September 12, 2025 • 28 mins
In Week 2 of our Stress Month series, we dive into how stress wreaks havoc on your lungs and stomach.
Stress isn’t just in your head—it changes how you breathe and digest, and for runners, that can mean shorter breaths, harder workouts, and some very inconvenient pit stops. We break down the respiratory system, showing how shallow breathing, chest tightness, and even asthma flare-ups can make your runs (and your daily life) feel harder than they should.
Then we move into the digestive system, where stress triggers nausea, IBS flare-ups, reflux, and appetite swings that throw off training fuel and everyday meals.Whether you’ve ever felt butterflies before a race or found yourself winded just walking up stairs on a stressful day, this episode unpacks how stress steals your breath and ties your stomach in knots.
Stress isn’t just in your head—it changes how you breathe and digest, and for runners, that can mean shorter breaths, harder workouts, and some very inconvenient pit stops. We break down the respiratory system, showing how shallow breathing, chest tightness, and even asthma flare-ups can make your runs (and your daily life) feel harder than they should.
Then we move into the digestive system, where stress triggers nausea, IBS flare-ups, reflux, and appetite swings that throw off training fuel and everyday meals.Whether you’ve ever felt butterflies before a race or found yourself winded just walking up stairs on a stressful day, this episode unpacks how stress steals your breath and ties your stomach in knots.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
of the Back of the Back Podcast, Second one. I'm
your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in.
So we're on week two, Week two of our stress series.
All right, are you feeling a little less stressed?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
No, I'm kidding, You're not gonna feel less stressed. That's
not what the series is about. No, what we're talking
about is how stress is affecting us in both running
and personal life. Because, as we all know, if you
are a grown ass adult as we all are, stress
is going to happen no matter what. But it really
does change what it can do to your running and
your training depending on where your stress levels are at.
(00:48):
Certainly we have times or man, everything's going well, I
don't feel very stressed at all, and then we have
times where we just feel like our heads are going
to explode because so many things are stressing us out
in this world. And it does directly affect how you
run and really how you live your day to day life.
So last week we told you that stress rewires your
entire body, and it is absolutely true. So what do
(01:11):
we talk about last time? Last time we talked about
the cardiovascular system. Right, So we went over how the
cardiovascular system is affected by it, and we went over
some other stuff as well, but let's dive into this week. Okay,
So this week, the first thing we're going to talk
about is the respiratory system, all right, So we're going
to move into lungs and stomach this week. I think
we were kind of like, you know, heart and head
(01:32):
last week. Now where lungs and stomach, we're just kind
of moving all over the body. But that's where we're
going to be at this week. And so the lungs,
all right, So stress activates shallow, rapid breathing, all right,
the body thinks it's preparing to sprint away even if
you're sitting still. And what does that do? That correlates
directly to what we talked about last week about how
(01:53):
stress can really kick off our fight or flight, A
right fight or flight if you don't know. When you're
faced with a scary situation, a stressful situation, you either
want to fight it, you want to put your dukes
up and you want to go after it, or you
want to run away. All right, And that's true, I mean,
that is what most of our responses are to high
stress situations, you either want to fight through it or
(02:14):
you want to run away from it, and stress is
no different. All right, And I apologize. I do have
notes on my screen, and as you can see, I
don't have my glasses with me right now, so I'm
gonna be a little squinty and make sure that I
say the right thing.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So not I don't completely.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Screw this up, just mostly screw it up, not completely,
all right. So let's talk about the respiratory system and
what we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Do this week.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Like we did with last week, I will give you
a runner example, give me a runner example, and then
hopefully a real life example, because they don't always walk
hand in hand.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
A lot of times they do, but not always.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Okay, So here we go with kind of our daily
life and how stress is going to affect the respiratory system. First,
for the runners, you start your runs already short of breath. Okay,
it's like your warm up run if you do that,
is harder than usual, okay, because stress can affect your breathing.
It can make your breathing more shallow. And if you're
(03:07):
already doing a warm up run, or let's say it's
the first mile of your race and you're already feeling
gassed or winded, like you can't catch your breath. That
can be what the stress is causing your body to do.
So it can directly affect your run if your breathing
is off pretty much from the word go right, you
know you've done the training, you know you've logged the miles,
you know what your normal run should feel like, and here,
(03:29):
all of a sudden, I'm already winded. That can be stress. Okay,
stress can do that to you in your daily life.
Sitting at your desk, you catch yourself sighing or gasping
or unable to take a deep breath. Now again, the
whole reason this series has come up. As I've told
you last week, I'm going to tell you again my
life personally right now very stressful. There's a lot of
(03:52):
things going on, a lot of stuff on the other
side of this camera that are stress in the world
out and so I thought it would be good, maybe
even cathartic, for me to talk about it and share
these things with you on how we can hopefully make
it through the more stressful times. But I can guarantee
that as I sit let's just say, at my work
desk during the day, there is so much more, so
(04:18):
much more sign that exasperated sigh, and again I feel
like I need that air, and then I just it's however,
the body is rewiring me that I have to just
have that that big sigh. Now the gasping thing doesn't
speak to me. It might speak to you. You mightugh,
you know, trying to catch your breath, or you know,
(04:39):
find that you're just you're not able to catch your breath,
so you kind of gasp to get it back in there.
And then sometimes, yeah, the stress can make it even
hard for you to take a deep breath. Honestly, there
are times it has caused physical pain to take a
deep breath. And I think, now, this is not based
on any scientific fact. This is just my personally on
(05:00):
how I carry my stress around with me. But when
I have physical pain on taking that deep breath, what
I notice is it's because all the other parts of
my body are wrong. I might be slumped, I might
have my shoulders in, I might have my neck down,
and it might be like this for too long, so
that when you finally straighten up and open up, then
(05:21):
everything hurts. It hurts your lungs because everything's just been
so squished for however long. And then as runners and
as regular people, when we're carrying extra stress around with us,
and you can definitely carry this on the course. This
might get touched on another episode. But when you're tensed,
and we talked about last, when you're tensed up and
then everything is just so tense, that can cause pain.
(05:45):
You can actually make your muscle sore from carrying around
so much tension in your body that you may not
otherwise carry around. It can be in your shoulders, it
can be in your fist, it can be in your forearms.
You can carry it around a lot of different places.
