How do I avoid stomach pain when cycle racing?

Got this question from Wayne about his issues with stomach pain while racing. Jace Drain has provided some answers to areas to look into to sort it out.

Wayne writes:
I was wondering if you could help me with a problem I have been suffering from the last month since the start of our clubs road race season. It has occurred only slightly in the past years events but is now a weekly problem. The problem started at the first road race which we hold at Calga here on the Central coast . It is an out and back course which is mostly a fairly continuous climb from 200 - 300 mts altitude on the way out for 12.5 k and the return is the reverse with two short but steep hills the longer of the two ,Blood Hill is about a 8% of around 400mts in length.

I race B in our club over a race distance of  50 k (two Laps) and once a month a 75k race, avge speed around 38 - 39 k/hr starting at 2pm Saturdays.

What is occuring (that I don't experience in training even with efforts) is I get lower stomach cramps from about the 7 k mark (which is about when the pace picks up at the first short steeper hill) till the end of the race which often lasts till 1/2 hr after the race.  My normal race day diet is 1 cup of oats microwaved with pear or banana added for breakfast with 1 glass of Weak fruit juice (watered down).

I use to eat a sandwich for lunch on race day made of a seed and grain bread with tuna and salad but read that hi fibre for race day lunch can be hard to digest so cut that out and this week I had a small bowl of pasta with a sauce and added fresh veges. The first week I really noticed it 11th April I had accidently mixed my Gatorade to a 750 ml vol in a 600 bottle. I found that each swig during the race I would get an instant cramp about a min later which would ease slightly till my next drink. I assumed then this may have been the problem. The next race 25 April I mixed to the correct vol but still had the same problem. Race avge was 40 k/hr for the first lap with 26 starters that week but I had to pull out with the stomach pain after 20 k's. Today's race the 75 km event  I also ate 3/4 of a powerbar  prior to the race had a good 20 k warm-up but still suffered the whole of the race distance. I did finish todays race in 7th in the bunch sprint although more to good luck as there were only 12 in our grade and race avge was quite low at only 34.5. I had for drink in the event 1 x 600 ml of gatorade mix, and 1x 600 ml of water with one nuun tablet. I also had at about the 40 k mark one accel gel which burnt my throat even though I tried to wash it down with the nuun drink .

This also caused a lot of mucus in my throat.  Lower stomach pain consistent throughout the race and lasted for about a half hour afterwards. I would like to get off the Gatorade although am not sure if this is the problem but would still like to have a carb drink. Do you have any suggestions as to the cause of my problem?  I don't know if it is food or drink related or just the extra race effort causing it.  Sorry for the long winded explanation. What else do you suggest for race day B'fast and Lunch. Maybe you have already done an article on this , my apologies if you have.

I hope you may be able to help as I am competing at the state masters in Eurobodalla in two weeks and would like to try and sort it a bit by then.

Kind Regards
Wayne

Response from Jace Drain:
Wayne's situation it interesting, I suspect it is a combination of food and race intensity that is causing the problem.

With regards to eating/digestion and stomach cramps during exercise is a common problem because of the redistribution of blood.  The increased demands for blood flow by the working muscles means that less blood is being sent to other areas of the body, including the stomach/intestines/etc.  As a result of this the stomach can cramp as it struggles to digest food consumed shortly before or during exercise.

I would suggest that food choice (and maybe timing) is another consideration. Firstly I would suggest that Wayne avoids fruit (and fructose) on race day as fructose is the ingestion of fructose is associated with gastro-intestinal upset in some - eliminate the fruit with the oats and fruit juice for breakfast.

Lunch, assuming this in only a couple of hours (i.e. 2 hr) pre race it may be an idea to try a sandwich with white bread / white muffins with jam / scroll. Something that has carbohydrate but easily digested.  In the last hour before the race can top up fluid and energy stores by consuming a gatorade.

Wayne probably needs to compare what food he typically eats on a training day v. a racing day as this will perhaps identify food(s) that may be at the root of the problem.  However this can take time as ideally you would keep most things constant and manipulate/change only one thing to try and isolate the cause.

After eliminating fruit/fructose and maybe changing lunch the next option may be to change sports drinks (or in-race feeding strategy), i.e. PowerAde, Carboshotz instead of Gatorade or even consider watering down the Gatorade a little.  Whilst watering down the Gatorade means that it is more dilute than recommended it may be absorbed without discomfort.  Alternatively Wayne could give the sports drinks away and just take water instead (use Nuun tablets perhaps) but have a couple of gels for the energy replacement.  With regards to the gels they need to be consumed with water, never ingest with a sports drink or consume a sports drink shortly thereafter as this will slow down gastric emptying and may cause gastro-intestinal upset also.

Sorry I do not have a definitive answer but I hope this helps?

Cheers
Jace