It could be done but you probably need to add some perpetuem and something to be sure your electrolytes are adequate.
It’s a matter of calories, hydration and electrolytes.
Larry,
Why gels only? Couldn’t you go all liquid using Perpetuem like Tom suggested and just skipping the solids like Power Bars, etc. I don’t see how you could get enough calories or carbs using gels and water only. You’d have to pack in a ton of gel, and that seems harder on the gut than necessary. I’ve used Perpetum and Sustained Energy and really like both.
You aren’t the guy I saw at T2 scarfing down a ham sandwich his wife handed him as he exited the transition, are you? I could not believe that as a nutrition choice, but to each his own.
How many of you have tried e-gel? It is meant to be taken with H2O, since it has a lot of electrolytes. I’m very curious about it.
a nice big 1200 calorie bottle of perpetuem, mix a squirt with aid station water in your aerobottle, add in some gels (and endurolytes for me) and you are all set. But I have to admit that the powerbites sure were tasty near the end of the ride…
I used e-gel at IMNZ and had very good luck with it. I consider it an excellent product. The 230mg of sodium per packet and the larger 1.5 oz. packet sold me on the idea.
E-gel has over FOUR TIMES the sodium of most other gels. That is critically important in long events.
Go to this link and do some research, I think you’ll find it informative. These guys know their stuff. efernand on this forum and a fella named Eric Justice got me turned on to these guys.
***** 5 stars. When you place an order with them you get a great little book on sports nutrition for the endurance athlete.
So…what exactly caused the “stomach explosion”? I have not heard it in those terms before, but I assume you blew chunks, barfed, spewed, puked, etc etc… but what did it look like, what color was it, when did it happen? What did you eat prior (during the race) to invite such a curse upon yourself? Did it happen on mile 15 of the bike or mile 18 of the run…or did you provide chum for he fishies? You get the picture. Can’t diagnose the symptom unless I know cause.
Is e-gel palatable? Are you saying the e-gel worked as well as (or better than) the hydration drinks? It sure would simplify things, especially since I’m considering a behind-the-seat tube-type hydration system.
The best tasting gel around…the Mtn Rush taste is like a key lime pie…clean and easy to swallow. There are 3 other flavors that are solid.
Slowman somehow aquired some for his FIST camps. As Emfield puts it, “It is my favorite gel and it does not make me gag.”
Taste, consistancy, and electrolytes seem to make this a threat in the gel world.
To answer another question re: only gels…Crank Sports also makes a one of a one of a kind drink, e-Fuel. www.cranksports.com Good shit…
After stomach problems in several IM’s I tried liquid only (very nearly just liquid) at IMNZ recently.
2 gels before race start
18 gels on the bike (6:30 bike Ack!!) with two mouthfuls of pro 4 berry bar coz my mouth was starting to taste pretty gnarly. plus 3 bottles of drink mix and 3 bottles of water.
attempted! 10 gels on the run (5 hour run for me) but just couldn’t handle it any more. I went for coke only on the run but I was way low on quantity. I ended up 4kg (9lbs) light by the finish, because of toolittle fluid.
Normally on the run I drink water from my own water bottle so I can gauge my intake. This time I messed up by drinking unknown quantities ofr coke. I couldn’t guess how much I was getting or how often and my math brain was left in transition in attempt to race light! 
I think all fluids are fine if yourace fast enough and are diligent on intake but gels taste like crap after a while and youreally have to choke them down to get energy. Easier to eat than bars but some times ya just gotta chew.
TriDork
It’s been said many times before, but just a reminder…whatever you decide on, try it out and make sure it works well on several long, hard training rides before you commit to it on race day. It’s a fine line…you want as much calories as you can digest but any more and you will likely be tossing your cookies.
my rules for IM nutrition:
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PACING. eat/drink 50-90 calories (NO MORE) every 10 minutes non-stop.
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PACING. if your HR is too high, your gonna have stomach problems.
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never eat gels with sports drink, water only.
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never eat bars with sports drink, water only.
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when your not eating bars or gels, drink sports drink.
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I have a low sweat rate, and I take 1 endurolyte per hour MINIMUM (cold bike like at IMNZ). up to 2-3 for a race like Malaysia.
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pre-race caffeine for morning buzz, but NO caffeine until you hit the run. Caffeine will eventually put you on the toilet… my limit is about 4 hours… my run time is sub-4 thankfully… I do coke/water/endurloytes ONLY on the run.
