Charlie: Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles.
This week we're tackling a topic that I know affects a lot of runners
and that is getting GI issues on a run. I'm chatting
with registered dietitian and multi time marathoner
Kristy Baumann about the common mistakes runners make that could be
causing their gastro issues and, crucially, some tips on how to
avoid them. For new and regular listeners, make sure
to note down the new discount code for X Miles To save on
all your running fuel, hydration and running kit, use
the code cook eat Run June
10. I'll link it below. Don't worry.
Cook Eat run June 10 to save
10% this month. The code is good until the end of June,
and then we'll have a new code for you, so make sure to keep listening.
Charlie: Kristy thank you so much for joining me this
afternoon, this evening for me. But it's so nice to have you, and
I followed you online for a long time, so it's nice to
put a kind of face to the instagram.
Kirsty: Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so
excited, to chat with you today and, yeah,
just share nutrition knowledge with runners.
Charlie: Yeah. So I put out a little box on Instagram
this morning, and I had a lot of
questions. I feel like GI issues
are, something that unfortunately, a lot of
runners deal with.
So, yeah, that's the topic for today. We're going to do a deep
dive into it because I think it is a.
It's not talked about enough. And then people will often be like,
oh, I had a good race, but then this happened. So,
let's get straight into it.
What do we mean when we say Gi issues?
Kirsty: Yeah, so, GI stands
for gastrointestinal. So basically, it's
like GI tract. Sometimes
people refer to it as your stomach, your gut. So
stomach is only part of the gastrointestinal system.
So it's anytime that food
enters your mouth all the way to when it exits your
body. basically, we can experience
different GI issues or symptoms
that, can happen during that time. And that can
be anything from, you know, gas,
constipation, diarrhoea, vomiting,
bloating, just a few
of the main examples, but it can be a whole host of different
symptoms that people can experience.
Charlie: Yeah, they're not pleasant. And I feel like
maybe in running, we talk about them a little bit more than
everyday. You know, everyday people talk about in
conversation. But why do people
get this? Like, it seems like so many people
do. Is there, surely there's like,
you know, a number of reasons why. But what are the main
reasons that you see people experience gi issues from?
Kirsty: Right, yeah. So, I mean, when you think of
running in general, like, it's not
normal to be one. Eating and running at the
same time. That is a very
unusual thing when you think about it.
and so whether it's what you're eating right before
a run or even the days leading
up to a run can impact GI issues.
but most things that I see, some of the most common
causes are, oh, there can be a lot.
And it can be tricky to navigate just because there can be
so many different factors that go into it.
But what you're eating before your run, the timing
of it, under fueling. So even if you're
not eating enough throughout week
after week, that can be a
factor. eating high
fibre, high fat,
acidic foods, caffeine, other
gas producing foods, there can be a
whole host of things.
Charlie: I mean, not to overshare, but I definitely feel like it when I
have artificial, ah, sweeteners, they do not sit well with
me. Even things like chewing gum I
have to be really careful with because it, yeah,
just doesn't do me any good.
But another reason I feel like I've experienced them in
the past is from dehydration. Can
dehydration, lack of sodium, impact
gi tract and cause kind of
diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, that sort of thing?
Kirsty: Oh, yes, for sure. And I've experienced it too. And I feel like
it's one that we don't, like, we automatically often
think about. It's the food that caused the, ah,
gi issues or what you ate or the gel, or the
gels of like, oh, that gel
caused me to have stomach pain or this gi
symptom. But dehydration is a big one
that I see too. Lack of fluids, lack of sodium, lack
of electrolytes that can
contribute.
Charlie: So how do we kind of figure out
what it is? Is it a process of like, trial and
error, writing a food diary? How can we narrow down
what might be the cause for our. Well, for the
individual's GI issues?
Kirsty: Right. So I think one,
understanding, I guess, kind of backing up understanding why it happens
again is when we run, blood moves away from our
digestive tract towards our working muscles. We need
blood flow in order to digest food, in order to
digest what's in our stomach, in our
digestive tract. And so
obviously, like, the jostling and bouncing
of running too, contributes to, that
as well. So as far as, like, how to figure
out what's going on,
it's, I think one,
food, like, writing down what you're eating and.