So then when you do try and open up and
you do try and grab that nice, sweet fresh breath,
it hurts because you've carried around so much tension in
(06:07):
your body. Your muscles are like, Okay, what are we
doing now? What's happening?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Nah? Now?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I remember I prefaced last week. I'll preface again because
I feel like probably should at this point. This guy
not a doctor. If you think you have full blown
medical issues, please go seek professional medical opinion. Don't just
listen to the idiot with the microphone. Okay, I can
talk about experiences, but I cannot give you any medical advice,
(06:33):
nor am I even going to try, so please be away.
The next one, all right, So that was our rapid
breathing or hyperventilation. Hyperventilation, there are people who do that
when they're stressed out. Again, cannot speak to that, but
a definitely big effect on the lung region. Next one,
shallow breathing reduces oxygen efficiency. So for the runners, A,
(06:54):
you guys are gonna laugh with this, all right, your
VO two max feels lower, legs burn soon because lex
less oxygen is circulating. Now what is my spiel every
time I talk to someone about this podcast?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
What do I say?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I say, we're not going to break down your VO
two max. Okay, we're only mentioning it. We're not breaking
it down. So I'm not technically a liar face. Don't
don't you dare try and blame me for that, But
it's true when you are talking about the lungs. Okay,
So runners, your VO two max feels lower, So that's
you know, your efficiency and your lungs and then your
legs can burn sooner.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Because lex Let's I can't say that together.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Less oxygen is circulating through your body, all right, And
that's that is all. With your shallow breathing, that's just
you can't get in that deep breath You're You're just
you're maybe breathing a little more rapid, not as deep,
and so not as much oxygen is getting down to
every part of your body, and you need all parts
of your body working when you're doing the running thing
in daily life. That can be walking upstairs feels harder,
(07:50):
or you feel winded carrying groceries. Been there, done that,
all right, I bet you have as well. And then
we can kind of look, oh, that's because I'm so
stressed out about my kid's grades, or the job situation,
or my significant other or money or running or whatever
stresses you out. And again these things come and go.
I get that. So I'm not saying that all this
is gonna hit you all at one time, all at
(08:12):
the same time, and all intel things change. I think
of stress as a roller coaster. Sometimes you are on
that nasty uphill. Sometimes you just breezing down the hill,
and that time's great. But stress as an adult is
a freaking roller coaster all the time. Something that always
spoke to me when I was going through my divorce. Okay,
so this was fifteen years ago, going through divorce stress.
(08:33):
What they said about the divorce stress, it comes in waves,
and boy, that was the truest thing ever. Sometimes the
tide washes out and there are no waves, and you're like, oh,
things going all right, you know, things are finally feeling okay,
and then there's an earthquake in the middle of the
ocean and here comes the tsunami. And so it comes
in waves. Sometimes the waves are really big. Sometimes they're
(08:56):
surfable waves. Sometimes they're destructive waves. Sometimes they're a little
and sometimes the tide goes out. But stress can really
hit you like a wave. And that always stuck with me. Again,
it's been fifteen years, but that always stuck with me.
That stress is like waves that just roll in. You
never know what size you're gonna get. You never know
how severe it's going to be. You know, all can
(09:17):
depend on the time of day or the pull of
the moon. You know, who knows, But just know that's
that's kind of what they do. So the next one
asthma and airway constriction. For runners, stress induced airway tightness
makes workouts feel like running at altitude and that can happen.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
You can be so.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Stressed out that your lungs feel like they're they're not
coming alive. They're not expanding is the word I'm looking for,
like they normally would. Again, you can be so tensed
up and so stressed out that your lungs won't respond
to your run, they won't respond to your exercise and
your activity. And again, what we call that, and the
technical word is bad. Yeah, that's bad. You don't want that.
(09:58):
So in your daily life. Even non asthmatics can feel
chest tightness or can't catch my breath during stressful days. Yes,
that kind of goes along with the hyperventilating. In my mind,
I kind of see it both ways. But yes, you
can be so stressed out that your chest feels tight
and like you can't catch your breath. Been there many
moons ago, going through divorce stuff. I definitely felt that
(10:21):
that tightness. There was actually a time I went to
the hospital I think in years and years ago, I
honestly thought I was having a heart attack. And this
was before my two open heart surgeries because the stress
had gotten so bad. I really thought my chest was
just gonna explug. Like I thought that was it. I
thought that was the night I was gonna go deady bye,
and I was elfany. So your stress can have that
(10:43):
effect on your body, because again, it's rewiring your whole body.
And the reason I keep bringing that up, like, why
do you keep saying to rewind your whole body? Because
I want everyone to like really get it, because I
feel like I have felt it in my time, that
just everything within you changes based on this crazy ass
stress level that you could be under and that you
oftentimes are under, whether you know it or you're not,
(11:05):
whether it's a huge life altering event like a divorce,
or it's just a culmination of all the little things
that have finally become too much. And I just I
really want to pound that into your brains that it
can rewire your system. And I say that because I
don't want you to beat yourself up for it. I
don't want you to think that you're a failure as
(11:26):
a runner, or you're a failure as a parent, you're
a failure as a spouse, or your a failure as
a human being, because it's one hundred percent not the case.
We are being worked over by the things that are
affecting our mental health and to gain. We've done serious
on that before, and it changes you. It changes how
your body operates, whether you know it or not. So
(11:46):
I'm letting you know that it's happening so that you
can be aware and maybe just maybe cut yourself a
little bit of a break, cut yourself a little tiny
bit of slack. You'll be amazed and how much better
you feel about it. Again, I speak from experience. Okay, uh,
the stress breathing cycle. All right, runners, your stress breathing cycle.
(12:10):
Poor breathing mechanics increase fatigue, which adds frustration and more stress.
You can breathe incorrectly while running. Now, I am not
going to be the running coach. It's going to tell
you how to breathe. I go back to something I
learned in seventh grade playing basketball on a high level
(12:31):
middle school team, where the coach was always like, breathe
in through your nose, out through your mouth. It gets
the most air circulation throughout your body, to your muscles,
to the places you need to get air in through
the nose, out through the mouth. So when I'm really
struggling at a race, let's say I take it down
to a walk on a hill or whatever I am
trying to deep in through the nose, out through the mouth,
(12:54):
get all the air that I can. Oh boy, I
did that, No wonder to ya on actually got a
deep breath. But get all the air that you can
in your body to try and fill your body with
that sweet O too baby. And so that's what we
have to do on that. It's your poor breathing mechanics.
