Episode 22

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Published on:

14th Jun 2024

Why do runners get GI issues and how can we avoid them?

This week on Cook Eat Run, we're addressing a common yet often overlooked issue for runners: gastrointestinal (GI) problems. Join Charlie as she sits down with registered dietitian and seasoned marathoner Kristy Baumann to explore the common mistakes that lead to GI distress during runs and, more importantly, how to prevent them.

Understanding GI Issues

Kristy breaks down what GI issues encompass, from gas and bloating to diarrhea and vomiting, and explains why these symptoms are so prevalent among runners. Learn about the factors that contribute to these problems, including diet, hydration, and the physical impact of running on the digestive system.

Preventing GI Problems

Discover practical tips to avoid GI issues, such as the importance of hydration, the role of sodium and electrolytes, and the benefits of a well-planned carb load. Kristy also shares her insights on how to train your stomach to handle race-day nutrition and the potential impact of race-day nerves.


Special Considerations

For runners with specific conditions like inflammatory bowel diseases, Kristy offers tailored advice on managing symptoms and choosing the right nutrition products. She also discusses the potential benefits of modifying what you wear during a run to alleviate GI discomfort.


Real-Life Experiences

Charlie and Kristy share their own race-day disasters and the lessons they've learned from them. From the pitfalls of trying new gels on race day to the consequences of poor pre-race food choices, their stories highlight the importance of preparation and practice.


Connect with Kristy on Instagram at @marathon.nutritionist for more tips and to learn about her group coaching programme launching this July.



Connect with Charlie online @therunnerbeans / www.therunnerbeans.com 

Grab a copy of Charlie’s book ‘Cook Eat Run’ 


The Cook Eat Run Podcast is sponsored by XMiles - the One Stop Nutrition Shop - use discount code COOKEATRUNJUNE10 for 10% off site wide at Xmiles.co.uk


This podcast is produced by Buckers at Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative



Transcript
Charlie:

Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles.

Charlie:

This week we're tackling a topic that I know affects a lot of runners

Charlie:

and that is getting GI issues on a run. I'm chatting

Charlie:

with registered dietitian and multi time marathoner

Charlie:

Kristy Baumann about the common mistakes runners make that could be

Charlie:

causing their gastro issues and, crucially, some tips on how to

Charlie:

avoid them. For new and regular listeners, make sure

Charlie:

to note down the new discount code for X Miles To save on

Charlie:

all your running fuel, hydration and running kit, use

Charlie:

the code cook eat Run June

Charlie:

10. I'll link it below. Don't worry.

Charlie:

Cook Eat run June 10 to save

Charlie:

10% this month. The code is good until the end of June,

Charlie:

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

Charlie:

afternoon, this evening for me. But it's so nice to have you, and

Charlie:

I followed you online for a long time, so it's nice to

Charlie:

put a kind of face to the instagram.

Kirsty:

Yes. Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so

Kirsty:

excited, to chat with you today and, yeah,

Kirsty:

just share nutrition knowledge with runners.

Charlie:

Yeah. So I put out a little box on Instagram

Charlie:

this morning, and I had a lot of

Charlie:

questions. I feel like GI issues

Charlie:

are, something that unfortunately, a lot of

Charlie:

runners deal with.

Charlie:

So, yeah, that's the topic for today. We're going to do a deep

Charlie:

dive into it because I think it is a.

Charlie:

It's not talked about enough. And then people will often be like,

Charlie:

oh, I had a good race, but then this happened. So,

Charlie:

let's get straight into it.

Charlie:

What do we mean when we say Gi issues?

Kirsty:

Yeah, so, GI stands

Kirsty:

for gastrointestinal. So basically, it's

Kirsty:

like GI tract. Sometimes

Kirsty:

people refer to it as your stomach, your gut. So

Kirsty:

stomach is only part of the gastrointestinal system.

Kirsty:

So it's anytime that food

Kirsty:

enters your mouth all the way to when it exits your

Kirsty:

body. basically, we can experience

Kirsty:

different GI issues or symptoms

Kirsty:

that, can happen during that time. And that can

Kirsty:

be anything from, you know, gas,

Kirsty:

constipation, diarrhoea, vomiting,

Kirsty:

bloating, just a few

Kirsty:

of the main examples, but it can be a whole host of different

Kirsty:

symptoms that people can experience.

