I do not need a big breakfast before sunrise, but I do need a plan. This is what I eat before different morning runs, and what I avoid.
By Alex · 6 min read
In theory, morning running sounds clean and disciplined. In practice, it usually means I am standing in the kitchen half asleep, trying to decide whether coffee counts as breakfast.
I have learned that the answer depends on the run. What I eat before a short easy run is not what I eat before a long run or a hard workout. Once I stopped using the same routine for everything, mornings got easier.
If the run is short and genuinely easy, I usually keep it light. Sometimes that means a banana. Sometimes a piece of toast. Sometimes just a few sips of something with carbohydrate in it if I am going out quickly.
The goal is to feel settled, not full.
If I know the run will be longer or the effort higher, I want something more solid inside me. That usually means:
I go for food that is easy to digest and boring in a good way. Race nutrition is not the place to be creative, and neither is a 6 a.m. workout.
If I eat too much too close to the start, I feel it. If I eat nothing before a hard session, I usually feel that too. So I try to match the amount of food to the time I have.
Roughly, this is what works for me:
Nothing complicated. Just enough to stop the run turning into a stomach experiment.
A few things have caused me trouble:
I have made all of those mistakes. They stay in the memory.
Yes, I still drink coffee. I just try not to treat it as a meal. For some runners it works perfectly before a run. For others it creates its own problems. You probably already know which group you are in.
This is the part that matters most. If you have a race coming up, your long runs are where you work out your breakfast timing and your pre-run food. They are also a good place to test your race plan with the Fuel Planner.
The fewer decisions you leave for race morning, the better.
I want to start the run feeling light, calm and ready. Not hungry. Not full. Not wondering whether I made a silly choice in the kitchen.
It took some trial and error, but once I found a few breakfasts that worked, mornings became much simpler. And simple is good when your alarm goes off before sunrise.
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