Yummy Long Run Snacks for Before, During and After a Run
Long run snacks are an art.
Not Mona Lisa-type-art, but they take time to perfect just like a fine painting.
To understand why, first we need to know what long run snacks do for your body before, during and after a long run.
Read on to learn exactly how to optimize long run snacks for your body (and improve running performance)!
Fueling Correctly – Why do Runners Need Long Run Snacks?
Why are long run snacks for runners important?
Well, runners need the right nutrition to perform optimally.
Each stage (before, during, and after a run) requires slightly different fuel for different reasons.
- Before a Long Run: Energize with easily-digestible high-carb food
- During a Long Run: Send energy to your muscles to use with sugars
- After a Long Run: Replenish depleted glycogen stores with carbs/proteins to recover and prevent soreness
Avoid high-fat and overly-processed foods at all of these stages. Your body can’t really use anything in these types of foods so they don’t increase performance (they decrease it, actually).
So what should you eat, exactly? Read on for some delicious and functional ideas.
8 Snacks to Eat Before Your Run
The 2 most important factors when considering a pre-run snack is:
1.) How long before your run can you eat?
2.) And how long will your run last?
Runs lasting less than 60 minutes typically don’t require pre-run fuel. But listen to your body, everyone is different. Feel free to eat a small snack if you need one!
Running 60+ minutes in the morning?
Eat a high carb 150 calorie snack 30-45 minutes before beginning if run will be over 60 minutes. Make sure to eat easily-digestible snacks at this point.
Avoid foods high in fiber and fat and anything overly processed.
What to Eat Before a 60+ Minute Morning Run
- Low-fat yogurt (optional add-on: granola or fruit or whole roasted pumpkin seeds)
- Banana (optional add-on: nut butter)
- Whole wheat bread slice with almond butter
- Half a whole wheat bagel with honey
- Tangerine or orange with a handful of cashews
- 1/4-1/2 cup of oatmeal (depending on toppings) with optional honey or maple syrup sweetener
- 1 GU packet (if you’re running 60 minutes or more)
- 1 tbsp of Honey, if you want a natural alternative to energy gels
Running later in the day?
Eat a heartier (but digestible) meal 3-4 hours before your run to ensure full digestion.
So if you’re a lunch-time runner, bulk up on pre-run fuel during breakfast.
Evening runner? This one’s trickier, but plan your run so as not to eat dinner immediately before running (or your stomach will probably revolt).
Instead, eat a big lunch and run early evening. Or, eat a lighter dinner early and run later.
Now onto mid-run snacks: the biggest art form of all long run snacks!
11 Mid-Run Snacks
The purpose of mid-run fuel is to provide your muscles with a spike in glucose so they have energy to use.
There is much debate about exactly how much fuel is needed for long runs.
The Answer: It depends on the distance, and your body.
The most generally-accepted rule is: bring fuel for runs over 60 minutes.
Noticing a trend with runs over 60 minutes?
If you’re running 1 hr to 3 hrs, you need 30-60 grams of carbs per hour.
Running over 3 hours? You likely need 30-90 grams of carbs per hour. But this will depend on how your body responds to fuel and your energy level during runs.
What Should I Eat During My 60+ Minute Run?
- GU or other engineered energy packets or gummies
- Swedish fish, gummy bears or worms
- Honey (in a plastic baggy, just rip a corner off as you’re running to eat it)
- Cashews
- Medjool dates
- Raisins
- Skittles
- Applesauce
- Grapes (frozen ones travel well)
- Pretzels (salted, in moderation)
- Dried fruit
Important Note: Make sure you test mid-run snacks well before a race (see note below on how to do this).
7 Post-Run Snacks For Recovery
After a long run (60+ minutes), eat within a half hour of completing the run to replace the used glucose and aid muscles in recovery.
First, stretch, and chug a bunch of water first, then focus on eating a healthy mix of carbs and protein. Typically around 300 calories (but again, this depends on how long you ran for, among other factors).
Ideally, you want to consume a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio: four grams of carbohydrates for every one gram of protein. -Health, US News*
What Post-Run Snacks do Runners Love?
- Avocado Egg Toast (with whole wheat toast)
- Bagel + nut butter
- Yogurt + berries + granola (bonus if it’s greek yogurt: tons of protein!)
- Protein shake or smoothie
- Power Bar or Clif Bar (a great option if you’re on-the-go)
- 3oz of a lean protein (like salmon or turkey) with whole grain rice and veggies
- Sandwich (lean meat, whole wheat bread, tomato, lettuce, hummus spread)
How to Test Mid-Run Snacks Before Race Day
Here’s a 2-step test plan I suggest doing to make sure you know what mid-race snack works best for you.
Step 1 – Create a Test Plan
Identify foods you like (from the mid-run snacks list above) and create a test plan.
I got lucky and liked the first mid-run snack I tried – GU packets (in Salted Watermelon and Lemon Lime). My stomach tolerates them well.
Note: this is highly customized by person so try foods during training to see what works best for you.
GU packets are easy to carry and eat quickly while running.
However, some people prefer whole foods like medjool dates, bananas, nut butter or honey. Those can be harder to carry but try a plastic ziplock bag.
Pack the right amount of snack based on grams of carbs needed for the run distance.
Step 2 – Test the Plan
You’ve picked the foods to try…now them. Test the plan during your long runs (well before race day).
Let’s re-iterate: Never try something new on race day.
Carry your snacks in a waist band or water bottle holder pocket.
Or try running hack #6 in this running hacks list (spoiler: it shows you how to carry GU packets without holding them!).
Remember how each mid-run snack felt. Did your stomach tolerate it? Was it easy to carry and chew?
Then, after testing a few different snacks, choose the one you’ll use on race day.
Conclusion
Ok, now you know why pre-run, mid-run, and post-run snacks are important.
And what snacks to try. Plus a test plan to identify the right snacks for your body.
Now go forth and fuel your run, my runner friend!
Training for a half marathon? Check out this Half Marathon Training Plan and read the 10 Lessons I Learned Running my First Half Marathon (learn from my mistakes!)
What are your go-to long run snacks? Tell me in the comments, I love to hear what works for everyone!
Sources:
http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2015/10/nutrition/how-to-fuel-long-runs-with-real-food_48166
https://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/2013/09/10/what-to-eat-after-running
https://www.verywellfit.com/what-should-i-eat-after-a-run-2911546