What did you do different from the six half iron you did without incident? Also sometimes shit happens.

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

Maybe it's the different gel? At least that sounds like the likely culprit. Was anything such as the 4 cups of coffee different than what you normally consume before or during a race?

That sure is alot of food before the race:

2 ensure bottles, a banana, 4 cups of coffee, 1/2 bottle of infinit, a breakfast cereal bar and a GU before the swim?! Jesus man did you plan on being out there the whole day!

I would cut that back for a 70.3- 1 ensure bottle, maybe 1 cup of coffee, ditch the infinit before the race, bring the cereal bar to morning transition if you are hungry and maybe, and I say maybe the GU before-hand.

The pre-race food you described was more for like a 140.6; do yourself a favor before IMFL, before some of your weekend training, practice your nutrition in the AM. It your issues are truly nutrition related then you want to iron those out before going to Panama City

Congrats on turning around your lifestyle to be more healthy!!

Could possibly have been a pacing problem coupled with the heat and a different gel than you were used to-- sometimes feeling "great" after the swim and pushing the bike "just a little bit" can do more damage than you'd imagine, especially combined with the heat. Maybe you'd be better off not eating right away on the run, perhaps wait a few miles taking in only water/electrolyte drink to let your stomach settle. How much do you weigh (if you don't feel comfortable answering thats fine)? Almost 1300 calories on the bike sounds like quite a bit to me-- more on par with what you'd see in an IM distance race but if you're a heavier guy it might not be a lot. What is your nutrition on a usual longer bike ride, and have you ever done a brick off of it-- if so, how did it feel?

This may sound stupid, but personally I get sick fr ensure and couldn't possibly stomach it before racing. I'm assuming the pre-race breakfast was usual for you? And the 4 cups of coffee? Did you *ahem* evacuate before the swim start? Like the other posters said, I'd advise a smaller breakfast-- maybe 50-100g of carb, 10-15g lean protein and a small amount of fat (<10g) 3 hours pre-race. Stick to one cup of coffee and have a caffeinated gu, or some simple sugars and a caffeine pill before the swim start.

Other than that-- don't sweat one DNF. Going from couch potato to a six 70.3 finisher is a HUGE accomplishment, and I'm sure you'll do just fine at your IM.

Did you push the bike early in the ride or late?

I think it's a combo of overeating/drinking + pushing too hard for your body on race day.

The 4 cups of coffee probably didn't help either - even if you're used to that kind of caffeine, it's going to accelerate your GI system, and once you add the stress of "A" race effort, at some point your gut will probably rebel and force you to slow/stop.

1220 calories on the bike also seems like an awful lot to me. I'd definitely vomit on the start of the run if I did that to myself.

As others noted, that is a lot of food, pre-race. And 4 cups of coffee would have had me on the schitter, pronto.

1200+ calories on the bike also seems excessive. I don't think I consumed that many for IMWI....

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

That is exactly what I was thinking! A whole lot of food. But I have to add congratulations for your lifestyle change. Good on ya! Your story is pretty inspiring.
But I also agree that you might be being to hard on yourself. I hope you and your wife enjoy the Ironman Florida. Good luck!

why ensure? why 4 cups of coffee? why so much? don't do different stuff day of race. you ate too much and weird stuff too. and not enough water before the too many calories on the bike.

there a lot of reasons why bad races happen to good people.

1. you did something different in your buildup/pre-race(do you normally eat a weeks worth of groceries before race start?)
2. the conditions were different (you mentioned it was hot)
3. the course was different (more hills than usual?)

When you consume food, your stomach uses lotsa blood to digest and distribute the food to your body. When you exercise, your muscles demand lotsa blood to do the work you're asking them to do. Stomach issues and or muscle issues (cramps) are sometimes a sign that you've got the balance of where the blood goes, wrong.

since you said you swam fast, I think you may have tipped towards too much effort (even if it didn't feel like it) and your stomach rebelled by not processing the food fast enough. If say you're intaking food at 500 cal/hour, but only processing at 200 cal/hr, you're gunna get a backlog of food. Eventually your body will emphatically know that you're doing it wrong :-)

I have found over the years, that for me, I have to monitor my HR very carefully. In training I need to find out what I can sustain, and on race day, stick to it (+/- 5bpm) or I will go too hard, get stomach problems, cramp or just plain bonk. I also have to monitor my calorie intake and monitor how I feel. My race routine is very simple. Simple, light pre race meal, a coffee and an energy drink say 2 hours prior. 2 gels before swim start. On the bike and the run, one large drink bottle of water per hour, regadless of conditions (no more, no less) and one gel every 25 minutes. I finish races at about 1kg lighter than race start and other than feeling shattered because I raced, I feel fine.

In your case, since your race result was different, look at what inputs were different. Find the difference and never do that again :-)

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

First, be thankful that you had this happen during a HIM instead of at IMFL. As others have stated, you did something new on race day and took in too many calories before the start and on the bike. Good luck in Florida!!

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Mistake= gel+ coke. it s one or the other with water.

You got in trouble and keep taking on more calories when you simply has to go on water for 10-15min and you would have been back to normal.

It s very simple.... there is no such thing as stomach shutting down. You just need to mix things eight and recognise when you have put too much in....

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

You had me at 4 cups of coffee. So many things wrong with taking in that much caffeine that early. You increase the acidity in your stomach, suffer the diuretic effects when you need to retain liquids on a hot day, and jack up your HR at a time when you don't need any more stimulation (swim start is the time to calm down the HR). Then there's the crash you get a few hours afterwards, while you are still racing. If you can stand it, hold off on your caffeine consumption until at least after T1.

