I’ve always heard that marathoners routinely vomit after (during?) the marathon. I’ve heard of football players, etc also vomiting during practice. I’m no couch potato, but I don’t recall ever pushing myself to the point of throwing up (uless you count championship binge drinking.)
I’m sure some of this is due to what/when the person ate, overhydration, etc. But, is there also some type of natural reaction to excessive exercise? Is it necessarily a sign of some type of “problem” (i.e. you must have done SOMETHING too much or too little.) Or, can vomiting sometimes be a sign that you’re doing something right?
I run a lot and have played varsity sports and vomiting is always a sign that you are doing something wrong, as far as I’m concerned. Usually, you’ve pushed yourself too far. For example, just yesterday I ran 11 miles and nearly barfed - I know it’s because I was running too hard up a hill and trying to have a conversation with another runner. I never get sick when I am running at a pace that is reasonable given my training. If I get sick or nauseous, it’s a bad sign.
My daughter took up track in her senior year and in bad weather they were allowed to run laps through the high school building, which had miles of corridors, after school was out. She and others routinely stopped to puke up in wastebaskets and then continue on. They didn’t consider it a big deal, just part of the experience. Yeah, maybe they were overextending themselves.
I run and bike a lot, and have managed to do both hard enough to vomit a couple times. It’s only ever happened when I was pushing to the absolute limit, and also after I was already reasonably fatigued.
In one specific instance I was on my way home from a moderately paced six mile run, came across a rather steep hill and decided to find out what my max heart rate was. I can’t imagine throwing up and casually continuing a work out, because at the rate required I’d be pretty close to stopping, barf or not.
I’ve routinely done this while taking PT tests for the Army. It’s not that my stomach hurts, it’s that I can’t breathe. The mucous that gets produced from exercising and breathing really hard gets stuck in my dry throat. That induces a gag reflex, which leads to vomitting.
When you’re gagging and you really need to breathe, your body wastes no time trying to clear your throat. YMMV.
I run a lot and bike a fair amount. I’ve never felt sick to my stomach doing either one - on the contrary I’m usually pretty hungry after a really long excursion and it’s often for stuff like milkshakes and french fries which I’d never eat on a queasy stomach.
I am pretty careful about what I eat & drink before and during these events though so perhaps it’s just proper nutrition and pacing?
Well, I’m still curious to know whether it is some type of warning sign. Discipline’s account of it only happening when he’s pushed himself especially hard is the type of instance I’m specifically interested in.
I’ve never heard Chessic’s theory (i.e. gag reflect caused by mucous.) I’d be interested to know how many marathon runners are vomiting because of this, as opposed to the tremendous effort involved.
In general, it’s the very high effort that produces vomiting/dry heaves. It’s thought to be the high levels of lactate in shorter races and most likely the long duration, dehydration and general bodily stress in races longer than an hour.
The main ‘safe’ reason is when its because of blood leaving the gut to go to the muscle groups. So its a ‘natural’ reaction in that the body is simply trying to prioritise resources to where they’re needed most because you might be running from the sabretooth tiger or whatever.
Its always a ‘warning sign’ that things arent quite right, for marathons it can be worked through to finish a race, but can result in a performance hit so isnt desirable and they work to avoid it by eating easily digestible snacks and the like, its just sometimes unavoidable given the limits are being pushed with distances like that and some people experience it more heavily than others.
It can also be a sign of real problems where the body is just starting to crack up but you should be getting other symptoms then.
Same scenario for me. Always after an epic effort (during a run or an obstacle course), and always after I’d stopped and was breathing very hard. I’d always assumed it was some kind of gag reflex thing given the volume of dry air I was moving. I never felt sick, I’d just be huffing and puffing away and then >>>REEEEEEETCH!<<< and then I was good to go. I’d never really felt like it was a sign that something was wrong with me physically, it was just something that happened like falling down when I tripped.
See, THERE’S the science mumbo-jumbo I was looking for! Runner Pat, for all I know you’re totally wrong, but you still get bonus points for using a science-sounding answer:)
One theory I heard is that it’s a misplaced evolutionary reflex. Back in the day, our cavemen ancestors didn’t run marathons or ride roller coasters. If they suddenly felt dizzy and weak-kneed, it was probably because that dead squirrel they ate had been out in the sun too long. So vomiting developed as a reflex against food poisoning.
Unless you’re pushing yourself a little too hard, you shouldn’t be puking. I gave a couple of links that explain the lactate threshold in a post on exercise at high heart rates. You might meet pukie from intense exercise, but that’s a side effect, not a desired effect.
When I first started seriously running again after a break of several years, in which I hadn’t done much exercise, the first few days always involved a nauseous ending, often with dry heaves but never with actual vomiting. I have no doubt, though, that if I’d pushed myself harder or eaten sooner before running, I’d have been bringing it back up.
As I’ve got fitter, that’s gone away, although I do still have the rare queasy day when I push a bit too hard.
When I attended the police academy, one of our first PT sessions was affectionately known as “puke day”. They’d just run us until at least half the class puked. Fun day, that!
Little Miss D18 had the opportunity to have a small child’s part in a professional ballet production. According to her there is a puke bucket just off each side of the stage and they get used regularly by the ballerinas. Ugh. She also says that ballerina’s swear like longshoreman.
Our bodies have enough blood to either digest food or exercise, not both. Exercise releases catacholomines, including epinephrine (the “flight or fight” chemical) Epinephrine causes the heart rate to increase, the eyes to dilate and blood flow to be diverted from smooth muscle to striated muscle Mucles, whether smooth or striated, cramp when blood flow is inadequate.
I’ve run marathons and several ultramarathons, including four fifty milers.
I’ve never thrown up running. I’ve never seen anybody throw up running (with one major exception). WHile I’m not prone to it, several of my running friends can and do get nauseaus running. It’s not a good sign. It can be as simple as the fact that running burns a lot of calories and makes you sweat out a lot of water. If you drink a gallon or so of gatorade and several power bars you may get sick just sitting on a couch. All that sweet sugary stuff turns sour. It doesn’t help that it’s getting churned around.
It can also be a sign of dehydration or heatstroke.
In some extreme cases where people push themselves too hard the body starts shutting down. Food and water just sits in the stomach and won’t digest or be absorbed. Typically it’s not just the stomach that’s shutting down at this time, the kidneys can start to go. Renal failure is not to be messed with.
The idea that you can’t exercise and digest at the same time is simply false. In the course of a 50 miler I plan and consume 5000-6000 calories. The logistics of a 50 miler suggest that it’s almost impossible to carry enough energy to complete it without refueling along the way.
The exception to the no puke rule was the “Big man” run I did few years ago. You have to be 190 pounds or over and it’s a five mile race. Every mile you are required to eat a hot dog on a bun with saurkraut and chug a 16 ounce beer. I saw some barfing that day.
Sylla, you need to hang around a few 5Ks. I saw the most vomiting at shorter races,seldom above 10K. I coach high school track and cross-country and you see lots from these kids.
“The idea that you can’t exercise and digest at the same time is simply false. In the course of a 50 miler I plan and consume 5000-6000 calories. The logistics of a 50 miler suggest that it’s almost impossible to carry enough energy to complete it without refueling along the way.”
But theres been a lot of work done on what can be eaten while running, you’re not generally having broccoli and steak.
Its not that digestion completely stops, its that its impaired, so nausea and indigestion is more likely, and why people tend to get very religious about what foods they eat during a marathon.
I saw the most vomiting at shorter races,seldom above 10K. I coach high school track and cross-country and you see lots from these kids.