Oh yes, I have a blog here I keep forgetting about. Oops. Ahem, anyways. I’m still moving right along with marathon training, and also today is the last day of #REDA (Run Every Day in April). I’m planning on 3.25 miles at lunch today which will make my April running mileage total 111 miles! Here’s how the last couple weeks of marathon training went:
I had to split my 18 mile long run into 2 runs because of my stupid stomach issues (IBS), so I ended up doing 13.5 outside on the trail, and then 5 more at home on the treadmill. I had to stop 4 times while out on the trail (Yep, I pooped in the woods. When you gotta go, you gotta go!). This is the reason I rarely sign up for races, and quite frankly I’m terrified of having the same thing happen on marathon day. So for the rest of my training I’m going to really focus on the foods I’m eating and what’s causing the problems. I’m going to try eliminating gluten because I think that might be at least 1 of the culprits. We’ll see. Ugh.
This also means I’ll be tracking everything again, which I haven’t been doing for the last month or so because my weight hasn’t really fluctuated (116.6 this morning) and I’ve been eating basically the same foods. But this time I’ll be tracking more to see if I tend to have worse issues after eating certain things. But hey, when I’m focused more on nutrition at least I tend to post more often ;)
(m)EAT LESS, RUN MORE! 
Yes, definitely pay attention to not only what you’re eating, but when you’re eating it, as well as how much. Also, does coffee not trigger your IBS symptoms? Because if I drink more than just a cup before I run in the morning, or if I drink too much coffee in the afternoon prior to running, I can have stomach issues. That could be something for you to consider, since I know how much you love coffee!
I really don’t think it’s the coffee. The last couple of (non-virtual) races I did (a half and a 10-miler) I didn’t have this problem. The 1 time I did have an issue at a race (the RnR Philly Half) it was minutes after I slugged down what I thought was water but turned out to be Cytomax (similar to Gatorade).
Besides eliminating gluten, I’m going to try not eating any beans for at least 24 hours before-hand.
Oh, and I have been doing better about drinking more water :)
I hope you can figure this out. Cutting out beans the day before would probably be wise.
Laura, I am wondering about your ibs. have you checked your foods for dye? have you ever been bit by a tick? I know you are vegan, but I was diagnosed with ibs and cannot eat beef, pork or any other red meats and cannot eat red food dye! I had a very severe case of lymes about 17 years ago. since then, I started having issues with food allergies, ibs, fibromyalgia. not fun. red dye is one of my triggers. just the smallest amount of it gets me “going”. what I really have is a “mammalian meat allergy” it is caused by ticks. the red dye is probably unrelated to the meat allergy. that could actually be ibs. the meat though is the “mma”. sheila
Hi Sheila! Yes, actually I have been bitten (several times) by ticks. I’ve never been tested for lymes, but I don’t eat anything with dye. I very rarely eat anything processed, and you already know I don’t eat any animal products at all. I’ll ask my doctor about testing for lymes. Better safe than sorry, right?!