Why Your Body Swells on a Run

Audio Transcript

Coach Tony: Hi everyone. Welcome to the latest episode of Extra Kick, brought to you by Runners Connect. Thank you so much for joining me today.

If you have a question you’d like one of our expert coaches to answer in an upcoming episode, you can submit it at runnersconnect.net/daily.

We’d love to help you train smarter and faster. Please don’t hesitate to ask whatever has you curious.

Today we have a great question from Joe about ultra-marathon recovery.

He says, “Last week I ran 270 kilometers in stages, over seven days and I’m feeling not too bad aside from the fact that I have serious water retention in my legs and in my face.

Have any of you R.C. ultra-runners experienced this? If so, how long did it last and do you have any tips for making it go away?

Google helpfully informs me that the fluid comes from overhydrating or from dehydration. I think drinking a lot of sports drinks and taking gels for a long period is not good for the old body.”

Tony: That’s a fantastic question and your timing is perfect. I literally just recorded this a couple of days after doing my own ultra-marathon and dealt with some similar issues. I think I can give you some advice on that.

First, as you know running an ultra-distance over seven days, is a lot of running. You put the body through a lot.

You take a lot of gels, drink a lot of fluids, and you put your body through, kind of a shock that a lot of people haven’t gone through, unless they’ve done an ultra-type of distance.

There’s no true understanding of what causes that inflammation.

There can be two things that can be going on. One is with the increased exercise, you have increased blood flow and especially through your hands. Cells can leak fluids.

Cells are connected and you can have the leaking of fluids in your hands, which is common and can cause that swelling.

The other saying is if you drink too much water. Your sodium levels essentially can rise and that can cause swelling as well. There’s no exact understanding of what causes that swelling.

I can say that it’s a science when you are pushing your body in an ultra-distance, define that balance from a hydration stand point.

A lot of us are trained that we should drink and drink and drink and that can become a problem for some people.

What you do in training is what you should do in your race. But for whatever reasons, people tend to drink more than they normally would.

By increasing their consumption of water, they’re increasing their sodium level as a result. You got to be careful with that and then you come in to race day and you start drinking more.

I can speak from my own experience.

What I typically do is if I’m going to do a race and my wife doesn’t like this, I take my wedding band off because my hands swell so much, that my fingers are popping outside of my ring.

I put my running watch on very loosely at the start of a race and then it’s tight. I can barely move it during the race. You should try to figure out what’s going on.

Am I drinking too much?

I might not drink enough and I don’t want to become dehydrated even if it’s not that hot and you’re running for 10 hours.

You still need to be consuming fluids and you need to be keep replacing electrolytes.

You need to find that balance.

I know of some of my own personal experiences. When my stomach might get upset, I’m swelling, I’ve been drinking a lot, and now I’m not sure if I’m drinking enough or if I’m drinking too much.

It’s a critical time because you just have this small window to get it right.

If you get it wrong, then you know a lot of times you’re not going to finish the race. It’s a science, if you will, to really trying to figure out the causes.

There’s no known causes either. There’s speculation and a lot of research online that points to different things. There’s really nothing quite definitive in terms of what causes that.

As far as post-race and it sounds like kind of what you’re dealing with now, I think I do two things, as far as the legs go.

Try to elevate them. It’s hard with your face to elevate it and reduce that, but with your legs, at least try to elevate them.

Post-race, just listen to your body both from a dietary and hydration standpoint. Your body will tell you some fascinating things when it wants.

I don’t drink much chocolate milk whatsoever but when I do long runs or after workouts after every single Iron Man, I’ve always had chocolate milk.

That’s all my body has wanted.

I don’t know the nutritional benefits of chocolate milk and what’s in there, but my body has wanted it and it’s made me feel better.

My advice is post-race, listen to your body from a nutrition standpoint.

If you don’t usually put much salt in your food, for example, but you’re craving salt in your meals, then listen to your body and put it on. Your body will self-regulate.

We should just listen to it and do what it’s asked. I hope you enjoyed 270 kilometers on seven days; it’s a bit of running. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for the question.

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