This week on Cook Eat Run, Charlie Watson is joined by Dana, a sports nutrition expert, to delve into the increasingly popular topic of creatine supplementation for runners.

Understanding Creatine

Charlie and Dana kick off the discussion by breaking down what creatine is and its natural occurrence in the body. Dana explains how creatine plays a crucial role in energy production, particularly during high-intensity activities, and why it’s gaining traction among endurance athletes.

Who Can Benefit?

The conversation highlights that while creatine is often associated with strength and power athletes, endurance runners, especially women over 30, can also reap significant benefits. Dana discusses how creatine can aid in muscle recovery, combat age-related muscle loss, and even improve brain health, making it a worthwhile consideration for many.

Supplementation Guidelines

Listeners will learn about the recommended dosages, the best forms of creatine to take, and how to incorporate it into their daily routines. Dana shares insights on the importance of hydration and addresses common concerns regarding gastrointestinal issues that some may experience with supplementation.

Practical Tips and Timing

Charlie and Dana provide practical advice on when to take creatine, how to mix it into your diet, and the potential weight gain that may occur. They also discuss the importance of monitoring your body’s response to supplementation and adjusting accordingly.

Key Takeaways

As the episode wraps up, Dana emphasises the importance of keeping a journal to track any changes and benefits experienced while taking creatine. She encourages listeners to consult with a sports dietitian if they have any concerns or negative side effects.

For more information and to connect with Dana, follow her on Instagram @a_dash_of_dana or visit her website for additional resources and insights.

Got fuelling and nutrition questions? Episode topic suggestions? - find Charlie online @therunnerbeans / www.therunnerbeans.com 

Grab a copy of Charlie’s book ‘Cook Eat Run’ 

The Cook Eat Run Podcast is sponsored by XMiles - the One Stop Nutrition Shop - use discount code COOKEATRUN for 10% off this month’s featured products at Xmiles.co.uk 

This podcast is proudly produced by Decibelle Creative decibellecreative.com / @decibelle_creative

>> Charlie: Welcome to the Cook Eat Run podcast with X Miles, hosted

by me, Charlie Watson. I'm a runner, a mum, an

NHS dietitian and author of the recipe

book for runners Cook Eat Run. I'm also

a 16 times marathoner and love nothing more than sharing what

I've learned along the way through a lot of trial and error.

Cook Eat Run is the go to podcast for running,

nutrition training tips, marathon debriefs and, more.

I'm here to answer all your questions and fuel you with the

knowledge you'll need to run faster, further and actually just

to have more fun on the run. So whether you're training for an

ultra, want to improve your marathon pb, or

simply just get more out of your running, you're in the right

place.

Hello and welcome back to the Cook Eat Run podcast with Ex

Marles. This week we're talking about creatine, specifically

creatine for runners and whether it's a useful supplement to

add to your daily routine. I'm chatting with Dana

Sowards, an endurance sports dietitian and coach all about

when and why runners might take creatine. If you want

to give it a try or just stock up on your current favourite

sports nutrition products, use the code

COOKEATRUN to save 10% across the full range

at, xmiles.co.uk. so Dana, thank

you so much for joining me today. I am so excited to kind of

go on a bit of a deep dive into creatine because it's something I think

that a lot of people are, seeing on social media

and talking about and are getting

advertised on, you know, Instagram

and, and we don't really know or people don't

really know much about it. Gathering Instagram

questions, they just came flooding in. So I think

it's a topic that

runners, women over 30

are really interested in. So yeah, excited

to kind of go deep on it today.

>> Dana: Yes, likewise.

>> Charlie: Can we just start with like, what, what is creatine?

What do we mean when we say creatine?

>> Dana: Yeah, so creatine is,

it's naturally occurring in our bodies.

We have about like 80 to 130

grammes within our bodies. It's stored in our

muscles and our brain and

we really only use about 1 to 2% of this. So we use a

really tiny amount every single day

and our body does naturally produce this, but

we, we want to replenish that. And the primary sources

we're going to get that from is from animal protein.

Folks that are vegan, vegetarian, might not, they're

definitely not going to get this in their diet. So

we're going to see them have, have a big benefit of

supplementation. And then, also

women naturally

have 70 to 80%

lower creatine stores than men. so

they definitely experience a larger performance

improvement with creatine supplementation.

