Jennifer says:

Every time I try to run I get burned out about a mile or two in. I drink a good amount of water during the day, so I am wondering if there are any foods that I could eat before a run that would give me more energy? Any suggestions? I need to get my miles up, but I am always soo tired!

 MadeUpName says:

A banana is good, so are raisins, almonds and walnuts. Or the pre-prepared bags of mixed fruit and nuts, with dried melon and mango, raisins, coconut, peanuts, hazelnuts, etc.

Or even jelly beans, but they probably don't count as food.

 Quebeclibre says:

I drink a smoothie 1 hour before my runs:

Orange juice, an orange a banana, some frozen strawberries and a yogurt all in blender. this is full of energy you might even have to take this more than an hour before.

Also during your run , for long ones try energy gels , i like Carb boom, banana, peach flavor.They suggest having one of these 45 minutes before u run and every hour or so of your run. But you need some water after cause a bit sticky in mouth...PS one energy gel pack is 100 calories...

 MarkedMan says:

Jennifer, there are definite stages of running, and after a relatively short amount of time (?) your muscles shift to a different source of energy. I don't remember the specifics physiologically, but I am all too aware of it on the practical side. In the short term, the only thing that worked for me was to slow down a bit. In the long term I just ran longer and longer until I had more energy. This may not be what is happening t you, but it worked for me...

 MarkedMan says:

OK, I found a bit more on this phenomena. Here's a link:
www.nismat.org/physcor/energy_supply.html
If you scroll down about halfway, you'll see a chart. It says you use one source for muscle energy up to 400M, another from there to 1500M (approximately a mile) and from then on its a third source. I definitely feel the transitions when I'm running.

 jmpugh says:

Intersting stuff. Thanks for posting that MarkedMan! That should help me restructure some stuff. I've felt the transitions too but never really thought much about it. Just assumed I was "switching gears".