Real Nutrition for Runners and Joggers

Runners have specific nutrition needs to fuel exercise, aid performance and promote recovery. For ideal recovery you need to eat a meal containing both carbohydrates and protein as soon as possible after running, preferably within 30 minutes. Depending on your weight you’ll need to get in between 30 - 90 grams of carbohydrate and between 10 -30 grams of protein. If your run is longer than an hour use a long chain carbohydrate drink, gel or bar to provide additional fuel plus electrolytes. For long runs you will need to consume 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour.

For those of you doing lots of running, keep a food diary and monitor your fluid intake. If your day-to-day diet is too low in calories, carbohydrates and fluid, you could be running under fueled or dehydrated. It will take your body a long time to recover and cause headaches and fatigue.

Along with carbohydrates, protein is equally important in maintaining a healthy running routine. Protein repairs muscles after exercise, protects the body against injury and strengthens the muscles for future runs. Another consideration for women especially is a good intake of iron and calcium. Women in particular require healthy doses of calcium, magnesium and vitamin D for bone health. Dairy products are the most concentrated source of calcium, but you can find calcium elsewhere. Calcium-rich plant sources include kale, broccoli, legumes, greens, almonds or calcium supplements. Women are also at risk for iron depletion so I usually advise a good all round multivitamin supplement as nutritional insurance.

Running presents several nutritional challenges such as:

Running with food or liquid in the stomach
The ability to carry fluids or carbohydrate replacement fuel on runs
Dehydration
Refueling so as to not hit the wall

Depending on the time of day you go for your run and also the length of time you will be running, you may or may not need to eat before you run.  The ideal situation is for you to eat well consistently most days so that you are merely topping up your fuel stores before your run.

If you are running first thing in the morning and the run will last less than 90 minutes, you may feel fine running on an empty stomach.  However, some runners prefer to have a light snack such as a banana, a few crackers, or a slice or two of toast with jam or honey to top up their carbohydrate stores before setting off.  

If you are running later in the day aim to eat a proper meal three to four hours before your run and a smaller snack around two hours before.  Drink fluid consistently during the day.

Dehydration is possible even on cold days so work out how you can manage your fluid intake.  On runs lasting less than 60 minutes you may manage without fluids but after that you need to ensure you have access to fluids.  Some runners will drink out of taps at service stations, some will drop off bottles of water at pre-determined places along their routes and others will stop and grab a bottle of water from a dairy or similar along the way. 

Running places huge nutrient demands on the body. To keep yourself in top shape, get individual advice from a sports nutritionist. Your aim should be to carry a healthy level of body fat, to maintain muscle and bone density and to provide your body with all of the nutritional building blocks to keep you functioning like a well-oiled machine.