Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

I usually run morning races on nothing but water and sports drink. no breakfast. And it works well. But one time I ate pancakes only an hour before a race, and did really well.

[Anonymously Posted by: 'legalize it']

[quickster57]

i usually run on an empty stomach too.i always seem to cramp up whenever i run with food in my stomach. i have run be4 after eating, and somtime i cramp up, sometimes i don't. but i normally run better times on an empty stomach. besides, its incentive, as soon as you r done your race, you can eat anything you want.

[Micah Ward]

I have always prefered racing on an almost empty stomach. At the most I may have toast or half a bagel.

In fact I prefer a light stomach during any type of physical activity.

[Dan]

I ran with a guy, nutty as can be, who once told me that he wouldn't eat anything for a minimum of 16 hours before racing. That way, he claimed he wouldn't have any excuses for his stomach feeling bad. Of course, one could make plenty of resulting excuses for having no energy...

Dan

[mario]

mmmh...

I have a rule of anything bigger than a banana an hour before to run. But I would not do a long run without a solid breakfast with oatmeal, so I have to wake-up early. Otherwise my sweat have a chemical flagrance, to not say ammoniacal.

[Dan]

I take a similar approach. That was always one of my major problems with cross country. I needed a solid meal to make it through 3 miles or so of warming up, 5 miles of racing, and maybe another mile or two of cooling down, but I also needed a minimum of 4 hours to digest anything more than a small snack, and those 10am start times didn't make that easy...

Dan