gastric reflux and running

by morten
(Norway)

Gastric reflux and running :

"Hi

I´ve been struggling with reflux on some of my races, it can be gone for weeks and more present in others, and for periods I´ve taken prescription medication like Somac. I only did this when I felt it was really annoying and painful in my chest. When I run it´s like the stomach cramps up, and it´s difficult to move properly and to relax in the running

Right now I´ve been of meds for 6 months, and feeling fine about following the program now. I´ve started to feel the cramps/reflux it a little bit, especially on the harder runs. I´m a bit nervous that this is going to affect my upcoming races.

Do you have any special advices regarding this problem and running? What to eat, what not to eat, any medication that´s better than others? How to prepare for a race with this in mind. What to do if it comes during a run?

Thanks upfront for the feedback, I really enjoy the training and your program!

best

Morten"

Answer: Hi Morten and thanks for your question.

I'm glad to hear that the medication is working well enough to allow yourself normal training.

As for the hardest trainings and the marathon itself you want to experiment quite a bit on your food intake. I suggest keeping a food diary where you write down everything you eat the day of the hard workout and then see how it affects the workout. In addition to this, try and see how you deal with drinking and eating during the hard runs. You need to be able to do this in the marathon itself and I've seen some runners with the type of problems you explain get better by testing out different eating and drinking routines in workouts : also releasing symptoms in workouts when they do not have this intake. It may be due to some type of adaption going on.

When it comes to medication, you will have to discuss this with your doctor, if an option is to increase this slightly the days of the hard work.

Test the above and hopefully (and likely) you'll be fine in the race also !

all the best,
Marius