Well.....I'm interested because I'm doing my first full in a few months.

How much of that list had you ingested when you got sick? Was it gatorade or water? Big cal. difference.

Sorry about the bad day.

thanks- every race is a learning experience for sure. I ingested 2 bottles of infite, 1 bonk bar, 1 pack of shot blocks, 1 bottle of water, and half bottle of gateraid in the first half of the race (about 60 miles in). I got through 1 bottle of infinite and another pack of shot blocks by mile 90 when things went downhill... everytime I tried to drink or eat anything my stomach felt horrible (nausea)

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

• 4 bottles of 250 cal infinite =1000 calories and 96 oz
• 2-3 bottles of gateraid and/or water = lets say 1 bottle GA, 2 H2o =220 calories and 2.5x 24 for 60 oz
• 2 bonk bars =260 each =520 calories
• 2 packages of cliff shot block things =200 each =400 calories

Do you realize that you tried to take in more than 2100 calories along with 6-7 bottles of fluids only to be topped off by the solid volume of the blocks and the bars? Race with what you train with. Did you train with these amounts of intake at a race pace for 5+ hours, I bet not.

Years ago I suffered with this same thing. I decided that I would not allow it to happen again during an IM. I did a lot of experimenting and logging the results so I could go back to them later to see what worked and what didn't. I never started out quite that high, but I settle on a max of 265 calories per hour for me in all liquid only Carbo Pro with a max of 24oz of fluids per hour, of any type. I hope this helps.

Try CarboPro or UCANN.

300-400cal/hr on the bike
150-200cal/hr run
add electrolytes/salt to reflect anticipated loss
toss in something for flavor

I like to mix scratch labs orange or lemon lime as my base fluids and then mix in additional calories. I think CarboPro might dissolve a bit better than UCANN, but I'm not sure which one I actually 'like' better. Both are well tolerated GI wise and provide the right balance of variable chain sugars to facilitate absorption.

Try them on a long ride training day

Had my stomach lock up on me in my First IM, in training I can eat anything and not have issues especially after 5-6 HR training rides, in races I strictly only fuel with Tailwind Nutrition.
I make up bottles to get in calories and get water from the course, bike 350 cal /hr, run 200, may also seek out Redbull or Gu depending on the day. No gut bombs ever!

I've also tested and liked Glukos, simple ingredients to absorb.

Happy Training!

what did you eat for race day breakfast and what did you eat the night before?

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leslie myers
http://www.foodsensenow.com

I've just finished my first IM earlier this year, but have used the same carb source for half IM as well very successfully. I used two concentrated bottles of Vitargo on the bike with a couple of electrolyte tabs in each. Finished them at about the 150km mark, then had one bottle of flat coke on the bike, then flat coke on the run.

I have bad experiences with anything that has a slow gastric emptying rate. It makes me feel bloated and nauseous. Vitargo empties quickly, even when concentrated, and never leaves me bloated or feeling sick. Then good old flat coke is better than any sports drink during the run IMO

2 Bottles of:
2 scoops EFS
3-4 scoops of Carbo Pro

1 sleeve of Cliff Blocks, last time I used Margarita now I see they have salted watermelon

Water at every aid station

Peanut Butter and Honey sandwich in Special Needs bag washed down with a 8 ounce can of Pepsi.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I train and race on all liquid nutrition, over the past 4.5 yrs i have had less and less stomach issues. My guess its from doing the same thing over and over again. I have noticed one thing for me when my heart rate on the bike goes over 86% it gets much harder to take in food. Yes 86%, 76-85% I am fine. Even when i have had issues i have learned i have to force food down which then results in throwing up in my mouth and re swallowing, but better to get it in the not.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

I'll be racing Syracuse this weekend and IMLP in a few weeks. I'm using liquid nutrition as well but adding in a little solids every hour to keep my stomach feeling ok.

I'm mixing 3 servings of lemon lime Cytomax and 12 servings of bulk maltodextrin into a bottle.. I also put 1/2 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt in there. This works out to 1650 calories in the bottle. The mix is a thin syrup with a very mild taste believe it or not. (I thought it would taste like a sugar bomb the first time I tried it). I also break up a clif mint chocolate bar into quarters and put that in my bento.

I drink plain water from my BTA every 10 minutes or so.. about 25oz per hour. I take a small swip of my mix every 20 minutes. At the top of each hour I eat 1/4 of the clif bar.. so on long rides I eat a piece at 1:00, 2:00,3:00, and 4:00 hours. The rest of the time my nutrition is liquid.

