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My daughter is 5'6 1/2" and 108 pounds. Her track season was hard on her as she ran the 400 meters and ran hard in all her practice sessions. Her coach believes in long distance work along with sprint work. She lost weight and started throwing up often after races. We are addressing the stomach issues with a Dr. However, with cross country coming this fall we are concerned about the amount of mileage she will have to train. The girls on the team run 5-10 slow miles everyday. She ran very slow times last year as a beginning cross country runner, but her 200 and 300 meter indoor times were quite good. Her training was light for indoor. She slowed considerably for her outdoor times with her cross country coach training her for the 400 meters outdoors. A different coach trained her for the indoor season.
My husband and my thinking is along the lines of less mileage (say no more than 3-5 miles on any given day- max) and more speed and strength work. What do you coaches do with a young thin cross country runners? She is built for running, but is getting soured already from the throwing up and fatigue. She does not want to join other sports. She is our third competitive runner in the family and the baby - if that helps. We did not have this issue with the other two.

Thank you

Take one oz. of liquid minerals (72 trace minerals) and take liquid vitamins, as well as ginseng, choline and royal jelly and Pollen in honey to make up for any deficiencies in your diet. Physiologically, it is vital to be one hundred percent to stand up to the rigors of heavy training and you will feel better if you take supplements you will rarely get sick.

There are side affects pushing beyond the body's limits. Your daughter is extending more than one hundred per cent. I say her drive and commitment is higher then the expectations. I also say what is the worst that could happen after running or racing? You vomit, do not be concerned. That's just your body getting rid of weakness leaving the body.

Have your daughter stop eating any food three hours before her races. The three hour limit is important because her nervousness about racing may be causing her to shut down her digestive system before all the contents have moved from the stomach to the intestines. Racing should be done on an empty stomach. Its okay to drink water before she races.

One last idea: make sure she is warming up thoroughly with at least fifteen minutes of jogging, then stretching. Just before the race starts, she should run several fifty meter fast strides. It is especially important to not cool down once she is out on the track waiting for the race to start. She should keep jogging in place. Anything that keeps her heart rate elevated so her oxygen systems can deliver the payload immediately upon demand.