26 days to Ironman
Ok...here is my theory. While just about everyone complains about airline food, I don't mind it. The reason I think I find it ok, is that, at the time, its the best tasting food available. Sure, on the ground, at the food court at the mall, if someone slid a tray of airliner food in front of me, I would probably pass it up for just about anything else. But at 32,000 feet, while seated in a metal tube traveling at 300 miles per hour, airplane food is ok with me. I have no other choice.
I am hoping the same theory holds true for powerbars, gels, and electrolyte replacement drinks. In 26 days, I will put the theory to test. At the end of August I will be racing in my first Ironman triathlon in Louisville, a 2.4 mile swim, 112 miles on the bike, and then a 26.2 mile run. If all goes well, it should take me about 15 hours. The way I see it, thats breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have asked around, and those in the know say you can pretty easily burn 8 thousand calories while racing that day. So after 18 months of watching everything I eat, which was a radical departure from my normal eating habits, on race day I can pretty much eat whatever I can, as long as its loaded with carbs and calories. Tragically, my choices that day have to be limited to what can be eaten while riding a bike or running, so ribs and corn on the cob are pretty much out. In fact, due to the heat predicted for that day, powerbars, gels, and electrolyte replacement drinks are the only things on the menu, and to add to the limitations, everything I eat, I have to carry with me. (Think about that piece of gum that you carry for a day in your jeans pocket...yummy, not picture yourself running or riding in the hot Kentucky sun with that gum!)
Over the past two weeks, I have been trying to assemble what gels and bars will make that 140.6 mile trip around the Ironman course with me. I have sat in my kitchen and tried just about every bar and gel out there. Some of them have real nice packaging, others cute names that sound really good. All of them, in the limitless world of culinary possibilities that is my kitchen, taste terrible. As it turns out, I only hope that these products have the same "taste transforming based on consumption location" qualities as airline food.
