Seriously. The most chilling word combination I could have ever imagined in my life.
Saturday, I ate an Asian Tuna Salad from a local spot here in Raleigh. So there was some raw fish involved. And when you play with fire (raw fish) for long enough, eventually, your good luck runs out. And mine did on Saturday night.
Saturday around midnight, before I found drunky moneky in the street (see the post), my tummy started aching. Which isn’t totally rare for me, I was a colicky baby, and it never left me. I popped a Gas-X (sorry, TMI, I know), and lay down on the couch. And woke up in agony a few hours later. It wasn’t just gas. And it just got worse and worse and worse, especially after I got back home around 4 am. I played games on my iPhone. I used the facilities. I tried to read (but the room was spinning). And I couldn’t sleep a wink.
The problem with food poisoning, besides the fact that it freaking blows and it’s miserable, is that it dehydrates you, and in my case, rendered me completely unable to safely run my long run on Sunday. Not wanting to completely derail my training, I hydrated all day Sunday, nursed the nausea, and woke up around 5 am on Monday to run long. And despite the itty bitty bit of nausea I still had, it went really well, and took my mind off the profound misery I’d suffered for a few hours.
If you find your self suffering from food poisoning and you’re mid-marathon training,
- Take time off. You’re horribly dehydrated and the last thing you want is a fainting spell or a stint in the hospital to completely sideline you.
- Hydrate. It’s absolutely disgusting, and you’re probably not in the mood, but you’re pooping and vomiting all your water, electrolytes, and nutrients out. Your body needs those to heal and get back to activity. If you can stomach a few swallows of watered-down Gatorade or Nuun to replace some of those electrolytes, even better.
- A friend reminded me of those one. The BRAT diet. Bananas, or broth, rice, apple sauce, and toast. You’re really not going to want much else, but these bland foods will keep your body focused on healing, and not digesting something ridiculous that you’ve chosen to eat.
- Keep it bland for a while. Everything. Don’t try any new, interesting workouts. It’s not the time for nachos. Don’t go to hot yoga. Don’t go to crossfit. Keep the workouts simple for the next week or so. Go to bed early.
- No beer.
- And while you’re sick, wash your hands. On top of the misery you feel, you don’t need more disease from throwing up and the other thing, and not washing your hands.
No more raw fish for me for a while. Woof. Woof. Woof.
Ahhh thank you for emphasizing washing your hands. Far too many people don’t wash them before meals.
Hope you feel better soon!
That sucks! His did that long run go, and what races are you training for?
It was terrible! The run was about 13, and I’m training for the Greensboro Marathon on October 25th. Once I got the first few miles under my belt, I kind of settled in, and it felt good!
I was debating running that. Jury is still out. Good luck!
There was a Groupon for it – couldn’t pass up a marathon for that price!
Really? I didn’t see that. I just knew it was too expensive at $95 for a first time event.
I hope this doesn’t happen to you again… but if it does, I’ve heard that pedialyte is a super fast way to recover from illness-related dehydration. hope you are feeling better… and at least it wasn’t a 20miler (i hope!) that you had to run!
The run was only 13, and it went well. Good tip on the Pedialyte, hopefully (knock on wood) I won’t have this awful experience again anytime soon!
Ughghg the worst! I’m so glad you were able to get back into running shape so quickly though 🙂