Charlie:

Yeah, they're not pleasant. And I feel like

Charlie:

maybe in running, we talk about them a little bit more than

Charlie:

everyday. You know, everyday people talk about in

Charlie:

conversation. But why do people

Charlie:

get this? Like, it seems like so many people

Charlie:

do. Is there, surely there's like,

Charlie:

you know, a number of reasons why. But what are the main

Charlie:

reasons that you see people experience gi issues from?

Kirsty:

Right, yeah. So, I mean, when you think of

Kirsty:

running in general, like, it's not

Kirsty:

normal to be one. Eating and running at the

Kirsty:

same time. That is a very

Kirsty:

unusual thing when you think about it.

Kirsty:

and so whether it's what you're eating right before

Kirsty:

a run or even the days leading

Kirsty:

up to a run can impact GI issues.

Kirsty:

but most things that I see, some of the most common

Kirsty:

causes are, oh, there can be a lot.

Kirsty:

And it can be tricky to navigate just because there can be

Kirsty:

so many different factors that go into it.

Kirsty:

But what you're eating before your run, the timing

Kirsty:

of it, under fueling. So even if you're

Kirsty:

not eating enough throughout week

Kirsty:

after week, that can be a

Kirsty:

factor. eating high

Kirsty:

fibre, high fat,

Kirsty:

acidic foods, caffeine, other

Kirsty:

gas producing foods, there can be a

Kirsty:

whole host of things.

Charlie:

I mean, not to overshare, but I definitely feel like it when I

Charlie:

have artificial, ah, sweeteners, they do not sit well with

Charlie:

me. Even things like chewing gum I

Charlie:

have to be really careful with because it, yeah,

Charlie:

just doesn't do me any good.

Charlie:

But another reason I feel like I've experienced them in

Charlie:

the past is from dehydration. Can

Charlie:

dehydration, lack of sodium, impact

Charlie:

gi tract and cause kind of

Charlie:

diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, that sort of thing?

Kirsty:

Oh, yes, for sure. And I've experienced it too. And I feel like

Kirsty:

it's one that we don't, like, we automatically often

Kirsty:

think about. It's the food that caused the, ah,

Kirsty:

gi issues or what you ate or the gel, or the

Kirsty:

gels of like, oh, that gel

Kirsty:

caused me to have stomach pain or this gi

Kirsty:

symptom. But dehydration is a big one

Kirsty:

that I see too. Lack of fluids, lack of sodium, lack

Kirsty:

of electrolytes that can

Kirsty:

contribute.

Charlie:

So how do we kind of figure out

Charlie:

what it is? Is it a process of like, trial and

Charlie:

error, writing a food diary? How can we narrow down

Charlie:

what might be the cause for our. Well, for the

Charlie:

individual's GI issues?

Kirsty:

Right. So I think one,

Kirsty:

understanding, I guess, kind of backing up understanding why it happens

Kirsty:

again is when we run, blood moves away from our

Kirsty:

digestive tract towards our working muscles. We need

Kirsty:

blood flow in order to digest food, in order to

Kirsty:

digest what's in our stomach, in our

Kirsty:

digestive tract. And so

Kirsty:

obviously, like, the jostling and bouncing

Kirsty:

of running too, contributes to, that

Kirsty:

as well. So as far as, like, how to figure

Kirsty:

out what's going on,

Kirsty:

it's, I think one,

Kirsty:

food, like, writing down what you're eating and.

Kirsty:

Or indicating, like, okay, this is a time

Kirsty:

that I had GI issues. what else did

Kirsty:

I have to eat before this? How did I feel? What

Kirsty:

exactly was the symptom? was it a

Kirsty:

warm day? What was the weather like? Was I running at a

Kirsty:

higher intensity?

Kirsty:

yeah, that can definitely be a good place

Kirsty:

to start, is just kind of bringing that awareness to

Kirsty:

what else is going on besides,

Kirsty:

you know, when those GI

Kirsty:

symptoms happen. What else is going on? what am I

Kirsty:

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

Charlie:

pin down. Even as seasoned runners, you can

Charlie:

think you've done everything right and then just have

Charlie:

a, like, a day where something

Charlie:

goes wrong and you're, like, in pain or

Charlie:

as, like, in the portaloos or

Charlie:

having to kind of stop yourself from being sick. But,

Charlie:

one person says, or actually quite a few people said, is it

Charlie:

just inevitable that at the end of the marathon, I'm going to feel

Charlie:

sick? Or is there, can they

Charlie:

avoid it in any way?

