Has anyone experienced a sweet odour after a workout?
Some context, I completed Augusta this morning, which is a 90 minute workout with 4 x 15 mins @ 95% ftp including a 30 sec surge at the start @ 150% ftp. I followed this up with Townsend-1, which is 90 mins, mostly hovering between 58 - 65% ftp.
I had a recovery day yesterday, just spinning the legs for 45 mins with Recess-4 (50% ftp).
I drank 1800ml fluid as I was sweating quite a lot during the first workout.
120g carbs in my drink mix (total).
1 banana.
1 bar with 22g carbs.
Iāve Googled āsweet smelling odourā and can see information about diabetes as well as ketosis.
Before I think about getting myself checked for diabetes, Iām just wondering if this might be a common thing when adding endurance following a threshold workout. Has anyone experienced this before?
Certain herbs and spices can cause this. I shared a house many years ago with 3 other people, 2 of whom were a young Sri Lankan couple. The were fabulous cooks, and did most of the cooking; in return they didnāt do many other chores. Anyway, so we all ate Sri Lankan curries basically 5x a week, sometimes more with leftovers. My then girlfriend soon started to comment that I generally smelled sweet, but in a slightly sickly way. Like you I was a bit concerned, got the tests, normal, and it was only when I was telling this to one of the couple, they just laughed, and said āthatās the [insert Sri Lankan spice name].ā I canāt remember exactly what it was, sorry!
So could be a factor, but tbh, for a simple blood and urine test, Iād get it checked; better safe than sorry.
Thatās interesting, I sometimes buy a Sri Lankan vegan curry and eat it midweek in work. I canāt remember if I had the Sri Lankan one this week or another offering. Iāll have to check and then see if thereās a correlation.
Ketosis also the first thing that came to my mind; does it smell like Juicy Fruit gum?
Itās certanily possible that youāre dipping into state of ketosis through depletion of glycogen stores with all that threshold + endurance work, though ~160g CHO from your intake + glycogen on board seems like it would be enough to fuel 3h work. Perhaps someone with a better grasp on this biochem would have more insight.
Maybe? I canāt really say for sure a day later. Just remember the air smelling sweet when I re-entered the room.
I did a couple of hours of z2 today and didnāt smell anything. Less carbs than yesterday at 40g hour. Also didnāt use any fructose like I did yesterday. Obviously different training stimulus today so canāt compare the two.
During the Black Death in 17th century England, smelling a āsweetness in the airā was a sign of the bubonic plague. Iām sure itās not that thoughā¦
Iām not going to sleep tonight! 
