Creatine For Runners: Benefits, Dosage And Does It Improve Performance?

Creatine is one of the most extensively researched sports supplements available, but most runners probably associate it with weight training rather than endurance sport. Its reputation has largely been built around improving strength, power and repeated high-intensity exercise, which might make it seem less relevant if most of your training involves running.

However, creatine for runners is more interesting than it might first appear. It probably won't suddenly make you a faster marathon runner, and the evidence for improving continuous endurance performance is limited, but it may support some of the training that helps runners become stronger and faster. That includes strength training, hill sessions, sprinting and repeated high-intensity intervals.

Creatine may therefore be particularly useful during training periods focused on developing strength, speed and power, although runners also need to consider the small increase in body mass that can accompany supplementation.

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Your body produces creatine itself, while smaller amounts are also obtained from foods, particularly meat and fish.

Most of the creatine in your body is stored in skeletal muscle, where it helps replenish adenosine triphosphate, better known as ATP. ATP provides energy for muscular contractions, but the amount immediately available is limited.

Stored phosphocreatine helps regenerate ATP rapidly, which becomes particularly important during short periods of intense exercise. This explains why creatine has traditionally been associated with activities such as sprinting, jumping and resistance training rather than long-distance running.

Supplementing with creatine increases the amount stored in your muscles, which can help improve performance during repeated high-intensity efforts. For runners, its potential value therefore depends considerably on the type of training you do.

Does Creatine Improve Running Performance?

Creatine has strong evidence behind it as a supplement for strength, power and repeated high-intensity exercise, but that doesn't mean it automatically improves endurance running. Research looking specifically at endurance exercise has not shown a clear and consistent improvement in aerobic endurance performance.

The potential benefits for runners are more likely to appear when training or racing involves repeated high-intensity efforts, sprinting or significant power demands. A 5K runner completing hard intervals, a trail runner powering up steep hills or a marathon runner doing regular strength sessions may therefore have more to gain than someone concentrating almost entirely on steady endurance running.

For many runners, the biggest advantage may be how creatine supports training rather than how it affects a continuous run. Improving the quality of strength, sprint and high-intensity sessions could contribute to a better overall training programme without creatine directly making you faster over a long distance.

Creatine Can Support Strength Training

Strength training can be an important part of a runner's programme, helping develop stronger muscles and improving the body's ability to tolerate the demands of running. It is also one of the areas where the evidence supporting creatine supplementation is particularly strong.

When combined with resistance training, creatine can help increase muscular strength and lean body mass compared with resistance training alone. This could make it particularly useful during periods when you're deliberately trying to improve strength and power.

The benefit isn't that developing larger muscles automatically makes you a better runner. Instead, creatine may allow you to get more from an appropriately designed strength programme and support the adaptations created by that training.

Creatine May Help With Speed And High Intensity Training

Creatine's role in rapidly regenerating ATP means it is particularly suited to short, intense efforts. For runners, these might include sprint repetitions, short hill efforts and some forms of high-intensity interval training.

Supplementation may help you maintain power across repeated high-intensity efforts, potentially allowing you to complete demanding sessions more effectively. This is much closer to creatine's established performance benefits than expecting it to improve an easy or steady long run.

There may also be some relevance for runners competing over shorter distances or those relying on changes of pace and a finishing sprint. However, research specifically demonstrating faster race performances in distance runners remains limited, so these potential benefits shouldn't be exaggerated.

Can Creatine Improve Recovery?

Creatine is sometimes promoted as a recovery supplement, but the evidence here is less clear than the evidence surrounding strength and high-intensity performance. Some research has suggested that supplementation could influence markers associated with muscle damage and recovery following demanding exercise.

Studies have produced mixed results, however, particularly when looking specifically at endurance exercise. It is therefore better to think of improved recovery as a possible additional benefit rather than one of the main reasons for runners to take creatine.

Good recovery still depends primarily on sufficient sleep, appropriate training load and getting enough carbohydrate, protein, fluids and overall energy from your diet. Creatine should complement these fundamentals rather than be viewed as a replacement for them.

Does Creatine Increase Glycogen Storage?

There is some evidence that creatine supplementation, particularly when combined with carbohydrate intake and exercise, may influence muscle glycogen storage. Glycogen is the carbohydrate stored in your muscles and is an important fuel source during longer or harder runs.

Runners shouldn't use creatine as a substitute for consuming enough carbohydrate, however. Appropriate carbohydrate intake remains far more important for maintaining glycogen availability during endurance training, so any effect from creatine should be regarded as a potential secondary benefit.

What About The Cognitive Benefits Of Creatine?

Creatine isn't only found in muscle because the brain also has significant energy requirements. This has led researchers to investigate whether supplementation can support aspects of cognitive performance, particularly when the brain is under additional stress.

Some studies have found potential benefits in circumstances such as sleep deprivation, but findings across the wider research remain mixed. It is an interesting area of research, but there isn't currently enough evidence to suggest runners should take creatine primarily to improve concentration or mental performance.

Read about the importance of sleep for runners here.

