water

the last 2 weeks i have been frustrated on my longer runs,half way through i have needed to stop to go to the toilet iam i drinking water to close to running or just drinking to much,i drink about 4-6 pints of water a day,frustrated runner

How long is your long run? Its normal for running to speed up the process - so try to evacuate first.

Don't think your water volume is excessive. You could try stopping drinking an hour before - just before running empty bladder then take a drink and carry some with you. This should avoid dehydration and may relieve the problem.

Strangely enough, Peter, when i go running with the club squad (12 blokes and 2 gals at present), the blokes all seem to need to stop for a pee after the warm up (2 miles or so) and before the hard bit. Trudi and i seem to manage without. Must be a man thing!

I agree Dangly Spice,
you only have to look at races and guys seem to stop at the side of the road far more than women.

I thought that once you you started to run that the bladder switched off to divert the blood and oxygen to the working muscles. Is this so v-rap?

That's certainly one of the suggestions put forward regarding the bowel and runners' trots, Hilly. At the moment the theory is out of favour because cyclists and other endurance athletes, who divert blood to the muscles just as much as runners do, don't have an equivalent syndrome.

Blood flow to the kidneys, which determines how much urine we produce, is preserved quite well during exertion - has to be, otherwise our body chemistry would become dangerously unbalanced. There are small but important changes in the urine concentrating system as an adaptive mechanism. This includes responding to fluid loss in sweat and breath by producing smaller volumes of more concentrated urine, and since a normal, healthy bladder reacts mainly to the volume of urine in it we don't need to pee as often.

Unless, of course, we've got a Y-chromosome. Personally, I think this pissing-on-walls thing that men have is the equivalent of dogs leaving a calling card on every lamppost and nothing to do with how much is in their bladders. Anyone got a better explanation?

Cheers, V-rap.

thanks everone for the advice

In the past I always had to stop during runs greater than about 10ks.However I think this was due to overhydration.Now after years and years of practice I rarely need to go during racing (although I could pee for England beforehand).
Didn't need to go at all during FLM & never once felt in need of a drink (sipped at every drinks station).

I have a problem with getting energy on board during long runs/races (1/2 mara). I'm very slow and sweat a lot, so I drink a fair bit of water. I can't stand squash etc. so I have joosters or jelly tots. The thing is, is there anything similar, with all the long chain carbs etc. that you get in gels and things in a similar form, that won't make me gag or choke. Thanks for any suggestions, or perhaps o a manufacturer would take the needs of us 'new vets'. Forum virgin.

Have you tried the special sports drinks, Marina? Lucozade and High 5 are very sweet and sugary, but some of the others: PSP and Isostar are flavoured without being too sweet.
Holland & Barrett or GOOD sports shops may stock sample sachets that you could try.

There were sports drinks on offer at the Bristol half marathon and I did have a go. I still prefer water. I had some sweets just before each of the water stations which works well. I don't buy sweets normally, so I feel a bit miffed at having to resort to junk when i run. A sort of 'carbo bean' would suit me, even if they took a little longer than gels to digest, - it would probably mean taking them on board earlier in a session. Thank for the feedback, I'll have to go shopping. (Shame that!)

One of my theories is that the bigger you are, the more you need to pee on runs. The human body is mostly water; as you run, you bob up and down and a lot of water above the waistline then heads downwards naturally in accordance with the laws of gravity (i.e. you are subject to some drainage). As men are generally heavier than women, that would make it a "man thing".