Hal Koerner’s Field Guide to Ultrarunning by Hal Koerner

Author:Hal Koerner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: VeloPress

Vomiting

Several years ago, the North Face ran an ad campaign that I’ll never forget. The ad featured my good friend Joe Kulak, USATF Ultrarunner of the Year 2006 and nicknamed “Puking Joe.” In the ad, he is midway through a 100-miler with his head buried in a trash can. That ad resonated with me, and probably with anyone who has ever run an ultra. The thing is, vomiting is almost de rigueur in an ultra. You know going into it that it’s going to hurt, the ad seems to say, so hey, consider vomiting a badge of honor! An early mentor of mine, top ultrarunner Ann Trason, once famously exclaimed that it wasn’t a race until she threw up.

Be prepared for the possibility of vomiting, and don’t let it undermine your confidence—or your fueling and hydrating. You may not feel like it, but you must continue to try to eat and drink. Turn to the types of food and drink that comfort you when you are sick—bland foods such as nonacidic fruit (bananas, watermelon, and peaches), saltines, and bread. Coke or Sprite with a little carbonation is always nice, too; some runners find the bubbles cause them to belch deeply enough that they can release pressure, in much the same way a plunger works with a clog in a drain. Not eating and drinking may feel more comfortable when your stomach is upset, but remember that you absolutely must keep fueling in order to get through the race. Be conscious of it and conscientious about it.

On the bright side, once you vomit, you will probably feel much better. Hopefully this will happen only once or twice, and then you can begin to get more fluids in and keep them there. Throw up, move on. Make that your mantra.

For me, the Leadville 100 was the race where nausea and vomiting always reared their ugly heads. Something about that incredibly potent combination of heat, dry air, and altitude got me every time. And it seemed like no matter what I did to prepare for or prevent it, I always vomited during that race. One year I was not even able to finish Leadville as a direct result of my vomiting.

Here’s how it often goes down: Mentally you know you must stay on top of drinking, especially because you are losing so much water through repeated sweating and cooling. You also know you must continue to eat, replacing your glycogen stores; however, altitude suppresses your appetite. Once you don’t eat, that in and of itself can make you feel worn out and sick, and then the last thing you want to do is put anything in your stomach. You continue to lose energy, becoming more depleted. Sometimes that hollow, nauseous feeling develops not because you have put something bad or upsetting into your stomach but because you haven’t put enough into your stomach. That can be tricky to figure out. But if you can’t get it in check, eventually your body will give up on you.

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