Think it’s an individual thing. I used to row. Erg testing was a big thing with typical test distances varying from 2000m (6 and a bit minutes) up to 30 minutes. We’d all go to the clubhouse and do our tests with the coach watching so you’d see everybody test. And particularly on those shorter 2k tests there were a handful of individuals who would frequently throw up after finishing. Same people every time. At first I wondered whether I wasn’t pushing myself hard enough as I never felt even remotely nauseous. But there seemed to be absolutely no correlation in terms of the results/rankings between those who threw up and those who didn’t.
And in the nearly 30 years of endurance training and racing I’ve done since I first got on a rowing machine, I am absolutely 100% confident that I have on multiple occasions wrung every last drop of possible effort out of my body over every duration from a handful of seconds to multiple hours, and I still haven’t ever come close to throwing up. I’ve come close to blacking out, I’ve pushed to the point where I can barely still stay upright (on both bike and feet), I’ve pushed to the point of gasping for air like a fish out of water, but nausea isn’t my thing. And I still cycle with one of those rowing friends from 20+ years ago who used to regularly throw up after erg tests, and sure enough if we go hard enough up a hill he will still occasionally throw up now.
