Why does running make me want to &h!t so much????

[rune163]

DISCLAIMER: If you offend easily and/or get grossed out with relative ease you may want to click on the "back" button which will take you back to the main page and you can select another topic to read. The views expressed here are not necessarily that of Runningmania.

So what exactly is it that makes me want to take the Brown's to the Superbowl moreso whilst running than in other daily situations. Ever been out for a run and had to pinch a big one and there is no portaloo in site? Then you end up penguin walking for miles until you can find a 7-11 or tree that no one can see you behind?

Upon google searching my title I can across the following tips:

* Try to avoid eating for at least two hours before you exercise - the presence of food in the stomach will make things worse or contribute to the problem.
*Try to avoid the intake caffeine and warm fluids as it is possible for this to speed up the movement of wastes through the intestines.
*Make sure to limit your intake of dairy products, particularlly if susceptible to diarrhea
*Limit high-fiber foods in the days before a long race.
*Avoid the foods that you know produce flatulence or loose stools.
*Drink plenty of fluids. It is best to drink a full 16 oz. of water an hour before your workout, giving the excess fluid time to pass through, and start off well-hydrated.
*Be aware of your bowel habits and try to time your workouts for after such movement times.

Even following this I have still had the recent problem of getting the "Runners Trots" Since the Western States 100 I have been a pooping machine on runs. Normally I would never take a dookie mid run but have been soiling various Calgary landmarks like there is no tomorrow! I always farted while running and took pride in that fact. Nothing adds to a great run like ripping a great fart when folks are out for a stroll along the path and you can see there face cringe as they just caught a little whiff!

Even more impressive I once got what I have heard refered to as the walking farts (or running farts) where every step you take some gas comes out. I had a stretch of nearly 200 meters where each foot step a little kimanchi fart came out.

All that said I have never needed to poop like I have lately. So what exactly is it? Weather? Hormone increase? Less stressed bowels? I am now in the dilemna of having to plan my routes near crappers so I don't spend miles and miles penguin marching down the trail with a turtle head coming out of its shell! Personally mine come on without warning. One minute I can be feeling great and ripping up a sub 6 and then the next minute I have cramps so bad and am sweating perfusely looking for a place to do some serious business. I now also have to carry a second pair of shorts when running. Not cause I can't make it and go in my drawers but because sometimes it feels like I just lost 5 pounds and the size large I normally wear doesn't fit and I can't run down the path holding the waistband so they don't fall down and shock passerbye's.

So fellow maniacs am I in a category all to my own here or do others find that running makes you want to crap more often than a day when your not running?

[Nicholas]

Face it, Ryne, you're getting older. I see baggy shorts and a box of Depends in your future. Oh, and there is a great sale on titanium trail-walkers right now......

[bicycle.boy]

I can't really offer you a whole lot of help, I'm afraid, but I will agree with the Google Search about fiber intake. It's good for you, but not what you want to be taking in on a long run. Unless your problem is a little more fluid, in which case some fiber to bring things together might be a good idea.

Caffeine is also a good thing to avoid in general, I find. Work on your overall nutrition, and see if certain foods are triggering these attacks. Failing that, perhaps see a doctor. You may have an IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) such as Crohn's or Colitis. Unlikely, but possible.

Good luck!

[RA.]

Ryne, you make me laugh!

I think you should try out colonics.... Maybe get one before every run?

[WhatYodaSaid]

It's the forced gear-shift of your autonomic nervous system. The two branches of it, the sympathetic and parasympathetic, govern a great deal of processes in your body. Both of these branches are always at work in your body, but it's like a tug-of-war. When one is more powerfully active, the other is repressed. The dominance of one of the two branches is described as "tone." For example, when your sympathetic nervous system is dominant, you're said to have high sympathetic tone.

Running activates your sympathetic nervous system to an great degree, with extreme swiftness, putting your body in a state of high sympathetic tone and therefore low parasympathetic tone: This gets blood to your muscles and causes your breathing, heart rate, cardiac contractile force, etc. to temporarily increase. Digestion, on the other hand, is carried out under high parasympathetic tone (and correspondingly, low sympathetic tone).

During running, as your parasympathetic tone and therefore digestive system grinds to a near-hault, whatever is going on in it at that moment in your digestive tract slows to a crawl, and to top it off, the smooth muscle of your intestines relaxes (stops moving food/waste actively along). Tension in these muscles simultaneously moves everything along whilst preventing it from moving along too quickly.

What should have hours (or even a day) later been your next normal bowel movement is sitting in your large intestine, mixed with a great deal of fluid, as is normal, but it is normal passage through the large intestine, under moderate parasympathetic tone, that would remove this fluid and result in your run of the mill poop. But once your sympathetic nervous system takes over, you've got a very water waste, in the equivalent of a biological water slide (large intestine with relaxed muscle tone), thus you find said waste has suddenly reached the end of the chute en mass with only one place to go. OUT.

