Help Me-My nutrition sucks and I have 29 days

trigirl1203

Ok EN- I need some help, big time, with my IM nutrition. I am racing IMWI in a little under 4 weeks-so this must be adjusted, and quickly.

So I'm not a newbie to IM-this will be my 8th.  And EVERY YEAR I screw up my nutrition.  As of right now, it looks like I'm on course to screw it up again this year-that's why I need some advice, ASAP.

Today, I tried the all Perform way for my ride.  I started by doing a bottle and a half an hour of perform, and every 120 minutes a gu with some water as well.  Doing this-the Perform alone-would give me 250 cals/hour-which should be plenty for me, because I am around 120-125 pounds.  But after 3 hours today, the sweetness was making me feel incredibly sick to my stomach. Couldn't tell if I was going to throw up or just burp-but either way, I was feeling so bad that I stopped drinking as much, and as you can imagine, this resulted in a terrible end to the ride.  Couldn't take anything in-finished about 100 miles and felt like I was going to pass out. 

In the past, I've tried Infinit (ended up sick on the run at IM), Perpetuem (sp?), solids, Gatorade combos-you name it, I've tried it.  Now I only have 2 more long rides to get this right-so if anyone can suggest what I should do from this point on, I'd really appreciate it!  Thanks! 

[Deleted User]

I usually race at 113 lbs or a little less. At IMLP this year I had a Gu gel on he :30 and 1/3 of a power at on the hour. I drank 1 - 1 1/2 bottles of Perform an hour. It was perfect. Didn't feel hungry or like I had too much to eat. We had some rain and it was overcast so the amount of perform was just right.

Last year I increased the amount of Perform to 1 1/2 - 2 bottles on a hot and humid day.

tim cronk

Lauren, Sounds like you have a lot of experience with this having tried liquid , solids, infinit, etc. I'm a big fan of some kind of real food (love stuff like salted potatoes or rice balls while training but stick to cliff bars for practice and racing) on the first half of the bike and then I transition to Ciff Shot Blocks , I am also a lightweight racing at around 120lbs and use 20-24oz perform an hour, and save the gels for the run. Some suggestions would be to try Cliff Shot Blocks specifically the Margarita flavor , they have 3x salt and are not that sicky sweet so it can delay that I tired of sweet stuff feeling. You can also just try salting whatever you are eating to counter the sweetness.

trigirl1203

Thanks for your responses. Teri-Did you do any water (At least with the gus/power bars)? Tim-Did you use any water? How about salt tablets in addition to the preform?

tim cronk

@Lauren for the most part I use NO water on the bike, and the only water on the run is taken every 3rd mile when I sip off my gel flask the other miles are perform. I do not add any salt to perform. Usually carry a few salt tabs for late in the run when I switch to coke at mile 18-20 since it doesnt have the sodium perform, blocks and gel does.

Sue Chapman

Hey Lauren - so you know I'm not a little peep - my nutrition is more unconventional but thought I'd throw it out there - gatorade or IM Perform on the course and Nutrigrain bars.  I want a little something in my stomach and like also having the gatorade/perform.  I also try to pay attention to salt intake and depending on the temperature will have 2-3 on a long ride - more if it's really hot.  What did you do for your ultra?  Could you apply that to IM? 

Cary Blanco

Lauren, watch the nutrition webinar: http://members.endurancenation.us/R...opelnicki) and try a lot of things between now and race day.

As someone that does not like Perform drink, I just HTFU'd and drank it (a whole lot of it) at IMLP, I supplemented with some gels and a powerbar bar and a few salt stick capsules.

good luck

[Deleted User]

Lauren, when its hot I have salt tabs with me on the bike. If I feel I need them I'll take one an hour. No water to wash down the bars and gu, just perform. Same thing on the run.

Carl

I have to do Infinit and then perform to wash it down. Im a strange one I know but when I use just water I get very nauseated. I also found out that the only GU that works well for me is Roctane, the others give me diarrhea and make me very nauseated. Now for me I have never taken extra salt tabs and use but have a little extra mixed into my Infinit when made. I tried salt tabs and they also made me nauseated.

I carry a little 6oz bottle of Coca Cola with me and around mile 90 for some reason I get the nausea, heavy feeling-think my blood sugar drops so out it comes and I take it in and it sooths the gut.

trigirl1203

Thanks all again for your responses-Teri, I did 2 100 mile rides after I read your suggestion with your nutrition plan-and it worked great! Just wanted to let you know-thank you

[Deleted User]

Lauren, I'm glad you found something that works for you. Good luck!

kevinzielke

Hi Lauren. As someone who has struggled with finding the right nutritional balance (including a GI war at IMWI), I stumbled across this thread and thought I'd check to see how your nutrtion went at the race itself. If you get a chance, could you provide a post-race follow up?

Thanks!