Or indicating, like, okay, this is a time
that I had GI issues. what else did
I have to eat before this? How did I feel? What
exactly was the symptom? was it a
warm day? What was the weather like? Was I running at a
higher intensity?
Kirsty: yeah, that can definitely be a good place
to start, is just kind of bringing that awareness to
what else is going on besides,
you know, when those GI
symptoms happen. What else is going on? what am I
eating? The timing of it. There's so many different things.
Charlie: I know. I think that's why it's so difficult, isn't it, that it's hard to
pin down. Even as seasoned runners, you can
think you've done everything right and then just have
a, like, a day where something
goes wrong and you're, like, in pain or
as, like, in the portaloos or
having to kind of stop yourself from being sick. But,
one person says, or actually quite a few people said, is it
just inevitable that at the end of the marathon, I'm going to feel
sick? Or is there, can they
avoid it in any way?
Kirsty: The way you're eating or what you're eating is a huge
part, and I don't think anyone needs to always
be feeling sick at the end of the marathon. There's a lot of
nutrition strategy that goes into play to
prevent that from being from happening. And part
of it, which I think sometimes can happen, is like, people
will only experience it on race day, their GI
issues.
Charlie: Exactly.
Kirsty: Because you're running faster, you're running at
a higher intensity because you're trying to run a certain time
or, set up Pb pR.
Kirsty: And then that's a big part. And then sometimes,
like, just during training runs, you're like, oh, I can
get away with, like, one gel during a ten mile run.
And we have to train our stomach to
actually fuel, like, we are going to fuel
on race day. So even though we can get away
during a training run with less fuel,
if your stomach has to get used to it, your stomach has
a muscle, it has to be trained just like you're training your legs to
run 13.1 mile, 20, you know,
a half or full marathon.
Charlie: Yeah. Do you think any of, like, race day
nerves play into it?
Kirsty: Oh, yeah, for sure. I think they can
definitely be playing a contributing factor.
However,
I recently asked another runner about like
her nerves. And when the GI issues
happened on a run, because oftentimes they're at the
start, but then once you start get going, like, they kind
of go away. And she said,
yeah, it was like the nerves went
away, but then once the GI issues started to happen, the
nerves came back.
So it's. It's like we have
to practise
our fueling, so then
our, you know, our stomach gets used to it and we feel
confident in how to eat. So those
nerves, it can kind of
like be a cycle, I guess, is what I'm saying.
Charlie: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you get nervous that you're gonna
have issues, you have issues, you're worried about what's good,
the, like, repercussions of the issues are gonna be.
Yeah.
So we, you and I both preach the
benefits of a carb load. That's obviously something that's kind
of new ish to a lot of people when they're actually just running the
marathon, because we're not doing it in our
long runs. How would you recommend people get around that
and especially kind of people that don't
maybe have such a carb
heavy diet, in thinking of things
like babels and breads and those sort of quite
wheat heavy carbs,
how would you suggest people practise or get around
having issues as a result of the carb load?
Kirsty: Right. So, I mean, a big part is, eating the low
fibre, the white, refined,
easy to digest carbohydrates, because
if you're eating a lot of like, whole grains or
like, you know, whole wheat bread,
eating, the higher fibre or eating
more carb loading on potatoes,
with. Or fruits and vegetables that can
add bulk to your Gi tract,
which takes longer. Longer to
digest, longer to get out of your digestive tract, which
ultimately can cause GI issues. Bloating
gas Gi issues on race day too.
Charlie: That's a good tip. What about if. So, I. I felt
quite bloated doing my carb load,
so I used a lot of drinks.
Kirsty: Yeah.
Charlie: Do they still work as well for a carb
load?
Kirsty: Yep, yep.
Charlie: Like squat strings, those kind of thing.
