Gut distress during endurance events

[ny biker]

This is good:

http://trainright.com/gut-check-techniques-to-keep-your-gut-from-ending-your-race-early/

It discusses research into problems faced by ultramarathoners, including what causes non-finishers to drop out. By far, the most common problem for finishers and non-finishers was stomach distress.

Advice for dealing with gut problems includes slowing down and cooling off.

I would add that on cooler days, I think I've had stomach problems because I was too cold, and my body couldn't handle keeping warm and digesting food at the same time.

I'm interested to know if anyone here has used ginger during a ride or run to help with stomach problems.

[WindingRoad]

NY Biker yeah I try to keep those Trader Joe's Ginger Snaps on hand before rides. I have a gnarly stomach in the AM due to my sinus drainage and the ginger in those really helps calm things down. I also sometimes drink a coke in the am just to 'burn' things out of my throat. I digress... yes I think the ginger works well. ;)

[jessmarimba]

I keep those ginger chew candies with me. They both calm my stomach and distract me for miles as I pick candy chunks out of my teeth.

It's no wonder my dentist hates me.

Coke can also help settle my stomach, but I don't really know why. Could just be that the carbonation helps speed everything into moving out of my stomach faster.

[Pedal Wench]

I had to drop out of my 24-hour race this year because of stomach issues. I wish I had ginger with me.

[nscrbug]

While I can't attest to how well it works during an endurance event...I have a box of Reed's Ginger Candy Chews (can be found at Trader Joe's) that I keep on hand to help settle my stomach on occasion. According to the box, the ingredients are - sugar, ginger, tapioca starch...in that order. They have a fairly strong taste, IMO. Personally, I'd much rather have a glass of flat Ginger Ale to calm an upset tummy. I love Ginger Ale, but gave up drinking pop about 10 years ago...but I will allow myself a glass or two, around the holidays.

[wyld thang]

HI! this article might help http://www.ethiopianreview.com/health/201002/?p=146049

Total YES on learning how to energy yourself in endurance efforts. I can't drink straight Gatorade or something like gu when riding, my guts turn to mush. I only have water in my camelback(and start out well hydrated, this begins a few days/week before and you can't do this right before the event to "catch up"), I sip it all along the way and avoid dumping a large amount of water in my stomach at one time, which I hate the sloshing feeling too. I take dense/high calorie food--dried fruit(cut up into bits), nuts, PBJ sandwich I eat by the bite, and a Snickers bar for bonking(emergency). I like the dense food, it's small volume doesn't feel like anything in my stomach, and I nibble all along the way so there's never a lot of stuff in my stomach that sucks energy for digestion and I have a steady trickle of stuff going through to keep energy up. The trail mix combo also has carb/fat/protein--you need that balance.

How I eat in the morning and supper(after, during recovery) makes a difference too. Best breakfast is yogurt(1 cup) with granola(1/3 cup) and a cup of oj. At least an hour before leaving. If I haven't pooped(sorry) a cup of strong coffee to get that over with. At the end of the day I first either drink a big glass of milk or a hunk of meat and a big cold drink, then dinner has a nice hunk of protein and carbs like beans, big salad, lots of water. Then I have all night to absorb that, digest it, store it, recover for the next day.

This is what works for me, your mileage might vary. THis is what I've done both riding the dirt bike 90-100 miles of trail a day over several days, and several days of 75+ miles of bike touring(which I don't like to stop and fart around during).

Keeping the brain sharp and focused so you can make good technical decisions is something people kinda forget about too, while they focus on power. Keeping your brain alert also makes a huge difference in attitude, if you keep up your grrrr you're able to pull stuff out of nowhere when you think you've got nothing left to give.

But all of this is not at peak effectiveness unless you've done the homework to teach your body to burn the energy more efficiently--ie your cardio is fit as possible, more volume per stroke.

[wyld thang]

PS, I looked at the nausea problem from the angle of WHY it's happening and addressed that, instead of looking for ways to fix it once it happened.

Not saying I never ever get it tho--I will get some ginger to have on hand:D