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Eat and Run

Experiment to find the best balance for you between leaving enough time after eating so that your stomach doesn’t bother you when you’re running and eating close enough to your run so that you don’t feel weak and light-headed. I have the world’s wimpiest intestinal system and usually run into trouble if I eat within five hours of a run. Contrast that with a guy I used to run a lot with who would be finishing off a plate of bacon as I arrived at his house for a 2-hour run. You’ll probably be somewhere between those extremes.

If you start runs feeling a little light-headed and still feel that way 15 minutes into it, then you’ll probably benefit from having some calories closer to your run. A couple hundred calories of an easily digested food, like bananas or a plain bagel, will help boost your blood-sugar level so that you feel stronger in the first part of your run.

: Brian Metzler