Ironman St. George - Utah : Official Thread (Page 40)

I did it! My first I'm and I know for sure this is the hardest in US! I did 16:19 and I'm happy tosay I was the last bike in but not the las runner. It was tuff but great!

Tale of a DNF . . . I could use some help figuring out why things went horribly wrong.

In 7 years of doing tri, I have never DNF'd. That is until yesterday.

I am a slow triathlete and making the bike cutoffs was my biggest concern. I have done an iron distance race before and finished within minutes (like 2!) before the cutoffs. I knew that I could do the swim and once I got off the bike, I knew that I could finish the run before midnight. That is why I was absolutely thrilled when I got in from the swim at 8:41, the first loop on the bike by 1:30PM (35 min to spare!!!) and the second loop after a 20 minute visit to the med tent to check my blood sugars (I am diabetic) by 5:15PM (15 min to spare!!!)

Then I started the run. Despite recent injuries, my running is more solid than it has ever been and I was hoping to finish the run before 11PM. That would cut 45 min off of my previous ironman time. Cool!

My stomach felt awful coming off the bike! I figured that I ate something bad and thought to take someones advice and barf it up and start fresh on my nutrition. But then, I couldn't stop barfing and barfing and barfing. Then came the stomach cramps and bloody diareah. I began to run from aid station to aid station not to get fuel, but to use the potty. To their credit the volunteers were fabulous! It seemed like there was one at each station which would take me under their arm and ask what I needed and bring me a bucket to puke in. Some even patted my back in a motherly way why I puked. That is really beyond the call of duty. Finally I got to mile 5 and a friend of mine was at an aid station there and saw me looking really bad. She escorted me to the EMT's and it was decided that this wasn't going anywhere very good and she took me to my hotel. I puked all night. It is late Sunday afternoon as I write this and I am still puking. I have never experienced stomach cramps so bad. If I didn't know better, I would say that I am in labor!

I am assuming that the error is somewhere in my nutrition. So, that is below. Please help me figure this out. I want to do this race again next year and nail it next time.

4AM - 2 IBprofin(trying to head off inflammation in my sprained ankle)
2 midol (I started my cycle a couple of days ago)
whole wheat bagel, banana, cup of orange juice (normal race day breakfast)

6:45AM Spent too long in line for the potties so I managed to get down a vanilla bean gu(w/caffeine) and a couple of ounces of Perpetuem before I wiggled into my wetsuit and headed for the water.

8:41AM Meant to drink a protein drink in transition, but didn't feel like I had time. Swallowed 800mg IB profin, 2 midol with a swig of gatorade endurance. Thanks Jodi for helping me get dressed in the tent. My T1 would have been 10 minutes longer without you!

The bike nutrition went as follows:
top of hour - a couple ounces of gatorade with endurolyte tablets
15 min after hour - a couple of ounces of Perpetuem (Yes, I have trained w/protein. I love it!)
30 min after hour - vanilla bean gu w/caffeine and a couple of ounces of water (yes, I have used these before and they have alway worked well for me.)
45 min after hour - a couple of ounces of Perpetuem

I executed this perfectly for 8 hours. This is what I have trained. I did have 800mg of ibprofin and 2 midol in my bike special needs at about 1PM. At 2PM I was at the med tent at Santa Clara having my blood sugars checked. I was feeling "weird." I couldn't put my finger on why, so I thought that I would get my sugars checked before I headed too far up the mountain. It was fine. Little did they know that they would want to "watch" me for 20 minutes. They made me promise that if things got worse, that I would stop at another tent.

In T2 at 5:30PM, I had an EAS lite protein drink, some water, a peppermint salt water taffy, 800 mg of IBprofin and 2 more midol. By mile one almost 15 min later(Yes I was walking), I was puking.

I am still puking. I can't get anything to stay in me. It all come up or through in a rapid fire method.

What did I do wrong???

Umm...my guess would be all the Midol and Ibprofin.  Seriously- that seems like a lot to me, especially during an IM race.  Your stomach cannot absorb all that during an endurance event like an IM.   The general rule of thumb is to stay away from Ibprofin and NSAIDs during racing and stick to Tylenol 8 hour.

