Re-Fueling For Early Morning Long Runs

Audio Transcript

Erin: Hi! My question today is regarding refueling after a run.

Currently, I’m marathon training and I like to get my runs done first thing in the morning. I find it hard to get anything in my stomach before I run, due to time and also because I get locked with an upset stomach if I’m running with too much in my stomach.

I’m wondering if it’s best to eat a post run snack right after, and then eat a more nutritious meal a couple hours later or if I would be able to just eat that nutritious post run meal, four or five hundred calorie meal, right after my run.

I’m also doing back to back long runs on the weekend, and I’m wondering what the best strategy or any tips or advice you have for fueling between those runs.

Not necessarily during the runs though.

I typically will take in the gel if it’s a longer run during the runs. After the first one, throughout that day and before the second run, that next morning, I’m noting that I typically don’t eat anything before I head out the door for the run.

Any tips or advice would be helpful. Thank you.

Michael: Fantastic question Erin. I’m going to divide the answer into three categories, each of which is very important.

We have pre run nutrition, post run nutrition and between long run nutrition.

First, we’ll tackle pre run nutrition.

You have the same issue that most runners have, which is, you don’t want to eat anything since it upsets your stomach.

First thing I’ll say is that it’s truly a trial and era process. You might think that nothing works for you, but it’s possible you simply haven’t found the right foods.

It can take some time for your stomach to adjust, so just because something doesn’t work the first time, doesn’t mean it never will.

A few reasons that you need to eat before you run.

First, your liver glycogen is depleted overnight, so ideally you’re going to get this back up before you go run.

Second, food can actually help settle your stomach. It actually absorbs some of the juices that can cause issues without any food.

Also, it’s the last chance to fuel your muscles before the run, which is obviously very important.

Let’s talk about what to eat before a run and when to eat it. First off is timing.

This is purely a trial and era process and it’s also very individualized.

Some people need several hours after a meal to run, while others can eat right before they step out the door.

We all know those types of people who just iron stomachs. They can just eat and then go run immediately after without a problem.

First thing is to try a moderate size snack around 90 minutes prior to your run – that’s a good starting point.

Then if you handle it well, you can move it a little bit closer to the run in 10, 15 minute increments and see how close you can get to the point where you need to stop and that’s your time.

If it doesn’t work well, you’re going to want to move it further away, so again in those 10, 15 minute increments, perhaps up to hour 45, or two hours and just see what works for you, but 90 minutes is a really good starting point.

All right, let’s talk about particular foods.

For an easy run, you don’t need a lot more than a small snack. Most of the stuff we are talking about in this podcast has to do with longer runs or harder workouts, so for an easy run, a small snack will do.

For the long runs, which is again what we’re discussing here, you’re going to need a bit more. It really comes down to experimentation.

Some things to try out, that many runners that we coach in Runners Connect find work for them, are oatmeal, and maybe a bagel with a small amount of peanut butter, because a lot can definitely upset your stomach. Yogurt is great too.

Yogurt’s the one that actually works really well for a lot of people, especially because it has a probiotic yogurt which can help your stomach.

From there, it’s a trial and era process, and unless something really upsets your stomach, try to give it at least a few runs before throwing in the towel, just to see if your stomach can adapt to it.

Now there is one exception to talk about, and that’s the glycogen depleted long run.

These definitely have their place in marathon training, but it’s occasionally. It’s definitely not often.

A glycogen depleted long run essentially means that you run in a glycogen depleted state. You don’t really have that meal before you run.

Some people will only have pure water and some runners will do just vegetables and water, just something to line the stomach without really giving it the fuel it needs to run that far.

These can help teach the body to burn fat more efficiently, which is obviously very important for the marathon, but these must be used sparingly.

It’s a bit of a double edged sword. They can be very helpful, but they can also be very damaging to the body.

When you do them, you need to make sure that you refuel as quickly as possible after the run. Okay, onto post run nutrition.

We cover this extensively in our podcast on chocolate milk, which is episode 33, so be sure to check that out, but essentially you want a three to one, to four to one ratio of carbs to proteins within 90 minutes of a long run or hard work out.

Fortunately in this case, you’ve already run and you’re not as worried about an upset stomach.

Ideally, you can have something within 30 minutes, like a liquid snack or a protein shake or chocolate milk. Then you can have a larger, more balanced meal within the next couple of hours.

Still, you want to focus on carbs and proteins in those couple of hours after, but more balanced than the immediate post run drink, which is very, very complex and carb heavy, and has a three to one, to four to one ratio of carbs to proteins.

That’s very important in that immediate 30 minute window.

Now, let’s talk about between run nutrition, which might be the most important topic here and most relevant to the question at hand.

It’s very, very important when you’re doing back to back long runs or even the steady long run combos, which we’re big fans of at Runners Connect.

That’s where you do, maybe a four to eight mile steady run on Friday or Saturday, whichever day’s your long run day.

Then the next day you do your long run, it gets you a lot of volume within a 24 to 36 hour period. If one long run severely depletes your glycogen, think of what two of them back to back does. Obviously, our focus is on carbohydrates which will keep those glycogen levels high.

Your caloric intake will need to be extremely high here.

Using our calorie calculator, which I’m six feet, 165 pounds, if I’m running two hours, which isn’t even that long of a long run, at 10 minute pace, I need around 4500 calories for the day.

Over two days with two long runs, that’s 9000 calories.

You need to be eating constantly and a lot. I’d say this is actually more important than what you eat right before each run, a lot more important.

Carbs should be very high, focusing on more high glycemic carbs immediately after each run and lower glycemic carbs at other times. We’re talking about grains, fruits and vegetables, potatoes et cetera.

Obviously a bunch of good protein and then a heavier focus on fat then right after the run.

You don’t want as much fat immediately after running because it can slow the absorption of the other stuff; the carbs and the proteins.

Normally that’s a good thing, but not when you’re trying to quickly revamp your glycogen.

That’s the basics.

Between your long runs, you want to be eating a lot, eating often and consuming lots of carbohydrates.

So Runners Connect fans, make sure you’re eating well and make sure you’re eating enough.

Long runs really take it out of you and you need to make sure your feeding your body properly.

Finally, our sponsor today was Health IQ.

Finding life insurance for your needs can be tough. If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re already in better health than the average person. You eat healthier, exercise way more than average, have a higher health IQ and you avoid unhealthy habits.

Research has shown that avid runners have a 41% lower risk of heart disease and 35% lower risk of early death, so why should you pay the same insurance rates as those who don’t take care of themselves as well. That’s the mission of Health IQ, a life insurance company that specializes in getting special rates and advantages for the health conscious.

Health IQ folks is on real research and data to support their decisions. We of course adopt the same philosophy at Runners Connect, so we’d love to see it applied to life insurance.

Health IQ has taken that data and spent the last few years securing special rates with top insurers for runners and other health conscious people.

If you’d like to see just how much they can lower your life insurance cost, head to runnersconnect.net/healthiq and take a quiz or get a free quote.

Thanks for tuning in. Have a great run today, and we’ll see you next time.