Same thing with a number of artificial sweeteners....I have IBS, so can totally sympathize. My sister has it too....we know the location of every bathroom at Walt Disney World and
Disneyland. Sigh.
The good thing is that you can get a handle on this, but you will need to really work on it. Analyze EVERYTHING you are eating and drinking. Take a close look at all ingredients. The sweetener in sugarless gum will set me off. Who would have thought?
Know that temperature when you are running may play into this. I have to be much more careful the hotter the temps. I also cannot tolerate cold liquids to drink. Everything has to be at least room temp.
What is your diet like the 2 days before your long runs? I keep mine really bland (okay bland and kind of boring) the 2 days before when I have a long run in the heat and 1 day before when the temps are in the 50s or less. Both my sister and are partial to plain grilled chicken with naked pasta for dinner the night before long run or race, but we have different strategies for breakfast. I am a plain bagel girl - I have to forget any toppings even though I would LOVE to be able to do peanut butter on the bagel. My sister, on the other hand, can't tolerate bagels, but does wonderfully with an uncrustables PBJ or 2 depending on her planned distance.
You may want to strip down your diet so you don't have too many variables - like a science experiment. With too many variables you can't find the culprit or culprits that are setting you off. My sister and I had to play this game for a while to figure out what worked and what didn't. For example, for dinner the night before we each only had grilled chicken and plain pasta - no sauce for the pasta, no veggies, no potato or rice, no salad, nothing to dip the chicken in, no dessert, no bread...you get the idea, when I say just those 2 things I am serious. We had room temp bottled water to drink with the meal.
For breakfast we both started with plain bagels and again bottled water. No coffee, tea, soda, milk or juice. We would each take an Imodium with the breakfast.
If you have a successful run without an issue try adding one thing to either your dinner or breakfast, but not both. This is kind of like trying to figure out food allergies...a pain in the neck, but worth it when you hit on your triggers and can learn to avoid them.
This is probably way TMI, but I understand completely how you can be at your wits end over this. I was so frustrated that I came very close to completely giving up racing long distances which I love. So, on the positive side both my sister and I have conquered this problem. Sure, we still have the occasional issue, but it is no longer a constant problem. I have done at least 3 dozen races from 5k to a full in all temps over the last year without 1 nasty episode. Yay!
Know you have full support here on these boards. Sending hugs your way!
Kathy
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Last night I did a practice run for the Tower of Terror 10 Miler. I was at the gym trying a late night run and I had bad gas. That's usually a warning sign for me and I started getting paranoid. And embarrassed. I was glad it was late and the place wasn't busy. AM runs are easier, I just have to wait for my morning movement before I start my run.
