At what point should I start eating before a run?

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I’m just contemplating.
I don’t usually eat before I run - I tend to get up, have coffee and go for a run about 30 minutes waking up.
My long runs are currently about 10k and I’m starting to increase my distance but I’m unsure at what point I ought to start eating breakfast before I go?

This is a very personal thing. The advice is often to eat 3-4 hours before running. I'd be hungry again before the run and in not getting up that early and I do know some runners who complain of upset stomachs if they don't leave it at least an hour or two.

Personally, I find provided it isn't too heavy I cam more or less eat as I'm going out of the door. I tend to have porridge for a long run or a banana for shorter runs. I can't do more than about 30mins with nothing.

I have learned to avoid yogurt, I get a terrible stitch if I run even several hours after eating yogurt, although milk in the porridge seems to be fine.

I agree with the poster above, its a very personal preference. I trained for a marathon and i only started eating before a run when i was doing distances of 17 miles upwards, For me i personally found i perform better on an empty stomach. My husband can't run at all without fuel so it really depends on you.

When you do start fuelling i would recommend at least 2 hours between eating and running as it lets your digestive system get a head start before your body is so focused on your legs that it forgets about your stomach and then you potentially get caught short half way round your run.

Listen to your body and it'll guide you as to when you need to fuel up

It’s just tricky as I like to run first thing but hate eating as soon as I get up! I feel fine running the distances I do at the moment.

Thank you, I’ve been reading running blogs and started to get paranoid that I was doing the wrong thing by running faster so it’s reassuring to know that you can do 17 miles without anything!

I'm with @unicornpower - I feel sick if I eat before a run, so if I'm running in the morning I'll have a cup of tea or coffee, and that's it.
The only exception is in the very long runs of marathon training (17-18 miles and above), when I know I should try and get something down, so I'll have either a banana or a Weetabix. But even then I'll often go without and just use gels to stop from bonking.

I don't really run long distance yet but just popping my head round to suggest if you do try it, maybe plan a trial run on a shorter distance first? Said as someone who doesn't usually run in an evening as prefer to do it in a morning, on either nothing or a light breakfast, then did an evening 5k run 3 hours after eating and let's just say my stomach objected and I wasn't sure I was going to make it home in time!! I am slowly training my stomach to cope though and learning which foods are best given longer or avoided all together on run days, as now works picking back up I don't always have chance in a morning! The things we do

agree with fellrunner and unicornpower - even for the very long runs you can normally just use gels etc during the exercise. running a bit low on energy feels better than stomach issues during the run!

I don’t like to eat before a morning run too. I find if I have a decent dinner the night before, then just a cup of tea & a handful of nuts in the morning will get me through a long run.

In contrast I'm the complete opposite. Can't run at all without my breakfast! I'm an early morning runner...up at 5:45 and out by 6:15 having had a coffee and bowl of cereal, and that's the same regardless of whether it's 3 miles or 20. On runs over 16 miles I'll have a couple of dextrose tablets on the way round too.