Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Food: Eating Before a Run

Through extensive experimentation, I've managed to find a handful of foods that work well as a pre-run meal. The criteria is straight-forward: The food has to be easy to digest and give me plenty of energy that will last for a relatively long time, yet still be relatively "digestible." 

My preferred foods, in order of preference, are:
  • Pop Tarts (frosted strawberry)
  • Muffins
  • Miniature Donuts
As you can tell, I'm a fan of sweet pastries.

To figure out which foods work best, test a different food before each run. I would recommend giving a food at least two opportunities as results can be influenced by other factors.

Some other popular foods include:
  • Fruit
  • Oatmeal
  • Breakfast cereal
  • Pancakes
  • French toast
  • Anything from the breakfast menu at McDonald's

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4 comments:

  1. I've been experimenting lately. Trying to figure out why I couldn't increase my speed. Add breakfast, and boom. Speed picks up.

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  2. i can't eat processed flour anymore. I cut it out for a few months, now when I ingest it i need to make an appointment for the porto-potties! The carbs I use to fill up my muscles' glycongen stores are JUST sweet potatoes. I chow one down 1-2hours before the event (and one or two the night before). and ~1/2 hour before the event a tblspoon of raw honey.

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  3. Mmmm. Poptarts are like crack for me.

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  4. Jason - I was discussing this issue with a friend of mine who happens t be a GI specialist and he made te recommendation to stay well away from anything fiberous before a run - so no cereal heavy in fibre and also dairy was a no no as the way the body reacts to daily during excercise is - not good to say the least. Needless to say each to their own and he gave this as general advice . He also said outside of bananas be careful of fruit very close to long runs too. Either way I think your advice of experimentation is excellent as you have to find what works for you. Happy trails and may you never have to do a "Paula"

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