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IMFL from Hell

Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
in Races & Places 🏁⛺
2015 IMFL was my third IM, withe the previous 2 also at IMFL. This is my 3rd season with EN. I am 56 and just completed my 5th season of Triathlon. below average swimmer, above average bike, and shitty runner. 6'4 225. 2 years ago did IMFL with 1:25 swim, 6:07 bike and 6:30 run.

arrived at PCB on tuesday, followed the EN plan. Unevenfful. Did the 4 keys on friday, went to bed after hydrating most of the day about 8 pm. reached over to check my garmin and .... nothing. Garmin was messed up, spent 2 hours trying to reset....nothing. went to sleep, up at 4. ate some oatmeal and fruit, went to transition, came back, got family and went to start. Drank a bottle of gatorade endurance prior to start, took a gel.

Swim; wonderful. did 2;12/100. 1:24. for me was happy. didnt want out of water.

transition; no problem

Bike: started in slow , let people pass. No garmin, so had to do by feel and asking speed. Mostly 18-19. felt good. drank bottle of Gatorade and ate a honey wafer. started on 2nd bottle of gatorade about :45, started a bit of nausea and reflux. slowed down drink. at first station picked up water and started diluting. after 1st hour started s-cap at 2-3 /hour. by special needs, nausea really kicked in. forgot to take the Zofran I had packed and at mile 70 felt first cramp in Right Thigh. after that, slowed down and made it to the bridge and legs locked and Wheels fell off the bus. Sagged in after a wait of 2 hours on the road.

gotta fix the nausea and take my wife's Garmin as a back up.

Comments

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Paul - any clues what might've happened? Rough water/mal de mer? Swallowed alt water on the swim? Nutrition issues?

  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Paul, thanks for posting this...following Al's lead with questions below. That said, the fact that you CARRY Zofran makes me think you have a history with nausea. Any insights on that? My other questions:

    1 - What did you eat for dinner and when?

    2 - Breakfast with fruit (fiber) in it is not recommended before a race...makes stuff much harder to process. If that's your go-to proven thing, so be it, but not what I would suggest.

    3 - Was the gatorade your gatorade or from the course?
  • Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
    started with my gatorade, because Itrained with the lemon lime. I have had issues in the past with most all drinks., so added zofran on long rides this year. seemed to help. I think if I had taken the second one, mightve prevented the problem. I think I underestimated the humidity, in my home area, ours is very minimal. this next year, I will go back to perpetuem and maybe try 10 mg of Reglan for the long rides. And get to 205 at least. I think my gut maybe pushes up the fluid in aero position.
  • Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
    what do you suggest for eating before race?
  • Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
    loved the swim. think its just I HATE GATORADE.
  • Vicki MeadowsVicki Meadows
    Hi Paul, Gatoraid on the course always makes me sick. I think it is too strong or something. I have trained with the powder and find the two very different. Also the same for perform. The only way I could use it is to dilute it with water and then it seems as much work as if I just bring my own powder which I can control much better. For me, the key has been to try different brands and train with different strengths to figure out what keeps me from bonking but not getting overly full. We will see how it works at IMAZ this weekend! I have gone with a single source of nutrition, Tailwind (fairly new). 300 calories per bottle and 1000mg sodium. If it is hot or overly dry (likely), I will supplement with water. Sorry to hear you had a rough race - I've been there....
  • Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
    Thanks haven't heard of tailwind, will try. Believe me have tried most everything. Good luck at Arizona.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    First, good on you for trying! It will have value if you can learn from it and apply those lessons in the future. It's been exceptionally warm and humid in Florida up until today. Right off the bat you knew that modifications would be necessary when they had the first ever non-wetsuit swim. Did you start in the non-wetsuit or wetsuit wave? If the latter, did you overheat (despite your good result)? For the bike you would have had to increase the fluid intake and slow the pace a bit to keep cramps at bay. If you are cramper like me, you need to do a lot more starting the day prior. I eat salted pretzels all the day prior, I take a couple S camps the night before, I have pickle juice sport the night before, the morning of, and in T1 and T2. Then I start taking salt pills on the bike every 30 mins. You need to find what works for you and practice that in the Texas summer heat. Good luck.
  • Paul ReynoldsPaul Reynolds
    Thanks, used the wetsuit. I was shooting for 1 gram of sodium an hour. I think it was mostly dehydration due to the nausea and thus lack of fluid intake. Ordered the tailwind drink as above and restart training. The same thing happened last year at a century ride in Texas with 100 heat. All this has done has made me refocus, thus it is a good thing
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