Exercise and Urgency

[Chemgirl]

Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I'm training for a marathon and generally feeling great. Everything has been normal in the digestion department lately and I've been eating well so generally lots of energy. HOWEVER, when I'm running I get that feeling of urgency around mile 4. The best I can do is 5 miles without a toilet break. When I do manage to find somewhere to do my business, it's the watery mess I used to have when in full MC flare.

So what the heck? I make sure to wait an hour after eating before I run and it's usually just chicken cut up or something else high in protein and on my safe list.

Where is this coming from?

Any ideas?

[jessica329]

I remember reading somewhere that this can be a runner's issue. I'll see if I can dig up the article.

[jessica329]

Found it! Runner's diarrhea
http://running.competitor.com/2014/03/t ... -run_70934

[Chemgirl]

Thanks!

Yey, so looks like it's a common problem and I need to fiddle with eating and pre-run routine.

Fun.

It's been too hot to run outside here so I have been sticking to the treadmill. Not ideal for training, but at least I can get to the bathroom whenever I need it.

I checked the marathon course map and there are porta poties every 2.5 km, so approximately 12.5 minutes. Hopefully that's enough!

[tex]

That article discusses the basic problem, but it doesn't quite get to the root of it, nor does it discuss the seriousness of what that diarrhea actually means. Runners diarrhea is part of the atavistic fight or flight reflex. When the running is really intense, and if it goes on long enough, the body tends to not only reduce the blood supply to the intestines (as mentioned in the article), but it can virtually cut off the blood supply to the intestines if it feels that diverting all of the blood flow to the effort of "escaping" is important enough. And part of this response is to purge the contents of the intestines, because when all or most of the energy is cut off from the digestive system, digestion cannot proceed, nutrients cannot be absorbed, and the chyme will begin to rot, so it is purged, not only to prevent gangrene, but to lighten the body to enhance the chances of escaping from whatever is chasing it.

The bottom line is that ischemic colitis is a somewhat common problem for runners, but it rarely requires medical intervention.

Marathon-induced ischemic colitis: why running is not always good for you.

Here's a case of a female marathon runner who was mistakenly diagnosed with Crohn's disease and it took 10 years for her doctors to figure out that the colitis was actually ischemic colitis and it was caused by her running.

Exercised-Induced Ischemic Colitis in a Recreational Athlete Previously Attributed to Inflammatory Bowel Disease

And note this quote taken from a response to an "Ask the Coaches" question at Runner's World:

Exercise time and intensity may each play a role in the development of this problem. One study found occult (not visible to the naked eye) blood loss in 20% of participants following a marathon; 2% had bloody diarrhea.

Ask the Coaches: Ischemic Colitis

As I mentioned, this is a relatively common problem with running. Intensive, long-distance running is not nearly as "healthy" as most people perceive it to be. Humans evolved in a world where they had to try to outrun predators that could run as fast as (or faster than) they could, such as short-faced bears. Whenever an all-out, go-for-broke, life-or-death chase occurred, even winning the race was not without health consequences because the body learned to do whatever would provide an edge for winning that race, even if it meant risking serious internal injury. Even though the short-faced bears are long gone these days, that instinctive response is still part of our genetics, for better or for worse.

Please be careful. You have to set the limits, because your body is programmed to pull out all the stops, if you push it.

Tex

[Chemgirl]

Thanks for that explanation. Scary stuff.

I will drop my pace in training and see where that leaves me. If it's still a problem I might switch to the half.

Not wanting to give up on a goal completely, but I do recognize that I need to be careful.

[Vanessa]

Hey there,

Just chiming in, I used to run marathons in my twenties and always got the "runner's trots". Started feeling terrible after every hard run and by my early thirties switched to half marathons. Then as MC diagnosis was getting closer, just gave up on those races completely. I used to really enjoy them and had to let go of a lot of how I completely identified with being a marathoner....a little depressed. Good news is I have just as many benefits from doing 3 mile runs with a 6 miler thrown in twice a month. I also weight lift which has helped my overall strength and run faster because of it (better core and form I suppose).

I completely agree with Tex. Knowing what I know now, running those long distances are not conducive with human health. I also wonder how I would have fared if I was re- mineralized properly for those races....I could of been famous! ah I was soooo fearless and dumb in my 20's.

Just listen to your body and ease up if you need to. Letting go of a goal you've worked so hard for is no easy task. Keep us udated!

