Relentless Forward Progress_ A Guide to Running Ultramarathons - Bryon Powell [51]
Dehydration, by itself, can be a persistent cause of severe nausea. This is yet another reason to maintain proper hydration and to promptly address dehydration should it occur.
Poor gastric emptying that results in a sloshy stomach is another cause of ultrarunning nausea. While this, too, can be caused by heat or too strong a pace, it can also come from an imbalance of water intake and either sugars or electrolytes. Therefore, if you find your stomach gradually becoming increasingly full, carefully consider whether you’ve been properly balancing your water, sugar, and electrolyte intake. If you conclude that you’ve previously made a mistake, immediately begin to correct it, but do so gradually. For example, if you’ve overdone it with either electrolytes or sugar, try diluting your sports drink to half strength for an aid station or two.
Slow your pace as described above if you can’t determine a cause for your poor gastric emptying. In the end, vomiting is sometimes the best cure for a sloshing stomach—you’ll often feel better immediately, and it provides for a clean slate to ingest the right ratios of water and nutrients. Please know that I don’t encourage intentional vomiting. This is merely a lesson learned from personal experience.
Runners who rely entirely or nearly entirely on carbohydrate sports drinks, energy gels, and energy chews are particularly susceptible to increased stomach acidity, which leads to a progressive nausea problem. Taking some antacids may help. So may eating alkaline-forming foods. I prefer eating some watermelon.
Although not a cause of nausea per se, a rumbling stomach is uncomfortable and distracting. After a few hours of racing, it is also quite common among the easy carbohydrate crowd. This is where some “real food” containing fat and protein comes in real handy. Just half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a wedge or two of watermelon, or a piece of grilled cheese can leave your stomach feeling better for hours to come.
A final tip for nausea: candied ginger. Ginger is commonly recommended by health care professionals to treat nausea from various causes. Medical research supports the use of ginger to reduce nausea in some circumstances.
Fueling for Recovery
Recovery is a key aspect of training. In the food realm, that means consuming calories quickly after a long run, hard workout, or race. The key window for replacing calories is within two hours of finishing a run. It’s ideal to refuel as early as possible within that window. The goal is to ingest at least 1.2 grams of carbs per 2.6 pounds
(1.2 kilograms) of body weight in the couple of hours after the workout. Match every 4 grams of carbs with around 1 gram of protein for optimal recovery. It’s also important to rehydrate during this period. Your urine should be pale yellow or clear within a few hours of exercising. Taking proper care of your body following a tough workout or race will have you feeling better sooner and running stronger in subsequent runs.
10
NO PAIN, NO GAIN: DEALING WITH INJURIES AND OTHER SETBACKS
If you’ve been running for any length of time, chances are you’ve dealt with a running-related injury. Maybe you’ve had an acute injury such as a sprained ankle caused by turning it on a curb or root—or perhaps you’ve battled a chronic injury such as Achilles tendonitis or plantar fasciitis. Either way, ultra training and racing exposes you to the same injury risks.
Because there’s so much great material available on running injuries, this book will not deal with normal aches and -itises common to all runners. Instead, this chapter examines some of the issues that more commonly crop up among ultramarathoners.
To quickly put what follows in perspective, chafing and blistering are frequent, if not routine, problems that ultrarunners face. So, too, are minor dehydration and nutrition issues—discussed in chapters 8 and