Kirsty: Yes, yes. I'm a big proponent of. Yeah,
drinking your carbohydrates because that
tends to be easier on. On
your stomach, on your digestive tract. Obviously. Choosing
those drinks that. With real sugar in versus,
like, the artificial sweeteners in.
Charlie: Yeah.
Kirsty: Or being aware of, like, carbonated drinks.
Carbonated drinks are probably not going to be a good option
for carb loading because, again, of. Of
the carbonation causing gas and bloating
but yeah, choosing like fruit juices
or smooth fruit smoothies
or sweet tea.
I don't know. What were some of your favourite drinks that you
used?
Charlie: I, ah, just use things like Gatorade and
scratch, high carb drink,
coconut water
and a lot of those three and orange juice,
but on repeat, basically. they were just
easy to get and easy to drink and pretty
high carb, most of them.
But I did still feel like a little bit
bloated. I saw something on Instagram
yesterday. There was someone saying, actually if you
do experience bloating or like GI issues or
IB's type symptoms that maybe we should be
avoiding like high waisted leggings or
shorts for our marathons because they can
actually impact it. Have you ever worked with
anyone that changed literally what they were wearing to help with their
Gi?
Kirsty: I haven't specifically, but I mean, it makes sense, like if
the compression of the spandex
shorts is, you know, putting that pressure on your,
your stomach and your digestive, talk like that doesn't feel
the best.
Charlie: so maybe something to try if people. Yeah, I've tried everything
else.
Kirsty: Yeah, for sure.
Charlie: If you have. Are experiencing GI issues on the
run, is there anything you can do in the
moment to either stop
things getting worse or stop their symptoms
altogether? Is there anything you can recommend for people?
Any magic pills?
Kirsty: Yeah, right. It kind of depends on the
symptom, I feel like, and
it definitely takes like, navigating in the
moment. But for example, I had
a runner, who attended some of my master classes and
we talked about sloshy stomach, so, like, where it feels
like water is like just sloshing around in your
stomach. And so, she remembered that we
talked about it and she was thinking back to what
she was drinking during the race. You know, this was like at mile 17,
miles 18 of the race, and she's like,
oh, I realised I was just drinking primarily
water and I wasn't taking my electrolytes.
I wasn't, you know, getting the sodium in, whether it's
from the gels or whether she was taking salt tabs
or capsules. And so she, in the
moment, remember that stop drinking
plain water and still took her
gel and then focused on getting those
electrolytes in which hell. And she
was like, yeah, it was pretty quick and easy. It actually, my sloshy
stomach went away pretty quick.
Charlie: If that could be a reason for it. Is it
too late if you're halfway through or at mile 20? Or is it
like, if you're experiencing symptoms, just try the
electrolytes, try the sodium, and it's not likely
to make it worse.
Kirsty: Well, you know, if somebody's taking too, if they've
already been taking a lot of sodium and electrolytes,
it could be the opposite problem where they're not getting enough
fluids for
the amount of sodium and electrolytes that they're
taking. So
it becomes this puzzle piece of
what was the root cause
of my GI issues.
You know, nausea would be another one of.
It could be related to lack of carbs.
It could be related to lack of fluids and
electrolytes and dehydration. I feel like sometimes our
body shows us the same signs or same
symptoms.
Charlie: For more than one root cause without telling us why.
Kirsty: Yeah, right.
Charlie: Oh, that's. Yeah. So basically, it's a
miracle that we get through some of these races without
feeling sick or dehydrated or, you know, having diarrhoea,
because everything has to work. Like, you have to have the
right amount of carbs, be fueling correctly, the right amount
of fluid and sodium, and all work together.
Well, I'm really grateful that I've managed to figure it out most of
the time, then.
Kirsty: Yeah. I wonder.
Charlie: So many people are struggling.
Kirsty: Yeah.
Charlie: Okay. Somebody else asked, is it bad to take
imodium or, like, an anti diarrheal before
races and before their weekly long runs?
