Research on Creatine Looks Promising for Runners Who Want to Get Faster and Recover Better (2024)

For years, creatine has gained a reputation among strength athletes, especially bodybuilders, as a crucial supplement that helps you build muscle. But recently, it’s become increasingly popular among endurance athletes and everyday runners, not just for performance, but for overall health.

So does it really live up to the hype? Keep reading for everything you need to know about creatine for runners, the side effects to watch out for, and how to find a safe and effective creatine supplement.

Creatine is a compound your body naturally creates that’s used for energy during high-intensity, short-duration activity, according to Mount Sinai.

It’s stored as phosphocreatine in your muscles and used in adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a major source of energy in the body for, say, the 10-second sprint to the finish line of a race or the surge of power you need to cruise up a hill.

Having plenty of creatine waiting in your muscles means you’re able to generate ATP quicker, allowing for multiple bouts of high-intensity work during your runs, Serena Marie Hunt, RD, RRCA-certified run coach and registered dietitian tells Runner’s World.

You can think about this process a little like carb-loading, explains Eric Rawson, Ph.D., C.S.C.S., professor and department chair of Health, Nutrition, and Exercise Science at Messiah University in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, who researches creatine.

“Right now, your muscles are filled with carbohydrate, [which] is used for energy production and muscle contraction,” Rawson says. If you eat more carbs, you’d expect to have more energy for a long run. “Similarly with creatine, your muscles are filled with creatine right now, and your body uses creatine to make energy for muscle contraction, especially during high-intensity exercise. So if you were to increase the amount of creatine in your muscles, we would expect it would make you a better sprinter.”

Your body can make about 1 to 2 grams of creatine a day in your liver, pancreas, and kidneys, and you can get another 1 to 2 grams from a diet that includes meat and fish, which is enough to stave off a creatine deficiency, Rawson says.

But sufficient creatine isn’t necessarily optimal creatine. Plus, you likely can’t get enough from your diet alone—simply because you’d have to eat a lot of meat—to make any noticeable difference in the amount of creatine stored in your muscles, he says.

That’s where supplementation comes in: Taking additional creatine is thought to have benefits for power, strength, and cognitive function. That might be especially true if you’re not getting much (if any) creatine from your diet, says registered dietitian and sports nutrition counselor Nancy Clark, RD, CSSD.

“People who are vegetarian or vegan and not eating the animal sources of creatine seem to have the biggest response [to supplements],” she says. Creatine supplements aren’t made from animal products, so vegetarians and vegans can take them, she adds.

There are two ways to think about creatine’s benefits for runners, Rawson says: Does it make you a better runner? And does it enhance your non-running activities, such as strength training, which in turn, contribute to running performance?

There’s reason to believe it’s a yes for both. For starters, creatine gets a vote of support from the International Olympic Committee, which recognizes the supplement as having concrete and safe performance-enhancing benefits, particularly in strength and power. (They only suggest a handful of supplements for improving performance.)

A 2023 article in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition reported creatine helps endurance athletes maintain high-intensity exercise for longer before tiring out, and says it’s especially helpful in endurance sports that “require multiple surges in intensity and/or during end spurts, which are often key race-defining moments,” such as running.

Shorter sprints, like 100 or 200 meters, will rely most heavily on creatine for energy production, rather than longer distances you cover at a steady pace. “Creatine is still involved in energy production, but on a percentage basis, it becomes less important as we get into endurance time domains,” Rawson says. That said, “winning and losing often happens in tenths of a second or hundredths of a second, and creatine might be that difference.”

In addition to helping runners out sprint competitors at the end of a hard race, creatine can also support your cross-training efforts. “It became clear that strength conditioning is valuable for all athletes in all sports, for virtually everybody,” Rawson says. “And where creatine really shines is as a training aid. It enhances the quality of your strength and conditioning workouts, which we already believe translates into your sports performance.”

In fact, a 2022 review of research published in Nutrients found creatine encouraged muscle growth in people doing strength workouts, and more muscle can help you run faster, harder, and injury-free.

Supplementing with creatine also seems to help ward off some of the muscle damage caused by intense workouts, potentially speeding up your recovery time between tough training sessions, according to a 2021 review in Nutrients. Older research in Life Sciences, that specifically examined 34 male runners, found creatine supplementation started five days before a 30K was associated with less muscle soreness, inflammation, and muscle damage after the race.

Sounds pretty promising, right? It certainly can be, but remember, creatine alone won’t make up for less-than-healthy habits, Hunt says. You still need to be eating a balanced diet, getting plenty of sleep, and following a smart training plan (that includes rest days!) to really see major improvements in your running. “We have to do the foundational things before adding in the supplements,” she says.

Creatine is relatively well studied when it comes to safety. Research shows it’s safe for most people (who don’t have any kidney or liver issues, Hunt says) to use daily for at least five years. But we still need more studies looking at longer use.

That said, it’s always a good idea to discuss any supplements you’re thinking about taking with your doctor, who can alert you to potential interactions with other supplements or prescription medications, Hunt says. People with Parkinson’s disease, bipolar disorder, or who are pregnant and breastfeeding should be careful with creatine, according to the National Library of Medicine.

Otherwise, the biggest side effect is bloating or temporary (and minor) water weight gain. This isn’t necessarily dangerous, but it could affect performance. “Creatine attracts water to your muscles. From a physiological standpoint, this is not a bad thing. But if you’re an elite, competitive runner, and a 1-pound weight gain is not what you want, then we have to consider that there’s a trade-off,” Rawson says.

It’s up to each individual runner to assess that cost and benefit, Clark says. For runners who aren’t winning high-stakes races, this slight slowdown might not be a problem or even noticeable.

But even if you’re not an elite runner, you may still rather avoid the extra water. “That bloat can be kind of triggering or uncomfortable if athletes have a history of eating disorders or body-image issues,” Hunt says.

You might be able to avoid some creatine-induced bloating by taking smaller amounts throughout the day instead of a big dose of creatine once a day, according to the Cleveland Clinic. And keep in mind the water retention usually goes away fairly quickly as your body gets used to the extra creatine.

Ready to give creatine a try? First, make sure it’s creatine monohydrate you’re buying. That’s the form that delivers the benefits above.

Creatine can come in tablet, capsule, liquid, or powder form, but no matter how you get it, check that your supplement has a third-party verification seal on the bottle, like from ConsumerLab, the NSF, or the USP, Clark says.

It’s worth digging a little deeper, Rawson says, and checking out the manufacturer’s website, too. They should transparently share certificates of authenticity and information about their facilities and manufacturing standards. “If they're not forthcoming with that information, that’s a red flag for me to stay away,” he says.

Supplements aren’t regulated as strictly as prescription medications, so there’s a risk of other substances getting into creatine (or other products) if you don’t stick with reputable brands.

Traditionally, creatine users would start with high doses of 20 grams a day for a week or so to get the benefits as soon as possible, Hunt says. But this kind of onboarding program is more likely to lead to bloating.

Today, there’s a greater understanding that you can take smaller amounts and spread your creatine throughout the day and still get those benefits while minimizing the water weight gain. Most creatine fans mix the powder with water or a protein shake. Rawson says getting 3 to 5 grams a day for a few weeks can up the level of creatine stored in your muscles significantly and you may start to notice the effects within a month.

At the end of the day, you probably don’t need to take creatine. But if you’re looking for a slight edge over your competition—even if your competition is yourself—it just might help you get there.