Does Creatine Cause Weight Gain?

This is probably the most important consideration for distance runners because creatine supplementation can increase the amount of water stored within muscle. As a result, your body weight may increase, particularly when you first begin supplementation.

This isn't the same as gaining body fat, as much of the initial increase is associated with additional water within the muscles. Longer term changes can also reflect increases in lean body mass when creatine is combined with resistance training.

For runners, additional body mass can potentially matter because you have to move that weight over every kilometre. This may partly explain why improvements in strength or power don't necessarily translate into better endurance race performances, and the amount of weight gained varies considerably between individuals.

Should Runners Stop Taking Creatine Before A Race?

You may hear recommendations that distance runners should take creatine during strength training and then stop before an important race to reduce any additional water weight. There isn't a universal rule requiring runners to do this, and there is no established period such as eight or ten weeks that every runner should follow.

Whether stopping makes sense depends on the individual, the distance you're racing, how your body responds to creatine and why you're taking it in the first place. A runner who experiences a noticeable increase in body mass may make a different decision from someone whose weight changes very little.

Any changes to supplementation should be tested during training rather than immediately before an important race. This gives you an opportunity to understand how your body responds without introducing an unnecessary variable close to race day.

What Is The Best Creatine For Runners?

Creatine monohydrate is the form most runners should choose because it is the most extensively researched form of creatine. It is widely available, relatively inexpensive and has considerably more supporting evidence than many alternative forms marketed by supplement companies.

There is generally little reason for runners to pay substantially more for complicated creatine products or alternative formulations. If you compete under anti-doping rules, it is also sensible to choose supplements that have been independently batch tested to reduce the risk of contamination with prohibited substances.

How Much Creatine Should Runners Take?

A straightforward approach for most adults who choose to supplement is around 3–5 grams of creatine monohydrate each day. Taking it consistently is more important than taking it immediately before or after a particular training session.

Unlike caffeine, creatine doesn't primarily work by producing an immediate effect shortly after you consume it. Its benefits come from increasing and maintaining creatine stores in your muscles over time, so it can be taken at whatever time of day makes it easiest to maintain a regular routine.

Do You Need A Creatine Loading Phase?

A loading phase can increase muscle creatine stores more quickly, but it isn't essential. A traditional loading strategy involves taking around 20 grams per day, usually divided into four smaller servings, for approximately five to seven days before switching to a lower maintenance dose.

Alternatively, taking around 3–5 grams every day will gradually increase muscle creatine stores without loading. It takes longer to reach similar levels of muscle saturation, but this simpler approach may be more convenient and can reduce the likelihood of digestive discomfort associated with larger doses.

Skipping the loading phase may also make any initial increase in body weight less rapid. For most recreational runners, there is rarely a compelling reason to rush the process.

When Should Runners Take Creatine?

There is no need to carefully time creatine around your runs because consistency is more important than the precise time it is consumed. Morning, evening, before training or after training can all be suitable if it allows you to take it regularly.

Many people find it easiest to take creatine alongside a meal or as part of their usual post-training nutrition. Creatine is generally taken on rest days as well as training days when the aim is to maintain elevated muscle creatine stores.

Is Creatine Safe?

Creatine monohydrate has been extensively studied and is generally considered safe for healthy adults when used appropriately. Despite longstanding claims linking creatine with dehydration and muscle cramps, research has not established that recommended creatine supplementation causes these problems in healthy people.

Runners should still pay attention to their normal hydration requirements, particularly when exercising for long periods or running in hot conditions. Anyone with an existing medical condition, particularly one affecting kidney function, or anyone taking medication that could be relevant to supplementation should seek appropriate medical advice before taking creatine.

Read more about hydration for runners here.

Do Runners Need Creatine?

Most runners don't need creatine because you can train successfully, improve your running and race well without ever taking it. Supplements should always sit behind the fundamentals of appropriate training, sufficient nutrition, good recovery and adequate sleep.

Creatine becomes more interesting when your programme includes regular strength training, sprint work, hills or repeated high-intensity intervals. In these situations, it may help improve the quality of training and support some of the adaptations you're trying to achieve.

For runners focused almost entirely on long, steady endurance exercise, the argument is weaker. Current evidence doesn't demonstrate a clear and consistent improvement in traditional endurance performance, while the possibility of additional body mass also needs to be considered.

Creatine For Runners: The Bottom Line

Creatine deserves more attention from runners than its bodybuilding reputation might suggest, but its benefits need to be understood in the context of running. The strongest evidence is for improving strength, power and repeated high-intensity exercise, all of which can form part of a well-rounded running programme.

Evidence that creatine directly improves continuous endurance running or distance race times is much less convincing. Its biggest value for many runners may therefore come from supporting strength training, sprinting and high-intensity sessions rather than directly improving aerobic endurance.

Creatine monohydrate is the obvious choice if you decide to try it, and there is usually no need for complicated products or aggressive loading strategies. A simple daily dose of around 3–5 grams is commonly used, alongside a well-planned training programme and balanced diet.

Read more about supplements for runners here.