sports nutrition ...
not even close to nutrition ...
and very dangerous thus is borne another pseudoscience!
Back to the Ironman. The year is 1997 and it was another warm one as well as another hard day for the medical volunteers. This year, two of the best female triathletes in the world would collapse in the last 400 yards or so to eventually crawl across the finish line, bringing back memories of Julie Moss. In addition to these two world class women, a world class male Australian triathlete would collapse approximately one mile from the finish line. Severely dehydrated, he was taken to the medical tent and after being treated with IV fluids, he was released, only to return the next day still not well. He had become so irrevocably dehydrated that he had infarcted part of his bowel. From what I understand, it was part of his colon and distal small bowel. This is going just a little too far! These are not weekend warrior types. These are world class professional triathletes.
They have trained their bodies to do the Ironman distance easily and rapidly and yet they are collapsing at or near the finish line. There are other long distance events like the Western States 100 mile race or the Tour de France. These races are easily more demanding on the human body than the Ironman. Why don't these more demanding events have a similar or even worse reputation for collapse and severe dehydration?
fuel ... for the long distance
a lesson I had to learn the hard way
In the spring of 1983, I made the disastrous error of training with sugar, along with some fat, i.e. candy and Gatoraid. My training and my ability started on a downhill spiral at that time. From spring 1983 to summer 1997 I suffered with sucrose toxicity: slow runs with no desire to run farther and never feeling all that good. I always carried too much weight. Prior to acquiring sugar as a major habit in my training, I would usually start a run on an empty stomach and run as long as 3+ hours and drink only water. Once, in August 1982, my friend Ross decided that we all needed to run from his house in central Tucson out to Colossal Cave and back, only 49 miles. This was my first really ultradistance type run. I was getting ready for the Fountain Mountain Long Course Triathlon that October ( 3.1 mile swim, 90 mile bike, 26.2 mile run). Eating very little food and drinking mostly water, I finished easily in 8:25 or so. Those were the days. That feeling of being able to run forever was there. Then I "ran" into sucrose -sugar poison! Those days were gone until the summer of 1997 when, after breaking my foot, I incidentally discovered adult onset diabetes mellitus (sugar toxicity) in myself. After I stopped all the sugar / pepsi / candy those days returned and this time they were better than they had ever been. Weekly running mileage was over 100 miles per week and so was the mindset that says how far today, not just completing the minimum for streak maintenance. Add to that, the realization that, in order to become an efficient long distance person -whether it be running, cycling, swimming or cross country skiing, -you have to train your METABOLISM both aerobic and anerobic. How can you train your aerobic metabolism to fuel you over long runs when you start out with a load of sugar / sucrose, or for that matter any caloric load at all? The body has to induce the enzyme systems to supply your requisite fuel needs from your body's stores of fuel, largely muscle and liver glycogen and triacylglycerols (fat). Your body cannot be processing a huge sucrose load, or any other caloric load at the same time, because this will stimulate insulin secretion which among many other things, puts you in a "fed state." This blocks the enzymatic pathways that allow you to burn triacylglycerols and puts your metabolism in a state of "synthesis" of energy stores which is exactly the opposite of what you need at that time -utilization and breakdown of your energy stores. You will never get to the point where these essential enzyme systems are induced if you are continually filling your bloodstream with simple sugars.
training your metabolism
I remember, back in the early running days, the concept of fat burning metabolism was being tossed around quite a lot. It was said that at some point in any marathon type event, your body would switch to burning fat. This can happen only if you have induced the necessary enzyme systems in sufficient quantity, to continue at your expected race pace. Since I have learned not to eat anything before going out for a training run, I have experienced what we always called the metabolic shift on most runs. Usually this will occur, for me, between 30 and 45 minutes. I usually know it is coming when I start to get a slight hypoglycemic feeling, then usually five to ten minutes later that feeling is gone. I feel good and not any slower than when I started. This will usually hold for at least the next one to two hours. Then, typically, during the third hour, muscular fatigue will start. This happens, however, well before any perception of caloric needs. I usually drink as much water as I can, or load as much water as possible at the start. If your event is longer than three to five hours, true whole unprocessed complex carbohydrates will keep you going. No refined or simple sugar is ever needed anytime!
how do I know what they ate or drank?
