Smoothie Runnings

For the last couple of weeks, I've been running in the mornings to train for a 25k run that I'm doing in July. For the first few days, I would roll out of bed, wolf down a little yogurt, stretch, then head out. Ten, fifteen minutes later, I'd be back home feeling horribly dehydrated and with the shakes grappling for food.

This simply won't do, I thought. I need some proper running fuel. I usually wake up starving hungry anyway, so eating at 6 in the morning wasn't the issue for me. But what to eat to get me through a run was something I hadn't really thought about.

The obvious option?

Smoothies! Quick to make, quick to drink. Cue a week of testing different versions to see how it affects my running...

All of these make roughly half a pint and I've been going for 20-30 minute runs. Many of them contain fresh banana, yogurt, or both - they have a good source of carbs to keep you full, are high in water content to keep you hydrated, and a nice bit of magnesium from the banana to stop you getting cramps whilst running. And the berries are not just there for ornamental flavour, they are packed with antioxidants to fight away tired muscles during and after running. That's the theory anyway!

Day 1 - Peanut Butter and Banana
2 bananas; 1/2 pint semi-skimmed milk; 1 tbsp natural yogurt; 1 tbsp peanut butter

Peanut butter and milk is a good source of protein so should in theory keep you feeling full without feeling too heavy because there's not much substance to it. It was very easy drinking in the morning and didn't feel dehydrated at all. I made this one for aikido actually but couldn't stomach the whole thing, so left the rest for my run the next morning and found it alot easier to drink then. I felt a bit springier than usual after breakfalls in aikido and didn't feel dehydrated at all during my run.

Day 2

Woke up with the worst aches and pains. Think I overdid the running yesterday. Note to self: no more runs the morning after aikido!

Day 3 - Mixed Berries

1 banana; 100ml orange juice; 100g mixed berries; 5 tbsp natural yoghurt

Couldn't drink the whole thing as it was pretty stodgy - got a dry throat and stitch about halfway into my run. Nice refresher afterwards though!

Day 4 - Pear, Orange and Banana
1 banana; 1 pear; 100ml orange juice; 50ml semi-skimmed milk

The best one so far. Felt like I could keep running forever! I did slump badly a couple of hours after I stopped though - that was probably due to the large volume of chocolate I scoffed after my run, whoops :-)

Day 5 - Blueberry, Banana and Lime
1 banana; 150g natural yoghurt; 100g blueberries; 1 tsp lime; 1 tsp honey

Another stodgy one I struggled to get down first thing in the morning. Felt a little heavy at first whilst running but ok once I got going.

Day 6 - Strawberry, Yogurt and Oats
(photo at top of post)
4 strawberries; 250g strawberry yogurt; 100ml milk; 3 tbsp oats; 1 tbsp honey

Mm, the tastiest one yet! Feeling alot stronger now with legs no longer feeling like lead.

Day 7 - Blackberry and Banana
1 banana; 100g blackberries; 100ml milk; 90g natural yogurt; 1 tbsp honey

The first time I didn't feel like collapsing at the end of the run! I really felt like I could have carried on running.

Obviously, as the week went on, my body was adapting to the morning runs so naturally, I was feeling stronger by the end of the week. But I'm going to keep testing these ones out as I push myself to cover more ground to see which ones can keep me running further...

Any other suggestions for pre-exercise fuel?

Print-friendly smoothie recipes

Other Hungry Jenny healthy food thoughts you might be interested in