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

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

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

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

with registered dietitian and multi time marathoner

Kristy Baumann about the common mistakes runners make that could be

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

avoid them. For new and regular listeners, make sure

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

all your running fuel, hydration and running kit, use

the code cook eat Run June

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

Cook Eat run June 10 to save

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

and then we'll have a new code for you, so make sure to keep listening.

Kristy thank you so much for joining me this

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

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

put a kind of face to the instagram.

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

excited, to chat with you today and, yeah,

just share nutrition knowledge with runners.

Yeah. So I put out a little box on Instagram

this morning, and I had a lot of

questions. I feel like GI issues

are, something that unfortunately, a lot of

runners deal with.

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

dive into it because I think it is a.

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

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

let's get straight into it.

What do we mean when we say Gi issues?

Yeah, so, GI stands

for gastrointestinal. So basically, it's

like GI tract. Sometimes

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

stomach is only part of the gastrointestinal system.

So it's anytime that food

enters your mouth all the way to when it exits your

body. basically, we can experience

different GI issues or symptoms

that, can happen during that time. And that can

be anything from, you know, gas,

constipation, diarrhoea, vomiting,

bloating, just a few

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

symptoms that people can experience.

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

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

everyday. You know, everyday people talk about in

conversation. But why do people

get this? Like, it seems like so many people

do. Is there, surely there's like,

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

reasons that you see people experience gi issues from?

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

running in general, like, it's not

normal to be one. Eating and running at the

same time. That is a very

unusual thing when you think about it.

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

a run or even the days leading

up to a run can impact GI issues.

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

causes are, oh, there can be a lot.

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

so many different factors that go into it.

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

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

not eating enough throughout week

after week, that can be a

factor. eating high

fibre, high fat,

acidic foods, caffeine, other

gas producing foods, there can be a

whole host of things.

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

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

me. Even things like chewing gum I

have to be really careful with because it, yeah,

just doesn't do me any good.

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

the past is from dehydration. Can

dehydration, lack of sodium, impact

gi tract and cause kind of

diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea, that sort of thing?

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

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

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

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

gels of like, oh, that gel

caused me to have stomach pain or this gi

symptom. But dehydration is a big one

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

of electrolytes that can

contribute.

So how do we kind of figure out

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

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

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

individual's GI issues?

Right. So I think one,

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

again is when we run, blood moves away from our

digestive tract towards our working muscles. We need

blood flow in order to digest food, in order to

digest what's in our stomach, in our

digestive tract. And so

obviously, like, the jostling and bouncing

of running too, contributes to, that

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

out what's going on,

it's, I think one,

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

Or indicating, like, okay, this is a time

that I had GI issues. what else did

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

exactly was the symptom? was it a

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

higher intensity?

yeah, that can definitely be a good place

to start, is just kind of bringing that awareness to

what else is going on besides,

you know, when those GI

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

eating? The timing of it. There's so many different things.

I know. I think that's why it's so difficult, isn't it, that it's hard to

pin down. Even as seasoned runners, you can

think you've done everything right and then just have

a, like, a day where something

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

as, like, in the portaloos or

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

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

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

sick? Or is there, can they

avoid it in any way?

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

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

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

nutrition strategy that goes into play to

prevent that from being from happening. And part

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

will only experience it on race day, their GI

issues.

Exactly.

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

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

or, set up Pb pR.

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

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

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

And we have to train our stomach to

actually fuel, like, we are going to fuel

on race day. So even though we can get away

during a training run with less fuel,

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

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

run 13.1 mile, 20, you know,

a half or full marathon.

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

nerves play into it?

Oh, yeah, for sure. I think they can

definitely be playing a contributing factor.

However,

I recently asked another runner about like

her nerves. And when the GI issues

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

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

of go away. And she said,

yeah, it was like the nerves went

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

nerves came back.

So it's. It's like we have

to practise

our fueling, so then

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

confident in how to eat. So those

nerves, it can kind of

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

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

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

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

Yeah.

So we, you and I both preach the

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

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

marathon, because we're not doing it in our

long runs. How would you recommend people get around that

and especially kind of people that don't

maybe have such a carb

heavy diet, in thinking of things

like babels and breads and those sort of quite

wheat heavy carbs,

how would you suggest people practise or get around

having issues as a result of the carb load?

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

fibre, the white, refined,

easy to digest carbohydrates, because

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

like, you know, whole wheat bread,

eating, the higher fibre or eating

more carb loading on potatoes,

with. Or fruits and vegetables that can

add bulk to your Gi tract,

which takes longer. Longer to

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

ultimately can cause GI issues. Bloating

gas Gi issues on race day too.

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

quite bloated doing my carb load,

so I used a lot of drinks.

Yeah.

Do they still work as well for a carb

load?

Yep, yep.

Like squat strings, those kind of thing.

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

drinking your carbohydrates because that

tends to be easier on. On

your stomach, on your digestive tract. Obviously. Choosing

those drinks that. With real sugar in versus,

like, the artificial sweeteners in.

