Loose Bowels and Running

[purplerunner]

I am a 50yo woman. In great shape. But, when I run after about a mile I have to find a restroom because of loose bowels. Quite an inconvenient problem. Any suggestions?

[Catriona]

happens to even the best runners (e.g. Paula Radcliff). Have you tried waiting till you do the loo before going for a run?

[Jacquie Mardell]

Yup, it happens a lot! Try to time the interval between eating and running so that you can eliminate before you run. Or add some fiber to your diet to firm things up, so to speak. Or plan your runs so that you go past a restroom after about a mile, take care of business and then be on your way.

[alicyndrew]

Something that helped me was to find a sports drink with no citric acid. Hammer makes one and coconut water works great too. Citric acid can really make you go and it's in almost all of the sports drinks.

Ali

[Melissa8483]

I second Jacquie's suggestion of fiber! That made the biggest difference in my runs (no pun intended).

[jsl]

I get up early and drink a couple of cups of coffee before my long runs, to help take care of this issue before starting the run. And, just in case, I always carry about 10 squares of toilet paper in a ziploc baggy on long runs (we run in the country), just in case. My running partners all laughed at me -- until they needed to use it.

[Jacquie Mardell]

Good job!

[churchofreason]

couldn't help but notice this one; yes to fibre but also we all have a natural rhythm re movement; timing your running around this is important; also if you do some good yoga uttanasana and forward bends and start the initiation of your body re exercise, (not necessarily stretching re muscles as we know) just activitating and sensing. This can kick in your other areas to respond. It used to happen to me a lot however I noticed that eating a strong vegetarian diet together with a morning routine allowed my internal clock to always evacuate in the morning and at the end of the day.