Should You Eat Breakfast Before You Run In The Morning? 

Been experimenting for me body for a while. Run fast and more energy on empty stomach. Tested eating fish and veges, I dont know why it drained my energy like previously.

What do you recommend for hydration? I’m running about 4-5 miles every morning.

Absolutely! Thanks for chiming in! Although I will add that we ARE using fat for fuel all the time, also during easy to moderate exercise, but our ability to do so is improved when we train it. And by depleting our carbohydrate stores we are "forcing" our bodies to rely more heavily on fat than it normally would when carbs are available. It comes with two main costs though, and they are two sides of the same coin: Our ability to use carbohydrate for fuel is decreased in proportion to our fat burning abilities, and that means our ability to perform high intensity work is also decreased somewhat. Would you agree?

Me too! I feel HORRIBLE when I eat then run. IF works for me.

Also there's a variation on body needs so what works for one person may not work for another 🤷🏽‍♀️

Glad you liked it! I do a monthly Q and A video for my patrons over on Patreon. Search for The Lone Trail there if you're interested! And you could always send me a message on the Facebook page or my coaching page too :)

Same here! I feel bloated from the heat in summer so I tend to fast before a run

Alexi Medina how long is your run after you take your banana? 1 mile or ? Thanks in advance

emmanuel emmanuel sorry for the late respond my YT notifications were off, I run for 2-3 miles

Alexi Medina I’m starting to try out morning runs into my exercises and I was wondering how much water you drink before your runs and how long before you do drink the water? For example I was thinking 20 oz of water 30 minutes before a 1 mile run would be fine, what do you think?

Thanks!

I think the best approach is one of balance and "best of both worlds" probably. Carbohydrate supplementation during exercise makes it possible to hit a higher quality of training in terms of pace and intensity, while depleted runs will aid in fat metabolizing, but as I said - this has yet to be proved to actually affect performance positively. So if anything, a little bit of both will probably be the best approach.

@@LoneEndurance AMEN.

Yeah it is somewhat individual, but bear in mind that there is a lot of day to day variation - and that the body adapts over time so if this was your first time doing a fasted run then it would make sense that it doesn't work well. Over time you might find that some days it's fine, and that your body adapts somewhat to it over time. Also, HR is lower in the morning, and particularly if glycogen stores are low from the day before. That said, I'm in favor of having a small breakfast before runs that are longer than one hour. Personally I even have a banana before runs of only 45 min. So yes, if you find that you prefer a small breakfast before running then definitly do that. As I explained in the video there isn't really any great benefits from running without breakfast and the risk is probably greater than the reward over time.

Glad you liked the video! Post run fatigue is very normal, and although there could be many different reasons for it, some of which might be important to pursue if it becomes a serious problem long term, it could also simply be your body responding to the training. Fatigue is part of training. It means you've challenged the status quo of the body, and asked it to adapt to a new level of stress. After stressful workouts I also can feel sleepy and tired after a couple of hours. If it was a super hard workout, I'll be wasted for the rest of the day. My advice: Pay attention to your training load management and maintain intensity discipline. In other words, perhaps your current level of training is a bit more than your body can handle at one time both in terms of total volume, but also in terms of the intensity of the running. Most runs should be done at an easy intensity. That means a HR of less than 75% of max. Then over time, gradually increase the load, but give your body ample time (as in 4-6 weeks) to adapt to your current level of training before increasing the load by upping mileage or intensity. You could also experiment with running during the day or afternoon instead. Our bodies are all different. And stay on top of the general pre and post run routines with regards to nutrition and hydration, and especially afterwards, making sure you get in enough calories and hydrate well - which may include electrolytes. Most of all, remember that it's normal and natural to be tired after a session, and there's a reason why elite athletes take a nap during the day, and generally just laze about when they are not training. Training is challenging to the body! If you're interested in diving deeper on this topic, talk about your situation/training or perhaps would like a custom training plan at any point, don't hesitate to check out my coaching website at www.mgjcoaching.no/international Wishing you all the best :)

@@LoneEndurance Thank you for such a thoughtful response. I appreciate it! I wish you the best too, Mikkel. :-)

Glad you liked the video!

Sounds similar to my own experience!

What pace do you usally run a marathon at. Im doing my first one in a month and wanna get a 8 min a mile. Just getting info on fluid intake :)

Manipulating diet to achieve certain metabolic effects might be worth pursuing at times, like omitting breakfast before certain runs. Most of the time though, breakfast is a good idea, and it's certainly training - not diet - that creates most of the metabolic adaptations beneficial for endurance performance. But as you mention (or rather what McMillan mentions according to you) it doesn't make sense to omit breakfast before important high intensity workouts. Easy long runs though, perhaps some time - but it has to be measured up against the potential downsides in terms of prolonged need for recovery etc. When it comes to fuelling - it does not matter whether the carbohydrate is coming in the form of complex carbohydrates or simple sugars, the latter will however be easier to digest and thus decrease the likelyhood of GI issues. Before a run or race, the important factor is to have liver glycogen stocked up. It stores 100 grams approximately, so as long as you get in about 500 calories of carb heavy food 2-3 hours beforehand, you're good. During the run/race, 30-90 grams per hour is a general guideline. Whether that comes from bananas or plain sugar is up to personal preference. But towards the higher end of the spectrum it needs to be a mix of different sugars (fructose and glucose for example, ideally in a 1:3 ratio) in order to maximize uptake through different transporters in the gut lining. :D

Because not everyone eats breakfast normally.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

i love back grounds

Hey! I would not recommend a time restricted eating pattern for anyone looking for optimal performance and fitness, and honestly even just basic health. Exercising in a fasted state, or as I explain in the video in a depleted state, is a training tool to be used sometimes but I would not recommend doing it very often, certainly not every day. Eating regular meals and sufficient calories, from quality food, is the basis of healthy eating :)

@@LoneEndurance Very, true that a normal routine is better. Ballet dancers, even the men, often do not eat for many hours during class and rehearsals. In order to look and feel slim, & costume fittings can't be after a meal either. Some eat 1 yogurt or a coffee, in my time most dancers smoked, relying on the meal from the previous night for energy, which was sort of like being on IT for many years. Excellent show sir!

