Sensitive stomachs and endurance events

[Wines Not Whines]

Anyone else have a sensitive stomach? I'm wondering how other people with this problem eat and drink before and during races and long training days. It takes 2-3 hours for my stomach to wake up and be ready for real food in the morning. I usually give myself an hour before going out for a run, which helps a little bit. Even then, usually the most I can handle before my workouts is a banana. Sometimes only half a banana. Before races, I'll sometimes add half a clif mojo bar, but I've had mixed results with that. If I eat anything with any real substance, it feels like a rock in my stomach and I get sick. Typical pre-race foods like oatmeal or toast with peanut butter don't work well for me. I could probably handle a baggie of plain cereal, like cheerios.

Not surprisingly, I also have issues with fueling during workouts and races. If I can stash a banana somewhere during a training run, that's my favorite thing to eat. But that doesn't really work during races. I can handle small amounts of gu (certain flavors only) or shot bloks, but I can't eat the amount you're "supposed" to eat during a long event. For example, during my last marathon, I think I consumed 200 calories worth of gu/bloks. Not nearly enough. I couldn't stomach eating more. There have been some posts on here about drinking concentrated gatorade or other liquids, which is intriguing, but that wouldn't work during a race unless I carried my own liquids, which I don't want to do (and I certainly can't carry enough liquid to get me through an entire marathon; I'd need a camelbak backpack for that).

I also have to be very careful about what I eat the night before. If I have a large dinner, or something fairly heavy, I feel really gross the next morning.

I don't think there's a magic solution here, but I'm wondering if anyone else is in this boat, and how you handle it.

[Susie]

I gradually got my stomach used to eating more before long runs - I pushed it, by small margins, over an extended period of time. I eat bland and low-fat foods the night before. I primarily go the liquid nutrition route, especially in tri's where I can carry it on my bike, and I use gel flasks for running. That might work best for your situation.

I use Hammer products, and I have this flask:

that holds 5 servings of gel.  I might put 3ish in, and then use the rest of the space to dilute w/ water.  It's much less bulky than carrying strong drinks, and if you can do a small amt of gel, I bet you could do this.  As a bonus, if you buy big bottles of your gel flavor of choice to fill the flask, they are way cheaper than individual packets.

[Brit]

I'm the super concentrated Gatorade drinker. It works great for me during training runs (it does taste kind of nasty though), but you're right, it wouldn't really work in a race and I haven't really worked through that issue yet. I used to only be able to eat plain or vanilla GU, but not any other GU flavors or any other similar products.

Fortunately, I don't have problems with eating before the run, just during the run. Could you drink a smoothie or something in the morning? Would that feel better to you than solid food?

Basically I'm not much help, but I totally understand about the GU problem.

[savan]

I have only run half marathons so I haven't had to figure out fuel for 3+ hours yet. I can not eat at all before I run. I've run 3 halfs and many training runs on an empty stomach and been okay. I use gu and gatorade to fuel during long runs and races. I have noticed that the longer I run the less I can handle them. By about 10 miles into the race everything starts to just sit in my stomach. 2 gus is about all I'm good for and I often choke down that second one. So far that's been just fine for 13 miles. I have no idea what I need for any longer.

[joenali]

Have you tried getting your calories in via a liquid rather than a gel? I think the consistency of gels is disgusting, it makes me gag. I've been using carbo pro and it has worked really well for me.

[clseale]

Jul 8, 2013 13:15:09 GMT -5 joenali said:

Have you tried getting your calories in via a liquid rather than a gel? I think the consistency of gels is disgusting, it makes me gag. I've been using carbo pro and it has worked really well for me.

But what do you do for a really long run? That's her problem. She doesn't want to carry liquids. 

[clseale]

If you could do a banana, have you considered other real foods sources like pretzels? You could try throwing a baggie of pretzels, hell, even half a banana (although it might get gross), in a fuel belt and give that a try.