Why is it happening to you and not others? That I can't answer. It's the same reason that some people are as regular as clockwork, while others with similar diet are not. Every body is a little different. There is some element of timing your meals and fluid intake, but not just your meal before your run - all of them. A great deal also depends on what you eat. Fibre is good, but not in excess. More fibre brings more fluid into your large intestine, which is great if you're just sitting around with appropriate autonomic tone to handle proper digestion, but not so good if you're about to head out for a run.

I dunno... experiment with your diet and timing a bit and see what happens...

[Agent Provocateur]

Vegans always poop more.

[pts]

Maybe it's because you are a Sh@t disturber??

[Jwolf]

All kidding aside... since this is a new problem that only came up with a vengance after Western States, I wonder if you somehow knocked out some of your good intenstinal flora and they might not have grown back yet. That race put a huge strain on your body, you got severly dehydrated, and it might have some lasting affect on your system. Have you tried yogurt or something with "probioitics".

[MINITEE]

OMG this is too funny...

All I can say is

"Stop drinking creek water"

or... stoop & scoop...

[NewFinnLoper]

OK...I have this problem ONLY during my afternoon/evening runs (pardon the pun!)...Mornings I am fine - maybe because I have the opportunity to expel excesses before I head out and my breaky intake is minimal...but if I run any time after work (meaning after I have eaten lunch a few hours previous) I seriously have to plan the runs around bathroom stops...I have also tried varying my lunch menu...but nothing seems to work...

I hear you rune...it is totally frustrating...!

[Doonst]

Holly! Is that you logged in as Ryne again? Good one!

[ultraslacker]

Holly! Is that you logged in as Ryne again? Good one!

oh no. he came up with this one himself.

[CinC]

my only suggestion is to run through off leash dog parks - there, the dogs will be your friends when you are 'stooping' and just make sure that you follow the stoop with a scoop.

sorry, no other words of advice.

[arestall320]

I've had the same thing where for a period of time things get allot worse, but it always seems to go away without any real changes in diet or routine.

Ohhh the human body

[Jo-Jo]

All kidding aside... since this is a new problem that only came up with a vengance after Western States, I wonder if you somehow knocked out some of your good intenstinal flora and they might not have grown back yet. That race put a huge strain on your body, you got severly dehydrated, and it might have some lasting affect on your system. Have you tried yogurt or something with "probioitics".

I'm thinking the same thing.

[BJH]

All kidding aside... since this is a new problem that only came up with a vengance after Western States, I wonder if you somehow knocked out some of your good intenstinal flora and they might not have grown back yet. That race put a huge strain on your body, you got severly dehydrated, and it might have some lasting affect on your system. Have you tried yogurt or something with "probioitics".

I'm thinking the same thing.

Me too. Get the yogurt.

Ryne, I can sympathize, as this happens to me once a month. But in my case it it homonally related and thus easily explainable.

[ultraslacker]

Ryne, I can sympathize, as this happens to me once a month. But in my case it it homonally related and thus easily explainable.

maybe he's finally reaching puberty!

[QuickChick]

Would immodium help?

[turd ferguson]

Holly! Is that you logged in as Ryne again? Good one!

oh no. he came up with this one himself.

He didn't just come up with it himself, he shared it with us at dinner last week. I can vouch for that.



Don't know what I can say. I thought someone else had been using my favourite tree down by the river.

[QuickChick]

I love that book!
Ryne I learned a lot of new slang terms for pooping today- thank you for that!

[runJrun]

Ryne, I can sympathize, as this happens to me once a month. But in my case it it homonally related and thus easily explainable.

maybe he's finally reaching puberty!

ROFL

[Jo-Jo]

Ryne, I can sympathize, as this happens to me once a month. But in my case it it homonally related and thus easily explainable.

maybe he's finally reaching puberty!

Zing

Be nice to Rune...I'm fond of him...I know...hard to believe

[Robbie-T]

I also have the gift of wind and take pride in the ability to release gas without breaking stride. Wet sweaty shorts really add a nice high pitch to a generally lower key sound. Once in a while the boom boom wants to happen while I'm running, but lately I've been lucky and my body empties its contents before runs.

After long runs though I'm not long for a quick sit once I'm in the door.

Good luck with your quest.

[QuickChick]

I find coffee before a run takes care of all boom-boom related problems rather than causes them- I like to call coffee the Great Mobilizer.

[runJrun]

I find coffee before a run takes care of all boom-boom related problems rather than causes them- I like to call coffee the Great Mobilizer.

Ditto. My routine is always the same - food, coffee and then guarenteed boom-boom