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http://bringonthepaincave.wordpress.com/

Sorry to hear of the DNF, and I applaud your honesty and openness in bringing it up here as well as giving us your background info.

I’ll pretty much echo the others: seems like waaaay too many calories for a half. I love coffee too, but four cups pre-race? Sounds like a very bad idea.

Is it possible you are driven a little too much by calorie counting? Get a rough plan based on foods you like and have tolerated in training, and go a little more by feel, and less by calculations.

I weigh 185, and my IM (not 70.3) plan is something like this:

Pre-race: 2 decent sized bowls of oatmeal, probably toast and/or banana. One cup coffee.

Pre-swim: Maybe a little Gatorade, maybe nothing.

Bike: Two bottles on bike with about 500 calories each. The rest of bike calories from aid stations. Bars, bananas, Gatorade, whatever. Water as needed of course.

Run: A little Coke, maybe a few pretzels, maybe an orange. Coke might start at mile 1, or maybe mile 10. But once I start I usually stay with it to the finish.

Good luck at IMFL. It’s a great race. Well produced in every way.

Ben

What Run For Money said. It really seems like a lot of calories pre race and a lot on the bike. I take around 700-800 calories on the bike for a half. I am 175 pounds.

What is your weight? That might help factor in calories needed.

there was an article here recently about eating only 3 hours before an endurance event. i had a half a week ago sunday also and ate a banana around 1am (cause i woke up starving and couldn't sleep) and then nothing (except black coffee, but i drink coffee like people breathe air) until after the swim when i already can't remember what i had. likely got started on teh dulci gomas. over the entire bike i had 1 bottle of gatorade and half a package of dulci gomas (like gummies i guess) and about 1/4 package of coconut cookies along with a bottle of skratch. on the run i had half a package of cytomax drop things and gatorade/pepsi on the course. i wasn't hungry until a few hours after i finished and then inhaled some salbutes at a local dive with lime water.

personally, along with everyone else here (it seems) I think you overate, but i also might be able to perform on very little food (which is why i included it above).

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

really? what if you normally drink, say, 8-10 cups a day? wouldn't a minimum of 2 cups before the event be no problem? also i think the diuretic effect has been debunked - caffiene just makes you empty your bladder faster (IIRC)

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

Was that warmer than other races and training? To cool your body more blood goes to the skin. To digest more blood goes to the stomach. To go fast more blood goes to the muscles.

Go fast on a warm day and your stomach isn't going to be able to process as efficienlty.

As Johnny O says. Slow down and take plain water. You can usually gets things strightened out.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

This. I almost barfed just reading that.

Race morning breakfast should be the same as training morning breakfast. That is like eating a huge meal right before going to work out.

For me, it's a bowl of cereal, a coffee, maybe an english muffin with PB and honey. Same as every weekend!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

This. At our age (I'm 60), you really need to focus on your nutrition equation (Initial Glycogen Stores - Calories Expended + (Calories Supplemented - Calories Processed) + Triglyceride Calories = Caloric Deficit Per Hour)/Duration of Event = Glycogen Depletion. That is, by now you should know how many calories per hour your body can process while under stress (most athletes greatly overestimate this), and have a general idea of how effectively your body dumps triglycerides to supplement glycogen levels. Absent that understanding, a change in conditions (sun coming out, weather getting colder, etc.) means you'll not be able to adjust for race conditions.

From your OP, I'd suspect you took too many calories in and your body couldn't process them, leading to GI distress.

If you normally drink 8-10 cups per day then you have bigger issues to worry about. That said, even the more hardened coffee drinkers aren't immune to the energy spikes and crashes associate with caffeine. That's not to say caffeine should be avoided - it can be a powerful race tool if used appropriately. I just don't understand why you would want to elevate your heart rate 3 hours before a race. If you save it for late in the bike or on the run, when your HR is naturally dropping, that is the ideal time to introduce a stimulant to your body.

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http://bringonthepaincave.wordpress.com/

it isn;t a case of elevating my hr - honestly i don't think caffiene does ANYTHING for me. course, i'm on inhaled steroids also and can go 4 puffs without feeling any effects. i'll try an experiment tomorrow of HR before and after coffee. for me it is just a part of the morning even on race day. and i really don't find spikes and crashes throughout the day at all (especially from caffiene) but i'm the least objective person to rate that.

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

Thank you everyone. I now know I over ate and will not do that again. Thanks again!

You consumed (by a very rough guess) nearly a thousand calories, with a little caffeine thrown in, before the swim start. That's Big mac and Fries territory. It's a forty minute swim +/-, so you already had more than enough calories in you for the time involved. You got down to serious consuming on the bike along with a ton of water, and then it got hot. At your bike speed (just about 15mph) you were riding hot for an hour. Because you feel a fair amount of cooling on a bike, almost no one notices the heat until they get off and start running. No matter what speed you run, it's always going to be harder work than biking and with less cooling. At that point you added more calories & caffeine. So your stomach quit. Happens to everyone.

If I had my 'druthers I would not take in too much caffeine before the swim. Use it further into the bike and save a bit for the run. I use caffeine pills rather than drinks, because I find, if you do get a little upset, usually water will go down once you have cooled off a bit, but other stuff may be hours before it stays down.

You could probably space out what you ate for the 1/2 into a fair portion of the whole IM. But the heat will still get you if you work too hard on the bike. For IM Florida the chances are you will spend 5 hours in the sun before you start running (on the basis of the 3:45 bike for the 1/2, you are going to be on that bike for at least 7 1/2 hours). When you start running you will get seriously hot. Think seriously about what you can do to reduce the suns' effects. From arm coolers, ice pockets, neck covers (on the bike), sunscreens, hats, ice bags down your shorts, whatever it takes.

Best of luck