Tasting blood during jog

jester77

Hi there,

I started back in the gym recently and really got going at the start of July. I've been going Tuesday and Thursday nights for 2 hours, usually not around from Friday to Sunday. Starting off was tough but after a few weeks the muscle pains had stopped, I'd lost a few kilos and I was making what I considered steady progress.
As I've no access to the gym around the weekend I decided I would do an outdoor run.

So on Saturday I went for a run. It was about 25 or 26 degrees outside and the area I was running was fairly steep. The first 10-15 mins was ok but then I started getting the taste of blood in my mouth and my chest wasn't feeling so good so I stopped. There was no visible signs of blood in my mouth. My legs were ok and could have kept going but my lungs weren't up to it. For the rest of the day my lungs were a little wheezy.

Is this anything serious? I've never smoked, have no allergys or asthma problems. I would guess that my lungs couldn't get enough O2?? If so is what would you recomend for increasing lung capacity?

Thanks

Mr E

Happened to me a couple of times. It wasn't blood - just a kind of alkaline taste in my mouth, and a bit of lightheadedness. I put it down to working out while dehydrated and tired......

Quigs Snr

Go to a doctor to be sure.

There are other more serious things which I shudder to mention which can cause taste of blood during exercise. However the fact that there is no actual sign of blood is good. But go to a doctor anyway just to be sure.

eth0_

Ask one of the trainers at the gym, or a doctor. I've had this before so i'd be interested to know what causes it?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Jak

Check a doctor first and after that for lung capacity look at the powerbreathe tools. Just google it.

They are pretty effective as a complement to cardio training.

eth0_

Originally posted by daveirl
I'm going to have to vote for a trip to the doctor.

Better safe than sorry!

Well yes but a trip to the doctor costs €50 and he might have been going to the gym today anyway. I'd hazard a guess it's something to do with your blood pressure rising, and that in turn causing broken capiliaries?

jester77

Thanks for the replies.
Just to add, this has happened before. But it was only when I was running during very cold weather and wasn't too used to exercise. I put it down to the cold weather and general unfitness back then. After some nights running it cleared up and stopped.

jester77

Done a bit of browsing and this seems to be a fairly common thing. Maybe this explains it, a few quotes from forums I came across:

"You may be experiencing an ammonia-like taste or smell that (as I've read)
comes after hard workouts and is a result of protein breakdown in your body.
It's not harmful."

"...protein got broken down to produce
energy and give off ammonia as a by-product (protein being the last
after fat and carbs to be used by the body for that purpose). "

"It seems to happen to me (1) when I do long runs
and I get close to glycogen depletion (which might explain why the body
would start relying more on protein) and (2) when I do hard interval
training, which also uses up much of my reserves (though in a much
shorter time span)."

BaZmO*

How's your dental hygeine?

Strange question I know, but it could be quite possible that if you are not flossing properly that you may have gum disease and the increased blood pressure when running, as mentined by eth0_ may be causing your gums to bleed.
It could be something or nothing but a trip to the Doctor if symtoms persist would be advisable.

B.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Pherekydes

With the wheeziness, I think EIA is a possibility. It's nothing major to worry about. It will affect you when you have a severe bout of cardio training like uphill running. You are using parts of your lungs you've never used before. You're breaking them in, so to speak, and that may contribute to the taste of blood. You should break into the cardio stuff more gradually, before getting to the lung-busting stuff.

DMT

I've often had the taste of iron/blood in my mouth when exerting myself, but never has there been a drop of blood in my mouth or saliva...

Stark

I would go with _eth0 and the blood pressure theory. When my blood pressure was high I used to notice this a lot during exertion. These days my blood pressure is a lot lower and I never notice it.

DMT

More instances of the taste of blood when excercising here:

http://www.trailcentral.com/community/viewthread.php?tid=376
http://www.mvpsupport.com/stories/Heather05152001150529.html