selected in the lottery, then there are NO slots given away.  Example;  2 years ago the Air Force had seven athletes qualify, only five could be named to the team representing their service.  Six of those quys went under 9:50:00.  Hardly Ho Hum.  As a member of last years winning Marine Corps Team, we had 5 go under 10:35, in terrible conditions.  Remember ron, you were there cheering us on (I thought). For any triathlete thinking of jointhe military, simply for the chance to work out and go to Ironman, think again.  Sometimes things can be great, but other times—–well, ask Tony DeBoom, William Magagna, Calvin Curnutte, Jim Knight, Sean Drake, and oh yes, you too Ron, along with many others why they got out.  I’m sure the "EASY" opportunity to go to Ironman had nothing to do with it. It should be noted that many spots go unused each year, When an athlete qualifies and pays the money to claim a spot but later decides not to race, he/she has just taken a spot from an athlete that would have toed the line.  It also should be said that corporate sponsors are allocated spots for their sponsorship to the WTC.  How do you think Daryl Haley raced last year.  For a man that didn’t qualify, he did more for the race in terms of PR than Mark Allen did for winning! The "No Kidding" truth about Ironman and the Military is that the only sure way to make it to Kona each October is to Qualify.  Thanks to a supportive family, work place and sponsors, along with a lot of training, I’ll be making my fifth trip to Hawaii via the Wildflower Triathlon.  See you in Hawaii! Doug can be reached at and I am Tim Jonas Major, U.S. Marines

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– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Fellow RST’ers, The text of this post comes from a fellow trigeek, Doug Marocco.  Some of you may know him, a Marine Staff Sergeant, who has done Kona numerous times, and has been the Department of Defense Athlete of the Year in the past. These are Doug’s words: this is in reply to my good friend Ron William’s post on RST.  I was quite surprised to see/hear about a post like this when all he had to do was pick up a phone and give me a call.  Well to answer his question, here it goes: During the sale of Ironman from Valarie Silk to the WTC, Valarie wanted to protect the rich military history of Ironman and ensure that the military would still have a continued role in the rase.  As part of the contract it was decided that each service would be allowed to have five participants in each year’s race.  The top three combined times from each service are added and the lowest combined time would win the Military Trophy. The five athletes are made up from qualifiers from IQ events and lottery selection.  IRONMAN WANTS ALL PEOPLE TO QUALIFY, THEN THEY DON’T NEED TO SELECT ANYONE.  If there are not five athlets by the last qualifying race, then athletes are selected by resume to fill out the remaining slots.  Military athletes wanting to be considered for resume selection MUST have entered the General Lottery in March.  A team captain is selected from the previous year’s Ironman race to select the resume athletes, if necessary.  It’s that simple.  No hidden agenda.  The only way to be sure of going to Hawaii  and being one of the five members of the team is to qualify!  If five people qualify or are selected in the lottery, then there are NO slots given away.  Example;  2 years ago the Air Force had seven athletes qualify, only five could be named to the team representing their service.  Six of those quys went under 9:50:00.  Hardly Ho Hum.  As a member of last years winning Marine Corps Team, we had 5 go under 10:35, in terrible conditions.  Remember ron, you were there cheering us on (I thought). For any triathlete thinking of jointhe military, simply for the chance to work out and go to Ironman, think again.  Sometimes things can be great, but other times—–well, ask Tony DeBoom, William Magagna, Calvin Curnutte, Jim Knight, Sean Drake, and oh yes, you too Ron, along with many others why they got out.  I’m sure the "EASY" opportunity to go to Ironman had nothing to do with it. It should be noted that many spots go unused each year, When an athlete qualifies and pays the money to claim a spot but later decides not to race, he/she has just taken a spot from an athlete that would have toed the line.  It also should be said that corporate sponsors are allocated spots for their sponsorship to the WTC.  How do you think Daryl Haley raced last year.  For a man that didn’t qualify, he did more for the race in terms of PR than Mark Allen did for winning! The "No Kidding" truth about Ironman and the Military is that the only sure way to make it to Kona each October is to Qualify.  Thanks to a supportive family, work place and sponsors, along with a lot of training, I’ll be making my fifth trip to Hawaii via the Wildflower Triathlon.  See you in Hawaii! Doug can be reached at and I am Tim Jonas Major, U.S. Marines

May I ask why there has to be a separate "military" slot? Is it not possible to just qualtify like everyone else? R.W.S.

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Question:

For the past couple of years I’ve been doing triathalons up to and including the olympic distance.  I’ve always made sure I’m well hydrated and drink liters of water or Gatorade and I have never experienced ‘bonking’ or anything like it.  This year I’m going to try a couple of long courses including Kingston the tin man at Orillia. After reading a couple of race reports this week on the network I’m wondering if doing a long course without food is a good idea.  I would appreciate any comments;  should I plan on taking food, if so what, liquid or solid, should it be taken on the bike (it being too late on the run).  The only suggestions I’ve had to date include sticking bits of power bar to my bike and using electrical tape to secure bananas to my handle bars.  ( I heard that taping bananas to the handle bars can be dangerous – as they  sometimes explode as one wrestles with the tape!) Any comments or advice would be useful.  Thanks.

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At the Great Floridian (iron distance) last year, I set up a cooler in the transition area stocked with skim milk, orange juice, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, cookies, and a dish of rice, beans, vegetables, and beef stew.   And what was for dessert?  