Kirsty: So my approach, and I'll be interested to
hear your approach, but my approach is,
let's figure out why you're needing to take it,
why you're needing to take the ammonium or,
you know, what the root cause is. You know, is
it more. Maybe it's more of, like, I've
experienced GI issues in the past, and I'm afraid of
that. And there is absolutely, like we
mentioned, this mental component, our brain is directly
connected to our gut through the vagus nerve, and so it's
communicating back and forth. So even the fear
of experiencing GI issues can
cause GI issues. but it's.
I'm a big proponent of let's get down to the root
reason and figure out what's
going on, to solve it that way.
Charlie: Yeah, I definitely agree with you for the long run,
I feel like I have taken it as a
free, just an
insurance policy before marathons,
before, or taking it with me in my bag. On a long
run, those imodium instants, and sometimes just
taking it makes signals to my brain like, you're going to
be okay. So almost in the same way that the fear
of getting symptoms makes you
get symptoms, they're like, I'm going to be fine because
I've taken this. Helps the stomach. I don't know whether
that, makes sense, but, yeah,
I think in the long, like, on long runs, especially, where
you can be a bit more strategic in planning. Like,
if you are nervous, plan a route around bathrooms,
practise your fueling, practise your hydration, even if you're
running like two mile loops by your house or whatever you
need to do in training so that
by race day you can control
not, you know, you can't control the weather, you can control a bit more of
what you're eating in the lead up, but you've
figured out how to get through the
nutrition and hydration to the best of your ability so
that you don't need to take them every single week, right?
Kirsty: Yep, yep. Yeah, that's good.
Charlie: I am, yeah, I definitely have carried them
in pockets or given them to people on the course
as like, an emergency. Like, can you take my
electrolyte bottle and my imodium and.
Yeah, hope for the best. But,
so far there's been
no, I don't think I've had to poop during a
race before, so I'm on a marathon,
so.
Kirsty: Yeah, that's good.
Charlie: Sorry, serious overshare.
Yeah, I think, yeah, that seems to be the
new thing. I don't know that you saw like, the viral reel
of the guy in the Boston marathon, porter
Potty.
Kirsty: Oh, no, I have, I haven't seen it. You'll have to send it to
me if you can find it.
Charlie: He's like, hi, I'm blowable. And this is me at the start of
the race. And then he's like, I'm at mile 14. Someone come
get me. And he's like, in the loo? Yeah, not having a
good time. I'm sure it was just for show, but I think
it highlighted just how many people do end
up having to use them on race day.
But.
Okay, a bit more specific. But
any tips for people with inflammatory bowel
diseases like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's, with
dealing with symptoms or
trying to kind of make sure they're
feeling the right way and taking the right kind of
nutrition products to limit symptoms?
Kirsty: Yeah, so definitely, like, anytime that
there's a, ah, medical, underlying medical
condition, you have to be, you know,
your body the best. So you know what
foods are potential trigger
foods. and so
that's so different from person to person.
and then sticking with, you know, I always talk about
sticking with those foods. The days
leading up into your race that, you know, work for, work for
you and that you've been eating throughout your training cycle.
those are kind of the key things that come to mind
offhand. how about for you, anything?
Charlie: Yeah, it would just be like watching what's in
certain products. So I know that in some sports products, especially
in the US, there are more
additives, more sweeteners. So that's something that I'm really
aware of. And like, again, it sounds silly, but when I'm
travelling and I don't get on well with
the milk in the US, but I'm fine with it in the UK. So
just especially if you're travelling for races, just
take it. Bringing things from home that you know are safe.
This goes really for everybody, to be honest.
And then, yeah, just again
with things like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's, like, you
can't help if it's a flare and there's,
you know, if you are flaring and even if you're
eating all the things that are normally
fine or taking the sports nutrition products that are normally
fine and sometimes it's a bit
hard to avoid, you know, the kind of symptoms
of those and just being, again, trying not to
have that as a stress, like you said, like,
try not to stress about the fact that you might have
issues and m be prepared. Like
take Lou, roll with, you know, where
the bathroom stops are, go,
multiple times before you hit the start line
and just, yeah, be kind to yourself and just think,
right, it's better to make stops
than need to, you know, DNF the race
because you need medical assistance kind of thing.
