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Blood sugar tanking on run?

1,022 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by zachsccr
zachsccr
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AG
I've been running sine '05. Everything from 5ks to marathons. For the past 5yrs I've done most of my runs first thing in the morning. Wake up, eat a banana, drink some spark or V8 energy type drink, then start my run 20-30min after my wake time.
The past 3-4 weeks on my morning run I've gotten real weak, shaky, and kinda dizzy right around 4 miles (about 25-30min). I ran yesterday at noon to see if it made a difference and I was totally fine through 45 minutes.
It feels like my blood sugar is tanking each morning but I don't know why or if that's even the case. This has never happened before and I'm curious if others have gone through this or have suggestions on things to try.
ptothemo
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AG
Have you changed what you're eating or when you're eating in the evening recently? My experience running early in the morning is that how I eat the evening before seems to be more impactful on the next morning. To the point that I only eat before running if I am planning to go two hours or more.
Quinn
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AG
Get a glucometer from CVS and stop and test when you feel low.
zachsccr
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At the start of the year I stopped eating sweets/dessert, but that is the only change I made. I feel like they were far enough apart that they aren'y correlated, but it has been about my only thought as far as possible cause-effect.
zachsccr
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Had not thought about this. That's a pretty good idea to at least see if it is or isn't the glucose. Then I'd have to figure out why now, but it would get me on the right path.
Smudge
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I've occasionally felt with this. It usually lasted only a short time... a week, or two at the most. I tried to combat it by eating food that help stabilize blood sugar before my runs. I've found the best to be mixing a tablespoon of chia seeds in water with a squeeze of lemon (or a nuun tablet), or a spoonful of peanut butter. The chia and water probably worked better, but made me pee mid run. If on a longer run it was fine, but sucked on a 30-40 run.
This seemed to help, but not sure if it was coincidence or not that it actually fixed the issue.
It sounds like you are wanting to get away from sweets, sugar, but taking a gel before your run will help, for sure. VFuel ( https://www.VFuel.com ) is the best for blood sugar issues ... no fructose, just dextrose and malto, so will promote a natural bump instead of dumping fructose into the blood stream and making you all jittery with a sugar high.
Class of '00
Gig 'em!
htxag09
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I'd just be concerned that there may be some underlying issue behind this. Sure, gels will fix with this symptom, but may not treat what's actually going on......

Wouldn't hurt to do the above test to try and see if your blood sugar is really crashing. But I'd see my doc as well.
Quinn
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Check immediately before and then when you feel like you're "crashing". I would then wait 15-30 minutes to see if your bs comes up on its own or if it stays down (if it truly is dropping).
Sub4
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AG
Sometimes caffeinated prework like spark does weird things to your body in the middle of an activity that resembles a sugar crash, especially if the only food in your body is a banana. I would cut the caffeine to see if that variable has anything to do with it.

I've had low blood sugar problems growing up and can testify that running with caffeine in your system an empty or relatively empty stomach feels almost identical to low blood sugar.
94chem
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You gotta do what works for you. I can take 400 mg caffeine on an empty stomach every morning before running, no food or water. If the weather is cold, I may not even start rehydrating until an hour after running 10K. OTOH, some people like to eat a whole pizza when they wake up. Maybe try a candy bar instead of a banana?
NoahAg
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zachsccr said:

I've been running sine '05. Everything from 5ks to marathons. For the past 5yrs I've done most of my runs first thing in the morning. Wake up, eat a banana, drink some spark or V8 energy type drink, then start my run 20-30min after my wake time.
The past 3-4 weeks on my morning run I've gotten real weak, shaky, and kinda dizzy right around 4 miles (about 25-30min). I ran yesterday at noon to see if it made a difference and I was totally fine through 45 minutes.
It feels like my blood sugar is tanking each morning but I don't know why or if that's even the case. This has never happened before and I'm curious if others have gone through this or have suggestions on things to try.

This happens to me just about any time I try to run on an empty stomach. For some just a banana isn't enough to get me through even an easy run. A couple miles in I'll start getting the shakes. I have to eat at least some kind of bar to get me through. One Cliff bar can get me through a 12 or so mile run.
Ragoo
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AG
I have started fueling with Naked Green Monster w/ protein. Packed with stuff to keep me balanced and not too heavy to make me want to barf.
P.U.T.U
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Your body has over 2000 calories available to use when you wake up without eating. Sounds like you have some kind of glucose issue or you are running too hard too soon. I know a few people say to eat something before your runs (eating something with fat and some carbs like a Larabar) but for most people I you should be able to do a fasted hour and a half run with no issues.

I strongly recommend doing some morning fasting to help with your blood sugar levels. I used to get hangry but after eating lower carb (not keto or anything) and fasting until at least 9-10am those issues went away. Plus you are burning fat instead of the carbs you just digested before your run.
zachsccr
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This is going to be one of the first things I try. I typically eat 3 meals and 3 light snacks a day with about 2.5 hours between everything. I'm certainly going to try some runs w/o eating.

My main thing with all of this is "why now"?
P.U.T.U
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AG
When you get older things change and you become less glucose tolerant. As others suggested throw in some fat with that banana like a scoop of peanut butter to help maintain your sugar levels. Caffeine does not help either.

When I was training my recovery and runs up to an hour were done on an empty stomach. For my key or longer runs I would have half a lara bar or scoop of Justin's nut butter that had honey in it. Worked well since that is what I used during my longer triathlons to maintain energy.
zachsccr
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Follow up: This morning was the first true reproduction of circumstances since my last crap run on Thursday. I cut my caffeine 75% (30mg instead of 120mg) and was able to finish the 6 miles without tanking like I was last week. Still not sure why that started happening, but looks like we are on to something. I'll keep tinkering (not training for anything right now, so I have time).

Thanks to all who put forth suggestions. I really do appreciate it.
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