Pre-workouts not only fuel your lifts, but also your runs
January 23, 2025
Whether you’ve been running for years or have recently started running, chances are that you’ve considered taking a pre-workout before starting a run. There are tons of pre-workouts available to runners and their benefits and key ingredients can vary based on needs.
Pre-Workouts are most commonly found in powder and capsule form but more recently pre-workout gummies, gels, and even muscle rubs have started being used. The purpose of taking a pre-workout is to positively impact your mental and physical performance. When you ingest a combination of ingredients found in these supplements your anaerobic capacity, time to exhaustion, upper body muscular endurance, and other abilities may improve (1).
Most active people can find some benefit in taking something to increase energy, focus, and performance during their workouts. Some of the most common ingredients you’ll find in these supplements are tyrosine, theanine, L-citrulline, alpha-glycerophosphocholine, beta-alanine, betaine anhydrous, and caffeine anhydrous. A combination of some or all of these ingredients can benefit runners in multiple ways. We’ve compiled a short list of the most stand-out benefits below, along with our favorite pre’s to try.
Improved Readiness and Alertness
One of the hardest parts about running can be getting started. Research shows that pre-workout supplements can make you feel more awake and improve your alertness. This is important because simply feeling like you want to get moving is half of the battle sometimes. If you take a supplement that contains beta-alanine this can make you ready to get it in gear since your face will get the tingles and standing still will feel impossible.
Not only can pre-workout help motivate you to start your run but it can help you stay alert during a run if you were feeling particularly sleepy before starting. Some of the key ingredients in pre-workout are known to help you focus which tends to be an important safety factor when it comes to running (2).
This is especially true for trail runners since losing focus can end in catching your foot on a root and taking an undesired flight down the trail. Improved alertness can also help you stay aware of your surroundings (such as competitors during a race) and this awareness may positively impact your personal performance as well as race results.
If your goal is to feel the hype prior to working out, give Pro Supps Mr.Hyde Signature a try.
Increased Time to Fatigue
Studies have shown that when highly trained endurance athletes take a pre-workout supplement before their activity the amount of time it takes them to feel tired between the start and finish of their activity increases. This has mostly proven to be true when running at a threshold pace, or a pace that is very challenging but can be maintained for close to an hour if needed (3).
Building endurance as a runner can be a long and tedious process when you build volume safely. That being said, even when your body is physically prepared to work hard or for long periods that doesn’t always mean the energy to do so is available.
Having a pre-workout in your system can help time to pass by quicker when you are working hard. Instead of feeling like you can’t go any longer at a challenging pace, you may notice that it takes you longer to burn out during your 10k which may even make a kick at the end more possible since you may feel like you still have some energy left to finish strong.
If increased endurance is your goal, give Thentic Pre-Workout Non-Stim a try.
Improved Rate of Perceived Exertion
The rate of perceived exertion, also known as RPE, refers to how hard you feel like you are having to work during a workout. Often a coach will ask their athletes to give them an RPE on a scale of 1-10 to describe how they felt during their run effort. Ideally, you want to be able to go hard and fast without feeling like you are working as hard as the output you get demonstrates you are. This tends to be an indicator of improved fitness for coaches though it can also be part of adaptation in training.
According to some research, runners who take pre-workout supplements before their workout may experience a significantly lower RPE than they do when they don’t take the pre-workout supplement before their workout. This does tend to only be true for about the first 20 minutes of a workout though (4). That being said, it can still be beneficial for longer workouts as the easier a run feels in the beginning the easier it may be to run a longer distance or maintain a harder pace. Taking pre-workout is likely to be particularly beneficial for shorter races and intense workouts.
If you’re seeking to improve overall effort in your workout, give Signature Pre-Workout a try.
No two pre-workouts are made the same. Find the right product for the goal you’re after, and give it a few tries to see how it fuels your session.
Sources
-
The effects of a pre-workout supplement on measures of alertness, mood, and lower-extremity power. (2022, Cureus)
-
The acute effects of multi-ingredient pre-workout ingestion on strength performance, lower body power, and anaerobic capacity. (2016, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition)
-
The effect of a multi-ingredient pre-workout supplement on time to fatigue in NCAA division I cross-country athletes. (2021, Nutrients).
-
Effects of One Versus Two Doses of a Multi-Ingredient Pre-Workout Supplement on Metabolic Factors and Perceived Exertion during Moderate-Intensity Running in Females. 2020, Sports)
