Another race report from Ironman 70.3 Raleigh. This race report was the report sent to my sport RD, Marni Sumbal. I get lots of questions about what goes in the system for a race of 5+ hours. I use to have those same questions, but with Marni's help I have developed an amazing relationship with my food and how my body feels about what I put in it. Sometimes though, you practice and practice, but the body feels differently.
4am - after waking and getting my kit on I ate a kids cliff bar so that I could take my asthma medications before leaving the hotel. I also had a cup of coffee, water, and 1 salt stick.
We boarded a bus around 5am which is when I ate my 4 wasa cracker combos and drank some more water.
Once arriving as getting my gear set I started sipping on my bottle with 2
Scoops custom infinit. Took a GU 30
Min prior to race start and sipped on a cup of water while waiting in line for the swim start.
Once on the bike I proceeded with consuming 1 bottle per hour and 1 salt stick every 30 min. I also took 2 GU's while on the bike 1 each at the 1 and 2 hour mark. I can say that while my energy levels and muscles felt great all day, I did have a little stomach issues after about 2 hrs on the bike. I found I had to force myself to consume the end of my 2nd bottle in time and to continue to drink my 3rd. I felt the urge to pee but could not relax enough to go while on the bike.
Once on the run I still couldn't relax so around 2.5 mile mark I stopped at a port-a-potty and peed bc by that time my stomach was getting upset.
I had my 2 bottles of napalm and began sipping every aid station plus water and ice in my bra top. I took a salt stick at mile 3 and around mile 5 I had strong gas pains that at the time I wasn't sure if they were just gas or
Going to be more. I also had a strong pain under my left lower ribs.
At that point I started taking in more salt and kinda hit "survival mode". I started taking salt more frequently trying to avoid a bathroom stop for I was afraid once I stopped to go #2 I would have to continue to stop. I did crave some sport drink along with my napalm so I had a few cups along the course.
At this point still, completing the distance never seemed like it wasn't going to happen, it was just trying to control my pace to keep the discomfort in my GI at a tolerable point to continue to run at a pace I was OK with. My energy never dropped and I felt I did well at delaying fatigue and managing the heat.
Once across the finishline I did not have to use the bathroom, so either it was just gas pains, or my nutrition throughout the second loop helped the issue.
While I'm not happy about my bike split which was not GI related, I did have a fantastic swim (for me) and a decent run. I feel as if I could have pushed harder during the run, but I wasn't sure what my GI was going to do and I didn't want the wheels to fall off and completely stop me in my tracks. Other than the cramping and gas, I am happy with how the rest of my body felt throughout the far.
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