[Wines Not Whines]

Yeah, the problem with liquids is I can't carry enough during a long race. I have a 2-bottle fuel belt, and I've used it before, but I have a strong preference not to carry it for more than a few miles. And 20 oz of liquid wouldn't be enough to get me through 26.2 miles anyway. I sweat, and therefore drink, a lot.

Pretzels are an intriguing idea. I'll try that. They may get smushed to pieces, but I'll see what I can do.

I tried Honey Stinger gels at one point, because I thought those might go down easier. Nope. Now I feel sick if I even think about them... lol.

I have a similar issue as savan -- I can stomach 1-2 gels over a 2 hour period, but then my stomach starts to rebel if I try to eat more. Admittedly, I usually don't push it during training, because I don't want to risk getting sick. But maybe I should do what susie said and try to force myself to eat a little bit more each week. Like one more shot blok each week. I'm also trying to see if eating one shot blok every 2 miles is better for me than eating 3 shot bloks (which is one serving) every 5-6 miles.

[joenali]

For biking, yeah I know it's different. I cram 700 calories into one bottle. If you carry a fuel belt and just use it for calories only (200 per hour of running). You could carry a lot of calories in just two bottles on a fuel belt. 400 in each (approximately). And then use the water stops for just water.

[Susie]

Jul 8, 2013 14:13:09 GMT -5 Wines Not Whines said:

Yeah, the problem with liquids is I can't carry enough during a long race. I have a 2-bottle fuel belt, and I've used it before, but I have a strong preference not to carry it for more than a few miles. And 20 oz of liquid wouldn't be enough to get me through 26.2 miles anyway. I sweat, and therefore drink, a lot.

Pretzels are an intriguing idea. I'll try that. They may get smushed to pieces, but I'll see what I can do.

I tried Honey Stinger gels at one point, because I thought those might go down easier. Nope. Now I feel sick if I even think about them... lol.

I have a similar issue as savan -- I can stomach 1-2 gels over a 2 hour period, but then my stomach starts to rebel if I try to eat more. Admittedly, I usually don't push it during training, because I don't want to risk getting sick. But maybe I should do what susie said and try to force myself to eat a little bit more each week. Like one more shot blok each week. I'm also trying to see if eating one shot blok every 2 miles is better for me than eating 3 shot bloks (which is one serving) every 5-6 miles.

A number of my tri club friends work with an RD/USAT level 1 coach for race and training nutrition advice.  She definitely advocates breaking up your calories into smaller amounts/more frequent intake.  She would rather her athletes use a gel flask or beans/blocks than individual gel packs because you can take one sip/bite a couple times an hour instead of a whole gel pack once an hour.  It makes sense - less potential for stomach upset, less undigested carbs sitting in your stomach, and better pacing between intake and absorption. 

[mrs.jacinthe]

I have this same problem. My preferred race-day plan at the moment is to down a clif brownie (LOL) and a baggie of dry, bland cereal (wheaties or cheerios - wheaties are better so far) with a bottle of water about 3 hours before race start. Then I eat a banana about half an hour before the race. I carry either shot bloks or honey stinger chews in my water bottle zipper pouch. And that's all I can do. Anything else really ticks my stomach off.

I'd definitely try doing one shot blok every mile or two. If I eat too many at one time, I get urpy (but at least the urps taste ok?) and it's really uncomfortable. Also, the cran-razz sits better with me than the strawberry, so you might try switching up flavors, too.

[taratru]

I'm the same way. I found raisins worked well, and yes, more often. Like 5-10 every couple of miles. I started with Gu and while I don't like them, they don't make my stomach scream. But, they have to be fruit flavors only. I did 3 in my last marathon (and only half of one at a time) and that was perfect. Someone suggested cheez-its once and those are okay. I just don't. like. eating. during running. Nor do I want to, but I know I need to. Liquids (gatorade and all that) doesn't work for me...sloshy tummy = side stitches.

For long runs/pre race, I often get up two hours or so before and eat toast/pb or banana and then go back to bed. I can't eat within an hour of running, period.