5 foods that will make you run faster

The foods that can help you achieve your personal best

Whether you’re training for a marathon or about to complete your first race, you probably have a target finish time in mind. While training and preparing yourself properly for the race is integral to achieving your desired time, your pre-race meal can also help you to obtain the result you want. Here are the five foods that will make you run faster.

Running food 1: Beetroot

It might not be the most obvious pre-run meal, however researchers at St Louis University have found that eating baked beetroot before a race could help you to run faster. The study recorded the running speed of 11 fit and healthy participants as they ran 5km on a treadmill. The participants were asked to run once after consuming a portion of baked beetroot an hour before, and once after consuming a similar sized portion of cranberry relish, which had a similar amount of calories.
The results showed that after eating beetroot the average speed of the runners was 12.3km per hour (or 7.6mph), while after the cranberry relish it was just 11.9km per hour (or 7.3mph). It is believed that this is due to the chemicals called nitrates which are contained in beetroot and which have been shown to also improve stamina when exercising.

Running food 2: Oatmeal

To beat your personal best, it is important that your energy levels are high before your run, and eating oatmeal is the perfect way to get the energy boost you need. Oats are a low GI food, meaning that they will help to keep your blood sugar stable and release a slow, steady stream of energy, helping you to maintain your speed throughout your run.
Oats are also a good source of B vitamins, which help the body to break down carbohydrates into glucose to fuel the body, and are rich in many other essential nutrients including magnesium, selenium and manganese. Try having a bowl of porridge or oat-based muesli, a few oatcakes or an oatmeal smoothie an hour or two before your run for a nutritious energy boost to help you run faster.

Running food 3: Fresh fruit

Many runners rely on sugary drinks, foods and gels for energy; however, fruit is a great way to give your body a natural and healthy sugar hit. Make sure you opt for easily digestible fruit as those that are hard to digest – such as those from the citrus family – could hinder your exercise by causing stomach cramps. Bananas are a good choice as they are high in carbs and are also less acidic than apples and citrus fruits so are unlikely to lead to cramps.
As well as being a good source of energy to help you run faster, fruit contains a high proportion of water, which can help you to stay hydrated for your run. Fruit also contains a variety of energy-boosting vitamins and minerals including vitamin C (found in berries), and B vitamins (found in bananas and avocado).

Running food 4: Dark leafy greens

Dark leafy green vegetables are another good source of nitrates, which are believed to help increase running speed and endurance. Leafy green vegetables are also rich in many essential nutrients including iron, calcium, vitamin C and vitamin K, which will help to keep you in optimum health, thereby helping to improve your energy levels and enhance your run.
Around two hours before your run, opt for a meal incorporating leafy green veg to help enhance your run. You could try pasta with salmon and broccoli or spinach for a good mix of protein and carbs, or try supplementing your usual choice of protein and carbohydrates with some kale, swiss chard, cabbage or a romaine lettuce salad.

Running food 5: Green tea

While green tea is not technically a food, it could make the perfect addition to your pre-run snack. Not only is drinking green tea great for keeping your fluid levels up, the health-boosting drink can also help to regulate blood sugar levels, thereby preventing energy crashes which can slow you down. Green tea also contains caffeine, which can help to give your energy levels a boost, and is less acidic than many other sources of caffeine, lowering the risk of stomach aches during your run.
A research study in Japan found that green tea extract could boost exercise endurance by up to 24 per cent, making it a great energy drink to sip before a run. You could even try taking iced green tea with you for a refreshing alternative to energy drinks, to help you keep your energy levels up and achieve your personal best.

Our team photo taken at the end says it all. It’s wet, muddy, knackering and leaves you smiling from ear to ear. This is the second time I have taken part in the Wolf Run so I am not a beginner but they have certainly taken it up a notch or two.

So what is the #WolfRun? In a nutshell it’s a hard-core 10kish (6mile) mud run across raw natural terrain and through mud, streams and lakes. It is physically challenging and once completed, something to be really proud of. The run itself (the one I did) is in Warwickshire over farmland (or Leicester if you chose the other course). It is well organised and is run over 2 days four times a year. It is well marshalled and run with precision timing to get the thousands upon thousands of people round the course without delay. I cannot say enough about how well this event is managed and how helpful and encouraging the marshals all are. They are not merely there to point you in the right direction. They shout encouragement, advise on the best way to get over/through an obstacle and in some cases end up as dirty as the runners themselves.

So to the run it self……. there were tyres, crawls, a pitch black tunnel, wades through cold muddy water, a cold lake swim, log climbing, log wall climbing, cargo nets, monkey bars, ditches, bogs, a super-fast waterslide and more with a whole load of super thick squelchy mud to contend with. It definitely takes team work to get around all the obstacles and being a slight women of 5 foot 1 I was lucky enough to have 4 male wolf companions to help me up and over or pull me out of some of the more challenging obstacles. Many people have asked me what time I did, or whether I beat my husband and seem surprised when I say that’s not what it’s all about. And it really isn’t!

The best bits!!

CARGO NETS – The cargo nets were one thing I was determined to get through this time after chickening out last time due to the sheer height of the obstacle. I was a little nervous running towards them. I took it one step at a time. Trying to steady myself on the ropes as others scrambled up at the same time. It’s not until you are at the top and you have to swing yourself over to the other side to make your way down that you realise how high you are. And by god it felt high! However I got one leg over followed by the other and made my way down. Last of my pack but I made it!

WATERSLIDE - By the looks of things on Facebook and Twitter the most popular obstacle by far was the waterslide. Although this was also a highlight of last years, this time round it was steeper, faster and more exhilarating! The speed at which you go down really has to be experienced to be believed and your heart is really in your mouth as you descend at great speed hoping not to clash with another wolf on the way down. The speediness at which you descend took me completely by surprise. I tensed up somehow managing to take the skin off my arm before attempting to spin round and hit the pool of water at the bottom backwards. You come up slightly dazed but energised and ready to take on the next challenge.

CRAWLS – The crawls were easier for me being smaller than a lot of other wolves. There were more of these this year including a pitch black tunnel which was a little eerie to crawl through and quite amusing when the person in front of you is screaming saying ‘ there’s someone behind me’… well of course there is!!!!

LAKE - The lake swim is as cold as it sounds but is very well organised with lots of help and canoes for those who underestimate the swim or simply need encouragement to get across. I am a confident swimmer and managed to get across in relative ease but there were other participants who did seem to struggle quite a lot which did surprise me. The temperature does take your breath away initially and swimming in trainers weighs you down a lot more that you would expect but for me the lake swim is one of my favourite parts (ask me that again after WinterWolf).

LOG CLIMB - The log climb towards the end was the bit I struggled with the most. The sheer distance between the logs making it difficult for anyone (especially us shorter wolves) to navigate. A friend of mine who had completed the event the day before had given me some advice on how to tackle this which really helped. I took it slow and got over without incident.

And so after more running, climbing, wading, slipping, falling and more running you get to the finish. It’s called the Mud finish and there is a very good reason for that…. So the other half finished just before me… whilst I struggled up a muddy bank and stood waiting for me… “jump in” he shouted and being the obedient wife that I am I did. However being considerably shorter than the rest of my tall team I then disappeared for a couple of seconds into the incredibly muddied waters before emerging victorious and looking like something dragged up from the bottom of a swamp!

Bumped and bruised. Cut and grazed. I ached from head to toe.

Would I do it again? 

Hell Yes!

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