As most, if not all races are scheduled for mornings, I need to be able to run in a morning. Every time I exercise in a morning, I really struggle and feel weird and ill at some point and it stops me running.
Today I thought as I’m off work, I’d try it, I had my gluten free cornflakes and 2 cups of tea, (with 1 sugar), after 1.5k, I felt a bit sick but that passed, I carried on more slowly and at about 3k I felt weird. I’m sure my blood sugar plummets and then I feel anxious and horrible and want to just walk home! I’m quite petit at about 49kgs And can run 5k in 27mins so I’m not unfit and mostly run ok at night or an afternoon.
As with a lot of people, I struggle eating early but I need to find something to fuel me... I’m lactose intolerant so protein shakes etc are no good although not tried vegan one. I’m now worrying that my 10K in June will be awful and I will end up with St. John’s rather than completing my race for charity 🥺
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Graduate10
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Such a shame that your struggling in the morning....I also do majority of my runs in the morning so not sure if this advice would help you but I literally get up, sometimes eat half a banana or couple of bites, water and that’s it off I go....you can always finish banana when you come straight back before you have breakfast. Have you tried going straight out when you wake ?
I haven’t tried it on an almost empty stomach, I wake up quite tired, not sure if that’s my age or my IBS but I’m definitely not a morning person anymore... oddly, I used to be both morning or night!
Are you on Gluten free diet because you need to be? It seems to be something that a lot of people do because they think it is healthy and not because they require it due to intolerance. If you are diagnosed as gluten intolerant it may be an idea to search healthunlocked or even just google "Running with Gluten intolerance" "Running with celiacs" "Running with IBS" I am sure you are not alone and there will be some advice about.
Yes, for me gluten causes bloating, stomach cramps/ running to loo and awful tiredness. I really miss bread and normal pasta, normal ginger biscuits 🥺 and cheaper food. It’s a real pain in the backside, you have to plan so much and cannot just grab a quick snack if you’re out and need a decent snack. To couple it with lactose intolerance is a real pain , although my cholesterol is nice and low, so it has its Positives 👍
When I first started running I couldn’t run in the mornings, and I f I did I had to do it on an empty stomach, otherwise I felt really sick. I did find after about 3k I felt completely out of energy. If I run in the morning now I’ll have a slice of toast with peanut butter and a cup of tea with no milk about an hour before I run. I think it’s just case of experimenting and see what works for you.
I think getting up early enough to eat a decent amount of hi energy food might be the key. Talking to a medical friend tonight we concurred it sounds like low blood sugar 🙄 when I got home today it took about an hour before I felt normal...
Oh i forgot, it also affects my IBS as exercise in the morning seems to set that off too 😱
I really do have some Experimenting to do... I won’t give up just yet 😂
I can’t eat much first thing and prefer running later on ideally but a banana is usually enough for me to run on. How about a drink or a gel block to give you a bit of a boost half-way round? x
I think I’ll have to start this morning process slowly with run walks and get the time on my feet there to allow me time to figure out how I feel and what boosts me. Who’d have thought running early would be so difficult!
I have IBS too, I know what you mean about morning runs. I eat a banana and drink peppermint tea. If I have a morning race I have to take a diocalm the night before, just in case. I also carry some jelly babies and mints. It’s also a psychological thing, morning usually means toilet trips so that’s on my mind, could it be on yours too? Good luck.
I definitely think some is psychological now, however IBS for me
Is quite severe, lots of food types affect me, and stress really affects me. I often wonder whether my body realises that running is a good stress, as sometimes
Mine is really bad sometimes, I was told that running is bad for IBS, also runner’s are renowned for having runners’ tummy, which can cause stomach cramps, I usually experience thus too.
Most nights when I run I’m ok with my stomach, but then I’ll just going to work
I find that the morning is when I can feel
Dodgy with my IBS.
I have a horse and for Years rode before work, I was always having issues with energy and felt awful When I got to work. Now I ride after work and other than the odd knackered day, my stomachs much better.
If I can get the blood sugar sorted so I don’t crash, I’d be happy, I feel though it’s all linked.
I run first thing in the morning, but I hate running after eating. And if I have too much fluid on board after about 7km all I want to do is find a toilet!
My solution is to fuel up the night before, making sure I've had a good evening meal and maybe a snack and plenty of hydration in the evening. Then in the morning it's just one mug of tea when I wake, then get my kit on, do warm up exercises, last minute pee before going out the door and then I'm set up for 10km or more.
Caffeine (and running) stimulates the lower bowel - I am a morning person but am fortunate in that I have a very regular, erm, digestive system... first 30 min of my day are get up, pee, feed dog, coffee, poop, eat half a banana if I’m doing more than 10K, do other stuff for about 90 minutes, then I can run without too much problem. Evening runs - I have to be very, very careful with timing my lunch (even if running at 6pm) and I am naturally more prone to bowel discomfort after 4K - I can slow down and hang on and it will settle down again by 6-7k, but it’s not pleasant!
I definitely need to eat before exercise, I crash very quickly otherwise and I’m sure that plus the ibs aid what’s causing me to feel sick and weird. I plan my afternoon so that I’m ok to either ride my horse or run when I leave work. I guess I need to get to earlier and eat allowing time before exercise.
I used to be able to go all day without worrying about any of this but as I got into my 40’s that all changed. I blame hormones! 😆
Can you tolerate oats? The protein isn’t the same as gluten. I fuel my morning runs on Bircher muesli. Basically oats, nuts, dried fruit soaked overnight in apple juice and then mixed with yogurt (obviously in your case that would need to be one of the non dairy versions). I eat it about an hour before I go out, low glycemic index so it doesn’t give an instant energy boost but will keep you going for a while. You can make it from scratch or buy one of the commercial versions if the ingredients list is safe for you. Both Rude Health and Moma do good ones.
I’ll give the overnight oats a go, I’d not thought of using apple juice, I think I’d prefer that to using my oat milk, I have a nice non diary yoghurt too so this could be a winner!
For reasons I cannot fathom, my system simply cannot cope with a 'cereal and milk' breakfast (doesn't matter whether the milk is dairy or not, or the cereal is gluten/wheat/oat free or not) Like need to lie down on the ground wherever I am wobbly.
But porridge I can do! It only needs to be a small portion (30g oats) Fortunately I don't struggle eating early but I do need a couple of hours after that for everything to settle.
Hi try doing a bit of yoga stretches before you go- calms the stomach (and mind) then try to do without eating- I didn’t think I could run with no breakfast until someone suggested might work better and it was true- give it a go and see.
Drinking lots of water day before and just hot water before you go out also helps!
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Running makes me happy
Running makes me happier!
Struggling
Parkrun #2, struggling 
any help to keep me going?
