Do elites throw up after races?

An interesting thread.

This question was raised by someone at a seminar I was at, Boston, /82. About tossing in general after finishing a hard race. The answer, encouraging as it was, was that you got the most out of yourself that day.

Maybe some elites don't push themselves as hard as the mid packers as they are at the front controlling the race. More than likely they have a superior idea how hard they are capable of going on that day and pace themselves more accurately perhaps?

Yup I used to be a consistent dry heaver More so in x-c than on the track, HS days and college days.

Bump

Upset tummy wrote:

Elites know when, and what, to eat/drink.

Wrong.

Usain Bolt has puked several times during workouts. You can find video of doing so pretty easily.

Every single race, though? Ridiculous.

The Stache wrote:

I threw up after every full effort mile/1500 I raced in high school and college. It's practically how I judged my performance level.

Headcase.

Dejame en paz wrote:I've puked after almost every 5K ever

Headcase.

I used to race a little. wrote:

Jesse Strutzel (ncaa 800m champ around 2000) used to throw up after every single race. I once watched him basically stick his finger down his throat to make himself chuck it, it was kinda weird. never seen anyone else do that though.

Headcase.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

the only elites I've seen throw up after a race are sprinters. Not to say it hasn't happened with distance runners, but it's not something that should happen every race

As usual, txRUNNERgirl is right on.

What the OP is experiencing reflects the simple fact that most distance runners are not used to running HARD. They are used to running LONG, which feels hard, but not to running HARD. (By HARD, I mean long sprinting paces.)

Any sprinter who has been out for a while can tell you about the nausea (+/- straight-up hurling) that comes with getting back to hard training. Most serious mid-d guys can relate to this as well. Some younger distance guys who rarely/never run faster than 800 or mile pace (aside from strides) experience this shock to the system when they race. Some of them puke.

Look on the bright side, OP. If you are puking every race your 800 training is probably lousy and you have lots of room to improve!

Witnessed Kellyn Johnson throw up immediately after crossing the finish. She's a distance runner though i think the race was 20k.