BEFORE:Usually nothing up to
BEFORE:
Usually nothing up to 4 hours before due to the insulin response but do then down something right at the start or 5 min prior (insulin response dulled during exercise)
DURING TRAINING FOR ANYTHING OVER AN HOUR: Consume 250-300 cal/hour religiously
Perpetuem (if race prep), gorp of peanuts and raisins, bars of various varieties (9-Bar from Wales is fantastic by the way), sometimes sport drinks, and DEFINITELY S-caps (electrolyte supplements). Granted, s-caps not required until maybe 2.5-3 hours, but I live by the mantra "train how you race."
DURING RACE (always well over an hour...) Consume 250-300 cal/hour religiously
Perpetuem for sure, some roctane/goo, and then after say 5-8 hours, whatever looks edible at the aid stations, which has been anything from fresh fruit, peanuts, boiled potatoes and salt, pizza, bean burrito, potato chips, PB&J sandwiches, etc. And, DEFINITELY S-caps (electrolyte supplements) because I'd prefer not to be debilitated with cramps or coma.
POST-RUN (all)
Eat carb and protein of any type, preferably real food (veggie burger, hummus and pita, etc) or if I'm on the run, a protein bar or a protein/carb recovery drink.
If you are unsure of when or why to consume calories before, during, or after a run AND you are doing longer endurance runs, you would do yourself a heap of good to read "The Endurance Athlete's Guide to Success," which is a free downloand from here:
http://www.hammernutrition.com/knowledge/essential-knowledge/
You don't need to buy their stuff, just read the thing already.
NOTES: It's been extremely well proven that there is a measurable benefit to consuming protein within no more than 1.5 hours after a workout. This is fact. It's also been proven that consuming carbs during a workout or race does improve performance, and that for longer runs protein plays an important role too, unless you think that scavenging your own muscle for protein is somehow a good idea. Matt Fitzgerald has argued however that SOME of your runs should be calorie restricted to increase interleukin-6 production which in turn allegedly plays a role in adaptation. I'm not sure I've bought into that argument yet as my longer runs are probably producing plenty of IL-6 on their own anyway, and I prefer to finish my runs in the best condition that I can with the fastest recovery possible. Not saying I'm right and Matt is wrong (since he is one of the premier world running experts currently), but that's my opinion for the moment.
