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I'm training for a half marathon and I'm up in the 8-10 mile range and fairly new to paleo. I typically eat some eggs and bacon and a half of banana or so before the training runs, and nothing during. Just water. My last two training runs, I've become really nauseous around mile 6-7. It passes, but never really goes away.

then today I was out for a 10 miler, hit my wall, finished, and was miserably nauseous for a few hours afterward. My race is in two weeks and I'm wondering what the heck I should eat prior too (sweet potatoes?) Any nutrition during? coconut water?

Any sugguestions would be really helpful.

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Your nausea is from the bacon and eggs. I ate an omelet the morning before a 1/2 once. Big mistake. Probably added 15 minutes to my time. Eat ripe (spots) bananas and nothing else. You don't need anything else. castlegrok.com/174-days-of-fruit/#comment-3094 – Grok May 22 2011 at 2:15

8 Answers

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I've never been a runner. That being said I would think a bunch of starch the night before and the morning before the run would good. Cordain has a book exactly about this "paleo diet for athletes".

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Sorry...I only run when chased. – pamipoi May 22 2011 at 1:30
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I did a recent 10 mile run after a little pot roast for breakfast and a banana about an hour before the race. You really don't need to do anything extra fancy or different with your food to be able to run - just eat normally. I believe a lot of this is a mental thing. We're conditioned to the idea that runners need to carb-load or slurp fancy beverages.

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I did a marathon a few months ago, wasn't 100% paleo at the time but breads and pasta still were enough to make me sick. I stuck to a banana with almond butter and some coconut water about 1-2hrs before the race. Managed to finish in good time then used coconut water for recovery right after. felt good the next day...even without really running pre-race. I think the coconut water was the trick. but everyone is different, you just gotta figure out what works for you.

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This is exactly what I was going to say, banana and almond butter! I used to do english muffin with peanut butter and this is my replacement. – sherpamelissa May 23 2011 at 2:30
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I haven't put in that kind of mileage yet - longest run yet is 6.4 miles, just yesterday. I fueled it with nearly the same thing as you - eggs, cheese, heavy cream, and liverwurst, about 6 hours beforehand. I was slightly higher than my aerobic zone the whole time. I feel like I could've kept going, but the limiting factor for me was my muscles and ligaments not being ready to support that duration just yet.

I also don't eat anything during, but I also don't drink water. Yet. Maybe when I get to a little higher mileage I'll need some hydration too. I do make sure I'm hydrated before I go out.

Last weekend I did a short aquathlon (like a triathlon, but no bike portion (that part was cancelled due to weather in Chicago)). I fueled similarly, 4-5 hours beforehand, but the night prior had a ton of sashimi with about a cup of rice.

You say you're relatively new to paleo, maybe your body just yet isn't fully adapted to running on fat? I've been eating somewhat low carb paleo (with occasional/weekly healthy carb 'refeeds') for a couple of years now, so maybe that has something to do with it.

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I'm a runner too. Long runs up to 16 miles right now. I'll either eat a bunch of sweet potato or rice about 2 hours before a morning run, or I'll eat a larger morning meal (like leftover meat and sweet potato) and run later in the day after I've had a chance to digest a bit. If I eat a bunch of fat/protein as my pre-run meal I feel really nauseated and don't perform as well. And I never eat during runs, races included, so I can't help there.

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A nice steak dinner can usually get me through a 20 mile training run the next morning as long as I don't run too hard. I also tend to do better if I drink a couple of NorCal margaritas as well.
During marathons, I find I won't bonk if I supplement with Margarita ShotBloks but am still experimenting with more "natural" alternatives. I still have a lot to learn for nutrition on long trail runs and ultras. I'll figure it out eventually.

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I'm a distance runner too, and like you, I'm still fairly new to the paleo diet (going on my second month). I run in the morning, and after experimenting a little bit, I found that adding a sweet potato for dinner the night before and 1/2 a banana before my run has helped tremendously. I should note that I usually run 5-10 miles. If running more than 10 miles, I would up the starch even more (another sweet potato).

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Read up on Stu Mittleman and his book called Slow Burn. Although I'm not sure I agree with him on everything in his book, I am fascinated by his diet.
And since I'm always tweaking my diet, I'm going to try his method for a bit and see how it impacts my distance running.

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