Carbohydrates are the primary choice for the body’s energy, especially during marathon distances. To avoid hitting a wall in the race, it is beneficial to replenish your glycogen (carbohydrate) stores by consuming enough before running 26.2 miles or any run lasting over 90-120 minutes.
Glycogen is composed of carbohydrate and water, and the amount of stored glycogen fuel in your muscles is approximately 90 – 120 minutes. After completing a marathon training plan, these storage reserves are exhausted, thus it is crucial to replenish them in the days prior to the race through the process of carb loading.
Properly loading carbs involves a substantial increase in carbohydrate intake in the days leading up to the race, allowing the body to store carbohydrates as glycogen. This stored glycogen is then used as fuel during the run.
Carbo-loading gained popularity with the advancements in exercise science, particularly the improvement of muscle biopsy techniques. Following the collection of muscle tissue samples, various chemicals are applied to stain the samples. This process enables physiologists to determine interesting factors such as the ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers, glycogen levels, capillary beds, and more.
During the early 1970s, when the first running boom occurred, muscle biopsies were conducted in exercise physiology. Physiologists initiated examinations on runners to observe their performance outcomes in both successful and unsuccessful situations.
The search to prevent runners from “hitting the wall” began when muscle biopsies of these runners showed low levels of muscle glycogen, which is the stored carbohydrate in our muscles. The focus then shifted towards finding ways to enhance the muscle glycogen stores.
How many carbs to eat
Carbo loading, also known as significantly increasing your carbohydrate intake before long running, involves consuming 10g of carbs per kilogram body weight. However, any amount within the range of 8-12g/kg can be effective. For instance, if you are a 60kg runner, you would aim to consume 600g of carbohydrates per day during your carb load (although this may vary depending on your typical carbohydrate consumption).
Although it may seem like a large quantity to consume, consider dividing it into 50g servings and consuming them throughout the day.
Here are some examples of food and their corresponding weights: a bagel (50g), 1 cup of cooked rice (45g), 1 large banana (30g), 2 slices of bread (50g), 1 large baked potato (50g), 1 large sweet potato (40g), 1 large apple (30g), 1 cup of cooked spaghetti (40g).
When to start carb loading
To ensure optimal results, it is recommended to gradually increase your carbohydrate consumption starting 2-3 days before the race. For a 2-day carbo load, aiming for a range of 10-12g/kg bodyweight would be beneficial, while for a 3-day carb load, beginning with 8g/kg bodyweight would be suitable.
Type of carb to eat
It is best to focus on carbohydrates that you normally consume, while also considering reducing the intake of high fiber and high fat foods in order to decrease the chances of experiencing gastrointestinal problems. For example, opt for boiled or baked potatoes instead of chips or roasted potatoes.
Not only grains, but also starchy vegetables, fruit, dairy, and beverages such as fruit juice and sugary drinks contain carbs.
In addition to considering consuming more carbohydrates during main meals or indulging in a large pasta dinner, remember to also contemplate opting for high carbohydrate snacks and beverages in the days preceding your race.
What to avoid when carb loading
Cutting carbs before carb loading
There is no need to reduce carb intake before carb loading. Just continue to eat normally before carb loading. Research indicates that reducing training during the taper period and carb loading together contribute to the development of muscle glycogen capacity.
Eating all your extra carbs in one meal
Instead of obtaining all of your carbohydrates from the pasta dinner the night before the race, it is advisable to distribute your additional carbohydrates throughout the day, including meals as well as high-carb snacks and beverages. An appropriate target would be servings of around 50g each.
Choosing too many high fat/high fiber carbs
In addition to their tendency to cause race day GI issues, high-fat, high-fiber carbohydrates also have the capability to make you feel satiated faster, resulting in potential difficulties in consuming your entire carbohydrate intake.
Inadequate hydration
Before a race, it is crucial to ensure you are well hydrated, especially if you are consuming more carbohydrates beforehand. Glycogen is created by combining 1 gram of carbs with 2-3 grams of water.
When increasing your carb intake, it is important to consider the following steps: remember to hydrate by sipping on water and electrolyte drinks while carbohydrate loading. Additionally, you may choose to consume carbs through beverages such as fruit juice, sports drinks, smoothies, and sugary drinks.
Techniques used for carbo-loading in the early days
Coaches, who possess the knack for discovering effective strategies before physiologists do, had already observed that incorporating long distance runs could assist runners in avoiding the wall. They also noticed the benefits of increasing carbohydrate intake in the diet.
Arthur Lydiard, the Olympic coach, once advised his athletes to enhance their performance by adding an additional spoonful or two of honey to their morning coffee before embarking on their 22-mile long runs. Additionally, Lydiard promoted the notion that incorporating regular long runs into their training could assist runners of all distances in postponing fatigue.
