If you an early morning runner, do you eat first?

[Illbefinejustbloodyfine]

I am new to running, only a few months in really, and following a training plan. My recent runs are 6.5k and 9.5k. Ideally i would do these first thing but two issues, i need to eat first, and I hate eating early!

I need to eat as suffer from blood sugar crashes if not careful (nausea, sweating, to the point if fainting if not careful). Even on longer walks.

So, what do you eat and how long do you wait before running?

Run and cycle fasted but run is only 5k and cycle commute is 9 miles slightly downhill for most of the ride. By the time I’ve got to work and had a shower I’m hungry enough to eat a scabby dog (as they say round here). Might try a few dates though - that’s a good idea from a PP.

I run to work a couple of times a week and don’t eat anything beforehand. And interestingly I can then easily go through to lunch without food, so great for a 14-16 hour fast, depending on how late is eaten the night before. Whereas if I don’t run, I get hungry on the morning commute and it’s a struggle not to get an egg and bacon sandwich on the way in!

But of if I was eating first, agree a banana is the way to go. Or a couple of oat cakes with nut butter of some sort.

I do 2x 5km per week at 5.30am and always run faster. Anything over that I tend to eat. I need a while to digest though as I can feel sluggish and get a stitch. I did a 10km race on Saturday and ate overnight oats with fruit at 6.45am. I started running at 9.45 and was fine but I did feel like I could have got a stitch if I pushed anymore. It was probably a bigger bowl than usual though!