Training for Chattanooga right now. It's extremely tough because you do not know how your body is going to react from day to day. I have other issues along with this, but it is tough, but hopefully doable.

You are going the full ironman without large intestine?

....

You are more than awesome.

I am sure it is doable. Good nutrition & hydration plan is the key I think.

I am attempting. I know I will be BOP, but this has been a goal of mine since I was very young, (25 now). Had some terrible medical issues hit me at 18, and now feel well enough to attempt this sucker.


33 days to go

You will be finishing ;). What is your race number? I would love to watch the live results.

Well hey, only handful of triathletes in the whole world have the same problem(s) as you, so finishing is a huge victory.

Bib number is 1609. Yeah I have done a little bit of research and have not found anyone who has done an Ironman with the surgery that I have had, that's not to say that no one has done it, just that I could not find any information that it has been done. Hoping to become the first if no one else has.

32 days

Pulling for you! Good Luck

Completed 5 without large intestine. Arizona - 3, Lake Placid - 1, Florida - 1. Tricky but certainly not impossible. My times have also been slow but that more due to injuries/fitness than lack of a colon.

That's awesome... the procedure I was talking about having though is called a BCIR.. meaning I do not use the restroom regularly.. rather I have to carry a catheter that ports into my stomach. I knew that people without a colon has done them though. Still awesome nonetheless.

i have coach a few athletes in this situation that have done well at the ironman distance. As most of the absorption happen before your large intestine, it should not be a issue if you can find the right formula to deal with the limitation.

I have myself race for 17 years as a professional while dealing with Ulcerative colitus/crohn and while it wasn't always easy, i did find a way to race at a relatively high level at the ironman distance.

---

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

UC is what put me in this position as well.

What is the biggest piece of advice for someone without a large intestine for an Ironman?

You do need to be careful about fluid intake but hopefully you have worked that out in training. For me because I use an ostomy bag having a good tri-suit that holds the bag secure throughout all three events but allows easy removal for port-a-john use during the race was very important. I always had to use a port-a-john at least three times and although you never feel the need to go the bag does fill up.

I had the bag for 4 years and could not have imagined doing a race with one. Kudos to you, that's incredible. I hope that its not hot and humid, I feel like no matter how well I plan my fluids my body does not react well to the heat, especially as a bigger guy (6'6 220).

Thank you! This is great to know.

Can you point any rules of thumb or general ideas about these formulas? Again, I am only curious but someone else might find them usefull

What a cheater, shaving weight!

/kidding

Awesome job putting up with the suck.

---

-- Aaron Davidson

I had my Sigmoid Colon removed about two months ago (just under 40 cm in total removed) and I think I am going to retire from long distance racing. I just don't want to risk damaging what I have left, I've been racing for a long time, and I'm going to concentrate on Olympic and sprint distances from here on out. Although I'm choosing to go in a different direction, I still say more power to you and I wish you nothing but the best!

nocolonstlrolln - that is the best name. I just noticed it haha kudos for having some humor about that!

ha thanks.. heard the phrase after one of my first surgeries and it has stuck. I think my family is making purple (color of colitis awareness) shirts with that phrase for the race.

I have done 7 ironman distance races since my total colectomy and reconstruction almost 20 years ago. For me, everything is normal for about the first 8 hours, after that the porta potties become my friends. But what other event has a porta potty every mile? Ironman is set up well for our needs! I maybe add 20 minutes to my potential fastest time which really is not much, all considered. Hydration, liquid nutrition and immodium are important, although I also go for solid food nutrition over the long distance races.

I've had portions of my small intestine removed due to crohns and done a full. I really only did the full as a lifetime thing and focused more on half distance.

What I found interesting is that I had a lot of success going a little more by gut feel (pun intended) in terms of thirst and such than I did trying to come up with a plan.

I remember at one point I went to USAT nationals in SC and it was pretty warm and I ended up chugging fluids. It was years ago and I wish I could remember how much I drank...but I don't want to do a crazy exaggeration. I want to say it was near 4-5 20oz bottles of fluids and the swim was cancelled that year. In any case I finished pretty strong in races that year going by feel, but I did have some tough cramps.

After that I adjusted and got way more serious with my training and got a roll down to 70.3 worlds...but in every race I had major hydration issues trying to be more methodical about how much I drank. I never really figured it out, but looking back I suspect it was partly an absorption issue. I sweat a lot and just needed more due to my guts.

Point being, you can do it and do it well...but there are additional things to consider.

I had a buddy with UC that had the bag. He was a boston qualifier. Just be aware of your own body and how you feel.

---

________________
Blogging

I had most of my large intestine removed in high school due to colon cancer. I've since run collegiate XC, done a low 9hr IM (in fact I was at Chatt last year!) and become a back of the pack pro triathlete. I certainly think they're are a lot of challenges, but, since I had mine removed when I was young, I don't really have anything to compare what life was like before it to. I'll share with you some big things I've learned over the last decade.

1. Internal adhesions suck. A lot of people get these after intestinal surgery and they cause a lot of pain but more importantly they can cause bowel blockages. I've had a few of these and one almost cost me my life. In triathlons, and sport in general, you'll get a lot of the "HTFU" stuff from people, but take care of yourself. I've been pretty limited in my swim development because every time I work with a real coach and they push yardage, I end up w/ a blockage. Ease into it and take any new internal pain you have for real.

2. Low fiber diets. I tried really hard to eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables for several years. I just doesn't work well when your trying to take in a lot of calories and have a few inches of intestines work with. The best dietary change I've made is to go the opposite of what most people preach to me. Low fiber, caloric dense food (to limit total volume) has made my like and training so much better. In the first few years after the surgery I would often shit a dozen times a day, now it's much more manageable.

3. Liquid calories. Relating to the low fiber thing, taking in more liquid calories when training goes up has helped me out a lot. It's easy and cheap enough to get some malto, fructose, electrolytes and make my own mix. I do all my training w/ liquids only, and supplement with liquids during heavier loads instead of eating more volume.

I still have a few inches of my colon, and only had a colostomy for a brief period, so I can't speak as to what it would be like to train and race with one, but as long as you take care of yourself and focus on the long term, you can probably get as fast as you want. As much as it has sucked to to live w/o my colon, I think desire, sacrifice, and intelligent progression are much bigger limiters in tri development than the lack of intestine. I just take a little extra planning and precaution compared to a lot of compatriots and it works out.

As an aside, I'd love to know all these people are with semi-colons!

-Matt Ison

Hi all you fellow triathletes.

I have an ileo ostomy and I just raced Ironman Chattanooga this Sunday. This was my 6th Ironman, so I can for sure confirm that's possible.

Things went pretty well in IMChoo to be honest :-) Ended up 4th in my AG 35-39 (10th overall except from the pros) and earned a Kona slot for 2016. I'm wondering if any other ostomate (or without a colon) have ever done an Ironman on Hawaii or in similar conditions? I know there is still a year to go, but I will really appreciate any advice or shared experiences regarding racing in Kona.

Thanks!