>> Charlie: So creatine itself is, is,

is what? Like in it, when you say we have it in our bodies, it's an amino

acid, it's a muscle, it's a, you know what? Yeah.

>> Dana: Yes. It's an amino acid.

>> Charlie: Yeah.

>> Dana: Great.

>> Charlie: And it's one that is stored in our body that we

can get through food. So why is, why are people

talking about it so much in terms of athletic performance?

>> Dana: Yeah, so we'll hear this. Talked

primarily in like, I mean we see it

in the bodybuilding world probably the most, like the strength

power athletes. speed also is

where we are going to see the bulk of the benefit.

So that's, that's where we're really going to see

the, the athletic performance.

>> Charlie: So what, what role does creatine play in

our body?

>> Dana: so we have something called the

creatine phosphate system. and

so this is really, really fast

energy. you think like burst of

energy, like one to four seconds. Like, we're lifting really

heavy, we're sprinting up a hill, we're

jumping, we're doing plyometric type training. Like that's where we're

going to get the benefit.

>> Charlie: So it's involved in those kind of processes.

So if we're having it as part of our redmi, as

our, you know, the other dietary sources, we're

then using it when we sprint for a

bus or do our gym workout. Those kind of

things.

>> Dana: Correct. Yep.

>> Charlie: And, so I've seen it more in terms of, on

social media, like endurance runners are starting to use. I'm

seeing people taking it

daily when they're not necessarily going to be

performing planned high,

you know, quick, activities.

What is it like, should we be supplementing

it? Should everybody be supplementing it?

What's the kind of, what would your guidance be on

that?

>> Dana: Yeah, so, you know, kind of as a, as a

baseline, you absolutely can supplement

because as we,

you know, if, if any sort of

sport is in your life or even just we look at

other, other benefits outside of

performance, athletic performance, brain

health. we're seeing a big, a big role in brain

health and we're also seeing a big role for,

perimenopause and menopause, menopausal women,

in realms of like the, the brain fog that they

experience, the age related muscle loss or

sarcopenia that that comes with

age. And so we're seeing

benefits of that for just having this maintenance

kind of three to five grammes per day.

and you don't need to cycle off of it. I know there

was gosh, maybe 10,

15 years ago it was like creatine is really hard on your

kidneys. You don't want to be taking it consistently

and it's completely safe to

take consistently. you know the same, same with

any like increasing your protein in general,

just be adequately hydrated, is the

biggest thing.

>> Charlie: So, so three to five grammes a day

and that's every day, not just on days where you're doing

a hard workout or lifting.

>> Dana: Correct.

>> Charlie: And is there a kind of a best way

to take it? If people are interested in, in

taking it? Is it best on its own? Because I've seen it sold

on its own but it was a. Within protein powders.

I've seen it as capsules. Is there a like

gold standard for creatine supplementation?

>> Dana: Yeah. So the, the gold standard

form is something called Korea Pure.

that's the most studied form of

creatine to my

knowledge. It's mostly in powdered

form. but so that's the

easiest way to do it. There is research that shows

creatine plus carbohydrate work really well together

for like absorption and, and

body usage. So that can be really

beneficial if it's in your, your protein

powder, if it's in a capsule. And that

is you know, better for you to take in realms

of like that's what you're going to remember to do.

that is equally as good. You'll see probably creatine

monohydrate is, is the most widely

used form.

>> Charlie: Yeah.

>> Dana: Of that.

>> Charlie: And is that not quite the same as this?

>> Dana: Yeah. So Korea Pure is creatine

monohydrate. It's a form of that. It just the way they

process it and produce that. So some of the

creatine monohydrate can. Some people will

have concerns with GI issues specifically like

lower gi, gastric diarrhoea,

bloating, things like that. but the Korea Pure

in research has not shown that to be

that to happen.

>> Charlie: Yeah. Because I was going to ask. A lot of people had mentioned either getting

kind of gas or bloating or

just like their IBS symptoms being worse

is something that we see with that dosage of

the 3 to 5 grammes. Or is that, can that

be it? Can that happen at

quite a seemingly low level of dosing? Or is that

something you see usually when people take it in higher dosages?

