First 10k Down, Great Learnings

KatieKatie Charlotte, NCMember

This past weekend I completed my first OW 10k, swimming the Bridges to Bluffs event in Knoxville. (by the way, if you're looking for a great first 10k this is a good one; admittedly with current assistance)

I fed along the route because I know I'm ramping up for longer training swims and have been trying to get my body used to eating while swimming. For B2B I used an electrolyte drink and honey stinger gummies. They worked fine, but I lost a lot of time stopping to chew the danged gummies. I need to get quality calories in, and quickly. Everyone who finished ahead of me (I was 5th female) never stopped.

It's been a while since the Nutrition posts have been hit on, so I figured I'd ask- is Maxim still the most popular go-to, or are others emerging on the scene? I have some time to find what works best but wanted to see if you all could help spark some ideas.
Thanks in advance!

Tagged:
IronMikeSolodpm50

Comments

  • Hi Katie,

    Everyone is different and what works for me may not work for you. That being said here is my small advice. Stick with liquids. You don't have to take time chewing and wolfing stuff down. I personally use Gatorade, mixed with Carbo Pro and have Lime Gu duct tapped to the side of my bottle (the portion that you tear off is duct tape so I don't have to fu if I feel I want to have that. This has worked for me for years and as the saying goes: "If it ain't broke don't fix it." I hope this helps and congrats on your 10K that is a major accomplishment current assisted or not!

    Katiedpm50
  • BridgetBridget New York StateMember

    Great job- and a current assist is a beautiful thing. :D

    I'm also working out my food stuff for long swims- I had my crew pass me chunks of banana, liquid foods, and dice sized pieces of power bars and PB & Honey sandwiches. If you are going to do chewable foods, make sure you test it- it can't stick to your teeth or go down crunchy. ;) I'd use lake water to swish out annoying crumbs, but NEVER DRINK WATER THAT HAS FEET IN IT. :P Spit it out and take the time to use a water bottle.

    Katiedpm50
  • flystormsflystorms Memphis, TNSenior Member

    Great job on that. I'll have to put that one on the list to do next year. Depending on the length of the race, I like to use UCAN. It keeps the blood sugar pretty steady throughout the time - no spikes or bonks. The gummies, to me, are best just poked between your gum and teeth to melt. Helps cut the taste of the water and they don't take long to melt rather than chew.

  • KatieKatie Charlotte, NCMember

    Great suggestions! I think it's going to take some experimenting before I totally nail down the nutrition but I think I definitely have to lean more on the liquid nutrition vs. the chewables. I love the GU pack taped to the water bottle- that's clever!
    Sharing back... I have one teammate who said he went with the twistable baby foods as his nutrition on a 10mi swim. I haven't tried it, but wanted to share in case others are interested. Since I have a weird thing about the texture of Gu, this could be an alternative.

    dpm50
  • flystormsflystorms Memphis, TNSenior Member

    Katie, I recently found these gels at a running store and they’ve tested out well on a few long swims. https://humagel.com/pages/nutrition-info

    Katie
  • swimrn62swimrn62 Stowe, VTSenior Member

    I think those twistable baby food packs are low calorie (I haven't seen one that's over 80 cals, so correct me if I'm wrong), and the flavors just seem off to me, even my favorite flavors. I'm a convert to real food (thank you Janet Harris!!.........look for her post in a nutrition thread). Sweet potatoes, rice, tapioca or banana pudding, applesauce and oats all may work and are delicious (and calorie dense) when mixed with honey or maple syrup. This winter I'm going to try to get creamy peanut butter and jelly in some mix/ texture that works in a push pop. Gels are great and easy, but so is real food.

    Katieflystorms
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