Beetroot For Runners: Can It Really Improve Your Running Performance?

Beetroot has become one of the most popular natural performance aids in endurance sport. Runners increasingly use beetroot juice and concentrated beetroot shots before races and harder training sessions, but unlike many sports nutrition trends, there is genuine scientific evidence behind it.

The potential benefits of beetroot for runners come largely from its high concentration of dietary nitrate. The body can convert nitrate into nitric oxide, which is involved in blood flow, muscle function and exercise efficiency. Research suggests that increasing nitrate intake can improve exercise performance in some circumstances, although the benefits are generally small and aren't experienced equally by every runner.

So, can beetroot actually help you run faster, how much do you need and when should you take it?

Why Is Beetroot Good For Runners?

Beetroot is the edible root of the beet plant, Beta vulgaris, and is naturally rich in dietary nitrate. Nitrate is also found in vegetables including spinach, rocket, lettuce and celery, so beetroot isn't unique in providing it.

What makes beetroot particularly interesting for runners is the amount of nitrate it can provide and the availability of concentrated beetroot products containing a known dose. This makes it much easier to consume the quantities that have been studied in sports performance research.

Beetroot also provides nutrients including folate, potassium and fibre when eaten as a whole vegetable. However, it is nitrate rather than the general nutritional content of beetroot that has generated most of the interest within sports science.

How Does Beetroot Help Running Performance?

After you consume nitrate, some is absorbed into the bloodstream and then concentrated in saliva. Bacteria in your mouth convert nitrate into nitrite, which can subsequently contribute to the production of nitric oxide in the body.

Nitric oxide has several functions relevant to exercise, including helping regulate blood flow and muscle contraction. Dietary nitrate may also reduce the oxygen and energy cost of exercise, effectively allowing the muscles to perform a given amount of work more efficiently.

For runners, this could potentially make maintaining a particular intensity slightly easier or allow you to sustain harder exercise for longer.

It is important not to exaggerate the effect. Beetroot won't suddenly produce a dramatic improvement in your running, and individual responses vary. However, even relatively small improvements can be useful when you're trying to improve race performance.

Does Beetroot Actually Make You Run Faster?

There is enough evidence behind dietary nitrate for it to be recognised as a genuine sports performance supplement rather than simply another nutrition trend.

Research has found improvements in various measures of aerobic exercise performance following nitrate supplementation, although results differ according to the athlete, exercise being performed, dose and supplementation strategy.

The evidence appears particularly relevant to sustained high-intensity exercise and events lasting roughly 4 to 30 minutes, although nitrate has also been investigated across a much wider range of endurance activities.

This means runners shouldn't assume that taking beetroot before a marathon will automatically produce a faster finishing time. The potential performance improvement is likely to be relatively small and individual.

Recreational and moderately trained athletes may also have more scope to benefit than highly trained endurance athletes, although responses vary considerably.

Beetroot For 5K And 10K Running

The evidence surrounding dietary nitrate makes beetroot particularly interesting for runners racing shorter endurance distances such as 5K and 10K.

These distances require runners to maintain a relatively high intensity for a prolonged period, which overlaps with the types of exercise where nitrate supplementation has frequently been studied.

That doesn't mean every runner will record a personal best after drinking beetroot juice. Training, fitness, pacing, sleep, fuelling and race conditions will have far greater effects on your result. Beetroot should be viewed as a possible small addition to those fundamentals rather than a replacement for them.

Beetroot For Half Marathon And Marathon Runners

Beetroot is also popular among half marathon and marathon runners, although the evidence shouldn't be interpreted as meaning it will automatically save several minutes over a marathon.

Long-distance performance depends on numerous factors including aerobic fitness, running economy, carbohydrate availability, hydration, pacing and fatigue resistance. Dietary nitrate potentially influences some of the physiological processes involved in endurance exercise, but its effect is only one small part of the overall picture.

If you're training for a half marathon or marathon, beetroot can therefore be considered as part of your wider race nutrition strategy, but your carbohydrate intake and hydration remain much more important.

How Much Beetroot Should Runners Take?

This is where concentrated beetroot products can be more useful than simply eating beetroot with your dinner. Research protocols commonly provide around 6–8 mmol of nitrate, equivalent to approximately 350–500mg, before exercise. Some products contain this amount in a relatively small concentrated shot.

Don't assume that every beetroot juice, powder or shot provides an effective dose. The nitrate concentration of beetroot can vary considerably, and some commercial products don't state how much nitrate they contain.

If you're buying a product specifically for its potential performance benefits, check the label for the nitrate content rather than simply looking at how much beetroot it contains.

