It happens. Here’s why and what to do about it.
(For Runner’s Life on Medium)
We’ve all been there: you’re running and the urge to poop bubbles up until thinking about everything but not pooping or telling yourself you will make it before the poop makes its grand exit gets overshadowed by an undeniable, anxiety-producing realization that you will poop, whether you like it or not. Suddenly, with every step, your eyes are scanning for poop spots while you squeeze your cheeks and break into a cold sweat. Can I sneak into the Taco Bell? Where’s the nearest gas station? That house looks like nice people live there…I could knock? Maybe I need to bring doggie poop bags. Will that tree hide my butt from passerby? DEAR GOD I’M GONNA POOP MY PANTS.
And sometimes you do, a little bit or a lot bit, when you just can’t make it to the porcelain throne or nasty ass (no pun intended) porta-potty in time.
After reading several articles on pooping and running — which, as a runner will make you laugh and sigh because you feel so validated — I synthesized the most helpful and actionable expert and anecdotal notes (including my own) on why running makes you poop and how to avoid it.
I’ve always thought that running-induced poop urges are caused by the intestines being jostled around. Turns out that’s right. In an article from Self, a doctor notes that the up and down motion stimulates your colon a bit. That movement eventually makes you go, “Oh, crap,” literally. But since this isn’t ice skating, some up and down movement is inevitable. So, what’s a bouncing runner to do?
In an article from Runner’s World, they suggest minimizing your vertical oscillation, which basically means try to glide with your stride. You can measure your vertical oscillation with some running technology. My heart rate monitor and running watch tell me how much I bounce, which, as it turns out, isn’t that high. But still, altering your running form seems a bit too downstream (or down-colon, if you will) for my public-health-upstream-measure-oriented brain. Next.
These next two go hand in hand: food and digestion. I’ll start with the former because it’s obvious: eating eventually leads to pooping. So, timing your meals is important for making sure you have a poop-free run. Fat and fiber slow digestion, so eating fiber-rich and fatty foods shortly before a run is a bad idea as it means the gut will be trying to digest while you run, and therein lies a bloody battle (literally) between your muscles and your gut, which leads me to my next point.
Perhaps less obvious than “food equals pooping” is the science of digestion while running. When you run, blood is diverted away from your gut to your muscles. This is necessary and a good thing for those leggies, especially on race day, but according to experts cited in the Self article, the compromised blood flow in your gastrointestinal tract causes abdominal pain, diarrhea, and the urge to poop. So, while your muscles get a leg up, your gut starts pushing things down.
From what I read, experts suggest eating non-fatty and non-fibrous meals 2–3 hours before running. I’ve known this for ages, having studied nutrition in college, yet this past weekend, on race day, I didn’t end up eating until 40 minutes before my race. I got caught up in chatting with friends and patting myself on the back for managing to poop pre-race, yadda yadda. Needless to say, I had to poop halfway through my half marathon, and it being a trail race in the semi-desert, I had to go behind a tree, hoping all the runners I passed didn’t see me doing the doo as they ran along. I have a battle wound from the dry bush I squatted next to. Poor bush for what it saw.
The next piece of advice I just adore: make sure you have empty bowels before running. As if it’s always that easy. As runners, we get comfortable with talking about pre-run poops, especially on race day. The stress of making sure everyone gets their poop out is a point of bonding. But it doesn’t always happen, even with coffee, and avoiding meals shortly before a run can help delay the eventual poop until afterward. If only there was a “please hold” button for pooping.
The last piece of advice that I found somewhat foo-foo but worth sharing is mindfulness. I know, another article talking about mindfulness. Bear with me, because there is some science to it in the case of runner’s trots, especially on race day. Basically, it’s all about the gut-brain, the cute little hyphenated term to show how your mindset affects your gut. Take, for example, nervous butterflies. You’re about to give a speech and you feel the nerves in your gut. The same goes for pre-race anxiety. You’re amped, nervous, and it goes straight to your gut, inciting the nervous poops. A doctor quoted in Runner’s World suggests “eliminating any anxiety you don’t find motivating or energizing.” Ha! Easier said than done. A Tushy article says to practice mindfulness and visualization to eliminate pre-race jitters. Though I hardly think taking a few deep breaths before a run can really keep your poop in check, combined with the other tips mentioned above, it’s worth trying. After all, breathing is good, and visualizing yourself crushing that run can’t hurt.
The takeaway? Running and pooping are like peas and carrots — sometimes they just go together. But these tips might save you that “Shit, I’m gonna shit” panic and keep that butt unclenched and happy all run long: be aware of how much you bounce while you run (glide the stride), watch what and when you eat, poop before you run (if possible), and keep the gut-brain from having a playdate with anxiety though some mindfulness. If all that said and nature still calls, you gotta do what you gotta do. For those times, solidarity, runner.
Tip: I pack a few pieces of toilet paper in a small plastic baggie and put it in my running belt for trail runs. I’ve never regretted it. If you do have to do as the bears do and shit in the woods, don’t be a surface pooper (i.e., dig a deep hole) and pack out your TP! This where that plastic baggie is handy.
