Running food!

FitFi74

Need to sort my diet out! Don't think I eat enough 'good stuff' to keep me going strong on long runs. If you were going on a 12 mile run in an afternoon - what would you eat for lunch? Was totally drained today! P.S I don't like peanut butter! :drinker:

doubglass

carboload the nite before the run. Pasta or whole grains. Perhaps whole grain hot cereal for breakfast.

Aperture_Science

I've tried the carb loading thing and it felt like I was getting some benefit from it but I also noted that each time I carb loaded, I had also had a light week running (I typically taper down for any competitive event). So, I can't say how much I benefited from the carb load.

So, I don't feel that there is much you can do to improve performance on the day of a run but there is plenty you can do to mess it up. So during the day (before a run) I will eat light simple foods. About an hour before a long run or race I might have something like a banana or piece of flapjack.

It is also worth saying that when my training plan dictates a long stead run at the weekend I will ensure that I'm not pushing the mileage during the week, I'd probably shorten a couple of runs in the week. Also, we all have bad runs from time to time and that may be what happened today?

I take GO Gels during runs longer than 13m and sometimes during a half mara race. Of course there are lots of gel types and you need to try a few out in training.

Running Bear have a few different types so try a few out.