While training and tackling your road races, you’ll no doubt see athletes guzzling sports drinks and stocking fuel belts with sports nutrition products. But you may be surprised to learn that fueling is not necessary in every run or race (it depends on how long you’ll be on the course) – and that you can often meet your fueling needs with real foods (if you’re stomach tolerates them well).
How Much to Eat on Runs
Let’s start with the basics – how much fuel to take in during training and racing. Your fuel should contain easily digestible carbohydrates, in the following amounts based on the length of time you are training or racing:
- Less than 1:15 – No fuel needed
- 1:15 to 3 hours – 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour
- 3+ hours – 30 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour (highly individualized – prolonged activity may require more fuel to maximize performance)
What to Eat While Running – Is Real Food an Option?
Gels, shot blocks, sports drinks – all of these can meet the guidelines above when exercising longer that an hour and fifteen minutes. But what about real foods? In other words, can regular food you can get at the grocery store be used during running?
Yes! You can definitely use real food options on your runs – if your gastrointestinal system tolerates them well. Look for foods that are rich in easily digestible carbohydrates, and that contain little fat or fiber, since these digestion and can cause stomach upset.
So what can you use? Bananas and raisins are two options that tend to work well for many endurance athletes, and have been proven as effective as sports nutrition products in research. One large banana or ¼ cup raisins both provide about 30 grams of carbohydrate – falling in the lower end of our 30-60 grams/hour range.
Other options include (listed from “clean eating” to “not-so-clean-eating”):
- Dates (2 medjool dates = 35 grams carbohydrate)
- Salted boiled potatoes (1 small potato or ½ large potato = 30 grams carbohydrate)
- Low-fiber dry cereal (nutrition varies based on type)
- White bread with honey or jam (1 slice + 2 tbsp = approximately 45 grams carbohydrate)
- Plain bagel (½ large bagel = 30 grams carbohydrate)
- Pretzels (25 mini pretzels = approximately 30 grams carbohydrate)
- Candy: sweedish fish, gummy worms, or jelly beans (check labels for nutrition facts)
To build your real food plan, simply choose an option or two that you enjoy and figure out the portion size that would equal 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Then plan to eat about that much every hour of training/racing, starting around the 30-45 minute mark. Keep a log so you can track the fueling plans that were successful for you during training – this will help you figure out your optimal race-day strategy.
But keep in mind that everyone’s body is different. Real food may help some excel, while others may prefer engineered sports nutrition products. Engineered products are generally customized to provide the right types and amounts of different types of sugars, so they may be more easily tolerated and absorbed compared to regular foods. There is no “right” answer. Find what works best for you!
Share with me: What are your favorite products or foods to use during your runs?
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I’m a recent convert to gels, and love Clif because they’re natural and mostly organic. I’ve tried other foods on my runs, bananas, dates, even the Clif Shot Blocks, but I find that I have a really hard time chewing mid-run. I always feel like I’m going to choke and it takes me forever to consume what I need! I made the mistake of trying jelly beans, mostly just because it sounded like fun, but if it’s cold candy hardens and is even more difficult to chew (for me). I like your suggestion to try boiled potatoes though, and I’m sure sweet potatoes would work too. Both of these seem like they’d be easier to get down than other foods, since they’ve got a very soft texture.
Hi Sarah – Great comments! I’m all about finding what works best for athletes. If gels work for you, then go for it! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using commercial products, and many are engineered to be consumed and digested easily during runs. I tend to use either sports drinks (for shorter events like sprint tris and half marathons) and a combination of sports drinks and dried fruit/sweedish fish for longer events. On bike rides I have more flexibility (less jostling) and for long rides I eat graham crackers with frosting 😉 I think it’s good to experiment with lots of different products to see what works best!
This is so interesting! I use Jelly Belly Sport Beans on runs and they’re the only thing I’ve found that really works well and doesn’t make me sick. But I’m interested in starting to eat real foods instead. I may need to try some of these things out during my next half marathon training!
Hi Kristen – Thanks for commenting! I know a lot of athletes that like the Jelly Belly Sport Beans. I’ll be curious to hear if you like using real foods or not – some people love it and feel better, and for others the commercial stuff sits better in their bellies. Let me know if you try it out during your next training plan!
During my full marathon training last year, I used both sports beans and peanut butter crackers. I have to have the protein b/c I have low blood sugar issues. It works really well for me and I never had a problem with either. During certain runs, when I knew I needed more protein I would skip the beans and just go for the crackers with peanut butter. Probably not the healthiest choice but it worked for me! Thanks for the article!
Some people can tolerate the higher protein/fat content fine! When I’m troubleshooting GI issues in runners though, that’s sometimes one of the first things I asked about because it can slow digestion and cause a bit of a ‘lead stomach.’ But sports nutrition is so individualized that it’s all about finding what works for you – and it sounds like you have! 🙂