So fix your breathing mechanics. If you have breathing mechanics
that work for you, go do that, absolutely do that.
(13:18):
What works for you may not work for me. What
works for me may not work for you. Find what
works for you. But just know that stress can even
change the way that you breathe, and you've got to
try and get it back on track so that you're
not feeling this fatigue or this frustration and stress because
you're not doing what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We get that way.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I get that way when I have a bad race,
and I oftentimes will have a bad race because my
breathing was wrong or my stress level was too high
and I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Focus on the race. I was focused on other things.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
My body was rewired, I didn't breathe correctly, my leg's
hurt because they weren't getting that sweet o too. Like
it all goes part and parcel together, and it screws
up all of our runs, and it has it is
as screwed up on your runs before. I'll guarantee if
you want to tell me I'm wrong, you can tell
me I'm wrong, but I'm probably not gonna believe you.
So that is a little bit on the respiratory system
(14:09):
on how it kind of messes with the stress can
mess with the lungs, all right, And I'm sure there's
more to it. I'm not trying to overload everyone, and
I'm certainly not Karen. That's gonna give you all the science,
all right. So let's move on next to the digestive system,
which is what led me to wear the shirt that
I'm wearing. This is supposed to be melted chocolate. Just
(14:30):
so you know, this was from a Valentine's themed race,
and so this is supposed to be a smiley faced
kind of heart thing in melted chocolate. Ever since I
got the shirt, I just thought it looked like a
big pile of shit on my shirt, and so I thought, hey,
since we're doing kind of a Digestive episode this week,
I'm gonna wear that shirt like this shirt was in
my head for a week now, not gonna lie it was,
(14:53):
all right, so the Digestive System. Listen, we are all runners.
We talk about bodily functions way more oft and way
more openly than we probably should. So we're gonna keep.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Doing that now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
That's what we're gonna talk about right now, is our
bodily functions. So hope you like it anyway. All right,
here we go again, runner and every day let me
see stomach aches and butterflies. We're gonna talk about stomach
aches and butterflies. Runners pre race nerves causing urgent bathroom
trips before the start line. We all try and hit
(15:27):
the head before we run the race.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Like I get that.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But if you get there and you are feeling a
sense of urgency, or let's say you went, you already
stood through the line, you made it up to the portagohn,
you handled all your business.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You get out and you get a.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Little closer to the start of the race and you think,
oh oh, by ooh, emergency red flag something out right here,
and you run back to get in that line again.
That could be stress. That's playing a number on your system.
And what you have to be careful about this is
we can lose a lot of our nutrients, we can
lose a lot of our hydration. Multiple troops to the restroom,
(16:05):
maybe all to sit upon the throne, shall we say,
can really take it out of your body before you
even start the race and could lead you to some
fatigue or some blood sugar crash on the course. So
things to be wary of, things to at least definitely
be aware of. So in our daily life, big work
presentation equals a queasy stomach or loss of appetite. Okay,
(16:26):
that can be the stress. And again it could be
stressed from that presentation, or it can be other stresses.
You may not have a problem, give me a presentation
like at this point, I don't get nervous turning on
this webcam. So I know that if I ever got
up here and thought I mean to go ahead and
use the resident, it's probably stress playing a number on
my system. Next one, IBS in digestive disorders. Runners with
(16:48):
IBS irrital bowel syndrome IBS flare ups during training lead
to mid run pit stops. Okay, I definitely know I'm
quite sure. I guess I can't say I know for certain.
I know from other runners experience and things that I've
heard through my many years of running that yes, IBS
(17:09):
stuff can flare up due to stress. It can also
flare up due to exercise. And so you take both
of those things together and yeah, you might have a
mid run issue. So I really have little doubt that
in Ottawa. You know, a couple of weeks ago, run
the Ottawa Half Marathon. You know, a mile four and
(17:30):
a half, I desperately needed the porta potty, of which
there was one on the course. And I even told
you guys that I was running along the course. I
was even checking out trees and ditches in places where
I might have to stomp before reaching the Port of John.
I have no doubt it's because of all the stress
going on. Like stress definitely turns my stomach, It ties
(17:54):
my stomach up and knots. That's just one of the
ways that my body rewires and responds to stress. That
was a particularly stressful weekend. So I have no doubt
that that emergency stop was due to stress. Okay, so
I know it can happen, now, you know it can
happen because it happened to me, happened to me, happened
to you.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, So just.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Something to be aware of again that, especially if you
do have the IBS, it can be stressed that triggers
that thing, and it can be exercise, and it can
be all those things.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
So just you know, take a look, know where the
restrooms are in daily life.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Let's see alternating diarrhea and constipation that spikes during high
stress weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Okay, so if you're.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Kind of going to the extreme on either end, that
can also be stressed. But you didn't know that. I
didn't know that. I was today years old when I
learned that information. But it's a thing. Acid reflux and heartburn. Okay,
So runners running on a stress stomach equals burning sensation
mid run or it can actually disrupt workouts. This is
(18:53):
where I want to be super super duper careful.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Acid reflux, I know, is a I've had it. It sucks,
It's no fun. Heartburn, especially for a heart patient, is
a very tricky one for me because I can get
heartburn and nine times out of ten I know it's heartburn.
There can also be times where it feels a little different,
and it can feel a little more concerning. And of
(19:20):
course for me, I am very hyper aware of heart
stuff again, two open heart surgeries. Mechanical valve in my
heart been running for nine years. Ever since I had
that surgery. They said, if you make it the first
ten years, you're probably fine.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Okay, I got one more left.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Do I have any doubt that when the great race
director in the sky calls my number, it's gonna be
a heart induced reason, No doubt, Like I have no
doubt unless it's a freak accident. I am quite sure
that this muscle is gonna be what sends me to
the great beyond. So I am hyper sensitive when I have,
(19:58):
you know, heartburn or even some acid reflux or anything
in the chest is feeling a little wonky. I have
to be super careful about that. I caution a lot
of you, or I would invite you to share ish
that same level of heightened caution, because most of the
people in this audience that listen to this show are
(20:20):
people of age where if you drop dead from a
heart attack, they're can be like, oh my god, they
were too young. But it's not unheard of a lot
of us are getting into that realm of life where
something goes a little wonky in the chest and we
can have some serious problems.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So when it comes to this, when it comes to.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The chest pains and how things are feeling in the
chest area, that can almost be heart related. I just
want you to exercise bookoo caution. I don't want you
to try and run through that. I don't run through that.