Kirsty: Right? Yeah. Yes, exactly. I was gonna
say, you make a good point with, like travelling
throws a whole nother, whole nother
obstacle, in the, in it of
travelling to races.
Charlie: So, yeah, I
mean, it's a fun part of
racing for a lot of people. Like, I absolutely loved getting to travel,
especially to the US, but I've definitely made the
mistake of when I went into Chicago the first
time, I was trying to show my now husband that I was
like so cool and relaxed and just chill about
marathons and that we could go and have hot dogs the
night before the race and it
was such a bad idea. At, Marl,
I think like 16, I started throwing up
and yeah, needless to say, and I'm sure there
were other factors, I'd probably gone out at, ah, a
faster pace than I was actually really
trained for. It was a warmer day than I had trained
for, but the hot dogs definitely
haunt me still.
Kirsty: Have you hate?
Charlie: Yeah. Have you had any race day disasters where you've just
been like, I knew better than that.
Kirsty: Well, one of my ones that I always think
about, I took a gel with like 100 milligrammes
of caffeine on for the first time on
race day. I was like, oh, this will be perfect. It'll give me a boost
of energy. And one, I
was dehydrated. I had just like taken sips
of water along the way until mile 17.
And, too, I never practised that
gel and like, it hit me like
a tonne of bricks and like, it was like the worst pain
ever.
Charlie: Oh, no.
Kirsty: M in the middle of the race, eventually it went
away but it definitely took a few miles.
Charlie: and when it gets hard anyway, when your head and your legs have
gone, the last thing you need is to like add something else to
that, like dumpster fire
situation that's going on. Anyway,
so, yeah, practise, practise, practise.
One again, quite a niche question.
Someone messaged in to say they have
CSID, which means they have an inability
to digest, sucrose and
isomorphose. I don't know why I've written it like that. anyway,
different types of sugars. Are there
other options for long run fuel that you
can recommend?
Kirsty: Yeah, I mean there's definitely, I don't know offhand
what types of sugars, and maybe, you know
offhand, but I mean, thankfully one, there's
like so many different types of gels out there now that
are made from whole foods and made from different types
of sugar. and you don't
have to use gels or chews. there's a variety
of sports drinks with carbohydrates in. But also like,
you know, the food options, whether it's dried
fruit or, you know, applesauce pouches
or, you know,
candy, like. And I haven't looked specifically
what types of sugar
those food, what. Where those types of
sugar are in food. But, thankfully there's
a lot of options out there for
different simple carbohydrate foods that you can
use during a run too.
Charlie: So it's obviously very individual and a bit
of a minefield. Do
you have any like three top takeaways for
people who deal with Gisus for them? Kind of going
forward to start honing in on what might
be their problems and how they can start to solve those.
Kirsty: Right. So I would say, the first thing
to look at, one of the first things to look at is
if it's happening just on race day.
Consider these two things. One, your
hydration. Are you drinking enough
fluids? Are you taking in the amount of
sodium and electrolytes that you need
based on your sweat rate? because
like we talked about, dehydration is a huge component
of experiencing GI
issues. two, training
your stomach. So
practising how you plan to fuel on
race day and practising it when you're
running at a higher intensity. So doing
during long runs, when you're running at
race pace or doing interval
workouts or even, you know, mid
week during a speed workout that
you're training your stomach and your stomach's getting used to
digesting those gels or chews or
whatever you plan to use on race day, the sports drink,
during the faster paced stuff. So that's,
two things offhand. And then if it's like
happening, again, kind of on
a regular basis, a couple times a week,
I would start with kind of that food
log of just writing down,
you know, these are things that I'm eating the night
before, maybe a long run, a hard workout or
when they tend to happen. And then this is
what I'm eating the morning of. You know,
maybe you're running in the morning and you're not eating anything
and that can even be a factor in
causing, Gi issues too. So,
but that's, that can be definitely a starting point to see if you can
find start to see the
trends.
