Welcome to the site, Far3. It's not likely that you're burning muscle for fuel if you're running for less than an hour. The body has glycogen stores sufficient to last a good couple of hours. The body's preferred energy sources, from what I understand, are glucose/glycogen, fat, and then muscle. We need protein during recovery mainly to provide the body with sufficient material to repair muscle damage. (It's a good idea to get something into your body after an intense workout -- the optimal ratio appears to be 4:1 carbohydrate to protein, with one gram of carbohydrate per pound of body weight. Half should be consumed within 30 minutes, the remainder within the following 1.5 hours. This is from an article on the McMillan Running web site.)

As far as whether or what to eat before your run, well, that's a more a matter of personal preference. For shorter runs (say, less than about six miles), I typically head out the door on an empty stomach (maybe some water or tea). For the longer runs, I like to eat a Clif Bar about a half-hour before heading out. Some people eat a half-bagel with peanut butter, some folks a banana, maybe oatmeal, and still others just have some coffee. You'll need to try out different things to see what works best for you.

Don

Um, unless you're actually 600 pounds (and if so, kudos to you for all of your running!), I'm guessing you'd need 150 grams of carbohydrate and about 38 grams of protein.

Don

I recommend no dairy before a long run.  On an 11 mile run I had milk and then used Gu and chomps for supplements during the run.  Not a great mix.  Whole grain bread or Clif bar is much better for me.

I tried that whole roll out of bed and run without eating anything, and I just feel weak and starving through the whole run.  I have switched my eating around a bit where I'm eating the bulk of my calories earlier in the day and eating lighter at night to pare down the weight a bit, and so maybe this is the problem.  It has been a challenge to find the right balance between eating enough that I'm fueled for running, yet not overfull and miserable during the run from cramps, etc.  I'm thinking I'll try the Clif bar approach next.  Thanks for all the great advice out there.

Try the following products:  go to advocare.com/09083680. active line (Spark and the O2gold), Trim line (Catalyst) and  (Meal replacement shakes) and in the performance elite line (arginine extreme, post workout recovery and the nighttime recovery).  The whole, complete product lines are great but these have helped athletes just like you.  Good Luck