Oreo’s of course.  And congratulation to Myke Morgan who took my advice to eat "real food" and did his first iron-distance in 10:39. Now if only I could break 13 hours. Here’s the recipe for what I call "nasty rice".  Boil 2-3 lbs of rice and 3-4 lbs of frozen mixed vegetables in a big saucepan with 3-4 quarts of water for 19 minutes until there’s no water left. Use low heat and stir a lot so you don’t burn the rice.  Then add 3 cans of beans and 2 cans of beef stew or brunswick stew.  This makes enough for several meals.  For your ironman or ultra-marathon, put some in a zip-loc bag with a plastic spoon or fork and eat cold. #include "disclaimer.h"                |____|

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(stuff deleted) You need protein and fat.  Your race food should resemble the foods you eat every day.  Typically, I eat solid food every 2-3 hours and drink only water in between.

Excellent thinking.  It is going to be a long day.  Might as well eat normal stuff to keep the stomach happy (a mistake I made at the 1/2 Ironman event).   At the Great Floridian (iron distance) last year, I set up a cooler in the transition area stocked with skim milk, orange juice, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, cookies, and a dish of rice, beans, vegetables, and beef stew.  

And what was for dessert?   (Matt – This is not a flame.  I couldn’t resist!!!) Rolf Arands, Ph.D.

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:After reading a couple of race reports this week on the network I’m wondering if doing a long course without food is a good idea.  I would appreciate any comments;  should I plan on taking food, if so what, liquid or solid, should it be taken on the bike (it being too late on the run).  The only suggestions I’ve had to date include sticking bits of power bar to my bike and using electrical tape to secure bananas to my handle bars.  ( I heard that taping bananas to the handle bars can be dangerous – as th ey : sometimes explode as one wrestles with the tape!) :Any comments or advice would be useful.  Thanks. IMHO a long course triathlon without solid food is really not to be recommended. What I did in my long courses so far was a triple strategy. First, use a camelback or something to take ~ 2 litres of dissolved long-chain-carbo with you (for example one could use something like High Five [availability in America?] or perhaps Ultrafuel?). This keeps your hands free for steering and catching the water and Gatorade [insert sports drink of organizers' choice here] bottles and also for peeling the powerbars (2-3) from your frame and eat them. On the run, you should try and get those little long-chain-glucose sachets which were to be had under the name of Relode in Hawaii 93 (made by the Gatorade company). Or if better available, try to get Leppin Squeezies. The important bit, eat something during the run, the marathon will last for three to four hours. Do not start on Coke too early, and, if your stomach allows, try some bananas on the run – on the bike they are to much bulk for to little energy. All the best, Ulrich —                             Ulrich Porsch             Wer spricht vom Siegen, "Ubersteh’n ist alles  

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 I’m wondering if doing a long course without food is a good idea.

No.  You don’t need food for races under 3 hours because you have enough stored glycogen (about 2000 calories) to finish on water alone.  For races up to 6 hours, you need 200 calories of carbohydrate per hour (the most your stomach can absorb).  The best way to get this is in liquid form.  That’s about one quart of Gatorade or other sports drink per hour. For races over 6 hours, you may feel nausea on just carbohydrates. You need protein and fat.  Your race food should resemble the foods you eat every day.  Typically, I eat solid food every 2-3 hours and drink only water in between. At the Great Floridian (iron distance) last year, I set up a cooler in the transition area stocked with skim milk, orange juice, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, cookies, and a dish of rice, beans, vegetables, and beef stew.  The race is set up so that you can eat at all transitions, the middle of the bike, and at 8 and 17 miles on the run. #include "disclaimer.h"                |____|

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 I’m wondering if doing a long course without food is a good idea.

I believe that this is a very bad idea.  For me I have to eat something during a half-ironman race or I will bonk severly.  I have done 6 half-ironman races and I will tell you what works for me.  Race morning I usually eat 2 bagels and a power bar with a water bottle full of gatroade (I also drink tons of water the night before, If I don’t get up at least 2 times in the night then I have not drank enough).  I usually have two water bottles on my bike at the begining of the race.  One I have plain water and the other I have some sort of high-carbo drink.  I have used Exceed High-Carb, Ultra fuel, Coke, and Dr. Pepper in the past.  Dr. Pepper works the best for me, but some people have trouble with the surger.  I also have two opened power bars in the transition area which I stick in the back of my suit when I get on the bike.  I refuse to stick them on my bike because one they look gross and two, I have seen friends try to get baked on power bar off their top tube. On the bike I will space my power bar eating out so that I eat one in the first 25 miles and one in the second.  I find the best way to eat power bars on the bike is to bite off a big chunk and stick it in the side of your mouth like chewing tabacco.  I chew on it for the next few minutes with some occational sips of water or gatorade.  I have found it imposible to try to chew and swallow it all at once while trying to ride hard ( you are just breathing too hard).  As for drinking on the bike this really depends on how hot it is.  I race mostly in texas and I drink like a fish.  I grab a water bottle and a gatorade bottle at every aid station.  I stick the gatorade ( or whatever the race has) in my cage and drink most of the water right away and throw the bottle away.  Then I drink the gatorade between aid stations.  I try to repeat this at every aid station.  I also space out my drinking of my high carb drink over the whole bike. Once back in the transition area, I usuall have another small bottle of high carb drink waiting for me.  Depending on how I feel and how the eating went on the bike, I will either take a few gulps and leave the bottle or I carry and drink the whole thing in the half mile.  I usually try to eat a banana or orange slice (or whatever food they have a the run aid stations) at the first couple of aid stations.  After that I just eat when I start to feel my stomach roumble.  At every aid station  I grab a cup water and gatorade and drink as much as I can while running.  If they have coke I will always gab that to (Coke works really well for me, the sugar is perfect, and I does not upset my stomach). One important thing to remember is to practice using whatever you will use in the race in your training.  Don’t try new things on race day, you are only asking for trouble.  Take the stuff out on your rides and runs and figure out what works for you. Good luck, you will really love the longer races if you eat and hydrate properly; otherwise, they can be quite painfull. Race Smart Todd

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