Yeah.

Or being aware of, like, carbonated drinks.

Carbonated drinks are probably not going to be a good option

for carb loading because, again, of. Of

the carbonation causing gas and bloating

but yeah, choosing like fruit juices

or smooth fruit smoothies

or sweet tea.

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

used?

I, ah, just use things like Gatorade and

scratch, high carb drink,

coconut water

and a lot of those three and orange juice,

but on repeat, basically. they were just

easy to get and easy to drink and pretty

high carb, most of them.

But I did still feel like a little bit

bloated. I saw something on Instagram

yesterday. There was someone saying, actually if you

do experience bloating or like GI issues or

IB's type symptoms that maybe we should be

avoiding like high waisted leggings or

shorts for our marathons because they can

actually impact it. Have you ever worked with

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

Gi?

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

the compression of the spandex

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

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

the best.

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

else.

Yeah, for sure.

If you have. Are experiencing GI issues on the

run, is there anything you can do in the

moment to either stop

things getting worse or stop their symptoms

altogether? Is there anything you can recommend for people?

Any magic pills?

Yeah, right. It kind of depends on the

symptom, I feel like, and

it definitely takes like, navigating in the

moment. But for example, I had

a runner, who attended some of my master classes and

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

like water is like just sloshing around in your

stomach. And so, she remembered that we

talked about it and she was thinking back to what

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

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

oh, I realised I was just drinking primarily

water and I wasn't taking my electrolytes.

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

from the gels or whether she was taking salt tabs

or capsules. And so she, in the

moment, remember that stop drinking

plain water and still took her

gel and then focused on getting those

electrolytes in which hell. And she

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

stomach went away pretty quick.

If that could be a reason for it. Is it

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

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

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

to make it worse.

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

already been taking a lot of sodium and electrolytes,

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

fluids for

the amount of sodium and electrolytes that they're

taking. So

it becomes this puzzle piece of

what was the root cause

of my GI issues.

You know, nausea would be another one of.

It could be related to lack of carbs.

It could be related to lack of fluids and

electrolytes and dehydration. I feel like sometimes our

body shows us the same signs or same

symptoms.

For more than one root cause without telling us why.

Yeah, right.

Oh, that's. Yeah. So basically, it's a

miracle that we get through some of these races without

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

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

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

of fluid and sodium, and all work together.

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

the time, then.

Yeah. I wonder.

So many people are struggling.

Yeah.

Okay. Somebody else asked, is it bad to take

imodium or, like, an anti diarrheal before

races and before their weekly long runs?

So my approach, and I'll be interested to

hear your approach, but my approach is,

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

why you're needing to take the ammonium or,

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

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

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

that. And there is absolutely, like we

mentioned, this mental component, our brain is directly

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

communicating back and forth. So even the fear

of experiencing GI issues can

cause GI issues. but it's.

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

reason and figure out what's

going on, to solve it that way.

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

I feel like I have taken it as a

free, just an

insurance policy before marathons,

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

run, those imodium instants, and sometimes just

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

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

of getting symptoms makes you

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

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

that, makes sense, but, yeah,

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

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

if you are nervous, plan a route around bathrooms,

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

running like two mile loops by your house or whatever you

need to do in training so that

by race day you can control

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

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

figured out how to get through the

nutrition and hydration to the best of your ability so

that you don't need to take them every single week, right?

Yep, yep. Yeah, that's good.

I am, yeah, I definitely have carried them

in pockets or given them to people on the course

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

electrolyte bottle and my imodium and.

Yeah, hope for the best. But,

so far there's been

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

race before, so I'm on a marathon,

so.

Yeah, that's good.

Sorry, serious overshare.

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

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

of the guy in the Boston marathon, porter

Potty.

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

me if you can find it.

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

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

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

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

it highlighted just how many people do end

up having to use them on race day.

But.

Okay, a bit more specific. But

any tips for people with inflammatory bowel

diseases like ulcerative colitis or Crohn's, with

dealing with symptoms or

trying to kind of make sure they're

feeling the right way and taking the right kind of

nutrition products to limit symptoms?

Yeah, so definitely, like, anytime that

there's a, ah, medical, underlying medical

condition, you have to be, you know,

your body the best. So you know what

foods are potential trigger

foods. and so

that's so different from person to person.

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

sticking with those foods. The days

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

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

those are kind of the key things that come to mind

offhand. how about for you, anything?

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

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

in the US, there are more

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

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

travelling and I don't get on well with

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

just especially if you're travelling for races, just

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

This goes really for everybody, to be honest.

And then, yeah, just again

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

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

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

eating all the things that are normally

fine or taking the sports nutrition products that are normally

fine and sometimes it's a bit

hard to avoid, you know, the kind of symptoms

of those and just being, again, trying not to

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

try not to stress about the fact that you might have

issues and m be prepared. Like

take Lou, roll with, you know, where

the bathroom stops are, go,

multiple times before you hit the start line

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

right, it's better to make stops

than need to, you know, DNF the race

because you need medical assistance kind of thing.

