Ironman 70.3 Florida : Official Thread (Page 17)

I just did a 50 mile Ultramarathon in pretty hot conditions and the Endurolyte tablets seemed to work very well.  I kept up with those and PLENTY of nurtrition and fluids.  I am a fairly large guy (195-200) and a PROFUSE sweater.  After 50 miles I still felt great but my feet were hammered into submission.  The HEED however, got pretty old after 30 miles and I was craving the sugary-sweetness of Gatorade.  My brother had brought some Gatorade in a cooler and it was like heaven in a bottle.  

How many Endurolyte tablets were you taking per hour?

1-2 per hour

However, I was taking in a ton of calories as well as rotating water/HEED every 5 miles so I didn't want to over do it.  In ultramarathons I take in way more calories then in tri's.  During my Ironman's I plan to take 2-4 tablets because I know I won't be able to get as much nutrition down.

I could feel that I had a tad too much sodium around mile 40 during my Ultra so I backed it down a little for the last ten miles.  I would much rather start to feel a little swollen/bloated and back off then get behind and feel TERRIBLE!  As a paramedic I understand the risks of too much salt, however as an athlete I am very aware of the consequences of too little.  At IMFL, I lost control of temperature regulation, GI track shut down, slurred speech, loss of cognition, etc...  Never again! Fluid, calories, and salt have been a big factor for me in racing and it is an ever evolving process with some hard lessons to get it right.

Sorry, I know that is a long answer to a short question but I was kinda putting it out there for others who might be going through the things I went through. 

thanks

No problem, you'll have to let us know how your experience with Infinit goes.  I have gone back and forth about trying it out.  I'll be curious to hear your experience with it. 

Man, no kidding.  My 10AM (read: already hot out) 50 miler + t-run did not go very well yesterday either as I turned into a crying, blubbering baby due to either overheating or too much salt intake (too much salt seems to be the consensus on the dehydration/bonking thread that I started on the main tri-talk board yesterday).  I think it was both.  I only started to feel better after I sat on our tailgate for 10 minutes with ice shoved down my shirt, a cold rag on my neck and cold sponges under my armpits.

I'm another profuse sweater.  I took in 91oz of fluid over a 3 hour period yesterday and I still lost 3.2 pounds.  That's a lot considering I'm only 120-121 pounds to begin with.  As of this morning, I'm still down 1.5 pounds, so I'm taking the day off to focus on rehydration.  

If this sort of mid-summer heat & humidity keeps up, I will be seriously pulling back my bike pacing for this race (quite possibly by 2 mph or so).  Either that or my bod will be sipping on an IV in the med tent.   I truly hope that those coming from out of state are preparing their race plans wisely and are being very respectful of the the fact that the heat index most likely will be near 100F by noon-1PM.  I am praying for a cloud covered day.  Heck, I wouldn't even mind if it rained for the entire race (as long as it didn't stop and create a FL sauna).  This race is going to be a challenge.  No doubt about it.  But, that's why we do this, right? 

That being said, less than TWO WEEKS now!!! Yahooo!!!!

Man! Now I'm scared! I've been training in North Dakota where it's only just recently been getting above 50F. Other than running/cycling in a sweatshirt and gloves I have no idea how to simulate the heat. I'm brining Heed, electrolyte tabs, and a huge water carrier but I might be in trouble.

hi

i am from the north and we have the same problem, it's not hot here!

i used 3 enduolyte tabs every hour. a gel every hour and a bottle of fluid. i didn't dyhydrate. i was very sunburned by the end, that is what i'm worried about this year. 50 + spf and reapply on the bike. even if i have to stop, i don't want to go through that again.

Wow, too much salt with 91oz of fluid?  How much salt did you have?  You can definitely have too much salt but it looks like you consumed a decent amount of fluid to balance it out.  Unless of course all of those fluids were sports drinks instead of water.  I'll go try to find that other thread.  I hope you have a much better experience for IMFL 70.3

jjcnbg:  It was 1623 mg of sodium to 91oz of fluid (541mg sodium per hour- this number takes into account the sodium in my G2+malto mix).  So maybe too much, although I have taken much more than that per hour in the past.  No matter, I'm going to try to turn the sodium down a notch and aim for about 250-300mg per hr. I may even explore Hammer's take on 'electrolyte stress support' and revisit the endurolytes that you like. I have some in the powder form, but I haven't it in a long time b/c I always thought that the sodium content was so low.  Hammer seems to say that it's not only about the sodium.  After what I went through yesterday, that seems very plausible.  By the way, I appreciate you talking about your problems at IMFL.  I really enjoy reading the nutrition threads on this board.  It's such a  science... and really the 4th leg of a triathlon, in my opinion.

ladykera:  Don't be scared... it wasn't my intention to scare you.  It's really no different than if I were to fly up to ND and race up there.  In cold weather, a person tends not to drink as much... and since I take in all of my calories in a liquid form down here, I would have to revise my race plan to include eating solid food if I were to race where it was colder.  That would pretty much require a ball-park guess on what sort of foods would actually work for me and not a whole lot of practice before race time.  It's just a matter of prepping as best as you can with what the info. that you have.  

