the pre-run food thing I kept getting wrong

Right so I've been properly nerding out on this lately because I spent about two years eating either too much, too little, or the completely wrong things before training and honestly my splits showed it. The thing nobody really tells you upfront is that timing matters as much as what you actually eat. I used to have a big bowl of porridge like an hour before a long run and wonder why I felt sluggish at kilometre 4. Classic mistake apparently. Heavy carbs need more time to sit. Aye it was brutal figuring that out mid-run near Holyrood. What actually works for me now — and I'm not saying this is universal — is keeping it simple and timing it right. Something like: 2-3 hours out: proper meal, rice or pasta based, nothing too fatty 45-60 mins out: banana or a couple of oatcakes, something easy to digest Under 30 mins: nothing solid, just water or my matcha if I need a focus boost The matcha thing I stumbled into by accident tbh. I used to do coffee and it was fine but I'd sometimes get that jittery edge right before a tempo session which is the last thing you want when you're trying to hold pace. Matcha just... sits better. Less spike. I mean I still take my creatine daily regardless of timing so that's a separate conversation. What I've noticed most is how much better my first 5k feels when I've got the nutrition window right. Like genuinely different. There's this thing where your body's basically in a panic if you turn up under-fuelled for anything over 10k and you feel it around the 7k mark without fail. Still figuring out race-day stuff because that's a whole different beast with the nerves affecting digestion but for regular training this approach has made a noticeable difference to how I feel in the back half of a run.