I went into Ironman Barcelona feeling good. During the race, the swim felt good and I was running quicker than my expected pace on the bike. An hour into the bike, I decided to back down the pace and play it safe even though as felt good. All was good.
At mile 40 or so, I started feeling stabbing pain in my stomach. I first ignored it and figured it would go away. By mile 80, it didn’t go away and was getting worse. I took in as much nutrition as I could and drank a bottle of water. I knew the inevitable, but told myself I would finish the bike and see how a I felt. The pain was worse and I literally was in tears as I rode. It was a sad sight. A grown man weeping as I rode. I finished the bike, making the cutoff…. But, ai chose to turn in my chip and take a DNF. I went to the hotel and didn’t eat anything that night and the next day slowly took in food until I felt “normalâ€.
During the swim, I obviously didn’t take in nutrition. On the bike, I drank water every 20 min and a gel every 30 min. The sports drink on course didn’t taste great and at first, I thought that was causing the stomach pain. Now, I don’t think so. When the pain began, I started missing times I was suppose to take in gel and sometimes water, but I tried to continue water as much as I could. I never bonked or felt like I was losing power or energy. Just stomach pain.
I always had a stomach like a garbage disposal and I could eat anything and I never had GI issues. Maybe that now changed.
Prior events, I used Powergel strawberry banana and it worked just fine for me. This year, I couldn’t find it …. Maybe it is unavailable now. I used GU instead and settled on vanilla and chocolate. I’m not sure if it was the GU nutrition not absorbing, I don’t know.
Help! Give me your thoughts and nutrition info as well