I don't want to. I also don't want to be
an alarmist. But for me, I have to be super careful.
And so if I'm running and things don't feel right
and something feels a little off, I'm gonna stop running.
(21:01):
I'll walk the rest of the thing, or I'll drop
out now, thankfully, knock on wood. It's really not been
an issue for me, not while I'm out running, But
if I was ever outrunning and I started experiencing chest pains,
you can bet your sweet bottom I'm done. My race
is done. I'll gladly take that DNF because I can't
be messing around with that kind of stuff, and I
don't recommend that you mess around with it too. Heart
(21:22):
If you're running, your feeling chest pains, even if it
is just heartburn, and you find out later it's just heartburn.
And you take some pepsiday scene and it goes away
and it was just heartburn. Airing air rowen. On that
side of caution is where I think we should be
one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
We're runners, and we're stupid when it comes to medical stuff,
and we are all far more badass than any of
us want to admit to. But you are badass, and
I will tell you all day long you're badass, But
please be badass enough to walk away from a potential
heart situation. Okay, And that's where I'm gonna leave it.
And I know I completely sidebarred off of much of
(22:00):
that acid reflux and the heartburn stuff. I know I
bunny trailed down to full blown heart stuff, but we
didn't really talk about it last week when we did
the cardiovascular because we were just talking about how it affects.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
It felt like it wasn't the right place. This felt
like it opened the right door for that conversation, so
that's why I did it. Hopefully it was okay. And
then for daily life, the acid reflux and heartburn stress
eating late at night equals painful reflux while lying in bed.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
That is so true.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Runners, non runners, and I do this to myself all
the time, where I just eat too late. If your
bedtime is ten o'clock, you probably don't need anything after eight.
Let your stuff digest before you lay down. But there
are definitely times. Let's say I have a Tuesday night
soccer game and we played late. We don't play till
eight thirty, and so the game's over at nine thirty
(22:52):
and I'm not getting home untill ten to fifteen. But
I'm hungry. I didn't need anything before the game.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I'm hungry.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I want to get something to eat, so then I'll
eat some then and then I'll go to bed full.
And yeah, the heartburn, the acid reflux, just uncomfortable feeling.
And again that's not even stress related, that's just everyday stuff.
Then you want to add some stress on top of
that is probably even worse. So definitely would caution against
eating too late like that is no point, oh at
(23:19):
all all right, And the last one on the digestive
system appetite swings. So for runners training, fuel feels off.
Sometimes your ravenous, and sometimes you have no appetite at all.
Definitely been there and done that daily life stress, snacking
on chips, candy, or forgetting meals completely okay, funny story
(23:39):
about that ish after my divorce stress or after my divorce,
I couldn't eat.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I lost so much weight, DUDEO.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
That first year and a half to two years, I
think I dropped sixty pounds just by not eating.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And that was not good.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I was probably a little sickly looking at that point,
but I was stressed and I I couldn't eat, just
couldn't eat. Just one happening for me. Now, once I
got over that, I put all that way back on
and then some And now even to this day, I
am a stress eater and I wish I was a
stress non eater. Of course, neither of them are good.
(24:15):
I'm not saying one is better than the other, because
it's absolutely not true. But now I'm a stress eater,
and so like right now this point in my life,
oh my god, it is. It is a struggle every
day to not just destroy the vending machine at work
and eat all the chips, or not order pizza every
night when I get home, or polish off that bucket
of ice cream, or stop e quichum and get some
(24:36):
candy like man, I just I want all the bad stuff.
And it's I mean, it's affecting everything right now. It's
affecting my weight, it's affecting my running, it's affecting everything
because I'm not putting in nutritional stuff and I'm not
putting in things in reasonable amounts at reasonable times. You know,
have your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner, have your fruit
(24:57):
smoothie in the middle with you your supplements in it.
Are any of those things. I'm not doing any of
that stuff. I'm drinking a coke and eating a bag
of chips while the pizza is on the way kind
of a thing. And that's that is real bad. But
that for me, there is another huge sign when I
am under extreme amounts of stress because I don't care
about the running stuff. I care about the gratification of
(25:17):
eating the pizza. And it's a dangerous place to be.
And if you were there, and you know you're if
you're a stress eater at this point in your life,
you know it. I'm not telling I'm not breaking new ground.
I'm not telling anything you don't already know. You know
that when you are under stress, and if you are
a stress eater, it's tough man, it's real tough and
it really affects everything because then when you're eating all
this crap and you do try and exercise, you can't
(25:39):
do what you did before, or you do show up
to the start line and you don't run a good
race because of all the crap that you ate because
you didn't carblow the night before, you jump fooded the
night before. And then we get stressed out because our
time suck and our times are going up and we're
not doing what you used to do and our training
is bad.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
And it just piles on the stress.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So be really aware that stress snacking and again don't
eat the really greasy, nasty food right before you go
to bed, or you're just combining all your problems. And
I mean, we could do twenty episodes on how our
diets just get totally run amok when things go bad
in our lives. I could do twenty episodes on that.
(26:18):
So again, stress just does not it doesn't mess just
with your head and your heart like we talked about
last week. Now we got head, heart, lungs, stomach, and
again that's the stress re wiring everything all right. So
it literally changes how you breathe, and that's not good.
It changes how you digest and that's not good.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So runners pay attention.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
If you're winded too soon or you're having reoccurring stomach issues,
it may not be the training plan.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
It might be the stress, right all right.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And non runners, if you're constantly out of breath or
struggling with your gut, stress might be the hidden culprit.
And then so next week, what are we gonna do
next week? Next week, we're gonna talk about muscles and
your immune system. That's what we're gonna talk about, So
body and immunity next week, all right, So that will
do it for this second episode on stress. Here's what
(27:09):
we're gonna talk about. You just told you what we're
gonna talk about next week. Coming up for the podcast
this weekend. It is the second race in the Heartland
thirty k series. So I will see everyone's Sunday morning
at the Woodstock ten k in Corporate Woods. Be very careful.
