gagging and throwing up only when doing soccer sprints

Question
My 18 year old daughter gags and throws up only when doing sprints in soccer practice. She can run several miles without any problem if they are at a steady pace. One doctor prescribed meclizine in case it was vertigo. It worked on the nausea fairly well but now it doesn't seem to work. She says that her heart races a little and she feels shakey when all this is going on. I don't know if the latter is because she is worried about an episode coming on or not. Anyways, this started a little bit in high school and now it has progressed where she can only play 15 min. of a 90 min. game. Please help! She loves this game and enjoys playing college soccer tremendously.

Answer
Hi Ann
You don't need medicine.You have to treat the cause of the problem and not with medicine.One thing kids and others in general do is not eating an easy digestible meal far enough out from performing at a very high level such as the sprints.I would recommend 31/2 to 4hrs and should not include any heavy protein sources such as meats, milk,and milk products products such as cheese.Also watch the salad because of the ruffage.You want to stick with carbs such as rice,pasta,potatoes,fruit.For protein you can add a a few egg whites with a little olive oil.Just prepare it ahead of time in a small bowl.Not preparing a  base building time frame before the season starts could also add to it.Soccer is an extremely intense anaerobic sport and if the body is not properly prepared in advance with workouts to address the specific simulation of activity they will be performing,things your daughter is experiencing will surface.It is all about training.The other thing on dry heaves and vomiting i have copied a case history of a runner with similar a situation for the causes and it doesn't make any difference that he is a runner since when the body starts to go into oxygen dept such as at end of race or interval and sprint work the science of the protection systems kick in.If you have any more questions on this Ann just get in touch or you could call me if you want here in albuquerque.Hope you can make sense of this..

All the very best

John




Answer
Hi JJ
Thanks for the fantastic description of your program,bio,and problems.This sure makes my job easier.Your build up pre season looks real good,but i didn't see any tempo,LT work etc.Finishing the race and feeling quite confortable immediatly after it is over aside from dry heaves tells me you are very strong,which is most likely your qualty pre season build up.More than likely you have enought speed,but are lacking LT work and some hard tempo.1000's 45s recovery,1200's 200 to 300 float,2000's,400 jog.Put these in the proper order and you should see a big change.I figure your coaches probably have something like this in mind,but i don't no.I think if you work hard you can run 17:10 To 17:15.

As far as the dry heaves go this is a fairly common thing when you push to hard.It is a very fine line when this occures.The factors probably responsible include:decreased blood flow to the intestine and retention of food in the stomach during running;build up of acid and metabolic products in the blood;and overactivity of the vagus and sympathic nervous systems which stimulate the vomiting center.No serious consequence for you.You just tried to squeeze a few more seconds in the last 600.You went beyond O.D.Bread and pasta to close to the race is not good.To heavy and slow in the digestive tract.Experiment during the week when you do some tough workouts after school.Start with a quality breakfast and taper to your race workout foods as the day moves on.This will give you the confidence you need which turns into better performance.TEST,TEST,TEST,It then becomes set in stone.
Well JJ i hope i covered it all.If you have further questions just get in touch.I would love to know how you do as the season progresses and you incorporate some of the things i talked about.Would be appreciated.

To a new personal record
soon.

to your success

John
www.rentacoachinternational.com