What happened? Need your input (Page 2)

When I read your description, I immediately thought "Side Stitch" and not cramp. (But I might be reading more into your post)

Sounds like you took way too much on board and tried to race with it. If your doing your Olympic at a high intensity, eating/drinking is almost not possible. My GI system pretty much shuts down and refuses to absorb anything at that intensity level.

For my Olympic Races, I usually eat something very light before the race and then take on some water during the bike after my tummy has settled in. (And focus on staying minimally hydrated)

I will bring along a Gu for the run but rarely use it and almost never take water on board. Running at that intensity (For me anyway) almost demands an empty stomach. Maybe just a few sips of water at an aid station and that is it.

Anything I do take on board during the run usually ends up on the ground beside the finisher's chute anyway

Lots of great info shared already.

I'm not sure if it was made clear but there is an ideal amount of carbs % your stomach can process/digest  if you exceed that amount, blood get redirected to help with digestion or it doesn't digest properly.

That is why gels and similar type sports food like shot bloks you are supposed to take with water. Take them with a sports drink you are adding more carbs on top of the gel.

Add in you probably raced at an intensity higher than you train at it makes digesting non liquid type food harder.

Simple thing to do on short races is just drink sports drink. It has the proper amount of carbs to water and it is made for exactly what you are doing. Gatorade Endurance has more sodium and for example I practiced and could do an IM length bike/with a 5 mile run just on it if I could handle it for that long as that is what they have on the course.

We learn from our mistakes...I'm guessing next Int'l distance race your pre race nutrition and race nutrtion will be much improved.