Gut Reaction

Week 1: 10x800 workout with 400m recovery jog, warm up and cool down. 9 miles.
Lunch: Peanutbutter and banana sandwich and carrots
Last snack: Luna bar at 4:30

Week 2: Fartleks. 7.5 miles with warm up and cool down.
Lunch: Leftover tofu stir fry
Last snack: Odwalla bar at 4:00pm

On the surface these 2 workouts and diets appear somewhat similar.  What was different was the impact on my stomach afterwards.

Last week, following the 800s workout, I came home and tried to eat.  Recognizing the total failure of this attempt, I climbed into bed, unshowered, curled into a ball and prayed I would fall asleep before the awfulness in my stomach made me feel any worse.  No such luck.  Add a few more sprints to the bathroom that night to my speed work for that day.

Fast forward to tonight.  Reasonably difficult workout and a somewhat "less-safe" lunch.  I won't lie, I was a bit nervous how my stomach would fare on my run tonight.  Unnecessarily, apparently.  I came home and scarfed down some left over baked ziti.  I don't get it.

Similarly, I've had races where I ran hard and then enjoyed a few beers immediately after.  And then there was the 2010 BAA Half.  I had to have a friend drive me home AND we pulled over on the side of Soldier's Field Road so I could puke.  I couldn't even keep water down.

I don't get it, as there really is no predictability to the gut reaction I have following races or training runs.  Yes, usually it happens when I run harder.  I try to run on a somewhat empty stomach but 2+ hours to digest a granola bar should be sufficient.  I've eliminated certain foods from my pre-race or run meals, some obvious (burritos) and some a result or trial and error (I still blame the salmon I had for dinner the night before for the BAA Half incident).  But who would have thought green beans, squash and tofu today would be a winner?!

I'm sure again at some point, I will have another sensitive stomach experience.  For now, I'll continue to try to eat those foods that have been consistently tummy-friendly before races and harder workouts.  And I'll be thankful my belly waits until after the run to let me know if it disagreed with my choices.