Lightheadedness During Race

Audio Transcript

Coach Hayley: Hi everyone. I hope you are having a great day and welcome to the Runners Connect podcast.

If you have a question that you’d like one of expect coaches to answer in an upcoming episode, you can submit it at runnersconnect.net/daily. We love to help you train smarter and get faster. Please don’t hesitate to ask us whatever you have in your mind.

Today, we have a question from Susan.

Susan: This is just a weird thing I’ve wondered about for years and thought I’d ask. I’ve run dozens of half marathons and marathons till I retired from those 16 years ago.

One of my more notable discomforts around 10-11 miles in the half, is that I light headed. I drink water at stations after five miles and I don’t want too much water as it upsets my stomach.

This last half, I tried a gel at 7.5 with water. I used to find Gatorade helped in the last miles of marathons but don’t want to mix with gels. Do you have any tips on this? It easily gets better by 12-13 miles.

Hayley: First off, I think it’s worth visiting your doctor just to check there isn’t any underlying issues that could be causing this.

Sometimes dizziness can be a sign of a more serious health problem and it’s always a good idea to get checked out.

However, I think it’s much more likely that your light headedness results from other factors which can be addressed. Since you say that you don’t drink much water due to stomach issues, I suggest that you might want to check that you’re not dehydrated.

This is true if the light headedness happens more when you race in hot or humid conditions. If you’re well hydrated beforehand, you shouldn’t need to drink gallons of water.

Electrolytes are important to help maintain water balance. If you can take some of these on board either in a drink containing them or in a gel with them in, it might help more.

Drinking water when running is trainable. This means that if you practice [inaudible 00:03:12] drinking a little more water in training, your stomach will be more able to handle it in races.

Practice with what you’ll be drinking during the race whether it’s water, Gatorade, or another sports drink.

Another possible cause of your light headedness is low blood sugar. If you don’t fuel your workout well enough, your blood sugar levels can drop leading to the unpleasant symptoms you describe.

It’s important to fuel up with a good breakfast for your half marathon or marathon, something high in complex carbohydrates, with a moderate amount of protein is perfect and can be used in two to three hours before.

If you aren’t eating a good meal pre-race especially if it’s in the morning and you don’t have breakfast that can result in feeling weak and dizzy.

I’ve had blood sugar issues during running. I found that drinking something called Generation U CAN beforehand, can help keep my blood sugars steady.

I use it during the run too as I’ve had issues with light headedness during hard work outs.

I think it’s worth mentioning because it was a game changer for me. I take it half an hour to an hour before my hard work outs and it just prevents that dizziness that I used to sometimes get.

Regarding feeling [inaudible 00:04:16] if you found that the gel helps, I would suggest that low blood sugar could be the issue. Taking one to two gels or your Gatorade (you don’t need both) should help.

Since you say it happens in races, I shouldn’t be having experiences during hard work outs or long runs. If you have, that’s a definite sign that it might be worth getting checked out of the doctor.

If not, it could be something that you’re doing different on race day. Maybe fuel slightly less because you fear stomach issues for example? Do you eat differently because you don’t want to upset your stomach?

It may be worth trying to eat a little more beforehand and see how your stomach handles it.

I think fueling is going to be important for you to look at. Eating before and during running is also something that can be trained.

If taking on board gels and energy drinks during running gives you stomach issues, it might be that you need to practice with these during workouts long runs gradually build up your tolerance.

Practicing your fueling strategy during your half marathons and specific workouts helps you to get used to taking on board gels for half marathon pace.

I’d say it’s also worth experimenting with something like U CAN instead of a gel, to see it keeping your blood sugar to study level prevents the light headedness.

Another factor to consider is your breathing. If you’re feeling nervous or putting in a particularly high amount of effort during your race, you might be breathing improperly.

Taking rapid shallow breaths can lead lightheadedness. Try to relax when you’re running. I know this is easier said than done during a race.

Keeping your arms and shoulders relaxed might help because these can get overly tense during running. I really hope that something that I’ve said helps you.

Thanks so much for asking that question.

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