The Worst Ironman Nutrition Mistakes (And How To Fix Them!)

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Ironman nutrition fails!
Nutrition during an ironman is so important as it can completely change your race. Get it right and all your hard work in training will pay off and you'll have the best race possible.
Get it wrong? Stomach upset, diarrhoea, bloating, cramps, stitches - you name it. If you get your ironman nutrition wrong then you'll ruin your race and have a miserable day out on the course.
Working as a triathlon nutritionist, I've come across lots of nutrition mistakes when it comes to ironman racing. These ironman nutrition tips will help you to avoid the mistakes and instead, race without an ironman triathlon as fast as you can - without stomach problems! These will help you with how to fuel an ironman triathlon by avoiding the things that can cause problems on race day.
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Hi! I'm James. I'm a Sport and Exercise Nutritionist and I make videos on nutrition to give people simple, clear and easy to use information on a range of subjects. I focus on triathlon and how triathletes can use nutrition to help properly fuel their training and racing.
In my day job I work as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in General Practice, or Family Medicine for those of you not in the UK, and work in a busy NHS GP practice. I'm a Specialist Paramedic by background and have full independent medicine prescribing rights.
Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Family Medicine, BSc, PGCert
Registered sport and exercise Nutritionist (SENr)
Advanced Diploma of Nutrition, MSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition
Nutrition Consultant for Hurry The Food Up
Great Britain Age Group Triathlete
Qualified L2 British Triathlon Coach
I am not affiliated or sponsored by any brands, companies or products that I mentioned or show in my videos. My aim is to make these videos free from any sort of bias!
These videos shouldn't be taken as direct, personal advice on medicine or nutrition but more for information purposes based on the latest research and evidence. Unless otherwise clearly stated, this information is more suited to adults as under 18s have different requirements and considerations. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have as an individual though!
Contact: [e-mail]
Website:
nutritiontriathlon.com

[@steve7882]

At a recent 47 mile trail race temp 27C most of the day and 29C at end (hardwoods 40 but it’s actually 47 miles), I took 1 precision hydration 250mg prior to the start and then 1 every hour, 10 in total, for a just over a 10hr finish, and drunk between 1l and 1.5l of water per hour, plus 60 to 70g of carbs every hour and that included one electrolyte SIS gel per hour), I started to cramp after 22 miles and ended up walking it in for the last few hours due to cramping. The next morning I was still 8lbs under my 160lbs pre race weight (I’m 6 ft) even though I drunk lots of liquid post race, other than avoiding what for me is hot conditions any ideas on how to do better next time? I have done many ultra races and the distance and cramping isn’t a problem for me in cooler conditions.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Wouldn't want to say too much without going into things properly in depth with you, but you could still increase your sodium intake more there. From what you've mentioned you're consuming about 500mg per 1L of fluid, perhaps less. For hot conditions could easily go 1000-1500mg of sodium per L of fluid.
Also, 152 lbs after a 10 hour race when starting weight was 160 lbs isn't too bad. That's a loss of 5% which suggests actually fluid intake was responsible. Could trial increased intake of course.
But also what was your fitness like in relation to the course? Cramp can be caused by a variety of reasons. Could muscle fatigue be part of it as well?

[@ADD_AJ]

Hi James, how many litres of fluid would you expect an Ironman athlete to consume over the course of a race? Asking in regard to sodium consumption. Many thanks :)

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hey. Better to just talk in fluid per hour because the amount I would expect them to consume depends on the time it takes them to complete. On the bike I'd be expecting a minimum of 400 ml/hour up to about 1 litre per hour (totally dependent on individual characteristics and climate etc).
On the run between 300-600ml of fluid per hour.

[@bohansen2960]

Crucial ... all of it. Make a sweattest and see how much you loose over an hour. It's a lot maybee. The test should be in a simulated enviroment that is more os less what you except on race day. Your body (and yout head) is not good at getting inputs for adjustments. You need to be a robot more or less. Do the plan. Execute it. If you know you sodium content you loose over an hour that is your number. And yes. Things change and they NEVER go as planned. Be open for adjustments and be smart about it. Heat = more sodium/water. Too much water on a cold day you end up peeing the entire day. If you did a test run in an enviroment that is not realistic to your race your numbers are going to be off. I find it very hard to get all of this right. Test test test and then test your gut and train it to absorb more carbs. DONT LISTEN TO THE PRO's what they are doing. It's a different game and they train different than an average agegroup'er. Carb intake it different for bike and run. And in the end it VERY hard to predict or give advice on. You need to test it. Train with it. Race with it. Did it work. I'd say get a paper and write your findings down maybee. Be a geek about it. But you loose track of your findings. Temperatue, wind -how many carbs. Bike. Intensisty. And then over time you get a better picture of what YOU need. Not what your friend needs. Or other pro's. What you need. It's a learning by doing thing -but video's like this will help you get on the right track sooner than just guessing. I wish TH-cam was a thing when I started out -ohhhh wait ... youtube was not invented at that point in time ;)

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Good summary here! Test, test and re-test! It's all about the preparation 🙂

[@bohansen2960]

And still there is a lot to learn and test. True. Preparation is key.

[@mimi_micha8815]

Guilty of all of these.

[@NutritionTriathlon]

Hah, easily done!