Supplements for Runners — Running Nutrition | 6AM Run

Your long run is the most important workout of the week — and it's the one runners fuel the worst. Most people eat a decent breakfast, head out the door, take nothing (or one gel, way too late), then wonder why the last three miles felt like a death march and why they were useless on the couch for the rest of the day.

Here's the good news: long run fueling is a skill, and it's a simple one. Get the before, during, and after right, and the same 14-miler that used to wreck you becomes the run that builds your confidence for race day. This is the exact framework I use and coach — no complicated math, no exotic foods.

First, understand what the long run is actually for

Beyond the miles themselves, every long run is a dress rehearsal for your gut. Race day fueling is not something you improvise — it's something you train, one long run at a time. Every strategy below should be practiced repeatedly in training so that by race week, eating and drinking on the move feels automatic. If you're building toward a marathon, pair this plan with our Marathon Fueling Calculator to dial in your exact hourly numbers.

The night before: boring is perfect

You don't need a mountain of pasta. You need a normal, carb-forward dinner you know sits well — rice, potatoes, bread, pasta with a simple sauce — plus steady hydration through the evening. Keep fat and fiber moderate (both slow digestion), and skip anything new or spicy. I covered this in more detail in what to eat the night before a marathon — the same rules apply before every long run, just scaled down.

Before the run: two eating windows

Window 1 — 2 to 3 hours before: a real meal of mostly simple carbs with a little protein. Think oatmeal with banana and honey, toast with jam and eggs, or a bagel with peanut butter (go easy on the PB if your stomach is sensitive). Aim for roughly 1–1.5 grams of carbs per kilogram of body weight.

Window 2 — 30 to 60 minutes before: a small top-up of fast carbs, 100–200 calories. A banana, a few dates, a slice of white toast — or a small handful of energy gummies. The goal is topping off liver glycogen after the overnight fast without putting a brick in your stomach. If you run early like I do, my guide to what to eat before a morning run has seven options under 300 calories that all work here.

Drink 16–20 ounces of water in the two hours before you start, and another small glass with your top-up snack. You should start hydrated, not sloshing.

During the run: start early, stay steady

This is where most long runs are won or lost. The golden rule: fuel before you're hungry and drink before you're thirsty. By the time you feel empty, you're already behind, and your stomach absorbs slower when you're depleted.

• Runs under 75 minutes: water is enough for most runners. A small carb top-up beforehand covers you.
• 90 minutes to 2 hours: target 30–45 grams of carbs per hour, starting at the 30–40 minute mark.
• Over 2 hours: target 45–60 grams of carbs per hour. Trained guts can work toward 70–90 grams per hour, but build up gradually — gut training is real, and it takes weeks.

Set a timer on your watch for every 20–25 minutes and take a small dose of fuel each time, rather than a huge hit once an hour. Small and steady beats big and rare — for your blood sugar and your stomach.

What you carry matters more than people admit. Gels work, and they're fast — but on a two-hour run in July, sticky hands, sticky pockets, and a sticky face get old fast, and plenty of runners find gels harsh on an empty, bouncing stomach. This is honestly why I reach for gummies on my own long runs: I can eat a couple at a time, spread the carbs out exactly the way I described above, and there's no mess. I built the 6AM Run Marathon Gummies for precisely this — portable fuel I could dose little and often, made by a runner who got tired of gel roulette. Chews, dates, and even simple candies can do the same job — the best fuel is the one you'll actually eat at mile 12.

Fluids and electrolytes: drink to thirst with a plan — roughly 16–24 ounces per hour for most runners, more in heat. On runs over 90 minutes, water alone isn't enough: you need sodium. If your shirt dries with white salt streaks, you're a salty sweater and need electrolytes on every long run, not just hot days. I broke down the numbers in how many electrolytes runners actually need.

After the run: the hour that decides tomorrow

Recovery doesn't start at dinner — it starts in the first 30–60 minutes after you stop. Your muscles are primed to refill glycogen and repair, and what you eat in that window determines whether tomorrow's easy run feels easy or awful.

• Carbs: roughly 1–1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight in the first hours after, spread across a meal and a snack. Rice bowls, pasta, sandwiches, smoothies, chocolate milk — all great.
• Protein: 20–40 grams with that first meal to kick off muscle repair. This is where amino acids earn their place — I dig into the research in amino acids for runners. Personally, Finish Line is my post-long-run ritual: I mix up 6AM Run Finish Line while I'm stretching because it's built for exactly this job — recovery aminos without having to choke down a full meal before my appetite comes back. A real meal follows within two hours.
• Fluids: weigh yourself before and after a few long runs. For every pound lost, drink 16–24 ounces over the next few hours, with sodium to help you actually retain it.

Then keep eating like it matters for the rest of the day — because it does. The most common recovery mistake I see is a big post-run brunch followed by grazing on nothing until dinner. Your body is refilling for hours; feed it like it.

A sample plan: the 16-miler

• Night before: chicken, rice, and bread; water and electrolytes through the evening.
• 5:00 AM (2 hrs out): oatmeal, banana, honey, coffee. 16 oz water.
• 6:30 AM (30 min out): small handful of gummies, few sips of water.
• On the run: fuel every 20–25 minutes from minute 35 — about 50g carbs/hour; bottle with electrolytes, refilled at mile 10.
• Within 30 min of finishing: recovery drink, then a full breakfast within the hour — eggs, toast, fruit.
• Rest of day: normal lunch and dinner plus one extra carb-rich snack. Early night.

The five mistakes that ruin long runs

1. Starting fuel too late. Waiting until mile 10 to eat is how you meet the wall — in training.
2. Trying something new. New fuel, new shoes, new breakfast — never on long run day, and definitely never on race day.
3. Under-eating after. The run isn't the stimulus if you don't supply the building materials.
4. Water only on hot days. Sodium matters as much as fluid after 90 minutes.
5. Skipping practice. If it hasn't survived three long runs, it doesn't go in your race belt. Training for a half instead? Scale this same structure with our half marathon fueling plan.

Fuel the long run like it matters — because it's the workout everything else is built on. Practice this plan for three straight weeks and you'll feel the difference where it counts: the last three miles, and the day after.

See you at 6AM.

— Hami, 6AM Run