Newbie Question - Diet/Nutrition

acidstained

I was wondering if you guys have any sites/books/posts you'd suggest for learning about what I should be eating before and after running. I have absolutely no idea about this - zero, zilch, notta - and figured I should probably start looking into it. At this point, I'm just eating whatever I normally eat during the day and going running right before bed, not eating anything afterwards.

Sorry if this has been asked before - I tried to search for posts, but for some reason everything that came up was about anorexia.

romyhorse

I have some PDFs from Runner's World which have eating plans, it gives you some ideas. If you are running before you go to bed you should have something like chocolate milk afterwards.

Here is the link to the Runner's World resources (scroll down for the food ones):

http://www.runnersworld.com/pdfs/training-guides-more

timeasterday

Ultimately you have to figure out what works for you before a run. Not everyone has the same tolerance for certain foods followed by running. For me my go-to is a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and a banana. Simple carbs work for me. But I have found things like citrus fruits, yogurt, and any whole-grain stuff does not agree with me. After every run I have some protein powder mixed with Costco organic soymilk. Then a little cheese & nuts before bedtime.

btsinmd

Another thing I've found is that my body tolerates different things based on the weather. There are many more things that I just can't handle when I'm running in higher heat and humidity. I need as empty a stomach as possible when it's hot (over 80F) and humid and I'm not as hungry afterward. Since I'm generally less hungry afterward anyway, for any run, after a run in the heat I can go a very long time without eating and not realize it. So when I'm planning to run on a hot evening, I'll try very hard to eat more and drink more water during the day, and evenly during the day and stop at least 2 hours before the run. I also have found an organic chocolate milk which is not quite as sweet that I can tolerate after the run.

Just_Ceci

Most things I try to eat immediately before running make me queasy (especially bananas!) If I am hungry before a run, I will eat a protein bar or peanut butter sandwich. After running, I usually eat whatever I can get my hands on! Chocolate milk is great for recovery.

Like Tim said, you have to find what works for you, everyone is different.

PinkNinjaLaura

Bananas also make me queasy before a run. What I eat depends a lot on how far I'm running & what time of day I'm running. I can eat something like peanut butter toast if I have at least a couple of hours for it digest. Otherwise I'll eat some sport beans or a packet of those Gatorade chews or something like that.

acidstained

Thanks to everyone who responded. I read through all the PDFs on RunnersWorld.com and feel like they have some pretty good info, so I'm going to go with that information for now and see where I end up.