It's gonna be hot, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
False fall is over.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
We all knew it was gonna end. The heat comes
back only for about ten days, it looks like, and
then I think we have another cool down. It should
be cooler for Boulevard which is the final race in
the series. But we'll see. So we'll see you all
Sunday morning at Woodstock. Let's try and reduce our stress,
whatever you need to do, because as you can see,
it is affecting every aspect of our bodies, and that
(27:49):
affects every aspect of our running. And we don't want
any of those things to be the case. Like we
don't want stress controlling our running. We want to control
the running, our training, our preparation, and our determination. That's
what should control our runs, not what stress is doing
to our bodies, because it's not it's not gonna be good,
not gonna be positive.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Okay, So that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
For this week's episode of the Back of the Back Podcast,
second one, I'm your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so
much for tuning in. Everyone, have a safe week of training.
Will either see you Sunday at Woodstock or we'll see
you next week.
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
of the Back of the Back Podcast, Second one. I'm
your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in.
So we're on week two, Week two of our stress series.
All right, are you feeling a little less stressed?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Now?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
No, I'm kidding, You're not gonna feel less stressed. That's
not what the series is about. No, what we're talking
about is how stress is affecting us in both running
and personal life. Because, as we all know, if you
are a grown ass adult as we all are, stress
is going to happen no matter what. But it really
does change what it can do to your running and
your training depending on where your stress levels are at.
(00:48):
Certainly we have times or man, everything's going well, I
don't feel very stressed at all, and then we have
times where we just feel like our heads are going
to explode because so many things are stressing us out
in this world. And it does directly affect how you
run and really how you live your day to day life.
So last week we told you that stress rewires your
entire body, and it is absolutely true. So what do
(01:11):
we talk about last time? Last time we talked about
the cardiovascular system. Right, So we went over how the
cardiovascular system is affected by it, and we went over
some other stuff as well, but let's dive into this week. Okay,
So this week, the first thing we're going to talk
about is the respiratory system, all right, So we're going
to move into lungs and stomach this week. I think
we were kind of like, you know, heart and head
(01:32):
last week. Now where lungs and stomach, we're just kind
of moving all over the body. But that's where we're
going to be at this week. And so the lungs,
all right, So stress activates shallow, rapid breathing, all right,
the body thinks it's preparing to sprint away even if
you're sitting still. And what does that do? That correlates
directly to what we talked about last week about how
(01:53):
stress can really kick off our fight or flight, A
right fight or flight if you don't know. When you're
faced with a scary situation, a stressful situation, you either
want to fight it, you want to put your dukes
up and you want to go after it, or you
want to run away. All right, And that's true, I mean,
that is what most of our responses are to high
stress situations, you either want to fight through it or
(02:14):
you want to run away from it, and stress is
no different. All right, And I apologize. I do have
notes on my screen, and as you can see, I
don't have my glasses with me right now, so I'm
gonna be a little squinty and make sure that I
say the right thing.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So not I don't completely.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Screw this up, just mostly screw it up, not completely,
all right. So let's talk about the respiratory system and
what we're gonna.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Do this week.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Like we did with last week, I will give you
a runner example, give me a runner example, and then
hopefully a real life example, because they don't always walk
hand in hand.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
A lot of times they do, but not always.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Okay, So here we go with kind of our daily
life and how stress is going to affect the respiratory system. First,
for the runners, you start your runs already short of breath. Okay,
it's like your warm up run if you do that,
is harder than usual, okay, because stress can affect your breathing.
It can make your breathing more shallow. And if you're
(03:07):
already doing a warm up run, or let's say it's
the first mile of your race and you're already feeling
gassed or winded, like you can't catch your breath. That
can be what the stress is causing your body to do.
So it can directly affect your run if your breathing
is off pretty much from the word go right, you
know you've done the training, you know you've logged the miles,
you know what your normal run should feel like, and here,
(03:29):
all of a sudden, I'm already winded. That can be stress. Okay,
stress can do that to you in your daily life.
Sitting at your desk, you catch yourself sighing or gasping
or unable to take a deep breath. Now again, the
whole reason this series has come up. As I've told
you last week, I'm going to tell you again my
life personally right now very stressful. There's a lot of
(03:52):
things going on, a lot of stuff on the other
side of this camera that are stress in the world
out and so I thought it would be good, maybe
even cathartic, for me to talk about it and share
these things with you on how we can hopefully make
it through the more stressful times. But I can guarantee
that as I sit let's just say, at my work
desk during the day, there is so much more, so
(04:18):
much more sign that exasperated sigh, and again I feel
like I need that air, and then I just it's however,
the body is rewiring me that I have to just
have that that big sigh. Now the gasping thing doesn't
speak to me. It might speak to you. You mightugh,
you know, trying to catch your breath, or you know,
(04:39):
find that you're just you're not able to catch your breath,
so you kind of gasp to get it back in there.
And then sometimes, yeah, the stress can make it even
hard for you to take a deep breath. Honestly, there
are times it has caused physical pain to take a
deep breath. And I think, now, this is not based
on any scientific fact. This is just my personally on
(05:00):
how I carry my stress around with me. But when
I have physical pain on taking that deep breath, what
I notice is it's because all the other parts of
my body are wrong. I might be slumped, I might
have my shoulders in, I might have my neck down,
and it might be like this for too long, so
that when you finally straighten up and open up, then
(05:21):
everything hurts. It hurts your lungs because everything's just been
so squished for however long. And then as runners and
as regular people, when we're carrying extra stress around with us,
and you can definitely carry this on the course. This
might get touched on another episode. But when you're tensed,
and we talked about last, when you're tensed up and
then everything is just so tense, that can cause pain.
(05:45):
You can actually make your muscle sore from carrying around
so much tension in your body that you may not
otherwise carry around. It can be in your shoulders, it
can be in your fist, it can be in your forearms.
You can carry it around a lot of different places.
So then when you do try and open up and
you do try and grab that nice, sweet fresh breath,
it hurts because you've carried around so much tension in
(06:07):
your body. Your muscles are like, Okay, what are we
doing now? What's happening?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Nah? Now?
Speaker 1 (06:10):
I remember I prefaced last week. I'll preface again because
I feel like probably should at this point. This guy
not a doctor. If you think you have full blown
medical issues, please go seek professional medical opinion. Don't just
listen to the idiot with the microphone. Okay, I can
talk about experiences, but I cannot give you any medical advice,
(06:33):
nor am I even going to try, so please be away.
The next one, all right, So that was our rapid
breathing or hyperventilation. Hyperventilation, there are people who do that
when they're stressed out. Again, cannot speak to that, but
a definitely big effect on the lung region. Next one,
shallow breathing reduces oxygen efficiency. So for the runners, A,
(06:54):
you guys are gonna laugh with this, all right, your
VO two max feels lower, legs burn soon because lex
less oxygen is circulating. Now what is my spiel every
time I talk to someone about this podcast?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
What do I say?
