18/05/2026
Runners Education Has this Happen to You?
Runner friends… has anyone else ever experienced a strong ammonia smell after a hard run? Like a Burnjng in your nose?👀🏃♀️💦
The last 2 runs I’ve had, especially after today’s hot hilly 10K, I noticed a VERY strong ammonia smell afterwards — strong enough it burned my nose when I got in my car. The weird part? I don’t even use ammonia products. Like when I walked in my house yesterday I could smell ammonia and I don’t even have that product in my house
So of course I went down the “runner research rabbit hole” 😂 and found out this can actually happen to endurance runners when your body is under stress from things like:
🔥 Heat
💧 Dehydration
⚡ Electrolyte imbalance
🍞 Not enough carbs/fuel
🏃♀️ Hard efforts or long runs
Basically your body can start breaking down protein for energy and produce ammonia as a byproduct.
As someone newer to longer distance running, this was definitely something I had never heard talked about before!
Today was HOT, hilly, and I started way too fast (rookie mistake 🙃), so my body was probably telling me loud and clear:
“Girl… we need more fuel and hydration!” 😂
Distance running teaches you something new ALL the time. Anybody else ever experienced this before?👇
Leave your comment below!! I’m interested in knowing…
