Lactic acidosis?

Injury/Nutrition

6 years ago 10/14/2017 8:14pm EDT

I've had a very very weird/frustrated trend of races in the past year. I have run 9:30 and made it feel weirdly easy but have had races where I run 10:15 ish and feel absolutely horrible. My legs go dead halfway through (burning) my breathing gets rapid, and I struggle to finish. Today I had my worst episode and i stumbled during the last 400 meters to the point that I fell and then got up and stumbled to the finish where I then fell again. I was dragged off the course to an ice bath and I was dizzy and almost incoherent. I recovered relatively quickly (1-1.5 hours) and was well hydrated prior to. They made me go to a hospital afterward where my blood lactate level was found to be 5.7 mmol per liter. They told me this was pretty high and I figured this could have been related to my awful performance. Does anyone have any insight /experience/tips? Thanks

6 years ago 10/14/2017 10:58pm EDT

re: VArunner12

He was a sub-standard marine.

6 years ago 10/15/2017 7:33pm EDT

re: VArunner12

I figured a video might help to attract some attention to this. http://va.milesplit.com/videos/232350 - this is the link to my race. I come through 2k looking fine (1:15 ish on the video) and also come through 4k (4:49 ish on the video) not looking too bad. If you fast forward to right around 7:37 you can see me fall for the first time. I'm moving extremely slowly and have fallen way back. I keep stumbling until I fall again at 7:52. I get up and eventually cross the line which you cannot see on the video. Just watching the end of this is awful for me. If anyone has any wisdom or words of advice, I'd greatly appreciate it. I believe I have a lot of talent and a great work ethic but there is just some missing link that is causing me to absolutely bomb some races.

6 years ago 10/15/2017 8:06pm EDT

re: VArunner12

I'm not an expert or a doctor. I doubt it is acidosis. Acidosis in my experience only really shows up after you are done running.

My guess would be more along the lines of delpleted blood sugar levels. Hypoglycemia can be exercised induced and can be effected by diet. Could be why sometimes you struggle and sometimes you don't.

6 years ago 10/15/2017 8:12pm EDT

re: VArunner12

VArunner12 wrote:
I've had a very very weird/frustrated trend of races in the past year. I have run 9:30 and made it feel weirdly easy but have had races where I run 10:15 ish and feel absolutely horrible. My legs go dead halfway through (burning) my breathing gets rapid, and I struggle to finish. Today I had my worst episode and i stumbled during the last 400 meters to the point that I fell and then got up and stumbled to the finish where I then fell again. I was dragged off the course to an ice bath and I was dizzy and almost incoherent. I recovered relatively quickly (1-1.5 hours) and was well hydrated prior to. They made me go to a hospital afterward where my blood lactate level was found to be 5.7 mmol per liter. They told me this was pretty high and I figured this could have been related to my awful performance. Does anyone have any insight /experience/tips? Thanks

5.7 is high???

Maximum intensity efforts will yield levels of 15-16

6 years ago 10/15/2017 11:41pm EDT

re: VArunner12

Uh...how are we supposed to know who you are?

6 years ago 10/16/2017 12:09am EDT

re: VArunner12

My guess would be that Pappy is either correct, or at least on the right track. Some form of depletion is a more likely cause of what's happening to you. I've seen this before, and the symptoms you describe are classic and familiar. Give us more information about your diet (both ongoing and pre-race) and hydration habits. Or if you'd like, post your email and I'll get in touch, and maybe we can figure this out.

6 years ago 10/16/2017 9:14am EDT

re: va coach

My hydration was great - drank lots of water, pee was clear. This race was at 12:15 and for breakfadt I had two frozen bananas in soymilk mixed with chia seeds and later I had 1.5 granola bars.

6 years ago 10/16/2017 9:28am EDT

re: VArunner12

I don't think that is enough for an afternoon race.

What does your diet look on a daily basis? Breakfast, lunch, dinner?

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Lactic acidosis?

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