Reading one of the latest triathlete magazines, I took note of someone who was calculating how much of one of these so-called wondrous sports nutrition gels or drinks some athlete would need for a two-hour period during a long distance event. How can anyone fuel themselves for Ironman distances with sucrose poison, high fructose corn syrup, chocolate power bars or cliff sugar bars? Figure this, the zone diet even says no sucrose but Mr. Sears is selling "40 / 30 / 30 balance bars." Add one more to the poison pile. First ingredient listed is soy protein, the next four are all SUGAR of one variety or another. You make it to the starting line of the Ironman and load up with sugar sports nutrition. What happens next? Of course your blood sugar soars, soon followed by marked increases in your insulin levels and, as is typical with sucrose, the insulin levels overshoot the amount of sugar ingested, probably because sucrose is not a molecule that the human body really knows how to handle. High insulin levels soon lead to a very low blood sugar. We have all been there: the BONK. "Why am I doing this race? I hate triathlons, this bicycle sucks." After the bonk, more sports nutrition, more sucrose, and the whole cycle of lunacy starts all over again.
serum osmolality and acute induction of diabetes mellitus ... sugar toxicity
All the while, what is happening to the serum osmolality? What happens when the blood sugar stays this high for long periods of time along with high insulin levels? You become temporarily diabetic. The hallmark symptoms of diabetes are polyuria, polydipsea and polyphagia. High blood sugar leads to increased urine output which leads to severe refractory dehydration in an Ironman type event. By the time you realize that you are in trouble, it is usually too late. How else could intelligent, well-trained athletes like Paula Newby-Fraser or Oscar Galindez end up on the pavement? Even after four liters of IV fluids, you will probably not be right for some time. Ask the recipients of IV fluids at the Ironman. The Ironman is probably one of the best managed events there is. Aid on the bike course every five miles, and on the run every mile. Unless you skip all this aid there is no way you should become this severely dehydrated, unless you are trying to fuel your body with pseudofood in a pseudoscientific fashion. You fail to maintain adequate intravascular volume because you are not drinking enough water and further dehydrating yourself during the whole event by doing various gels and power bars, that keep your blood sugar levels literally yo-yoing and insulin levels abnormally high. How do I know what those unfortunate triathletes ate and drank during the 97 Ironman? I really can't see how anyone can become that debilitated in that short a time without actively doing something that was not good for their extremely well-trained bodies.
Never rely on sports nutrition!
Relying on sports nutrition to fuel you in an event like the Ironman is somewhat like getting in a boat full of holes and trying to cross the North Atlantic. I have both participated in and observed a considerable number of long endurance events over the past 22 years. Well-trained world class athletes, without any pre-existing medical conditions, collapsing in this fashion doesn't make sense. What's wrong with this picture? Could it be excessive reliance on a toxic substance like sucrose, or any simple sugar, for nutrition during this event? What is truly amazing, considering the prevalence of this blight, is that we don't have more serious morbidity and mortality from this insanity. It's very difficult to imagine anyone becoming this severely dehydrated and debilitated during this event by drinking water and eating unprocessed whole complex carbohydrates.
electrolytes
If you are worried about sodium (hyponatremia), just add some extra salt to whatever whole food sandwiches, or other foods you put on your bike frame. The absorption of salt along with real food will be much better than trying to ingest isolated intravenous fluids heavily laced with sucrose and other simple sugars. The stomach really doesn't like to empty hypertonic (hyperosmolar) fluids into the small bowel. If you are worried about potassium, don't, or just eat an occasional organic banana or melon. Once again, the body will do much better if you simply ingest your electrolytes as you would normally during any other day in your life. Don't do something that is totally foreign to the human body like ingesting IV fluids, on a day that is more demanding than most other days in your life.
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