So I’ve recently taken up jogging, I’m just curious if it’s normal, after a 2.5 mile run, to vomit blood for thirty minutes before passing out?
Just kidding, that’s not my actual question, though it does describe how I felt after a short run the last time I tried jogging in an abortive attempt to become less of a couch potato about four years ago.
Here’s the situation, for the past three years or so I’ve been an avid cycler, both mountian and road biking, but since moving to Houston I don’t have any good places to ride that are convienent enough for daily use, so I’ve started jogging in order to keep in shape. I find it pretty easy to maintain a speed of 5-6 mph for 20-30 minutes. I don’t get out of breath and my legs don’t get tired at this pace, but here’s the problem (and the question): After about 10 minutes of running I’m very uncomfortable. My, for lack of a better term, “innards” feel jostled and a little sore, and my mid to lower back starts to cramp up. Nothing acute or crippling, I don’t even get a stich in my side, I just start to feel very uncomfortable. It’s very annoying and forces me to take more breaks than I really feel I should.
Is this normal when one begins a high impact exercise like running? Like saddle soreness when biking, will my body figure out what’s up and adapt so I’m not so bloody uncomfortable? Thanks.
Just a WAG, but with some basis of reason: 5-6 mph is 12-10 min/mile, which is a pretty slow jog. Generally, this means that you’re bouncing up and down a lot instead of a smooth forward motion. I know that when I run this speed it feels like things are jostling around, because again, my torso seems to have more up-and-down motion than normal.
Try picking up the pace to maybe a 9-minute mile (6.7 mph) or faster if you can and see if things smooth out. It will be more physically demanding, so maybe run for 10 minutes, stop, rest, run for another 10 minutes, etc. But you did say that 5-6 mph doesn’t make you tired, so you should be able to bump it up a little.
Maybe your gait is punishing you. If you are landing on your heels instead of keeping your weight on the balls of your feet, it may increase the impact. Also make sure you are wearing a good pair of running shoes. How soon after a meal are you running? Don’t jog at least the first couple of hours after eating.
I ran for about 15 years until my knees decided they were no longer interested, but I never experienced the problem you are describing.
Thanks ** ski ** and ** Cookingwithgas **, I’ll try lengthening my stride and increasing my speed to reduce the bouncing and see if that helps make things more comfortable. I’ll also make it point to keep my stomache empty before starting too. I havn’t been running right after meals but have been drinking quite a bit of water a few minutes before starting, I guess that could be a bad thing huh? Never gives me problems before biking but that’s a different beast isn’t it.
[[Maybe your gait is punishing you. If you are landing on your heels instead of keeping your weight on the balls of your feet, it may increase the impact.]]
I would say the opposite is true. A heel strike, then rolling forward on the foot produces less damaging impact than jogging on the balls of your feet.
Like it was said before, get a good pair of running shoes that support your arch and cup around the heel. They should also have sufficient padding in the sole. Hydrate with water the night before, enough so that your urine is light yellow to clear. Have a good meal the night before, nothing to greasy. A bagel in the morning 30 mins before you go wouldn’t hurt, but i wouldn’t drink milk or water right before running either.
If you’re drinking a lot of water right before going running, well that wil do exactly what you describe. Think of all that water sloshing around in there. Almost makes me sick just thinking about it. Keep yourself hydrated all the time, and you won’t need to worry about it before running. I wouldn’t drink significant quantities of water for at least 30 minutes or so before running.
I definitely wouldn’t eat a bagel before running. It’s a high glycemic food, best used to restore your glycogen stores during a 30 minute period (or so) immediately after running. Instead, try lower glycemic foods, such as apples or barley, before running, and you’ll stabilize your blood sugar longer.
I definitely recommend drinking water before running. Try 16 oz. about 45 - 60 minutes prior, and 4 oz. 5 minutes prior to running. Drink during running on runs longer than about 30 minutes.
Running in Houston in the summer will likely damage your lungs due to air pollution. See the excellent real time air quality data for Houston at http://www.tnrcc.state.tx.us/subject_air.html. Use this data prior to exercising, and avoid polluted times. May I suggest swimming indoors as an alternative?
FWIW, I knew a guy once who reported that when he ran, he felt really queasy and like he wanted to throw up shortly after starting the run. He’s an athlete and had ran all his life, so this was strange to him. He recently moved to Southern Cal from someplace in the mid-west and sort of figured out that it was due to the air. Or bad air. So one day, he ran like usual and when he felt like throwing up, he did. After than, he was fine. I guess maybe his stomach and lungs weren’t used to the smog. (Some of his old friends went to visit him and they all experienced the same thing.) I don’t know if this is related, but since you mention you just moved to Houston (reportedly not to have good air quality), there you go.
As tarfunoted, this is false. Any excess water will slosh around in your stomach, which is at the left front of your body, not the back, and won’t hurt you. Unless hyponatremia is a problem, the only problem with drinking too much water is that you would want to eliminate some of it.
JillGatis right. Your foot is made to absorb the shock of landing by landing on your heel and then pronating to the big toe. Too much pronation (or too little, or supination) is a structural defect of your foot and must be corrected with orthotics. In addition, running shoes are made so that the heel portion absorbs most of the shock. That said, most elite short distance runners do land on the balls of their feet.
I recommend that on most days you stick with “jogging,” but increase the distance incrementally and slowly. One or two days a week, do some faster running, and your body will eventually get used to the faster pace without injurying yourself. Running fast is not comfortable. It takes effort and a certain amount of discomfort. With time, the pace at which the discomfort begins is set faster.
It was the shoes! I was bitching about this the other day to a friend of mine, teliling him that I was about ready to give up on jogging. I didn’t realize it but he used to do a lot of running when he was in the national guard, he asked to see my shoes. I had been jogging in my trail running shoes. These are apparently the worst thing in the world for running on pavement. I had thought that since they worked fine for running up small mountains over rough ground, gravel, tree roots ect… they’d be fine for a little pavement. After a five minute lecture in what you want out of a running shoe I went out and bought a pair of Nike Presta’s, which were reccomended by the shoe store guy. Just got back from jogging with them for the first time and wow what a difference. Everyone of my complaints from my OP are all gone.
[Too much pronation (or too little, or supination) is a structural defect of your foot and must be corrected with orthotics. In addition, running shoes are made so that the heel portion absorbs most of the shock. That said, most elite short distance runners do land on the balls of their feet.]
I would say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, where pronation/supination is concerned. The need to “correct” this is being debated by some. And yes, sprinters, do run on the balls of their feet.
I find that the inside of my shoes breaks down before the outside. I put new insoles in my shoes and get quite a bit more mileage out of them before having to get new shoes.
The problem with “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is that one day you may realize that it was broke all the time but you didn’t know it. All of a sudden you wind up with a torn meniscus and wonder how that happened. A friend of mine had bilateral operations for torn menisci and I notice that he supinates, and has done so all his life. If he would have corrected that problem much sooner, he probably would not have had the knee problems.
Your OP made me laugh, and reminded me of this. After my 1st marathon (like 10 minutes after finishing) I went to take a leak. Another runner pulls up to the next stall, and starts going. Then he says “Umm, blood”. So I can’t help but look over, and I think “OHMYGOD, this guy is PISSING BLOOD”. I had never seen such a thing.
Turns out, I guess it’s not that uncommon for long distance runners, but if it happens to me, I’ll probably find a different hobby.