Ran 16 miles and had a horrible experience after - why did this happen?

[RUNFORLOVE]

Today I ran 16 miles 2hrs 40 mins.
? I had a lie in until 9am, ate two weetabix for breakfast, bacon sandwich, herbal tea, banana and water.
? I warmed up by skipping then stretching, bought myself a Lucozade Sport drink (I can only drink half as they make me feel sick)
? I also had a full sports bottle of water which I carry on my waist.
? 10 miles in I was starving and I had hunger cramps
? My muscles were seizing up about 12 miles and I had to work my way through each stride visualising them relaxing one by one
? I felt slightly dizzy and queasy during the last mile and in pain. I didn?t feel like this with other runs except one where I had a small breakfast.
? When I got home, I felt so sick, I tried to drink a goodness shake but I just don?t like them.
? I drank more water, stretched, ate a banana and got in a bath not too hot. I almost fell asleep I was so tired
? When I got out I felt awful and struggled to eat brown rice, tinned makeral, spring onions and carrots.
? My vision started to go really odd and when I looked at my partner I could not see all of his face and it looked slightly distorted. In the top left of my vision were starry shapes. This made me feel anxious and so I went for a lie down. I could not sleep but just rested for a couple of hours and basically just felt dreadful.
? Why do think I felt this bad? My sister suggested I was dehydrated. I know I had enough fluids when running and maybe not enough beforehand but there is only so much you can drink when you wake in the morning, have breakfast, wait for the food to go down and go.

I know I drink enough because my urine is clear and today I had to stop twice to do a quick wee.

What do you think is the best time to do your long run, what would you eat for your breakfast on that day? How much water would you drink before?

Now I am anxious about my long run next Sunday and there is no way I want to feel like that.

I would appreciate to hear what you think.

Many thanks

Can you get those squeezy things of high-glucose goop? Here they're called PowerGel (tastes nasty) or GU (ok flavour). There's about an ounce or two of concentrated sugar per package.

When I worked on the med teams at adventure races, some racers told me the best goopy nourishing stuff during a race is mixing baby rice or baby oatmeal with a pinch of salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey and apple sauce. You can also add baby formula powder or regular powdered cow's milk. Dilute with enough water to make it drinkable but still thick (so you're getting more nutrition than water) and put it a some kind of a container that you can fit in a pocket or strap to your belt and suck it out of. Sounded way more nutritional to me than PowerGel or GU. Also better for a tummy that can get upset during a long run or race. I tried it during a monster hike and loved it. I didn't use powdered milk or formula, but rather sweetened condensed milk and added less water.
I don't really like those commercial gels or bars like PowerGel or PowerBars, to me they taste like crap and have too many preservatives. So I prefer dried fruit or the above goop.

You can also add ground almonds or a few splashes of a yummy oil like sunflower seed or walnut oil to add some fat.

thanks - that sounds great!

yeah i dont like the look of some of the ingrediants on these sports products.

first container that came to mind was a urine sample bottle

ROFL!!!!!!!!! I don't think that would work so well!! I was thinking of something with a flip-up spout that you could squeeze your home-made goop out of. The racers I treated used sturdy ziploc bags and just tore a corner off to gulp their goo down. Not v environmentally friendly though, something re-usable would be better.

hmmmmmm will have to get my thinking cap on.

what about thos little baby pots with lids, you would just pop the lid off and pour some in your mouth but you would need a long tongue to get to the bottom

I guess the racers had the right idea with ziploc bags after all. I really don't know!! (I remember home-made race goo tastes good though... have been tempted to make it again after a few episodes of upset tummy last year.)
Have you had another long run? How did it go?

Hello

I decided to take a week off, I've been so run down working on assignments - need to hand two in tomorrow and mainly worrying about my dad. He got an infection after his major op and he was so weak he could hardly speak (very upsetting). Lately I just break down and cry when i think about him. My partner was also away and I just felt so tired and drained.

Need a sunny holiday

I have to say I am glad I took a break, I've been training non-stop. I made sure I did plenty of walks and a bike ride. I'm feeling abot better and more positive today. My partner is home and he took the children out for the whole day so i can work on my assignments.

Next week is a new week and back in training I will go!

I will def try to rustle up your magic potion and let you know.

Thanks x

Agreed that you need to fuel up beforehand and that doesn't mean breakfast! Your body can store carbs in the 48-72 hours beforehand if you get into a pattern of fueling up in the days before a long run. I don't like to run less than three hours before a meal or eat a great deal just before running so rely on carbo loading in the days before. If I am going for longer than 90 mins (running only) or 2 hours (cycling or brick sessions ie cycling/running) then I take gels and water with me. However, everyone absorbs differently so what works for one will be terrible for another so use this time to experiment with what works best for you. You do need to eat after as this is aids recovery and sets you up for future training. I don't like it but force myself to have a couple of bananas as they are more palatable.

For Goodness Shakes! has a useful link to stuff on nutrition which may help if you haven't already read it- www.forgoodnessshakes.com/sports-resource.aspx.

hello wonton

thanks for your message.

i def learnt a valuable lesson about storing up in the days beforehand.

i am going out to do a 12 mile run soon and i have been eating lots of carbs and drinking tons of water, yesterday i five (some small) meals, one was a jacket potatoe and cottage cheese about 6pm and then at 9pm I had a pasta, and bed time a bowl of one weetabix and milk.

I am just not a breakfast person, never have been so i always feel like i'm forcing myself. this morning i had bowl of two weetabix (cant stomach porridge, try all the time), one slice of wholemeal toast with honey, banana, green tea and water.

I actually feel like an apple now but is it ok to eat it before? Its almost 10am and i'm going at 11am?

I have the same blotchy vision sometimes after a run, I read it could be due to the sweat getting into your eyes but not sure.

I had an experience like that once after donating blood when I was probably borderline anemic. Maybe commonality is low on oxygen to brain.

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