Kirsty:

The way you're eating or what you're eating is a huge

Kirsty:

part, and I don't think anyone needs to always

Kirsty:

be feeling sick at the end of the marathon. There's a lot of

Kirsty:

nutrition strategy that goes into play to

Kirsty:

prevent that from being from happening. And part

Kirsty:

of it, which I think sometimes can happen, is like, people

Kirsty:

will only experience it on race day, their GI

Kirsty:

issues.

Charlie:

Exactly.

Kirsty:

Because you're running faster, you're running at

Kirsty:

a higher intensity because you're trying to run a certain time

Kirsty:

or, set up Pb pR.

Kirsty:

And then that's a big part. And then sometimes,

Kirsty:

like, just during training runs, you're like, oh, I can

Kirsty:

get away with, like, one gel during a ten mile run.

Kirsty:

And we have to train our stomach to

Kirsty:

actually fuel, like, we are going to fuel

Kirsty:

on race day. So even though we can get away

Kirsty:

during a training run with less fuel,

Kirsty:

if your stomach has to get used to it, your stomach has

Kirsty:

a muscle, it has to be trained just like you're training your legs to

Kirsty:

run 13.1 mile, 20, you know,

Kirsty:

a half or full marathon.

Charlie:

Yeah. Do you think any of, like, race day

Charlie:

nerves play into it?

Kirsty:

Oh, yeah, for sure. I think they can

Kirsty:

definitely be playing a contributing factor.

Kirsty:

However,

Kirsty:

I recently asked another runner about like

Kirsty:

her nerves. And when the GI issues

Kirsty:

happened on a run, because oftentimes they're at the

Kirsty:

start, but then once you start get going, like, they kind

Kirsty:

of go away. And she said,

Kirsty:

yeah, it was like the nerves went

Kirsty:

away, but then once the GI issues started to happen, the

Kirsty:

nerves came back.

Kirsty:

So it's. It's like we have

Kirsty:

to practise

Kirsty:

our fueling, so then

Kirsty:

our, you know, our stomach gets used to it and we feel

Kirsty:

confident in how to eat. So those

Kirsty:

nerves, it can kind of

Kirsty:

like be a cycle, I guess, is what I'm saying.

Charlie:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you get nervous that you're gonna

Charlie:

have issues, you have issues, you're worried about what's good,

Charlie:

the, like, repercussions of the issues are gonna be.

Charlie:

Yeah.

Charlie:

So we, you and I both preach the

Charlie:

benefits of a carb load. That's obviously something that's kind

Charlie:

of new ish to a lot of people when they're actually just running the

Charlie:

marathon, because we're not doing it in our

Charlie:

long runs. How would you recommend people get around that

Charlie:

and especially kind of people that don't

Charlie:

maybe have such a carb

Charlie:

heavy diet, in thinking of things

Charlie:

like babels and breads and those sort of quite

Charlie:

wheat heavy carbs,

Charlie:

how would you suggest people practise or get around

Charlie:

having issues as a result of the carb load?

Kirsty:

Right. So, I mean, a big part is, eating the low

Kirsty:

fibre, the white, refined,

Kirsty:

easy to digest carbohydrates, because

Kirsty:

if you're eating a lot of like, whole grains or

Kirsty:

like, you know, whole wheat bread,

Kirsty:

eating, the higher fibre or eating

Kirsty:

more carb loading on potatoes,

Kirsty:

with. Or fruits and vegetables that can

Kirsty:

add bulk to your Gi tract,

Kirsty:

which takes longer. Longer to

Kirsty:

digest, longer to get out of your digestive tract, which

Kirsty:

ultimately can cause GI issues. Bloating

Kirsty:

gas Gi issues on race day too.

Charlie:

That's a good tip. What about if. So, I. I felt

Charlie:

quite bloated doing my carb load,

Charlie:

so I used a lot of drinks.

Kirsty:

Yeah.

Charlie:

Do they still work as well for a carb

Charlie:

load?

Kirsty:

Yep, yep.

Charlie:

Like squat strings, those kind of thing.

Kirsty:

Yes, yes. I'm a big proponent of. Yeah,

Kirsty:

drinking your carbohydrates because that

Kirsty:

tends to be easier on. On

Kirsty:

your stomach, on your digestive tract. Obviously. Choosing

Kirsty:

those drinks that. With real sugar in versus,

Kirsty:

like, the artificial sweeteners in.

Charlie:

Yeah.

Kirsty:

Or being aware of, like, carbonated drinks.

