I’ve always had some degree of nausea towards the latter portion of IM-length races, but it’s become more acute during the last 3 I’ve done. In each of those races, my stomach has completely shut down early in the run, and even though I’m both hungry and thirsty, I’m not able to take in either solids or fluids (including water). I’ve had to walk very significant portions of the races, not because of fatigue, but because of GI distress.
I’ve tried a number of different things to address this. I’ve consistently practiced nutrition in training without issue, including both low and higher-intensity rides. I’ve done the all-liquid approach (Infinit and other brands) in varying formulations and concentrations. In my last race I tried adding some gels and solids that I’d also used in training (Gu and BASE performance bars). I’ve tried different caloric intake between 200-300 cal/hr on the bike. I've reduced intensity during the race and tried events with cooler temps and less challenging terrain. Nothing has seemed to work.
Coming into the most recent race, I felt good about my training and definitely did not overextend myself on the swim or bike. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, so I can’t blame the heat. The terrain wasn't extreme. But once again, I found myself in significant distress early in the run and was unable to take in water or calories despite significant hunger and thirst.
It’s been incredibly frustrating, and I’m looking for any advice available, whether it’s pointing me towards resources, sharing any experience overcoming this issue, etc. I do wonder if I’m not reacting well to the heavy sugar/carb focus of my race nutrition approach and have read some of the keto and LCHF discussions here with interest.. but I also know there’s a lot of controversy down that path. I also haven't tried a "real food" approach yet, since I've tried to keep things as simple as possible. I don't typically have issues around GI sensitivity outside the IM race environment.
I’m not on the pointy end and don’t expect to win any races, but I’d really like to figure this out to perform closer to my potential. Any thoughts are most welcome!
I’ve tried a number of different things to address this. I’ve consistently practiced nutrition in training without issue, including both low and higher-intensity rides. I’ve done the all-liquid approach (Infinit and other brands) in varying formulations and concentrations. In my last race I tried adding some gels and solids that I’d also used in training (Gu and BASE performance bars). I’ve tried different caloric intake between 200-300 cal/hr on the bike. I've reduced intensity during the race and tried events with cooler temps and less challenging terrain. Nothing has seemed to work.
Coming into the most recent race, I felt good about my training and definitely did not overextend myself on the swim or bike. The weather couldn’t have been nicer, so I can’t blame the heat. The terrain wasn't extreme. But once again, I found myself in significant distress early in the run and was unable to take in water or calories despite significant hunger and thirst.
It’s been incredibly frustrating, and I’m looking for any advice available, whether it’s pointing me towards resources, sharing any experience overcoming this issue, etc. I do wonder if I’m not reacting well to the heavy sugar/carb focus of my race nutrition approach and have read some of the keto and LCHF discussions here with interest.. but I also know there’s a lot of controversy down that path. I also haven't tried a "real food" approach yet, since I've tried to keep things as simple as possible. I don't typically have issues around GI sensitivity outside the IM race environment.
I’m not on the pointy end and don’t expect to win any races, but I’d really like to figure this out to perform closer to my potential. Any thoughts are most welcome!