We have a running nutrition related question on today’s Ask Coach Parry Podcast. It was submitted by Daan van Niekerk. He says he has actually posted this question on the Comrades Marathon Facebook Page but they referred him to us.

He says he had to pull out of running the 2014 Comrades Marathon due to illness on the road. Listening to their very wise running captain at South Coast Striders, he visited his doctor. After various tests he was diagnosed with a condition called Reactive Hypoclycemia.

What it basically means is that when the average runner uses sugary supplements like gels, that normally have the effect of lifting blood sugar levels and give extra energy, with this condition the body reacts in the complete opposite way.

Sugar intake causes severe drop in blood sugar levels, leaving you fatigued and with no energy. Nausea sets in and you really start to feel sick. The doctor says he is to cut out sugars and rather drink isotonic drinks on race day. He also needs to keep on eating while on the road.

Daan wants to find out if there are any other runners that you know of with the same condition and how they are coping with it? He wants to run the 2015 Comrades Marathon, but he wants to make sure that he is not going to do any damage to his health on route to picking up his 6^th Comrades Marathon medal.

Brad Brown: We have a running nutrition related question on today’s Ask Coach Parry Podcast. It was submitted by Daan van Niekerk. He says he has actually posted this question on the Comrades Marathon Facebook Page but they referred him to us.

He says he had to pull out of running the 2014 Comrades Marathon due to illness on the road. Listening to their very wise running captain at South Coast Striders, he visited his doctor. After various tests he was diagnosed with a condition called Reactive Hypoclycemia.

What it basically means is that when the average runner uses sugary supplements like gels, that normally have the effect of lifting blood sugar levels and give extra energy, with this condition the body reacts in the complete opposite way.

Sugar intake causes severe drop in blood sugar levels, leaving you fatigued and with no energy. Nausea sets in and you really start to feel sick. The doctor says he is to cut out sugars and rather drink isotonic drinks on race day. He also needs to keep on eating while on the road.

Daan wants to find out if there are any other runners that you know of with the same condition and how they are coping with it? He wants to run the 2015 Comrades Marathon, but he wants to make sure that he is not going to do any damage to his health on route to picking up his 6^th Comrades Marathon medal.

Lindsey Parry: It is not an common phenomenon at all and the few athletes that I have dealt with that have had it, it’s also not a consistence phenomenon. In other words sometimes they suffer from it and sometimes not.

Don't let your running nutrition leave you empty

In most of the cases that I’ve experienced it – it has been a case of people take in a high G.I substance before exercise.

Then as soon as they start exercising, particularly if it is a high intensity, there is a massive drop in their blood sugar. They feel dizzy, light headed, no energy etc, etc.

The best way to combat it, if you have got something like this, is that you really want the energy to trickle in.

It means that when you have your breakfast, any sort of snack like an hour before the race starts, you want those to be medium to low glycaemic index foods, (like complex carbohydrates).

I would recommend that someone with something like that have something like oats with peanut butter or almond nut butter mixed into it. That will slow the release of the oats, once it has broken down, into the blood stream.

Things like Rye bread, or very complex breads again with something like peanut butter that will drop the glycaemic index of that food. Or even something like a double cream yoghurt with medium glycaemic fruit like apple or banana. That double cream yoghurt will help it release slowly into the system.

Then on race day, the products that I recommend he tries are 32GI, (they are specifically designed to be released slower into the blood stream), and also a product called Hammer nutrition or Hammer gel. Those were products that were designed with diabetics in mind.

They have different types of sugars that are released through different gator channels and therefore at different speeds (for lack of a better term). That should help him to stabilise his blood sugar.

Finally, he needs to start NOW, getting used to taking in solids as energy along the route of the Comrades Marathon. Little peanut butter sandwiches, small amounts of biltong otherwise you get really thirsty, unsalted mixed nuts, and just get used to racing on solids that’ll prevent you from getting that rebound hypoglycaemia.