Please please please. I will listen to any suggestions. Please, I need help. IMC last week was my 15th ironman race. I still feel like a rookie, although I guess that number qualifies me for veteran status. I’ve had bad races, mediocre races, and okay races, but never an actual good race, because I can’t make it through the run with any fluids or foods in my system. There have been slight differences from year to year, but IMC this year was pretty typical. It went like this:
Training all summer was fantastic. Best performances in the pool, on the bike, and on the run. Weekly nutrition tests went perfectly. Long bricks such as 100-6 were smooth, fast, and powerful, and I felt well fueled. I was very confident going into the race. Race day unfolded in a typical fashion. Swim was fine. 1:01 is a little slow for me, but it was pretty choppy (PB is 58). Bike started off great, legs were great, first four hours flew by, nutrition was spot on. It was hot but not as bad as predicted. I wore my standard road helmet to keep cool, and I was wearing arm coolers which I kept wet throughout the ride. My stomach started feeling a little wonky after the out-and-back, but my legs still felt great. I kept up with the water through the final headwind section, but didn’t manage to finish my last gel. I also didn’t finish my last three salt pills (salt stick, 215mg each). I still finished pretty well (the wind on the last stretch through town was a bitch) and hit T2 with a 5:34 ride time. A little disappointing, I’ve had basically the same split the past three years. Two pee stops during the ride (after descending Richter and then at special needs), and I had to really hold it to not stop again near the end.
Not as quick as I would like through T2, loaded up my pockets with gels (I don’t like powergel, so I carry Carboom and Honey Stinger). I had a bag with a few salted almonds that I ate out of T2, a new thing I’ve been doing this year (but not new for this race) to try to settle my stomach a bit after the bike and before starting in on run nutrition. Started running pretty nicely, 8-8:30 pace. Legs felt good but I knew that there were going to be stomach problems. My plan was coke and water at the aid stations, with a gel every three miles. I got down the gel at miles three and six, and little cups of coke at 1,2,4, and 5. Legs still felt good. Got to the mile seven aid station and had not had any salt in over an hour, so I threw a couple pills down with water. And that was the end. I immediately emptied the entire contents of my stomach on the side of the road. Rinsed my mouth out and started running again, actually feeling better than I did at mile six. Ran a few more miles just taking water at the aid stations, trying to build my fluids back up. Started feeling pretty low on the energy scale, so I took a few cokes before hitting the turn around in just under two hours. And that was the start of the death march. At this point everything was making my nauseous, including water. I completely emptied myself out again at mile 14 or 15. A mouthful of water would completely set me off. I kept running between the aid stations and then trying to get some fluids in (I was worried about being out in the heat for so long with no liquids). I would feel a little better after two or three miles, then take a gulp of water and then lose it again. At one aid station one of the volunteers suggested I try some food, so I managed to get four or five pretzels down. That seemed to be okay, so at the next station I took a few orange slices. Bad idea, empty once again. For the last eight miles all I could do was run between aid stations, get a cup of the coldest possible water with ice, and then walk and sip it until I finished (3-5 minutes, any bigger drink spelled doom), and then run to the next station. At mile 22 even this was making my nauseous, so I just said screw it and shuffled to the finish. Crossed the line in 11:20 with a 4:35 run split. Hard to take since even at the finish my legs felt good. I was very dehydrated at the finish. My parents came to the race and were staying at the host hotel. I went straight upstairs and crawled into bed with a 500ml bottle of water on the bedside table. Then every five minutes of so my wife made me sit up and take a sip. It took me an hour and a half to finish that bottle. Then I was able to eat a couple of peaches and a bowl of cereal and another small water bottle before falling asleep several hours later.
So that’s pretty much a standard run for me these days. The same thing has happened to me after taking in low, medium, and high sodium during the bike. Same result with 250, 300, 350, and 400 cals per hour on the bike. Same thing with bottle after bottle of water as with just one bottle per hour. Cool temps (IMC 2010, IMAC 2010), you guessed it, same deal. Hot temps? Yup, the same. I can always tell how much effort I put into my race by how hungry I am the next day. This time, nothing. Felt almost normal. A little sore for a couple of days, but then felt normal by Wednesday. Only thing was that I didn’t really pee again until Tuesday morning. I mean I peed a little bit on the drive home, you know, wife wants to stop at a rest area, I go pee just in case, but I didn’t REALLY pee until Tuesday. Ugh.
This is very long and I apologize for that. Two of the best coaches on Slowtwitch are vexed by this. The top nutrition guru hasn’t been able to figure this out. If anyone has any idea, please speak up. Please.
Thanks,
-Colin
The big change this time on the bike was the introduction of some solids, deviating from my normal all liquid diet. I had two stinger waffles (top of Richter and SN), and then the almonds out of T2. The goal was to try to settle my stomach a bit. I guess that didn’t work.