Whole beetroot is still an excellent food and can contribute to your dietary nitrate intake, but obtaining a precise pre-race nitrate dose from ordinary beetroot is much more difficult.

When Should Runners Take Beetroot?

For an acute pre-race strategy, beetroot or another dietary nitrate source is generally consumed around two to three hours before exercise.

This gives the body time to process the nitrate and increase nitric oxide availability before you start running. Taking a beetroot shot immediately before the start is therefore unlikely to be the best strategy.

Another approach used in research is to consume nitrate daily for several days leading into an important race, rather than relying solely on one pre-race dose.

As with gels, caffeine and every other element of race nutrition, experiment during training first. Don't introduce a concentrated beetroot product for the first time on the morning of an important race.

Don't Use Antibacterial Mouthwash With Beetroot

One surprisingly important consideration is your mouth. The conversion of dietary nitrate into nitrite relies partly on bacteria naturally present in the mouth. Using antibacterial mouthwash around the time you consume nitrate can interfere with this process and potentially reduce the intended effect.

If you're specifically using beetroot as a nitrate supplement before a race, avoiding antibacterial mouthwash around your supplementation period is therefore sensible.

Beetroot Juice, Beetroot Shots Or Whole Beetroot?

Whole beetroot, beetroot juice and concentrated beetroot products can all provide nitrate, but they aren't necessarily interchangeable when you're using beetroot specifically for performance.

Whole beetroot is an excellent everyday food and can be roasted, added to salads or incorporated into meals. Regularly eating nitrate-rich vegetables can also increase your overall dietary nitrate intake.

Standard beetroot juice can provide considerably more nitrate, but its concentration can vary. Concentrated sports shots have the advantage of providing a relatively large and, with suitable products, clearly stated nitrate dose in a small amount of liquid.

For runners specifically targeting an evidence-based pre-race dose, a product that clearly states its nitrate content is therefore the easiest option.

A much easier way to take beetroot!

Can Beetroot Help With Running Recovery?

There has also been research into beetroot juice and recovery following strenuous exercise.

Some studies suggest beetroot juice may improve certain measures of recovery, including muscle function and soreness following muscle-damaging exercise. However, the evidence is less straightforward than the research surrounding nitrate and exercise performance.

For most runners, the fundamentals of recovery remain more important. Eating enough carbohydrate and protein, replacing lost fluids and getting sufficient sleep should take priority over adding beetroot specifically for recovery.

Does Beetroot Have Other Health Benefits?

Beetroot can be a useful part of a healthy diet regardless of whether you use it for running performance. Dietary nitrate can increase nitric oxide availability, which is involved in regulating blood vessels and blood pressure. Eating beetroot alongside a wide variety of vegetables also provides vitamins, minerals, fibre and other plant compounds.

This is another reason to distinguish between eating beetroot as part of your normal diet and using a concentrated nitrate product specifically before exercise. Both can be useful, but they're serving slightly different purposes.

Are There Any Side Effects From Beetroot?

Beetroot is generally well tolerated, but concentrated beetroot juice can cause digestive discomfort in some people, particularly when consumed in larger quantities.

It can also turn urine or stools pink or red, a harmless effect known as beeturia. This can look alarming if you aren't expecting it, but it is normally nothing to worry about after eating beetroot.

The potential for stomach problems is another reason to test your chosen product during training before using it for a race.

Read about running nutrition mistakes here.

Is Beetroot Worth Trying For Runners?

Beetroot is one of the better-supported nutritional strategies available to runners. Dietary nitrate is recognised within sports nutrition as a performance supplement with good scientific evidence when used in appropriate situations and at an appropriate dose.

That doesn't mean beetroot is guaranteed to make you faster. The potential improvements are relatively small, responses differ between runners and the evidence is stronger for some types of exercise than others.

However, if you've already got your training, pacing, recovery and race nutrition in place, beetroot is a relatively simple strategy to experiment with. Try an appropriate nitrate dose before a harder training session and see how you respond before considering using the same approach on race day.

Final Thoughts

The interest in beetroot for runners isn't simply clever marketing. There is genuine science behind dietary nitrate and its potential effect on exercise performance, which is why beetroot juice has become so common in endurance sport.

For runners who want to experiment with it, the important factors are the nitrate dose and timing rather than simply consuming as much beetroot as possible. Around 350–500mg of nitrate taken two to three hours before exercise reflects the type of protocol commonly used in sports nutrition research.

Beetroot won't compensate for missed training, poor pacing or inadequate race fuelling, but once those fundamentals are in place, it may provide a small additional performance benefit. For a food that was once mainly associated with salads and sandwiches, that's a pretty impressive transformation.

Read about other vegetables that are good for your running here.