Big Day Gone Bad
Well, I attempted to execute my Big Day yesterday (1hr. swim, 4hr. bike. 1hr. run) in preperation for Ironman Louisville and the wheels came off the bus. I, apparently, am still having stomach issues when training/racing in hot weather.
Here's a little background:
I did Ironman Louisville back in '07 as my first Ironman. It was a hot day. Weather in the upper 90s. Since it was my first Ironman, I didn't know any better and proceeded to eat a lot of calories (250/hr. of both solid and liquid). By the time I got off my bike, my stomach was toast. I spent the entire marathon walking and trying not to throw up.
I'm a very lean 5'8", 134lbs. Since then, I 've learned that I can't tolerate that many calories per hour. I've now switched to Infinit and only drink that on the bike along with water. My stomach seems to be happy with only 100 calories/hr. on the bike. That was fine for my HIM but can I get by with that little amount during an IM? I recently raced Kansas 70.3 and drank only 1 bottle (274 calories) the entire bike leg. I was hungry by the time I hit the run so I ate my way through the aid stations as my hunger/stomach allowed and didn't have any problems.
Yesterday, it was a hot/humid day and with a hot wind blowing at 20mph and temps reaching the low 90s. After finishing the swim, I drank 20oz. of H2O and ate a Cliff bar on the way to my bike ride. I rode a very conserative first loop (2:07) of about 40 miles while forcing myself to consume about 390 calories of Infinit for the 2 hr. ride. I'm trying to practice taking in more calories for Ironman. On th second loop, I tried again (in vain) to force myself to drink the Infinit and water. As the temps rose, my water and Infinit got warm and my taste aversion kicked in. During the last hour of the ride, I couldn't get aero. My stomach was in distress and I couldn't even force myself to drink the warm water.
After the bike ride, I couldn't run. I knew I'd throw up or worse if I'd attempted it. I decided I'd better drive home instead. I drank my Endurox R4 to help settle my stomach and almost fell asleep at the wheel on the way home. It was so bad that I had to pull over and sleep. I woke up, drank a large Coke and some cold water and my stomach felt better. When I got home, I did complete the hour run but it was 2hrs. after I got off my bike.
It is very depressing to think that all my hard training could be completely undermined by my somatch issues again. Anyone else had this problem? Should I be trying a different fuel source? Gatorade kills me and Infinit doesn't seem to be working either. As soon as I hit that 4hr. mark, my stomach doesn't want anything and my taste buds don't want anything either.
Comments
1- Cliff Bars are really dense and could have set up up for failure from the beginning.
2- How many cals in that Cliff Bar? 200 or so? That makes your first hour of riding well over the 200 mark if you started consuming the Infinit right away.
3- How much water did you consume in the first 2 hours of riding during that first loop? If you didn't get enough, that would also impact your ability to digest the Infinit
4- Flavor. Yeah, this one is tough. I find it really interesting that you couldn't force yourself to drink water on Infinit on the bike but when you got to the car you were able to consume the Endurox to help "settle your stomach". If your tummy was really in distress, I don't think adding more to it would have helped. So this to me is pretty telling. It says something about your aversion to warm drinks?? I'm guessing the Endurox was in a cooler in the car? Maybe what you need to work on is drinking warm fluids- regardless of what flavor they are.
Well OK. First thought is that there is plenty of time between now and KY to figure it out so stay positive. The reason for the big days is to get a handle on this kinda stuff. Second thought is that if 100 an hour works for you on a half you should maybe start with 120 or 130 an hour and see how that works. If I said to you that the most I have ever managed to tolerate on the bike was XX but my plan for tomorrow was to take in 2 x XX, would you think that sounded like a plan with a high success rate? A 200 pound person needs more calories than a lil peep and regardless everyone is different. Do not focus too much on what is recommended or what has worked for others. Makes no difference if it does not work for you. Just because someone is taking in 200-250 an hour might just mean that they can tolerate it rather than that they need it. If you can handle 100 at HIM intensity I bet you can take 125 pretty easy at IM intensity. That might be enough. As was mentioned I would stay away from anything solid for a while. Maybe check out cliff shot blocks, they are like gummy bears and pretty easy way to take in some extras.
