running in the morning

good question. I run before school in the morning and i wake up at about 5:30 or 6, I have kind of tested and what i like best is to wake up, have a bagel or couple pieces of toast, or something else light that will give you a little energy on your run, plus it helps satisfy any mornign hunger. Then after my fun i will eat a little more. I will usually have a gatorade or orange juice and a bowl of oatmeal or cereal with some toast and a banana or apple. Thats what i like best, you may be differetn or may be on a diffrent schedule and not have the time to eat twice. I would experiment and find out what feels best for you.

Nope, just get up, brush your teeth, take a dump, drink some water and get out the door. You have more than enough glycogen stored up that you'll be ok unless you are doing a marathon. Eat shortly after the run

You can digest things like Gatorade in 5 minutes before it is making it to your bloodstream, but bagels, toast, cereal that kind of stuff will not be digested fast enough to make it to your muscles.

And why would you want it to? You have all the fluid, glycogen, and electrolytes in you already.

Most people just run easy-med miles from 2-10 in the AM and that is just done off of mostly fat anyway.

Follow Flashmile's advice. Also, if you are disciplined to follow through with your AM plan (even for 3 miles each day) you will be floored at how much better you get.

For an easy run for up to 10 miles I don't eat anything, just have a half cup of coffee and maybe a bite of something sweet, if I am feeling ravenous (it won't help me, but will postpone the churnings in my stomach). I will eat a breakfast after the shower, and am doing fine in recovering for afternoon workouts.

What about running once around noon and once in the evening? does that have the same effect?

Flashmile wrote:

You have more than enough glycogen stored up that you'll be ok unless you are doing a marathon. Eat shortly after the run

Not really, this is a huge mistake made by the masses. As studied by Dr. Dan Benardot (US Olympic nutritionist, professor of Kinesiology and Health at Georgia State University) states in his writings:

"With delayed eating (fasting from sleep), blood sugar drops and the amino acid alanine is recruited from muscle tissue to be converted to glucose by the liver. While this stabilizes blood sugar, it does so at the cost of the muscle mass. In addition, both low blood sugar and large meals are associated with hyperinsulinemia, which encourages the manufacture of fat. So, delayed eating followed by an excessively large meal, which is typical of the athletic eating paradigm, is an ideal way to lower muscle mass and increase fat mass…not what athletes want to do."

So, by not eating before running in the morning your body will feed upon itself for fuel. Counterproductive.

if you're just doing an easy few miles in the morning, you can do this on little or nothing. i will usually eat half a powerbar before my morning run, but even if i don't, i can get through it just fine. we are talking 4-5 miles at a slow pace.

Last year there was a period of time when I ran 90-120 minutes every morning, without breakfast. (And a shorter run in the evening.) I got into great shape.

I agree with flashmile and sukkeli. Get you body used to taking a dump first thing in the morning, take a drink of water and get out the door. I started doing all my workouts this way, including 2.5 hour runs, with no problems. In the past I used to have runs where I would go hypoglecemic (spelling?) 3-4 miles into a run and ended up walking home. Now that I run in the morning, I have never had that problem. My body isn't storing any fat from the looks of things.

I concur. I've been running at least 10 miles every morning (6:30 pace) for the past 12 years with just a cup of coffee and a fig newton. I'm 44 years old and my body fat per centage (between 6 and 8%) is the same as when I was 25.

I too haven't bonked in many years...I've run up to 23 miles first thing in the morning with no problem.

Everybody is an experiment of one.

thanks 4 every1's advice!

You are correct. I did that for years, and many times skipped the water. I was able to run 6-8 miles at 6:30-7:30 per mile. Just be sure to drink plenty of water when you return.