Learn from my bad IM Hawaii nutrition plan

Triathlon Forum
1

This year in Hawaii, I got a bad stomach ache on the run at about mile 2 and was whacked from there until the finish. My stomach actually started to hurt at about mile 50 on the bike. The ache would come and go, and when I came into T2, it felt pretty okay, but it was aching so badly by mile 2 of the run and I started walking to get it under control.

My stomach never recovered and I walked most of the marathon. I was very disappointed, but I’m more upset about not having a real nutrition plan and being stupid for the biggest race of my life. Just take a look at how bad I ate:

Here is the breakdown of calories I took in on the bike:

Clif Bar 280

GU20 1400

GU 1200

Gatorade 80

Total 2960 → 528 calories per hour

I’m pretty certain I took in most of this in the first 85 miles of the bike, but too many calories were only part of my problem. See below. Note that this was only my second Ironman. I also got nervous in my first IM and ate too much, but it wasn’t as bad as in Hawaii and I was able to run through the stomach problems in that race at CDA.

In Hawaii, on the run, I wanted to puke and I even gagged a few times (what a great feeling) when I tried to eat or drink. I kept myself from puking because I was worried that I would quit if this happened (probably another bad mistake). I couldn’t eat or drink anything for the whole marathon because I was so nauseas.

I should have puked and I also should have stopped and tried to crap. I know I needed to go, but for some dumb reason I never stopped to get rid of everything that had now been fully digested. I could feel it in there, YUCK. I wonder if holding all this in was causing my gut and intestines to hurt and in turn made me get nauseas.

On the bike, I also took around 8 or 9 Endurloytes an hour. I had “heard” (that’s good planning, huh) that you should try to get in around 700mg of sodium an hour, so I thought hey, let’s take 8 an hour, forgetting that my other food also has a lot of sodium and other electrolytes.

Sodium

Clif bar 200

GU20 3360

Total GU 480

Gatorade 110

50 Endurolytes 5000

Total 9150mg → 1633mg per hour

Potassium in mg

Clif bar 250

GU20 560

Total GU 420

Gatorade 60

50 Endurolytes 1250

Total 2540mg → 454mg per hour

Needless to say, I’m an idiot. I know that sodium needs are different for each person, but I bet that I don’t need 1633mg an hour. When you combine this with the number of calories I ate an hour, plus I took some Rolaids and then tried to fix it with coke at mile 1 aid station on the run, my stomach felt like it was going to explode.

Anyways, I thought I’d share my stupidness with folks in hopes that my mistakes can help other people think harder about their nutrition intake, rather than just “winging it” like I did.

2

Steve-

What were you thinking when you created this plan? Did you receive guidance? I’m speechless…

Rather than focus on the negative…why don’t you write down your plan for your next IM and let us chat about that!

On a side note, I have several friends in IMFL next weekend. About 4 weeks ago, I was asked to go for a ride with an Iron-newbie. I started asking questions and was in total shock with her “plan”. I really thought I was being set-up or something. I won’t go into details, but I’m hoping she got her act together for a positive experience next Sat.

3

No, I didn’t receive any guidance on my plan and I never wrote down all of the totals, like I did in this post, before the race. I would suggest that people do this before the race. I think if I would have done that, I would have realized that it was way too much of everything. I’ve heard that IM athletes can process around 300 to 400 calories an hour and need up to 700mg of sodium an hour in a hot race, less if its not as hot. I don’t have a specific plan yet for my next IM, but I’ll try to stay more inside of those boundaries. I also plan to consult an “expert” and get more guidance.

4

Always remember that you’ve absolutely got to experiment with caloric intake during your long bike/run bricks in training. Then go with that. Because of the climate on the Big Island (heat, humidity, wind etc.), people get all freaked out and NEVER believe that they’re eating enough. Come up with your plan next time and stick to it.

