Incontinence & running

[Melalvai]

Over the past 3 years I've been running off & on. An injury here, a lack of motivation there, a burst of energy. This latest attempt to run has introduced a new challenge: Leaking! Ew!

I'm guessing it's because with the shorter commute & inconsistent training, and a very strong sweet tooth, the fat is creeping on, I'm about 20 pounds overweight now, which is so not a big deal that I don't even care, except that I think it's causing this embarrassing problem.

When my daughter was young and I was a little more overweight than now, I tried to take up jump roping and quit because of the same problem.

I've read the articles-- kegel exercises. Right? But I'd like to hear your experiences. Tried kegel? Did it work or not? Maybe just keep working on my core & that'll get better too? In the meantime how do I keep running without feeling so embarrassed? Wear a diaper??

[OakLeaf]

Well, it's an issue for me too, and black shorts help ...

But a couple of things also - yes to Kegels if you're doing them correctly. The way a lot of people describe them is like squeezing or bearing down, which only makes things worse. The way I cue in my head now is "cervix to navel." Lift the pelvic floor upward and inward, don't squeeze together. Kegels will help a lot more with stress incontinence than with urge incontinence, because I'm not sure your pelvic floor muscles will ever be able to overpower your bladder muscles, but they sure don't hurt.

Also, not sure if you've been following the electrolyte threads, but my bladder is a lot more spastic when I'm low on sodium. It's never happened to me during a race, only on training runs when I'm better hydrated.

I haven't experimented, but I've got an awful sweet tooth also, and that might be contributing to the problem.