running in the morning v early evening

Due to similar scheduling problems, I found it necessary to run early for about a year(I love early
running-but thats another post). You didn't mention your pace, but the 5 to 6 mile distances you
describe probably don't require much pre-run nourishment. Maybe half a banana or bagel, or an energy
gel with some water and/or coffee should suffice. For me, it was easier to eat well the night before
and not have undigested food on my stomach in the AM. Of course, when I ran longer distances, I had
to plan to get up earlier to grab a bite and give it about a half hour to settle. Experiment, if you
do eat, make it light. Make sure to eat something following your run to aid recovery. Have fun.

tom tynan said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me through
6klms at least or should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2
klms!!!!! Also thanks to all in this group its been a great help in the past year,I've gone from
being lazy to near tears if its to wet to get out.Losing a stack of weight is a real bonus too
Thanking you tom

--
Random number generation is too vital a task to be left to chance.

tom tynan said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me through
6klms at least or should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2
klms!!!!!

try it without any food first. assuming you've had dinner the night before, 6-8 kms shouldn't be too
bad on an empty stomach. if you are really concerned about what will happen, you could start with a
5-6 km run the first time.

if you really need to eat, just have a banana. or drink some juice. don't overdo it.

jobs

Quoted message said:

I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy

doing it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me
through 6klms at least or should I try it without any food

I run nearly every morning, and I just get up with the alarm and get out there. I do wet my mouth
with a few sips of bottled water before leaving. I never run less than 6.5 miles, sometimes twice as
much. When I get back, I have coffee, toast, etc., but I use looking forward to those things to help
motivate me to get back to the house! I never feel like my run was adversely affected by waiting to
eat until afterwards. The few times when I have been so sleepy that I drank coffee and maybe a
cookie or two before leaving, I always end up burping (etc.!) uncomfortably the first mile or so,
and regret having taken them. I'd vote for just hitting the road and seeing how it goes.

tom tynan said:

Now due to work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't
fancy doing it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to
get me through 6klms at least <snip>

Tom, You're probably going to have try it and see.

I run mostly in the early morning and I don't eat anything beforehand, though I usually have tea
with milk when I get up and run about half an hour later. I go anywhere from 6 to 20 km (though that
will be increasing with my marathon training :-). Even before my long runs I don't eat anything if I
am going out shortly after getting up.

Donna

"tom tynan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me through
6klms at least or should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2
klms!!!!! Also thanks to all in this group its been a great help in the past year,I've gone from
being lazy to near tears if its to wet to get out.Losing a stack of weight is a real bonus too
Thanking you tom

You shouldn't have any problem until you do runs much longer than an hour. If you're doing steady
runs rather than speedwork or something, should be ok. Some people think excercising with low blood
sugar helps to train your body to burn more fat than sugar, but that's a big debatable can of worms.

"tom tynan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach

Why don't you fancy running on an empty stomach?

Quoted message said:

Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me through 6klms at least or
should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2 klms!!!!!

Why would you get sick within 2 kms if you don't eat?

When I run in the morning I don't have anything to eat before I go. More because I want to get out
the door before I decide to go back to bed. My typical morning run is around 30-40 minutes. I have
yet to get sick at 2 kms. In fact if I'm racing 5k to 8k I can't eat anything until after I'm done
because I'll get nauseous if I do eat anything.

You'll really need to experiment with what you can and can't eat before running. This will apply if
you've just gotten up in the morning or are coming home after work. Start out with something light
(hand full of cereal perhaps?) if you feel you absolutely must eat before you run. But the body
stores enough energy from the previous day for you to run 30-45 minutes in the morning.

In any case enjoy your running in the morning. I find it peaceful and relaxing when I can get out of
bed to go.

Quoted message said:

Also thanks to all in this group its been a great help in the past year,I've gone from being lazy
to near tears if its to wet to get out.Losing a stack of weight is a real bonus too

Good on ya!

Andy

Quoted message said:

Thanking you tom

Well, I seem to be the only one who eats before a morning run. I generally wake up a bit hungry so I
usually have a bowl of oatmeal to start. It is the instant kind, so it doesn't stick around as long
as real oatmeal but I found it was good enough to take me through some long runs, if I had a gel
after about an hour of running.

I usually have a cup of coffee too, but that necessitates a quick stop along the path, if you know
what I mean. The coffee is mental for me- I know it can boost performance and all that, but for a
seasoned amateur such as myself, I'm sure it doesn't do much..

🙂 Cheers! Jenn

I read in the book "Nutrition for serious athletes" by Dr. Benardot that he feels that you should
never run in the early am without any food as your body will feed upon itself (lean body mass, not
fat) for fuel as everything you ate the day before will be digested and spent, so the run can and
will do more damage than good, even a short run. at least eat some toast or drink some juice before
an early run.

