How I Overcame Stomach Issues When Running

[@markschoemehl4080]

FINALLY SOMEONE WHO HAS THE SAME PROBLEMS! I started running a year ago and had this problem almost every day. I would start feeling fine then have diarrhea and feel terrible after the run or mid run. I have been searching for someone with the same issues for over 10 months and you are the first I’ve found. Thanks for the information and your story. I am figuring it out as I continue my running journey.

[@shild6626]

Love this topic! Stomach issues. Thank you. Background music is so relaxing.

[@fadzaikamungozi6777]

Thank you for sharing your story. It has helped me a lot. God bless you🙏🏾

[@greemlee]

Thank you for this. I have exactly the same issue. A week before my marathon, I ate sensibly, no alcohol and not a huge dinner the night before. It worked up until last 6k... Which I was happy with. As you say, it is a neverending trial and error and is different for everyone. Great video

[@jamesday1]

Glad this helped Jeffrey! I wasn't sure whether to make this video but it seems like quite a few people have had this same experience. What was your race nutrition like in the marathon? Did you have much water, carbohydrates and electrolytes? My first marathon was also a struggle but mainly because I just used water. Now I wouldn't dare run a marathon without running gels and salt tablets. Hopefully your next marathon is smooth sailing 🙂

[@greemlee]

I thought I had plenty of water and electrolytes. But after I got back to the hotel I didn't go for a wee in ages and when I did it was very dark. When I do another I will be sipping more often. I had gels, half a banana, a slice of orange and a protein ball. I think that was too much to be honest. Thank you, hopefully it will be 😁

[@krilin84]

Well spoken. You've made a great resource on the topic! It's kind of awesome when you find something like running, that you like doing so much that you become willing to investigate and rid yourself of the unhealthy addictions standing in your way, to enable a more healthy one! A real life changer this running addiction is. Not to say it doesn't come with its own inherent treatment plan, but still 😅🙌

[@jamesday1]

Thanks Kristoffer! Glad you enjoyed it. You're comments definitely motivated me to make this one 🙂 Totally agree. I never would have been motivated to be super healthy for the sake of being healthy.. I enjoy food to much! And not the food that's good for you. Running is pretty much the only reason why I'm improving my diet.

[@krilin84]

@@jamesday1 cool! Yeah, I know what you mean, I'm just the same! Although, when thinking about it, I'm not sure that my diet has improved a whole lot from running though as I'm not really eating any bigger meals than before, but just fleshing out my calorie intake with tailwind and snacks in between meals, like nutella sandwiches, candy and crisps, lol. I probably should try to find better in between meal options at some point. I did quit coffee though! As you said - sad, but worth it due to its bad side effects.

[@markg99]

You've done well to figure out each of these contributors to the issues. Coffee from the vending machines at work have a laxative effect for sure. I make sure I eat my known safe foods if I'm going to run and not going fasted. Thanks for sharing 👍🏻🏃‍♂️

[@jamesday1]

Thanks Mark! Totally agree on picking safe pre-run foods.

[@HasanGainz]

Yes, it was very useful! Thank you!

[@dannygrays]

Really useful James. Thanks for sharing. Yes, I agree it pretty run routine which i find is key. Especially toilet before a long run!

[@jamesday1]

Thanks Danny. Glad you found it useful! Totally agree on the pre-run routine.

[@addictedtorunning956]

Thank you so much for sharing! i have experienced everything you spoke about! i honestly thought i was the only one, i dont even train with people as my stomach can get so bad, the only time i have ever DNF in a race is because of my stomach! Im exactly the same in the fact i cant have coffee, i tried some gels to have on my long runs which caused my stomach to be a absolute mess and turns out it was only gels that had caffeine in! people also told me to try dairy free and to not eat meat and actually made me worse, i also felt so weak even though i was taking supplements to replace what i was loosing through my food. Touch wood i seem to be fine now from cutting the caffeine completely out (sadly) and also i have found bread doesnt agree with me either so have cut that out but finally seem to be improving!

[@jamesday1]

Glad you found the video useful Eileen! Really interesting to hear other people have had a similar experience! I do wonder if I should also reduce my bread consumption. Great to hear you've got it under control! It's pretty stressful knowing it might happen, especially during a race! I've been lucky to avoid it in races but it's always something I've been prepared for.

[@iamaneesha]

Thank you for sharing, I feel like you read my mind. This is me right now, training for a marathon and more often than not bend over the side of the road clutching my tummy. I'm going to try no caffeine and see. I gave up milk which killed me and switched to soya so maybe this means milk might make a come back. Thank you both for sharing, it's not the most glam but it helps so much to know it's not just me

[@theblueprintcoach]

Great video James. I particularly like how runners use the euphemism "stomach issues" when they mean diarrhoea! Completely agree it is a solvable problem and requires awareness of what we are actually asking our bodies to deal with from nutrition to hydration and rest. I'm just embarking on a journey to the SDW 100 in 2025. Did you find your body teaching you new things in relation to this topic as the run length increased? So was there a difference between 50k and 100k and then again 75m and 100m tat required additional adaptation by you?

[@jamesday1]

Thanks! Good luck with getting to the SDW100. Definitely a big difference. I think the longer you go, the more likely something will go wrong and the more likely you need solid food. Gels and sports drinks are not great the longer you go. I think the heat was definitely a big factor in my 100 miler. Every single person I spoke to during and after the race had some level of stomach issues due to the heat. The shorter ultras, like 50k-50 miles, I've had much less issues with my stomach. 100k - 100 miles have been much more of a challenge.

