Thursday, March 8, 2012

Finding The Cure

I am still having difficulties with gastric distress after the longer training runs - basically anything around 6 miles or over.  And by difficulties, I mean things are really bad. 
I've been doing some researching online and have come to find out the answer really lies within myself.

There are so many possibilities that it seems my only recourse is to begin a workout journal documenting all factors.  Technically, this is a major part of my training for Fargo.  So, are you all ready to go on this "journey" with me?  Tie up your shoes and grab the toilet paper.

Food Log for today:
3 cups of the sweet nectar from the Gods (some people call it coffee)
2 Bowls of Kashi cereal
2 cups of Soy Milk
1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup of blueberries
2 -Morningstar Hot Dogs
2 - slices of Double Protein bread
2 tbs mustard
2 tbs ketchup
32 ounces of water
1 medium apple

So yeah...... pretty embarassing because it's only 1:00 p.m. in the afternoon and most people don't eat this much in a day.  I still have afternoon snack, dinner and night time snack left. 
Oh, and don't forget, this is not a workout night.  However, I am trying to make myself do DVD workouts at home on my "non-exercise" nights.  I haven't won that argument with myself, yet.

One factor that I am absolutely sure about is that this only happens when I run.  I have regularly been doing my boot camp class followed by tabatas class on Mondays which is 1.5 hours of intense cardio and strength training exercises.  However, I never have stomach problems afterwards.

Plan of Attack:
1) Tomorrow I am scheduled to do my running.  I am going to try drinking gatorade to see if the diarrhea may be due to electrolyte imbalance.
2) Will stop chewing gum with sorbitol. 
3) Diet will be a constant evaluation. I think I need to cut back on the fiber the day before longer runs and overall, may need to increase my carb intake - and not the "good" carbs as they have fiber. 
-Note to self: will have to try this next time as I have had a fair amount of fiber already today.
4) Next I may try something called "GU" packets.  Anybody have any thoughts on these?
5) As a last resort, I will take Immodium.  Depending on how this all goes, I may just take it on the day of the race to decrease my anxiety about pooping my pants/having diarrhea running down my legs, in front of thousands of people.

1 comment:

  1. Coffee can really run through you, too -- so that might be something else to avoid on running days. Sorry you're having so much trouble.

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