The Expo at Disney World is awesome.

All of my other events have been pretty small time with a few vendors setup in a small area or no vendors at all.

Even USAT 70.3 Ironman sanctioned event was much smaller than I expected.

Jerky is great, tons of protein, and give you something to chew.  For me that is big, I need to feel like I ate something.  Soft slider foods don't do a lot for my feeling of hunger.

Also you can pre-make Peanut butter sandwiches and cut them to size and seal in a zip lock bag.

These are convenient already portioned options, that don't require refrigeration.  I like to take them on long bike rides..

You get plenty of calories in a dense package.  There are also some companies that make PB that comes in individual packets that look like condiment packages.  I like this one as they come in different flavors or nut butters.  http://www.justins.com/

You may want to double bag anything you make since you mentioned bears.

Have a great trip and let us know how the trip went.

Water + Gel thumbs up.

I mix mine in my sports bottle.  Some of the packages even tell you to take them with water.

At first I couldn't take one without it upsetting my stomach.  Now I can, but it was only through conditioning and starting with watered down versions.

On long bike rides, I'll squirt a couple ounces of gel into a water bottle and shake it up until it is mixed.

When I'm riding or running I prefer my calories that way.  Solid food just sits like a rock in my stomach.

If I am going to take in food, I usually take it early on the bike, solid foods seem to be harder toward the end of a hard workout than the beginning.

Every doctor is different.  Mine didn't have any restriction on my cardio exercise.  The only restrictions were weight lifting type exercises.   He said 6 weeks for weight lifting, but cleared me after 4.  Truthfully I didn't feel like doing much but walking after the surgery, but the more of that I did, the faster my recovery happened.

Not sure how big your stomach is, but it might be uncomfortable sitting and having your knees coming up and moving your stomach around or even hitting your stomach.  I know that even now with the weight loss, all the extra skin I have gets in my way when I'm cycling, especially when trying to go fast.

Good luck and have fun on the bike!

I started before the surgery.  lots of walking then started the couch 2 5k program.

Doc said as much as I could tolerate short of lifting weights.  Initial estimate for weight lifting was 6 weeks, but at my 1 month check up he cleared me for that too.

Just baby yourself a bit at first don't do anything that causes discomfort or could tug and pull on the surgery sites.

Compression clothes, and a belt.  You know those stupid weight loss belts that are basically a big rubber stap.  They used to sell them to help you lose weight.   They don't work worth a darn for that, but they do hold the belly in place.

http://www.sportchalet.com/product/300289_1835010.do?kwid=ev erlast+slimmer+belt+w%2Fmagnets&gclid=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sport chalet.com%2Fproduct%2F300289_1835010.do

You will sweat like someone tried to drown you where this thing is covering, but it really holds the belly in place.  Make sure you are keeping up on your fluids because of how much you will be sweating.  I put on an under armor shirt, then this thing over the top and a light weight tech t-shirt over the top to cover my compression gear.

Check out Jog.fm

It has a lot of music and it you can search by pace for running or walking or whatever you are doing.

You enter the pace you want it it give you songs that have a beat that matches your pace you entered.

Scott

Really just going to come down to which one you will use.

Do you have a preference on which activity you like?

For me I prefer cycling over running, plus I use the bike for actual riding when the weather is good.

I also find the difference between running on the treadmill and running on the street to be a bigger difference.

I can run for much longer on the treadmill than I can out in the world, so I don't feel like it is a good training tool for me.  It unfortunately is a necessary tool.

I used to believe that I got a better workout from running, but lately I have been doing some real high intensity spin classes and training sessions and while I don't get out of breath as much as I do when I'm running, I feel like I have really worked my legs and my workout clothes are drenched with sweat when I finish.

Congrats on the finish, that's awesome.

So when is the next race?

TrainerRoad  I have seen nothing but good posts/reviews on this product.

I recently purchased the needed parts and signed up for a monthly account.  I'm really liking the way the interface works

It will work with a wide variety of trainers, and  Ant+ cadence/speed/power meters/Heart rate sensors

If you don't have a power meter, the program is capable of figuring it out for you based on the technical data of your bike trainer and the speed you are going.  The resistance of any give trainer is published by the manufacturer, so they can calculate how many watts it takes to get it moving at any given speed.  It can also figure it out based on H.R. but heart rate tends to lag behind power output so it isn't as accurate.

Testing has indicated that they are pretty darn accurate when comparing the data to a power meter, and at a tiny fraction of the price.

I asked over on Beginner Triathlete about this product and the response was overwhelmingly positive here is the link to the responses http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=469550&start=1

This is what the workouts look like, and the info they give back to you.  Once you have completed a test program it tells you what your recommended wattage is for any given workout.  You can enter this into the program and it will adjust all the workouts for you based on your test results plus 5% I believe, so that you are always working towards an improvement.  You can also scale up or down any workout based on your needs, or you can retest and see if your stats have improved.

It is also compatible with Netflix, hulu, or a DVD if you want to watch a movie while riding, the application screen minimizes to just a small bar at the bottom of the screen so that you can watch the movie and see the training results or next steps.

This are the results of my first training session.

Scott

I was going to suggest beginner triathlete as well.

As far as your bike goes, make sure you are getting in real rides on the road, not just the trainer or spin class.  It's a different animal.

I'm not sure how close you are to the Tri you are doing, but if all possible it makes it nice to be able to have ridden the course.

It takes the surprises out of it, you learn where the hills are, where any potential head winds etc might come into play.  I'm lucky in that I live right on the course I usually participate in.  So I can make any portion of the swim/bike/run part of my training plan.  I will ride the course at least 2-3 times during my training.  Since it's two looks of the same course, I don't need to ride the full 112 miles to know what the course is like.

Try your best to keep yourself honest to your workouts.  20 weeks is a long time to stay focused on the training if life happens.  There are always potential interruptions or changes to your schedule.  But before you know it, those 20 weeks will be over with and it will be race time.

Best of luck

Scott

Everything Paul said!

You are going to want easily digestible sources of energy, but not something that will make you dump.

You don't want something sitting in your stomach while you run, that is a very uncomfortable feeling.

Trial and error.  You can also build up a tolerance with is a slippery slope.  When I first started with Gels, I would add them to my water bottle it diluted the sugar over a bigger volume.  So I could sip sip sip my calories and not get a big dose of sugar all at once.

Try it at home, try it on a short run, try it on a long run.  Make sure it doesn't cause you any GI distress.

Obsession would be when it takes over your daily life.

If your life revolves around it to the point of your not being able to accomplish your other goals or responsibilities, then it would be obsessive.