“I gotta carb up for the run tomorrow” Does this sound familiar? Something you or perhaps a friend has said the night before a race or long work out? Carbo-loading is something done by a lot of athletes in days or night before a marathon or century. A lot of athletes will carbo-load the night or day before a long training run as well.
What is Carbo-Loading?
It’s a term used to describe an increased intake of complex carbohydrates one or two days before an endurance event. By storing carbohydrates in your body, you’re storing glucose/glycogen, which is what your body uses for energy. The goal is to store energy in your body so that you extra fuel to get you through your endurance event.
Why does this work?
Our bodies rely on glycogen for energy. Glycogen comes from sugars and starches within our diet. When you're running/cycling/swimming/climbing, etc for a long distance your body burns up it’s initial glycogen and it looks to stored glycogen for more energy. Your body will pull energy from the stored glycogen. Your body can pull energy from stored fats, but it’s not as as easy to access, and your body is more efficient when it uses energy from glycogen.
How to Do It?
It’s pretty simple! The day before your event (or two days before if your stomach prefers) eat your normal caloric intake of food. Replace fruits, fats, dairy, vegetables, and proteins with complex carbohydrates. You don’t need to solely eat starches, you can add in the other food groups so that it’s enjoyable. A good example of this would be to swap a spinach salad for a
wheat pasta salad for lunch.
Common Misconceptions
1. Over Eating - You don’t need to binge on pasta. Eat the normal amount of calories you would eat, just increase the complex carbohydrates and swap them for other food groups.
2. Eating Table Sugar - Your body won’t be able to use the sugars from a piece of cake the night before a marathon. The only time your body can use simple sugars for energy is when you consume them during the race/training run. Dean Karno famously describes doing this during some of his all-night-long-ultra runs.
3. Using Protein for Energy - Your body doesn’t want to use protein for energy. It wants glycogen. Furthermore, you can’t store protein. Your body needs a certain amount of protein every day, any protein consumed over that amount is stored as fat. Which is another area that your body dislikes getting energy from.
4. Carbo-Loading for Any Activity - You really only need to carb up for activities that require at least 90 minutes of cardiovascular activity.
What is Carbo-Loading?
It’s a term used to describe an increased intake of complex carbohydrates one or two days before an endurance event. By storing carbohydrates in your body, you’re storing glucose/glycogen, which is what your body uses for energy. The goal is to store energy in your body so that you extra fuel to get you through your endurance event.
Why does this work?
Our bodies rely on glycogen for energy. Glycogen comes from sugars and starches within our diet. When you're running/cycling/swimming/climbing, etc for a long distance your body burns up it’s initial glycogen and it looks to stored glycogen for more energy. Your body will pull energy from the stored glycogen. Your body can pull energy from stored fats, but it’s not as as easy to access, and your body is more efficient when it uses energy from glycogen.
How to Do It?
It’s pretty simple! The day before your event (or two days before if your stomach prefers) eat your normal caloric intake of food. Replace fruits, fats, dairy, vegetables, and proteins with complex carbohydrates. You don’t need to solely eat starches, you can add in the other food groups so that it’s enjoyable. A good example of this would be to swap a spinach salad for a
wheat pasta salad for lunch.
Common Misconceptions
1. Over Eating - You don’t need to binge on pasta. Eat the normal amount of calories you would eat, just increase the complex carbohydrates and swap them for other food groups.
2. Eating Table Sugar - Your body won’t be able to use the sugars from a piece of cake the night before a marathon. The only time your body can use simple sugars for energy is when you consume them during the race/training run. Dean Karno famously describes doing this during some of his all-night-long-ultra runs.
3. Using Protein for Energy - Your body doesn’t want to use protein for energy. It wants glycogen. Furthermore, you can’t store protein. Your body needs a certain amount of protein every day, any protein consumed over that amount is stored as fat. Which is another area that your body dislikes getting energy from.
4. Carbo-Loading for Any Activity - You really only need to carb up for activities that require at least 90 minutes of cardiovascular activity.
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