Jordan Rapp - IMTX Nutrition Report
The amount of calories he is able to handle combined with the level of exertion he puts out is staggering. 342 cals/hour on the run made me barf just by reading it.
I don't know what part of his genetic makeup is more impressive - his legs or his digestive tract.
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Try it out in training: see how high you can tolerate the caloric intake, what's the best balance for you? For me, it's 350-400 kcal/hr, every hour. When I slack off, I suffer, and my events are often longer than 24 hours.
Very cool to see that breakdown. Keep in mind though that since he's incredibly fast, Rapp (along with lots of other pros, I imagine) has a ridiculously high metabolic efficiency, so he can afford to fill the tank with massive calories that us mere mortals can't tolerate.
That part got me thinking as well. I like Jordan's point about the chocolate. I'll take any excuse to eat a chocolate bar.
I like this post by the guy from First Endurance (they make EFS):
Robert here with First Endurance. We consult many pro and amateur athletes on their race nutrition.
I wanted to take a minute to clarify the often mismanaged struggle with ingesting too many calories. More often than not an athlete bonks on a long training session or gets gastric distress and looks to their fuel consumption. IF its a bonk, the first thought is to consume more calories. If its gastric distress, they blame the fuel or assume its too many calories. Ultimately the quality of the calories fixes both of these issues without changing the total caloric consumption. It is important to attempt to consume all calories in approximately an 8% solution and ideally only consume fast calories. This roughly equates to 100 calories for every 12oz of fluid. Where athletes get in trouble is typically when they consume bars or gels or items with protein concentrates, fiber, fats. Even when consuming a well formulated bar or gel, for every 100 calories you should be drinking 12oz of fluid or you run the risk of gastric distress or bonking. In Jordan's case he deliberately and systematically prepares his digestive system in the days leading up to the race to efficiently absorb calories and then consumes only fast absorbing fuel at an appropriate concentration. As a professional looking to win Ironman races, Jordan also races at an intensity that burns a lot of glucose and hence he is required to consume more fuel in order to spare his glycogen. At a pace that is considerably lower than threshold the body is much more efficient at burning fat and hence less calories can be used. Most athletes with some adjustments can increase their consumption and reduce their risk of gastric distress by incorporating some of these techniques.
What is often misunderstood is the practice of consuming only fast calories for long distance racing. Athletes understand we have approximately 2 hours worth of glycogen stored in our muscles, once this runs out we bonk. As this glycogen is depleted our performance starts to suffer. The goal of Ironman fueling is to preserve this glycogen for as long as possible in a race. Consuming something that is slow to absorb means your body must tap into its glycogen prematurely. Slow absorption also means that digestion is stuck in the gut and can then begin to 'back things up'. An athlete that sticks to an 8% solution of fast absorbing calories significantly improves their ability to quickly absorb and use those calories so your spare muscle glycogen. The end result is that you hang on to your glycogen until late in the race (the run) where the absorption of calories becomes more difficult. During the run, when you can absorb less calories per hour your body can rely on some of its stored glycogen to help fuel a strong finish.
Key
1) 8% solution in hot environments
2) Only fast absorbing calories
Sorry folks. That's the one EN philosophy I 100% disagree with and makes absolutely no sense to me.
#1 - Bob is right...getting up mid-sleep to fuel is questionable at best.
#2 - The Breakfast that Jordan eats sounds interesting and tasty! I am going to try a variation of that list and see how it goes. Beats the hell out of a bagel and a banana.
This is definitely an interesting read! Thanks Haus!!!
Just to add to the mix, how does a person's size play into this? I know there are general formulas for the amount of calories you should take in on a daily basis, but race day is extreme. One local sports nutritionist suggested that I could train my body to ingest upwards of 500 calories/hr. For me, 300 cal/hr is easy, and my intensity has been building which is leaving me depleted.
I'm looking at the calories Garmin sez I burn per hour, and it doesn't seem like I can even touch that with "during"-event nutrition.
It's daunting. IM WI will be my first IM and I'll be in a total deficit for the day probably even the week following.
RE the suggestion to take in 12 oz of water for every 100 calories, where does that leave those of us who don't sweat much? If I drank that much on the bike, I'd be peeing gallons every 10 minutes. If I drank that much on the run, I could easily have to make 8 - 10 porta-potty stops. That doesn't do much for one's overall time, especially if there's a wait for the potties.
This is one area where I really struggle with nutrition - taking in enough fluid for my gut to absorb the calories, without drowning myself. I'd love to know how other low-sweat-rate folks deal with this.
Robin,
The advice was for hot, humid weather like Jordan experienced at IMTX. I don't think IMCDA will be the same in that regard.
It's probably not as astronomical an amount as you'd think. Take the Ironman Perform drink they serve on the bike course at an IM or IM70.3 event. It's 175 cals in 20 oz. of fluid which is 8.75%. The amounts are spread out over time. He's not saying that you must immediately guzzle 20 oz. of water if you took in a Gu gel. Let's say your goal was 250 cals/hour in whatever way you get your cals. You'd want to drink about 30 oz. of fluid over that hour to get 8.33%. You could certainly get away with less if the weather was cooler or less humid or you're not a heavy sweater.
Sam, there isn't a human on earth who can take in as many calories as they burn during an IM. Your body cannot process the amount of calories it would take to "break even." Do not even think about it. You'll be in a deficit. It's the trial and error and balancing act we all play in training and race day trying to figure out how many calories we can process. It won't be close to the amount you'll expend that day.
I tried to nearly match calorie in vs calorie out during the bike portion of a 70.3 three years ago. I took in some asinine amount of calories... like 2000 calories for a 2:45 bike ride. Apparently I would've needed 240 oz. of fluid to make that work.
It went real, real bad on the run after the first three miles or so. My digestive system pretty much shut down. There was a lot of vomiting. The last half of the run was horrible. By a lot of vomiting I don't mean a couple of good hurls. I'm talking three dozen Exorcist-esque blasts that lasted several hours. I hurled all over every square inch of the Texas 70.3 run course. I barfed on my finisher's medal (yes I finished as I walked and crawled my ass around the run course and still manged a 6:20). I then barfed in the med tent... then the ambulance... then the hospital. Then there was the severe dehydration since most of the water I drank during the race just sat in my gut... until I threw it all up. The barfing and dehydration were not the worst part. The worst part was the stomach cramps. I don't use a term like debilitating lightly but the cramps were debilitating.
I offer up that horror story to completely erase any thought from your head that you can match calories in vs calories out. It's just not possible.
@ Bob, Thanks, It just scares me to think of the calories that I burn. After a recent bike-run workout, I tried to keep track of all the calories I took in to see what it would take to match input and output. I had 6000 calories out, and only about 5000 in, and my stomach hurt. I had about 400 calories before, 800 during, and the rest after split over 2 or 3 meals. This was a 1:30:00 bike and about a 3 hour run.
My stomach hurt from the amount of food after exercise, not during.
The big change is an emphasis on a regular training basis from just training with minimal nutrition to fueling every workout like a race....I think EN can improve here...more soon!!!
As Patrick noted, don't be concerned about the calories after when thinking about race execution. You need to get through the day... and then worry about recovery.
Using your example and assuming your glycogen store was approximately 2000 cals, you had about 3200 cals in and 6000 cals out.
Looking forward to the insight!