On my last 3 races I started having really bad stomach pains coming off the bike.
I usually only would have Maurten 320 on the bike mixed with water and then switch over to gels during the run.
I have always done that for the past two years and never really had an issue until St George last year. It feels like my body either is saturated with maurten or I’m doing something wrong in terms of nutrition on race day.
Anyone out there had similar issues? I’ll be trying different nutrition in training the next few weeks but I’m worried this is going to screw my next race over if it happens again.
Not an expert but could be not the specific gel and maybe a bigger pic issue
higher intensity in swim bike interfering with ability to absorb or heat on race day: soaring body temp leading to higher HR leading to no blood to make stomach function, this would be a major possibility
too much or too little fluid sloshing around
pacing and volume of nutrition especially early in the bike
adjustments or changes in body shape relative to bike position and or suit tightness or increase in body weight leading to point 1 higher HR
temp on race day
salt or lack of salt nutrition
pre race day nutrition interfering on race day or pre race brekkie changes or too close to start or not clearing out bowels
caffeine or something affecting digestion
change in training less z2 type stuff
me poisoning ur water bottle as u r in my AG (ok this is unlikely, I mean I do all the time but I’m sure it’s only 100 athletes per race affected :-))
This is a good list. We’re asking a lot of our bodies over the full distance. I would definitely practice some swim/bike stuff in training with race day nutrition. I had more/less the same issue in my first IM coming off the bike. I had been using Precision Hydration. Ate some gels & took in salt tablets the first half of the run. The stomach hurt so much in the 2nd half of the run that the only thing I could take in was coke. I don’t know that there’s a perfect fix for avoiding stuff like this. I think pacing/heat/bike position/tri suit/etc all factor in. Maybe try no caffeine race morning to see if that helps.
Not an expert but could be not the specific gel and maybe a bigger pic issue
higher intensity in swim bike interfering with ability to absorb or heat on race day: soaring body temp leading to higher HR leading to no blood to make stomach function, this would be a major possibility
too much or too little fluid sloshing around
pacing and volume of nutrition especially early in the bike
adjustments or changes in body shape relative to bike position and or suit tightness or increase in body weight leading to point 1 higher HR
temp on race day
salt or lack of salt nutrition
pre race day nutrition interfering on race day or pre race brekkie changes or too close to start or not clearing out bowels
caffeine or something affecting digestion
change in training less z2 type stuff
me poisoning ur water bottle as u r in my AG (ok this is unlikely, I mean I do all the time but I’m sure it’s only 100 athletes per race affected :-))
life stress
hunter Biden’s laptop (if you are Sean Hannity)
Kipstar, thank you for the great list! Do you have any advice on how to tell which is the culprit. I raced this weekend in Lake Placid and had brutal nausea on the second lap of the run. I thought it could have been the humidity since I felt like I could cool off. However I also wondered if I could have been behind on salt or taking in too much water. Thanks for the input.
MB
Kipstar, thank you for the great list! Do you have any advice on how to tell which is the culprit. I raced this weekend in Lake Placid and had brutal nausea on the second lap of the run. I thought it could have been the humidity since I felt like I could cool off. However I also wondered if I could have been behind on salt or taking in too much water. Thanks for the input.
MB
Not quite sure seems your ideas makes sense.
I only have done 1 full and tend to have no real gut issues so I’m far from an expert, but I feel if you can do in training most of the time, then one day in training or a race you get nausea or success then something is different most likely overpacing. If it is hot and humid your pacing may have been what u can do when it’s cooler but you are now overworking, most races your stress level is higher so HR and power u need to look at what you can do on that day.
And yes maybe too much fluid sometimes it’s tricky to compensate for heat with more fluid, especially in that spiral of overheating so dehydrate so Hr up so stomach doesn’t work so can’t take on more fluid and nausea. Only solution seems to be pacing for a bit get under control.
In training I’ve played with taking on more and more solid food and more and more carbs fluid in general seems to help train your gut a bit. There is an upper limit but so far Ive personally not found it unless I eat dried fruit which is a bit acidic.
I guess you could test on long bike rides get HR up above lake placid run off and see what happens.
Things I have eaten in an IM and had no got issues, Quarter Pounder at Forster handed to me before rules took out all the fun
Beer at forster same
Sausage sandwich
Crappy old power bars when they stole the ingredients that didn’t make it into ration packs
Potato crisps.
No gut issues
Gut issues, various bars, gus, drinks, common factor, went to hard for conditions and or fittness.
Though I do recommend finishing the maccas at least 2 hours before the run leg
Yeah that’s the thing the bike pacing is relatively the same.
I think it might come from the amount of water I take in, I would drink Maurten until I’m thirsty and then have a few sips of water but a few sips might be too many.
I changed the way I take in water I might be taking in to much, or just having to many fluids in general it really feels like my stomach is about to explode when I start running with all the burping and spit that comes with it.
It’s always terrible for the first 10-15k off the bike and then I can run perfectly fine on the last lap of a 70.3.
I’m going to try a different nutrition with a different flavor in training first and see if the disgust is still there. If that doesn’t work I’ll try what you guys have suggested here ! Thanks all for the inputs.
Honey is good for stomachache. Put some in hot water and drink like tea every day will help you with digestion on race day or not. Make sure your gut flora is good too. I take good care of those and I never get GI issues no matter what I eat in any circumstances.
I’ll add/clarify that caffeine is often blamed for gut issues, especially around GERD-like symptoms, but there is very little evidence that caffeine is actually an offender here. There certainly is lots of confirmation bias via experiences with caffeine-containing substances like coffee, energy drinks, sports beverages during intense exercise, etc, and no shortage of swirling information online supporting the notion that caffeine is a common gut offender. It is much much less likely to be problematic for the gut than many other things.
I’d bet this situation is an interplay between higher thermal stress, not enough sodium, and possibly not enough water, even though OP felt full.
Typical Maurten user experience, TBH. (no offense to OP; just very common experience among Maurten users)
Here’s how it usually goes:
Athlete consumes Maurten and maybe sips water, too. This is a relatively low sodium consumption.Athlete thirst does not elevate adequately because sodium consumption is too low.Athlete does not drink adequately because thirst is not elevated.Athlete incurs systemic dehydration, sufficient to cause GI slowdown. No gut issues yet.Dehydration is now severe enough to stimulate thirst, even while blood sodium levels are dropping (due to low sodium concentration in the fuel mix overall).Athlete drinks more plain water because thirst is elevated.More water plus Maurten on a gut that’s slowed down leaves athlete feeling “sloshy,” “full,” “burpy,” or “nauseous.”
All of this will be exacerbated by either higher intensity, or higher thermal stress (warmer out; sweating more), or both, as Kipstar and others have mentioned.
The fix: consume more sodium. Consider adding salt or sodium citrate to the milieu. Then drink earlier and oftener. It’ll happen naturally without trying if you bump up the sodium.
The other typical Maurten user experiences are:
Everything went great! PR!Subclinical hyponatremia (or clinically relevant hyponatremia)Headaches from a combo of dehydration and hyponatremia
Usually in that order by folks who end up talking about Maurten on internet forums, IME.
Both of those problems are also solved with more sodium.
It’ll happen naturally without trying if you bump up the sodium.