Speaker 1 (07:07):
I say, we're not going to break down your VO
two max. Okay, we're only mentioning it. We're not breaking
it down. So I'm not technically a liar face. Don't
don't you dare try and blame me for that, But
it's true when you are talking about the lungs. Okay,
So runners, your VO two max feels lower, So that's
you know, your efficiency and your lungs and then your
legs can burn sooner.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Because lex Let's I can't say that together.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Less oxygen is circulating through your body, all right, And
that's that is all. With your shallow breathing, that's just
you can't get in that deep breath You're You're just
you're maybe breathing a little more rapid, not as deep,
and so not as much oxygen is getting down to
every part of your body, and you need all parts
of your body working when you're doing the running thing
in daily life. That can be walking upstairs feels harder,
(07:50):
or you feel winded carrying groceries. Been there, done that,
all right, I bet you have as well. And then
we can kind of look, oh, that's because I'm so
stressed out about my kid's grades, or the job situation,
or my significant other or money or running or whatever
stresses you out. And again these things come and go.
I get that. So I'm not saying that all this
is gonna hit you all at one time, all at
(08:12):
the same time, and all intel things change. I think
of stress as a roller coaster. Sometimes you are on
that nasty uphill. Sometimes you just breezing down the hill,
and that time's great. But stress as an adult is
a freaking roller coaster all the time. Something that always
spoke to me when I was going through my divorce. Okay,
so this was fifteen years ago, going through divorce stress.
(08:33):
What they said about the divorce stress, it comes in waves,
and boy, that was the truest thing ever. Sometimes the
tide washes out and there are no waves, and you're like, oh,
things going all right, you know, things are finally feeling okay,
and then there's an earthquake in the middle of the
ocean and here comes the tsunami. And so it comes
in waves. Sometimes the waves are really big. Sometimes they're
(08:56):
surfable waves. Sometimes they're destructive waves. Sometimes they're a little
and sometimes the tide goes out. But stress can really
hit you like a wave. And that always stuck with me. Again,
it's been fifteen years, but that always stuck with me.
That stress is like waves that just roll in. You
never know what size you're gonna get. You never know
how severe it's going to be. You know, all can
(09:17):
depend on the time of day or the pull of
the moon. You know, who knows, But just know that's
that's kind of what they do. So the next one
asthma and airway constriction. For runners, stress induced airway tightness
makes workouts feel like running at altitude and that can happen.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
You can be so.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Stressed out that your lungs feel like they're they're not
coming alive. They're not expanding is the word I'm looking for,
like they normally would. Again, you can be so tensed
up and so stressed out that your lungs won't respond
to your run, they won't respond to your exercise and
your activity. And again, what we call that, and the
technical word is bad. Yeah, that's bad. You don't want that.
(09:58):
So in your daily life. Even non asthmatics can feel
chest tightness or can't catch my breath during stressful days. Yes,
that kind of goes along with the hyperventilating. In my mind,
I kind of see it both ways. But yes, you
can be so stressed out that your chest feels tight
and like you can't catch your breath. Been there many
moons ago, going through divorce stuff. I definitely felt that
(10:21):
that tightness. There was actually a time I went to
the hospital I think in years and years ago, I
honestly thought I was having a heart attack. And this
was before my two open heart surgeries because the stress
had gotten so bad. I really thought my chest was
just gonna explug. Like I thought that was it. I
thought that was the night I was gonna go deady bye,
and I was elfany. So your stress can have that
(10:43):
effect on your body, because again, it's rewiring your whole body.
And the reason I keep bringing that up, like, why
do you keep saying to rewind your whole body? Because
I want everyone to like really get it, because I
feel like I have felt it in my time, that
just everything within you changes based on this crazy ass
stress level that you could be under and that you
oftentimes are under, whether you know it or you're not,
(11:05):
whether it's a huge life altering event like a divorce,
or it's just a culmination of all the little things
that have finally become too much. And I just I
really want to pound that into your brains that it
can rewire your system. And I say that because I
don't want you to beat yourself up for it. I
don't want you to think that you're a failure as
(11:26):
a runner, or you're a failure as a parent, you're
a failure as a spouse, or your a failure as
a human being, because it's one hundred percent not the case.
We are being worked over by the things that are
affecting our mental health and to gain. We've done serious
on that before, and it changes you. It changes how
your body operates, whether you know it or not. So
(11:46):
I'm letting you know that it's happening so that you
can be aware and maybe just maybe cut yourself a
little bit of a break, cut yourself a little tiny
bit of slack. You'll be amazed and how much better
you feel about it. Again, I speak from experience. Okay, uh,
the stress breathing cycle. All right, runners, your stress breathing cycle.
(12:10):
Poor breathing mechanics increase fatigue, which adds frustration and more stress.
You can breathe incorrectly while running. Now, I am not
going to be the running coach. It's going to tell
you how to breathe. I go back to something I
learned in seventh grade playing basketball on a high level
(12:31):
middle school team, where the coach was always like, breathe
in through your nose, out through your mouth. It gets
the most air circulation throughout your body, to your muscles,
to the places you need to get air in through
the nose, out through the mouth. So when I'm really
struggling at a race, let's say I take it down
to a walk on a hill or whatever I am
trying to deep in through the nose, out through the mouth,
(12:54):
get all the air that I can. Oh boy, I
did that, No wonder to ya on actually got a
deep breath. But get all the air that you can
in your body to try and fill your body with
that sweet O too baby. And so that's what we
have to do on that. It's your poor breathing mechanics.
So fix your breathing mechanics. If you have breathing mechanics
that work for you, go do that, absolutely do that.
(13:18):
What works for you may not work for me. What
works for me may not work for you. Find what
works for you. But just know that stress can even
change the way that you breathe, and you've got to
try and get it back on track so that you're
not feeling this fatigue or this frustration and stress because
you're not doing what you want to do.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
We get that way.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
I get that way when I have a bad race,
and I oftentimes will have a bad race because my
breathing was wrong or my stress level was too high
and I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Focus on the race. I was focused on other things.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
My body was rewired, I didn't breathe correctly, my leg's
hurt because they weren't getting that sweet o too. Like
it all goes part and parcel together, and it screws
up all of our runs, and it has it is
as screwed up on your runs before. I'll guarantee if
you want to tell me I'm wrong, you can tell
me I'm wrong, but I'm probably not gonna believe you.
