I get nauseated during a sprint/oly race, usually toward the end of a bike leg, and have to stop and throw up at an early part of a run. Every single race. I never had any issues during road races of any distance (~ marathon) nor any run or tri training workouts. I can have gaterade, Accelerade, gu, sports beans, you name it, I don't have troubles during training. An interesting thing is, as soon as I throw up (often nothing comes out, just dry heave), my legs come to life and get in a good running rythm.

Any ideas what cause this? One thing I can think of is I race at, or above LT and lactate acid builds up quickly. And this lactate acid cause nausea. Well, during a training, my LT run/bike is less than 1hr, so I may not encouter this acid build up to the point where I get nauseated. At this point I haev no plan of slowing down just to bring down my HR and avoid this nausea. But it would be nice if some kind of nutrition strategy helps me to either clear the acid quicker or not get nauseated badly.

Thanks for your help.
SMR

i had that happen once. after a core class, I was running home...i felt weird running at a reasonable pace, looked at my HRM which was all of a sudden up at 181, and about 30 secs later upchucked. then, i was ok after that... a one time event, though...

Hello my dear friend:
What you are experiencing is far from rare, and almost every athlete has experienced the same thing, either after the swim, the bike or the run.
Couple of things that I would like to point out.
You mention that you tolerate well, any type of energy supplement that you listed. Well, might be your case that you are over eating those, and the high concentration of carbs might be the cause of your nausea.
Nausea is not particulary caused in our bodies, because lactated builds up. Remember that lactated builds up in your muscles, not in your gut, and is a by product of anaerobic metabolism.
Nausea in sports is more related of a shift of the circulation towards to the working muscles leaving less blood flowing towards your stomach and intestines.
Bringging down your HR might help. But I will probably suggest to maybe experiment a bit more with your nutrition, like for example if you take a gel, chase it with plain water, to dilute a bit the concentration, leaving with less load to your gut to absorb, maybe cut down a bit the amount of carb supplements that you are taking, maybe review your pre training diet, and go for something more easily digestable. Experiment with different kinds of gels, some are more tolerable than others, and that varies from one athlete to another. You do not throw up during training because you are also under a more relaxed eviroment than a competition, and that sometimes makes a big difference, during a race with tend to push ourselves a bit more that during a regular training day.
The reason that you feel your legs back after you throw up, is simply because you are expelling all the material from your GI that was causing it to work overload, and shifting blood flow from your legs in this case.
Hope this helps a little

See Mom Run,

I feel your pain, (or nausea)
I had it all day, but I know why

http://beads1985.trifuel.net/

Good Gosh, Beads! How many times did you puke? :eek: I'd be worried about my electrolytes being out of whack and getting into real trouble.

I puked in a 10K race...right before the finish line (which totally grossed out my running buddy). I had had a cold the week before the race and did little running that week...and the race was a midnight run in July in Florida! I had eaten (I won't tell you what) earlier in the evening (but apparently not early enough), and got over- heated and couldn't hold it. Sorry, spectators!

Anyway, more recently, half-way through the run at IMA I had a really bad sour stomach...I think I'd taken too many electrolytes...or maybe too many Altoids :rolleyes:

Good Gosh, Beads! How many times did you puke? :eek: I'd be worried about my electrolytes being out of whack and getting into real trouble.

6 or 7 times I think.
EVERYTHING was out of whack that day.

'Some days you are the bug, some days you are the windshield'

That day I was the bug.

Man, that was some agressive vomiting you had....!!!!

I can't tolerate stuff with a lot of sugar like Cytomax. I ran a 1/2 marathon yesterday and did not get sick for the first time ever at that race. I ate 2 Gus and drank Nuun. I did not TOUCH the Cytomax on that course.

I've heard a lot of people say that e-caps keep them from getting sick. (Endurolyte, Thermotabs, e caps). I am going to try those, too.

Do you have a nutrition plan or do you just wing it? If you are just winging it you need to settle down to a plan. Wes Hobsn's site has some good articles on calculating your nutrition needs and coming up with a plan This one is quite good http://www.weshobsonperformance.com/articles/nutrition/sodium.html

I did my second sprint triathlon on the 7/15 & I was nauseated during the run the same way as with the 1st triathlon! I'm so glad to hear that this is common. I've never had nausea with any other competitions, such as half marathons that I've run. I guessed that I'm not hydrating enough with sports drink during the bike leg. Do you hydrate during the races? I'd love to hear if your nausea improves or disappears with adding sports drink.

6 or 7 times! Jeepers Scott...does your head spin around too?

Thanks for you input.

I don't think I am taking too much sports drink/food during a race. For the yesterday's sprint, I had only 12oz or so of Accelerade (more diluted than recommended mix) during a bike, other than small breakfast 3hours before the race. I know I tend to on the lighter side as far as calorie intake during a workout/race. I would guess I even got nauseated if I took just plain water. When I was researching on lactate acid and nausea, I came across an article about empty stomach increasing a risk of getting nauseated with lactate acid buildup. This may be what is happening to me. Since I can't recreate this nausea during a training workout, I just have to increase the calorie intake right before during the next race (oly) and see what happens..... well, it won't be pretty if I have to throw up again.....this time I have something in my stomach.. yikes.

Me personally, I think alot of people overeat, especially before shorter (non-IM) races, particularly before the swim. When you swim you are breathing alot and laying down and so your stomach is under stress. I see in race reports people eating bagels, peanut butter, yogurt, all kinds of crap before the swim. I would vomit if I ate all that. So maybe no food before the swim.

That's interesting See Mom Run, yesterday I set out to do one of my longer training runs (10k) and was only about a 1.5 miles into it when I felt nausiated. Once that feeling came on I was pretty much through for the day. I made it about 4 miles before I gave it up. Interestingly, I set out to do my run early which I don't typically do. With temps hovering around 100 for the past week with high humidity in South Carolina, I thought I would get out early before the real hot temps set in. I started thinking that I didn't eat breakfast before I left and that may have been the cause. Now I'm feeling pretty sure that was the reason.

That's interesting See Mom Run, yesterday I set out to do one of my longer training runs (10k) and was only about a 1.5 miles into it when I felt nausiated. Once that feeling came on I was pretty much through for the day. I made it about 4 miles before I gave it up. Interestingly, I set out to do my run early which I don't typically do. With temps hovering around 100 for the past week with high humidity in South Carolina, I thought I would get out early before the real hot temps set in. I started thinking that I didn't eat breakfast before I left and that may have been the cause. Now I'm feeling pretty sure that was the reason.

A wee touch of the 'Bonk' :D

<i>I don't think I am taking too much sports drink/food during a race. For the yesterday's sprint, I had only 12oz or so of Accelerade (more diluted than recommended mix) during a bike,</i>

That would enough to make me sick. You really have to test different things to figure this out. Accelerade is pretty sweet, too. Try switching to gels and Nuun or just Gels and water and salt tabs.

I just did an Oly yesterday and did not get sick. I ate breakfast 3 hrs before racing (bowl of oatmeal and banana), ate 2 or 3 Cliff Blox and drank water on the bike, took a Thermotab in T2 (450mg Na) and had 1 Gu and water on the run.

Again - you just have to try different things until you figure out what works for you. Some people thrive on Cytomax whereas as little as 6 oz of that stuff will leave me praying to vomit.

A wee touch of the 'Bonk' :D

Well, that asnwers the question I had "So what is this Bonk thing" ;)

Well, that asnwers the question I had "So what is this Bonk thing" ;)

It is a little different for everybody, but when your body is depleted you can feel nauseous, light headed, etc..