Just curious how many of you deny your body carbohydrates on long bikes or runs in hope of teaching it to utilize less glycogen come race day.
Thoughts???
(pink)Nah. Long rides/runs are my excuse to eat yummy things like Gu.(pink off)
Seriously - not on purpose but someone smart told me while I was in AZ that I definitely don’t eat enough on long bike rides.
Different topic, are you racing this weekend? I’m coming down from my current northern location to the Eastern States 20 miler.
Some expert suggest holding off on carbs before a long run. McMillian is one such coach as described in the attached link. http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/marathonlongrun.htm
Not eating carbs before/during is the “icing” on the cake. If you’re going to boink, it is better to have the carbs.
Generally, Anything over 16 miles I plan a couple gels, otherwise, just water.
I would think the same logic applies to long rides, but I don’t has much experience with that and I generally bring food / sports drink. It will be interesting to see what others say.
If you’re going to boink, it is better to have the carbs.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had carbs while boinking. Maybe this will be a new addition to my roster.
i would like to know the answer to this question as well. it seems to me that physiologically there should be some adaptation …
in any case, an argument against this is that you should eat what you will be eating, and how you will be eating, for race day. water, carbs, electrolytes, etc. for an IM you should be eating as fast as you can comfortably digest, correct?
If you’re going to boink, it is better to have the carbs.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had carbs while boinking. Maybe this will be a new addition to my roster.
When boinking I prefer simple carbs like honey or chocolate syrup.
If you’re going to boink, it is better to have the carbs.
I’m not sure I’ve ever had carbs while boinking. Maybe this will be a new addition to my roster.
I guess that was a typo, meant bonk (sp), or maybe it was freudian slip, and you should try the endurance aspects of boinking,
i would like to know the answer to this question as well. it seems to me that physiologically there should be some adaptation …
in any case, an argument against this is that you should eat what you will be eating, and how you will be eating, for race day. water, carbs, electrolytes, etc. for an IM you should be eating as fast as you can comfortably digest, correct?
Would agree you have to practice your nutrition plan so you know what works for you and how much you can ingest without overload, but would it be beneficial to train without carbs on some long rides/runs?
I’m not sure I’ve ever had carbs while boinking. Maybe this will be a new addition to my roster.
Like this:
I think a more appropriate question is… why would you want to bonk? Maybe, on a rare occasion, its ok to see what it takes to get yourself to bonk, just so you konw your limits, but other than that… why?
The decrease in blood glucose that accompanies a lack of carbohydrate supplementation while training leads to decreases in the body’s “gross efficiency” (GE). GE is the amount of work you can do with a given amount of oxygen intake. This decrease in GE then decreases the quality of your workout, and you end up getting less training benefit from the effort.
Supplement with carbohydrates during training and racing. It will improve your performance in training, and therefore, will improve your performance on race day.
-Doug
Yes. By training less, you can (de)train your body to utilize less carbohydrates.
I think a more appropriate question is… why would you want to bonk? Maybe, on a rare occasion, its ok to see what it takes to get yourself to bonk, just so you konw your limits, but other than that… why?
I don’t think bonking was the recommendation. If your carb tank is full, you have about 2000 calories of glycogen available so why suppliment? if you workout in the morning without breakfast, you won’t start out with that many, but still proably about 1500. The idea of not suplimenting with carbs is that your body learns to burn fat more effectively which is a good strategy for race day.
Ok, we interpreted his post differently, which is perfectly fine.
My point still remains though… I know that the liver and muscles store a good amount of glycogen. But regardless of how much they store, decreases in GE start appearing after roughly 20 minutes if you’re not supplementing with carbohydrates during training. Hence, I just don’t see why you would want to deny your body what it needs in order to gain maximum fitness benefit from a workout. Also, its unlikely that you’ll be starving yourself during a race, so… shouldn’t you train as you race, in order to be most prepared on race day?
-Doug
bump
curious if anyone else has thoughts about the OP’s question and especially toward cycling.
“fat burns in a fire of carbohydrates”
i assume the OP asked this question because of the article in cyclingnews. it was already discussed here http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2257559;search_string=;#2257559
I think if it’s part of an overall diet change you can. Certainly on long rides/workouts you will need to take in a good amount of carbs but I know it can be done because I have done it. I was at a point where I was constantly taking in carbs when training - certainly more than necessary, but my body had just gotten used to it. I made some changes to my overall diet (cutting out refined carbs and being more sensitive to carb intake in general) and along with that taking in fewer carbs while training.
My semi-scientific theory is that my body made the adjustment from burning and storing carbs I was taking in to burning more already-stored fuel (carbs and fat). If you think about it from an insulin-production perpective - carbs cause your insulin to spike (particularly when we are talking about sugar) which stimulates storing of energy. It’s very hard for your body to burn already-stored energy when it is kicking up your insulin to get the excess blood sugar out of your bloodstream (and and then store in the form of fat). If you cut back on your overall carb intake (particuarly sugar and refined carbs) your body gets out of the habit of shooting up your insulin levels and therefore allows you to better utilize stored energy.
Certainly there’s more to it then just what I have written - but I’m not going to write a thesis here. I’m not a sports nutritionist but have studied it as an interested amature.
Hope this makes at least a little sense.
Dan