N UTR ITI O N ADVANTAG E
TRAIN YOUR GUT FOR RACE DAY exercise with digestive peace. • Drink enough fluids. Dehydration triggers intestinal problems. Your goal is to drink enough to prevent 2% dehydration (sweat loss of 2 pounds per 100 pounds of body weight from pre- to post-exercise). If you are a “big guy” who sweats heavily, this can be a lot of fluid. For example, a 180-pound runner could easily lose 4 pounds (a half-gallon) of sweat in an hour. He needs to train his gut to handle fluid replacement during training. He could need as much as 12 to 16 ounces every 15 minutes during a two-hour long run. • Feeling “full” and “bloated” during exercise indicates fluids (and foods) have not emptied from the stomach. This commonly happens during really hard runs, when reduced blood flow to the stomach delays stomach emptying. Hot weather and prolonged exercise in the heat can also reduce stomach emptying. • You want to dilute highly concentrated carbs (i.e., gels), so be sure to drink enough water during exercise (i.e. 16 oz. water per 100 calories gel). This will help speed up gastric emptying. RUNNERS KICK OFF THE PUMPKIN PIE 5K IN CITY PARK IN DENVER IN NOVEMBER.
Runners tend to do a good job of training their muscles, heart and lungs. But some of them (particularly marathoners and ultra-runners) commonly fail to train their gut. As one marathoner reported, “I was so afraid of getting diarrhea during long training runs that I did not eat or drink anything beforehand. I really struggled after 14 miles...” A high school athlete admitted, “I’m so afraid I’ll throw up if I run with food in my stomach.” He ate only a light lunch at 11:00 and then practiced on fumes at 3:30. No wonder he had a disappointing season. An estimated 30-50% of endurance athletes (including up to 90% of distance runners) have experienced gastro-intestinal (GI) issues during and after hard exercise. They fear bloat, gas, nausea, stomach cramps/pain, side stitchs, diarrhea, vomiting, and the urge to defecate. These issues arise during long bouts of exercise because blood flow to the gut is reduced for an extended period of time. When 8 coloradorunnermag.com
combined with dehydration, elevated body temperature and high levels of stress hormones, normal intestinal function can abruptly end. If you are a runner with a finicky GI tract, restricting your diet before and during exercise will not solve the problem. You want to learn how to train your gut to accommodate performance enhancing carbs and water. That way, you can train better—hence compete better—without stressing about undesired pit stops. Thankfully, the gut is trainable. Competitive eaters have proven this point. Google Nathans’ Hot Dog Eating Competition and watch the video of a champ who stuffed 72 hotdogs into his stomach in 10 minutes. Clearly, he had to train his gut to be able to complete that task. Competitive eating is unlikely your goal, but you may want to be competitive in your sport. That means you need to fuel wisely in order to perform optimally. While some “keto-runners” choose to train their bodies to rely on fat for fuel (fat is less likely to cause GI distress), training the gut is a far easier alternative for most of us. The following tips can help you
• If you plan to eat peanut butter on a bagel before a half or full marathon, you want to routinely eat that before important training sessions. This helps train your gut to accommodate fat (sustained energy) as well as carbs (quick energy). • Once carbohydrate (such as sport drink, gel, banana, or gummi bears) empties from the stomach, it enters the small intestine and is broken down into one of three simple sugars (glucose, fructose, galactose). These sugars need “taxi cabs” to get transported out of the intestine and into the blood stream. • Too many gels or chomps without enough transporters can lead to diarrhea. By training with your race-day carbs, you can increase the number of transporters. • If you typically eat a low-carb Paleo or ketotype diet and then on the day of a long run or a marathon, you decide to fuel with carb-rich gels and sports drinks, your body won’t have the capacity to optimally transport the sugar (carbs) out of your intestines and to your muscles. You could easily end up with diarrhea. • When planning what to eat during long runs, choose from a variety of carbs with a variety of sugars (i.e., sport drink, gum drops, and maple Photography By TIM HANCOCK, DEREK GRIFFITHS