Third [and if this comes across the wrong way it was not intended to] there is no boogie man out there at 4 hours for you. Your stomach is not a special and unique snowflake. You need to train it along with everything else. Until you get a handle on it you need to pay really close attention to what you take in on your rides, write it down, make notes of what works and what does not. When you find something that works stick with it. Some people can eat hot dogs in the middle of long rides [ala officer Ford] you at this point are not in that category.
I realize that it can be frustrating. IM is a difficult undertaking. Safe to think that someone on the team has been through just about everything. Keep posting about your trial and error and we call all chip in to help you figure it out.
Just a guesstimate, but you should probably be looking to be drinking upwards of 30-50oz of fluid per hour in conditions like that. Which on a 4 hour ride translates into something along the lines of 5-10 bottles for the ride...which most people don't do. The fact that your water was warm suggests to me that it had not been replenished since the start of the 4 hour ride, which tells me (unless you were sporting a 200oz Camelbak!) that you were probably really dehydrated. Maybe do laps on the bike next time, and each hour get back to your house/car and a cooler with a fresh couple of bottles to replace the EMPTY ones from the previous hour.
As Chris said, lots of time to figure this out - and most of us have had similar problems at one time or another!
Mike "Perennially dehydrated" Hedman
Hi Amy--
Wrote about this in 3.0 a while back...Succeed S-caps are my go-to weapon to keep hydration on track and tummy at bay. Others around here use them too to great effect. Read the FAQs and article and see what you think. Maybe they will help. Here's the link.
Cliff Bars are high in fiber also. Fiber is not the friend of long course athletes. You could try something else that is solid. Also, like Steve said, small bites chased with water is a good way to go. Worth a try.
I think others are right to look at hydration first. You could also try the insulated bottles.
Oh yeah, cut out the cliff bars for sure. Make solids something like cliff block shots or sport beans, IMO.
Like Chris said, everyone's body is different. For the record, I am ~5'-7", weigh 125, and regularly take in 250-300/cal an hour on the bike--and I do a solid 300 cal smoothie before I start the ride. Anything in the 200-250 range leaves me unfueled, not in a good place to start the run. I do Infinit and cliff block shots almost exclusively. That's "a lot" of calories for someone my size, but I've been doing it through many HIM training cycles, and now my 3rd Ironman. It's what I also do on race day. IOW, there's a wide delta to play with, depending on who you are and what works. It's what I found is right for me through much trial and error.
= error. 
One other thing to look at is the balance of your fuel. How much protein, etc is in the Inifinit that you are using. Before I switched to Infinit, I used Accellerade on the bike. I used it for years, no problems. Then they changed the formulation and I started having gastic issues. They decided to put some goofball protein mixture in their product that my body didn't like. I don't have that issue with Infinit. However, I have to use a different formula for the run. I basically dial back almost all the protein in my run formula, because the stuff that I use on the bike gives me problems on the run.
One other thing that you mentioned was taste aversion. Not sure how weak you have the flavor, but you might look at dialing it all the way down, especially if you plan on concentrating it.
Nutrition is highly personal. What works for me, leaves someone else on the side of the road becoming reacquainted with their breakfast. Chris is right, you have plenty of time to work this out. The important thing to keep in mind is that what works in training is going to work race day. Keep adjusting until you find the right balance.
Also FWIW - while I usually give my nutrition very little thought, after thinking about this thread and in writing my Half RR from yesterday my nutrition when like this:
5:00 - pop tarts [400 cals] and coffee, nothing til 8:00 start
On the bike for 2:30 or so I drank about 2/3 of a bottle with 300 cals of Heed in it and a package of cliff shots [200 cals] so about 400 total and maybe two bottle of water, likely less water.
Run for 1:30 or so I ate one hammer gel at mile 3 [not hungry at all but forced it then felt awful for 2 miles] and a few sips of water at about every other aid station. Remember taking nothing at a couple in a row and nothing the last 3 miles.
So maybe 500 cals for a half. For IM I have planned to take in 550 cals or so per loop on the bike. Not sure that I ever actually drank all of it. For the run a gel every 5-6 miles or so then whatever seems like a good plan to survive til the end.