So that is a little bit on the respiratory system
(14:09):
on how it kind of messes with the stress can
mess with the lungs, all right, And I'm sure there's
more to it. I'm not trying to overload everyone, and
I'm certainly not Karen. That's gonna give you all the science,
all right. So let's move on next to the digestive system,
which is what led me to wear the shirt that
I'm wearing. This is supposed to be melted chocolate. Just
(14:30):
so you know, this was from a Valentine's themed race,
and so this is supposed to be a smiley faced
kind of heart thing in melted chocolate. Ever since I
got the shirt, I just thought it looked like a
big pile of shit on my shirt, and so I thought, hey,
since we're doing kind of a Digestive episode this week,
I'm gonna wear that shirt like this shirt was in
my head for a week now, not gonna lie it was,
(14:53):
all right, so the Digestive System. Listen, we are all runners.
We talk about bodily functions way more oft and way
more openly than we probably should. So we're gonna keep.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Doing that now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
That's what we're gonna talk about right now, is our
bodily functions. So hope you like it anyway. All right,
here we go again, runner and every day let me
see stomach aches and butterflies. We're gonna talk about stomach
aches and butterflies. Runners pre race nerves causing urgent bathroom
trips before the start line. We all try and hit
(15:27):
the head before we run the race.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Like I get that.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
But if you get there and you are feeling a
sense of urgency, or let's say you went, you already
stood through the line, you made it up to the portagohn,
you handled all your business.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
You get out and you get a.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
Little closer to the start of the race and you think,
oh oh, by ooh, emergency red flag something out right here,
and you run back to get in that line again.
That could be stress. That's playing a number on your system.
And what you have to be careful about this is
we can lose a lot of our nutrients, we can
lose a lot of our hydration. Multiple troops to the restroom,
(16:05):
maybe all to sit upon the throne, shall we say,
can really take it out of your body before you
even start the race and could lead you to some
fatigue or some blood sugar crash on the course. So
things to be wary of, things to at least definitely
be aware of. So in our daily life, big work
presentation equals a queasy stomach or loss of appetite. Okay,
(16:26):
that can be the stress. And again it could be
stressed from that presentation, or it can be other stresses.
You may not have a problem, give me a presentation
like at this point, I don't get nervous turning on
this webcam. So I know that if I ever got
up here and thought I mean to go ahead and
use the resident, it's probably stress playing a number on
my system. Next one, IBS in digestive disorders. Runners with
(16:48):
IBS irrital bowel syndrome IBS flare ups during training lead
to mid run pit stops. Okay, I definitely know I'm
quite sure. I guess I can't say I know for certain.
I know from other runners experience and things that I've
heard through my many years of running that yes, IBS
(17:09):
stuff can flare up due to stress. It can also
flare up due to exercise. And so you take both
of those things together and yeah, you might have a
mid run issue. So I really have little doubt that
in Ottawa. You know, a couple of weeks ago, run
the Ottawa Half Marathon. You know, a mile four and
(17:30):
a half, I desperately needed the porta potty, of which
there was one on the course. And I even told
you guys that I was running along the course. I
was even checking out trees and ditches in places where
I might have to stomp before reaching the Port of John.
I have no doubt it's because of all the stress
going on. Like stress definitely turns my stomach, It ties
(17:54):
my stomach up and knots. That's just one of the
ways that my body rewires and responds to stress. That
was a particularly stressful weekend. So I have no doubt
that that emergency stop was due to stress. Okay, so
I know it can happen, now, you know it can
happen because it happened to me, happened to me, happened
to you.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Okay, So just.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Something to be aware of again that, especially if you
do have the IBS, it can be stressed that triggers
that thing, and it can be exercise, and it can
be all those things.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
So just you know, take a look, know where the
restrooms are in daily life.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
Let's see alternating diarrhea and constipation that spikes during high
stress weeks.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Okay, so if you're.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Kind of going to the extreme on either end, that
can also be stressed. But you didn't know that. I
didn't know that. I was today years old when I
learned that information. But it's a thing. Acid reflux and heartburn. Okay,
So runners running on a stress stomach equals burning sensation
mid run or it can actually disrupt workouts. This is
(18:53):
where I want to be super super duper careful.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Acid reflux, I know, is a I've had it. It sucks,
It's no fun. Heartburn, especially for a heart patient, is
a very tricky one for me because I can get
heartburn and nine times out of ten I know it's heartburn.
There can also be times where it feels a little different,
and it can feel a little more concerning. And of
(19:20):
course for me, I am very hyper aware of heart
stuff again, two open heart surgeries. Mechanical valve in my
heart been running for nine years. Ever since I had
that surgery. They said, if you make it the first
ten years, you're probably fine.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Okay, I got one more left.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Do I have any doubt that when the great race
director in the sky calls my number, it's gonna be
a heart induced reason, No doubt, Like I have no
doubt unless it's a freak accident. I am quite sure
that this muscle is gonna be what sends me to
the great beyond. So I am hyper sensitive when I have,
(19:58):
you know, heartburn or even some acid reflux or anything
in the chest is feeling a little wonky. I have
to be super careful about that. I caution a lot
of you, or I would invite you to share ish
that same level of heightened caution, because most of the
people in this audience that listen to this show are
(20:20):
people of age where if you drop dead from a
heart attack, they're can be like, oh my god, they
were too young. But it's not unheard of a lot
of us are getting into that realm of life where
something goes a little wonky in the chest and we
can have some serious problems.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
So when it comes to this, when it comes to.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
The chest pains and how things are feeling in the
chest area, that can almost be heart related. I just
want you to exercise bookoo caution. I don't want you
to try and run through that. I don't run through that.
I don't want to. I also don't want to be
an alarmist. But for me, I have to be super careful.
And so if I'm running and things don't feel right
and something feels a little off, I'm gonna stop running.
(21:01):
I'll walk the rest of the thing, or I'll drop
out now, thankfully, knock on wood. It's really not been
an issue for me, not while I'm out running, But
if I was ever outrunning and I started experiencing chest pains,
you can bet your sweet bottom I'm done. My race
is done. I'll gladly take that DNF because I can't
be messing around with that kind of stuff, and I
don't recommend that you mess around with it too. Heart
(21:22):
If you're running, your feeling chest pains, even if it
is just heartburn, and you find out later it's just heartburn.
