I don’t mind the occasional heartburn during a run, but yesterday I did a two hour run, and during it felt fine … had lunch half an hour after (Greek yogurt with stuff added) and maybe an hour later very severe burning just under my sternum associated with constant belching and sometimes some coming up some … enough that I was afraid I was going to throw up on patients although I never did. Tums no help. Lasted 4 or 5 hours then better.
Now of course I looked it up and yes running is a potent trigger of GERD with exactly that presentation. It’s apparently both the diversion of blood flow from the gut and the actual shaking up and down that triggers it as cycling does not do it as often.
But dang, I haven’t had GERD like that from running before (and rarely get GERD at all) and while I have not done any long runs in a few months it isn’t like my fitness base couldn’t handle it. It’s not like I’m all that sore today and I had no problem with a typical work out this morning.
So runners out there - anyone else get GERD sometimes? Do I need to take some Zantac before my next long one else risk this again, or if I build a bit more gradually can I avoid it in the future?
Well first, you could define GERD before you start saying GERD every other sentence causing me to go off and Google GERD just to figure out what the hell GERD is and why you want to know if other people get GERD.
Now then, I run five time a week usually and try to be very careful on what I eat before I run. I can’t say I’ve ever felt like I was going to throw up, thankfully. Unfortunately, I can say what I’ve eaten has caused problems going the other way during a run…and thank God there was a Fred Meyer with a public bathroom nearby.
It’s hard for anyone that runs often not to occasionally have stomach problems. I just go “bland” as much as possible if I know I’m going to be running in the near future.
For goodness sake, no pesto! And who decided that pasta with garlicky red sauce was the perfect pre-race meal?!? Not for me.
Anyway, back in the days when I used to exercise regularly, and have heartburn regularly, my solution was just always to exercise in an empty stomach. This is maybe not the most practical advice, especially if you’re going to run for two hours, but maybe Gatorade can get you through.
Sorry about the jargon. Yes, GERD = gastroesophageal reflux disease, acid coming up from the stomach.
And yes I have also gotten runner’s diarrhea on long runs before and had to run into a restaurant too. There’s actually quite a bit of literature on that. Less on GERD with running. One study that documents that 300 mg of rantidine (Zantac) before the run decreases the risk but I am more curious about how much future risk I may be at doing my less than regular long runs mixed into my other routines. Nothing that informs about that.
Sal, this wasn’t heartburn during the run, it was later, almost two hours after the run. Now yes, I had eaten afterwards. That could have contributed.
And hey, my defense to not knowing is my philosophy in practice: I don’t need to know everything, I just need to know who knows it. In this case I am hoping the TMs will be the ones who do!
I never exercised as long as two hours, but I can see where that could cause a problem. You’d have to fast for basically half the day at least. But I suppose short of fasting, you could eat a little bit before and a little after, of something not very GERD-provoking.
Are you saying that you’re thinking about making all of your long runs shorter?
Or you’re worried about this same problem during your normally shorter runs?
Aside from that, one thought I had was this: are you eating anything during your two hour and longer runs? If not, that’s a problem. Personally, on that long of a run, I would probably down two GU’s and a bottle of water. For me, that little bit in my stomach during my run usually keeps it from being upset, never minding the energy that you may get from it.
As I’m sure you know, if Gel/GU doesn’t do it for you, there are plenty of other options that are pretty easy to digest. I don’t really like to have to chew anything while I’m running, so I stick with the Gel.
I’ve got a two and a half hour training run coming up on Sunday. I hope all this talk about stomach problems isn’t a bad omen…
Allow me to explain: I am not a runner per se. I instead do a wide variety of exercises with runs sometimes mixed into the weekly mix and sometimes not. I also bike, do a rowing machine, do the elliptical, do calisthenics, do a variety of different sorts of weight routines, some balance work, and in the Summer add in some swimming as well. Some weeks I have no runs at all and when I do they are mostly less than 6 miles, sometimes more intervals focused. Those runs have never bothered me. Runs of an hour and a half mixed in every few weeks or so have never bothered me either.
Still I have enjoyed the occasional longer run, for a variety of reasons.
I am assuming your name refers to your goal marathon time and I can assure you that my distance in 2 hours was no where near as far as you, or other real runners, would cover in that time. When I did a marathon I wrote on my T-shirt’s front the word “slow” and on the back the phrase “but stubborn.”
I neither want to give up doing the every so often long run, nor have to devote too much of my time to building up a tolerance to it when the rest of my body, other than my stomach, tolerated it just fine.
As to the aside … yeah I ignore the standard advice. The banana the half hour before is more than I usually do, a handfull of cereal at most. And I rarely bring anything to drink, let alone to drink on a training run, even a long one. But I don’t think doing that would have had an impact on the GERD I had an hour or so later.