Uh...bowel...issues during exercise

You guys are really scaring me. I have my first 5k coming up in 2 weeks

johunt615 wrote: »

You guys are really scaring me. I have my first 5k coming up in 2 weeks

I have never had an issue during any of my runs/races. Butterflies and a nervous stomach, sure--but try to keep your daily constitution before your race. If you didn't read the articles essentially the gist is that your body is worrying so much about controlling your heart rate and keep your other muscles moving that your digestive tract runs awry.

If you don't already wear a heart rate monitor, it's a pretty good idea... (Do not test it out for the first time at your race though.) If you are forcing your heart rate into the 90%+ range, you might start to feel some symptoms. Like I said, I never get digestive issues--if I overdo it (more likely during spinning class then running), I end up with a migraine. After a while of wearing a HRM you'll actually be able to correlate your heart rate and your perceived exertion/physical symptoms so you know how hard you can actually go without running into trouble.

This is an absolutely natural reptile brain reaction to vigourous exercise. All animals void their bowels before and during run to "lighten the load". Your reptile brain is mistaking the endorphin rush from vigourous cardio esp sprint exercises for a flight fight response and triggering your body to spike adrenaline. You may feel giddy, excited, unfocussed and jumpy at the start of the exercise or at the warmup. This adreniline dump causes your bowels to empty and the adrenaline crash is what you are experiencing while on the toilet or when you stop the exercise causing the feelings of dizziness after. Its a brain trick thing.
The Cure???
Re wire your brain I guess. Back away from the sprinting / super intense cardio for a bit. Do slow jogging, walking etc instead. Longer duration at a much lower rate. Change the time you do the exercise. After stretching and warmup maybe sit down and force yourself into 10 minutes of deep breathing and meditation. If you feel the cramps or any other stress responses stop and sit down doing deep breathing. Go through your regular warm up to do sprints and then go lift or something else a few times. The only way to get rid of this is to change it up and rewire your response to the stimuli.

Christine_72 wrote: »

Redbeard333 wrote: »

I sometimes fart when I run...

Does it sound like a machine gun?

More like a "braat.... braat.... braat...." On my treadmill in the basement, not a big problem. Out in the real world? Gotta check my surroundings first!

charlieandcarol wrote: »

Really common running issue. This lady Beth writes an entertaining blog and the subject often comes up

http://www.shutupandrun.net/2012/05/how-to-not-crap-yourself-on-run.html

Be warned if you don't like the words fart, shart or poop you probably won't find her blogs amusing but she does include some practical tips to try.

Oh god, and the comments too! Funniest blog I've read ever.

*kitten* happens. I can think of three occasions where I was far away from home and in full panic mode because I needed to go so bad!

Therefore, I plan my routes to include public bathrooms. Gas stations, community colleges, fast food places, etc. And I usually run at dusk or at night.

I'm not qualified to remark on source of the cramps or your nutrition but jogging does seem to make #2 a much more urgent situation than it usually is. Hope you find a solution soon