With the Comrades behind us and almost everybody recovered I discovered this article the other day. Having runner’s trots can be most stressful when your personal goals are set high.
I found this information most helpful and hope it will assist you too!
Tilly
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Dr Lindsay Weight
Every runner has probably had the unpleasant experience of a tummy upset while exercising. Most often this occurs during a race, but there are also those unfortunate people who have to live knowing the exact location of every user-friendly petrol station in their town.
See if these strategies make a difference:
* Slow down: during exercise, up to 80% of the gut’s regular supply of blood (which provides oxygen and removes fluids and digested food) is diverted to the exercising muscles. The more intense or prolonged the exercise the more the blood flow is compromised. During running the gut is also subjected to a degree of mechanical stress and movement. So, not entirely unexpectedly, it starts to complain. It cramps. If you are lucky that’s all you have to deal with. More likely though is that the undigested and unabsorbed food and water sitting in your gut is going to make its presence felt in a hurry by passing right through.
* Avoid bowel-stimulating substances: caffeine ranks number one in this regard, closely followed by alcohol and high doses of vitamin C. That cup of coffee is not the best idea before a morning run – try herbal or rooibos tea. Given the caffeine content of Coke it’s also not the ideal fluid replacement for those with twitchy insides. While you are unlikely to have a few beers before a run, remember that when running away a hangover you might be taken by surprise. The maximum daily dose of vitamin C is 300mg if you want to avoid the gastric and urinary complications associated with high doses.
* Avoid large quantities of fruit juice: fructose is the principal sugar in fruit juice and it is absorbed from the gut much more slowly than glucose. Hence, a litre or more of pure fruit juice (not fruit flavoured cordials) is likely to cause diarrhoea as this sugar remains in the gut and draws water out of the surrounding tissue with the net result that both the sugar and fluid are now on a hasty passage downwards. Some sports drinks and carbo-loading powdered products are also high in fructose so read the labels!
* Avoid dairy products for 12-24 hrs pre-race: related to the inability to deal with fructose is the relatively common problem of lactose intolerance. This means that you lack the enzyme lactase which is necessary to digest lactose, the form of sugar found in milk. As with fructose, the unabsorbed lactose pulls water into the gut which triggers a diarrhoea. Many black and oriental adults are lactose intolerant, with the incidence being lower in caucasians and rare in children under 5. If you think this is your problem (you get bloated and crampy after consuming milk or milk products) then you can still eat fermented dairy foods such as yoghurt and sour milk but reduce or cut out fresh pasteurized milk and limit cheese and butter intake.
* Avoid highly concentrated beverages during the run: a 5-8 percent carbohydrate solution is ideal in terms of taste and absorption of the carbohydrate. Most commercial ready-to-drink sports drinks are in this range, but be careful if you are mixing up your own solutions from concentrates or powders. Double the concentration is definitely not better in this case. Coke is a 10% carbohydrate solution – another reason why it is not the best drink for the long run.
* Also be very wary of corn syrup and other gels. These are highly concentrated sources of carbohydrate (20-25g per satchet) so unless you drink them with at least 250ml of water you are asking for trouble. This is especially the case in the latter part of a long race when the stomach’s ability to absorb anything is highly compromised.
* Stay hydrated: this relates to the point above. Not drinking and then drinking a large quantity of fluid be it water or sports drink puts a sudden stress on the gut which has all but shut down. You must drink from the start and try to keep the stomach fairly full of fluid (it takes practice to be comfortable with this). Bear in mind that stomach is actually quite small – it can contain the equivalent of a can of soft drink (about 350ml). So a safe bet is to drink 150-200ml every 15 mins.
* Eat lightly: never ever try and run within 2 hours of a your main (or any big) meal. Pre-race, eat a breakfast of lowfibre cereal (Pronutro, cooked oats), banana (high in nutrients and easily digested) or toast (not wholewheat) and jam.
* Avoid anything exotic: if you are travelling to a race, take food stuffs you eat every day with you, rather than rely on hotels, kind hosts and the fast food industry. Find out what brand of sports drinks will be available at the aid stations and practice using these. Do not get tempted into all the ‘holiday foods’ (cake, icecream, pizza) until after the event.
* Train: the more highly trained you are, the more efficiently your muscles use oxygen so you can get by on less blood supply thereby sparing some for the gut. A sudden increase in mileage or training intensity, or racing at a pace way beyond yourself is a potential trigger for tummy upsets.
* Calm down: the GIT has a complex network of nerves supplying it and is therefore supersensitive to stress, be it physical or emotional or both. Before a race, concentrate on positive mental imagery and learn as much as you can about the route so you can visualize dealing with it instead of going into the unknown. Learn as much as you can about your body so that you understand what is happening, how you body copes (or doesn’t) under stress. Relaxation techniques that might help include meditation, yoga and deep breathing. To be nervous is normal, but if your anxiety is making the whole race a nightmare, then find ways to deal with this.
* Resort to medication: Loperamide can be used in low doses to curb diarrhoea. Follow the directions on the package to the letter!
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