Is it ok to run on an empty stomach in the morning?

bobe lee wrote:

Depends if you are so addicted and dependent on sugar to fuel your runs.

Your primal body should be able to run fasted if you feed it enough protein and fats.

Bore off, pal. Whatever you eat, your body will turn it into sugar for your energy, so we’re all addicted. This keto stuff is nonsense. You’ll never find a fast marathon runner who does this stuff and there’s a reason.

In line with what others have said, for me, a run of up to 15 miles without food is fine. If I was going to do further or a hard workout first thing I would get up 30 mins earlier and eat something very light eg. Half a bowl of Cheerios or similar. You can always take a gel with you in case if extreme bonking.

Polite answer to the OP wrote:

I gather that you are a high schooler and have been training with your team each afternoon.

Ignore the negative responses and even the rude ones from this site’s employee, Malmo.

Regardless of your choice to feel offended over everything, there is nothing "rude" about my response.

I often run within 30 mins of waking up. I always eat a GU, and the combo of carbs and caffeine helps me feel better than not eating anything.

probably a weak electrolyte drink say with a tiny bit of brown sugar with a bit of lemon, or a small shot of coffee.

you do not want much sugar though,

i use to run with nothing on the stomach, doing 21 miles, the last 3 miles were lousy, legs not well, pretty usesless for training.

the right light nutrition i'd say would be of benefit for the long run.

also a small shot of caffine with a pinch of salt is a good way to get moving if the workout is at 530am..

again i did this on an empty stomach, and these runs, while incredibly useful, were lousy feeling.

no need to feel lousy,

but in any case you don't want injest very much, and only liquid....

I know this site is a troll-haven, but I still don't understand the overly harsh reactions to what seemed like a pretty innocent question. The answer is that everyone is different and you have to find what works best for you. If I'm doing a 5-10 mile run, I usually don't eat. If I'm doing a long run or a race, I get up earlier to have a substantial breakfast. I'm lucky enough that I can eat fairly heavy (waffles/cereal etc) without it affecting my run.

malmo wrote:

AnemicDudeManBro wrote:

If I'm doing a long run or workout in the morning, I always try to eat a rice cake or two with a little bit of OJ and water so I can digest my liquid iron quickly then get ready to run right after, takes me like 5-10 mins. Always works for me, no GI issues ever. I just never like the feeling of running on an empty stomach. Makes me feel weak.

Why on Earth would you consume liquid iron before a run?

Better than LiquidNails

if you can, you want to drink like only 8 oz.

and give it 15 min to absorb.

also, if you are a marathoner, you want to be able to take light nutrition on the fly,

and you want to practice.

you can experiment with the sports drink type in training and optimize.

cheers.

another thing i'd try is coffee with butter and a pinch of salt some 20 minutes away from a run. and on the long run,

take a hit some 30 minutes from the finish.

i did this cycling and the results and quality were very good, versus dragging the asssss badly at the end of a long ride.

no need to torture yourself, on a routine basis and getting less from the training and less fun.

there is plenty of time to get some painful work in, like say 5 x 800 m, uphill at VO2 max. where your body is screaming the last 200m.

and 3 min recovery. that will make you tough enough for anything in middle distance right there

but realize we're talking like an 8 oz shot of dilute liquid.....

i'm sure there are other formulas out there that are better but the simple stuff works wonders. your body will suck it up fast...

I've been running on an empty stomach in the morning for 7 years now. It works just fine. You'll feel super hungry the first few days or weeks, but eventually you get used to it. As you get older and have a full time job, it becomes a necessity, because otherwise you just won't have enough time in the day to run.

We've established that it's fine to run on an empty stomach. Is there similar consensus that it's fine to run on a full stomach? When the timing of a run would otherwise throw off my meal schedule in the afternoon/evening, I'll occasionally eat a fairly full meal before running. I've always assumed that it's fine to do that if it doesn't bother me, but I've wondered if it has any side effects that I should be aware of (such as interfering with digestion or absorption, or obviating the need to eat a recovery meal). I don't pretend to have the least bit of expertise in nutrition, so feel free to educate me -- and even insult me!

malmo wrote:

Polite answer to the OP wrote:

I gather that you are a high schooler and have been training with your team each afternoon.

Ignore the negative responses and even the rude ones from this site’s employee, Malmo.

Regardless of your choice to feel offended over everything, there is nothing "rude" about my response.

It was silly, though. The OP was asking because he didn't know, and had the good sense to ask here instead of depending on Runners World.

Things have changed in the thirty years since you last got out the door. I run from time to time with a bunch of triathletes who are shocked that I would run 90-120 minutes without a snack, or water.

malmo wrote:

Is it OK? I can't believe you're even asking this question. It's the only way. Why would you eat?