I don't think so, personally, and people I asked seemed to feel the same. Chip seal road on the toughest part of the bike loop and no flats on the run are the biggest specific challenges, IMO. Plus the water temp.

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16:50 for me.  It was the worse day of my life as far as nutrition goes.  I got sick the night before and started the race dehydrated.  So need less to say from about mile 15 on the bike I battled legs cramping. The funny part is my heart rate never got above 150 the entire races.  But I finished my first Ironman! The way I look  at it now is if I can finish this race with all that trouble I can finish almost any of them.

First ironman done, 14:54. What a great day.

have to agreee with Janelle and Sue...hope you are feeling better! 

13:06 here. I had a great day. No issues with my stomach all day long. I really had a tough time on the hills on the second loop of the run. My quads were just beat down.

Cool story -- I saw and spoke with a guy I played leap frog with for about 8 miles of the run at the Expo Center this morning. We never said a word on the course and today we chatted like old pals. It's funny how this sport brings people together.

I could have gone faster on the swim, but I took it WAY easy instead. In my practice swim on Thursday I decided I would throttle it back and that strategy worked so well. That and I started on the Coke at about mile 21 on the run. That seemed to help a little too...

Good work everyone. It was a tough day for everyone. I feel for everyone that DNF'ed or got pulled because of time. I did make back to the finish line for the midnight finishers and was just sad for the guy who crossed at 17:01:40. To his credit he had a smile on his face. I may not have taken it so well...

Mike

1 more to DNF...

I woke up just fine, didn't really have any nerves for it being my first IM event; well I did days before but race morning I was fine.  I even slept on the bus to the swim.

Finished the swim just fine, a little slower than I wanted (1:49), I had to stop behind a buoy and use my inhaler (no biggie), stopped and sighted too much but the water wasn't too cold for me and I exited fresh.

Started the bike, immediately ate a Clif Bar, 2 GU's, and some Gatorade.  At about mile 22 I felt a tad bit off, half the food I ate would come up.  At the second loop I stopped eating and drinking which seemed to fix it.  The hills killed me, but I think they killed everyone else.  At about 4:30 and the winds started.  On the descent into St George I almost went down from a gust while going 45 mph.  That was sketchy.  My goal was to get off the bike fresh and my legs did feel good, not great, but ready to run.

I got off the bike and started the run.  I started cramping really bad and my lower back would just tighten up in pain; like someone put it in a vise grip.  When I tried to run it would get worse.  The plan then was to walk it off until it went away.  I tried everything at the aid stations, chicken broth, gatorade, coke, chips, it wouldn't go away.  Finally after 10 miles I saw an EMT, they told me I was dehydrated and I was sent to the med tent.  Being carted off the course was pretty humiliating, the driver didn't say a word to me, just asked for my bib and chip, and the racers were waving at me on the course.  I really don't wish it upon anyone.

When I got to the med tent tent, the volunteer told me they weren't seeing anyone.  I really didn't know what to do after that because at that point I really wasn't feeling good at all.  People were congratulating me on the race but telling them I did not finish put me in tears; good thing I had my sunglasses on.  I tried to walk back to my hotel, realized I wasn't going to make it, and laid down on a bench in front of a store, still in the same clothes I was running in.  I didn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone, I just wanted to be alone.  

I have no idea how long I was there but finally a nice local family asked if I was okay and I asked them to contact my wife on their cell.  She picked me up, got my bike and wetsuit and we left.  When I got to the room the cramps kept me up all night, they went away around 10 am today.  I still haven't slept.

That was probably the most humiliating day of my life.

I wasn't going to post this but decided that reading this may help another finish.  This forum usually posts the positives but its good to know how bad the negatives really are.  




 

Chris, I am so sorry to hear about this.  I don't have any words of wisdom as I have never done an Ironman but I do know that time heals.  Why on earth would you not be seen at the med tent??  That seems more then cruel to me.

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Edited by bctri21 2010-05-02 9:27 PM

Ferret,
You'll chalk this one up to experience and attack the next one differently. Did you register for next year. You owe this race a big F U !

Ferret:

Sounds like a very rough race for you and probably wise of EMTs to take you off the course.

How strange the medical tent wouldn't help you..that is why they are there. It is very disappointing to hear as obviously you had some major stuff going on.