>> Dana: I've actually seen it in both. definitely the higher

dosing is like, you know, we,

I'm sure everyone has heard of like a loading phase where

you almost, you do about 20

grammes of creatine monohydrate

for seven days. and this is split typically into

four doses throughout the day. It's not

necessary. We don't need to do that. it will

naturally build in your body and support

those, those processes. so we don't need to have a

loading phase. But when people have done

that, that is definitely higher

incidence of GI stuff going on.

But I've seen it at even the lower dose of

3gr. And then we look at. Okay, what type of

creatine are you having? is it the crea pure,

which is definitely easier on the GI system?

So that might be something, you know, if you're having issues like this, just

take a peek on the nutrition label

and see. Does it, does it specify that it's

creapure? Because it has to. It will say that.

>> Charlie: And so if people do experience GI issues, even

if you haven't throughout the kind of you taking it,

would you suggest, if you have a big event sort of coming off it, just

in case, to reduce your risk, like AMER marathon

at the weekend, would you like, not take that

weekend's sort of dosage? Or if

you generally tolerate it week

to week, will you likely be fine on race

day?

>> Dana: Yeah, I think you would be fine if you're generally tolerating

it if, if you're having GI issues.

regardless, like, we, we want to kind of zoom out a little

bit and assess. Like, is it actually the creatine doing

this? Is it the timing of taking the creatine maybe

that's causing this? Like, maybe, you know, if

you're taking it before a workout, maybe your body doesn't love that

and we need to take it after, or maybe we need to take it later in the

day and that's okay. There's in realms of research

to support or to show timing of

creatine consumption. any, any time

is okay. So there's no, like,

specific time frame.

>> Charlie: Okay.

>> Dana: Knowledge.

>> Charlie: That's good to know because, yeah, I was going to ask, like, is it something you need to be

drinking, like, on your way to the gym or on your way to the workout or

immediately Afterwards, but you can take it anytime,

whenever sort of suits your

schedule.

>> Charlie: Yeah. Okay, that's good to know. and

are there any other symptoms that people might experience

or should look out for other than the kind of GI

issues that people have reported from

creatine supplementing?

>> Dana: Yeah, so you will experience some weight

gain. and this is, this is primarily

because, kind of similar as

glycogen or carbohydrate

pulling water into your muscle cells.

Creatine does the same thing. And so,

you know, arguably I find this super beneficial for endurance

athletes because this aids in your hydration status. And I'm

like, if you're going out to run ra a marathon

or any sort of ultra distance event,

we are always butting up against dehydration. So this is actually

going to benefit you in that sense. but we might see

like a 1 to 2 kilogramme

body weight gain when we start taking this.

And usually people will experience this in the

first two weeks and then it just stabilises a

little bit.

>> Charlie: So that's quite substantial, isn't

it? One to two kilos in two weeks.

Is it like that will 100% happen

or is that just if you're doing

it on top of strength training

or running a lot?

>> Dana: Yeah, it won't, it won't 100% happen. I've

had people start taking it and they don't notice

anything. some people are on the higher end and then

they're kind of like maybe they're taking five grammes

of creatine and we're like let's, let's try three and see if your

body feels better that way. Because like you, you mentioned

like, you know, two kilogrammes

in a week or two, like that can feel

like a lot. Especially if we, if we're talking about a female athlete

on a smaller frame like that can feel like a lot of

weight. and so that can probably be a little bit uncomfortable.

So definitely, yeah.

>> Charlie: And so within those first two weeks we, we

might see the weight gain. What other kind of

metrics can you use to tell that it's working? Like

what is it that things feel

easier, you feel stronger, you're faster. Like what are the kind

of metrics that we're looking at to say, yeah, this is working for

my body?

>> Dana: Yeah, so you'll definitely feel stronger. you will

definitely have more, you

know, like I mentioned running up a hill earlier

or even doing like some resistance training. Like

you're able to increase weight in the

gym. you're Able to sprint up that hill

more powerfully or not necessarily

faster. Like that obviously needs to come with

progressive training overload. but you're

maybe recovering faster after that hill repeat

and you just, you feel stronger in that sense.

