Eat before a run?

I did a google search of whether I should eat before a run. I run a minimum of 4 miles a day but had a 9.5 miler yesterday plus a 2 mile walk. I woke up feeling empty this morning and grabbed my breakfast beforehand. I read conflicting advice about this. What is your opinion?

for a 9.5 mile run that is definitely intense enough to warrant eating before hand. You need glucose for energy or else your body will eat at its muscle stores in order to get its supply. Not good!! 

Even with a minimum of 4 miles, that is kind of intense and maybe you should eat something small prior to running and something more substantial afterwards. So maybe a slice of toast with a bit of butter of a tbsp of peanut butter before, and eggs and oatmeal afterward...this way you get the best of both. Nothing too heavy in your stomach before the run but there's enough energy to sustain you while leaving you calories for post work-out. 

I hope this helps!!

Original Post by chrissy1988:

for a 9.5 mile run that is definitely intense enough to warrant eating before hand. You need glucose for energy or else your body will eat at its muscle stores in order to get its supply. Not good!! 

Most days I really just can NOT eat before a run, but sometimes there are days where if I don't have a LunaBar I feel like I'll be a brick and unable to get started. The results I was seeing from other posting sites on the web were "no! It's bad to run with stuff in your belly! you'll vomit or pass out or won't burn any calories" blah blah... I really am interested in the metabolic reality of it all!

My opinion is experiement and find what works for you :-)  If I am hungry before a workout, I will eat a granola bar or something else light in the 200 calorie range to hold me over until I get back and have breakfast.  I rarely eat a full breakfast before running.

it depends. for me... i try to eat something small. i like to workout first thing in the the morning so i usually don't have time before i workout for a full meal to digest.

example: i'm training for a 1/2 marathon so i run pretty much everyday. im also home from college right now so my friend and i workout everyday together, however, she does not run everyday she just likes to workout for general fitness, so on days we both do not run, i'll go out on my own early before heading to the gym to meet her in order to get my mileage here. today... i needed just a short recovery run about 3.5 miles. i did it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. felt fine. however i came home ate breakfast. had a doctors appt, then proceeded to the gym for some elliptical, abs and stairmaster with my workout buddy! 

another example: last week i had my 9 mile run. so i ate about 1/4 cup oatmeal with water and 1/2 of a small banana (quick digestion yet the oats supply some more energy). i waited about 30 minutes, stretched mentally prepared and had some water. i grabbed a gu pack and headed out. at about 5.5 miles, i took my gu pack (100 calories great energy boost) and was able to finish in stride. on runs longer than an hour you should be replacing electrolytes and fuel. i use gu gel. some people will switch from water to gatorade at that point, but it definately help fuels your runs, and this is coming from someone who was like "those are all pointless calories, im wasting calories and gatorade...etc." but i have noticed a difference.

normally though i do have something small, a banana, oatmeal, apple, orange juice. just small like splitting my breakfast in 2 because i usually don't have a lot of time for digestion but my workouts need to be fueled, because whether im running, biking, cross training, or weight lifting... im at the gym or working out for anywhere from 75 mins to two hours.

best of luck! i wish my shins were better or i'd kill to be up at your weekly mileage!

oops double post!

it depends. for me... i try to eat something small. i like to workout first thing in the the morning so i usually don't have time before i workout for a full meal to digest.

example: i'm training for a 1/2 marathon so i run pretty much everyday. im also home from college right now so my friend and i workout everyday together, however, she does not run everyday she just likes to workout for general fitness, so on days we both do not run, i'll go out on my own early before heading to the gym to meet her in order to get my mileage here. today... i needed just a short recovery run about 3.5 miles. i did it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. felt fine. however i came home ate breakfast. had a doctors appt, then proceeded to the gym for some elliptical, abs and stairmaster with my workout buddy! 

another example: last week i had my 9 mile run. so i ate about 1/4 cup oatmeal with water and 1/2 of a small banana (quick digestion yet the oats supply some more energy). i waited about 30 minutes, stretched mentally prepared and had some water. i grabbed a gu pack and headed out. at about 5.5 miles, i took my gu pack (100 calories great energy boost) and was able to finish in stride. on runs longer than an hour you should be replacing electrolytes and fuel. i use gu gel. some people will switch from water to gatorade at that point, but it definately help fuels your runs, and this is coming from someone who was like "those are all pointless calories, im wasting calories and gatorade...etc." but i have noticed a difference.

normally though i do have something small, a banana, oatmeal, apple, orange juice. just small like splitting my breakfast in 2 because i usually don't have a lot of time for digestion but my workouts need to be fueled, because whether im running, biking, cross training, or weight lifting... im at the gym or working out for anywhere from 75 mins to two hours.

best of luck! i wish my shins were better or i'd kill to be up at your weekly mileage!

It really depends on the person - if you feel just fine working out without eating, by all means go for it... but be sure to eat after of course! And if you feel as though you won't be able to lift yourself outta bed without eating something, let eat something before your work out, just make sure it's less than 200 calories because it's hard for our bodies to digest more than that and work out at the same time - it's like multitasking - not always a good thing to do unless you want a stomach ache (the equivalent to a headache in multitasking!)... I used to work out on an empty stomach every morning but ever since I had intestinal surgery I have been eating breakfast before heading out for my work out and feel pretty good actually... I eat just under 200 calories and it seems to help me power through! But really, it's completely up to your body - as for burning more calories, yadda yadda, that's such a hot debate and so conflicting that who even knows these days!