Kirsty:

Carbonated drinks are probably not going to be a good option

Kirsty:

for carb loading because, again, of. Of

Kirsty:

the carbonation causing gas and bloating

Kirsty:

but yeah, choosing like fruit juices

Kirsty:

or smooth fruit smoothies

Kirsty:

or sweet tea.

Kirsty:

I don't know. What were some of your favourite drinks that you

Kirsty:

used?

Charlie:

I, ah, just use things like Gatorade and

Charlie:

scratch, high carb drink,

Charlie:

coconut water

Charlie:

and a lot of those three and orange juice,

Charlie:

but on repeat, basically. they were just

Charlie:

easy to get and easy to drink and pretty

Charlie:

high carb, most of them.

Charlie:

But I did still feel like a little bit

Charlie:

bloated. I saw something on Instagram

Charlie:

yesterday. There was someone saying, actually if you

Charlie:

do experience bloating or like GI issues or

Charlie:

IB's type symptoms that maybe we should be

Charlie:

avoiding like high waisted leggings or

Charlie:

shorts for our marathons because they can

Charlie:

actually impact it. Have you ever worked with

Charlie:

anyone that changed literally what they were wearing to help with their

Charlie:

Gi?

Kirsty:

I haven't specifically, but I mean, it makes sense, like if

Kirsty:

the compression of the spandex

Kirsty:

shorts is, you know, putting that pressure on your,

Kirsty:

your stomach and your digestive, talk like that doesn't feel

Kirsty:

the best.

Charlie:

so maybe something to try if people. Yeah, I've tried everything

Charlie:

else.

Kirsty:

Yeah, for sure.

Charlie:

If you have. Are experiencing GI issues on the

Charlie:

run, is there anything you can do in the

Charlie:

moment to either stop

Charlie:

things getting worse or stop their symptoms

Charlie:

altogether? Is there anything you can recommend for people?

Charlie:

Any magic pills?

Kirsty:

Yeah, right. It kind of depends on the

Kirsty:

symptom, I feel like, and

Kirsty:

it definitely takes like, navigating in the

Kirsty:

moment. But for example, I had

Kirsty:

a runner, who attended some of my master classes and

Kirsty:

we talked about sloshy stomach, so, like, where it feels

Kirsty:

like water is like just sloshing around in your

Kirsty:

stomach. And so, she remembered that we

Kirsty:

talked about it and she was thinking back to what

Kirsty:

she was drinking during the race. You know, this was like at mile 17,

Kirsty:

miles 18 of the race, and she's like,

Kirsty:

oh, I realised I was just drinking primarily

Kirsty:

water and I wasn't taking my electrolytes.

Kirsty:

I wasn't, you know, getting the sodium in, whether it's

Kirsty:

from the gels or whether she was taking salt tabs

Kirsty:

or capsules. And so she, in the

Kirsty:

moment, remember that stop drinking

Kirsty:

plain water and still took her

Kirsty:

gel and then focused on getting those

Kirsty:

electrolytes in which hell. And she

Kirsty:

was like, yeah, it was pretty quick and easy. It actually, my sloshy

Kirsty:

stomach went away pretty quick.

Charlie:

If that could be a reason for it. Is it

Charlie:

too late if you're halfway through or at mile 20? Or is it

Charlie:

like, if you're experiencing symptoms, just try the

Charlie:

electrolytes, try the sodium, and it's not likely

Charlie:

to make it worse.

Kirsty:

Well, you know, if somebody's taking too, if they've

Kirsty:

already been taking a lot of sodium and electrolytes,

Kirsty:

it could be the opposite problem where they're not getting enough

Kirsty:

fluids for

Kirsty:

the amount of sodium and electrolytes that they're

Kirsty:

taking. So

Kirsty:

it becomes this puzzle piece of

Kirsty:

what was the root cause

Kirsty:

of my GI issues.

Kirsty:

You know, nausea would be another one of.

Kirsty:

It could be related to lack of carbs.

Kirsty:

It could be related to lack of fluids and

Kirsty:

electrolytes and dehydration. I feel like sometimes our

Kirsty:

body shows us the same signs or same

Kirsty:

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

Charlie:

miracle that we get through some of these races without

Charlie:

feeling sick or dehydrated or, you know, having diarrhoea,

Charlie:

because everything has to work. Like, you have to have the

Charlie:

right amount of carbs, be fueling correctly, the right amount

Charlie:

of fluid and sodium, and all work together.

Charlie:

Well, I'm really grateful that I've managed to figure it out most of

Charlie:

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

Charlie:

imodium or, like, an anti diarrheal before

Charlie:

races and before their weekly long runs?

