Training & Nutrition - Exercise induced nausea

I ran into an unexpected barrier while exercising today. I'm relatively fit and enjoy recreational cycling, and to stay fit this winter I've been playing on a stationary bike (one of those cool one's with the virtual landscapes than pan on a screen in front of you :thumb:).

Normally, I ride at an average exertion of 200-220 watts if riding for half-an-hour. But today I felt up for a challenge, so I hammered non-stop and averaged 300 watts for a half hour ride (there were simulated rolling hills where I stayed around 500-600 watts, and maintained 200+ watts on the flats and down-hills, resulting in the high over-all average, for me at least :rolleyes:). I was feeling great and in the zone while riding, but the moment I hopped off the bike my breakfast started lurching and I made it to the toilet just in time.

I've done centuries, hour long sprints, trail running, rock climbing, and many other high exertion activities, but I've never once even felt nauseous after riding let alone lose my lunch. It's really aggravating to think that my stomach will be the limiting factor in how hard I can ride rather than my legs, so I was wondering if anyone else has run up against this barrier, and what they did to fix the problem.

That's a well-known and common phenomena. The cure is to eat long before you ride hard - like 2-3 hours before. Or eat nothing if you're only riding 1/2 hour. And don't eat a ham sandwich right before a pass climb.

It could be just what you had for breakfast that day. Everyone develops their own personal no-barf breakfast.

That's a lot of watts. Good on ya!

I agree with all of that, especially the ham.

and for some reason it's after I stop a particularly hard race that I feel like hurling, never during the race.

So I pushed at 300 watts for half an hour again, and felt the nausea begin to hit when I was done, but I immediately continued to pedal at around 100 watts and the nausea subsided. I continued the cool down for another 2 minutes and was then fine. I guess the cool down really is critical when pushing hard.