Charlie: Okay, great. That's really helpful. How.
My last question for you. Sorry, is going to be how
do you feel like what's your favourite sports nutrition
products? How do you, did you feel for your
last marathon that you did?
Kirsty: Yeah, so I actually like
variety. but some of my favourite gels are the huma gels.
Huma plush gels which has extra electrolytes.
And I'm a salty sweater and I've
experienced muscle cramps.
I so many like for eight marathons that my
foot would always cramp. And I finally realised it was related
to lack of fluids and lack of electrolytes.
Anyway, so humour huma flush gels,
I'll do a combination of that plus the goo rock tain
Morton. And then I really like the,
scratch high carb drink. Ah, to
get in extra carbs in as well. but taking a
gel every 30 minutes and then bringing a handheld water
bottle with scratch in and using that first half of the
race. And then, often we'll refill it
the second half of the race to, continue to stay
hydrated.
Charlie: Yeah, I did that for Boston. I took a handheld
for the first like five, 6 miles. and
it was so helpful just to be able to kind of get ahead,
especially on a slightly hot day. Get ahead of the nutrition of the.
Well, nutrition, because I had carbs and electrolytes in there, but the
hydration and not start on the back foot
and go in kind of already dehydrated.
so yeah, I found that really helpful. But I think so many people are
reluctant to have told something or to
bring things with them.
Kirsty: Oh, yeah, I totally was that way for
years. Yeah. And then I,
just practised it basically with all my long runs, even
during midweek runs I would just get used to and
then just realised now,
like, I tried, even in the winter time, I tried running
10 miles without water and I was like, oh my
gosh, I need water, I need fluids, I need
electrolytes. Like, you get used to it
eventually.
Charlie: Yeah. So actually summer is a great time to practise it because we do
need more fluid, more electrolytes, even on our
slightly shorter runs are maybe like less intense
runs, especially if you're doing them kind of
mid day or just straight off to work, that it's going
to be quite warm, hopefully. I hope we're going to have a
warm summer. So it's a good time to practise with the
handhelds, with the hydration and the electrolytes and
carbs and things, right?
Kirsty: Yep. Absolutely.
Charlie: Great. Well, thank you so much, Kristy Where can people find you
and work with you? Learn more about
what you know, your offerings are?
Kirsty: Yeah, so I'm on Instagram
marathon nutritionist. Feel free to send me
a DM direct message if you listened and let
me know what you learned. and then I work
specifically with runners in helping them
fuel and navigate their fueling plan. Navigate
GI issues. I have
a free training, actually it
was funny you reached out and maybe you saw some of my posts, but a free
training about navigating GI issues? I
did.
Charlie: I was like perfect.
Kirsty: Realising so many at some point or another,
runners are experienced, you know, I've experienced that. You've
experienced it. Most runners are experiencing GI issues and
just, you know, if they're happening over and over again, it's so
frustrating. so helping navigate through
that and then, I kick off, this fall.
Starting in July, we'll have a group coaching programme
for fall races. In
helping individuals, m have a personalised
fueling plan for race day.
Charlie: Thanks so much for listening to this week's. Episode of the Cook Eat
run podcast with X Miles Don't forget to use the code cook
eat run June 10. It's linked at the
bottom at x miles to save 10% on
everything in next week's episode, I'm chatting with
Andy blow from precision fuel and hydration about
sweat hydration and how to come up with your own hydration
plan to boost performance this summer. So make sure to
subscribe to the show wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss
an episode. Also, if you're enjoying the relaunch of.
Charlie: The pod, I'd love if you could.
Charlie: Leave a rating and review. It really helps us know that we're doing the right thing and
providing the right information for you. And if there's any topics you want
covered, slide into my DM's. I'm at, the runner beans.
Or just message the guys at X Miles and they'll pass it on.
So just let us know what other topics you want us
covered. See you next time.