3: How to Solve Runner’s Trots Issues

Runner’s trots and GI issues can unfortunately happen during or after training and races and can include symptoms such as diarrhea, stomach cramps and pain, and bloating.

In today’s episode you will learn:

– causes of GI issues during a run

– step by step guide to determine what may be causing your Runner’s Trots

– how to modify your diet to limit GI issues during a run or a race

Full transcription of the episode:

Hey everyone. Welcome to today’s episode. This is episode number three. We’re talking all about runner’s trots and GI concerns that can happen. What are the causes for them and how to avoid them? So it’s, you know, they’re called Runner’s Trots cause you can be more likely to experience them when running, but it can definitely still happen during a triathlon. It has been shown that 31% of triathletes, Ironman triathletes, and 14% of Half Ironman triathletes do experience GI concerns during races. And when I say GI concerns, I’m talking about things like pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea or urgency to use the bathroom, cramps, hurt burn.

So, it can be incredibly frustrating, especially to deal with these in a race when you’re trying to perform. Maybe you’re trying to reach a PR and if you’re having to maybe stop to use the washroom or slow down, because you’re feeling in pain or uncomfortable, it can suck too, to put it lightly or to put it that way. So, I want to talk about the reasons and then I also want to talk about kind of how nutrition plays a role and what you can do to prevent.

I find there’s a couple situations. I’ve definitely, I’ve worked with clients where this is a chronic concern, where they’re experiencing runner’s trots, especially on longer, harder runs. So I’m going to talk about real things that I’ve done with those clients and show you that it is possible to figure out what your triggers are and how to limit them and how to avoid them. And there also can be times where maybe you don’t experience a lot in training, but it comes up on race day.

Okay. So, getting into the reasons. One of them is more of like what I would say, mechanical reasons. When you’re running, your stomach is jostling. It’s moving up and down, there’s this motion. So contents in your stomach are kind of moving around. Running may be more likely to speed up movement in your digestive track and make you have to go to the washroom. So that’s why it can be a little more common on a run versus on a bike because a bike we’re not moving up and down so much. It also has to do with blood flow. When we are training or during exercise, our body’s prioritizing, prioritizing getting oxygen to our muscles and getting oxygen to our heart, our lungs, our skin. So blood flow is going to all of those organs. The blood flow that would usually happen, for trying to digest food. Blood flow goes through our digestive tract, but this is not our main priority during exercise. When blood flow is diverted away from the GI tract to your working muscles, digestion’s slowing down. If you have any food contents still in your stomach undigested, from something you ate prior, it can start to cause you to feel some pain, some discomfort, and maybe make you feel urgency to use the washroom. It can cause maybe some heartburn as well. So kind of as a preview, what we eat before can be really important.

Also, when we have a higher rate of perceived exertion it makes us more likely to experience diarrhea or digestive issues, which is why they may be more likely to come up in a higher intensity training, maybe doing intervals or race, pace training, or on race day.

Nerves. So, pre-race anxiety, stress and nerves can really affect your GI tract. The gut is kind of also known as the second brain or that we have this gut brain connection. So when we’re feeling stressed and anxiety, that can actually speed up movement or contents of the digestive tract.

I want to get into then now kind of a category of nutrition. These are the main reasons that are going to be controllable. Eating high fiber foods before exercise is going to increase your chances of having GI issues. This is because high fiber foods like vegetables, beans, whole grains, high fiber bars, they take a long time to digest. So, if you’ve eaten something pretty high fiber within an hour or two before going to work out (and for some of my clients, it’s even more than that) that food is not fully digested, right? So it’s kind of still, it may not be fully digested. There may be still contents of that food in your stomach. And again, when that blood flow goes away from the stomach, digestion is going to slow down and that can cause some issues. Maybe that food is not in our stomach, but it’s kind of further along in our intestines or no digestive tract, so we have contents in there and then things are speeding up and it may, may be more likely to cause us to experience having to go to the bathroom or a diarrhea. So, you want to try to limit those types of foods. They can also cause gas and bloating for some people.

Similarly, high fat foods before exercise can cause some issue for people. Again, it comes down to that fact that high fat foods take long to digest. So, they may not fully be fully digested prior to your run. If you have a very high fat meal within an hour or two before going to exercise (high-fat could be, a big trail mix or something that’s deep fried or something has oil, egg yolks) it can cause stomach issues. As well, lactose for some people, if you have a lactose intolerance can cause Runner’s trots.

Dehydration is another factor that. Dehydration causes blood flow to divert away from the GI tract, slowing digestion. If you’re starting your exercise, under hydrated, you’re going to get dehydrated more quickly. Or, maybe you start hydratioed, but you’re doing a longer, harder training session or a race and you’re not replacing the fluids – this may contribute to some GI concerns.

