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Can I live on ONLY Gatorade and Gels for a full IM?

My biggest obstacle on my past full IM's (and some HIM's) has been nutrition once I get on the run. I am either bloated, get reflux, nauseous or a combination of all 3! This has plagued me, because although my training always goes well (long bikes, long runs, race rehearsals), I get bitten at some point on my run on race day and can't run the way I'd have hoped.

Last week I raced a HIM and went simple - Gatorade and gels on the bike, followed by Gatorade and gels/water on the run. Nothing else. I felt great on the run and although I waited for the other shoe to drop, it didn't happen and I was really able to nail my race and PR.

My question: Is it dumb to attempt a similar nutrition plan for an entire full IM? Will I get totally sick of taking in gels only? Have any of you raced like this successfully before? I think the only thing I'd change would be to go to a gel flask on the bike and run, so I don't have to worry about chasing it with water and I can sip it rather than taking an entire gel at once, which just sucks after awhile. BTW - I use Powerbar Perform gels - they seem to mix best with the Gatorade for me....

Thanks in advance for the help!!!

Comments

  • edited June 27, 2017 5:23PM
    Great question Brad ... I know of folks that do fine with just gel/GE/H2O but I like to have some solid food.  What was your prior nutrition that was causing the issues?
  • Oh my, yes. I am lucky to be able to tolerate these (and other on-course variants) in situ, and it makes things so much easier.  Livin' off the land. 

    (A near exception - Ironman Canada serves the most horrible stuff on course - Honey Stinger Gel - with a viscosity and aftertaste that takes at least two aid stations of swishing with gatorade to undo.  PLUS, there are bears on the run course.  How could you not put together (1) You're serving 2,000 people 6-10 packs of Honey, and (2) Bears like honey, is beyond me.   Must be a good day for bears, though.)  
  • An IM is a long time to be on the same stuff some can do it.  I'd say try it on you big day's and race rehearsals to get a feel.  If other things are not working then you have to change things up for sure.   

    In the past I have used clif blocks on the run.  Popping two in every 20-30 minutes just letting them melt away chewing a bit as I go.  3=100 calories so about a gel.  I'll then use a gel ever 3rd mile on the run.

    As Paul mentioned it would be good to see what you were taking in prior as well.  Also early in you race build up are you using these nutrition products? 
  • My answer is Yes! For IM Texas this year I took only Gatorade endurance with only a couple gels on the bike. I  switched to coke and red bull at mile 18. Did have base salt during run. Felt great entire race

    Just finished 70.3 CDA and only took gatorade endurance and then come and red bull at mile 9. Had salt on run  did not have any solid food

    Never got tired of just drinking same stuff. Very simple fueling!  I  did training the same way 
  • I would say yes, since last year its what I've been doing

    Gels, gatorade served on the course and replaced water with home made iced tea (yeah good ahead judge me!!)

    The gels I use are just pain awesome that I even use it to cook my eggs.

    Maple syrup and it has the same texture as water and its pur French Canadian maple syrup

    http://rekarb.com/en/ 

    Can it be what you eat before the race ? how does it compare with your pre long training meals ?
  • All really great input. Thank you!

    You guys asked what I've tried before? I've tried clif bars, powerbars, and last year even tried rice krispy treats! All this with a combination of Gatorade and gels and salt. Once I got to the point of feeling crappy on the run, I tried anything including coke, soup....

    My thoughts are to try to simplify it as much as I can, as I did in my recent 70.3. The only thing that I forgot to mention was that I took some salt tabs too.

    I'm not concerned about the calorie part of it, as I can tweak that. My main concern is can I handle that crap all day long for ~12 hours??!! I tested all the above in race rehearsals, long rides and runs and never had a problem until race day. I would certainly try this as well, but there is a big difference between a 6 hour bike followed by an hour run RR and a much longer race day. At least there has been for me.

  • YES, you can survive. Will it be great? Or will you ever want to use another gel or drink gatorade ever again? maybe not!

    If you use gels and gatorade during training, like I did, to get used to what you'll do on race day (which I'd highly suggest), then by the time I got around to my first IM race, and then racing, I've barely used another gel or drank gatorade ever again!

    That was in 2006 for my first IM (Florida) and I have barely touched gels since then and haven't drank regular gatorade since either. I haven't drank gatorade endurance since the last time I used it either, on-course at IMAZ in 2011.

    For me, nutrition and hydration for iron-distance races (or longer single-sport events like ultra runs or long distance cycling events) is about finding something you will NOT get sick of, so you won't mind eating it again and again and again, over the duration of your event. If you can do that by using on-course products, that's great! If you have to take your own, that's fine too, it just takes a little more planning.

    Believe me when I tell you though, that even the products I use now (Nuun hydration, Honey Stinger waffles and Untapped Maple syrup gels), I even get sick of after a long event!
    (disclaimer: yes, I'm sponsored by Nuun and HS, but I used them long before I even asked to be sponsored!)
  • Looks like a good mini rehearsal & next week you will have 2 good bites at the apple to test out the variables. 