I'm glad a kind family was there to make a call to your wife so you could get some help.

You trained, you toed the line, you accomplished much of the race....be proud of what you did do. I don't know how you are feeling but be kind to yourself as you go through trying to understand what happened.

I threw up on the bike at IM Canada for 4 hours and was in a real dark place for a long time...it was something I never had been through so wasn't sure how to handle it and I hope I and others never get there again.

IM virgin no more... 14:37:37
The word epic has been used, and I will agree. This course goes down from here on out as EPIC!
Congrats finishers, especially my fellow first-timers. We did it!

Finished in 16:30 - 1st IM!  Goal was 16:59:59 so I am happy with it. 

Swim was great, did a practice swim on Thursday an was miserable, but for whatever reason when at the IM start the water did not seem so cold and where ever I swam I seemed to not be crowded at all.   I got through it in 1:26, below my goal of 1:30! 

First 30 miles of the bike were great, took it easy, I could not believe how great I felt, then I hit the wind, man what happened to the 3mph on the forecast?  Got through the first loop with no big issues, 2nd loop was a struggle, had to walk up half the wall and almost ruined my cleats so bad I almost could not clip back in.  Serious leg cramping all over on the second loop, on the downhill heading back in rode the brakes at 30-40mph trying to keep the wind from blowing me and my 808s accross the highway, that was intense.  Target was 7hr bike, got off at 7:59. 

By the time I hit the run legs were gone, did the math, needed 16 min miles to hit midnight, luckily I found a training partner and in the same shape as me (legs gone as well) and we set a target of 15 minute miles to get a cushion on the midnight target.  We were right on Target with 30 minutes to spare!  I am an Ironman!

It was a tough day out there, I think all should be proud of attempting this race, it was a monster, feel bad for all the DNFs, one guy in our group got sick and DNF'd as well.  Tough break.  If anyone ever asks me for advice on finding a tough race I will point them here, and I will cheer them on but I will stick to flatter terrain from now on.  Sunday night and my legs are still screaming, going to be a long week of recovery.

Congrats to all!

Thanks for the motivation.  My wife and I spoke about it and I'm going to volunteer, then sign up for IMAZ in 2011.  I really want to show up to my next race in peak shape, and 18 months should do it.  We have some relatives in Phoenix.  I actually liked IMSG, but money is going to be tight next year and an IM wasn't in the budget.  However my wife is understandable enough to know I have a monkey that needs to get off my back now; actually she brought it up!

Thanks Kathy,  

It sounds like you had problems similar to mine and can relate.  I really appreciate it.

I think the med tent was full and the volunteer assumed I was a finisher who wanted an IV.  I heard the EMT's specifically tell the tent I was coming so there must have been a miscommunication. 

There are some positives.  I could only breast stroke when I signed up,  lost 20 pounds, and only did 2 sprint tri's.  I tore my achilles and only had 12 weeks of training (look at my logs) with no big weeks, or long rides after August.  Even though my form was off, I felt a DNS was a copout.  In the end, I didn't think it was my fitness or injuries that failed me, it was nutrition.  Next time I want to be in good enough form to finish an IM if my nutrition goes bad.  In the end though its an Ironman, and you either join the family or you don't.    

Being negative about it isn't going to help but I'll remind myself of it to help me get through those long training days.  

It's good that you posted, rather than withdrawing. I DNF'd my first IM, and agree it was humiliating and painful to be taken off the course, watching everyone else do what we trained do hard for. I found that posting my story here really helped. Grieve a bit, feel a little sorry for yourself, get pissed, then if you are up for it, sign up for another one. I wouldn't wish an IM DNF on anyone either, but it can be an incredible learning experience..

Good luck to you

Yup. Just got back from the ER. I guess the NSAIDS upset my stomach which compounded the dehydration and sent me into a spiral that I needed a little medical attention to come back from. I had no idea that NSAIDS were so bad. Now I know.

Next year. . . vindication is mine!

Glad you're okay and positive about it...I take it you signed up for IMSG? 

Not yet. I still have to ok this with my hubby. They say that triathlon is an individual competition. I think that we all know that is definitely not the case.

Anyone have race reports up yet?