i will be competing at IM AZ in april and am hoping to qualify for hawaii. it will be my third attempt at the distance, i missed a kona spot the first two times by 2 minutes… in both races i had GI issues that lead to barfing/pooping stops =ing, over 2 minutes…
i think i may be taking in too many calories, as i’m super worried about bonking. by the end of the race, my stomach is sooo distended i look 8 months pregnant.
i’m 118 lbs, and complete the race in 11:00… i will hopefully be finishing AZ in 10:30 (if all things go well!).
what’s the max. i can absorb in an hour? (docs?) what should my intake be?
Hammer nutrition has really good research on this (links below). I think most people overestimate the amount of calories they can actually process in an hour, and eventually the body just decides to burst. I am on the big size as Ironman goes (about 210 lbs) and do about 300 calories an hour and I am OK. No high sugar stuff like Gatorade though that I find hard to process. It took a lot of experimenting though to get it right. I just kept upping the amount gradually in training until I hit a point where I felt a little discomfort. And whenever I feel stomach or GI discomfort I stop eating for a while until it subsides.
You really have to figure that out on your own during hard training. If I took in 300/hour I would look pregnant and end up seizing up. I think I took in 150/hour max at my ironman (probably less) and never bonked. But I did have a lot of stomach upset in the beginning. I was shooting for 200/hour (I’m 125 lbs) before I realized my stomach wasn’t going to allow it.
It may not only be an issue of calories, but in what form they are coming from, and also are drinking enough water to dillute all the concentration of sugar in your gut. Too high a concentration= the end of gastric emptying=bloated belly. Chase all your gels with plenty of water, not sports drink. I starting using maltodextrin(A more complex carb., such as what is found in all Hammer products) last year, and also only use liquid and gels, no solid food and all GI issues ceased. Needless to say i’m a believer. For the record i’m 6’0 160 at full on race weight and used approx. 300-350/hr. At your weight I would suspect you need less than that, but expirement in training and make it happen.
I’m jodi’s caloric opposite! I took in 400/hr on the bike (300 in gels, 100 in gatorade endurance) and 200/hr on the run. Jodi, I could never have survived on what you ate!
I tried 200/hr a while in training, but felt light-headed when I tried to run off the bike. Tried 300 for a few weeks after that… felt better. Tried 400 once and knew I’d found it. Just keep messing around with different things and see what makes you feel best off the bike (and for the rest of the day). It’s trial and error.
Oh, and I weigh about 15 more lbs than you, so I agree that less might be better for you.
On your long rides and runs, eat and drink. Your body will adapt to taking in calories. Start counting your calories. Over a months time, hopefully you will be able to consume more and more. It is almost impossible to absorb as much as you burn while racing 10-11 hours. In a perfect world you could inch your way up to 400 or so calories/hr. One of the hardest things to do is actually remind yourself to feed the machine during the race.
I did CANADA in 06 and put down 2200 calories during the bike.
Firstly, are you referring to strictly the bike leg or both the bike and run? For most, it’s in the 200 - 300 (mostly women at the lower end) range on the bike. It’s unlikely that you will be able to take in the same amount on the run, assuming you are running, which judging by your goal time, you will be.
It’s **very **individual, In this thread alone you see a 133lb woman who does 400/hr and a 210lb guy who does 300/hr. As a starting point, you can use infinit’s calculator here. It’ll give you an idea even if you don’t use their product, but you really need to get out there and simulate race conditions to fine tune it. Do a couple of 5-6hr rides at race pace(try to minimize your stops to one or none) followed immediately by runs in your build-up to help you get it nailed.
Personally, I take in 400cals/hr at ~165lbs on the bike, but quite a bit less on the run.
hey chrissy, i had your same problem at imaz, well being fast enough to qualify for kona is not one of them. anyway i find with the heat you need simple sugars i ate pbj sandwiches and felt like i ate a bucket of fried chicken off the bike.too much fat and too much high fructose corn sugar equal mucho bloating. i tried this gel called honey stinger which is pretty much honey with flavoring ,i stuck to the liquid \ gel lunch and dinner and felt fine at imcda07 now i’m going to dabble with the infinit drink which is everything you need and a little protein not to get that so hungry i will eat road kill feeling on the run .well hope my bad experience helps your good one good luck at imaz i’m starting to ramp up for imcda08 …ps nice blog pics of you in race wear in snow are priceless post more …jimmy the noodle
IM AZ can be hot–limit sugar intake and get your cals from non-sugar carbs. Add protein as well. Look into Hammer HEED mixed with Sustained Energy. You’ll be close to 200-225 cal/hr, but you’ll have to try it in training to nail it down. Bottom line is nothing on race day should be new–pace, nutrition, etc.