Another reason can also be the amount and type of carbs that you fuel with during training or during a race. So I have made fueling mistakes a few times in races. Before I really knew much about nutrition (prior to becoming a dietitian). The first time I ever tried to gel during a workout was during a race, it was something I found in my race kit. It did cause cramps. Also, I had done a triathlon where I didn’t have a lot of training going into it. I wasn’t very confident, so I really just tried to take a lot of carbohydrates per hour, more than I had done in my training. I had the burps, I had cramps in my run. It was not great! So, your race nutrition and hydration plan should be something that you trialed out in training first!

And during a race, you shouldn’t take in more than you had in training. You want to train your gut to take in enough carbohydrates per hour so that it tolerates it on race day. So that is super important.

Now, if you try some of these things and you’re still experiencing issues, it can also be possibly related to FODMAPs. So FODMAPs, it’s an acronym for different types of carbohydrates. We could really do a whole other podcast on FODMAPS. But I want you to remember, if you’re having some GI concerns or Runner’s trot, eliminating high FODMAP foods is not the first step. But if you try everything, then you may want to look at avoiding high FODMAP foods, close to exercise. FODMAPS are different types of carbohydrates or sugars that ferment in the gut and pull water into digestive tract which can lead to diarrhea. Those who are more sensitive to this, can experience symptoms. Some examples of high FODMAP foods are apples, high-fructose corn syrup, some vegetables like beets, broccoli, grains, sorry not all grains, but gluten. Lactose and beans. A lot of times there’s a low FODMAP alternative that you can go to. But like I said, this is kind of not our first step.

The first step to do, if this is something you’re experiencing on a regular basis during your training is to keep a food and symptom journal. This is always my first thing that we do with clients that are experiencing Runner’s Trots and GI concerns. This is because we want to try to notice some patterns. When it comes to a food intolerance, let’s say, we eat a food. You don’t always get your intolerance or reaction right after you consume that. Sometimes it can be hours later the next day. Or, let’s say apples are causing you issues. Maybe you can have one apple a week and you’re fine, but if you have an apple every single day or twice a day, the extra amounts can kind of compound and lead to some issues. Keeping that food and symptom journal really allows you to see some patterns and to notice: is it what I’m eating right before? Is it the night before and then go from there.

So I kind of talked about this earlier, where sometimes for people, it’s the food that you eat just before exercise, that can cause some issues. And if you change that and you’re still experiencing some issues, then it may be what you’re eating earlier that day, the day before or even two days before. I have a client that I was working with and fiber was a big issue for him and we really limited the fiber in his breakfast before his runs, but he was still experiencing Runner’s Trot’s during longer, harder efforts. And we really had to cut back on the fiber in the day or two leading up to longer runs into his race. And that is something that we found really helped because when we’re cutting back the fiber there’s less basically contents in your digestive tract.

Fiber has so many health benefits, it’s very good for balancing blood sugars and digestion, but it just adds to more contents in your intestines and your colon. So it really did help to eliminate him from having runners trots. To get enough fibre, we focused on other days away from his longer training sessions to be able to get more fiber there.

So step one, keep a food journal at least for a couple of weeks and see what patterns that you, you start to notice what foods could be triggers. The second thing kind of alluding to that then would be limiting high fiber and high fat foods. First start to limit within that few hours prior to exercise, if that’s still not working, look at the night before, maybe the day before limiting some fiber, limiting those high fat foods. Focus more on eating low fiber carbohydrates, which would be things like white breads, white wraps, white english muffins versus whole grains. You can do canned fruit or fruit cups without the skin. Apple sauce, bananas as opposed to berries or grapes. Yogurt and rice cakes, low fiber cereal, like Rice Chex or Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, as opposed to oatmeal. Also limiting cruciferous vegetables, things that are a little bit more gassy, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower. Limit beans. You want to look at labels. If there’s four grams or more per serving on a label, then it’s considered a high source of fiber.

The next step would be to allow enough time for that food to digest before you go for your run or for training. You may need to increase the time between your first meal and your run. So I would say at least 30 to 60 minutes. It really depends on what you’re eating. So there are some really fast acting carbs that are okay to eat within 30 minutes. Like some applesauce, sport drink or banana. But again, with some of my clients that I’ve worked with that have GI issues, we have to eat breakfast or your pre-workout meal earlier. So if you eat breakfast in the morning, eat two to two and a half hours before.

So you kind of have to play around with the timing of the food and it’s just so that you allow enough time it digest, get the fuel to your muscles and out of your stomach. You also may want to avoid what we call hyperosmolar fluids. These are just fluids are very concentrated in sugar (pop or juice). That high concentration of sugar can cause a rush of water into your digestive tract and kind of make it more likely to have to go to the washroom. So things like a sports drink is the optimal osmolality of fluid. You may not need to avoid juice, but just take note if you do cause some issues. Other things to look for in your beverages, would be carbonation and artificial sweeteners. That brings me up to coffee. So coffee is a tricky one because coffee, yes, can speed up movement in your digestive tract. But coffee can also be helpful because it makes sure that you do go to the bathroom before you go on your run or before you go into your race. So it’s always good to have if it helps you have a bowel movement before. Have the smallest amount possible that you can to be able to go to the bathroom, if that is kind of your culprit or your trigger.

