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Stomach problems on bike - getting worried

Bob IrwinBob Irwin
in General Training Discussions
As I've upped the mileage of my long rides, I've started to have stomach problems (bloating) after about 2.5 hours.  The first couple of weeks I tried the Powerbar Ironman drink since I had some left over from last year - it's now gone.  This Saturday, I tried gatorade since that's what will be on the course at Vineman.  Had the issue with both products.  It seems like it's a gas issue - I'm peeing twice on a four hour ride.  So I've got stuff going in and stuff coming out.  A coupld of Tums helps, but doesn't fix it enough to finish the ride at the planned IF.  I'm mixing the bottles at about 200 calories, and drining about 3/4 - 1 bottles per hour.  After 2.5 hours, I've had to start drinking more water to help with stomach.  This week I tried switching from a 15 minute feed schedule to 10 minutes hoping that a more frequent schedule would help - but it didn't.  My IF on the bike has been 65% for the first 45-60 minutes, and ~68-70% after that until I start to feel bad - then I back off to whatever will get me home.  I haven't done a long course race for a couple of years - had IM CA on the schedule last year, but family issues caused me to bail.  Previously, I've used both of these products and concentrated Infinit.  All three have worked well for me in the past.  Maybe the fact that I'm 3 years older and now 63 has changed how I process things.  Any ideas?

Comments

  • penlynwilsonpenlynwilson
    Hey Bob,

    Need specifics on how many servings are in the bottles - not really calories.

    What have you done in the past that has worked?
  • Bob IrwinBob Irwin
    Penny - I mixed both the gatorade and the powerbar products as 2 1/2 scoops per 24 oz bottle - both say 1 serving is 1 scoop in 8 oz and have 70 or 80 calories per scoop - I forget which is which. In the past, I have used my infinit mix as a concentrate - 4 servings per 24 oz bottle - at 255 calories per serving. This has worked fine at HIM and IM distances except once when I'm pretty sure I didn't drink enough water to get it through my system fast enough. I have also used the Infinit mixed normal strength on shorter races. All of these have worked in the past for rides of this length, but it's been a long time since I've used gatorade. I wasn't too worried about it, since I'd used both powerbar and infinit in the last 3-4 years, and the composition is pretty similar (except I had a small amount of protein). But, as I said, it's been a while since I've comleted a long course race (got up through my first RR last year for IM CA before I had to pull out - so I'd had a number of pretty long rides using the powerbar product) My first A race is either full vineman on July 26th or the half on July 14th depending on how my first RR goes. The other race I have scheduled is HIM the first weekend in October. Do you think using an aero bottle and sipping even more frequently would help?? Maybe I should go back to Infinit - I know it's worked for me in the past, and Michael will help me figure out if I need to adjust my formula. Thanks
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