And you take some pepsiday scene and it goes away
and it was just heartburn. Airing air rowen. On that
side of caution is where I think we should be
one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
We're runners, and we're stupid when it comes to medical stuff,
and we are all far more badass than any of
us want to admit to. But you are badass, and
I will tell you all day long you're badass, But
please be badass enough to walk away from a potential
heart situation. Okay, And that's where I'm gonna leave it.
And I know I completely sidebarred off of much of
(22:00):
that acid reflux and the heartburn stuff. I know I
bunny trailed down to full blown heart stuff, but we
didn't really talk about it last week when we did
the cardiovascular because we were just talking about how it affects.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
It felt like it wasn't the right place. This felt
like it opened the right door for that conversation, so
that's why I did it. Hopefully it was okay. And
then for daily life, the acid reflux and heartburn stress
eating late at night equals painful reflux while lying in bed.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
That is so true.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Runners, non runners, and I do this to myself all
the time, where I just eat too late. If your
bedtime is ten o'clock, you probably don't need anything after eight.
Let your stuff digest before you lay down. But there
are definitely times. Let's say I have a Tuesday night
soccer game and we played late. We don't play till
eight thirty, and so the game's over at nine thirty
(22:52):
and I'm not getting home untill ten to fifteen. But
I'm hungry. I didn't need anything before the game.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
I'm hungry.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
I want to get something to eat, so then I'll
eat some then and then I'll go to bed full.
And yeah, the heartburn, the acid reflux, just uncomfortable feeling.
And again that's not even stress related, that's just everyday stuff.
Then you want to add some stress on top of
that is probably even worse. So definitely would caution against
eating too late like that is no point, oh at
(23:19):
all all right, And the last one on the digestive
system appetite swings. So for runners training, fuel feels off.
Sometimes your ravenous, and sometimes you have no appetite at all.
Definitely been there and done that daily life stress, snacking
on chips, candy, or forgetting meals completely okay, funny story
(23:39):
about that ish after my divorce stress or after my divorce,
I couldn't eat.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I lost so much weight, DUDEO.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
That first year and a half to two years, I
think I dropped sixty pounds just by not eating.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
And that was not good.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
I was probably a little sickly looking at that point,
but I was stressed and I I couldn't eat, just
couldn't eat. Just one happening for me. Now, once I
got over that, I put all that way back on
and then some And now even to this day, I
am a stress eater and I wish I was a
stress non eater. Of course, neither of them are good.
(24:15):
I'm not saying one is better than the other, because
it's absolutely not true. But now I'm a stress eater,
and so like right now this point in my life,
oh my god, it is. It is a struggle every
day to not just destroy the vending machine at work
and eat all the chips, or not order pizza every
night when I get home, or polish off that bucket
of ice cream, or stop e quichum and get some
(24:36):
candy like man, I just I want all the bad stuff.
And it's I mean, it's affecting everything right now. It's
affecting my weight, it's affecting my running, it's affecting everything
because I'm not putting in nutritional stuff and I'm not
putting in things in reasonable amounts at reasonable times. You know,
have your breakfast, your lunch, your dinner, have your fruit
(24:57):
smoothie in the middle with you your supplements in it.
Are any of those things. I'm not doing any of
that stuff. I'm drinking a coke and eating a bag
of chips while the pizza is on the way kind
of a thing. And that's that is real bad. But
that for me, there is another huge sign when I
am under extreme amounts of stress because I don't care
about the running stuff. I care about the gratification of
(25:17):
eating the pizza. And it's a dangerous place to be.
And if you were there, and you know you're if
you're a stress eater at this point in your life,
you know it. I'm not telling I'm not breaking new ground.
I'm not telling anything you don't already know. You know
that when you are under stress, and if you are
a stress eater, it's tough man, it's real tough and
it really affects everything because then when you're eating all
this crap and you do try and exercise, you can't
(25:39):
do what you did before, or you do show up
to the start line and you don't run a good
race because of all the crap that you ate because
you didn't carblow the night before, you jump fooded the
night before. And then we get stressed out because our
time suck and our times are going up and we're
not doing what you used to do and our training
is bad.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
And it just piles on the stress.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
So be really aware that stress snacking and again don't
eat the really greasy, nasty food right before you go
to bed, or you're just combining all your problems. And
I mean, we could do twenty episodes on how our
diets just get totally run amok when things go bad
in our lives. I could do twenty episodes on that.
(26:18):
So again, stress just does not it doesn't mess just
with your head and your heart like we talked about
last week. Now we got head, heart, lungs, stomach, and
again that's the stress re wiring everything all right. So
it literally changes how you breathe, and that's not good.
It changes how you digest and that's not good.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So runners pay attention.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
If you're winded too soon or you're having reoccurring stomach issues,
it may not be the training plan.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
It might be the stress, right all right.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
And non runners, if you're constantly out of breath or
struggling with your gut, stress might be the hidden culprit.
And then so next week, what are we gonna do
next week? Next week, we're gonna talk about muscles and
your immune system. That's what we're gonna talk about, So
body and immunity next week, all right, So that will
do it for this second episode on stress. Here's what
(27:09):
we're gonna talk about. You just told you what we're
gonna talk about next week. Coming up for the podcast
this weekend. It is the second race in the Heartland
thirty k series. So I will see everyone's Sunday morning
at the Woodstock ten k in Corporate Woods. Be very careful.
It's gonna be hot, all right.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
False fall is over.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
We all knew it was gonna end. The heat comes
back only for about ten days, it looks like, and
then I think we have another cool down. It should
be cooler for Boulevard which is the final race in
the series. But we'll see. So we'll see you all
Sunday morning at Woodstock. Let's try and reduce our stress,
whatever you need to do, because as you can see,
it is affecting every aspect of our bodies, and that
(27:49):
affects every aspect of our running. And we don't want
any of those things to be the case. Like we
don't want stress controlling our running. We want to control
the running, our training, our preparation, and our determination. That's
what should control our runs, not what stress is doing
to our bodies, because it's not it's not gonna be good,
not gonna be positive.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Okay, So that's gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
For this week's episode of the Back of the Back Podcast,
second one, I'm your host, Kyle Walker. Thank you so
much for tuning in. Everyone, have a safe week of training.
Will either see you Sunday at Woodstock or we'll see
you next week.
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