Minimum calories recommended for IM?
I have had consistent nutritional issues with all of my HIM and IM races over the years. I have tried every product out there, consistently stayed below 225-200 calories per hour just because I cannot tolerate any more (gas, stabbing pains, belching, gagging, etc), experimented with different amounts of salt (heavy sweater), been mindful of hydration and varied my breakfast plans.
In the past 4 weeks, I have done two 100+ mile rides into 4 mile runs on 450 - 500 calories total with much less of the issues previously mentioned. My breakfast on both occassions were approximately 300 calories. I also did not experience any dizziness that I have in the past and never felt hungry (I never do while training or racing).
I am tempted to try 100 calories per hour in Ironman Canada this year on the bike and even less on the run. My questions is: Will this come back to bite me later in the marathon? Has anyone tried so few calories and felt ok? While I know I can run 4 miles off the bike without being too low on calories, I am not sure what will happen later. Any suggestions, anecdotal reports, reality checks, etc. are welcomed! Thanks!
Comments
Thanks!
P
I have a history of nutritional issues (gluten, lactose intolerance) and I almost always bloat up after meals even when not exercising. It has improved drastically since getting off gluten but it still happens pretty frequently, just less severely. All of this is magnified a gajillion times during racing so I have the tendency to eat less and less and see how far I can push it. I am also on the large end (5'6", 170 lbs, 27.4) so this makes 100 calories per hour seem even more scary. I don't want to shuffle/ walk through another IM marathon because of nutrition.
Carie
This year, I'm doing HALF that amount, and doing much better - and I'm a big dood! 6'1" and 200+lbs (at present).
Once again, shows how individual nutrition is. I wouldn't suggest that small of an amount to ANYONE.
- Might be worth having some food allergy/intolerance testing done. Lots out there to try. I did LEAP last year and had good success with getting rid of GI issues.
- Try that fueling strategy on your RR and see how it goes.
- Have lots of extra fuel in your special needs bag in case you need it.
You won't know if it will work until you try.
I feel your pain, as I have stomach issues as well. I would highly caution against reducing your calories as much as you're looking to in a race setting. When I first started long course I did something similar to avoid the severe nausea (and sometimes more, ick) that happens to me. It worked out fine in my training, but during the actual race, I bonked at mile 7 of the run, and ended up pretty sick internally for a couple weeks. Doctor thought I had shocked my system from the lack of proper nutrition coupled with the stress of the race.
That being said, I generally start every season by significantly building lots of nutrition to my weekly brick runs. At the start of the season I definitely take in more calories than I'd need to fuel that session, but it helps my body acclimate to the nutrition I know I'll need later (i.e. even if I'm only doing an hour run and don't need to take in more than water, I'll practice taking in 200+ calories). I have all the usual stomach issues, but after about a month my stomach seems to become accustomed to taking in the calories. I only do liquids and gels though, and only a specific product and flavor because otherwise my stomach revolts. Another thing I did at the beginning was to add in one product at a time so that I could determine what was working and what wasn't.
You mentioned gluten and lactose intolerance, have you considered a fructose intolerance too? Especially since as endurance athletes we take in a lot of calories in this form, a lot of your symptoms sound similar to those associated with that. I'm going on 10+ years of not completely knowing what I can and can't take in, and know it can be super frustrating to deal with. But I would definitely encourage you to keep trying different things, and perhaps find a doctor/nutritionist that understands what you need as an athlete and help to work through it with you, even if you don't get the definitive answer you are looking for, you will probably be able to develop the nutrition that works for you.
Keep trying!
Jenny
All of that said I did go to a talk in the winter where Bob Seebohar talked about successful reduced calorie intake during endurance events in conjunction with what seemed like a resetting of ones protien/fat/carb intake in your daily diet for months leading up to the event in based on ones metabolic rate. Some of the examples he gave were pretty amazing. He might be a good one to talk to if you've reached your wits end www.fuel4mance.com should give you the details. He charges what, to me, is a lot, but he has helped some people I know in major ways. It could be good money spent if it saves you feeliing like you have to do potentially risky experiments with yourself during training and racing.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Patrick, I'm curious as to what you were thinking with the question about bloating after a meal...
I just wanted to know if this was an exercise-induced issue or something you dealt with on a 24/7 basis. Sounds like the latter. I am just concerned that you are going to be in a really, really bad spot on IM day. There has to be someone out there with something you can eat/drink that won't do you in...what can you eat during a regular day? What do you take to alleviate the symptoms (if anything).
P
I'm not recommending this, but putting it out there in the context of this issue. There's been some mention of Bob Seebohar's book on "metabolic efficiency" here in the nutrition forum. I've been to a seminar he did on the topic and have the book, it's an interesting concept/read. Anyway one of the "poster children" of his methodology was 49yo male who did IM-LOU (2009 I believe) in 10:02 on a TOTAL consumption of 860 kcal for the race. Yes, that's 860 for the entire 10 hours, 86 kcal/hr. Assuming he swam something like 1:10-1:20 (and didn't eat/drink during the swim) it means ~8.5 hours to consume 860 kcal or 100 kcal/hr on the bike and run. (As an aside in an email to me on the subject Bob mentioned that the same athlete did IM-SG this year, now 50 yo, in 11:10 on 73 kcal/hr for the whole race, including swim time.) So at least with n=1 subjects, the methodology was repeatable.
Is he a freak of nature? Could anyone do this? Do you need certain dietary intervention beforehand? Dunno x 3.
I bring it up only because it's so contrary to the well-established race dietary guidance out there, yet seems to work for at least some people that it may be worth checking out. You had asked for any anecdotal reports and the like on such a caloric intake, so there's one for you. You might want to pick up the book and give it a read, or maybe see if you can download (for a fee) his webinar from USAT and listen to it. Bob's also pretty open to emails, in my experience, so after going over the material you might even be able to drop him a line (I make no promises, just propsing ideas.) Also I bring it up simply based on the statements in your original post it sounds very similar to this type of approach, and GI distress is one of the things that Seebohar constantly brings up when comparing 'traditional' approaches to his approach.
You have basically a month to IMC, so I'm not sure how much more experimentation time you have left. Since, from your post, it appears you've done IM's before and had these problems, the question might be phrased "if I can't/haven't found the right combination or product that will not give me GI distress as I've had in the past, am I better or worse off trying the lower calorie approach on race day?"
I have heard him make changes in people in as little as 3 weeks. It would be worth contacting him if you are interested. www.eat4mance.com
My daughter is celiac and has to avoid even gluten cross contamination. She has these same symptoms. Might check out the gluten issue. She has even gotten sick from items advertised as gluten free. It's a very dicey condition. She, too, under consumes on races out of fear of GI issues (no pun intended
) She would love to try a 1/2 Ironman next year but I worry she will end up in this same boat. Let me know what you figure out. Oh, and the doc is going to test her for gluten intolerance next. She has the test kit here at home but has yet to have a day she risk doing it and not worry that she will have an episode.
Carie, you may want to communicate with Nicole at http://geekturnedathlete.com/ . She is a pretty awesome athlete who fought many of the same issues in being gluten intolerant. She talks a great deal on her blog of her difficulties and challenges in eating a gluten clean diet.
And she is a nice, friendly lady.
Her email is geekturnedathlete@gmail.com
So glad you got through your race!
Penny, if you know of anyone personally that you could recommend in the NYC area, I would greatly appreciate it.