Kirsty:

So my approach, and I'll be interested to

Kirsty:

hear your approach, but my approach is,

Kirsty:

let's figure out why you're needing to take it,

Kirsty:

why you're needing to take the ammonium or,

Kirsty:

you know, what the root cause is. You know, is

Kirsty:

it more. Maybe it's more of, like, I've

Kirsty:

experienced GI issues in the past, and I'm afraid of

Kirsty:

that. And there is absolutely, like we

Kirsty:

mentioned, this mental component, our brain is directly

Kirsty:

connected to our gut through the vagus nerve, and so it's

Kirsty:

communicating back and forth. So even the fear

Kirsty:

of experiencing GI issues can

Kirsty:

cause GI issues. but it's.

Kirsty:

I'm a big proponent of let's get down to the root

Kirsty:

reason and figure out what's

Kirsty:

going on, to solve it that way.

Charlie:

Yeah, I definitely agree with you for the long run,

Charlie:

I feel like I have taken it as a

Charlie:

free, just an

Charlie:

insurance policy before marathons,

Charlie:

before, or taking it with me in my bag. On a long

Charlie:

run, those imodium instants, and sometimes just

Charlie:

taking it makes signals to my brain like, you're going to

Charlie:

be okay. So almost in the same way that the fear

Charlie:

of getting symptoms makes you

Charlie:

get symptoms, they're like, I'm going to be fine because

Charlie:

I've taken this. Helps the stomach. I don't know whether

Charlie:

that, makes sense, but, yeah,

Charlie:

I think in the long, like, on long runs, especially, where

Charlie:

you can be a bit more strategic in planning. Like,

Charlie:

if you are nervous, plan a route around bathrooms,

Charlie:

practise your fueling, practise your hydration, even if you're

Charlie:

running like two mile loops by your house or whatever you

Charlie:

need to do in training so that

Charlie:

by race day you can control

Charlie:

not, you know, you can't control the weather, you can control a bit more of

Charlie:

what you're eating in the lead up, but you've

Charlie:

figured out how to get through the

Charlie:

nutrition and hydration to the best of your ability so

Charlie:

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

Charlie:

in pockets or given them to people on the course

Charlie:

as like, an emergency. Like, can you take my

Charlie:

electrolyte bottle and my imodium and.

Charlie:

Yeah, hope for the best. But,

Charlie:

so far there's been

Charlie:

no, I don't think I've had to poop during a

Charlie:

race before, so I'm on a marathon,

Charlie:

so.

Kirsty:

Yeah, that's good.

Charlie:

Sorry, serious overshare.

Charlie:

Yeah, I think, yeah, that seems to be the

Charlie:

new thing. I don't know that you saw like, the viral reel

Charlie:

of the guy in the Boston marathon, porter

Charlie:

Potty.

Kirsty:

Oh, no, I have, I haven't seen it. You'll have to send it to

Kirsty:

me if you can find it.

Charlie:

He's like, hi, I'm blowable. And this is me at the start of

Charlie:

the race. And then he's like, I'm at mile 14. Someone come

Charlie:

get me. And he's like, in the loo? Yeah, not having a

Charlie:

good time. I'm sure it was just for show, but I think

Charlie:

it highlighted just how many people do end

Charlie:

up having to use them on race day.

Charlie:

But.

Charlie:

Okay, a bit more specific. But

Charlie:

any tips for people with inflammatory bowel

Charlie:

diseases like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's, with

Charlie:

dealing with symptoms or

Charlie:

trying to kind of make sure they're

Charlie:

feeling the right way and taking the right kind of

Charlie:

nutrition products to limit symptoms?

Kirsty:

Yeah, so definitely, like, anytime that

Kirsty:

there's a, ah, medical, underlying medical

Kirsty:

condition, you have to be, you know,

Kirsty:

your body the best. So you know what

Kirsty:

foods are potential trigger

Kirsty:

foods. and so

Kirsty:

that's so different from person to person.

Kirsty:

and then sticking with, you know, I always talk about

Kirsty:

sticking with those foods. The days

Kirsty:

leading up into your race that, you know, work for, work for

Kirsty:

you and that you've been eating throughout your training cycle.

Kirsty:

those are kind of the key things that come to mind

Kirsty:

offhand. how about for you, anything?

