Carb Loading: what?

Ok, so this is all about Carb Loading (CL), let me first say briefly what that means. CL is a change in diet just before a long race, like marathon or triathlon. This means a high intake of carbohydrates in food. This might sound easy but it does have draw back and a little science behind it.

Most 'first time' marathon runners will get advice like stuff as much pasta as you can in the night before the race.. this is not entirely true so be careful of exactly how much you eat - ie, don't over eat! Firstly, there are 2 main methods of CL:

1) the last two days before race day have a high intake of LOW GI foods

2) 5,4 & 3 days before eat only protein rich foods, cutting out carbohydrates and ruducing fat to almost zero. Then 2 & 1 days before race day, eat LOW GI Carb foods in your diet.

Here's a good question - why do we carb load? Muscles store glycogen and use this up over extreme lenghtes of exercise..ie marathon running. when glycogen runs out, we hit what is known as the wall - after than our body starts to burn the next best thing - fat, when this happens you really are in trouble and that is why its important to top up glycogen while you race - ie, Gels.

The second question you might ask; what is LOW GI? Well GI stands for Glycemic Index, and all carbohydrates have a GI.. they are all measured on a scale from 0-100, however, we usually rate them as LOW, MED and HIGH GI.. Got it? So LOW GI foods (like pasta) give your muscles glycogen to store for use later - whereas HIGH GI (like jelly babies) gives you glycogen to burn straight away... link at bottom of page.

That should have covered what carb loading is all about.. there are lists of LOW GI foods on many websites, again, I have a link to one of them at the bottom of this piece. Basically CL goes hand in hand with Tapering (which i covered in my last blog).. So I have some tips that work for me which maybe you want to consider:

1) Don't over eat - eat the same as usual - however, make sure you are getting plenty of LOW GI foods.
2) Avoid protein the day before it does little anyway.
3) Avoid HI GI foods except on the day of the race.
4) Stick to what you know works - don't try new ideas - this will help mentally as well as physically.
5) The day before race day is a TOTAL REST DAY.. make sure you don't have to leave the house.. rest means rest - food should be all bought and ready to eat etc so you don't need to do much - just relax.
6) Avoid eating and drinking things that make you hyper - ie, coffee and chocolate etc.. this only makes you want to do something other than rest!

I'll list my food intake down on my 'day before' day... This might be useful to someone but not only that it keeps me occupied whilst the day passes.


Links:

Glycemic Index: http://www.glycemicindex.com/

GI List: http://www.the-gi-diet.org/glycemicindexchart/

Race Gels: http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/reviews/nutrition/energy-gels/24.html