If I tried to eat as much as Linda [who is like half my size] I would surely throw up on myself
YMMV
lots of far more experienced folks have already weighed in... but my first "oh wow" thought reading your post was the cliff bar on the way to the bike. Perhaps we're really different but I can't even think about drinking water let along eating right out of the water let along eating something so dense (and I'm a decent swimmer). I think the haus take on it is to try to not consume calories for 20-30 min on the bike - and as a newbie triathlete for a few years before joining EN I discovered that one on my own... just couldn't stomach it. perhaps from inadvertently drinking brackish water during the swim, perhaps the high HR from swimming and transition, not sure...
Like you, I've also had trouble getting through all the recommended calories - I just finished a HIM and in theory I should have gone through 3 bottles of infinit, one an hour (about 210 calories per)... I never managed that in the RRs, about half that - but did okay... along with S! Caps and water. I will say that RRs were my time to experiment - and for the second RR I tried out a more concentrated infinit mix using only 2 bottles with 3 scoops per - and got through 1 full bottle (better than 1 bottle with only 2 scoops, but not on the money). It's good that you're ironing this out now and I'm confident you'll find your money spot. On race day I tweaked that slightly, too - setting my Garmin to beep every 15 minutes to remind me to drink (both infinit and water)... I got through 1.5 bottles race day and other than a drag of gel during T2, didn't take in anything other than gatorade on my run and felt fine/didn't feel hungry (and with the heat and my high HR, I don't think I could have eaten if I wanted to). I will also point out that my race day was ridiculously hot and humid... so I was drinking in between my 15 minute timed intervals... took an S!Cap every hour on the bike and every 30 minutes on the run. I'm sure that helped.
If it is the warm water/infinit aversion (it is pretty gross), perhaps make one feed bottle and have the powder in the others (or powder in baggies ready to bo) - filling up with cold water (assuming the water is cold on the course) so you can make fresh nutrition as you go. I did that this past weekend running and I was thrilled... I had my fuel belt bottles filled with powder only so I could add cold water at the water stops as needed... good luck. lots of time. hope my experiments can help someone else nutritionally challenged... I'm gearing up for my first IM (in Nov), so I'm trying to figure it out, too!
Mike
I am worried to death about nutrition on the bike, and my ability to ride those hills in L'Ville! As you recall, when I met you at the gas station on Hwy 42 last ride gathering for iAmTri, I had heat exhaustion that day too! I tried the Infinit that Jay was handing out. Tasted okay, but I ran out, and had water until Bob met up with us, which is when I drank some Gatorade. Have you tried the IM Perform? I got my case of that and drank it. It isn't as sweet as Gatorade. I'm concerned about nailing the nutrition and the course. Like everyone has stated, we have time to figure it out. Just got my Speedfil installed tonight, after 2 hours of messing with the stupid tube and neoprene cover!
We WILL get it figured out!
@Nemo-I was forcing myself to drink 20oz. of H20 per hour on the bike.
Also, yes, the Enduox was cold. So was the delicious Coke.
@Mike-I was consuming 20oz. of water, 3/4 bottle of Infinit, and 2 Salt capsules per hour. After the first 2 hr. loop, I went back to my car for more cold water and Infinit. But you're right, I wasn't peeing which is highly unusual for me. The problem is that I couldn't shove more fluid in my stomach per hour if I tried. That's a fine line between not enough and too much fluid.
@Linda-I'll check out the S Caps
@Beth-Maybe I'll try Heed as well. This is not a new problem for me. Four hours on the bike seems to be my magic number. As soon as I hit the 4hr. mark, my stomach doesn't want any more Infinit. Ever.
Thanks for the input everybody! I'll definitley try something different this weekend.
It sounds like both you and Barb are really low on H2O. To me the giveaway is going to sleep in your car on the ride home. It wouldn't seem like the ride was that long/hard to warrant pulling over to sleep unless you were completely dehydrated. If you haven't done it, I highly recommend doing the EN sweat test. I did it and figured out that I needed something like 32 oz per hour in the heat. I trained for IMLou 2008 in a cool Minnesota summer, but I did the test on a super hot day just in case, and I was really glad I knew what I needed come race day. I think this is required activity for a race like Louisville.
As I reread your post, though, one other thing struck me....how hard DID you go? 40 miles in 2:07 ain't exactly whistling Dixie. If you have power, you might want to think about dialing it back a bit in the heat. I would think 5-10% for the first hour would be enough. IGood luck!
P