What to eat before i do my multiple mile runs?

I have always done cardio on an empty stomach. Ive done the eliptical for about 50 minutes and kept my heart rate at the proper level. I have changed my cardio routine as of late because im training for an upcoming bjj tourny.. I have started doing 4 mile runs on the treadmill but im so used to just waking up and doing cardio on an empty stomach that i have continued this routine. I realize my heart rate is going way past what it should and i dont want to burn muscle as im running do to the fact i dont have any food in my system. So should i take maybe a protein shake before i run and maybe some dextrose? Any suggestions..I just want to make sure im not going to lose muscle when i go on my extended runs. I will be increasing to about 5.5 miles each cardio session. Im not running too fast only at about 6.5 mph.. But im still running 5.5 miles straight. My stats are.. 5'9 185 pounds.. 24 yrs old..

anyone???

I would say that you don't have to eat anything. When I was in the Army I used to run at least 4 miles 5 day's a week, first thing in the morning on an empty stomach this kept me really lean, but I had to eat like a horse, and I could still build muscle.

im not that worried about being lean.. if i wanted to do cardio to burn fat i would do the eliptical for an hour because the amount of calories i burn compared to 4-5 mile run is way different..i run because i want my cardio to be good for my tournament and at the same time i dont want to burn muscle because im running too hard and not having anything in my system to keep me going

I'm sure you are going to lose some muscle running that far, but up your calories, your legs will look great from it. I don't think BB's tend to run a lot because they are afraid to lose muscle. I know a lot of guy's in the military that look like bodybuilders, and they can eat and drink what they want do to there high activity level.

If you are running like that, I don't see how you could eat anything unless it was really small, if not it's all going to come out LOL!

well i was thinking more of liquid foods..like protein shakes or dextrose...