[tex]

Chemgirl,

Vanessa has some good points. As you are well aware, running is good for most of the body. Other than possible wear and tear or accidental damage to the leg joints, only the digestive system typically gets short-changed on the deal. All other systems tend to come out as winners. In my view, the only time running becomes truly dangerous (to the digestive system) is when all the stops are pulled out as runners try to push their bodies way past their limit. It's necessary to continually "push the envelope" in order to gain strength and endurance, but the tricky part is judging how far one can push without entering the danger zone (or straying too far into the danger zone).

Please don't let me discourage you from running, if you enjoy it. Running for exercise and relaxation is fine. Running to win is where the risk comes into the equation, because the competition sort of simulates and inspires an atavistic life-threatening run. It becomes easier to ignore any warning signals that our body may be giving us because that's the evolutionary default response.

You may find these discussions from the past interesting:

Marathon Success!

Hello! It's been a while!

And from the early days of this forum:

Karen, did you make it?????

Karen followed a paleo diet and she originated the phrase, "Always carry a pork chop in your purse".

Tex

[Blueberry]

I don't know if this all that helpful, but I've known for awhile that a trigger for me can be to much exercise. Some exercises can be worse than others. I enjoy riding my bike but have figured out pumping my legs uses my stomach muscles, which can sometimes leads to issues.

I'm not able to do sit ups, or use stomach machines at a gym, as that traditionally is a for sure future flare in the making.

I play tennis a few times a week. If I hit for to long, on a hot day, I've noticed it can be a stomach problem. Typically though tennis hasn't been an issue sport. Thankfully also I tend to hit at tennis centers with nice bathrooms.

The last time I was ill to the stomach whiling hitting tennis though was this last weekend! Not long before I had added a new food to my diet so I'm removing it out of caution.

[Chemgirl]

Thanks for the practical input Vanessa! A normal week for me has 3 days of resistance training and 3 runs, usually around 4 miles each, and finally hot yoga to round it all off. Have been doing that for the past year. So I get what you're saying about the benefit of shorter runs.

I got in my head that I could up my current level of fitness and do something truly hard and out of the ordinary. I think the new plan is to run at a slower pace and just do the half rather than the full marathon. I have run the half distance (not in a race) at a slower pace (around 2 hours to complete) and been fine.

I might be overdoing it with the marathon. My sister is convinced that I can get a Boston qualifying time if I really work at it over the summer. I think the speed work might be the key issue.

Tex, thanks for the links! It's good to know that people with MC can still be athletic!

[Vanessa]

You are welcome Chemgirl! I obviously wasn't telling you anything new! You gotta admit, it would be pretty awesome to have someone on the forum who has ran Boston.....

[Gabes-Apg]

I also wonder how I would have fared if I was re- mineralized properly for those races..

I think this is very important.
and as we have learnt in our MC healing journey, some people need more minerals than others, and some need the more bio available/better absorbed versions.
in line with this, people have different recovery /healing rates. Listening to your body is a key part of the wellness journey.

[Chemgirl]

You are welcome Chemgirl! I obviously wasn't telling you anything new! You gotta admit, it would be pretty awesome to have someone on the forum who has ran Boston.....

I sincerely doubt I would ever get to Boston. My sister is big on running and had a qualifying time once, then pregnant so she never ran it. I think she is trying to live vicariously through me. If you multiply my 10k time I would be good to go, but obviously I can't sustain that and I don't think 3 months of training would get me there.

[brandy]

We are proud of you Chemgirl regardless!

[Gabes-Apg]

Chemgirl
listening to some podcasts this morning, this discussion came to mind.

have you checked out Dave Asprey, Bulletproof Radio - (he has an good low inflammation eating plan too)
Evan Brand Not Just Paleo also interviews interesting nutrihacking types
recently Dave interviewed a guy who was super fitness type, and along with some other podcasts i have listened to it was interesting to note that the people that are super SUPER focussed on optimal health and high level fitness (nutrihacking etc) take ALOT of supplements and herbs,

one of them can take anything up to 20 different supps/herbs in the morning, different ones at lunch.
main reasons are
a) because you can not get enough key nutrients from food and
b) due to our current lifestyles and toxin overload we need really high levels of certain nutrients (that is even without being super keen about fitness and running)

the other key thing I have learnt from these interviews/podcasts. Everyone is different. What works for one, may not work for another.
you have to listen to your body, use the available testing (more so via functional medicine not mainstream) and adjust to suit your individual needs.
what i find is that there are parts of the podcast that dont apply to me, but pretty much each podcast has something of interest for my wellness journey. There maybe some good info that will help you - and you may well get to run the Boston!
https://www.bulletproofexec.com/mark-sisson-314/