[@bn8781]

I am going through the same. Have been running almost forever, but only started pushing it for the last 4 years and all of that started. I get REALLY bad cramps. My pressure drops. And I feel like I can puke at any time. Ive done several really intense sports my whole life, including at competitive circuits (sailing and combat fighting), and I NEVER had anything like it in either! But there I am at my 4th kilometer with some elevation gain (after covid it even happened on regular flat routes) and I get a PUNCH on my lower abs… I am also feeling it has to do with my diet, but it’s being really hard to find information/guidance around it 😣 Thanks for the video.

[@OlgasBritishFells]

Hi James. I am one of those people who needs to go a lot. It happens to me more often (with cold sweat) if I run for a long time on the road. After 7 miles tempo run on the road, you can guarantee, I will need a toilet urgently. By the way, I don't ever drink much alcohol. I don't drink coffee at all. I always thought that there's like a direct connection between pounding the payment and your digestive system. The link from the foot to the stomach. I go to the toilet very often anyway, my system just seems to flash everything out that I eat at least 4-5 times a day. People think I have a problem, but I've always been going for number 2 often. I do always go before the run. Saying all that, when I run on the fells, the foot to stomach link doesn't work the same way. Fell running, for some reason, won't make me want to go to the point where I feel cold sweat coming on. Personally for me, pounding the flat pavement for a long time doesn't agree with my whole body, not just stomach.

[@jamesday1]

Hi Olga, interesting thoughts on the difference between road running and fell running. I've never found the surface made much of a difference but effort in the session definitely does. Hard speed sessions or long runs definitely create more stress on the body! Have you tried experimenting with your diet to try and reduce the likelihood?

[@OlgasBritishFells]

@@jamesday1 I've always been going a lot to empty my stomach, a few times a day, even before I started running ever since I was a child, so I just thought it was normal for my body. I just avoid hard road running for a long distance now. I eat normal balanced diet.

[@jamesday1]

Fair enough 🙂 Nice to know that it's not stopping you from fell running!

[@nem.dc33]

Try probiotic supplement! It's a game changer for me. Happy trails! ✌🏻

[@qigong1001]

You don't think the pizza issue is from the cheese? I've been adding ginger, honey water to my diet, makes somewhat of a difference. Same with adding some yogurt. Also smoothies, instead of full meals since easier to digest. Four meals instead of three...also easier to digest.

[@jamesday1]

Maybe, but I eat a lot of cheese anyway and never seem to have an issue with it. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@rockpoppets6182]

Thanks very informative. I agree that running will amplify any weaknesses in your body.

[@jamesday1]

Glad it was useful 🙂

[@bev9708]

We've ALL had some embarrassing moments, for sure, but wow, you really had it bad there James!! In a nutshell, poor diet and/or poor sleep and/or poor hydration all lead to poor digestion and mostly "runner's trots" are caused by poorly digested food. Caffein exacerbates this as it stimulates the gastro-intestinal tract. A slight gluten intolerance can also be highly exacerbated by running so anyone with difficulty might wanna try going gluten free for a while to see if it helps.

[@jamesday1]

Definitely! Good summary Bev 🙂 I should probably try reducing my gluten consumption but I enjoy it too much! 😬 Interesting point on sleep. It's not really something I struggle with anymore (easily 8 hours uninterrupted every night) but I can see how it would have an impact.

[@danielwaldenga3804]

Great ideas on this issue. Maybe you have issues with tomatoes and red sauce on your pizza. My wife has the same issue and she started eating pizza with NO sauce and it made a huge difference. I eat it this way too and I don’t miss the red sauce.

[@michaeleatough450]

Hi James have you tried Decaf coffee and Sour Dough bread instead of standard coffee and bread . Enjoying the videos

[@jamesday1]

I'm glad you're enjoying the videos Michael. I've switch to tea rather than decaf coffee which seems to work for me. Not thought to try sour dough bread though. Might try that!

[@Jlmasterson]

This video is really interesting. I have a lot of stomach issues too - for that reason, I start most of my runs with a 5km lap around my neighbourhood so I’ll be near my house. Not sure how I’ll manage with the races I have coming up this year. Also tried using gels and chews on a run and my stomach did not like either of them. Might try something really basic like rice cakes 🤔

[@jamesday1]

Definitely worth experimenting with your diet and finding what works for you. I'm pretty confident it's something you can address once you know what works for you. With gels, you can train your body to get used to them whilst running. It always takes me a few runs with gels to get completely used to them.

[@JamzDean]

Thanks for sharing this, definitely an embarrassing topic to talk about. This literally happened to me on a run yesterday, and guess what I ate the night before…Pizza!

[@jamesday1]

Glad it was useful! I don’t know what it is about pizza 😅 hopefully you can avoid it in the future!

[@Mikeeyy53]

Maybe the toppings are processed ?!?! Just my guess as you said dairy and bread don’t bother you ?

[@henryjeffcott7491]

It’s the 4k mark for me about 40% of the time. I get to 6k then I literally can’t move I need to be on a toilet. Very tough.

[@tworunningbrooms]

John would always have that feeling 40 mins and 75 mins into runs. However,.fingers crossed, there have only been two occasions in races over 23 years where it has caused a pause in progress.

[@jamesday1]

Interesting to hear that experienced runners like yourselves have the same challenges! Did John ever figure out what cause the issues for him?

[@tworunningbrooms]

@@jamesday1 eventually gluten intolerance. One year I did a depletion diet before a marathon and actually ended up feeling fantastic when I should have felt lousy. Coach identified it was down to cutting out bread as part of the carb depletion. So now I eat very little bread. If I have it for more than one meal in a day my stomach is a mess for a few days.

[@jamesday1]

Interesting! Bread is very prominent in my diet as well. I do wonder if I would benefit from cutting it out. Then again.. I do love it so we will see 🙂

[@emchoe8865]

Maybe the tomato sauce on pizza? It’s acidic hmm..