When Miles Add Stress
Spot the Signs and Protect Your Performance
Endurance running is a wonderful way to stay fit, energised and act as a de-stressor. It gives an opportunity to give our minds a rest from our day to day responsibilities, as we focus on the miles, our breath, the nature around us.
Running is supposed to feel freeing, energising, even joyful. But what happens when your miles start to feel like a grind, your legs heavy, your pace stubbornly slow, and that sense of reward is missing?
The invisible load of stress from work, family, lifestyle, and daily demands piling up in addition to a heavy training load can take it’s toll. When your body is carrying too much stress, it can quietly undermine both your performance and the pleasure you get from running.
A heavy run training load combined with a busy life adds to your “stress load” and may start to affect both your health and your running performance. Endurance running is also a physical stress on the body, let’s explore how it shows up.
How Running Contributes to Stress Load
Running is a physical stressor. Long or intense sessions create inflammation, muscle breakdown, and high energy demands, all of which your body must repair. Without enough recovery, cortisol levels rise, suppressing immunity, disturbing sleep, and slowing recovery.
There’s also the mental side of running - the push to stick to a plan, chase a time, or avoid injury. What starts as motivation can easily tip into pressure, quietly adding to your stress load.
Sometimes that “buzz” from training can mask what’s really going on underneath. When life’s other demands are added in, your overall stress bucket can start to overflow - affecting energy, recovery, and enjoyment of running itself.
How Stress Impacts Running Performance
Stress doesn’t just make you feel drained - it affects your running in measurable ways. Some of the main impacts include:
Slower recovery: Both immediate (within hours) and long-term (over days) recovery can be delayed. Stress may prolong soreness, fatigue, and slowing healing.
Reduced training adaptation: Too much stress relative to recovery can blunt your body’s physiological response to training.
Mental fatigue: Feeling mentally drained reduces endurance, focus, and motivation.
Lower running economy: Stress can make you less efficient as a runner, meaning you use more energy to maintain pace.
The cumulative stress load can increase injury risk, fatigue, and burnout.
Tell Tale Signs
Stress can manifest in many ways, and runners don’t always realise it’s the underlying cause of poor performance or low energy. Some of the key signs include:
Physical:
Muscle tension or pain
Recurring injuries or illnesses
Fatigue or low energy
Sleep disturbances
Digestive issues
Headaches or hormonal issues (including fertility concerns)
Weight gain or resistant weight loss
Psychological/Emotional:
Feeling overwhelmed or irritable
Anxiety or loss of motivation (“running mojo” disappears)
Behavioural:
Over or under eating
Poor training adaptation
Chronic stress may also trigger other health conditions or create barriers to recovery. Even subtle stressors, if unaddressed, can undermine energy, immunity, and overall wellbeing.
Managing Stress Through Nutrition and Lifestyle
When we talk about managing stress for runners, it is not only about slowing down or sleeping more, it is also about supporting the body’s natural stress response. Your adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, play a vital role in helping you cope with physical and emotional demands. Looking after them through balanced nutrition and restorative habits can make a big difference to both health and performance.
Balancing Blood Sugar
A foundation of adrenal health, and indeed all hormonal health, is keeping blood sugar steady throughout the day. Long gaps between meals, skipped breakfasts, or reliance on sugary snacks can all lead to dips and spikes in energy. Each dip signals your adrenal glands to release more cortisol to stabilise blood sugar, placing an extra burden on them.
Eating regularly, combining protein, healthy fats, and slow-releasing carbohydrates at each meal, helps maintain stable blood sugar and minimises unnecessary cortisol release. You will notice steadier energy, better concentration, and fewer cravings for caffeine or sugar.
Meal timing can help support adrenal fatigue:
Eat breakfast within an hour of waking to replenish overnight glycogen stores
Have lunch around midday, before energy dips
Include a mid-afternoon snack between 2–3pm to support the natural lull in cortisol
Aim for an early, lighter dinner to promote restful sleep
If you wake early or struggle with energy first thing, a small evening snack may help keep blood sugar stable overnight
Minimise Stimulants
Caffeine and alcohol can both over-stimulate the adrenal glands. While a morning coffee can be fine for most runners, multiple cups or using caffeine to push through fatigue can lead to a crash later. Try switching to herbal teas or water after midday and notice if your sleep or recovery improves.
Nourish Your Adrenals with Key Nutrients
Certain nutrients are essential for healthy adrenal and stress hormone function, and when you are chronically stressed you may need higher levels due to both physical exertion and stress load.
Magnesium – nature’s relaxant. Found in dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, oats, and dark chocolate, magnesium supports muscle relaxation, sleep, and mood.
Vitamin C – used in cortisol production and depleted by stress. Boost intake with berries, citrus fruits, peppers, kiwi, and leafy greens
B Vitamins – key for energy production and adrenal resilience. Include eggs, whole grains, pulses, mushrooms, and green vegetables
Zinc – supports hormone balance and immune health. Found in fish, meat, seeds, and legumes
Consider consulting with a nutritional therapy or functional medical practitioner for a tailored supplement plan if you are not getting results from food only.
Salt Cravings
If you are craving salt, your adrenals may be signalling low aldosterone, another adrenal hormone. Choose nourishing savoury options such as olives, oatcakes with tapenade, or a pinch of sea salt added to meals rather than reaching for ultra-processed snacks.
Restore, Rest, Recover
Finally, remember that nutrition works best alongside restorative habits. Good sleep, regular rest days, and simple calming routines, such as an electronics curfew, breathing practice, or relaxing bath, help bring the body out of fight or flight and back into balance.
By eating regularly, choosing whole, nutrient-rich foods, and creating space for rest, you will help your adrenals recover from both life’s stresses and the demands of endurance running, so you can feel strong, calm, and energised for the miles ahead.
Supporting your adrenals and managing stress now helps prevent bigger issues later, because prevention is always better than cure.
Key Takeaway: You can’t pour from an empty cup. Managing your total stress load helps you recover better, train more effectively, and maintain your long-term health and enjoyment of running.
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