My daughter collapsing after race

Your apparent focus on her food and water intake as a possible source for the collapse is misguided.

I'm sure there will be some people telling you that she needs to shovel in carbs before a 3000 and maybe even take a gel during the race.

It seems a to be a fairly common thing for women to "swoon" in a race for no apparent reason.

You can go to most any CC race and you will generally see girls passing out/collapsing/whatever in the finish line chute. New parents freak out but experienced runners and parents usually just ignore them.

Here's the video of Jenny Barringer collapsing in the actual race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7PGMHhdC0A

Its happened to the best:

CA State Championships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrTtDxd-4iY

Jenny Barringer (Simpson)

NCAA Cross-Country Championships

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7PGMHhdC0A

Low blood sugar perhaps?

As a coach, I see this all the time. I'd say 1 out of every 10 females are either on the ground or stumbling around the finish line chute in ever single race I see. It's worse at the JV level where the girls are running slower. My parents always get on my case saying I'm being insensitive when I just help the girl up, put her in a chair, give her some water, and say "she will be alright", and go about coaching the next race. Within 10 minutes, they are always doing just fine.

If it is happening every race, I would simply say more calories and eat other foods too. Many time, especially with girls, they hone in on certain foods and that's all they will eat. So they are missing out on some of the essentials.

You mentioned blood work and EKG, what what are her blood pressure measurements? Does she ever have dizziness when she stands up quickly after lying down or sitting? Did they check HR changes between lying down, then immediately after standing?

Check out Vasovagal syncope, which can result from pain and stress.

I'm a former competitive female runner and have experienced this a few times for different reasons.

The first time I experienced this was because I was over-hydrated. I was so nervous for the race (nationals) I drank an insane amount of water the day before. I blacked out the last 1/2 mile and don't even remember crossing the line. After that I made an effort to drink less water the day and morning prior to racing, and if the race was before noon I would only drink gatorade the day of.

several years later I developed allergy exercise induced asthma that I had a hard time getting under control, so I would wait until the last mile or so to really push myself causing me to collapse everytime I crossed the line because I was essentially holding my breath.

She was probably stressed from exams and didn't eat enough that day. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless it becomes a regular occurrence. She may find it helpful to drink a little gatorade an hour or so prior to the race to bring up her blood sugar.

Some advice needed wrote:

She threw up several times.

This was an issue with her diet and intake of water.

could be the insulin response (exercise hypoglycemia) but I doubt this.

could be the water intake but I doubt this

could be exercise induced asthma but I doubt this

my guess is she is either over-breathing or (much more likely) unable to clear CO2 due to respiratory muscle weakness. btw the loaded stomach (food and water) increases the work of breathing and I bet there was an interaction, revealing the weakness.

you can alter her RQ w/ diet or even creatine monohydrate but these would only be a stop-gap measure. remember she burns roughly 200 calories for a 3200m and the water loss is small. I would also encourage

a more demanding warmup. you want her sucking some air prior, not just jogging around. this will favorably alter the VO2 kinetics and reduce

work of breathing as well.

Was it a PR?

She'd be fine, if her overprotective dad would just leave her alone.

Kind of reminded me of this Pre-nationals race from 2007. The pile ups start around the 9:00 mark.

http://www.flotrack.org/video/5156-womens-white-race#.UuwaL7eYZdg

Did anybody ever think that she may have just caught a little cold or gastro intestinal bug?

dr. lo wrote:

You mentioned blood work and EKG, what what are her blood pressure measurements? Does she ever have dizziness when she stands up quickly after lying down or sitting? Did they check HR changes between lying down, then immediately after standing?

Check out Vasovagal syncope, which can result from pain and stress.

Thank you. Yes, the Dr. is looking into this. I forgot to mention that she has low blood pressure.

Former competitive runner wrote:

I'm a former competitive female runner and have experienced this a few times for different reasons.

The first time I experienced this was because I was over-hydrated. I was so nervous for the race (nationals) I drank an insane amount of water the day before. I blacked out the last 1/2 mile and don't even remember crossing the line. After that I made an effort to drink less water the day and morning prior to racing, and if the race was before noon I would only drink gatorade the day of.

several years later I developed allergy exercise induced asthma that I had a hard time getting under control, so I would wait until the last mile or so to really push myself causing me to collapse everytime I crossed the line because I was essentially holding my breath.

I think she might have had too much water. I appreciate the response this helps.

She definatly was out of her regular eating pattern becuase of exams.

BTW to the other posters, this has never happened before to her. She's been in hundreds of races and prides herself on her toughness.

I've been competitive running for 30 years myself. I've been around the block a few times. Thank you to those with helpful posts. I really appreciate it.