Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Association Of Gastrointestinal Distress In Ultramarathoners With Race Diet, Kristin J. Stuempfle, Martin D. Hoffman, Tamara Hew-Butler

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: Gastrointestinal (GI) distress is common during ultrarunning.

Purpose: To determine if race diet is related to GI distress in a 161-km ultramarathon.

Methods: Fifteen (10 male, 5 female) consenting runners in the Javelina Jundred (6.5 loops on a desert trail) participated. Body mass was measured immediately pre-race and after each loop. Runners reported if they had nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, and/or diarrhea after each loop. Subjects were interviewed after each loop to record food, fluid, and electrolyte consumption. Race diets were analyzed using Nutritionist Pro.

Results: Nine (8 male, 1 female) of 15 runners experienced GI distress including nausea …

Hyponatremia In A Cold Weather Ultraendurance Race, Kristin J. Stuempfle, Donald R. Lehmann, H. Samuel Case, Stephen Bailey, Sherri Lind Hughes, Jennifer Mckenzie, Deborah Evans

Health Sciences Faculty Publications

We assessed the incidence and etiology of hyponatremia in the 100-mile (161 km) Iditasport ultramarathon. Subjects (8 cyclists, 8 runners) were weighed and serum sodium was measured pre- and post-race. Race diets were analyzed to determine fluid and sodium consumption. Subjects were split by post-race serum sodium concentration into hyponatremic and normonatremic groups for statistical analyses. Seven of 16 subjects (44%) were hyponatremic. The hyponatremic group exhibited a significant decrease in serum sodium concentration (137.0 to 132.9 mmol/L, and the normonatremic group experienced a significant decrease in weight (82.1 to 80.2 kg) pre- to post-race. The hypornatremic group drank more …