Bottles and Fluids and Powders--OH MY!!!

I train for Ironman triathlons, so I drink A LOT. I'm not talking about alcohol here--I'm talking about fluids taken to prepare me to train, to drink while training and to recover from training.
Today, Christmas Day, in the morning was "bottle patrol," as I like to call it.

I use Endurox R4 as a recovery drink, and I typically mix 8-10 bottles at a time and put it in the fridge. I am not the type of person to mix one bottle per day. I am also not the type of person to wash one bottle per day, so I will accumulate 6-8 rinsed Gatorade bottles (I mix my Endurox in those; having done 7 Ironman races and I don't know how many 1/2 Ironman races and assorted other triathlons where they give those green screw top bottles away, I have about 20 of them) . This morning I mixed up 7 bottles, as that's as many as I will need between now and Goofy. I usually only use Endurox R4 on days when my total training is 1.5 or more hours.

I also started "packing" for Goofy Challenge today, so that means making baggies or containers of powders to take with me. I put 6 scoops of Endurox R4 powder plus a spare scoop (I wash and save extra scoops for taking to races and out of town training weekends) into a deli container. I have yet to be questioned about the powders in my luggage when traveling, but I know someday somebody will think I am a drug lord carrying mass quantities of cocaine.

When I first began doing triathlon, I could see the huge amount of cash I could spend on Gatorade alone, so one of the concessions I make is to mix up 20-oz. bottles from powder. The blue bottle in the photo is hand-mixed. I use these 20-oz. bottles for my swim sessions and occasional short run sessions on the treadmill. This morning I mixed up 5 of these bottles--I refilled all the clean bottles that were used the previous week.

I am not taking any Gatorade with me to Disney, so I did not need to make a bag or container of powder to transport. But I did do this for a business trip just a week ago--I didn't want to carry the mixed stuff with me because of the weight, so I put the powder into a baggie and brought an empty bottle with me. I also put Endurox R4 powder into a green Gatorade bottle. Unfortunately, the hotel room didn't have a fridge, but I made do with a trash can filled with ice to chill my fluids.

The orange Ironman Florida bottle in the photo is filled with defizzed Ultra Violence. I keep one or two of these Ironman bottles in my fridge for those occasions where I think I'll need the boost during a workout. I WOULD just chill 24-oz. bottles, but I can't find them anymore at any local grocery stores, so I've taken to buying cases of cans of Ultra Violence and emptying them into a few of my bottles from my vast collection.

For Goofy Challenge, I'm going to wear my Fuel Belt both days, and the bottles will be filled with defizzed Ultra Violence. Not having the time to go buy and defizz the stuff when I get to Orlando, I'll be bringing it with me. Ideally, I would have bought 24-oz. bottles and then just defizzed them, but I can't find those anymore, so I had a brilliant idea last week. I had bought some "diet" Ultra Violence sometime this past summer, I don't know why, it's just not the same without the sugar. Anyway, I didn't toss it, and I thought, well I'll just empty some of those bottles and refill them with the GOOD stuff. So this morning I emptied 6 cans into 3 bottles, and the bottles get to sit out tonight and defizz, then they go into the fridge tomorrow without tops on for another day, and then finally I'll recap them and they will wait patiently to board the plane to Orlando. I am also packing a small funnel that will be used to fill the Fuel Belt bottles. I also have a collection of funnels used for filling various sized bottles.

One more fluid-related thing I am taking to Orlando is Glycoload. This is a pure-carb powder that you mix how ever much of you want and drink it prior to working out. My rule of thumb is to use it before any workout lasting at least 2.5 hours. So I will definitely want it the morning of the Disney marathon, and I'm going to do a half serving (one serving is a lovely 100 grams of pure carbs) the day of the 1/2 marathon. Again, I am not premixing this stuff, so I put 3 scoops of it into a Ziploc baggie to take with me. My preferred loading powder is Ultrafuel, but I can't find it locally again, and the Glycoload is about the same, so I'll just use it until I run out and then I'll go hunting for Ultrafuel again. I love drinking this stuff--I absolutely cannot sip it, so I mix a serving into 12-16 oz. of water, and it's DOWN THE FUCKING HATCH CHUG-STYLE. YOU go ahead and put 400 calories of pure carbs in your stomach and see what happens! First you want to gag, and then you go into an insulin coma--your body has to pump out mass quantities of insulin to get all these lovely calories circulating in your bloodstream. But, the stuff works like a charm--it's best taken 2-3 hours before you begin your workout, and in the case of 1/2 marathons, marathons, 1/2 and full Ironman races, I am always glad I had the extra calories in me. It's always easier to get the calories in BEFORE the workout, and especially when I'm just running, I don't like a lot of stuff in my stomach.

If and when I ever live with a man again, we will need to get a second fridge. Right now I have my system down--I can store 10 mixed bottles of Endurox R4, 8 bottles of mixed Gatorade, 12 cans of Ultra Violence, 6-12 bottles of "baby" Gatorade (more on that later), 12 bottles of beer, and 4-6 tall bike bottles filled with whatever in my fridge at one time together with my dinner for 2 days, bread, cheese, lunch meat, coffee and whatever else needs refrigerating quite comfortably. PLUS I have a small fridge downstairs in the bar where I chill 32-oz. bottles of Gatorade for my longer workouts.

Baby Gatorade--these are 12-oz. bottles that when I first saw them in the grocery store a couple of years ago, I thought, "Who the hell would drink only 12-oz. of Gatorade?" Huh, ME, dumbass. First they became "something with carbs to drink on the drive home from a long bike ride," then they started appearing as "a small enough bottle that I could carry in my hand for an up to 1-hour run," then they began appearing as "bottles that could be filled with Ultra Violence and stashed in transition and special needs bags at races." Funny how something I initially viewed as useless turned out to be so incredibly useful!

I am an incessant recycler, so all the plastic bottles I buy either get washed and reused (32-oz. Gatorade bottles make good ice for use in the cooler either when doing a multiple out-and-back long run or for keeping recovery fluids cold while out on a long bike ride--fill them almost to the top and stick in your freezer) or recycled. One summer I saved up all the cannisters from the Endurox R4 and Gatorade powders and I had this HUGE tower after 6 months of training. I can only imagine if I saved ALL the bottles and stacked them somewhere. I clearly should own stock in the Gatorade company!

Then there's the bottle washing. I could hire help just to wash my fucking bottles, there are so many of them when I'm training hard. This is why I have 3 aerobottles for my bike, so that I can get through 3 rides in a week before I have to wash one of those. I have 4 Polar bike bottles for the same reason. I HATE washing dishes. Even loading the dishwasher. I just hate it. But at least every time I use a bottle I do rinse it out, so it's not like I'm growing mold in my kitchen (not most of the time, anyway).

Nobody ever tells you about all the bottles you will have to deal with when you train for an Ironman. I'm just providing a public service here :) Actually, the thought of the bottles makes me laugh hysterically. It is such a defining element of being a hardcore endurance athlete, for me anyway. I love my bottles! Right now I love my bottle of beer, though. See, now here's another angle on the bottle thing. After Goofy Challenge, I am off alcohol totally except for once a week up until Ironman Brazil in May. Although something tells me I will have straying periods, such as when Shelley and I beat ourselves into a pulp and perhaps after Ralph's 1/2 Ironman. Oh well, I'm human; I'm doing the best I can.

May the bottles be with you!