General Fitness & Nutrition: diarrhoea when running more then 1 hour

I would start taking a good look at your diet, write down what you eat and when you eat and then start experiement with different things. See if patterns develop with your diet/running and bathroom habits. I'm not sure exactly what kind of symptoms Chron's disease involves but you might want to google it and see if it might be a culprit. I do know that it involves stomach issues.

<a href="http://www.mapmyfitness.com/community/groups/1120358197?ss=" title="View our Training Group"><img src="http://static.mapmyfitness.com/mapmyrun.com/images/event_buttons/btn_run_groups_120x60.png" target="_blank" alt="View our Training Group"></a>

I'm missing part of my colon.  Because if that I'm stuck with diarrhea for the rest of my life.  I've tried Immodium before and didn't notice much of a difference with it when it comes to controlling diarrhea.  Eating the right foods helps a lot in my case.  I keep away from fruits and vegetables before running, they seem to give me the most trouble.  The foods that work the best for me are oatmeal, bagels, toast, most kinds of bread, peanut butter, and one of the best aids I've found is Metamucil. 

I like to mix it in the morning with corn flakes or Special K or other low sugar cereals.  I add some instant oatmeal too to this mix along with soy milk and to make things tastier in my case at least some chocolate syrup, chocolate soy milk doesn't hurt either. But what really works great with this mix is 5 or more grams of Metamucil.  The stuff really works great at getting rid of diarrhea.  I've tried a lot of things and so far Metamucil or the no name brands of Metamucil all do a fine job of solving the problem.  I can run as far or long as I want without having to worry about diarrhea now.  The right foods are what really makes the difference.

That always happens to me.  I try to make sure I go to the bathroom before I run.  Sometimes I have to drink a cup of coffee or eat something about an hour before, to get things moving a little.  After that, I still feel the need to go to the bathroom about 45 minutes into my run, but it's easier to control the urge.

Hi Nancy,

I've had very similar problems this past year, and often it did not even take a full hour before my stomach started to feel funny and then I would have to race to the restroom.  After a helpful tip from my doctor, I cut out a lot of dairy, especially on the days that I run, but also the night before.  It turns out that I was mildly lactose intolerant and my usual bowl of cheerios in the morning before I set out for a jog was leading to serious problems.   I'm a cheese lover, so I haven't been able to eliminate dairy completely, and on normal days it does not give me problems, but I've found that if I stick to a bagel or oatmeal for breakfast I can complete my run without any problems!

 Hope you figure it out, good luck in your race!

Hi Nancy,

I've had this problem before too, and although I thought it might be something like too much fibre or dairy, what I found was that it was simple dehydration.  I run early in the morning and so I haven't had any fluid for usually 8-10 hours. Try drinking a glass of water as soon as you get up, and drink throughout your run as you have mentioned that you will try.

Hope it helps!