The main fuels for endurance exercise is carbohydrate and fat. When you run your body burns a combination of carbohydrate and fat. The harder you run the higher the proportion of carbohydrate you use and the slower you run the higher proportion of fat you use. Carbohydrates should be the mainstay of your diet during training. Carbohydrate is a more efficient energy source than fat because fat requires more oxygen per calorie to breakdown. Fat doesn't produce energy as efficiently as carbohydrate does, you can't run as fast burning just fat. An easy run may be fueled by 65% carbohydrate and 35% fat while racing a marathon will use 75-90% carbohydrate. You will perform better mentally and physically during a run if you eat carbohydrate rich foods before. The amount of carbohydrates before your run varies depending on the intensity and duration of your run. You don't need to stock up for shorter bouts of low-intensity runs because they don't deplete your energy supplies as much as more intensive and longer runs do.
A great approach to define your personal carbohydrate needs is according to your body weight. For example, the International Olympic Committee developed these guidelines:
Intensity of exercise gram carb/kg body wt gram carb/lb body wt
Low intensity 3-5 g 1.5-2.5
Moderate (~1 hour/day): 5-7 g 2.3-3.2
Endurance (1-3 hours/d): 6-10 g 2.5-4.5
Extreme (>4-5 hours/d): 8-12 g 3.5-5.5
Excellent sources of carbohydrates are pasta, rice, bread, sweet potatoes, pancakes, bagels, corn, and raisins. If you're a long distance runner then 60% of your calories should come from carbohydrates.
A lot of runners practice carbohydrate loading, also called glycogen loading. Glycogen is the body's storage form of carbohydrate. Glycogen loading is the process of manipulating your diet to increase your body's glycogen levels. It is most common among marathoners but can also benefit runners racing from 10K-half marathon. All you need to do is eat a normal diet up until the last 3 days before a race and taper your training to about half of your normal training load. Then eat a high carbohydrate diet the final 3 days while doing a short and easy run on those days. Your body probably stores 1,500 to 2,000 calories of glycogen in your muscles. Glycogen loading can increase that capacity to 2,000 to 2,500 calories of glycogen.
Your glycogen stores are depleted after a long run, long tempo or interval workout, or long race. It typically takes 24-48 hours to replenish your glycogen stores. Your body stores glycogen at a faster rate in the first hour after finishing your long run, workout, or race. Have a carbohydrate drink and some easy to digest carbohydrate foods within the first hour of finishing. High-glycemic foods are good because they cause a high increase in blood glucose levels and will replenish your glycogen stores better than low-glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are rice, potatoes, bread, bagels, and crackers.
I got the majortiy of this information from the books Advanced Marathoning and Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Clark also has books specifically for marathoners so check her out if you are interested in improving your running performance with better nutrition.
A great approach to define your personal carbohydrate needs is according to your body weight. For example, the International Olympic Committee developed these guidelines:
Intensity of exercise gram carb/kg body wt gram carb/lb body wt
Low intensity 3-5 g 1.5-2.5
Moderate (~1 hour/day): 5-7 g 2.3-3.2
Endurance (1-3 hours/d): 6-10 g 2.5-4.5
Extreme (>4-5 hours/d): 8-12 g 3.5-5.5
Excellent sources of carbohydrates are pasta, rice, bread, sweet potatoes, pancakes, bagels, corn, and raisins. If you're a long distance runner then 60% of your calories should come from carbohydrates.
A lot of runners practice carbohydrate loading, also called glycogen loading. Glycogen is the body's storage form of carbohydrate. Glycogen loading is the process of manipulating your diet to increase your body's glycogen levels. It is most common among marathoners but can also benefit runners racing from 10K-half marathon. All you need to do is eat a normal diet up until the last 3 days before a race and taper your training to about half of your normal training load. Then eat a high carbohydrate diet the final 3 days while doing a short and easy run on those days. Your body probably stores 1,500 to 2,000 calories of glycogen in your muscles. Glycogen loading can increase that capacity to 2,000 to 2,500 calories of glycogen.
Your glycogen stores are depleted after a long run, long tempo or interval workout, or long race. It typically takes 24-48 hours to replenish your glycogen stores. Your body stores glycogen at a faster rate in the first hour after finishing your long run, workout, or race. Have a carbohydrate drink and some easy to digest carbohydrate foods within the first hour of finishing. High-glycemic foods are good because they cause a high increase in blood glucose levels and will replenish your glycogen stores better than low-glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are rice, potatoes, bread, bagels, and crackers.
I got the majortiy of this information from the books Advanced Marathoning and Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Clark also has books specifically for marathoners so check her out if you are interested in improving your running performance with better nutrition.
RSS Feed