    I try to live off "the fat of the land," and only eat on course nutrition. That said, I have trouble grabbing my Gatorade bottle, racking it and getting a water to rinse off and drink some within an aid station, so I missed some planned nutrition last year which is basically 1 bottle, 1 gel & 1/2 cliff bar for the bike. I also find that getting some "real" food in here and there (basically 1/3 of a banana) 2-3 x on the bike & run helps as well. 

    this year I've taken my flat kit out of my bento and plan on having 5 gels & 4 halves of cliff bar in there and won't have to worry about getting them on course. 
  • At the end of the day, what are your CHO (Carb) targets on the bike and on the run given your size?  What are your sodium targets/needs based on your sweat rate at a given temp (sweat test)?

    I know my targets for both disciplines, I try to hit them (from about hour 3 of the bike) using only liquid calories and adjust on the back half of the run as needed like switching from GE/salt pills to coke/water/salt somewhere between mile 18 - 20 of the run.

    So, my answer is yes, you can hit your targets on GE alone, but know you targets and practice as much as you can in your training and most importantly in your IM RR........

    SS
  • I have never taken anything solid during any of my races. It can be done, you just have to stay on top of your CHO targets.
  • It definitely can be done. I use Gatorade Endurance on all my training rides, as well as HS waffles. For the run, it's GE and gels. If I like the stuff, I can live on it forever. If I don't like it, well... 
    I love Accel gel. Thin enough to go down easy and tastes great 
  • yes definitely- worked for me last year at IMMT.  I find even cliff blocks hard to chew on the bike- so although I brought them i didn't use them.  I switched to coke and water (and had half a banana)  halfway through the run though.  
  • I basically do that now except on the bike I replace 4 gels with 4 x 1/2 powerbar.  So I get to actually chew something on the bike while the stomach is still in good shape.  
  • @Brad Marcus Keep it simple. Calculate how many calories you will need for the bike.  Then, add up everything you will consume over the course. Calculate calories for chews, drinks, gels a bar ... and then sip and nibble. The potential problem of using Gatorade for hydration is that you could become dehydrated with taking in too much sugar that sits and doesn't get absorbed into the small intestine. Try adding semi-solids such as chews and perhaps one bar that is low in fiber. For the run cut back on calories. If you did a good job of sipping and nibbling on the bike then the run fuel is easy. Your bloating and reflux is probably because absorption is impaired because of too much sugar. 
    Sheila Leard, RD, CSSD
    Board Certified Sports Dietitian
  • As always, this group doesn't disappoint! I really appreciate every one of your responses!

    To be clear, I do not intend to take in ANYTHING other than Gatorade, gels, salt and maybe some water. Coke is the emergency elixir if needed on the back half of the run. I would consider cliff blocks/chomps, but I honestly have trouble getting those things down so I have ruled them out.

    I've come to the conclusion that powerbars, clif bars and any other solids may be the cause of my dismay. BUT, I am really intrigued by the last comment by @Sheila Leard. I had never heard that sugar can inhibit absorption of liquids and prohibit hydration...That's interesting to me since I've been on long rides where I know I am drinking enough (Gatorade), but get headaches from time to time. The question then becomes, what to drink in place of Gatorade?

  • I'm amazed nobody has said Infinit Nutrition!  Has the club had a falling out with them??  I started using Infinit years ago and its my go-to source of all nutrition when the day gets long, (over 3 hours)
  • @Brad Marcus Keep it simple. Calculate how many calories you will need for the bike.  Then, add up everything you will consume over the course. Calculate calories for chews, drinks, gels a bar ... and then sip and nibble.
    And add at least one MORE chew/gel/bar to your bike "just in case" something is lost.
  • I'm amazed nobody has said Infinit Nutrition!  Has the club had a falling out with them??  I started using Infinit years ago and its my go-to source of all nutrition when the day gets long, (over 3 hours)
    For me, here in TX, I cannot use Infinit any longer. Did use it for several years though, and loved it until I realized it wasn't great for me.

    If I have to drink to hydrate so frequently, then ingesting calories along with it, every time you drink, causes my stomach to get TOO many calories - which causes problems for me. I'm not the norm though, I can get by on very few calories/hour for being a big guy.

    Yes, I know that you can either:
    -dilute with water. Then you have to stop and refill with powder, at a water source wherever it's available. Also, even the insulated bottles get HOT here and that stuff is nasty when it gets hot!
    -have one bottle of concentrated infinit and one bottle water. Same issues as the item above, where you have to again find more frequent water stops and cease activity to refill more frequent the water. Not ideal.
  • I have tried several times to go all liquid. Certainly can be done, but have found eventually it leaves me a little hungry toward the end of the bike/beginning of the run. Empty gut is distracting and leaves me feeling flat too. I now subscribe to transitioning from solids to liquids on the bike leg, going pure liquid on the run. Usually this amounts to 2.5 bars (I use Lara bars), half a bar per 30 minutes.