So definitely.

>> Charlie: So other than the weight gain and some GI issues

which don't, like, let's be honest, they don't sound great.

Why aren't more people taking it or

trying it, like, do you think, in the running space? I

know that it is gaining popularity, but it's still not as kind

of commonly used as say, like

protein powders and vitamin D and omegas and

those kind of things.

>> Dana: Yeah. So I, I honestly

think that it's because it's not super studied

in the endurance space yet. Like we know

that strength, power, kind of those

explosive movements, we know that, that it

is the, that creatine phosphate system

that is what it's benefiting the most. We

also know though, and you know, this is always my argument

in endurance sport, there's gonna be times that we have to

climb up a punchy hill or that we need

to, you know, sprint around the corner or sprint to the finish

or whatever the case may be, where that

definitely can be beneficial. you know, and this,

and what I personally in practise,

what I encourage athletes to do is this can

be kind of a, seasonal thing that

we're using creatine maybe in the off season to gain some

muscle, to improve some of that high

intensity explosive movement.

And then as we enter some of those peak seasons,

maybe, maybe we don't find that it's benefiting you

and we don't need to take it. So, yeah, that's

kind of, that's where I'm seeing the gap, if you will, in

the endurance space.

>> Charlie: That's interesting. So I'm kind of in a like, like

focusing on strength base building kind of period. Is

that when you would suggest? So I'm in the gym

more than I would be normally when I'm sort of marathon

training. So would this be the period that you'd say, like, give it a

try, see whether it. You can see benefits and then

maybe over the summer when you're racing and a bit more and

not doing so much strength work, then kind

of wean off it and take a break?

>> Dana: Yep, exactly.

>> Charlie: Then I guess you've got the kind of the carb

load. I'm going to be doing more longer runs. I'm going to be holding them some

more weight from carb loading anyway or, you know, taking in more

carbs so that's, yeah, that's really

interesting. is there anything that you should

take? You mentioned carbohydrates but

any other supplements that work well,

taking them with the

creatine, like somebody asked about taurine.

Is there anything that you want to look of like pairs together

in a supplement or like iron

absorbs better with vitamin C. Is there anything other than carbohydrates

that you, you previously mentioned that we should

be kind of timing together?

>> Dana: to my knowledge, no. Like I

creatine and carbohydrate together in realms of like that

recovery health is, is where we're going to

get the best nutrient absorption there.

So those, those are going to work really well together.

So.

>> Charlie: Okay, that's good. So like taking it in like

your post run smoothie that you've made up

with fruits and that kind of thing, is there any,

any like anything that would interfere with the

absorption?

>> Dana: No. you know, and there's been research to look

at like caffeine is for a

lot of supplements is a big inhibitor of absorption

and there's, there's not any solid evidence

that shows that caffeine inhibits

that which is great. And

yeah, so you can take it.

>> Charlie: Alongside your, your, your coffee or your pre workout

supplement. for people that are

kind of either on a running journey or in the gym

to lose weight, would you then

kind of say don't worry about the creatine if that's

their like one of their top two goals. So for

a lot of people it's going to be performance. They want to run

longer or run faster but also lose

weight. Would you say don't try the

creatine because there's this like almost definite

weight gain or do you think that there's the. I know it's going

to be individual but the benefits to their

training outweigh this one to two

kilos?

>> Dana: Yeah, I would say arguably the benefits outweigh.

Outweigh that like weight gain just because

you know, zooming out. If we look

at the power to weight

ratio in that, in that

sense we are definitely going to be improving power

with creatine and we're

also going to be improving muscle mass. And

so for any athlete, you know

I, I always have the kind of devil's advocate

with weight and like why are

we wanting to achieve weight loss? Like what, what

does hitting X number mean to you? What if we zoom,

like zoom out again, focus on

muscle and decreasing body fat

specifically to improve that power to weight ratio so

that you still have the power, you still have the

ability to perform at a peak potential and we're not putting

that performance at risk because that,

there's a fine line in that sense. and

so I, I think taking creatine actually would

be beneficial for them.