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mix up flavors and textures. I do two flavors of gel, start the bike with non-course flavour of sport drink, have two flavors of bar. etc…
most important thing. PACING and drink plenty of water… which means you’ll need solid calories. If your pacing is right
Fluid and food intake is very dependent on body size. I’m small… 127lbs. I drink only 400ml/hour and consume 275-300cals/hr. I never bonked and had excellent electrolyte levels on finishing (they test you at IMNZ).
Hey Larry,
Thanks for the details. Here’s what I think; I agree that the four clif bars on the run did it to you. Too much solid food. Instead of Powergel, you might want to experiment with Hammergel instead; less sugar and more complex carbs…you can go further with less gel.
Also, no matter what you eat, staying in an aero position for long periods of time does not promote optimal digestion. Eat/sip more frequently on the bike and ‘sit up’ every now and then. This will help your nutrition do its job, keeping you from cramping up and blowing chunks.
Mojo
I used only water, GU and succeed tablets during IMFLA with no problems. I have hypoglycemia and can’t tolerate Gatorade and need to take in GU at frequent intervals. Keep it simple and practice with what is available at the race. I’ve never had stomach problems using anything.
Did you take in more salt than just two lava tabs? If not that sounds really low especially if it was super hot. You probably should have been taking one of those an hour…oddly sometimes salt can help but to much can also cause more stomach problems so I tend to take the e-caps- you have to take more of them but there is less salt in them so sometimes its easier on your stomach to just take one of the ecaps, you get salt but not enough to upset your stomach.
For IMWI which was also very hot this year I didn’t take in any solid food and didn’t have any stomach issues. I probably would have avoided so many cliff bars, also you probably did this but did you make sure you diluted the food with a lot of plain water or did you wash it down with accelerade. If you stuck to accelerade instead of water that might have been a big part of the problem.
“Much water in week prior”
This and your symptoms jumped out at me – the consciousness change plus the gi distress would have me wondering about hyponatremia. Hard to know for sure though. Could have been both dehydration and hyponatremia. If your recover was rather rapid with fluid intake I’d lean towards dehydration. If it was hours I’d lean towards hyponatremia…not a doc but have had too much personal experience with this stuff.
You might have washed out some of your electrolytes with the hyperhydration you had going on the week before. You want to hydrate the week before, maybe add some higher sodium foods, but once the urine gets nearly clear you’re set. Just for thought, on a race that hot I would have been taking 1 - 1.2 grams sodium/hr. or more (uncharted in that heat) but I’ve got a well documented hyponatremia problem.
Larry, I was also at IMCDA and had the luck of also being at IMWI (two very hot events). I had never had stomach problems until last year. My first event last year was Ralphs and I did it with gels/solid and I had stomach problems in the form of “gut slosh” - all fuel sat in my gut splashing aroung so I started to bonk on the run. I spent serious time diagnosing the problem and decided to switch to fluid. I experimented with various products and settled on Spiz. I don’t think Spiz is for everyone or the best but at IMCDA I used Spiz and no gels/solid without any problems at all, but I was also extremely careful with my diet the days before the event, and I made sure that my entire system was empty when I got to the line up. I also did a better job of carbo loading several days before the event so I would not have to consume as much fue and I took in a lot more salt during the event.
Unfortunately, I had problems again at WI and it was caused by various factors including the heat, poor diet the days before the event, and the mixture of my liquid since I made it way too thick and also added additional carbo (tasteless). I had experimented with the solution but not in that level of heat and the stuff warm is disguisting. During the bike I had to stop and dilute half the bottles with water. I also had to stop several times to empty my system. I understand that many other athletes were also sick so I’ve had my suspicions about other external factors but never mind.
Frankly, I could not do an IM just on gels. My body could not absorb them fast enough to take in enough calories, but I’m sure you’ve seen the bikes racked up with a dozen gels taped to the top tube so it appears that some people can do it.
I can understand your desire for simplicity and I can relate. Good luck with finding a solution.
I had the same nutrition scheme and same problems last year in IMWI. It wasnt 100degrees, but close to 90degree. I think my problem was that I didnt drink enough water, especially when I ate, need water to help digest>> DOOH! The heat was also a factor. I had two bottles of gatorade/extran on board and no water, I would just take a sip of water at the aid stations and pour the rest over my head. My stomach/gastrointestinal problems started at end of bike and went til 15miles of run, i stopped every mile to use porta pottie. So in training I will try to have 1 water 1 gatorade or accellerade on board and then mix gels (hammer, carboom) and cliff bars. I think the extran may have been part of the problem also, I stopped using that.