I also have some Endurolytes in my bento for added electrolytes as needed.

So far this has worked well for me.. no issues yet! If I fall behind on my fluid intake I start to get slight stomach discomfort but that is fixed by skipping a fueling and drinking more water slowly over that 20 minutes.

On a side note it also seems to make my long rides go by faster. Did a 7 hour/130 mile ride a few weeks ago and it felt like the 20 minutes timer kept me engaged.

YMMV.

Take a look at your grams of carbohydrate per ounces of fluid. The rule of thumb is that more than 14g carb per 8oz fluid will slow gastric emptying. You were probably around 2x this. Some of that food also contained protein and fat which slows the emptying further.

I think you have a good point especially on the protein side...

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

typical pasta the night before. Morning of had a core power drink, nature valley granola bar, and sipped about half a bottle of infinite up until the swim start.

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

Tailwind is great. I mix three scoops per 24 oz. bottle (half orange flavor, half no flavor) for 300 cal and 75g (I think) carb per hour. No stomach problems through 1.5 seasons of use. The taste is also more mild than other sports drinks making it easier to swallow after heating in the sun for hours.

Give their single fill sampler pack a try.

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Jon Ryder
RPM Coaching

having work with 100s of athletes that mention the same problem with similar plan as yours.

1- 90% of nutritional issue are pacing issue

2- your mixing too many source and sugars

3- go to something more simple like maltodextrin (carbo pro) mix with a simple sugar or a product like F2C or many other that use similar product as maltodextrin

4- rely mostly on liquid calories!

the amount of calories your shooting for is fine....

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

Running has always fell apart for me if eating solid foods. Solid food is okay for breakfast, and maybe a bar or two early on the bike in a full IM. But that's it. After learning this lesson once or twice, switched to one 21oz bottle of perpetuem (you can use whatever works for you) for 1/2 IM, and two bottles for a full, plus a gel every hour or so, and of course aero drink (shiv fuelselage actually) of electrolytes for hydration to be refilled with Gatorade at aid stations.

my stomach locked up 1mi into the run at Eagleman on Sunday. I'm pretty sure it was the Gatorade i picked up at the last aid station. It was the only piece of nutrition i had not trained with previously. Stomach shutdown is way up there with frustrating race day experiences.

Everyone needs to find what works best for them. Coke will kill my stomach dead, as will solid foods. Gatorade works well. So much so that I carry just one bottle of electrolytes and refill with on-course Gatorade.

I'm another huge thumbs up for tailwind. Last year for my full I mixed up a bottle that was almost entirely powder and then added water to make it a solution. I carried that and then would grab water from aid stations and mix in a squirt of the solution with a bottle of water in my torpedo and never had to stop. Worked great and didn't have any gut issues. I has previously had gut locking up and cramping with other drinks and different solid foods.

I drink it in a camelback when I run over an hour for training and carry bottles for the marathon. If I'm just training on the bike I tend to eat things like peanut butter and honey sandwiches and water so I don't burn myself out on the flavors.

I saw someone else in here say they do half flavored and half naked. Going to try that out now.

Thanks! I grabbed some flavored and naked tailwind to give it a try with a combo of the two- hopefully it works.

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Andy Mullen
Team Zoot

Hammer Perpetuem. I can mix enough in a gel flask to last 3 to 4 hours. I take a slug every 20 mins and drink water with Endurolyte Fizz. That's it. Done. Easy.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I've went to a sports nutritionist who suggested Ucan. Only trialled in one IM but constant energy and didn't seem to go through the same highs and lows as when using gels and simple sugars. Also less stress on the stomach so less stomach issues as it is slower release. Worth a try.

https://www.generationucan.com/

I'm like a month late to this thread but I'm doing my first IM in Sept and trying to sort out my nutrition plan I've done 4 HIMs and mostly rely on liquid w/Carbo Pro and some gels. How many calories total are you taking in during a race total? how much on bike? How much on run? Fortunately I haven't had lots of GI issues in races but I'm more concerned with bonking in an ironman if I don't consume enough calories.

I'll second the comment on pacing. If your HR was over z2 start there. Heat really complicates the matter, wreaking major havoc.

My goto is 6 scoops of EFS in a concentrated bottle + a liquid shot for a HIM. That's 1000 calories for ~3 hours or ~330 calories / hour. I keep water between the bars to chase the EFS. I'll have a Clif bar handy in case I feel hungry.

For an IM I simply have two concentrated bottles and two liquid shots.