You would eat because food has calories in it . Why would you not eat ?

Eat now wrote:

malmo wrote:

Is it OK? I can't believe you're even asking this question. It's the only way. Why would you eat?

You would eat because food has calories in it . Why would you not eat ?

Why eat before a run in the morning? Context matters.

Eat now wrote:

malmo wrote:

Is it OK? I can't believe you're even asking this question. It's the only way. Why would you eat?

You would eat because food has calories in it . Why would you not eat ?

Unless those calories are simple sugars, they won't be available until long after you've finished your run. When you wake up in the morning you already have all the available glycogen you need except in the case of very long runs. So your eating is habitual with no benefits for you during your run.

Would you eat right before a hard interval session on the track?

In the case of those long runs here's a little anecdote for you. When Brad Hudson was in high school we met a few times for a long run. It was called the Megamagneto Loop. 29.5 miles. Two monster hills, the second one at the 20 mile mark.

Before the run I gave Brad a dollar.

He said, "What's that for?"

"You're gonna need it," I responded.

"Why?"

"At the 23 mile mark there's a gas station. You are going to need sugar and fluids. That's what that is for."

When we got to the 23 mile mark and stopped for a sugared drink, Brad realized that the last six mile would have been hell without that dollar.

If you run easy in the mornings, just eat a plain piece of bread. I would do that in high school. If you are going to run hard or long, then you might need more but more couldl make your stomach upset.

A few years ago I did intermittent fasting and then would run for an hour after a 20-hr fast. I found a couple of hacks that worked great and didn't upset my stomach and where I wouldn't run out of juice.

1. Eat a tsp of coconut oil before running. If your a bit fat adapted like I was while fasting, that is made available for fuel real quick and I could run a hard 5k fasted 20-hrs and feel fine or go on a moderate 1-hr run and feel fine. If I didn't do that, I would bonk some after about 30-minutes every time. I think what's happening is the coconut oil feeds the brain (liver is low on glycogen after 20-hrs of fasting and can't feed the brain) and since your brain is happy with this fuel, it allows you to go hard and then the stored glycogen in the muscles provide the energy for the workout (1-tsp of coconut oil isn't enough calories to run 1-hr).

2. Eat a scoop of ucan superstarch or just regular corn starch. Can also take (for me) within 15-min of running and it will not upset my stomach and provides about the same results as the coconut oil. It is a starch but doesn't spike your insulin (slow release starch) and cause a sugar crash because of that and I think it feeds the brain which then allows you to go hard and use the muscle stored glycogen.

I've had hundreds of data points doing these things and not doing these while fasted for 19-20 hours and that is how it worked for me. UCAN was used by a lot of the US olympic marathon trialers in 2016 (Meb was a sponser I believe) but the stuff is very expensive. You might try those things and see what you think if your having problems.

SlipperyPete13 wrote:

I know this site is a troll-haven, but I still don't understand the overly harsh reactions to what seemed like a pretty innocent question.

I suspect that the original question itself was a troll. The phrasing “is it ok” and it being almost common knowledge that not eating before a morning run is routine for lots of runners. I could be wrong. But it’s a highly suspicious post.

5-6 miles on empty stomach should be no problem.

if you really want to eat then have something light; for me thats a toast with peanut butter and about glass of milk/juice

I’ve never not eaten before a run, ever. Even eating something light like a piece of fruit and sports drink is good because the carbohydrates help to counter the cortisol (catabolic/stress hormone) peak when you wake up.

jaguar1 wrote:

I’ve never not eaten before a run, ever. Even eating something light like a piece of fruit and sports drink is good because the carbohydrates help to counter the cortisol (catabolic/stress hormone) peak when you wake up.

That's an interesting take, and one that I didn't expected, especially from an ultra distance world record holder. Thanks for that.

That being said, that's your routine, which obviously works for you. The OP asked if running early with empty stomach was OK. Nobody cares about what I have to say on the matter, but

- it seems an american record holder of a shorter distance would even consider preferable to run with an empty stomach. That should qualify as "Ok for some persons"

- i do think the cortisol morning peak is not a big enough threat so it should not be advisable for the OP to try on a short easy run once and decide for himself.

As nobody cares about what i personnaly do (can't blame them for it), i'll say it anyway. I avoid eating in the 2 hours before a run. For training i'll either go on pure water until the end of the session or use a sport drink after warm up and during the session. For racing I just wake up earlier. My reasonning is that I don't want an insuline peak immediately before or during a run. That might be a mistake though.

jaguar1 wrote:

I’ve never not eaten before a run, ever. Even eating something light like a piece of fruit and sports drink is good because the carbohydrates help to counter the cortisol (catabolic/stress hormone) peak when you wake up.

That's dumb. You dont want to suppress cortisol levels you want to maintain it.