Charlie:

Yeah, it would just be like watching what's in

Charlie:

certain products. So I know that in some sports products, especially

Charlie:

in the US, there are more

Charlie:

additives, more sweeteners. So that's something that I'm really

Charlie:

aware of. And like, again, it sounds silly, but when I'm

Charlie:

travelling and I don't get on well with

Charlie:

the milk in the US, but I'm fine with it in the UK. So

Charlie:

just especially if you're travelling for races, just

Charlie:

take it. Bringing things from home that you know are safe.

Charlie:

This goes really for everybody, to be honest.

Charlie:

And then, yeah, just again

Charlie:

with things like ulcerative colitis and Crohn's, like, you

Charlie:

can't help if it's a flare and there's,

Charlie:

you know, if you are flaring and even if you're

Charlie:

eating all the things that are normally

Charlie:

fine or taking the sports nutrition products that are normally

Charlie:

fine and sometimes it's a bit

Charlie:

hard to avoid, you know, the kind of symptoms

Charlie:

of those and just being, again, trying not to

Charlie:

have that as a stress, like you said, like,

Charlie:

try not to stress about the fact that you might have

Charlie:

issues and m be prepared. Like

Charlie:

take Lou, roll with, you know, where

Charlie:

the bathroom stops are, go,

Charlie:

multiple times before you hit the start line

Charlie:

and just, yeah, be kind to yourself and just think,

Charlie:

right, it's better to make stops

Charlie:

than need to, you know, DNF the race

Charlie:

because you need medical assistance kind of thing.

Kirsty:

Right? Yeah. Yes, exactly. I was gonna

Kirsty:

say, you make a good point with, like travelling

Kirsty:

throws a whole nother, whole nother

Kirsty:

obstacle, in the, in it of

Kirsty:

travelling to races.

Charlie:

So, yeah, I

Charlie:

mean, it's a fun part of

Charlie:

racing for a lot of people. Like, I absolutely loved getting to travel,

Charlie:

especially to the US, but I've definitely made the

Charlie:

mistake of when I went into Chicago the first

Charlie:

time, I was trying to show my now husband that I was

Charlie:

like so cool and relaxed and just chill about

Charlie:

marathons and that we could go and have hot dogs the

Charlie:

night before the race and it

Charlie:

was such a bad idea. At, Marl,

Charlie:

I think like 16, I started throwing up

Charlie:

and yeah, needless to say, and I'm sure there

Charlie:

were other factors, I'd probably gone out at, ah, a

Charlie:

faster pace than I was actually really

Charlie:

trained for. It was a warmer day than I had trained

Charlie:

for, but the hot dogs definitely

Charlie:

haunt me still.

Kirsty:

Have you hate?

Charlie:

Yeah. Have you had any race day disasters where you've just

Charlie:

been like, I knew better than that.

Kirsty:

Well, one of my ones that I always think

Kirsty:

about, I took a gel with like 100 milligrammes

Kirsty:

of caffeine on for the first time on

Kirsty:

race day. I was like, oh, this will be perfect. It'll give me a boost

Kirsty:

of energy. And one, I

Kirsty:

was dehydrated. I had just like taken sips

Kirsty:

of water along the way until mile 17.

Kirsty:

And, too, I never practised that

Kirsty:

gel and like, it hit me like

Kirsty:

a tonne of bricks and like, it was like the worst pain

Kirsty:

ever.

Charlie:

Oh, no.

Kirsty:

M in the middle of the race, eventually it went

Kirsty:

away but it definitely took a few miles.

Charlie:

and when it gets hard anyway, when your head and your legs have

Charlie:

gone, the last thing you need is to like add something else to

Charlie:

that, like dumpster fire

Charlie:

situation that's going on. Anyway,

Charlie:

so, yeah, practise, practise, practise.

Charlie:

One again, quite a niche question.

Charlie:

Someone messaged in to say they have

Charlie:

CSID, which means they have an inability

Charlie:

to digest, sucrose and

Charlie:

isomorphose. I don't know why I've written it like that. anyway,

Charlie:

different types of sugars. Are there

Charlie:

other options for long run fuel that you

Charlie:

can recommend?

Kirsty:

Yeah, I mean there's definitely, I don't know offhand

Kirsty:

what types of sugars, and maybe, you know

Kirsty:

offhand, but I mean, thankfully one, there's

Kirsty:

like so many different types of gels out there now that

Kirsty:

are made from whole foods and made from different types

Kirsty:

of sugar. and you don't

Kirsty:

have to use gels or chews. there's a variety

Kirsty:

of sports drinks with carbohydrates in. But also like,

Kirsty:

you know, the food options, whether it's dried

Kirsty:

fruit or, you know, applesauce pouches

Kirsty:

or, you know,

Kirsty:

candy, like. And I haven't looked specifically

Kirsty:

what types of sugar

Kirsty:

those food, what. Where those types of

Kirsty:

sugar are in food. But, thankfully there's

Kirsty:

a lot of options out there for

Kirsty:

different simple carbohydrate foods that you can

Kirsty:

use during a run too.