"tom tynan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me

through

Quoted message said:

6klms at least or should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2
klms!!!!! Also thanks to all in this group its been a great help in the past

year,I've

Quoted message said:

gone from being lazy to near tears if its to wet to get out.Losing a stack of weight is a real

bonus

Quoted message said:

too Thanking you tom

Thanks for all your advice.I will just experiment with some
fruit/cereal/toast mixes and see which works better for me.
I imagine within a couple of weeks I will work out what works best
Once again thanks for all your help..tom
tom tynan <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi, I have been running for nearly 12 months I generally run in the early evening ,6 to 8 klms 4
times a week. By the time I am ready to run I have had my liquids and eaten 2 meals. Now due to
work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't fancy doing
it on an empty stomach Any thoughts on what's ok to eat and how long before hand to get me

through

Quoted message said:

6klms at least or should I try it without any food first...I can see myself being sick within 2
klms!!!!! Also thanks to all in this group its been a great help in the past

year,I've

Quoted message said:

gone from being lazy to near tears if its to wet to get out.Losing a stack of weight is a real

bonus

Quoted message said:

too Thanking you tom

You should try an espresso instead. Too small to cause a pitstop, but enough of a kick to get
you going.

--
Colm

"Jennifer Wudrich" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

: I usually have a cup of coffee too, but that necessitates a quick stop along the path, if you know
: what I mean. The coffee is mental for me- I know it can boost performance and all that, but for a
: seasoned amateur such as myself, I'm sure it doesn't do much..

Quoted message said:

I read in the book "Nutrition for serious athletes" by Dr. Benardot that he

feels that you should never run in the early am without any food as your body will feed upon itself
(lean body mass, not fat) for fuel as everything you ate the day before will be digested and spent,
so the run can and will do more damage than good, even a short run. at least eat some toast or drink
some juice before an early run.

Only before a competition would I agree with this Benardot fellow. I always give myself a couple
extra hours to eat something and digest it before any organized event I have signed up for. Those
mornings I will have coffee and something with both starch & sugar (e.g., toast & honey). But the
2-hour time pad removes the objections we have been hearing from nearly all the respondents on
this thread.

Outside of a competition day, this advice that you are somehow damaging yourself to run before
breakfast is contradictory to the vast pool of peoples' actual experience. If this damaged me, I
would have been dead long ago. Remember that, even running 10k, you are only going to burn maybe 700
calories (more or less, depending on your weight) -- less than 0.2 pounds worth of fat -- and that
assumes you don't have enough blood sugar, stored-up glycogen, etc. to fuel that 700 calories for
the time you're going to be out there.

"tom tynan" <[email hidden]> pontificated in message

Quoted message said:

Now due to work commitments I am looking at running in the early morning eg.6.00 am but I don't
fancy doing it on an empty stomach

You might have to experiment. I can eat heaps immediately before a run and never get sick. I would
have to sprint flat out on a hot day for that to happen. Once on a long run I had a hotdog and fries
halfway through - not that I make a habit of that! So I guess there are huge individual differences
as to what can be tolerated.

If you'd prefer to have food in your stomach before going out, just start off with something light
and take it easy on that first test run. Perhaps that will help you guage what you can or cannot
cope with in future!

Good luck!

Cheers, Nicholas

Jennifer Wudrich said:

Well, I seem to be the only one who eats before a morning run.

Nah, you're not alone I can go empty or have six course meal. I prefer to at least have some toast
to keep the two cups of coffee from sloshing around.

Tom will just have to experiment since it depends on the person. Try nothing and if it doesn't work
then add some light food like toast, bagel etc.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

tom tynan said:

Thanks for all your advice.I will just experiment with some fruit/cereal/toast mixes and see which
works better for me.

Yep. You might find it varies by weather also. I'm normally a breakfast person, but in the summer if
traveling and breakfast isn't convenient, I can run short distances (30 min) without it. In winter,
I can eat normal breakfast (cereal), layer up, drive to trail head, and need an energy bar before I
start. If I take the time to have eggs and English muffin, I'm usually better off. I usually have to
give my achilles time to wake up and loosen up so breakfast digests while that's happening. If it's
cold, I've also been known to snack just before evening run.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

Well it's a long passage but here's what he says...

"You use X amount of energy per hour when you sleep. Your liver stores X amount of energy, which is
used to maintain blood sugar during the night so your heart and lungs keep working. The amount of
energy left in your liver when you get up is, based on your rate of utilization and liver storage
capacity, zero. The body creates glucose to maintain blood sugar when the liver is empty. The sugar
it creates is created mainly from protien (i.e., muscles). When you exercise with no sugar in the
liver you break down the very muscles you're trying to improve with the exercise. Therefore, you
don't benefit from the exercise, and the improvement in endurance you are seeking won't come."

And the author does research for the U.S. Olympic teams nutritionial needs.

