Any long-distance runner will be all too familiar with the challenges associated with maintaining energy levels while running.
Over the years, athletes have revealed their unlikely fuel choices: from brownies to Pop Tarts – and even Eggo waffles.
But one marathoner, 25-year-old Kate Glavan from New York, has a particularly unique way to maintain endurance: 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” cannabis edibles every half hour to 45 minutes.
The medication allowed her to “float” through the challenge and complete it in the average time.
“It’s always about two to five milligrams, just to lift me up a little bit,” Glavan said Yahoo.
“On race day, I kept a small container in my pocket and cut 5 mg edibles into halves. I would just take that every 30, 45 minutes to an hour or so.”
The average joint contains about 40 mg of THC – the active ingredient in cannabis responsible for the ‘high’.
“Most of the time running is not fun for the first ten minutes if you’re not really warmed up,” she said.
‘You don’t really feel connected to your body. So cannabis is something that puts me in a state of calm: being in the moment, being present, having blinders to everything else. I’m very focused and in the zone.’
Edibles company Huxleys has launched a range of ‘energy-boosting’ cannabis supplements
Glavan first became interested in fueling her runs with weed after reading investigative journalist Josiah Hesse’s book Runner’s High, which exposed the extent of marijuana use in elite sports.
In the TikTok video posted in early November, Glavan gives tips to others who want to participate in the runner’s high.
“My whole process is this has to be individual to you,” she said in a video that has been viewed 56,900 times.
‘Dosage, timing, play with that. You know, body weight, did you eat, did you have caffeine?
“There are a lot of variables that can affect the way the thing — the plant — interacts with your body.”
She adds that she typically consumes about five milligrams on each of her runs.
Online retailers have followed this trend, with some edible companies selling bottles of cannabis supplements that claim to boost energy levels.
A 2021 study by British experts concluded that the majority of research on THC and athletic performance shows the substance has “zero or harmful effects.”
However, studies that ask marijuana users whether the drug affects their exercise routine report positive effects such as increased joy and motivation.