Charlie:

So it's obviously very individual and a bit

Charlie:

of a minefield. Do

Charlie:

you have any like three top takeaways for

Charlie:

people who deal with Gisus for them? Kind of going

Charlie:

forward to start honing in on what might

Charlie:

be their problems and how they can start to solve those.

Kirsty:

Right. So I would say, the first thing

Kirsty:

to look at, one of the first things to look at is

Kirsty:

if it's happening just on race day.

Kirsty:

Consider these two things. One, your

Kirsty:

hydration. Are you drinking enough

Kirsty:

fluids? Are you taking in the amount of

Kirsty:

sodium and electrolytes that you need

Kirsty:

based on your sweat rate? because

Kirsty:

like we talked about, dehydration is a huge component

Kirsty:

of experiencing GI

Kirsty:

issues. two, training

Kirsty:

your stomach. So

Kirsty:

practising how you plan to fuel on

Kirsty:

race day and practising it when you're

Kirsty:

running at a higher intensity. So doing

Kirsty:

during long runs, when you're running at

Kirsty:

race pace or doing interval

Kirsty:

workouts or even, you know, mid

Kirsty:

week during a speed workout that

Kirsty:

you're training your stomach and your stomach's getting used to

Kirsty:

digesting those gels or chews or

Kirsty:

whatever you plan to use on race day, the sports drink,

Kirsty:

during the faster paced stuff. So that's,

Kirsty:

two things offhand. And then if it's like

Kirsty:

happening, again, kind of on

Kirsty:

a regular basis, a couple times a week,

Kirsty:

I would start with kind of that food

Kirsty:

log of just writing down,

Kirsty:

you know, these are things that I'm eating the night

Kirsty:

before, maybe a long run, a hard workout or

Kirsty:

when they tend to happen. And then this is

Kirsty:

what I'm eating the morning of. You know,

Kirsty:

maybe you're running in the morning and you're not eating anything

Kirsty:

and that can even be a factor in

Kirsty:

causing, Gi issues too. So,

Kirsty:

but that's, that can be definitely a starting point to see if you can

Kirsty:

find start to see the

Kirsty:

trends.

Charlie:

Okay, great. That's really helpful. How.

Charlie:

My last question for you. Sorry, is going to be how

Charlie:

do you feel like what's your favourite sports nutrition

Charlie:

products? How do you, did you feel for your

Charlie:

last marathon that you did?

Kirsty:

Yeah, so I actually like

Kirsty:

variety. but some of my favourite gels are the huma gels.

Kirsty:

Huma plush gels which has extra electrolytes.

Kirsty:

And I'm a salty sweater and I've

Kirsty:

experienced muscle cramps.

Kirsty:

I so many like for eight marathons that my

Kirsty:

foot would always cramp. And I finally realised it was related

Kirsty:

to lack of fluids and lack of electrolytes.

Kirsty:

Anyway, so humour huma flush gels,

Kirsty:

I'll do a combination of that plus the goo rock tain

Kirsty:

Morton. And then I really like the,

Kirsty:

scratch high carb drink. Ah, to

Kirsty:

get in extra carbs in as well. but taking a

Kirsty:

gel every 30 minutes and then bringing a handheld water

Kirsty:

bottle with scratch in and using that first half of the

Kirsty:

race. And then, often we'll refill it

Kirsty:

the second half of the race to, continue to stay

Kirsty:

hydrated.

Charlie:

Yeah, I did that for Boston. I took a handheld

Charlie:

for the first like five, 6 miles. and

Charlie:

it was so helpful just to be able to kind of get ahead,

Charlie:

especially on a slightly hot day. Get ahead of the nutrition of the.

Charlie:

Well, nutrition, because I had carbs and electrolytes in there, but the

Charlie:

hydration and not start on the back foot

Charlie:

and go in kind of already dehydrated.

Charlie:

so yeah, I found that really helpful. But I think so many people are

Charlie:

reluctant to have told something or to

Charlie:

bring things with them.