>> Charlie: And for those that want to get it

purely from foods. You've

mentioned kind of meats. Are there

any other dietary sources? And if we're talking

about that, how much meat to get the

benefits of the, the equivalent of like three

grammes, of a supplement.

>> Dana: So we would have to consume a tonne of

animal protein to get that, that three

grammes of creatine. It's about one and a half pounds

of, of meat, which I don't know

anybody eating that much meat in a day.

That's, that's a lot. and honestly probably

not super palatable for most people.

So. Yeah, yeah, but

animal protein in general is going to be the best, the best

source. So we think of like beef, pork, I

mean poultry, even, even eggs

have some, some creatine in them, to a smaller degree,

but that's where we're going to be getting creatine from

our food. So you know, for example, if,

if you are a carnivore and you are

eating meat, maybe you

resort to eating or to taking like three

grammes of the creatine and getting

some of that from your animal sources. So that's a way you could kind

of split it.

>> Charlie: So and, but you can get adequate from your

diet just to kind of be a healthy individual rather

than this sort of the performance

benefits.

>> Dana: Absolutely, yes. If you were eating animal protein.

Absolutely.

>> Charlie: Yeah.

>> Charlie: Can we kind of go back a little bit? You, you said about

kind of the perimenopause, the brain fog,

the that the kind of muscle

loss, m. Muscle mass loss.

What age would you kind of think.

Right. Maybe you want to think as an age

and performance related kind of benefit to be

taking creatine for females even if they

maybe aren't having this kind of focus on strength

or focus on power when they're running. But actually the

benefits would be seen maybe

through kind of the rest of their body.

>> Dana: Yeah, the average age of starting perimenopause

is about 40. So you know, I,

I'm big on prevention, and making sure

that we are, we are looking at

bone health, obviously muscle health

for, for females going through

perimenopause. They can vouch for this a little bit

more. I'm not quite there, but have done studies on it.

But with perimenopause, we get a lot of this,

like the brain fog, the

cognition, you know, kind of those symptoms of like you

walk into a room and you're like, what did I just walk in here

for? those kind of things. Creatine can

definitely help with this. same thing with things like mood

swings, depression. there's been really, really

positive research to support that. There's,

improvement in, mood

depressive, symptoms as well, which is great.

That's. That can also be another side effect of that

perimenopause into menopause.

So, it also helps reduce oxidative stress,

which is, is a big thing in that

age range as well. So. And with

any athlete. Yeah, so.

>> Charlie: So if we're trying to prevent it. So I'm

36, would you say,

from a kind of

ageing reasoning,

I'd start taking it at like 38, 39?

Or is it like start now

to prevent those happening in the future

or slow things down?

>> Dana: Yeah, I think starting around, around age

like 35 is actually great. with, with all

the research coming out. It's now, now's the

time is what I always remind people. It's like,

this is what we know now, so let's just, let's act

on it. and the reason

why I say that is because we do start to actually see muscular

decline in females around age 35 and

that body composition shift. You know, I think a lot of

females talk about this is they're like, I hit 35 and things

just started changing. And it's like, you

know, and, and so this not, saying like

creatine is like, end all, be all. Like, this is, this is the

answer. M. But it's, it definitely can help

support muscular muscle and

decreasing muscle loss throughout the

years of perimenopause. and be really

great for that side of things. with

body composition, I feel like.

>> Charlie: I'm convinced to give it a try at least and kind

of see what happens with the GI issues. But

yeah, you've definitely pushed me into

thinking now is a good time to start trying

it.

>> Dana: Definitely. You're in like a, a base

building strength season. And

age wise, like all, all of it I think is

super appropriate. you know, I use creatine

in the off season too. Or like, I don't like to say the

off season. I call it like the, this, fine tuning

season.

>> Charlie: Yeah.

>> Dana: But, but I, I use creatine in that, that time

frame too, just to like support more muscle

mass.

>> Charlie: So, and so if I'm going out and

looking to buy some, is it,

is it, is it, are there ingredients that we should avoid? Is there

anything that we should look out for when we're buying it in terms of

concentration or fillers? I know

that it's kind of a tricky area, isn't

it, supplements because they're not very well regulated. So we want

to make sure that we're getting a good quality supplement.

