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Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman
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I'm a veteran Ironman but ran into a brand new and humbling experience at my last race. At about mile 70 of the bike my body stopped digesting food and my tank started to empty. I kept eating, drinking, consuming salt on plan but didn't feel the usual sensation of calories "hitting my legs". I usually burp frequently, that stopped. Mile 0 of the marathon I was completely depleted and walked the entire marathon. I continued eating and drinking, but nothing was hitting my legs. For 2-3 days after the race I just didn't feel right, as if everything had frozen up.

-I used the exact same nutrition plan that I have for the last 10 years
-I was sick for 2 weeks before, but felt 95% (not stomach sickness, more like sore throat and being worn down)
-No muscle soreness and no symptoms of hyopnaetremia after the race

My questions... Why can/did this happen after being bulletproof for so long? Is there anything I could have done to restart digestion during the race? How could it have been prevented?
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [iheartfestina] [ In reply to ]
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I'm a little confused by your description. If you were able to keep eating and weren't getting a lot of stomach pain or other symptoms I think it's probably untrue that your digestion stopped. You're describing energy problems but it's not clear that digestion was the problem. At least not from what you've written.
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [Ai_1] [ In reply to ]
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I can relate to his description though.

It's when your performance indicates a lack of energy/fuel, even though you have been eating drinking according to general wisdom. At that point, not even Coke or RedBull seems to be giving the usual pronounced "kick".

Some sort of disruption of the absorption of the carbs/sugar into the bloodstream (if such a thing exists) would be a nice explanation.
Otherwise you'd have to keep looking for other reasons or blame general lack of fitness/endurance.

I'll keep an eye on this thread for other people's experiences/ideas or suggestions on what symptoms to watch out for to see if you're over/under fueling or just not fit enough...

if you can read this
YOU'RE DRAFTING!
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [flogazo] [ In reply to ]
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The 2 weeks illness seems the most likely cause to me.
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [Ai_1] [ In reply to ]
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Ai_1 wrote:
The 2 weeks illness seems the most likely cause to me.

If you started the race with the "tank 1/2 empty" then you could have been a good 1000 calories short to start the race. No making that up, bonking it inevitable.


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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [motoguy128] [ In reply to ]
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That's correct that there was no stomach pain. The part that is still confusing me is the ~1,750 calories that I consumed between mile 70 of the bike and the end of the race that fell into a black hole instead of going to work.
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [iheartfestina] [ In reply to ]
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An infection can drag energy from you. Exercising while having an infection may require more calories...

In impaired digestion/absorption, you would likely experience some bloating or diarrhea.
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [iheartfestina] [ In reply to ]
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Overtrained?
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [iheartfestina] [ In reply to ]
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I had the exact same experience at Ironman Chattanooga, my first full. I couldn't digest anything after about 70 miles on the bike. I ended up drinking just water for the remainder of the bike. I tried eating again at the mile 1, 2, and 3 aid stations but all it did was extend my stomach. I gave up eating and just drank water until mile six where I forced down half a banana. I drank water and ate ice for the remaining 18 miles. Did you ever find out what might have been the problem? A trainer told me it may have been water from the swim.
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Re: Slowing/Stopped Digestion During Ironman [ddboy3] [ In reply to ]
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Probably forgot about it some time in the last 8 years.
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