Nutrition problems at IMLP

Triathlon Forum
1

This past Sunday I raced IMLP for the first time. While I enjoyed the race experience and was happy to finish in 13h9m, I did have some problems that slowed me down considerably.

On the later part of the first bike loop I began experiencing pretty bad leg cramps that lasted throughout the remainder of the bike and my entire run. Over 9 hours of racing with bad leg cramps was not fun.

I had planned my nutritional plan based on my training and thought I knew what I needed, but I guess that wasn’t the case. I have trained without any problems in similar weather to that we had on race day, so I’m not sure why I experienced the problems. I was especially surprised that the cramps started so early in the race, at approximately 3h30m race time.

I’m pretty sure I was not getting enough sodium. On the later part of the run I wasn’t sweating much, which is very odd for me, and when I have cramped in the past I know it was due to low sodium. I’m a heavy sweater and am a salty sweater. I usually have salt stains after long, sweaty training sessions.

Below is my nutritional plan for the race.

Height: 6’1”
Weight: approximately 182lbs on race day

Nutritional plan:

  • 300 calories per hour (100 from Gatorade, 200 from gel)
  • additional solid calories from 2 x ¾ of a Cliff bar on both loops of the bike course
  • 1 bottle of water per hour
  • 1 bottle of Gatorade per hour
  • 2 E Load salt capsules per hour

I figure that my sodium consumption based on this plan is as follows:

  • 200mg sodium/hour from Gatorade (guessing for run as I was just taking one cup per aid station)
  • 60mg sodium/hour from gels
  • 400mg sodium/hour from 2 E Load capsules
    • any additional sodium I may get from Cliff bars on the bike
      Total estimated sodium consumption: 660+mg/hour

During the race, I took 4 extra E Caps that I had and I drank chicken broth at every aid station that had it. While I think it helped a little, it didn’t get rid of my cramps. I figure I took in approximately 8900mg of sodium over the course of the race plus that I got from chicken broth. Could I really need more than that? It seems like a lot.

I should also note that I only urinated once in T1 despite having one bottle of Gatorade and one bottle of water per hour on the bike. That is usually fine for me in training and shorter races, but I guess my lack of urination is an indicator that I didn’t get enough liquids. I have to admit that even the thought of trying to drink more leaves me feeling bloated. On the run I drank chicken broth, Gatorade and water at every aid station and also had coke on the second loop, but still never urinated again after T1.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.

2

Without knowing your bowel movement weight it’s impossible to tell…

Nah, seriously, if you’re cramping on the bike that early I’d say there’s a good chance that you went into the race low in sodium (this usually happens because athletes think that they’re camels and consume 400 gallons of water the days before the race pissing out all their sodium). You also could have cramped d/t doing what the vast majority of IM trigeeks do - go out too hard.

3

Why do you assume it was nutrition and not fitness/pacing? Not to be a “results stalker”, but I see you avg’d roughly the same pace for the swim at IMLP that you did at Muskoka (1 month earlier), even though it was twice the distance, and your first 36 miles of the bike were 20 mph whereas at muskoka you avg’d 18 mph for the 55 km.

4

You may be on to something regarding it being fitness/pacing related as opposed to nutrition. Dev Paul also just commented to me that it may be related to the nature of my training rides, which tend to include a lot of hill climbing with moderate pace or coasting in between, yet without much sustained zone 2 effort in between.

I suppose I assumed it was nutrition based for two reasons… 1. up until I had the cramps I was taking the loop at a pace that felt quite easy to me and I felt great. 2. In the later part of the run I wasn’t sweating as much as usual so figured I was becoming dehydrated.

Thanks for the input.

5

I’m no expert and only a 2X IMer but I had similar issues on run. When my coach and I did the post-mortem, we concluded that I was deficient in my sodium intake. 800 mg per hour was what we think was the minimum necessary that day and I was only at about 450 mg. YOu took in a bit more than me, but you also outweigh me by 20 lbs. Nothing scientific here, just my 2 cents.

Congrats on your race!!! Way to hang in there.

6

Jason, congrats on your finish! Don’t forget that’s an IM, and almost 10% did not finish the race… Were you staying at the Alpine Air Motel? If yes, I’m the mother staying there on the 2nd floor… I saw you on the 2nd loop of the run, and was happy to know that you would finish it! I gained 10lbs on my 1st IM, 5lbs on the 2nd one, and this year I only gained 2-3lbs… That being said, I realized that I drank too much during races, but it took 4 years to figure that… You’ll figure out what was your problem with more experience. Now, enjoy your victory! I know only a few bunch of people who did the time they were expected on a 1st IM. Congrats again!

7

The Hills of the Gats are great for the (short) hills repeat, but can be tricky in between while we get that false sense of working.
While I am not necesarilly a big fan of my flat rides in my backyard, when I go for X hours of riding, I do not have a choice but to only spin if I do not want to stop/slow down.

Fred.

8

and your first 36 miles of the bike were 20 mph

The first 36 miles of the LP bike is pretty fast, particularly this year. We had a tail wind from Keene to Jay, and one could go silly fast with normal effort. The price was paid later going through the Wilmington gap as there was a head wind for even the first lap.

A more telling evaluation would be the first Wilmington lap split vs the second lap, allowing for the increased wind on the second lap to get an idea of pacing.

9

Well, I’m just throwing it out there as something to consider. I know from my experience even in a HIM it is pretty hard for me to negative split a 2 loop bike leg since the first lap feels so easy, and then I struggle to maintain the same wattage for the second lap. This is what the majority of the top guys seem to do though.