>> Dana: Absolutely. and honestly with any,

any supplement out there, we want to make sure there's third

party testing with that. So the

two kind of main parties

out there that do third party testing are NSF

Sport and Informed Choice Sport. And they'll

have a logo on that supplement.

Whatever you buy, usually it's on the front. It's, they pay a lot of money

for this. So the logo is going to be very

apparent on that supplement.

And really in a creatine supplement, if you're

buying just creatine monohydrate, it should just be

creatine monohydrate. There shouldn't be anything else

in there. when, you know, if you are

somebody that is more gi. Sensitive, like I mentioned

earlier, the Korea Pure, is definitely what I

recommend and that will be on the supplement facts.

Usually on the back of the label it will say

creapure creatine monohydrate.

And that's, that's what it will have. And

usually the dosing on every

supplement is five grammes. they have a little scooper in there and

that's typically what it is. So if you're wanting to start with three

grammes, just kind of do about

half of, half of that little scooper and that should

be fine and just.

>> Charlie: Mixed into a fluid or however they

suggest on the, on the box.

>> Dana: Yeah. So, it's fleet. Most of them are

flavourless. Some of them have a flavour to them but, most of them

are flavourless. So like you mentioned, like putting it in a smoothie is really

great. sometimes I'll throw mine like,

just like in oatmeal, and I'll like mix it up especially

like post workout. Like that's, that's super easy for

me. It mixes fine. It's a fine, it's a

really fine powder. So it mixes pretty great.

Some people just do it in like you know, 4 ounces of water

and just drink it.

>> Charlie: So yeah, there's no kind of, doesn't have a, have

a taste. I've never tried it before.

>> Dana: No, I mean if You've ever

tried anything like, flavourless, like you

can tell it's there, but it doesn't really taste like anything,

if that makes sense. So that's the best way to

describe it.

>> Charlie: well, thank you so much. Are there any, like, what are your key

takeaways or are there any tips that you give your

athletes when they're kind of thinking about taking

creatine that we either have touched and you just want to

kind of reiterate or that we might not have mentioned so

far?

>> Dana: Yeah. So I would say if, you know, definitely

our females, vegans, vegetarians, we're going to

see the most value in taking creatine, just

because, like I mentioned, females have

a lower storage of creatine in

your system naturally. And

vegans, vegetarians, we're not getting this in our diet and so

supplementing with it is going to be

beneficial. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the

Korea Pure is vegan, so

completely safe. It's Halal certified

as well. So, kind of checks all the boxes there

for everybody to be taking it, so that

can be really beneficial, in those

individuals and starting to take it. And

honestly, what I recommend to my athletes with

any new thing that we are trying, whether

this is performance, nutrition, a new

supplement, new dietary patterns, keep a

journal, you know, like just, just jot down

kind of especially those first two weeks because that's really when

we're going to start to notice the shifts. But I think it's fun

to, to monitor over, over time

of like, what changes you're seeing and if it,

if you're actually seeing the benefit, if it feels good for

you at that dosing, obviously any

negative side effects that you might be feeling and

then maybe checking in with a sports dietitian to

see what you can change, if

you are experiencing negative side effects.

>> Charlie: Great. Well, thank you so much. If people want to find

you after this, where's the best place to go?

>> Dana: Yeah, so Instagram. I have a lot of great,

content and it's just a dash of Dana on

Instagram. And then, my website, I

always, will have at least a monthly blog

and some different, free content on there as well.

>> Charlie: Great. Well, I'll leave that in the show notes below, but thank you so

much for joining us today. I'm off to go and

Google and buy myself some

amazing.

>> Dana: I love, love it.

>> Charlie: You can find Dana, dash of Dana on Instagram

or online@, Adashofdana us. But you'll find all

the links in the show Notes. As I mentioned in the episode,

I'm in a season of building strength and speed, so I've just ordered the

Pilla Performance Creatine Monohydrate to test out.

You can buy Pillar performance

exclusively@xmiles.co.uk and save

10% across the entire range and, site wide with

code cookeatrun at checkout. Thanks again for

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community. See you back here

for another episode soon. In the meantime, happy running

and don't forget to fuel yourself. Bye.