Poll: On your Running days how do you eat?

Better/worse than normal? What does that mean for you? Do you Carb load or Protein load? How do you ensure you've got enough fuel for your engine? What about hydration? ~Lara

I protein load.....an extra protein drink, and a protein bar.....I already take in about 120oz of fluid a day....on running days, I take on more....

I run at least 5 days a week, and eat pretty much the same (often and plenty) pretty much all days. I tend to eat less on weekends when I do my long run, as I can't really eat for a couple hours after without getting sick, which is why I got into the yogurt habit. I do 'carb-up' a bit before races. On most days I don't worry about carbs. I have a tea/gatoraid/honey concoction (1 liter) I drink before runs. During summer I also drink a liter of water. I typically run about 90 minutes, with my long run at about 3 hours. I drink about 3 oz of Gatoraid every two miles. On the rare occassions that I run an hour or less (as when I'm tapering), I don't drink. After my run I eat a yogurt. On rare occassions I will drink a protein drink after my long run. Tek

When I was training for the half, I ate a lot more than I do now. Tons of fruit, peanut butter, milk and protein bars. I didn't really carb load or protein load. I just ate enought to keep me going. There's a window about 15 mins - 45 mins after you run that's best to eat in. Try a balance of 40% carbs/30% fat/30% protein in that window. I drank alot of milk after I ran to replensih my body. Tons of water for hydration. Propel is really good to but it has 2 g. sugar (I think) and I still dump on almost ANY sugar. I couldn't find "diet" gatorate although some people say it exists - I think it's urban legend Once you start doing your long runs (1 hour or longer) make sure you take fuel and hydration with you. I would take protein bar, peanut butter tube and water (or run by a starbucks and buy it). That's what I usually did b/c I didn't want to carry it. Good luck! Tandi 246-144 at goal