Nutrition before running

[VeloVT]

My stomach is normally pretty sensitive -- have to wait at least two full hours after a meal to run, GU (though not all gels) predictably upsets my stomach, as do some energy drinks. But I can have a powerbar -- the original, gooey, taffy-like, not very good tasting kind, I think they're called Powerbar Performance -- 20 min before running without trouble. This might be worth a try?

Yogurt is ok for me 5-10 min before a run for easy/moderate runs, but I find it will upset my stomach if I go for a really hard, fast run.

[KSH]

My stomach is normally pretty sensitive -- have to wait at least two full hours after a meal to run, GU (though not all gels) predictably upsets my stomach, as do some energy drinks.

Just curious... does sensitive = side cramps?

My coach has told me that I should try to run an empty stomach to see if that gets rid of my side cramps. My first test is today... no eating 2 full hours before I run. It this doesn't work, I go for 3 hours.

[roadie gal]

I second the caffeine BIG time.

But if I have to run on an empty stomach, I have a serving of my Infinit Nutrition sports drink a few minutes before I head out the door. For running, my solution has 256 cal/20 oz and 1.5gm of protein. So far, this has worked well with my stomach. If my run is over an hour, I'll carry a half serving with me as well. The liquid has been better for me than even a gel.

[VeloVT]

Fig Newtons, in moderation, might also be digestible shortly before a run... or... I'm a little ashamed to admit this because they're COMPLETE JUNK, but I've been way into using Nutragrain bars as pre/mid workout snacks lately. I'm taking a "triathlon conditioning" course and the Tuesday night sessions run from 7-9, first hour is hard spinning and second hour is in the pool. Because of the timing I end up not eating a real dinner, but having a large snack and hour before and a small snack in between spinning and swimming. Nutragrain bars work great in between, they go down quickly and easily and basically they're high-fructose corn syrup held together with a very small amount of real food, so they go into your bloodstream really fast.

[Offthegrid]

How does one determine what their Infinit nutrition mix should be? When you said your running mix, I'm assuming you have a separate cycling mix. I'm curious to try this, especially now that I am bike commuting because I found when I got to work I had NO appetite. (I did eat a little bit beforehand.)

Also how do you know how "sweet" to order it? Gatorade alone to me is too sweet, so I usually water down by 50 percent.

[roadie gal]

When you go to the Infinit site they have a questionaire that helps determine what you might need. Then you tweak it from there. They have a page with sliders on it that makes it very easy to adjust.

The first formula that they come up with doesn't have any protein in it. I found that I needed some protein or I'd bonk. I played with it and tried a formula with as high as 4 gm/ serving. That was too much for my stomach during the run. Now I've cut it down to 1 1/2 gms. This seems to work for me. I may order some more of the 4gm for biking. I haven't decided yet.

You can also play with the strength of the flavor. Like you, I like it less sweet.

[roadie gal]

I didn't completely read your question. How to determine how sweet to make it? My method wasn't very scientific. I put the slider a bit below the halfway mark. On the next batch I ordered, I moved it just a bit lower, between the 1/3 and 1/2. That seems to be about the same as Gatorade watered down by 1/2.