Thanks, glad to hear that!

You're welcome :)

Thanks for sharing. Yes fat adaption is a real thing, but the other side of the coin is that you loose the high end and ability to burn maximal amounts of carbohydrate and thus perform optimally on race day and during key workouts. Studies looking at fat adaption and performance do not find that it improves performance as far as I've seen, and looking at the diet of the best performers in the endurance sports it's clear that a high carbohdyrate diet is favored. That said, even while on a high carb diet you will still become more and more fat adapted just by doing endurance type training.

Thanks!

:)

You can probably run very far, certainly for more than an hour, without eating. Safety wise you can probably run 2-3 hours no problem too, but it doesn't mean it's ideal. Running a short run in the morning without breakfast is not a problem.

@@LoneEndurance okay thank you

I thought you drink water

Ice

It depends ;)

You're welcome! Banana power!

You're welcome :)

Any update?

Experiment, and then let me know how it went! I don't drink coffee, although lately I have been going to this cafe in Nice a couple of times per week, to work on my laptop, and to get the cheapest option I've been buying a decaf espresso and actually enjoyed it somewhat! It's not something I would recommend for health, but if it's decaf then perhaps it's not that bad!

Those who need to drink coffee to be energised are seriously over working the body. They lack energy either because they are living too much of a physically or mentally draining lifestyle or they are not getting enough rest. There has to be yin with yang it cant be all go!

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

Background music was perfect in my opinion. 🎵

You'll use your glycogen stores (muscle carbohydrate) regardless of whether you eat breakfast or not. The breakfast will stock up your liver glycogen however, helping you avoid low blood sugar on runs that are longer than perhaps an hour. You can store about 100 grams of glycogen in your liver, and you deplete most of it during the night. You'll be able to run for a while without going completely empty though, but for runs lasting over an hour it's a good idea to get in some carbs before or during the run. If you eat a breakfast with a lot of simple carbohydrates like the sugar in fruit - you'll utilize that almost immediately, not later.

There are certainly genetic differences as to how our body metabolizes fat vs carbohydrate, but it's trainable. There could me more explanations to your experience (based on other variables than food) than just that banana, but if it did indeed happen due to a blood sugar crash, it's not certain that it would happen again. It could be just that day. Either way, if you experiment over time your body will learn how to deal with this. If your insulin sensitivity is low due to a high fat diet, it's possible that the surge of insulin (bigger than it would be if you had a higher insulin sensitivity due to a lower fat/higher carb diet) caused a blood sugar crash when you were also consuming glucose at a higher rate due to exercise. This is all speculation and not medical advice of course. My thought would be to experiment.

Hey! No I do not focus on organic as the organic foods have pesticides on them as well and in some cases those can be even more toxic than the synthetic ones. Andrew Perlot has a good video series about it on RU-vid, look it up. It would be nice to eat "true organic" but it's hard to find and I don't prioritize that right now, time wise AND financially. I prefer raw fruitarian, no doubt, but only IN the tropics where the fruit is EPIC and super sweet and calorie dense. So I'm happy eating the way I am right now also.

@@LoneEndurance Great thank you so much for the reply, love your videos man!

​@@LoneEndurance Something that I thought about afterwards... they use chemical fertilisers in conventional produce, if you buy organic does it not mean better soils and natural feed? Also what about hormones, antibiotics and genetically modified foods? I have been lead to believe that if you buy organic then you avoid these things

For optimal performance, definitely eat carbs before. For short training run, not as important!

How about a banana smoothie with pea protein isolate and water?

...or oatmeal porridge with pea protein added!

Thanks a lot sir ❤️

I've never heard that, but I doubt it. Perhaps if someone is already in a predisposed situation it would cause it to happen faster when you run but no..I wouldn't worry about that.

Thanks for the answer

You're welcome :)

It depends on what you're trying to achieve, as well as personal preference, as the video explains :)

It's not going to make a very big difference when you run in terms of weight loss. What matters is how big the calorie deficit ends up being. Running before breakfast might burn more fat - but that doesn't mean you'll lose weight, it just means your body prefers fat over carbohydrate during the exercise. The key is to calculate energy out and energy in and make sure you're in a deficit of perhaps 300-600 calories per day.

Sure, that's a good and simple pre run meal in the morning for sure!

That's individual. Some can run right away, some need a couple of hours. Experiment :)

Nothing beats a banana! Quick, simple and gives you exactly what you need ;)

What about green shake?

Shake of vegetables

U big dummy

Most of the time that's actually fine for me, not a problem at all - although not ideal.

That might work for some people but it's certainly not ideal if you're an athlete looking for peak performance and health.

That probably works well! I think you could probably have the snack closer to the run than 90 minutes though. I often have a banana or something and then head straight out and then eat breakfast after. If the goal is to run depleted though, you need to fast for 12 hours minimum first, and/or deplete your glycogen stores by going long/hard the day before and then eat little in the mean time.

Gainde 113 no

High carb vegan yes, some fruit yes, not fruitarian though.

Thanks! :)

@@LoneEndurance Sure thing mate. cheers ✌️ best to you