 I mentioned earlier it’s really important to be well hydrated though. Try to start exercise well hydrated. So you want to make sure you’re drinking enough throughout the day, replacing electrolytes. And a good way to know if you’re hydrated is kind of looking at your pee color. It doesn’t have to be clear, clear as water, but a pale yellow. If you’re waking up in the morning, it’s kind of dark, a darker yellow, then that’s a sign you’re dehydrated.  Make sure that you are drinking fluids leading up to exercise, having small sips leading up, and then also drinking enough fluids throughout, especially long duration exercise out in the heat.

We also want to make sure we’re replacing fluids. Everyone’s needs can vary. You can go anywhere from maybe 20 to 24 ounces of fluids an hour, maybe as low as 16 ounces. The best way is to test your sweat rate and figure out your own fluid needs to prevent dehydration. And we’ll do another episode about sweat rate and how to determine that.

Another tip is to make sure you don’t try anything new on race day. And also, train your gut. So if you’re someone, you know, when we look at kind of carb recommendations during exercise, over three hours, it gets to 60 to 90 grams of carb per hour,  and then more recent research showing up to 120 grams of carbs per hour can have a lot of benefits. If you’re someone that’s used to no carbs or 20 or 30 grams of carbs per hour, you need to build up gradually and not just do that right on race day or just on your regular training session.

If you’re someone who take a gel an hour on a run or on a bike that’s about 20 to 25 grams of carbs per an hour. Gradually increase that, add an extra gel or start taking in some fluids with some carbohydrates. Add up about 10 to 20 grams of carbs per hour each week on those kind of longer training sessions that you have, and build up your tolerance, build up your ability to absorb those carbohydrates without getting GI issues.

If you’re constantly having some issues, maybe it’s just finding the right type of supplements or the right type of food that you can tolerate. Sometimes a certain type of gel or a flavor just doesn’t agree with you. Try a different brand, try a different product.

Alright, so we talked a little about some of the causes and really focused in on some of the nutrition causes that may be avoidable and what you can do and how you can figure out what is causing you problem and to really figure out what’s causing your symptoms, because everyone is pretty individual in terms of what could be their triggers and what’s causing it.

So I just want to do a  quick overview of what we talked about in terms of the steps that you can take to figuring out what’s causing your Runner’s Trots, what’s causing your GI concerns during training or during a race. So first thing is keep a food journal for a couple weeks. In that food journal, write down what you eat and the time that you eat and also record when you worked out how you felt during your workout.Did you have to go to the bathroom? Did you have any cramps, any symptoms? Were you having that later on in the day? So do that. Then look at, how close to your workout are you eating? Are you eating maybe too soon before you work out? And then you just need to increase that time out a couple hours.

Look at what you’re eating before, either the morning before the meal before or potentially the day or two leading up to that workout. So is it, am I having is it fiber? Maybe I’m having a lot of high fiber foods before I go, or a lot of high fat foods and maybe I can find some alternatives there.

You want make sure you’re hydrated, so drinking fluids through the day, throughout those long training sessions, replacing fluids and electrolytes afterwards.  You can also look at your race nutrition, make sure you always practice what you’re going to do on race day ahead of time.

And then train your gut if neeed. If you’re someone who doesn’t tolerate a lot of carbs per hour, but you want towork up, just build up gradually. Find the product that’s going t owork for you and help you feel your best. Another thing I forgot to mention earlier is sometimes it can be related to your gut health, so you can also, if this is something you’re experiencing regularly, start to include some probiotic and prebiotic rich foods into your diet. So probiotic rich foods, these are your good bacteria, and eating them is going to help build up your good bacteria population. This would be things like kefir, a probiotic yogurt, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, tempeh, miso, kimchi. And then prebiotics are a type of fiber and it’s like the food for good bacteria. This is really any type of high fiber food, like fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts. Some foods in particular that are rich in prebiotics are, onions, garlic, asparagus, artichoke and apples and bananas.

And then lastly, if you try a lot of these big things that can be potential issues, and they do not help, then you may want to look into, the FODMAP diet. And potentially we need to limit high FODMAP foods before or the day before a race or training session.

You may not experience Runner’s Trots during all training sessions. I find a lot of times it can be during more high intensity or longer ones. But that may be something that you need to do, choose low FODMAP alternatives prior to the types of runs or race that you are experiencing symptoms.

Okay. I hope you found that helpful. If you have any questions, then please send me a message. My contact info is in the show notes and I do have a free download called the Pre and Post-Workout Nutrition Guide, and it does talk a lot about foods that do tend to be better tolerated prior to exercise. It talks about what to eat if you’re eating within 30 minutes, 60 minutes, or three hours prior to exercise. It may be a good starting point to help you choose what to eat and lower your risk of having GI concerns. So, thanks for listening. Happy training and have a great day!