# Taste blood?



## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Anyone else ever taste blood after a herculean effort where you've maxed out well beyond normal? 

Yesterday I was riding and while climbing a hill I like I hear my Garmin beeping at me letting me know I'm over 190 BPM.. I felt fine so I kept pushing it. I continued until I hit the spot I usually sit back down on. At that point my Garmin had been beeping at me for a while.. 

When I sat down I saw that my HR was at 201BPM.. previously I had set myself a high of 197 earlier in the year. I was a little shocked but felt totally fine. After my breathing caught up to me and I settled back to 160BPM. 

Interesting enough at the top after I sat down I could taste blood. I spit a few times thinking I bit my to tounge or something.. Nope.. Just a copper taste.

This continued for a few minutes maybe before fading.

I felt fine after.. Felt fine all day after... feel fine now..

Any thoughts?


Anyhow.. I'm excited that at 26 years old I can still hit 201!


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## Zipp0 (Aug 19, 2008)

Never happened to me, but I wouldn't bee TOO worried unless there actually was blood when I spit. Maybe someone else will chime in. Might be a good question for a sports doc.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2009)

I think you're fine, whatever that's worth!


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Yeah I wasn't worried or freaked out by it when it happened. I just figured that because I was pushing it so hard that maybe the blood vessals dilated and got closer to the walls of my mouth so the coppery taste came through.... who knows.. I'm no doctor!


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

I find it really interesting that comparing my max recorded heart rate to my theoretical max I'm well beyond it.

According to all of the online calculators I should have a max of around 192-194... by pegging 201 I'm a good amount beyond those calculations. What kind of freak am I? haha


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## Zipp0 (Aug 19, 2008)

ZoSoSwiM said:


> I find it really interesting that comparing my max recorded heart rate to my theoretical max I'm well beyond it.
> 
> According to all of the online calculators I should have a max of around 192-194... by pegging 201 I'm a good amount beyond those calculations. What kind of freak am I? haha


My limit by the 220-age thing is supposed to be 182, but I have registered higher in certain circumsatances. I got yelled at by an ignorant motorist, so I chased her down like a madman. Looking at my HR data later showed 199, which I have never been able to duplicate. I thought maybe it was due to rough road or something, but you never know. I was surging on adrenaline. I'd win every sprint if I could get that lady to pull up beside me in races. Maybe I need to mentally channel her for finishes....


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Well yesterday when I rode I hadn't gone hard yet... I was well rested.. (Been off the bike for a while).. and I had eaten a good lunch a few hours before. Guessing that because of all that and that I wasn't purposely trying to push myself I was comfortable well past normal.


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## deadlegs2 (Oct 3, 2009)

I spit up a bunch of blood after a hare scrambles race (mx bike)...Went to the doc and he said I had bronchitis but I felt fine.. It could have been a clot that passed through my heart and into my lungs.. When I was 31 I sprinted up the last 100yrds of "the wall" on the famous Morgul Bismark in Colorado..I hit 223 on my hr monitor...I tasted a lot of things for a few minutes after that..mostly ingredients of my breakfast.


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## carlatkinson (Nov 24, 2006)

Could it be bleeding from dry nasal/sinus passages? These are highly vascularized. this can happen often with heavy breathing.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Maybe.. My throat is a little sore today but I think that is more because I'm starting to come down with a cold. Maybe since it was cold.. (40*f) and I was gasping for breath I could have stressed my throat out!?


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Thore throat?*



ZoSoSwiM said:


> Maybe.. My throat is a little sore today but I think that is more because I'm starting to come down with a cold. Maybe since it was cold.. (40*f) and I was gasping for breath I could have stressed my throat out!?


While "anything" is possible, I've done hard exercise in much colder weather for decades and never experienced what you are describing. BTW, are you sure it was blood you tasted? It's not uncommon to get strange tastes when you dig really deep, but I wouldn't call it tasting like blood.


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## carlosflanders (Nov 23, 2008)

Occasionally, in CX races, I get a metallic/blood/ashes taste. Usually means I'm a little dehydrated - always coincides with max HR.


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## estone2 (Sep 25, 2005)

Kerry Irons said:


> While "anything" is possible, I've done hard exercise in much colder weather for decades and never experienced what you are describing. BTW, are you sure it was blood you tasted? It's not uncommon to get strange tastes when you dig really deep, but I wouldn't call it tasting like blood.


According to my MD, it's not abnormal. The air going in and out of your lungs at a high speed can basically "chafe" the capillaries in your throat, which results in a slight leakage of blood.

When I do hard efforts below... maybe 35 degrees (that number was pulled out of my @ss - sub-40, but I'm not sure where the line is), I will get a metallic-y taste in my mouth. It's very, very subtle, and I never recognized it as blood until I spit once, and the saliva had a more reddish tinge. I looked into it, and indeed the taste was very small quantities of blood.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Estone2 I'm thinking you're right.

That there sounds reasonable. The taste I got was close to blood.. It could have been oxygen debt messing with my perception even. My throat has been sore the past 2 days as well. I've developed a cold now so that likely doesn't help.


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## muscleendurance (Jan 11, 2009)

at the very least just remember this episode if your find yourself in an ER or anything like that in the future, spitting blood probably means nothing on its own (in this case) but it might be helpfull to remember it when talking with any docs in the near future.


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## Kenacycle (May 28, 2006)

It is probably normal. Even Jens Voigt mentions tasting blood after a hard effort in his interview at 1:53


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## Swish (Jul 31, 2004)

No no...Jens talks about the taste of blood in your mouse.! sorry.... cheap shot at his otherwise proper english.... love Jens!:thumbsup:


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## WingNut (Oct 12, 2005)

*It's CO2*



ZoSoSwiM said:


> Anyone else ever taste blood after a herculean effort where you've maxed out well beyond normal?
> 
> !


A common experience - I believe it's not blood you are tasting but CO2 that your body is trying to dump like crazy, CO2 has a very distinctive taste.


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

the "copper taste" ... could it be a bit ammonia-like? Ammonia is a byproduct of your body burning proteins during super-hard efforts. It's not uncommon to taste and smell that when you've been busting your a$s.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

I've never smelled badly after working out.. Never smelled like Ammonia either. Worth a consideration though. Between hurting my throat and CO2 and other options out there I'm sure it wasn't anything weird.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

OT but... you got sick the day after a super-hard effort... interesting.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

well not the day right after but 2 days after that super hard effort I wasn't feeling too hot. By Thursday (4 days later) I was out for the count. Ended up sleeping 16 hours that day..


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