How To: Morning Runs

Hey guys! This is an extra post. Isn't that exciting?! This post is going to be about morning runs just to help anyone who is interested in starting to run in the morning. Maybe it will even help people that are new to running and want to get started. First I'm going to talk about what to eat before a morning run. Lets get started :-)


Short Runs:
Long Runs:

• 4-6 strawberries

• 1/2 banana

• Milk

• Water

• Coconut oil

• Honey

P.S. I am not a professional whatsoever and everything in this post is based solely on my own experience.
I hope you guys enjoyed this and I also hope that it helped someone! Come back Wednesday to see this week's post and don't forget to comment if you have any suggestions for future posts.

For the purpose of this I consider a short run anything under 4 km. Before a short run I will usually eat a banana, half a granola bar and 1-2 glasses of water. I advise eating as soon as you wake up so that you will have some time to digest before heading out for your run. Don't be afraid to eat a bit more than that if you're still hungry! Just listen to your body when deciding how much to eat and you should be fine.
I also advise not considering anything over 4 km a 'short run' ff you only eat a banana and half of a granola bar and run over 4 km you may 'hit the wall' very quickly, and it's not a good idea to run on an empty stomach. 

For the purpose of this I consider a long run 5-6 km. Before one of these runs I usually have a strawberry banana smoothie (the recipe for that will be below), 1-3 glasses of water and depending on how hungry I am I might have half of a granola bar as well. I haven't ran anything over 6 km after having this smoothie and I wouldn't advise anyone to try it. I am usually starting to feel pretty hungry and tired at the 6 km mark compared to when I run 6 km after already eating throughout the day.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie:
Ingredients:

Add 4 strawberries to the blender with half of a banana. Then add 1-2 tsps (or to taste) of coconut oil and honey.

The base is milk and water. I don't have any measurements for this base because I just eyeball it. The milk to water ratio is probably about 3/4 milk to 1/4 water. I add the water to the base because I find that it makes the smoothie a bit easier and quicker to digest.

 Blend this together and taste it. Add more strawberries and/or banana if needed.  I usually wait 20-30 minutes after having this smoothie before beginning my run.

Warm-up:
For my warm-up I usually just do some walking lunges and then begin my run at a very light jog so that my muscles are warmed and loosened before I am running at my normal pace.

Cool-down:
For my cool down I usually do a light jog/walk combination outside for 1-2 minutes. After that I always do this yoga routine that is designed for runners and it is absolutely amazing!!!

Post-run Breakfast:
After I go for a run in the morning I usually come home and have eggs, toast and fruit with water.

 If I just go for a short run and I'm not too hungry I usually have 1-2 pieces of toast with 1 egg and then some fruit and maybe some yogurt.

If I go for a long run (or even a short run and I'm just hungry) I have 2 pieces of toast, 2 eggs, some fruit and maybe yogurt as well as water.

*Note: When you're running with not much in your stomach (and any other time for that matter) please remember to listen to your body! If you're starting to feel too tired or extremely hungry just turn around. A good run isn't worth pushing yourself harder than you should and possibly hurting yourself.*



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