Right? Yeah. Yes, exactly. I was gonna

say, you make a good point with, like travelling

throws a whole nother, whole nother

obstacle, in the, in it of

travelling to races.

So, yeah, I

mean, it's a fun part of

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

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

mistake of when I went into Chicago the first

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

like so cool and relaxed and just chill about

marathons and that we could go and have hot dogs the

night before the race and it

was such a bad idea. At, Marl,

I think like 16, I started throwing up

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

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

faster pace than I was actually really

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

for, but the hot dogs definitely

haunt me still.

Have you hate?

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

been like, I knew better than that.

Well, one of my ones that I always think

about, I took a gel with like 100 milligrammes

of caffeine on for the first time on

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

of energy. And one, I

was dehydrated. I had just like taken sips

of water along the way until mile 17.

And, too, I never practised that

gel and like, it hit me like

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

ever.

Oh, no.

M in the middle of the race, eventually it went

away but it definitely took a few miles.

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

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

that, like dumpster fire

situation that's going on. Anyway,

so, yeah, practise, practise, practise.

One again, quite a niche question.

Someone messaged in to say they have

CSID, which means they have an inability

to digest, sucrose and

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

different types of sugars. Are there

other options for long run fuel that you

can recommend?

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

what types of sugars, and maybe, you know

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

like so many different types of gels out there now that

are made from whole foods and made from different types

of sugar. and you don't

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

of sports drinks with carbohydrates in. But also like,

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

fruit or, you know, applesauce pouches

or, you know,

candy, like. And I haven't looked specifically

what types of sugar

those food, what. Where those types of

sugar are in food. But, thankfully there's

a lot of options out there for

different simple carbohydrate foods that you can

use during a run too.

So it's obviously very individual and a bit

of a minefield. Do

you have any like three top takeaways for

people who deal with Gisus for them? Kind of going

forward to start honing in on what might

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

Right. So I would say, the first thing

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

if it's happening just on race day.

Consider these two things. One, your

hydration. Are you drinking enough

fluids? Are you taking in the amount of

sodium and electrolytes that you need

based on your sweat rate? because

like we talked about, dehydration is a huge component

of experiencing GI

issues. two, training

your stomach. So

practising how you plan to fuel on

race day and practising it when you're

running at a higher intensity. So doing

during long runs, when you're running at

race pace or doing interval

workouts or even, you know, mid

week during a speed workout that

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

digesting those gels or chews or

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

during the faster paced stuff. So that's,

two things offhand. And then if it's like

happening, again, kind of on

a regular basis, a couple times a week,

I would start with kind of that food

log of just writing down,

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

before, maybe a long run, a hard workout or

when they tend to happen. And then this is

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

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

and that can even be a factor in

causing, Gi issues too. So,

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

find start to see the

trends.

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

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

do you feel like what's your favourite sports nutrition

products? How do you, did you feel for your

last marathon that you did?

Yeah, so I actually like

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

Huma plush gels which has extra electrolytes.

And I'm a salty sweater and I've

experienced muscle cramps.

I so many like for eight marathons that my

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

to lack of fluids and lack of electrolytes.

Anyway, so humour huma flush gels,

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

Morton. And then I really like the,

scratch high carb drink. Ah, to

get in extra carbs in as well. but taking a

gel every 30 minutes and then bringing a handheld water

bottle with scratch in and using that first half of the

race. And then, often we'll refill it

the second half of the race to, continue to stay

hydrated.

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

for the first like five, 6 miles. and

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

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

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

hydration and not start on the back foot

and go in kind of already dehydrated.

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

reluctant to have told something or to

bring things with them.

Oh, yeah, I totally was that way for

years. Yeah. And then I,

just practised it basically with all my long runs, even

during midweek runs I would just get used to and

then just realised now,

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

10 miles without water and I was like, oh my

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

electrolytes. Like, you get used to it

eventually.

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

need more fluid, more electrolytes, even on our

slightly shorter runs are maybe like less intense

runs, especially if you're doing them kind of

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

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

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

handhelds, with the hydration and the electrolytes and

carbs and things, right?

Yep. Absolutely.

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

and work with you? Learn more about

what you know, your offerings are?

Yeah, so I'm on Instagram

marathon nutritionist. Feel free to send me

a DM direct message if you listened and let

me know what you learned. and then I work

specifically with runners in helping them

fuel and navigate their fueling plan. Navigate

GI issues. I have

a free training, actually it

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

training about navigating GI issues? I

did.

I was like perfect.

Realising so many at some point or another,

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

experienced it. Most runners are experiencing GI issues and

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

frustrating. so helping navigate through

that and then, I kick off, this fall.

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

for fall races. In

helping individuals, m have a personalised

fueling plan for race day.

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

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