Recently signed up for another 1/2 marry on April 4th (my second one) completed my first one in January so I got all my base training and logged in lots of miles for that one and did fine. All the training for any race I train for has been done in the AM after I consumed one meal (breakfast). My body seems to respond better to training with very little in my stomach and not a lot of food consumed before training. Now that school has started (senior in college) I don’t have time to train in the AM anymore and with my busy schedule i can’t in the afternoons either, the only time I can is at night around 8 or 9. I eat dinner before 630 everyday and allow time to digest, but while i’m running at night I get really bad pains in my stomach and its more like a sharp pain from gas in my body. It happened the previous few runs at about mile 5 it would start and make me have to walk it was so bad. Tonight i hit mile 8 and it kicked in and had to walk, then jog a little, then walk. I eat very healthy and the only thing i can think of is that my body isn’t used to me training at night with all these calories consumed during the day in my body and food in my stomach? I have also increased my calorie intake a little bit more than i used to but i don’t think that would be it… any ideas?? Thanks in advance.
I have this same problem, just a little bit sooner in my runs… Help?
two things…
-
caffeine can really jack up a stomach. Make sure you aren’t pounding coffee/tea/soda, etc… for several hours before running. Different people can handle different amounts of caffeine, but if you’re sensitive to it, even a little bit can cause real GI distress.
-
too much food/water in your stomach. You may think you’ve given yourself enough time to digest, but you might actually just need a more time. I like to actually be a little bit hungry when I start running. An empty stomach tends to be a happier stomach when it comes to running. Don’t start your runs “starving” though, because it could really affect the quality of your workout. If you’re worried about running out of fuel after starting a run when you’re a little hungry, then bring a gel/cookie/etc along to have halfway through.
-Doug
Give yourself 3 hours after dinner. Don’t overeat at dinner so your belly will be empty. Eat your big meal for lunch.
The change in your schedule is also likely getting you out of whack. If your belly is used to running on empty it will take some time to get it used to have some fuel in there. Run slow until you adjust to this new schedule.
Maclean- I don’t drink any caffeine so I know that is not the issue but I think everything else you said is correct, and I too have noticed running on a just barely hungry stomach is the best time.
Jen- Sounds good, thanks for the advice.
I also find I need a good three hours from a moderate meal to run ok. The good news is that I can bike or swim on much less, so if necessary I’ll sometimes switch it up.
could be a food intolerance…I have a fructose intolerance (actually malabsorption) and have some of the same symtpoms, all you need to do is a simple test at your docs…
But if your food is not digested, you could have some pretty bad issues…
Ever try Raw milk?
My stomach has never had a digestive issue since i started drinking it.