Hi, All. I thought I was crazy or experiencing something unique but I saw a thread on Reddit yesterday that made me believe otherwise.
I just completed the Climb to Kaiser (thanks TR, couldnt have done it without the plans) which took me 12+hrs. The first time I tried to eat real food after the ride, my mouth/throat was sore…no big deal. The next morning I woke up with an incredibly sore palate. I lost sleep last night because of the pain.
Like I said, some folks on Reddit indicated that this is a thing when doing ultra endurance events. Have any of you experienced this? Any idea of what caused it? Anything you did to get rid of it?
It feels like a weird thing to ask. I expected my legs to hurt the day after but, definitely not my mouth. Anyways, here we are.
Don’t really have an explanation but when I used to run Ultras I had sore tongue issues. Found that I used to force my tongue to the roof of my mouth for long periods of time during training and races. Had to really work on not doing it. Was never too sore that it hurt to eat but was pretty uncomfortable.
I had the exact same thing after a 15 hour ride I did 3 weeks ago. Hard to describe, back of the roof? Went away after a few days but made eating hard during that time. No idea what caused it.
Wow. Glad to see I’m not the only one. I just completed a 4-hour mountain bike race last weekend. When I finished, the roof of my mouth (soft palate area) was really sore! It was hard to eat for the rest of the afternoon, and it was slightly sore in the morning. Spicy foods really hurt, so I assume this area was raw. I had forgotten this same issue occurred after this 4-hour race last year.
I can only attribute it to extended periods of mouth breathing… hard breathing with my mouth open. I don’t know what to do differently next time.
i though i was alone here
I had the same issue 2 years ago after completing a tri race (1/3 or an ironman).
I was assuming it was all the gels plus sugar i have eaten during the race.
it has not happen since.
Hi
I have found this an issue when i drink a lot of citrus flavored electrolye/energy drink.
I swap drinking plain water for one drink and energy/electrloyte for another to wash the palate.
I tend to get this after every 8 hour + day generally it’s the most painful part of my body after a big ride. I’d read something about mouth breathing drying out your mouth and dust particles etc. irritating it.
Okay. Its 2024 and I’m still having this problem. Last month, I completed an 80-mile gravel race and had sore mouth issues that evening and much worse the next day. It resolved in a couple of days, but how can this be prevented in the future? There’s no way to nose-breathe in a gravel race for 5 hours.
I’ve had the same issue a number of times in the past for longer events (5-6+hrs). I haven’t had issues this year however, which I’d attribute to increased hydration and switching to home-made mix (malto+sugar+sodium citrate). In my case, it was likely a combination of dryness (mouth breathing, not enough water) and acidity in drinks.
It’s local dehydration impacting the tastebuds/saliva glands. I have had it a few times after longer rides when the weather was hot. Mouth rinsing with water helped. You have to hold the water in your mouth for a while.
If you are mostly riding with your mouth open for long periods then it can cause the lining of your mouth and throat to dry a little. If you are riding into the sun you can also cause the inside of your mouth to get sunburnt. Breathing through nose whilst riding keeps things moist.
Eat moist meals if you feel your mouth and throat are a little sore. Something with gravy or a good liquid content etc.
I am not a doctor so please note that I am just sharing my personal experience. When my body is run down and I have done too much, I am susceptible to low levels of Vitamin B12 which causes mouth ulcers (for me). If it is related to Vitamin B12, I believe you’d likely notice other symptoms too though.
Taking a Vitamin B12 supplement consistently helps! It might be worth seeing your doctor to get your levels checked?
I experience the soft palate soreness during my 24 hour MTB races. Initially I thought that this was caused by the long duration consumption of my hydration/fuel mix, but this no longer seems to be the case. During my last race I made it a point to think about where my tongue was located once the soreness had started and wouldn’t you know; it was repeatedly contacting that spot on the roof of my mouth! Trying to consciously keep your tongue in a place after 15+ hours in the saddle is really tough!
Basically I think that the soreness is just my tongue creating an abrasion on the roof of my mouth that makes eating anything “scratchy” for the next few days unpleasant. One unique thing about my palate is I have always had a bump protruding down from the center of my palate so rather than being smooth, the cross-section of the palate is shaped more like an “M” than a upside-down “U”. I think that this protrusion makes me particularly more susceptible to this issue, but I have not worked with any professionals about it so this is just my hunch.
Thanks! I attributed it to mouth breathing for 5 hours at race pace. Your drinking idea makes sense. I’ll try the water thing on ny next long training ride and will post my result.
I used to get sore palate after races where I consumed a lot of energy drink. I almost felt sick every time and thought I was getting a cold, but since I converted to regular sugar water the problem disappeared.
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