I experienced a weird problem this race. Really swollen hands after day 2 (and swollen eyelids that distorted my vision). And today I weighed myself after the marathon and I'm 5 lbs heavier than my starting weight. Something causing water retention, and I didn't have a huge amount of sodium or anything. And definitely not as fun as eating cake.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Rob, based on what you are saying you would have been hypervolemic hyponatremic. That's the bad one where you blood sodium is a bit lower than it should be and you have overconsumed water relative to your sweat rate. It is possible that given that you have lost weight, you have a thinner layer of the Jan Ullrich trademarked bioprene meaning after having lost that built in wetsuit, you regulate heat better and need to sweat less, which means you're losing less liquid through sweating and only through respiration and peeing. So if you kept a similar intake to previous years and are sweating less water then that would explain it. if you felt you were losing muscle force on the bike and run it could be that. Were you craving salty stuff every evening really badly? Also did you notice for example on the bike the definition in your forearms was less the longer you went into the day (if so, definitely you were retaining water and over drinking).

Anyway, putting all the analysis paralysis aside, 2nd, 1st and 2nd over three years is an amazing record in one of the hardest tris around. I assume in a different way, this is harder than Norseman!

Thank you for posting here, Rob. I can't wait to see your detailed analysis of the race and competition.
Recover well.

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Yeah, I noticed you looked a little more plumped up at the finish line than somebody who's lost the normal 5 lbs or more doing an all-day run in the Sun. Did you have to pee a bunch after you finished to shed the extra fluids?

No I didn't pee much at all during or after the run. During my sweat tests the week before the race, I was losing about 4 lbs per hour in fluids, and I'm only drinking maybe 2lbs per hour. So I expected to lose a lot of fluids during the run. I didn't have a scale with me on day 2 but geez I had wrists and hands like the Michelin Man. At least I now have another thing to figure out - it never ends!

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Thanks Dev
- no I didn't crave salty stuff. Or anything really, I had to force myself to eat.
- I didn't drink a lot of fluids (I was mainly going to thirst)
- I couldn't see my forearms because I was wearing the Endura Encapsulator suit and also gloves. But when I got to the end of day 2, you could not even see a single vein or tendon in my hand.
- After I was done with day 2 it slowly got better. By the end of the day 3 run most of the puffiness was gone, but still there a little.
- The only other thing that happened was jellyfish sting on day 1, but that seems like a long time to react to something like that.
- Do you think it could happen from too much sodium? This is the first year I've actually taken electrolytes during the race. Not much, just what is in Skratch. And then at the summit saddle rd I took in actual salt flakes directly into my mouth. Maybe a half teaspoon or so. The swelling only happened after that point.

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Are you ready to do an Ultraman? | How I calculate Ironman race fueling | Strength Training for Athletes |

Amazing job again Rob! That is some impressive consistency year on year!