Kirsty:

Oh, yeah, I totally was that way for

Kirsty:

years. Yeah. And then I,

Kirsty:

just practised it basically with all my long runs, even

Kirsty:

during midweek runs I would just get used to and

Kirsty:

then just realised now,

Kirsty:

like, I tried, even in the winter time, I tried running

Kirsty:

10 miles without water and I was like, oh my

Kirsty:

gosh, I need water, I need fluids, I need

Kirsty:

electrolytes. Like, you get used to it

Kirsty:

eventually.

Charlie:

Yeah. So actually summer is a great time to practise it because we do

Charlie:

need more fluid, more electrolytes, even on our

Charlie:

slightly shorter runs are maybe like less intense

Charlie:

runs, especially if you're doing them kind of

Charlie:

mid day or just straight off to work, that it's going

Charlie:

to be quite warm, hopefully. I hope we're going to have a

Charlie:

warm summer. So it's a good time to practise with the

Charlie:

handhelds, with the hydration and the electrolytes and

Charlie:

carbs and things, right?

Kirsty:

Yep. Absolutely.

Charlie:

Great. Well, thank you so much, Kristy Where can people find you

Charlie:

and work with you? Learn more about

Charlie:

what you know, your offerings are?

Kirsty:

Yeah, so I'm on Instagram

Kirsty:

marathon nutritionist. Feel free to send me

Kirsty:

a DM direct message if you listened and let

Kirsty:

me know what you learned. and then I work

Kirsty:

specifically with runners in helping them

Kirsty:

fuel and navigate their fueling plan. Navigate

Kirsty:

GI issues. I have

Kirsty:

a free training, actually it

Kirsty:

was funny you reached out and maybe you saw some of my posts, but a free

Kirsty:

training about navigating GI issues? I

Kirsty:

did.

Charlie:

I was like perfect.

Kirsty:

Realising so many at some point or another,

Kirsty:

runners are experienced, you know, I've experienced that. You've

Kirsty:

experienced it. Most runners are experiencing GI issues and

Kirsty:

just, you know, if they're happening over and over again, it's so

Kirsty:

frustrating. so helping navigate through

Kirsty:

that and then, I kick off, this fall.

Kirsty:

Starting in July, we'll have a group coaching programme

Kirsty:

for fall races. In

Kirsty:

helping individuals, m have a personalised

Kirsty:

fueling plan for race day.

Charlie:

Thanks so much for listening to this week's. Episode of the Cook Eat

Charlie:

run podcast with X Miles Don't forget to use the code cook

Charlie:

eat run June 10. It's linked at the

Charlie:

bottom at x miles to save 10% on

Charlie:

everything in next week's episode, I'm chatting with

Charlie:

Andy blow from precision fuel and hydration about

Charlie:

sweat hydration and how to come up with your own hydration

Charlie:

plan to boost performance this summer. So make sure to

Charlie:

subscribe to the show wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss

Charlie:

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

Charlie:

providing the right information for you. And if there's any topics you want

Charlie:

covered, slide into my DM's. I'm at, the runner beans.

Charlie:

Or just message the guys at X Miles and they'll pass it on.

Charlie:

So just let us know what other topics you want us

Charlie:

covered. See you next time.

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About the Podcast

Cook Eat Run
Real food talk for runners... evidence based nutrition for the 5K to ultra marathon
Cook Eat Run, a podcast that talks to runners about real food. Hosted by Charlie Watson; Registered Dietitian, author of Cook Eat Run, and thirteen time marathoner. I believe that nutrition shouldn't be complicated, this podcast brings you evidence based nutrition advice specifically for runners. Everything you wanted to know but weren't sure who to ask. Plus everyday runners achieving amazing things, from couch-to-5K through to multi-stage ultra marathoners.

About your hosts

Charlie Watson

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Hello, I’m Charlie – a runner, Registered Dietitian and lover of travel. I believe anyone can run a marathon, I’ve transitioned from non-runner to 16 x Marathoner and Six Star Finisher. My content champions fad-free, accessible wellbeing through fitness, nutrition and living life to the full. The Cook Eat Run podcast brings you evidence based nutrition advice specifically for runners. Everything you wanted to know but weren't sure who to ask.

Annabelle (Buckers) Buckland

Profile picture for Annabelle (Buckers) Buckland
Buckers is an award winning podcaster and producer, and founder of Decibelle Creative.
With a background in Radio production and presenting, Buckers brings her creative approach to our clients' podcasts, from idea conception through to launch. She also co-hosts the award winning comedy podcast At Least You Didn't.
Proudly fuelled by ADHD Buckers is also passionate about raising awareness and understanding of neurodiversity.