"TopCounsel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20040114175713.19067.00003025@mb-
m13.aol.com...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I read in the book "Nutrition for serious athletes" by Dr. Benardot that

he

Quoted message said:

feels that you should never run in the early am without any food as your

body

Quoted message said:

will feed upon itself (lean body mass, not fat) for fuel as everything you

ate

Quoted message said:

the day before will be digested and spent, so the run can and will do more damage than good, even
a short run. at least eat some toast or drink some juice before an early run.

Only before a competition would I agree with this Benardot fellow. I

always

Quoted message said:

give myself a couple extra hours to eat something and digest it before any organized event I have
signed up for. Those mornings I will have coffee

and

Quoted message said:

something with both starch & sugar (e.g., toast & honey). But the 2-hour

time

Quoted message said:

pad removes the objections we have been hearing from nearly all the

respondents

Quoted message said:

on this thread.

Outside of a competition day, this advice that you are somehow damaging yourself to run before
breakfast is contradictory to the vast pool of

peoples'

Quoted message said:

actual experience. If this damaged me, I would have been dead long ago. Remember that, even
running 10k, you are only going to burn maybe 700

calories

Quoted message said:

(more or less, depending on your weight) -- less than 0.2 pounds worth of

fat

Quoted message said:

-- and that assumes you don't have enough blood sugar, stored-up glycogen,

etc.

Quoted message said:

to fuel that 700 calories for the time you're going to be out there.

"Buddy Guy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news😄TxNb.5630$A74.1652@fed1read02...

Quoted message said:

Well it's a long passage but here's what he says...

"You use X amount of energy per hour when you sleep. Your liver stores X amount of energy, which
is used to maintain blood sugar during the night

so

Quoted message said:

your heart and lungs keep working. The amount of energy left in your

liver

Quoted message said:

when you get up is, based on your rate of utilization and liver storage capacity, zero.

I must admit this sounds highly unlikely to me. Given that it's possibly to store enough glycogen to
run 20 miles, I hardly think a night's sleep is going to be too taxing.

I'm sure you have less glycogen in the morning that when you go to bed but if you really were
running your stores down that low, you'd be waking up feeling ravenous and completely lacking
in energy.

Tim

"Buddy Guy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<DTxNb.5630$A74.1652@fed1read02>...

Quoted message said:

Well it's a long passage but here's what he says...

"You use X amount of energy per hour when you sleep. Your liver stores X amount of energy, which
is used to maintain blood sugar during the night so your heart and lungs keep working. The amount
of energy left in your liver when you get up is, based on your rate of utilization and liver
storage capacity, zero.

I really take issue with this. What he is saying is that the instant we wake up we have no more
energy to keep our hearts and lungs working. What if we only sleep for 4 hours? Is the energy
balance reduced to zero when we wake?. What if we sleep 9 hours? Is the energy balance reduced to
zero when we wake in this example also?

I'm aware that we use energy even when we sleep and that there is a limited amount of energy
storage. I'd like to see the numbers that were used to come to this conclusion.

From my own experience I don't buy it.

Andy

Tim Downie said:

"Buddy Guy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news😄TxNb.5630$A74.1652@fed1read02...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

when you get up is, based on your rate of utilization and liver storage capacity, zero.

I must admit this sounds highly unlikely to me. Given that it's possibly to store enough glycogen
to run 20 miles, I hardly think a night's sleep is going to be too taxing.

Like Tim, I'm not buying this theory one iota. If you can point us to some paper(not newspaper) to
document this, I would enjoy reading it.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure you have less glycogen in the morning that when you go to bed but if you really were
running your stores down that low, you'd be waking up feeling ravenous and completely lacking
in energy.

Actually, why would we have less glycogen? I would suspect the body if working diligently to
maximize with the food in your system. Unless one hasn't eaten for a few days I would suspect one is
close to 100%.

--
Doug Freese "Caveat Lector" [email hidden]

Doug Freese said:

Tim Downie said:

"Buddy Guy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news😄TxNb.5630$A74.1652@fed1read02...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

when you get up is, based on your rate of utilization and liver storage capacity, zero.

I must admit this sounds highly unlikely to me. Given that it's possibly to store enough glycogen
to run 20 miles, I hardly think a night's sleep is going to be too taxing.

Like Tim, I'm not buying this theory one iota. If you can point us to some paper(not newspaper) to
document this, I would enjoy reading it.

Quoted message said:

I'm sure you have less glycogen in the morning that when you go to bed but if you really were
running your stores down that low, you'd be waking up feeling ravenous and completely lacking in
energy.

Actually, why would we have less glycogen? I would suspect the body if working diligently to
maximize with the food in your system. Unless one hasn't eaten for a few days I would suspect one
is close to 100%.

On reflection, I agree with you. Must remember to engage brain before replying.

Tim

--
Remove the obvious to reply by email.