The sodium intake doesn’t seem that bad. I take about 1000mg every 90 minutes during the bike leg, along with about 300mg of potassium and 1g of protein every hour. I almost never eat anything solid, though, other than a very occasional Clif or Powerbar. Just gels from a few flasks that I either carry with me or have handed up to me at the bike turnaround. That, the race fluid and water given out at the aid stations, and some Ultra Fuel (800Kcals/16oz. bottle, which I carry with me and replenish at the bike turnaround) comes out to about 1800 to 2000 calories, total, for the whole bike. Through practice, I’ve determined that I race best on about 350 to 400 calories an hour on the bike.

Just from looking at all the calories you took in on the bike, I’d say that you overwhelmed an already-distressed gastrointestinal tract, and it rebelled. You had to walk on the run, because your GI tract wasn’t able to absorb sufficient calories once it had suffered the insult, and you consequently weren’t able to start the run with enough fuel to power your way through the first 18 to 22 miles.

This next suggestion is drastic, and plenty of people here in this forum will probably scream at me, but if you really, really want to try to make it through the run after suffering what you did on the bike, try to take in some de-fizzed cola about every 1 to 2 miles. Just a few ounces, and ensure that you continue to take it in regularly thereafter to prevent an insulin dump. This one has fallen a little bit out of disfavor, but like I said, it’s for extreme cases only. The glucose, and the consequent forcing by your body to up its glycolytic reaction may give you that extra boost you need to get back up and running. You appear to have suffered, to a much smaller extent, what Paula Newby-Fraser went through back in the '95 IMH, where she collapsed on Hualalei, just about 500 meters from the finish line.

Tony

5

Yep, you are right. I figure I needed more calories than in training since I race at a higher heart rate. Also, it seems it gets harder and harder to get calories down on the run, so I think I try to front-load the calories on the bike. After two IMs, its clear to me that this doesn’t work and I need a more balanced approach.

One question, when you say you are around 350 to 400 calories, are you including your calories from your drinks as well? Seems like you get almost 2000 calories just from your drinks? How many calories of gel do you take on the bike?

I tried drinking coke at mile 3, 4, and 5, but gave up on it when I started feeling worse and could no longer look at anything without wanting to puke. I’m sure I later suffered the downer once that coke wore off (read the next paragraph). I should have stuck with it once I started it. I used coke in my first Ironman and it kind of made my stomach feel bad, but I also think I over ate on the bike at that race and my GI was stressed out.

The thing I regret the most is that once my stomach started to hurt, I mentally gave up and started to have very negative thoughts. From there on my race was not a fun experience because of the way I was thinking. I dug myself into this self-pity hole and began questioning why I should do Ironman next year. I had never really hit the wall like this before and I wasn’t sure what to do. I know everyone says you should keep going because you will work through it. I recovered about mile 23 and ran the last 3 miles to the finish, but I know I walked more than I should have, but I was afraid to run too much since I couldn’t eat anything. I was afraid I would bonk and not finish.

6

The 350-400 calories is an aggregate of the race fluid handed out (which is only a 6% solution, and wouldn’t give you 125 calories per 16oz even if it were mixed properly), gels and the Ultra Fuel, which I sip throughout the bike. Given 400 calories at the top end, and a 5:30 to 5:45 bike split, the total calories I could take in and efficiently utilize would be between 2,200 and 2,400. At the low end, 350 calories, I’d want to take in between 1900 and 2,000 calories. About spot-on for my needs. *In the past, the above plan has gotten me to a sub-5:15 bike and an overall sub-10 hour IM.

I’ve found that the higher caloric end seems to work better for me, btw. I also get in a decent pre-race meal at about 1.5 to 2 hours before the start of the swim, and try to take in between 1 and 2 oz. of Lavagel (which is my preferred gel) after about 5 to 10 miles on the bike. I also treat the first 25 to 30 miles of the bike as a sort of “warmup” for the harder efforts to come. It worked in my last IM distance race, where I was able to hold 20mph at about 135bpm average heartrate on the back end of the ride.

I try to ensure that I take in the 400 or so calories an hour in a steady progression, and not all at once or in huge caloric gulps. That takes practice, but you get it with time and training. Given all that (good pre-race meal, steady caloric intake on the bike, adequate, but not excessive electrolyte supplementation, and carefully doled-out efforts during the ride), I was able to get off the bike in not-too-bad-shape (given that I only had 3 weeks or so, not counting a 2 week taper, to train for my last-minute IM distance race) for the run, where I was able to keep my heartrate under 145bpm average over the complete 26.2 miles.