The Method of Deplete, Deprive, Replenish.
In an attempt to push the boundaries, researchers aimed to determine the feasibility of maximizing muscle glycogen stores prior to a long race by depleting and subsequently replenishing them. Previous knowledge indicated that when muscle glycogen stores are depleted, the body triggers a robust stimulus to restore them.
The first carbo-loading regimen, known as deplete, deprive, replenish, was developed from this research. Although it is a logical and simple approach, it does possess significant drawbacks.
When implementing this strategy, you commence the process seven days prior to your race. Initially, you engage in a rigorous workout to completely exhaust your glycogen reserves. Typically, this consists of a speed workout encompassing numerous repetitions to deplete your carbohydrate stores.
Any form of running that uses up your glycogen stores can be applied in this method. Crucially, you abstained from consuming carbohydrates during the following three days. To clarify, you intentionally followed a low carbohydrate diet to prevent glycogen replenishment.
You started consuming carbohydrates abundantly three days prior to your race. As a result, your body, which was previously deprived, would swiftly and fully replenish its glycogen stores, ensuring that you have a complete supply of glycogen for the race.
After going through a step-by-step thought process, it was confirmed that the method did achieve successful results. It was revealed through research that adhering to this routine would genuinely lead to having significantly abundant glycogen reserves.
Despite the benefits of having a large glycogen tank, there were some drawbacks. One of these drawbacks was the necessity of performing a strenuous workout only a week prior to the important race. This presented the athlete with the potential for injury, reaching peak performance too early, and overall concerns.
Next, if the runner is deprived of carbohydrates for three days following the workout that depletes glycogen, she will experience negative effects during subsequent runs. These effects include low energy, fatigue, irritability, and a heavy feeling in the legs. Additionally, the runner often feels noticeably out of shape.
Given the mental beating the runners took, it wasn’t worth it for me to see runners try this original carbo-loading technique, especially when they have a big race coming up.
The method has been modified and needs to be thought about step by step.
Researchers evaluated a modified version of the original carbo-loading method due to its negative issues. The modified version skips the depletion/deprivation phase and solely focuses on the loading phase. Fortunately, the modified method was successful.
Similar to the deplete-deprive-replenish method, the altered method led to a significant rise in muscle glycogen. From a technical standpoint, the depletion method may have slightly contributed to more glycogen storage; however, the disparities were negligible. Undoubtedly, the ability to evade the adverse physical and mental consequences associated with the depletion-deprivation-repletion method made the modified approach highly worthwhile.
The Modified Method has become the preferred approach for carbo-loading due to its effectiveness. It involves consuming your regular diet during the initial days of race week, and subsequently elevating the percentage of calories derived from carbohydrates during the final three days.
By avoiding the depletion and deprivation phase of tapering, the last week of your runs/workouts feels better, and you prevent mental issues such as grumpiness and loss of confidence caused by poor workouts. This approach is simply a more manageable strategy.
Without introducing any new information or removing any existing information, rephrase the following text while considering each step carefully: Caveats 1. Do not add any new information or eliminate any information from the original text. 2. Carefully consider each step while rephrasing the text.
While the carbo-loading method that has been modified is quite straightforward, there are a few precautions that should be noted.
To begin with, it is important to clarify that this is not about eating excessively. The intention is not to eat excessively in order to increase glycogen stores. Instead, the objective is to simply increase the proportion of carbohydrates in each meal. It is important to avoid overeating, which is often a result of nervousness, as this is not the desired outcome.
Next, it is important to note that for every gram of glycogen stored, there is a corresponding storage of four grams of water. Consequently, if you notice a slight gain in body weight of a pound or two on race morning, there is no need for concern. This extra weight is attributed to the presence of additional glycogen and water, which will both be beneficial during the race.
Next, in the last three days, decrease your fiber consumption, which contrasts with your usual dietary habits. Typically, you strive to incorporate more fiber into your meals; however, during carbo-loading, it is advisable to reduce fiber intake as it can be challenging for the gastrointestinal system. This implies that instead of opting for whole wheat toast (rich in fiber), you should choose white bread toast (low in fiber).
Lastly, make sure to practice your carbo-loading plan during a few long runs in order to fine-tune it, just like you fine-tune your race nutrition through practicing it during some of your workouts. Remember, avoid any radical changes.
Just eat things you normally eat with the exception of choosing lower fiber options. Then, once you know what works best for you, pre-plan your meals the last three days (especially for when you arrive at the race site) so you can relax and not stress about what to eat.