Just think, at least we all have this board to give us a 'head's-up'... there are many athletes out there who don't visit internet discussion boards and may not have another support system in place.  We are the lucky ones.   I really just wanted to expand on what bcooper37 wrote about the fact that the heat has arrived and that we both had problems over the weekend dealing with it. 

erinmac:  I'm worried about this same thing... not so much for myself, as one dose of a very waterproof SPF 50 can get me through about 4 to 5 hours, but my husband burns so easily.  Every time we come back from a longer training day, he's burned.  We had a discussion about this yesterday after yet another sunburn and he promised me that he's going to take the time to re-spray in T1 and re-spray in T2.  The sun is sooo strong.  I'll say an extra prayer for both of you for some really good cloud cover on the 16th.

Best of luck to all of you!  I hope to meet some of you at the event.

Edited by shellabree 2010-05-03 3:26 PM

Guys, Im a BIG Fan of Hammer Nutrition, live the Endurolytes and their NEW Endurance Amino caps.
This season I also started trying BASE Performance Nutrition. Love their BASE Salt, BASE Amino and BASE water drops.
Did a 10mile run in the humid rain this morning,
took 4 Hammer Amino caps and 3 Hammer Race caps 45mins before starting run.
Then here is the bottle I made up, sipped during the run, worked great:
24oz bottle of water, few ice cubes (to break up/mix power)
1.5 scoops of Power Bar Endurance
1 scoop of BASE Amino

5 scoop of BASE Salt

5 cap of BASE H2o

also had a gel every 3 miles on the run, never felt better. 10mi "easy" run @ 9:13min mi, avg HR 143.

FM
"The" Cube

Soooo what you are all saying is my training right now of two water bottles on the run isn't going to cut it?    This nutrition is the one thing I know I am going to do wrong but I am just hoping I can deal with what comes.  I will get some endurolyte tablets and make sure to eat while I run and bike.  I figure I will just have to deal with the rest. 

On another note---where the heck are our bib numbers!!!!   They said about 2 weeks out and we are less than that dang it!!!

See you at the swims.....Cooper, I'll give you a call about Wednesday night.

FWIW, lots of people mention using HEED from Hammer on triathlons/long runs, if you haven't, I'd suggest you consider trying Perpetum. (though not for the first time at the race!)  I've had great luck with it on longer training runs/rides- pretty much following Hammer's guideline of activity over 2 hours.  Aside from having protein, which HEED does not, the sodium jumps up from 40mg in HEED to 220mg per serving of Perpetum.   Toss in some endurolytes, a shot of gel here and there, and I should be good to go.  

hi shell

yes, i'll take ur prayers!! i actually had sun poisoning. everything swelled up. i applied in t1 and t2 the sun is way crazy down there. i have a little bit of a base this year. hoping for great weather for the next two weeks to build it up a tad bit more. please tell ur husband to be careful.

Current weather forecast for May 16th:

High 88 degrees / Low 70 degrees
Sunny and humid
Winds E 6mph Gusts of 12mph

Awesome! 

I am really liking this part!  I hope it stays that way!  

Wow...  Did I see a possible heat index of 103 for the 16th...???!!!!  Think I'll need to buy another pack of Endurolyte Tabs. 
Just a little tip that helped me was to set my watch to beep every 15min so I wouldn't go any longer than that to drink.  It can be easy to get cought up in everything going on, more so if this is your 1st HIM, and not get in your hydration.

been following this thread and see it is looking hot over in FL right now (and around 5 degrees again in london).

quick question - looks like we get gatorade thirst quencher to drink on the bike and run - thats not as electrolyte-y as gatorade endurance is it?

have bought some hammer endurolytes (neither hammer nor gatorade are popular in the UK so don't know much about them) and will trying to work out how many to try and take - its going to be a tough race thats for sure! 

 

hi

they give us gatorade endurance formula. it's orange flavor, yuck.

i brought a insultated lunch bag with with me last year and froze my drinks for the run and by the time i got to the run they were still cold.

Same strategy here... we're used to certain products and not likely to switch for race day.  We'll be preparing bottles the night before for run and bike... nothing like ice cold perpetum to deal with the heat! 

Yep, the husband and I will be doing the same thing.  I suspect that transition may be loaded with insulated lunch bags.  

ooh that is a good idea - there will be nothing like a cold drink I suspect. Hope they have lots of ice, was a lifesaver at Vineman last year!

Alright some more questions for you experienced 70.3 racers.  I am trying to put together my race plan and I am not sure what to expect exactly.  I am used to the amenities of the full ironman so I am not sure what we are responsible for.  

With transitions, am I understanding correctly that we are responsible for our own transition bag and we leave it next to our bike?  Do they give us bags to use like in the fulls or do we have to literally bring a bag of some sort.  What kind of surface is it by the bikes?  Do I need to bring a bunch of towels and water to wipe sand and dirt off my feet during transitions?  When we come back in from the bike do volunteers take the bike or are you responsible for racking it?

The athlete guide is somewhat vague on specifics and I don't want to plan on something being there that isn't.  Thanks guys!!  

11 Days 11 Hours 18 Minutes......... 

hi

u are responsible for all of it. ur own bag, towels, racking your bike. the bikes are on grass. the bag stays with ur spot by ur bike.