On the run, where the calories taken in are somewhat harder to introduce, I stay strictly with easily-digestible gels and race fluid. If I think I need a boost, after the first 13.1 miles, I go to the de-fizzed cola, and take some in every mile thereafter. For this year, I went with the above plan, and never got close to bonking on the run. I also didn’t have but 1 long training run at 3 hours (broken into an AM 2.5 hour run and a PM 30 minute run) and a couple of shorter 2.5 to 2.0 hour runs earlier in the buildup. Also, since I’ve gotten adequate sodium/potassium on the bike, I cut back the salt intake on the run, and may grab a couple of ECaps or some other solution occasionally during the marathon. But not a lot. Hypernatremia is always something you should watch for.

K

7

steve - yes you ate too much and took in too much sodium. but it sounds like you learned well from it which is all you can do.

big kahuna - the insulin response during exercise is so blunted that there is no “crash” if you stop drinking coke. at that point, the muscles are using everything that can be absorbed for fuel.

it’s hyponatremia - low concentration of sodium.

8

My tried and true nutrition plan got totally screwed up in Kona. Shortly after the midpoint of the swim I joined a bit of a waterpolo game and ended up swallowing what felt like a few gallons of the Pacific. I ate my standard bar as I left transition and was lucky to keep that down. For the first two hours on the bike I hardly ate anything and could only stomach water to drink. By the time I finished the bike half of my planned inflight meal was still in my bento box. On the run I learned that the excessive heat in Hawaii does not do good things to a Hammergel and water mix that has been cooking in my fuel belt flasks all day long so I tried Gu for the first time and went with it until the finish. I didn’t bonk or anything drastic and I’m not sure how/if it impacted my performance but it was a good learning experience for next time :slight_smile:

9

it’s hyponatremia - low concentration of sodium

Yes, I know. I was advising him of the deleterious affects of hyPER (too much), not hypo (too little) from dilution of critical sodium in the bloodstream due to excess intake of fluids with no commensurate intake of sodium.

You’re right about the body not experiencing a “crash” from discontinuation of colas. I was referring to maintaining homeostasis and efficient glycolysis with a steady stream of glucose introduction. Besides, in the middle of race, why take the chance of even a miniscule 1-2% reduction in efficiency. Spread out over the remaining 15 or 20 miles or so of a marathon, it could add up :slight_smile: I’m not so much worried about muscular absorption of further energy stocks, but rather the effect on the brain of seesawing glycotytic reactions. At least half of IM distance racing is upstairs, in the old brain :wink:

K

10

You’re overestimating your sodium consumption. Endurolytes have only 40mg of sodium per caplet, not 100. They list it as 100mg of sodium chloride. So your 50 Endurolytes was 2000mg of sodium, not 5000mg. I don’t know that your sodium intake was that excessive.

-mike

11

A few things:

  1. Doing an IM puts a significant and huge stress on the GI tract.

  2. Many people fail to consider how many calories that have stored in their bodies in the form of glycogen

  3. Like you, many people mix up all kinds of weird and wonderful recipes that are way to compex. Keep it simple. Read point one again. Actually, read it a few times!

  4. Many people grossly under-estimale how much water, thats right, water, good plain old, unexciting water, that they need to take in, every hour in an IM - in particular at IMH and even more in particular when it’s windy at IMH. You can really get dehydrated under windy IMH conditions and not even know it.

  5. I have heard of many others who have used the combo of gels, solid food and sports beverage and had big problems. It’s a death mix, as far as I am concerned, Better to find one source of calories that works for you and stick with it. Read point one again and revist point three!

  6. As others have said, and to state the obvious, try it out in training, but here again many people make the mistake of going out for an easy 100 mile ride and figuring they have the nutrition dialled in. No. Having it dialed in when training, means riding for mostly 100 miles, at IM race intensity( did you know the harder you go the more the GI Tract shuts down), in the aero position( did you know that riding in the aero position is hard on digestion) with minimal stops.

Fleck