Last weekend I had an interesting experience. In the past I have commented about how therapeutic running is. In fact, I have gone on to say that I feel so great after runs that I feel like my reset button was pushed. While much of these claims are true, I recently had an experience that was not so uplifting.
Saturday morning came around and I was up early to head out on a trail run as usual. I felt good and had planned out a route.
I was prepared with the usual snacks, water, etc. When I got started I had to take it slow at first (side note: I have been recovering from a dislocated pinky toe that a dork at the grocery store gladly granted me with his grocery cart.), but got off to a good start. Towards the end of my run I just did not feel well. I felt unusually thirsty and when I drank some cold water I then felt like throwing up. The last time I felt that way was my run up in Seattle with my brother, who was the unfortunate witness to my dry heaving after I took in too much cold water too soon. (I am still researching the physiological signs of why my body cannot take in too much cold water when I am running in warmer weather. That will be for a different post.)
I noticed that I felt like I was over heating and could not get the water to be absorbed by my body. My stomach was not happy with my activity and by the end of the run I was exhausted! I kept thinking to myself how miserable this run went and how I am just not meant for running. When I got home I showered up and tried to rest but felt like I was without energy. That night I felt incredibly thirsty despite also feeling like I was just throwing water into an already full bucket.
Well I woke up in the middle of the night and the fun just got started. I was very sick for the next 4 days. I could barely eat or drink anything after day 2, and after day 4 felt completely malnourished. It wasn’t until the next Saturday that I started to feel like myself again. However I did not make it out all week to get any exercise because I just felt like my body needed the rest.
During this rest it was nice to just relax and not feel like I had to meet any goals and push myself in the heat. I was able to be around my kids a little more and talk to my wife. I felt like I was able to reconnect with my most supportive crowd when it comes to running. In the midst of all this I was able to push an overall reset button that hardly gets pushed. Now that I am feeling better, I can say that I am excited to get back out. I am even excited to run on the roads again! While recovering I was able to reflect on why exercise is so good in the first place, so I can be a better husband and father!
Bro I always felt that taking a week off at times made me come back stronger. Let me know if you feel that way as you make your way back into things.
ReplyDeleteI ran this with ice water in my pack. Refilled with tap water twice but was feeling awful by the time it first ran empty. maybe ice water on a hot day is bad.
ReplyDeleteAs I thought about this I recall an article saying the body cannot absorb cold water as easily as room temp water and has to expend energy to warm it in the stomach. Drink ice water with elevated body temp from running in this heat and suddenly the energy needed in the legs for running is gone. Probably best to save the cold water for post run cooling and recovery. I may be off base but our parallel situations are interesting.
ReplyDeleteUna that is interesting. I know that the body has to have time to warm up water so the water just "hangs out" in the first part of the digestive system until it can be absorbed properly. Also the body can only absorb something like 20-25 oz of water every 60 minutes. In a case like this I was chugging it.
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