Any long distance runner will be all too familiar with the challenges of keeping energy levels up during a run.
Over the years, athletes have revealed their unlikely choice of fuel: from brownies to Pop Tarts – and even Eggo waffles.
But one marathon runner, 25 year-old Kate Glavan from New York, has a particularly unique way of maintaining stamina: cannabis edibles.
The NYU alumni, who attracts 116,000 TikTok users to her fitness channel, explained how she got through the recent New York City Marathon by taking ‘chopped up’ cannabis edibles every half hour to 45 minutes.
The drugs allowed her to ‘float’ through the challenge, finishing it in below average time.
‘It’s always kind of that two to five milligram just to get me a little bit lifted,’ Glavan told Yahoo.
‘On race day, I held a little container in my pocket and I chopped up 5mg edibles into two halves. I would just take those like, every 30, 45 minutes to an hour or so.’
The average joint contains around 40mg of THC – the active ingredient in cannabis that’s responsible for the ‘high’.
‘Running most of the time sucks for the first 10 minutes or so when you’re not really warmed up,’ she said.
‘You don’t really feel yourself connected to your body. So cannabis is something that gets me to a state of tranquility – being in the moment, being present, having the blinders on to everything else. I’m very focused and in the zone with it.’
Edibles firm Huxleys have released a range of ‘energy-boosting’ cannabis supplements
Glavan first became interested in fuelling her runs with weed after reading the book Runner’s High by investigative journalist Josiah Hesse, which uncovered the scale of marijuana use in elite sport.
In TikTok video posted in early November, Glavan offers tips to others looking to get on board with the ‘runner’s high’.
‘My whole process is that this has got to be individual for you,’ she said in a video that’s been watched 56,900 times.
‘Dosage, timing, play around with that. You know, body weight, did you eat, did you have caffeine.
‘There’s a lot of variables that can affect how the thing – the plant – interacts with you body.’
She adds that she typically consumes about five milligrams on each of her runs.
Online retailers have cottoned on to the trend, with some edible companies selling bottles of cannabis supplements, which claim to boost energy levels.
A 2021 review by UK experts concluded the majority of research into THC and athletic performance shows the substance has ‘either null or detrimental effects’.
However, studies in which weed users are asked whether the drug affects their exercise routine report positive effects like increased joy and motivation.
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