I’ve been irrigating for 18 months and have settled on a routine of performing it every other day apart from Saturday’s when I switch to 24 hours to tie in with a long run. On the whole, things are going well and the schedule works for me.
My current training schedule means I run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so irrigate on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This means that Wednesday is a day when things can go either way in terms of what happens whilst running. Usually the output is minimal but on occasions it can cause issues particularly depending on where into the run I am. If it’s towards the end and the bag starts to leak I’ll rely on the hernia support belt to keep everything there until the end but if I’ve still got at least a few miles left, I’m going to have to change it.
Today was one of those days where I was only half way through my route and I really needed to change the bag. I’m not too worried about changing a bag on the side of a road and I run very early (4am) so just got on with it. I’ve learned to always carry a spare with me on every run even if it’s only a few miles so I was prepared. It’s a quick change and you’re back up and running in no time but usually these incidents aren’t isolated and the replacement bag often fills again and could leak, like it did today! Luckily I was heading home after the first change so even though it leaked again I could get home and shower.
Bag leaks have become a feature of my running and have occurred on both shorter runs and marathon distance runs. Even though I’m used to them, they are an inconvenience and can get messy. That said, I’d much prefer that to the runner’s trots and bad urges I was experiencing whilst running with a Crohn’s flare up.
