With summer approaching rapidly, I'm looking to get most of my runs started by 6am. Waking up any earlier to get a breakfast in and let it digest just isn't feasible. So here are the two options I am considering.
1. Wake up, run. No food. Just some water and out the door.
2. Wake up, eat ~100 calories of very easy digestible carbs, possibly with caffeine, run. Think gels, or gummy blocks or whatever. It would add no more than a minute or two to the routine, and would add a bit of fuel to my system after 10ish hours since my last meal.
So I guess my question is, is there any benefit to either of these options? I'm planning on doing all my runs in singles, so these regular morning runs will be getting up to 12+ miles. On one hand, I've read anecdotal evidence that fasted running leads to better utilization of fat as a fuel source. But on the other hand, without any calories (or caffeine, I've become minorly coffee dependent) I would expect to feel sluggish, and just really out of it on these runs.
Any advice or opinions?