Hi Delia, not sure about the chocolate my love, think it may make you very thirsty, have that when you get home as a reward. I run first thing in the morning mostly and have a cup of green T + small banana or a cereal bar. Also a big glass of water. The one thing I have noticed too is if I drink very cold water after a run it upsets my stomach so I leave a covered glass of water out so on my return its not too cold. Hope this helps and I agree its not good trying to do a long run on empty but I do have my evening meal about 6.00pm so its a long time to go without. Happy running

Thanks Oldgirl. I've tried bananas in the past and they repeat themeselves I'm afraid , as does cereal and milk At least I eat at 8 -9pm

I had kind of the same problem at the beginning of the programme and ran on empty almost every run of the programme. Sometimes I had to do my run in the evenings and somehow got used to have something in my stomach whilst running. I still prefer to run in the morning just with two glasses of water and/or a cup of coffee but if I really have to eat something before a run, I do fine with a small apple, a peach or a nectarine. A slice of toast without anything on it is also ok for me. I get sick when I have some dairy products before a run so porridge, as many recommend, is no option for me. Perhaps you could try to get used slowly to run with something in your stomach. Start perhaps with half an apple or whatever you like but just a little bit. I think it's possible as I get sick less often now when I have to run in the evening (and I don't eat different because of the run). A colleague of mine is also a runner and she told me once about an incident with a carrot so I think carrots are not recommendable.

Delia, I 'ran on empty' (with 2 x glasses of water) right from the start of C25K, until I'd got to the stage of running for about an hour. I, too, found I would start wilting a bit after 50 mins, so followed advice I'd read to drink a glass of fruit smoothie. That seems to help a little.

If I'm running for long later than 10am (ie more than 15 hours since my evening meal) I have a small bowl of cereal with soya milk. I'm currently trying a diary-free diet to see it that helps prevent 'runner's trots' that are a problem on longer runs. I don't know if this is helping as, due to injury/recovery, I've not run more than one hour since getting strict about the diet and not suffered with the problem.

Grapefruit and toast. Not together, obviously. A portion of grapefruit, then a slice of toast & smallish cup of coffee. That's breakfast every day, running or not. I don't like running "full" so a light breakfast is just enough. And Runner's Trots is a whole other [unsavoury!] topic.

Interesting. I tend always to run first thing and never eat or drink anything beforehand, but now that even the early morning temperatures are above 24C I am wilting much earlier than before - generally managing my 5k under 30 minutes every other day but longer than that is a real struggle. Last week I tried a 10k route that I used to manage without problem and only got to 6k - plus I'm also getting leg cramps again in the evenings, which |I haven't had since I started running - so maybe the heat and the increased level of sweating is draining the body of minerals, which aren't being properly replaced (despite copious amounts of Rosé and Rioja the night before).

Hi Delia - the bbc good food website has a few ideas at: bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide...

The banana fairy cakes have white chocolate in them

I have a cup of tea and a crumpet with honey before I head out. Did try the banana thing once.....never again!!

Susan xx

Hi Delia I make my smoothies with banana, raspberries, kiwi and add some blackcurrent & apple dilute juice. Rasps are picked once a year and frozen in large quantities for delicious puddings and smoothies. Other combo is banana/peach/kiwi with mango & orange dilute juice. But of course any fruits you like can be used, stick it all in a blender or I use my Bamix mixer it takes seconds and lovely too.

I always have something like a piece of fruit and bread or a pastry but wait at least an hour before running. However when I was in Australia last year I would run much earlier in the day before it got hot used to just have the fruit and maybe a glass of juice.

Don't give up on porridge (at least in the winter). My son can't take milk but makes his porridge with soya milk or with water and apple juice.