    Definitely adding pure water is a good idea, both to aid absorption across the gut, but also to wash out the taste of Gatorade. 
  • @Brad Marcus I want to follow up on the topic of too much sugar at one time can be dehydrating.

    Stacy Sims - creator of OSMO Nutrition and Allen Lim - Creator of Skratch Labs Nutrition does a great job of explaining this. See links below. Basically, sodium needs a transporter to get into the cell. It piggy-backs with sugar to enter. However, if the concentration of sugar is too high, water will be pulled from serum to dilute the sugar concentration so that it can enter the intestine for absorption. When you decrease serum/blood volume your on the path to dehydration. Sports nutrition companies that are keeping up with science, such as: First Endurance (EFS), Skratch Labs, OSMO, and now the new NUUN product - NUUN Performance, all have lower sugar content while keeping the electrolytes up to enhance absorption and hydration. It all comes down to the osmolality of your drink. It needs to be the same or lower the serum. Infinite has the osmolality listed on their products. The risk of using just Gatorade and water for hydration is that the volume of liquid  can cause bloating, therefore you stop drinking and nibbling and start to feel pretty crappy.

     Now the question is how do you logistically get these products on the course, especially the bike. You can purchase individual sleeves of these products. Start out with your aero bottle already full with a product and two sleeves of power stuffed in your bento box or pocket and three in special needs.  When an aide station is near pour the powder into your aero bottle, grab a water and fill it up.  I know the  convenience of living off the course is preferred but the consequences of drinking just GE is not worth it. Also, taste fatigue will set in when living off one product. If you can come off the bike hydrated and not bloated then the run fueling is easy. One last thing to think about is that some athletes are sensitive to fructose. Gatorade and many gels are half fructose.

    https://www.outsideonline.com/1913601/your-hydration-drink-making-you-dehydrated 
    http://blog.skratchlabs.com/blog/hyper-hydration 
    http://blog.skratchlabs.com/blog/why-water-isnt-enough
  • PRed on gel and water only on bike and water and coke on run in IM AZ, so yes UCAN ;)
  • @Brad Marcus I want to follow up on the topic of too much sugar at one time can be dehydrating.

    Stacy Sims - creator of OSMO Nutrition and Allen Lim - Creator of Skratch Labs Nutrition does a great job of explaining this. See links below. Basically, sodium needs a transporter to get into the cell. It piggy-backs with sugar to enter. However, if the concentration of sugar is too high, water will be pulled from serum to dilute the sugar concentration so that it can enter the intestine for absorption. When you decrease serum/blood volume your on the path to dehydration. Sports nutrition companies that are keeping up with science, such as: First Endurance (EFS), Skratch Labs, OSMO, and now the new NUUN product - NUUN Performance, all have lower sugar content while keeping the electrolytes up to enhance absorption and hydration. It all comes down to the osmolality of your drink. It needs to be the same or lower the serum. Infinite has the osmolality listed on their products. The risk of using just Gatorade and water for hydration is that the volume of liquid  can cause bloating, therefore you stop drinking and nibbling and start to feel pretty crappy.

     Now the question is how do you logistically get these products on the course, especially the bike. You can purchase individual sleeves of these products. Start out with your aero bottle already full with a product and two sleeves of power stuffed in your bento box or pocket and three in special needs.  When an aide station is near pour the powder into your aero bottle, grab a water and fill it up.  I know the  convenience of living off the course is preferred but the consequences of drinking just GE is not worth it. Also, taste fatigue will set in when living off one product. If you can come off the bike hydrated and not bloated then the run fueling is easy. One last thing to think about is that some athletes are sensitive to fructose. Gatorade and many gels are half fructose.

    https://www.outsideonline.com/1913601/your-hydration-drink-making-you-dehydrated 
    http://blog.skratchlabs.com/blog/hyper-hydration 
    http://blog.skratchlabs.com/blog/why-water-isnt-enough
    ^^^^This!  I have struggled with GI issues since 2010 and my first IM.  This year I am using NBS hydration and eating food on the bike.  No gels at all as I think I may be one of the folks that fructose (more common in women) affect poorly.  NBS uses Stacy Sims formulas and is only 95 calories in a bottle.  I have been training with it all season and can drink it on long rides with NO taste fatigue.  I just can't get myself to use GE....it's so sweet I find it disgusting!  It's not like I haven't tried, but after gut issues of one flavor or another with just about every version of fueling (all liquid with gels, infinite, on course drink with powerbars, Ucan, back to infinite last season...UGH).  It will be a pain and a lot more logistics for sure, but I am going to try once again to deal with one of my biggest limiters!  
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