HELP/ADVICE requested. exercise, carbs and amonia smelling sweat

Sue M.
on 8/24/11 9:46 am - Nantucket, MA
When I run long I'm all sweaty (that's normal) and smell of amonia (less normal).  I understand that this means I'm burning muscle because I've run out of accessible carbs and sugar. 

I believe that I need to do the following:

eat more complex carbs during the week
consume more GU and Gatorade during my run
eat more carbs before the run

Does anyone have experience with this amonia stench and which is the most important thing to work on?

I even got the smell today on a "short" long run of 5.7 miles on a day where i had what I thought was a decent amount of carbs beforehand and ran only an hour (but did not carry gatorade or anything on the run).

Anyway, this explains why I REALLY wanted a donut when we stopped to get a Gatorade on Saturday's run, and why I ended up buying a chocolate chip cookie when we stopped to use a restroom.  LOL  Sometimes cravings aren't your mind playing games.
Read my blog, BARIATHLETE   I run because I can.

First 5K race October 4, 2009   (34.59)  PR 5/22/11 (27:26)
First 5 Mile: January 1, 2011 (50:30)
First 10K: July 4, 2010 (1:03.26) New PR 4/10/11 (1:01.14)
First 10 Mile: April 11, 2010  (1:46.15)
First 1/2 marathon: June 13, 2010 (2:22.21)  PR: 5/1/11 (2:17.30)
First Marathon: October 16, 2011: 5:47:20

Goofy Challenge: January 7-8, 2012
If you think you can, you can.  If you think you can't, you're right. - Mary Kay Ash
mcarthur01
on 8/24/11 10:30 am - Cumming, GA
i used to have this, but not much anymore.  most of the causes i read about were high protein/low carb diet and not enough fluid.  so they basically say, if you don't want to have your sweat smell like ammonia, up the carbs and/or make sure you are drinking enough.  couple of articles i found, there are dozens of em out there....

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/nutrition/ammonia-sweat-smell.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ammonia.htm
Where are we going??  And why am I in this handbasket??

right now.  somewhere.  somebody is working harder than you.

(deactivated member)
on 8/28/11 11:15 pm
Wow, I had no clue thats what the smell of amonia was!!  This has happened to me so frequently but I just ignored it and chalked it up to the need for more fluids--which is correct to an extent.  I feel like I eat plenty of carbs but maybe I need to pay more attention to this?
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